Spike never thought that something like this would or could happen. It was simply something he never thought possible. It had all started so much like it always did. But even then something in his gut had told him that there had been something fishy going on. Of course he had been jealous and he still was. Rarity had suddenly started to date this stallion that showed up and showered her with roses, chocolate and all kinds of gems. As soon as the stallion had spotted him, he had shown great reluctance to be near him, even after he had been nothing but friendly. Shortly afterwards Rarity started to date the stallion more frequently and it became very clear that he was no longer wanted around her and especially when said stallion was with her. It hadn’t helped his appearance that Spike had been very jealous, more so than when Rarity had participated in other romantic relationships. But of course he had been jealous, why shouldn’t he? She knew of his affection but had disregarded it. No, that wasn’t quite right; she hadn’t acknowledged him at all after the first date with that strange guy. Twilight and the others had been too happy for Rarity to notice, but he had thought it strange. True, Rarity could get swept up in the moment, but rather sooner than later she had always remembered. Normally she had tried to soothe the hurt he had felt, tried to explain things, but not this time. This time had been different and he had felt it. Rarity had been acting not…oh, what was that word again? It didn’t matter. He just knew Rarity had not acted like Rarity at all.
Spike shook his head and tried to clear the distracting thoughts that kept him keeping losing his focus. His subconscious seemed to know which trail to follow. There were no visible tracks or a trace of a scent, at least nothing he normally would be able to make out. He had been on it for days now, how many wasn’t important but what was important that Spike could feel that he was closing in on his destination; the destination where the stallion and Rarity had been disappeared to without even a word of goodbye. Just like that they had been vanished from Ponyville one day. They all only had noticed because Fluttershy had collapsed on the library floor, totally out of breath after Rarity had missed their usual appointment at the spa. They had searched the immediate area around Ponyville after they had stopped by Carousel Boutique and had found its door unlocked and the sign marking the business as open. After there had been no clue to Rarity’s whereabouts, no map, no letter, nothing, they had searched the Whitetail Woods, Winsome Falls, the fields the Diamond Dogs called home and even ventured into the Everfree Forest but there hadn’t been any trace of Rarity. The group had become agitated quickly and had started to bicker among themselves and Spike had been unable to get a word in, as usual. He had been unable to tell them that he felt something that drew him towards something far beyond Ponyville or any place he knew. He had tried to fight it, tried to stay but in the end the primal part of his brain that responded to that feeling on an unconscious level had won in the end. By the time he had heard Twilight call his name it had been only a loud whisper on the wind.
He knew they were following him and that they were behind him, somewhere. He didn’t have the strength to fight the urge to follow whatever it was that pulled him forward and even if he had he wouldn’t because it pulled him towards Rarity and her rescue. Yes, her rescue. He never thought it possible but whatever it was that had snatched Rarity, the pony he was closest to except Twilight, he had lived through the same stages he had lived through when he had his greed induced growth spurt, only this time his mind wasn’t clouded and altered and he is not as huge as the ponies have told him, only four times his normal size. He didn’t know if it was because the greed was absent or if it was focused on his need for Rarity and frankly he didn’t care. Soon he would be at the hideout of Rarity and whatever had taken her. Rarity, every time the name coursed through his mind and echoed in his soul he gained a burst of speed. The same part that had told him to follow, had told him where to go, now told him to hurry. He wasn’t sure why and could only guess but his instincts had never been so powerful. In the back of his mind he knew that his growth spurt had also been different in another kind; not only was his mind not shrouded by whatever mist or haze had befallen him last time, but this time he had sprouted wings. He shuddered at the memory of pain that had come with the wings. His body had bent and twisted in agony as the two extra appendages had suddenly broken through his scales, skin and bone. He had stumbled and fallen at the first fiery spike of pain that shot through his whole body, making him unable to continue until both wings had broken free of their prison somewhere deep inside his body. He had cried in agony every time another piece of his wings had come free, pelted by the constant downpour that had started only minutes before his body had changed. Even now he felt the wounds where the wings had broken through his scales and skin, aching with a dull, thumping pain that increased and decreased with his heartbeat. But all the pain would be worth it when he had freed Rarity from this enemy.
The thoughts about his foe brought forth a burst of adrenaline and urgency, the primal part of his brain responding to the stimulation with something that seemed to be coded into his very being. Twilight definitely had a word for this and normally he would too but right now it escaped his grasp.
He had been so caught up into his reminisce over his feelings, that he hadn’t noticed that he had taken to the air and something that was a mixture of a cry of shock, a shout of joy and a squeak of fear escaped his throat. Spike struggled and groaned in exertion of this new and unknown sensation to him as he fought his way to stay aloft and to speed away in the direction his senses commanded him to take. As soon as he eased his fighting against the air, and more importantly his own body, and let his innate ability for flight take over, giving up to actually think about how he was able to fly all of a sudden, it allowed him to drift along on the strong currents of the wild, untamed currents of wind from the storm that accompanied the downpour. Bringing him even faster towards Rarity.
Sooner than he had expected he spotted the goal of his flight. A few old ruins scattered around an ancient, barren plain. In its midst a single looming dome of massive rock only visible as a dark shape against the raging heavens, illuminated only for a blink of an eye when lightning bathed it in harsh, glaring light. He circled the dome, unable to see anything that hinted at an entrance, finding just holes and small gaps that opted as windows, all too small for him to squeeze through. Only when a few bolts of lightning illuminated the landscape below long enough he was able to spot the entrance, which was hidden from view with the crumpling remains of an awning. He tried to land near the entrance but some sort of force field was preventing him that luxury. He slammed his clenched fists against the force field, ignoring the pain and the magical sparks that arced across his knuckles when he struck it. His frustration grew with every strike that seemed to have no effect whatsoever. Finally the rational part of his mind got a grasp of him. He needed a different approach but he came up short so he shot back up in the sky, circling again the dome and its force field, trying to spy something that would gain him entrance or at least leverage or a weak spot..
Spike felt the presence of Rarity’s captor, the very being his body and soul told him had no rightful place on this earth. Not only felt he its presence but also its gaze upon him, as if whatever it was dreading his very being and suddenly a picture of him as a giant fire snake came to his mind, burning down the dome and the being that hid inside and that had stolen his close friend away. Whatever it was, it was nothing he knew but he was sure it wouldn’t let Rarity go freely. Spike’s whole being told him that he had to save Rarity, for her friends, for Equestria, for her family, for her own good and for himself. As Spike circled the dome he thought he saw a white form deep within, laying unmoving on the cracked floor. He was unable to fight down his anger and rage as thoughts of Rarity being seriously hurt or worse flooded his brain, extinguishing whatever small grasp his rational side had had and he inhaled deep, readying himself to unleash a deadly burst of emerald flame against the force field. The stream of fire burst from his lips, bathing the scene in eerie green and white light as his bolt of flame collided with the force field. But instead of collapsing his fiery breath got deflected, ricocheting away and striking a dead tree in the distance, setting it ablaze and scorching a wide area around it. He could feel the enemy inside shiver and quake in horror but he couldn’t deny that he was glad that the force field had withstood his assault otherwise he himself may have roasted Rarity. He winced and tried to calm himself, but the irritation and frustration that sped through his mind and the stress of the past few days combined were too much and he let loose a mighty roar that shook the plane below, the sound overpowering even the crackling thunder above him.
After the echo of his roar had died down in his ears he finally realized why dragons were deceived evil and mean by the ponies. His own roar had sparked a bit of fear in him that only was able to be there because he had been raised by ponies and lived among them his whole life. Spike promised himself to never allow this side of him to get the upper claw. He wanted to protect his pony friends not to scare them, or do things much, much worse.
On Spike’s next round around the dome he saw it, a crack in the earth, just below the force field, too small to be of importance, but the crack hadn’t been there before. He allowed himself a small smile but it was short lived because he had no idea how this crack could be of use. At least he now was more able than before to feel the presence of his enemy and beside his desire to bring this unearthly thing to justice another seated itself beside it. That particular desire was unsettling for him because Spike had never experienced anything like it before. He envisioned feasting on the lifeless husk of his enemy and as much as it made him shudder and reel from this thought he couldn’t deny an almost pleasant satisfaction that came with this desire. His flight around the force field and the dome grew slower at the battle against his own mind and desire occupied his brain but he was able to win, banning the desire from his very soul or at least putting it inside a dungeon in his own mind far away from any conscious and unconscious thought.
The fight against his own desire had taken his attention away from his surroundings and so he needed a few moments afterwards to gather his focus again on the task at claw. Spike spots the crack again, which had grown by now. Had the crack before only big enough to fit two fingers of his claw through it now was big enough to allow him to fit his whole claw through the gap. Maybe he could dig his way through underneath it. Spike lands in front the crack but as he tries to put his claw to work he feels a resistance and sparks arced again across his fingers, coupled again with the pain of an arcane shock. He grunts in annoyance, pain and frustration. He feels the next roar bubbling up, crawling up from his lungs through his throat to his mouth. He doesn’t even try to hold it back. It feels good to vent that frustration, to get rid of it and keep his thoughts collected, as much as his more primal parts allowed it anyway. Before he can react a small part of earth crumbles away under his mighty, heavy feet and he tumbles forward, colliding again with that force field. A short yelp of surprise and pain fills the air as he tries to catch himself. Spike is able to glimpse a flicker race across the part of the force field that is in the crack before the small gap widens again. Something clicks in his mind and a smug grin creeps across his features that were shortly before coated in frustration and fatigue. He only has to wait and eventually the force field will collapse, unable to keep stable with the amount of energy necessary to keep it alive. He figures he can speed up the process by digging along the edges of the crack. He can take the few shocks of pain that he may cause if his claws scrape along the force field.
Even with Spike’s digging, it takes hours but finally the force field starts to flicker and fade and then finally collapse with a high pitched whining noise not unlike a light crystal that is short of fizzing out. But the sound of the collapsing barrier is overpowered by a loud, otherworldly squeak only to be followed shortly after by another scream. The second one clearly belongs to Rarity and a wave of relief washes over him but that feeling is quickly exchanged for blazing fury for whatever creature out of Tartarus or any other darned place dares to not only capture one of his two closest friends but also the one who holds his affection and his heart in her hooves – no matter if she ever will respond in kind to it. Spike snarls menacingly and marshes forward, beginning to dig his way through the rock of the dome as if clawing at hard, dry bread. A second scream from Rarity pushes him even further, digging furiously at the walls that separate him from one of the ponies he has sworn himself to protect. The thought if his friend Rainbow Dash feels the same way almost all the time like he does now passes shortly through his mind, he definitely has to ask her about that once he is back home. He feels he is getting nearer and nearer but it seems to take ages or until forever to reach his target. He can’t use his fire now; otherwise the melting stone would hurt Rarity. A third scream starts to echo through the dome but is cut short and he has to suppress the thought again to melt the foe and dome with his fire. It knows he is coming and it tries to use Rarity for whatever it has planned before he can reach them. Panic starts to overtake him and he has to struggle to keep his act together. He stops digging and instead uses all the weight and strength of his empowered form to push against the wall in front of him. The protesting sounds of stone grinding against stone meets his ears and he pushes even harder. Soon he feels the eroded rock giving way and he uses this small victory to power forward with all his might.
Finally the wall breaks and Spike stumbles through the opening, barely staying on his feet as the wall before him suddenly gives way and he skitters and scrambles across rubble. It took him precious seconds to adjust to the darkness because the sounds of a fight were near and clearly audible and making it hard for him to wait until his eyes have adjusted to the gloom of the inside of the dome. After his vision has adjusted there is no doubt where he needs to go because a trail of scorched remains leads to a hole in one of the walls that separates this room from another. The sharp smell of acid was overwhelming and only now does he see that the scorched remains of the wall were not burned but corroded. He follows the trail and soon enough finds the combatants. Rarity’s horn was alight and she fights off the many limbs of the thing before her. The light of her horn only reaches enough to allow her to parry or dodge most attempts but enough came through and with every hit she flinched and shrunk back, backing more and more against the opposite wall of the room, but she never gave the thing before her the satisfaction to make a pained noise or scream. Spike stares at that thing before him. It’s a grotesque abomination that only rudimentarily resembled a pony. Its coat was solid and had a pale blue-green oily sheen to it. Its body was bloated like a full horsefly and its seven limbs looked too long and too short at the same time, under his soles fizzled pools of the same stuff that had scorched those remains and gives of that horrid smell. He snarled loudly, catching the attention of that thing and of Rarity. Rarity saw him first and gasped loudly in shock but Spike doesn’t allow himself to wince or slink back. He has to stay his ground.
The thing turns around and he now knows what his more primal parts told him. This thing was not from this world. It just couldn’t be, every fiber of his being tensed as he remembered what this thing was, he had seen a picture of this in a book that Twilight had tried to hide from him, claiming that he was much too young and much too innocent for its contents. He had gotten hold of the book after Twilight went out shopping one day. Mostly the book had been nothing in comparison to the things he had been confronted with as Twilight’s Number One Assistant, but as he came upon this thing he had felt his blood boil and hot puffs of smoke had escaped his nostrils. Before he had known it he had ripped out the page and torn it to pieces, burning the remains to ashes. Twilight had been furious with him and had him sentenced to not only clean up the library twice a day for a month but also for no dessert for two weeks no matter how much Pinkie Pie had protested that something like that were cruel and unjustified. He didn’t remember the name but he knew what those things did and were. They were beings from another plane of existence, always lured to this earth by some great tragedy. He couldn’t kill it; only banish it’s disgusting presence back to its original plane. They needed the life essence of other beings to survive in this world and one of those things must have taken the life essence of the stallion and after the energy of that had been drained it had kept his form to lure Rarity into his clutches. According to the tale of the book the earth had been defenseless for a few hundred of eons. The legend has it that the dragons once were supposed to be guardians of the earth protecting its inhabitants and mother earth herself against beings like this. But over time their watchful gaze had wavered as they had turned their eyes towards those blinding lights of gold and gems.
Just as he wants to step through the hole, the thing ceases its hesitation and attacks, colliding with him in full force and sending him flying backwards a few feet. It lets out a triumphant screech that chills him to the bone. Spike ignores the pain where he had been hit or the smell of his scales that normally would make him gag. The thing starts to rush at him again and he knows he has to stay at a distance and frantically Spike searches for a place where he can use his fire without risking harm to Rarity, but he is to slow and the otherworldly beast collides with him again, smashing him against the wall with a pained roar. But the beast wasn’t finished and closed in again. This time he is ready though and dodges the attack and he thought he has found the weakness of the thing as he keeps out of reach from its limbs but suddenly it stretches, closing the precious gap he had created and rams his massive head into his chest with otherworldly might. Again he gets thrown against the wall but at least this thing keeps away from Rarity, at least for now but if he fails…he doesn’t want to think about that. Suddenly a rumbling shakes the building and cracks begin to form in the wall and in the roof. He has underestimated the stability of the dome, the stone must’ve been withered away from the elements more than he had thought or maybe mother earth itself tries to help him out. Spike is not sure how a collapsing roof could be any help as he dodges and hides from falling pieces of rock that would be big enough to crush his arms or legs or bury his tail and costing him any advantage he might have.
After the collapsing has stopped he looks up and he sees the raging storm above and Spike can feel the idea that could save Rarity and him pop in his head. The gap is barely wide enough for him as he jumps up and shots through the roof and spreads his wings wide, flapping them to gain height. The beast hasn’t stood idly and three of his limbs catch around his left ankle, trying to pull him down. The pain is nearly unbearable but he only has this chance and he is going to use it. He grits his teeth and grunts with effort, gaining height agonizing slow but surely. Higher and higher he went and finally feeling that he pulls the otherworldly being with him. All the while the thing screeched and wailed loud and in a piercing pitch, trying desperately to disrupt his focus. Finally he reaches the clouds and the raging storm within but he knows he can’t count on lightning to strike his foe down. But up here he has the clear advantage and he is going to use it. He bents forward and grasps the screeching thing, clenching he teeth as pain courses through his claws and arms. He takes the time to aim and then hurls the thing downwards with all his strength. Before the thing even touches the ground he inhales deeply and shortly afterwards unleashes a wide ray of emerald fire towards his enemy. The ray hits its target shortly after this unearthly fiend touched the ground with a loud, resounding splash. The ray hits and the pained wail of the thing pierce through the night. After the ray has died down the otherworldly beast looks up and sees as Spike descends from above like the unbridled wrath of mother earth. It tries to slither away but he was upon it before it even had decided about a direction and his claws dig deep into the still smoldering, soft places of his beforehand completely solid coat, breaking it open with a sickening pop. Once again he uses his fire. Searing heat sinks deep into the very essence of the abomination and with a last suffering screech its existence on this plane found its end.
He rises to the air again and gets his bearings, flying back to the dome. Far in the distance he can make out moving shapes that were on their way towards him. Spike feels nothing anymore but exhausted. He had been lucky that this thing had been rather weak otherwise he had been chanceless and Rarity and he would have ended as a snack for that thing. He shivers at the thought. He starts his landing as he spies Rarity down on the ground through the hole in the roof, looking up at him. Her mane, tail and coat are dirty, general a mess and even from up here he’s able make out the scorch marks where the thing had landed a hit but otherwise she looks fine. Well, if he looks over the state of shock she seems to be in but at least it was over and he has saved her, protected her against the otherworldly beast, his nemesis and he finally allows his body and mind to rest and return to the place he felt at home. He relaxed with a sigh at the thought of going back to normal that it took him a few moments until he realizes that he was too eager to relax and now was falling which turned shortly after into plummeting. After he had defeated his foe his body had shed his empowered form, which it had only kept going with the last rest of available energy and returned to his normal form of a baby dragon. He screams in panic. After all he had gone through he would die, plummet to his demise and he couldn’t do anything about it.
But somepony else could. Before he smashes into the ground he felt a warm, tingling and familiar sensation surround him and his fall slows before it completely stops. He floats over to Rarity and she sits him gently down before embracing him tightly. Shortly after she begins to shiver and sob freely as the repressed memories of the last few days and weeks catch up with her after the spell she had been under was broken. Spike wraps her as much as possible in his own embrace, joining in with his own tears and cries in her sobbing. After all tears had been shed and all kind of apologies, promises and encouragements had been said sleep finally claims them both.
Twilight and the rest arrive a few hours later, finding both Spike and Rarity fast asleep and tightly cuddled against each other but without any clue what has happened. They try to find anything that could hint at it, but there is nothing to find but the scorched circle of earth where Spike’s ray had hit the beast and only an old cart, miraculously unharmed by the elements and large enough for Rarity and spike. Both sleeping friends are loaded onto the cart and Applejack and Rainbow Dash pulled it back towards Ponyville while Fluttershy tends to their injuries. All five mares wonder what had happened here but after Spike and Rarity had woken up no coercing could educe from them what had transpired, forever remaining a secret for both of them to keep.
The End