//------------------------------// // 24 The worst feeling is hurting someone you love // Story: Blood Curse Boutique // by Rarity Belle //------------------------------// Another day was spent in the city of Canterlot. Even though it was perfect weather to travel in, the night was to be spend in the various bars that were still open at the time and the unicorn could use something to make her feel better. She was in the city of her dreams and everything was possible. There was however, one major catch to her operations and that was the fact that she would have to travel during the day itself. Something that made her not being able to sleep as long as she would have liked. Though it was the price that had to be paid for the events. Her night of going out, drinking and talking to a lot of other ponies had come to an end had at one point. The vampiric unicorn had drunk so much different kinds of wine that she became a little tipsy. If not a little, big bit. She wasn’t full on drunk but enough to feel the alcohol having some effect on her body's functioning. It was a rather difficult task for the mare to make her way back into the castle in order to pick up her gear. Which only was a black cloak that got hung over the coffin. Nonetheless, she still wanted to have it back in her possession. She had done so much with it already, it would have been a shame if she lost it. Then did the day break on again. The unicorn of fashion had taken a very light nap. A nap that was made in order to at least make her able to think straight again. She hoisted herself back in the piece of fabric for her daylight travel back to her home. If all of her calculations were to be correct, Rarity would be back home by the early evening. It would cost her some time to not be falling in her slumber but she prayed it could be made up in the train itself. ~~~~   She just went from the castle and to the mighty train station of Canterlot. Through the masses of ponies she walked and hid herself in plain sight for all to see. She gave no attention to any of them and they didn't gave any to her. Canterlot and Ponyville had that as their major difference with one another. Where the tight community of the little town always looked up and odd towards figures that concealed themselves, the busy metropolis it didn't and wasn't minded whatsoever. A thing that was much to the relief of Rarity’s mind. There was one problem that threw soot in her food. She had just missed a train and had to wait until the late afternoon to take the next one. One train that would have brought her home by the early evening and possibly in the darkness of the night. A thought she was satisfying with to say the least. Yet the waiting game had only just begun. With the hours of boredom that passed by, there was the other train which finally rolled into the station and gave a powerful whistle. Not all too much later from that did the unicorn found herself sitting in a private compartment of that very train. It was something that had cost her an extra bit but it was going to be worth it as she was the only one to sit in it. Perfect to hide herself from noses that didn't had anything to do with her. "Now this is just wonderful," she spoke up to herself. She closed all of the curtains and hung a small notice on the door outside which wrote the signature 'do not disturb' sign. Then the unicorn just dropped down on the couch of the compartment and closed her eyes. Before Rarity was even aware of the events had she fallen into a deep slumber. Finally would there have been a chance to make up for the events that had happened just hours before. The train rolled out of the station and then it went passed the mountain passage on which Canterlot was built on. A trip that went through snow and tundra before it made the transition into the forests at the foot of the mountain. Tunnel after tunnel was being passed yet the unicorn remained deeply asleep. ~~~~                   The only thing that could truly wake her up from her sleep was nothing else but the sheer power of the breaks when it arrived at Ponyville Station. She was taken out of her slumber rather abrupt and rubbed her eyes with a hoof before she left her compartment in all of the silence. The hood of the cloak was never removed and she looked upon the final set of departing ponies with her blue rims. Only to then follow them out of the train herself. When her hooves finally set themselves back on very familiar grounds, there was only one desire which she had for the young evening. The desire to take it all easy from that point onwards. Just to sit on the sofa with a cup of tea and a good book or something like it. More than that she didn't had on her mind. With the gentle nod that was given by herself, did Rarity made her departure from the station as well and she made her way back home, her true home that was the Carousel Boutique. Her horn allowed itself to coat in the light blue aura as the front door had the same event playing for it and under a soft screech of the wood and its hinges, it opened itself for her. The mare walked in and closed the same way with her magic before she discharged the magical extender on top of her head. While the aura disappeared just as it came, she took a deep inhale through her nose. All the scents of the boutique began to fill up in her nose. Scents of pleasure and joy but also of tragedy and sadness, her home and her domain never was as it once had been. She allowed the many candles in the building to reawaken themselves again by another charge of magic after she had hung her cloak up. The light that was created by the raging little flames was more than enough to vanquish the darkness that had the building in its hold and the mare gently looked around the place. “So much better to be back home then in such a castle,” giggled Rarity to herself before she made her way over to the bedroom at first. The mare had the intention to grab something that laid there that was dear to her. When she walked up the stair was there another thought that crossed her mind. “Of course, such a castle to live in a wonder for sure, but it is not fitting my refined style. Now a mansion on the other end, now that would be just amazing,” she spoke against herself in a happy tone. ~~~~   Rarity walked down the hallway and entered her bedroom with a small smile that was visible on her face. The horn charged itself up once more on the evening and the dark room got covered in the blue light that was irradiated from the magic. With a couple quick motions of her head had the mare revealed the small key once again from under her pillow. She had locked the drawer in the nick of time before she left for Canterlot. Only realizing it was still open after she had left her home. The key got placed in the locked drawer and turned it open as the mare pulled it back with a hoof. Her eyes fell upon the journal which she cherished ever so much. But it could be her death if it ever fell on the hooves of anypony else. The journal got surrounded by the aura before it left the drawer it so faithfully rested in. The drawer itself then got again locked and the key levitated back to its original hiding spot under the pillow. Rarity turned herself around and laid her eyes upon the book before her while the questions rose. She made her way out of the bedroom again and down the stairs. Through the archway in order to just plop down in her sofa in the living room. On the small table were a quill and a jar of ink that got levitated towards it. The two items stood on a cabinet within the room  under normal circumstances. They would have been used to write notes with if she and a client were talking about the looks of a new dress or suit. But the journal was no exception to that. Rarity then sat down on the sofa. There she allowed a deep exhale to leave her and closed her eyes for just a little moment. Even with her eyes closed did the quill gained the same aura around itself and it dipped its tip in the ink with care. Then it went on its way towards the open book. A book whose pages got turned over and over to find the last entry somewhere deep within it. A book that contained secrets, thoughts and other more miscellaneous things and information about the proper lady. Things that not even her friends knew about her. But most notable were facts that everything since her transformation got written within it as well. ~~~~   Not much later had she come to the last entry and flipped to another, blank page. Her eyes opened themselves again and it were two fresh and unwritten pages that she caught within them. Rarity fixed her position upon the sofa to be a bit more natural. In her mind she was planning just how she was going to formulate the new entry in her journal. She would write it down as fast as she could before she would start wandering through the streets of the quiet town. A deep and thoughtful moan got released through her mouth before the quill set itself upon the paper and began to write down the words the mare had in her head. With elegance and grace did it move itself over the paper. All while Rarity kept a close eye on it. Making a mistake was the last thing she wanted to have to deal with on the calm evening. The mare stopped her writing for a bit in order to give her thoughts the free range. She opened the curtain that was the closest to her location via a small charge of magic. With her blue rimmed eyes she just looked over the nightly skies. Not to mention the moonlight that fell right through the gap in between the curtains. The candles that were lit near the window, extinguished themselves so that she could look better out of it. The unicorn was treated with a wonderful play of light that was created by the clouds and the moon itself. Some just broke open in order to make the light shine through whereas others closed up to block off the rays, all done while they calmly drifted by. A gentle giggle left her mouth as the eyes were almost unable to tear themselves away from the beauty of nature. “Astonishing.” she whispered to herself. ~~~~                 But when she expected it the least, there was a rapid knock on the front door of the boutique. A knock that did its turn almost right after the clocktower had hit nine in the evening. The knock was something that caused Rarity to come out of the pleasant experience from the lights in an instant. Her eyes shot over to the door with a thundering expression. The book got closed and together with the quill it got lowered and placed back on the table under a deep exhale of the mare. A mare who managed to hoist herself back out of the sofa in order to respond to the being at her door. Whether she liked it or not. The door opened itself with the help of her magic. Rarity’s eyes looked around to see who just might be looking for her in the middle of the night. It was then that her head lowered itself that there was another shock going through her. Before her door stood the personal assistant of Twilight Sparkle herself, Spike. The purple scaled, green spiked and green rimmed baby dragon. “Hey Rarity, can I come in?” he asked in a nervous manner as he dared to look up to her. The unicorn only blinked a couple times at the rather suddenness of the visit but soon enough opened the door even further. Far enough for him to enter. “But of course you may, darling,” she replied in a sweet and peaceful voice. The little dragon made no time to waste upon the answer and walked in as fast as his little legs could carry him. He headed towards the living room where he took place on the sofa she laid on not even two minutes ago. He simply admired the sights of the - in his eyes - most beautiful unicorn in all of Equestria. An opinion that was shared with many others across the land. The mare closed the door behind her once again on the clear but clouded night. Though there was a question which left her mouth as she made her way back into the living room with a graceful pacing. “Spike, may I ask the purpose of your late visit?” she questioned towards him after she appeared in the archway and thus into his view. Spike’s green eyes turned themselves over to the blue ones of the unicorn under a smile. “Well I’m just back from a vacation Twilight sent me on, a six months travel around the world! I told you that right?” he spoke up in a happy voice. “Hmm... I do believe you told me that yes, but six months has been an incredible long time. I must have forgotten it sadly,” the unicorn answered. Though such a thing was nothing compared to that what she had to remember and was on her mind. “It is alright Rarity, would you like to hear about my travels?” he said in response. He didn’t even appear not even mad or saddened at the reply he got from her. The dragon knew he was gone for a terrible long time. She gave him a nod under a smile while walking back into the living room and took place in a chair which was located against the sofa. But as she took place ever so gracefully weren't the eyes of the dragon being able to hold themselves off of her and her wonderful looking nightgown around her middle. He found it a true work of art that she had created, if he only knew what it really was. “I would love to hear all about it to be honest, for being away for that amount of time must have given you the opportunity to see a lot,” said Rarity after she made herself comfortable in the chair and allowed her ears to perk themselves in order to hear the upcoming words, if not stories. Her forehooves made a comfortable rest against the purple ‘fabric’ of her ‘nightgown’. Something that Spike had seen when he entered and just as everypony else assumed from her, thought it was just another piece of clothing. ~~~~                 Though his eyes began to sparkle at the response he got and began his tales. He started to speak, if not ramble from time to time, about his travels around the wonderful world they lived on. From the deserts of Saddle Arabia to the frozen fields high up in the Frozen North. From the friendly Chinese ponies to the sometimes violent Nordic viking ponies, from the jungles of the Amazon and its many temples lost through the ages, to crowded cities like Los Pegasus or Manehatten. The little dragon had seen it all, done most of it and had no regrets of being six months away. It was his reward for the work he did for Twilight and all the events she just dragged him in without any form of thought. Even though he was just a baby dragon, he had seen quite the lot already and knew how to handle himself within mostly every situation. And the subject he spoke the most about was the food that all the different cultures had he came across. For that little dragon alone had an appetite bigger than the six pony friends combined. The further the story got, the more interest got awoken in Rarity herself as she leaned a little bit forwards out of her own to hear him even better. With the passage of time was his story over and it had taken him three long hours that flew by for either of them. Rarity just sat in her chair, leaned forth and smiling ever so warmly. “That is simply amazing Spike!” was the only reaction she could give to the world traveling dragon. He only nodded rapidly in response while he had a bright smile on his own face. But just then, his expression changed into a more sad one as he spoke up. “Should have taken pictures for you all though.” A small giggle came from the mare her mouth as she replied while she stood up and made her way over to the sofa. There she sat down upon it and with a cold hoof stroked over his back ever so gently and caring. “But you telling it like this is far more beautiful to hear then watching pictures, for words are more lively than still images now don’t you think?” Rarity spoke up in a gentle tone to comfort him. Spike let go a small shiver in response of the hoof against his back but also found it comforting of an odd reason. He gave a small nod under his smile. “Yeah they are. But how have you been Rarity, obviously you haven’t done the same and nothing in that time.” ~~~~   The question fell in her ears and she couldn't just tell him that she had become a vampony. Rarity had to tackle the situation with a great in order to not give away too many details. Or not to raise too much suspicion within his little body. “Well, life has been taking an interesting turn for me to say the least,” she said after a few seconds and removed her hoof from his back. “I heard, you have closed the boutique for the day, right? Why is that?” the young dragon asked with a set of curious looking eyes. “Well, that is having an interesting story behind it. Given how I always was often both working on dresses and helping clients at the same time, it began to wear deeply on my mind, forcing me to drop one of the two. And in order for the Carousel Boutique to stay existing, I had to close it during the day and let every order come in by mail. The doctors said to me that if I didn't went to them the day I did, my mind would have been broken on its own within the next two weeks. Two weeks back then, that is. It was quite the life saving and changing moment, that day,” she explained to him without a change in her voice. It happened to be quite the mature story for such a young being. Though living with a pony like Twilight Sparkle was everything but innocent. A fact that got proven time and time due to the experiments she conducted within the basement of the library. Spike’s eyes grew bigger the further she went into her story and he just wanted to hug her tight. It seemed that he had almost lost the love of his life but needed to be patient near her. Rarity found it rather cute that he was in love with her. Though the signs were sometimes too obvious to miss but she never appreciated anypony to just hug her just out of the blue. Especially with her changed state and colder body temperature it would only raise suspicion around her. Foreshadowing, one could have called it. “I, I am sorry to hear that, Rarity, I didn't know I had almost lost you during my absence,” the little dragon spoke while he managed to hold his urges. But only slight. The mare gave a him a warm and reassuring smile. “But I am still here right? That is what counts the most in my opinion. Besides, if I told you it in the months you were gone, it could have crushed your holiday and that was the last thing I would have wanted,” she replied to him in a calm tone. His head made once again a nodding movement while he listened to her words. “It does yes, and you are right.” Spike said while he gained a small smile on his face. “See, nothing to be worried about.” “Hey Rarity..?” “Yes, my dear Spikey Wikey?” “Can I, hug you?” ~~~~                 The unicorn blinked a couple times in confusion before her mind began to think deeply about the situation. He was a dragon, a cold blooded creature. Maybe with luck she could hug him and he didn't feel the cold body temperature of her body. It was only a matter of seconds before she replied and took the huge gamble. “Of course you may hug me, darling.” She then spread her forelegs outwards for the incoming hug. Spike went further over to the side of the unicorn and just let himself drop in her hooves. There he would have started to hug her just so tight. The mare wrapped her own forelegs around him with a gentle motion. All while she released a sigh of happiness. It felt good to her to just being able to hug another being. The warmth of the dragon’s body was something that she welcomed with open hooves as well. Yet during the hug there was another shiver of coldness that made its way through the little body of Spike and he shivered in return. He tried to take it light in the hope not to let her notice it. Though the longer they hugged, the more obvious it became. Just her hoof he could understand given that she walked on the stone floor for most of the time. But her entire body was starting to raise a question in his mind. One that he spilled out without a second thought. “S-Say Rarity, s-since when are you, so c-cold?” Then it was the unicorn who got a shock through her body. She blinked a couple times before they gazed into those of the dragon with a warm expression. “Well, I have been trotting around through town in order to get my mind to a rest just before you came to visit me, and this evening is not the most warm one of them all. I think my body simply has not been warmed up enough yet.” “I, I can understand that, but this cold, is not from outside... It comes from within you. You aren't a zombie pony by any chance, right?” he said after his head had up in order to meet her sapphire blue eyes. The unicorn allowed a small giggle to leave her mouth as she gently nuzzled his nose. “My little Spikey Wikey, I can assure you that I am not a zombie pony for I do not have the desire to eat brains.” “Then, w-what are you?” he questioned out loud. The eyes of Spike shot open as his own words fell in his ears for he meant to speak that in his mind but she also heard it. With a great care she stopped with the nuzzling and only blinked even more towards him. “Well I can assure you that I am a unicorn mare who is living in Ponyville under the name of Rarity,” she replied in a rather dry manner. Spike let out a deep sigh in response to her words before he broke the hug with her and jumped off of the sofa. The baby dragon turned himself back towards her with a saddened look. The tone in which she spoke did it for him. ~~~~   Rarity looked back in his eyes and she saw only the sadness within them. The disbelief of his childish mind could be seen far and wide. “Prove it, prove it that you still are who you claim to be. For the Rarity I know is not you. The Rarity I know, is sweet and warm but you, you are cold and even cruel inside,” he spoke while the boiling anger mixed with tears of sadness could be seen in his eyes before some of them gently made their way down his cheeks. The mare couldn't stand the sight that was given before her. It was something she never could and never would be able to. Her head gently shook itself as she stood up from the sofa with a deep and forced exhale that left through her mouth. “Spikey, I assure you, I am still the mare you love, but time has changed me a lot over the past six months, more than I ever could have wanted sadly... Don’t cry my big and strong dragon, you are a strong one, aren't you?” she brought forth in her most kind sounding tone. All in the hope it would calm him down. With her words rolling into his head, the baby dragon’s tears stopped flowing while the anger boiled down into a near nothing. “I, I‘m sorry, Rarity. I didn't know what I was thinking. I’m so sorry, c-can you forgive me?” he said while he looked over to her, looking her right in the eyes. The mare gave a smile to him while her hoof was stroked his cheek. She let the scales feel the soft fur a bit extra when she spoke her words. “I already forgave you, my Spikey Wikey. We both have been through a lot these past six months and we both need time to get used to it.” He nodded to her words and smiled ever so lightly at the feeling of the soft fur against his scaled cheek as he looked past the mare and onto the table, taking deeply note of the book laying on it with the quill next to it. “Say Rarity, I didn't know you were a writer as well.” The little dragon pointed into the direction of the book as one of his fingers and the unicorn followed the imaginative line that was created. “Well, I am not author of any fictional work and I do not have the plan to do so. No, that book is my personal journal in which I write happened events that I cherish for all of time, moments that happened that are just too wonderful to forget,” she spoke before a sigh of joy left her nose. She then turned her head back to Spike who stood there nodding for yet another time on this evening of mixed emotion and calm but cold weather. ~~~~                 In the far distance there was the chiming of the Ponyville bell tower did its turn. It send its wonderful play of sounds through the air while indicating the time of day. Both the unicorn and the dragon counted the gongs that came and went. Rarity for the fact that she wanted to know the time, Spike for the fact that he hadn't hear the clock of his home turf in ever so long. “But I have to go now, Twilight is probably wondering where I am and maybe...” he said as the sounds of the clock died down. But before he could speak further, it was the mare gave him an approving nod while her horn gently charged itself up in order to open the door for him. “I understand it Spikey, and it is a shame to let her wait now isn't it?” “Yeah it is. Speak to you later Rarity!” he said as he made his way over to the door where he blew a small kiss towards her. The unicorn let out a small giggle at this phenomenon as she caught the kiss playfully and placed it against her lips before she blew one herself. The kiss was blown into the direction of Spike who caught it and firmly held it in his hand. His hand then went towards his chest and he placed the kiss against his heart as he waved to her. Then he simply disappeared through the door and into the darkness of night to make his way back home. “He is such a sweetheart, but if he knew my secrets, it would destroy him,” she spoke to herself after the wide and fangless smile fainted from her face after he had vanished out of her sight. Rarity closed the door ever so gently and turned herself around, back into the living room with a deep sigh. “None of them may ever find it out... Means I have to live in isolation for eternity or at least until their...” A loud gulp left her body before she spoke her next word in true fear for it. “...Funerals.” Rarity shivered at the very thought alone while she made her way back to her sofa. It was something that stood sure for a rather grim future that laid ahead of her and something that would happen without a doubt. That was, if her life wouldn't have been ended by something unseen. The unicorn shook the thought off of her and she took the journal again. Only to continue the writing in it but at the end of her entry she placed the question in particular it. It was a thought that was worth considering greatly. For it gave the possibility to walk around the face of the lands again, even if it would take a century of hiding. ~~~~                 But on the streets of the town didn't the little dragon found it comforting at all. The words she had spoken to him, the bite mark he had seen in the neck of Twilight while she spoke about the crazy events that had happened to herself. He wanted to know the answers on his burning questions and he knew exactly how he would get them. Spike grinned ever so lightly before he released the kiss out of his hold. Though he felt a deep regret towards the unicorn in his heart. The kiss was carried into the wind, blown away into a moment. It got released and sailed off to places for away and unknown. The little dragon made his way back to the tree library where he greeted Twilight with a smile and they had a little chat with one another before he went to the bedroom in order to get some much needed sleep in his basket. At least that was what he said to her. Because in the reality of the situation, he prepared himself for the upcoming day. He managed to get his hands on the same clothing he wore during a certain ‘past-future’ problem that the librarian had caused to herself. Together with her and Pinkie Pie for some reason, it had been solved. Though he was still wondering about the question if the mulberry mare still could hit herself in the head on the matter near pointless matter. Spike shook his head to get his thoughts back on order and focus on the task ahead. He would get his answers one way or the other. The normally always so clear pool of water that was Rarity had become murky and he was more than willing to clean it up.