Spike and the Dragon Tree
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Chapter 1 – Tragedy strikes
“Spike, SPIIIIKE!” Rarity’s melodious voice echoed across the open field, calling her assistant over to her. “I’ve found another one.”
It was a glorious day in the fields around Ponyville and Rarity had taken the opportunity to replenish her stocks of gems. While she was perfectly able to find the gems herself; her magic was specially attuned to finding the crystalline formations of gemstones, she was far pickier about actually digging them up. Fortunately for her, Spike was more than willing to get a little dirty to assist her. While he had made it clear that he was willing to help her out pro bono, she didn’t feel right taking advantage of him like that. Once the day was over, Spike would have his choice of the gems. Rarity had even managed to find a fragment of a fire ruby that she was sure he would like, though she knew that his first question would be where the rest of it was.
“Coming, Rarity,” Spike’s voice came from over a small hill. A few seconds later, he appeared, dragging a small metal cart loaded with different gemstones behind him. Rarity thought she could almost see the hearts floating above his head as he came to a stop before the spot she had marked out. With a quick flick of his claws, Spike shredded the soft earth, revealing a small batch of glittering gems resting under the ground.
Rarity’s eyes boggled as they always did when she saw the cluster of precious stones. She didn’t know why it was that gems always seemed to be perfectly grouped together, but she was thankful that it was so as it made collecting them far easier than hunting for single gems. The nearly full cart was testament to the ease at which she and Spike were able to work together. Rarity knew that it wouldn’t be long before she had all the gems she was going to need to finish her new fashion line. It was going to be stunning; certainly better than some of the designs she had put out in the past.
As she was looking down into the hole, Rarity suddenly felt a wave of light dizziness come upon her. She wobbled for a second, bringing a hoof up to her head to rub an ache that she felt near the base of her horn. Spike noticed her movement and looked up, concern crossing his face. “Rarity, are you alright?”
“Yes… yes, I’m fine,” she said slowly as the dizziness passed. “Just a touch of heatstroke. Let’s take a break and have some lunch. Does that sound good, Spike?”
Spike jumped up out of the hole, the mention of lunch banishing the sudden concern he had just felt. Rarity led the way over to the shade of a large tree where she had set up a picnic basket. A pair of bottles of lemonade and a fresh daisy sandwich floated out of the basket, caught in Rarity’s soft blue magic. A couple of crunchy emeralds also made their way out of the cart for Spike to snack on. Rarity noticed that everything seemed a little harder than she was used to. Normally she could levitate dozens of things at once with ease but right now she was having a little bit of trouble just holding the bottles and gems in place. It was like she was trying to grab her magic through a thick goo of some kind; it was there, but hard to keep a steady hold of. She felt her magic flicker for a moment, and she nearly dropped the sandwich, recovering at the last moment before it touched the ground.
Settling down in the shade, Rarity opened the bottles of lemonade and handed one over to Spike before taking a small bite of her sandwich. Spike began to attack his gems with gusto, his sharp teeth and powerful jaws making short work of the hard crystals.
Rarity watched Spike devour his treat, her own sandwich remaining almost untouched. Despite having been working for several hours now, she didn’t really feel all that hungry. She knew that she should be starving; she hadn’t had much for breakfast.
‘Or dinner last night, now that I think about it,’ Rarity suddenly realized. It had been nearly a full day since she had eaten anything of substance; she should be starving but the idea of actually eating something make her feel sick to her stomach. Absently, she picked at her sandwich, taking a few small bites, but not really getting into it. A headache started to come on, reducing her already small appetite even further. Rarity took one more look at her sandwich before wrapping it up and putting it away, giving up on trying to finish it off. It would keep until dinnertime. Surely she would be hungry by then.
Looking back over the open field, Rarity felt the headache begin to grow in intensity, as if a hot nail was slowly being driven into her skull. The root of it felt as if it was right at the base of her horn, as if her horn had turned around on her head and was trying to burrow pointy end first into her body.
‘Maybe I have been overdoing the magic a little,’ she thought. She had been using her magic all day, and the last few days had also been draining on her. Several intricate orders had to be done, and one of them had called for an enchanted platinum tiara. Metalworking and enchanting always took more out of Rarity than she realized at first. Maybe she really was just a little burned out; if she was, a few days of rest would do her good. She resolved to take a short vacation once she had all the current orders finished. The coast was meant to be lovely this time of year.
“Spike, do you mind if we call it a day? I’m feeling a little tired.” Rarity pressed her hoof to her head again, willing the mounting pressure in her head to go away. It didn’t, though it didn’t seem to be getting any worse.
“Sure, Rarity,” Spike said, eager to please the prettiest pony in Ponyville, “Is something the matter?” The concern he had felt before had returned. Rarity had never called off a hunting trip before.
Rarity waved off his question. “Of course not, darling. I’m just tired is all; too many late nights working on orders. I think an early night and a trip to the spa will be all I’ll need and tomorrow I’ll be as good as new again.” She got up to her hooves, a little unsteady again. A wave of nausea threatened to bring back up the few scraps that she had eaten for lunch. Quickly, she lowered her head down between her forelegs, closing her eyes against the dancing specks of light. A buzzing noise was beginning to sound in her ears and she took several deep breaths before opening her eyes again.
“Are you sure you’re ok?” Spike could see that something was wrong with Rarity. Placing a claw to her forehead, he pulled it back quickly, exclaiming, “You’re burning up, Rarity. Let’s get you back to Ponyville. If you aren’t feeling better in the morning, Twilight and I can run you over to see Dr. Stable.”
Rarity gave Spike a weak smile. “I’m sure it’s nothing. Just a little magical burnout. I’ll bet that Twilight has experienced it a few times in her life.”
Spike nodded once. Twilight had indeed burned herself out on occasion and she usually felt rotten for a few days after while her body replenished its natural reserves. “Well ok then. If you’re sure it’s nothing. I’m still going to walk you home though.” He grabbed the cart of gems in one claw and began to lead the way back to Ponyville.
“You are such a gentledrake, Spike,” Rarity said, a little more energy returning to her being. She set off after Spike, concentrating on putting one hoof in front of the other. That seemed to be all she could manage, just one hoof and then the other.
The walk back to Ponyville took longer than Rarity had expected, and by the end of it she was sweating profusely. It wasn’t a particularly hot day, but as they reached the outskirts of Ponyville and Carousel Boutique came into view, Rarity could positively feel the sweat dripping off of her face. The headache had returned in full force and it was like the nail had been joined by three others, all trying to outdo each other as they stabbed into her brain. By the time that they reached her front door, Rarity was swaying back and forth on her hooves and the only thing she could think of was taking a couple of sleeping tablets and curling up in her bed.
“Thank you for walking me home, Spike. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” Rarity leaned forward and gave Spike a quick peck on his cheek. She nearly over balanced doing it and Spike had to catch her as she toppled to one side.
“Are you sure you don’t want to go see a doctor?” Spike could see that Rarity was panting hard and her eyes were a little unfocused. Something was clearly wrong. He had never seen a magical burnout this bad before, not even when Twilight had tried casting every spell she knew one after the other back when she was still in school. He hoped that Rarity knew what she was doing.
“I’m sure, Spike. I think I’m just going to go straight up to bed. We can sort out those gems later on. Feel free to take whatever you want. I’m sorry that I had to cut our expedition so short. I hope you don’t mind.”
The last thing on Spike’s mind was sorting through the gems that they had collected today. That could wait until Rarity was feeling better. “I would never mind, Rarity. I’m coming over first thing tomorrow to check on you. Hopefully you will be feeling better by then.”
Rarity felt a sense of relief at the dragon’s dedication to her. Normally, Spike’s crush on her made things a little awkward between the two of them, but to hear him so concerned for her wellbeing, it was heartwarming. “Me too, Spike, me too,” she said, pushing the door open with one of her hooves. The door opened smoothly and Rarity deftly flipped the sign so that it was clear she was closed for the day. Spike watched her, his eyes narrowed as he looked her over.
Rarity saw the young drake off, giving him one more assurance that she was going to do nothing other than go to bed before turning to head inside. The interior of her shop was cool on her dripping fur and for a few seconds, she felt a little bit better. Even still, the thought of climbing up the stairs to reach her bedroom was not an appealing thought.
‘Maybe some water first,’ she thought and turned to head towards the kitchen. Each step of her hooves was getting harder and soon it became a struggle just to stay standing upright. The nausea had returned at the idea of drinking anything and she came to a complete halt in the middle of her showroom floor.
Rarity held her position for a few seconds, her head wavering as the pressure in her skull became too much for her to handle. The buzzing noise in her ears overwhelmed her hearing as it rose up a loud roar and she felt herself slip sideways as her left hooves buckled under her own weight.
The last thing Rarity saw was the floor rushing up to meet her. Distantly, she felt her head connect with the hard slate tiles of her shop and then she was floating in blackness, surrounded on all sides by empty space.
Spike had gotten barely twenty feet before he heard the distinctive sound of something solid striking the floor. Abandoning all pretence, he turned and rushed back to the boutique. Rarity hadn’t bothered to lock the door, so he didn’t waste any time in getting in.
As soon as he entered, he stopped short at the sight of Rarity crumpled on the ground. It was clear that she had just fallen over, but she showed no signs of trying to get back up. Spike could see her chest rise and fall rapidly and he rushed over to check on her.
“Rarity? RARITY!” The white mare showed no signs of hearing him and Spike crossed to her side in an instant.
As he approached, Spike noticed that even though she was freely dripping sweat from almost every centimeter of her body, Rarity was shivering constantly as if she was freezing. Her horn was also odd. It felt like it was on fire, and the heat it was producing would have certainly burned his skin, had it not been fireproof to begin with. It was clear to Spike now that this was no mere case of magical burnout. Rarity was sick with something and he had to get her help as fast as he could. He didn’t want to just leave Rarity here, but he knew that there was little that he could do to help her; she needed skilled medical help which he wasn’t qualified to give.
Spike gave Rarity one last look before running out of the boutique, flagging down Junebug as she passed and rapidly telling her to get Nurse Redheart. Junebug didn’t quite understand what he wanted, but she recognized the urgency in his voice and dashed off without a fuss, dropping her shopping bag and heading towards the town clinic.
Spike himself turned on his heels and ran as fast as his legs would carry him towards the library. Twilight would know what to do.
Right?