"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" Spike sat in a grassy clearing, surrounded by small, twisted trees. They were weak and shriveled, wasted in the rocky socky they grew in, just as wasted as the tears he now watered them with. He had found the largest and strongest of them, and was banging his head against it. "How could I have been such an idiot?”
He let his head fall against the rough bark one last time, and sat there, crying. He knew, or at least he should have known, that Rarity would have problems with him being a pony. He was alone among dragons, and always had been. He was used to it by now.
Then, why did this still hurt so much? He dug his hoof into his chest. Why did he hurt so much? Rarity hadn't rejected him; she just said she needed time. But, what if time proved this was something she couldn't get over?
If that happened, he would leave. He would let her go on with her life how she chose. What else could he do? He would leave, and resume his search for others like him. He was a pony, maybe he didn't have a place in this world of dragons.
He stepped away from the tree and looked up. The moon was still almost full, and the clearing was well lit by it. He stared at it until tears blurred his vision, then he closed his eyes. Why was he even waiting? He should just leave. He met Twilight, she was surrounded by dragons, friends and foster family, that would protect her and help her grow. His mission was over. There was no need for him here.
The crack of twigs and dry leaves sounded off in the darkness, drawing the pony’s attention. It was probably just some wild animal, but Spike felt his heartbeat quicken as he stared into the forest. Then, he came to a sobering realization. He really was an idiot. He left Rarity out there. Alone.
He was just about to cast his tracking spell when whatever was nearby started charging at him. He faced the approaching sound of trampling feet, or claws, and prepared to defend himself. After he was done here, he would find Rarity and make sure she was safe. No wild animal would keep him from that task.
He prepared a preemptive spell and waited for the creature to come into view. When it did, he froze, carefully charged magic dissipating alongside his concentration. Charging straight at him, was a determined bundle of white scales and purple crest. "Rarity?"
The dragoness tackled him. After a brief tumble, Rarity had Spike pinned beneath her, and she yelled in his face, “Spike, you being a pony isn’t something I have to get over. I don’t care!”
Those words, the very words Spike wanted to hear, brought no joy. They only made the pain worse. Stronger and much more experienced in combat, Spike flipped the dragoness over as easily as turning over a sheet of paper. Then, he stood over her, just as she stood over him seconds ago, letting his tears fall to the scales below.
“Then what am I?" He yelled at her, closing his eyes against the flow of tears.
"Spike..." Rarity reached up for him, wanting to to touch him. She tried to rest her claw on the troubled face looking down at her, as if she could just wipe away the pain like she could a tear.
He jerked his head away from the touch and lowered his voice to a whisper. "In your eyes, what am I?". His voice cracked. "If being a pony isn’t the problem, what is?” He brought a hoof to his chest, squeezing the spot she had been touching. “I don’t understand any of this. Not even my own feelings anymore. But, I know this, Rarity. I’ve never felt like this before. Not for anydragon. When you said that what I am is a problem, it hurt. It hurt like hell, but not like any pain I've ever felt. It was like something was trying to crush me from inside, something I couldn't fight against.” He put his hoof down on the grass. “Like a claw closing in on my heart… Your claw.” He moved off of Rarity, shaking his head as he stumbled away. He felt like he barely had the strength to move. “The things you say, and do, affect me more than they should.” He plopped down heavily. “Honestly, I’ve been trying to sort my feelings out too. Have been ever since I met you. And I keep coming back to the same conclusion, and every second I spend with you only supports it. I wanted to tell you... but now, I’m not too sure you would want to hear it.”
“The good and bad become better and worse around those we care about. The stakes are higher, the fear of loss, greater.” Rarity sat up slowly. “Spike, what you are is not the only issue I am concerned with. What I am is also causing me difficulty. It has nothing to do with ponies and dragons, and I barely understand it myself, but please, give me a chance to explain.”
“I will, you know I will.” He looked over at her. “I love you. Even if you don’t feel the same, I want you to know that I love you.”
The dragoness looked down and closed her eyes. “I wish you hadn't said that. I do feel the same, but hear me out before you say anything further.”
“Why?” Spike walked over to her. “If you feel the same, why did we just go through all that?” He sat in front of her and lifted her chin gently. “If you really feel the same, look me in the eyes and say it. I don’t understand what’s going on, but I’ll trust you. Just let me hear you say it.”
She looked into his eyes, purple meeting green, both lined with the red of tears. “I can't, Spike, I don't know for sure. I think I do, but it scares me. It scares me because this was decided for us.”
“Decided?" Spike shook his head. "How could this be decided?"
Rarity rested her claws on his chest. "Spike, you say you love me. What does that mean to you? What does love look like through your eyes?"
The pony brought his hoof to meet the claws, holding them to his fur. "I don't know. I'm still finding out. But, I know that what I feel is for you alone."
"Then..." She stared at his hoof, silently preparing her words. "Would you take me as your mate?"
Spike's eyes went wide. Those had to be the last words he ever expected to hear in this situation. "What, like, now?"
Rarity's face went bright red. "No!" She shook her head quickly and tried to back away, but Spike still had hold of her claws. "Not now! hypothetically! Hypothetically, would you take me as your mate? One day far, far, far in the future?"
"Oh." Spike scratched at his mane, shyly looking away from her. He should have realized that she didn't mean it like that. "I... I guess." Now that he calm enough to think about it, he was starting to see problems. The way she posed her question had sent his mind down a path of preparation and practicality, and now, he had questions. Dragons mate for life, but is a pony's life the same as a dragon's? Would one of them have to go through the loss of the other? And, was it even possible for a dragon and a pony to…
He was broken from that train of thought by a series of small pokes as Rarity tightened her claws against him. "Spike, please, answer me seriously."
He took a deep breath. "Yes. If you would have me, I would take you as a mate without hesitation."
The dragoness pulled her claws away. "What if it meant giving up your magic?"
Spike stopped and stared at her. How could he even begin to answer that? Magic was everything, it was everywhere. "How could I give up my magic?"
Rarity nodded sadly. That was the answer she had expected. "Your magic is more important to you than I am."
"No." Spike shook his head slowly. "That's not what I said." The pony moved closer to the dragoness. "I just don't understand. Why would I have to give up magic? And how would I do it? Is it even possible?"
The dragoness looked up, her eyes wide in shock. "Then, you..."
He wrapped her in a tight embrace and nodded. "If that is what you would ask of me, I would do it."
Rarity buried her face in the fur of his chest. As she tried to calm her pounding heart, she listened to the steady, rhytmic beat of his. How could he be so calm, so resolute, while saying something like that? "I- I wouldn't." She shook her head against him. "How could I? How can any dragon?" She looked up slowly. "I don't understand how you can say that."
Spike met her eyes and ran a hoof along her crest. He understood now. He knew why she was so scared of this. "This isn't about me, is it? It's about you."
She broke eye contact and nodded. "When an earthmate gives herself up to another, she must give her powers up as well."
Spike closed his eyes. He couldn't ask that of her. "I won't ask anything of you. Let me stay by your side, and that will be enough."
He felt a weight on his snout, and opened his eyes. Rarity pulled his face down and slowly rubbed her claw through the fur there. "I would, but it's not that simple, Spike." She then reached up and tied the magical limiter around his horn. "There is only ever one Earthmate at a time, and the history of the Earthmates is passed down from those that gave up their powers to be with the ones they love. The name is much more literal than it seems. We are the chosen of the Earth, and our destiny is to wait for the one who hold's the Earth's blessing."
Spike stayed silent, and didn't resist when Rarity took his hoof and lifted it to her chest. She ran her claw over it, gently exploring every nick, scratch, and scar hidden under fur. "Spike, show me your magic."
He touched his other hoof to the limiter. "I can't, Rarity. This-"
The dragoness shook her head. "No, not that." She pressed her claw to his chest, over his heart. "I want to see your true magic. That which comes from here." She brought her claw back to his hoof. "And here."
Spike took a deep breath and focused on the hoof she held. He tried to envision his magic, as if he were going to... Cast a spell... From his hoof? He sighed heavily. "Rarity, I don't think I can do this."
She let his hoof drop to the ground. "Don't think." She brought her claws to his face, and gently tugged down. As she touched their foreheads together, she whispered, "Just close your eyes and feel."
They closed their eyes together, and Spike did his best to follow her instructions. He didn't think about his magic, or try to force it. He just sat there and tried to focus on what he felt. Her head touching his, claws slowly falling away from him, a quiet breeze running through his mane.
He could hear the wind pick up, and slowly became aware of other noises around him. Crickets in the grass, nocturnal birds and bats rustling through the trees; his own breath, and the breath of the dragoness in front of him.
With each breath, he could smell her. He could smell himself too. They both reeked of the blood and sweat of the last two days. But they were surrounded by other smells as well. The scents of woodland plants, grass, and dirt intertwined with their own.
Slowly, Spike became aware of something among the various sounds, smells, and sensations. A gentle warmth, formless, coalescent, surrounding him. It brushed against him as it grew more and more defined.
After a few moments, the warmth had solidified into a gentle, sweeping curve that danced around him. It lit upon him and slowly invaded his very being. He didn't fight it though. Now that it was within him, he could sense it clearly, as if he were looking at it. It was a purple ribbon, smooth and flowing, with a shimmering surface that hid the jagged portions of its edge. This ethereal ribbon was magic, Rarity's magic.
It slowly withdrew, drawing something out. Energy, bright and condensed. It was shifted and bent, angular and green. This was the magic from last night, the unidentified spell at the campfire. Spike could feel it, wanting to expand, to explore. It wanted to shoot off in every direction, but Rarity's magic kept it bound. Was this his magic? The 'true magic' she had spoken of?
Rarity's magic relaxed slightly, and a single beam of his magic shot off on an angular path around them. It was caught by a piece of ribbon that branched off from the main one. The two magic offshoots intertwined, combining into a twisting white line of energy that continued to swirl around them.
The dragoness continued to release his magic in such a way that one or two lines could escape, just to be caught a second later. After a few rounds of this, Spike's magic began to actively seek hers out.
She let go. Spike's magic burst into a thousand dancing lines, filling the clearing with harsh light. Rarity split her own magic into an equal number of ribbons, and spread them out among the lines. One by one, each instance of magic met its opposite. They combined, becoming something different, something greater, brighter than they had been before.
After every thread of magic had merged, the new lines continued to swirl, forming a framework around them. They wove and braided themselves into complicated patterns as pony and dragon sat unmoving beneath them. Braided magic criss-crossed and locked into place, fading away once each piece stopped moving.
When the last bit of magic faded, they opened their eyes. The clearing was completely transformed. Around the grass and hobbled trees stood a forest of woven stone, a wide, domed temple, grown from solid rock. And in its center, beneath an opening that let moonlight shine through, Spike and Rarity stared at each other.
The magical limiter had disintegrated, leaving nothing but sparkling dust. Rarity reached up and brushed the powdered crystal out of Spike's mane. She gave him a small bittersweet smile. "The earthmates have been waiting for you, Terris.”