“I have no idea why I’m laying these traps, but it suddenly seems like a good idea, and it definitely distracts me from the diamond,” Spike said to himself.
“Why exactly did you have Spike lay traps in his cave?” Twilight asked.
Dash shrugged. “It buys us some time.” Twilight facehoofed again. Dash squinted. Had her forehead always been that dark a shade of purple? It was a few shades off from the rest of her coat.
After Dash’s latest edit to the story, the trail to Spike’s cave had been much easier to find.
“A rainbow, Dash? Really?” Dash nodded. Twilight’s eye twitched.
With the rainbow overhead, leading directly to Spike, the group was able to travel relatively quickly. They arrived at the cave within a half-hour. Fluttershy let out a squeak when she saw the sheer number of traps.
“Now what, Dash?” Twilight asked. Although normally she would be angry coming across yet another roadblock made by her friend, the traps seemed to be expertly made. That was just because of the story, right? She made a mental note to avoid irritating Spike for the next week, just in case.
“I write around this. Duh,” Dash replied, a smirk on her lips. She pulled out a piece of paper and her quill, reading aloud as she wrote:
The traps went away.
She blinked, expecting to hear a pop when she closed her eyes. No such sound occurred. She closed her eyes again. Something made a loud bang, and she opened her eyes. One of the traps with a board suspended overhead had fallen, setting off every other trap in a chain reaction. Darts and knives went whizzing across the entrance. A large hammer fell, smashing through a spike pit. A jet of fire blew in from the ceiling, igniting the whole mess.
“Huh.” Twilight’s head was spinning, trying to process what had just happened.
“Well, onward we go,” Dash said, indicating the still-smoldering mouth of the cave. “You’ve got a spell to put out the fire, right Twi?” Twilight nodded numbly. She extinguished the fire and Dash led the others on. Twilight stayed where she was. How did that constitute the traps going away?
Fluttershy apparently noticed the same thing. “Um, I don’t think that’s what Dash wrote.”
Pinkie Pie popped up behind her, causing her to jump. “Nah, the traps all took care of themselves. It was just a more fun and exciting way of getting rid of them. Everything is okie dokie lokie!”
Continuing onward, the group found it harder to see. The light from outside was fading, and the only light inside the cave was a single green flame. They stopped, Fluttershy squeaking again, as they saw a figure pass by the fire.
“Spike?” Twilight called out weakly. She hoped it was him. Her legs locked at the thought of the many other creatures it might be.
“Come on,” Dash said. Her voice cracked, and it sounded like it trembled slightly now.
As they approached, they could see a small purple figure pacing near the fire.
“Oh, what am I going to do?” Spike moaned. “I ruined everything…”
“Spike, what’s the matter?”
He jumped as he turned around, eyes bulging. “Oh…hi, girls. I was just…uh…” He scratched his head, trying to think of a good lie. No such inspiration came. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled.
“Spike, dear, why ever would you be sorry?” Rarity asked, approaching him. He recoiled, then lowered his head.
“Cause I stole the diamond and ran off for no real reason! I saw how big it was, and all I could think about was how excited it made Rarity, and how I wasn’t the one giving it to her. I got jealous. So I came here,” he gestured to the cave, “thinking if I disappeared for a while and returned with some fake story, I wouldn’t get in trouble, and I’d get Rarity to like me.”
“Oh, Spike,” Rarity said, putting a comforting hoof on his shoulder. “You don’t need to lie to impress me, or anypony else for that matter. You need to be yourself.” She smiled at him, and he raised his head to return the smile.
“Now how are we going to get this back?” Twilight asked. Dash smirked and started writing.
They all went home.
Once more, nothing happened. Dash frowned at the paper. “I don’t get it. This must be busted.”
“How many pieces of paper have you used, Dash?” Twilight asked.
“Eleven. I still have another one left.”
“I only put a spell on ten pieces of paper. You must have used all of them.” The girls all groaned. Spike just looked at Twilight as if she had two horns.
“Magic paper?”
Twilight laughed. “I’ll tell you all about it later.” She paused. “After we get out of this cave.”
One long walk later (although their path was still illuminated by a rainbow), everypony was back in town. Dash had been the first one back of course, although she had stayed within view of her friends. Next had been Pinkie Pie, with Fluttershy right behind. Twilight and Rarity had been the slowest, being the only ones capable of lifting the massive diamond, but things had gone a little bit quicker with Applejack there for moral support. Rarity seemed to cheer up more than Twilight, but AJ wrote that off to Twilight’s mood having been lifted by finding Spike.
Upon placing the diamond in the Carousel Boutique, Rarity ogled her new prize. Twilight just laid down, exhausted from carrying it. Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Dash gathered around her, also admiring the gem.
Rarity turned around, looking at her friends’ smiling faces. Even Twilight was now gathered, having caught her breath. But one familiar face was missing.
“Spike?” Rarity called, her grin now turning into a frown. He was huddled in the fetal position, staring at the floor beneath his feet. She called his name again, and he looked up. As he returned her worried gaze, he bit his lower lip. She sat down beside him.
“I’m sorry,” he said, looking away. “This was all my fault.”
Rarity looked at him. He was not going to forgive himself until she could prove she had forgiven the whole incident. After all, draconian instincts were hard to repress, especially for a child like himself. The fact that it had been part of Dash’s story further complicated the matter.
She looked around the boutique for some token of her forgiveness. Her friends now were also looking at Spike. Fluttershy went over to put her hoof on his shoulder, but he slumped and shrugged it off. What could possibly improve his mood? A dress would not do the trick, though that would be a lot of fun for Rarity. A hat? A scarf? She rummaged through her bin of raw materials. Of course!
Spike looked up when he heard the plink! of something hitting the floor. There was Rarity, standing over him with a hoof full of rubies. He raised an eyebrow. “I stole a gem from you, and you’re giving me more gems?”
“Well, it was hardly your fault, dear. It was part of Dash’s story on magic paper.”
His eyes widened. “Wait, what? Dash got ahold of the magic paper? Please tell me nothing burned down or was destroyed!”
Dash flapped her wings in annoyance. “Oh come on, just because I crash through the library window every now and again, that doesn’t mean that I’m destructive!” Everypony averted their gaze, thinking of at least one incident where Dash had destroyed personal property.
Spike rolled his eyes. “We have a supply of windows for the tree, just in case you crash through. By the way, the one we had to use the other day was our last one.”
“Whatever,” Dash muttered. She was still the best flier in Equestria. A few accidents now and then didn’t prove otherwise.
“I guess you’re feeling back to normal,” Twilight chuckled. “You’ve at least got your sarcasm back.”
Spike grinned sheepishly. “Yeah. I guess it does help to know Rarity’s not mad at me. It looks like things are back to normal.”