Rarity continued running toward Twilight's library, her mind rushing with 88 thoughts per minute. There were so many questions that she had running through her head, and she could hardly even keep up with how fast her mind was asking them all.
"Why was Spike's gift left on the ground, seemingly abandoned?"
"Why hadn't he come back to retrieve it?"
"Why do I care so much?"
Rarity began to trot faster absentmindedly, truly realizing that Spike could have been hurt.
However, just as she was about to near the library, she felt an ominous, evil aura in the air. It wasn't exactly the feeling of somepony evil being near, but rather something evil. It was as if the library had suddenly become a dreadful mansion, just waiting to be approached so that the visitor could be scared or traumatized.
Rarity slowly walked up to the front door of the library, the box still floating magically beside her as she did. As she raised her right hoof to knock on the door, she realized that her hoof was shaking vigorously, and that's when it hit her like a brick to the face:
She was about to find out about something that she was not going to like. The fear of that was there for sure.
Twilight was still deep in thought when a faint knock on the door interrupted her from her thoughts. Composing herself back to normal, she walked up to the front door, and slowly opened it to find a slightly-shaking Rarity.
"Oh, hey there, Rarity. What's with you? You look like you've just seen a ghost." Twilight remarked. "And what's that?" she asked as she noticed the box that was floating beside Rarity.
Spike, who was still in the middle of gathering things for Twilight's upcoming report, heard Rarity's voice downstairs, and frowned slightly. He really didn't want to hear that voice at the moment. Not now.
With a silent "hmph," Spike made his way deeper to the outskirts of the upstairs room so as not to be seen by her.
"I've come here to...to give this to Spike. I had given it to him earlier today as a gift, but for some reason, it was left outside on the ground. Had it not been for my sister Sweetie Belle, I don't believe I would have ever known about it." Rarity replied to Twilight. "Do you think I could come and give it to him" Rarity asked, a little more pleading than expected, especially to Twilight.
"Um..sure, I don't see why not. Spike? Rarity is here to give you something that she thinks you might have forgotten!" Twilight yelled towards the upstairs room. However, there was no answer.
"Spike?" Twilight repeated.
Still no answer.
"Here, let me go get him. He's probably too caught up with his current tasks." Twilight replied as she turned around to go upstairs. Twilight, however, knew that that wasn't the case at all. She knew that even just hearing the name "Rarity" would make him jump down in a jiffy, much less make him excited and lovesick. The fact that he wasn't responding simply worried her.
As she neared the top of the staircase, she found Spike casually organizing books and papers, just as he was supposed to be doing. That was the very thing that bothered her, though.
"Spike, did you hear me downstairs? Rarity's here, and she has something for you that she believes you might have lost. Think you could come down to get it from her?" Twilight asked.
Spike placed a book on top of another on a certain pile, and then looked up at Twilight. "Actually, I'm fine. I don't really want the gift, anyway." came his simple reply.
Twilight gasped a bit, unbelieving as to what she had just heard.
"Wait, what? W-what do you mean? Rarity says that she gave you a gift earlier today. Is that true?" she asked
"Sure is."
"Well then, why was it left outside? She says that Sweetie Belle found it. I'm sure you should be thankful that somepony else didn't take it!"
"I said I don't want it, Twilight. Go tell Rarity that I no longer desire her...her gift. Spike said, putting a certain sarcastic emphasis on the last word.
Twilight was, simply put, at a loss for words. What was with him? Did something happen to him? Why was he suddenly so sour about Rarity being here with a gift, and for him for that matter?
Spike normally treasured such things, especially if it was from Rarity. What was going on?
"Spike, I...I don't really know what to tell you. What's wrong? Why are you acting like this? You're scaring me!" Twilight said with concern in her voice.
"Actually Twilight, I think I'll just go tell her myself." Spike simply stated as he suddenly started walking toward her, then past her, and then down the stairs. Twilight, who had just computed what had happened, turned around to watch as Spike slowly made his way toward Rarity, who was still wiating impatiently at the front door.
Upon seeing Rarity, Spike's heart skipped an entire beat.
And another.
And another.
And another.
His heart was skipping beats like no other. He frowned a little, the conversation between Twilight and the ex-mare of his dreams flowing through his head with every step.
"Spike's a dragon, and I'm a pony."
He takes another step closer.
"It would simply never work out."
Another step.
"Besides, do you have any idea how embarrassing it would be to be seen dating a small dragon like him?"
One final step.
"Oh, it would be horrible."
Spike was now just a few feet in front of Rarity, who had sighed in relief to see that he was alright. That smile faded just as fast as it had appeared when she saw the expression on his face. Was he...mad?
"Hello there, darling. I came to give this back to you! It seems as if you forgot it outside." Rarity said, trying her best to give him a caring smile.
The fact that Spike simply stood there silently worried the white mare, and Twilight as well, who was still watching from atop the stairs.
"What in Equestria is going on?" Twilight said to herself.
Spike looked down at the ground. He couldn't dare look the unicorn in the eyes, not after what she had said about him. Just as Rarity was about to say something, she noticed a drip of water that hit the ground just below Spike's head.
"Was that a...a tear?" Rarity thought.
It was then that Spike rose his head to look Rarity in the eyes, and that's when Rarity gasped.
His eyes were practically beat-red from crying. Tear after tear began pouring down his face, and even though he kept trying to growl or frown in anger, all he could manage to do was frown is sadness and continue to let the tears stream down his face.
Rarity was shocked. Even though she still had no idea why he was crying, she could practically feel the pain. Her eyes began to water up.
"Spike, what's...what's wrong? Why are you-?"
"Im that horrible, huh?" came Spike's interrupting reply. Rarity simply stuttered.
"I-I beg your pardon?"
"You never really cared for me, did you?" Spike asked, this time raising even Twilight's alerts.
"Spike, what's this all about?" Twilight asked from upstairs, growing impatient. Spike simply ignored his roommate, and continued to look into the now-painful eyes of the white mare before him. Never in his life did he think he would actually come to despise such beautiful eyes.
"Spike, what are you talking about?" Rarity asked, trying to hold in a tear.
"For months, I came to visit you, to help you, to keep you company! For months, I thought that I could one day win your heart, or at least so much as a smile! Your smiles were always the sort of thing that would make my day!"
Spike raised his voice louder and louder after each passing sentence. This time, it was Rarity's turn to let a tear fall down her cheek.
"I came to visit you every day that I could, Rarity, but for some reason, the only thing that I will ever be to you is...is...some tool!" Spike yelled, his tears still falling freely and without care.
Twilight began to silently cry to herself as well. She had a feeling she knew what was finally going on, and why it was going on.
"Dating me would be nothing more than horrible, huh? To you, I'm just some pathetic baby dragon who's only good for giving you an extra hand whenever I'm able to." Spike's voice began to calm down.
Rarity gasped at this last sentence, and immediately looked up at Twilight, giving her a slight glare.
"Spike, I...I didn't...how did you..?" Rarity was still stuttering, and was unable to fully ask her question.
To both her and Twilight's surprise, Spike bolted past Rarity out the front door, and began running as fast as he could in no general direction.
As soon as he did, Rarity immediately looked up at Twilight, who too was now crying.
"You told him? Twilight, how could you?!" Rarity asked as she covered her face with her hooves, fell to the ground, and began weeping.
"Rarity, I didn't tell him a word! You know I would never do that!" Twilight protested, running down the stairs to comfort Rarity and help her up.
Rarity, accepting her friend's help, stood up and looked Twilight in her watery eyes.
"Twilight, he practically almost mimicked the very words that I had said earlier today? How does he know about it? There's no other way that he could have-."
Rarity stopped her sentence immediately. She turned to the box, which was no longer floating in the air due to loss of concentration during the conversation. It was laying on the ground beside her. She looked at the dirty dress that was inside it, and she simply realized why all the events that happened earlier happened. Rarity fought back more tears.
"Oh Twilight, he...he was...he heard us! Twilight, Spike heard us when we were talking at my boutique!" Rarity practically whimpered as she turned back to an already-knowing-faced Twilight. "He must have eavesdropped on us earlier today! Why else would this have been left outside? It makes so much more sense now! Oh, Twilight, this...this is all my fault!"
"I think you may be right, Rarity. I figured the same thing in the middle of his outbreak." Twilight responded, her eyes still watery. Rarity was still practically sobbing. Because of her, the dragon that she adored so well was running to Celestia knows where, and with feelings of complete despair and sadness. He now saw nothing more in her than a complete witch. Rarity continued to sob. She remembered the look on Spike's face as he screamed at her. His voice was full of sorrow. He meant every single word, and it cut Rarity deep. Was this how he felt whenever he evidently eavesdropped onto their conversation? No. This was nothing compared to that. Her words were much worse.
"Besides, if anything, this is all my fault, Rarity. I shouldn't have asked such questions back at the boutique. None of this would have ever happened if it wasn't for me." Twilight said.
"Twilight, don't be ridiculous. I was the one who replied to your questions with such rudeness. I was the one...I was the one who broke Spike's heart." she finally said, allowing another tear to make its way to her mouth.
Both Rarity and Twilight turned to look outside into the direction that Spike seemingly ran off to. Twilight sighed, and turned around to slowly walk back into the middle of her library, where she lied down and buried her face into her hooves, and began to cry silently.
Rarity continued to gaze out into the darkness. She watched for any signs of Spike running back, but to no avail. The dramatic turn of events was too much for her. She didn't want to believe that any of this was happening. She wanted to finally wake up from this dreadful nightmare, and be done with it.
But sadly, that wasn't the case. All of this was real. Spike had run away, and now probably hated her as well.
After looking into the darkness for what seemed like an eternity, Rarity herself fell to the ground, and began crying like she never did in her life.
_______________________________________________________________________________
*Author's note*: For those of you who wanted so badly to see Spike slap Rarity:
Shame on you.