//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6: Cryin' 
// Story: Life of a Dragon: Die for Metal 
// by MoshKing 
//------------------------------//

	As Rarity made her way back to the Carousel Boutique, she found herself on the receiving end of many dirty looks. It seemed that news tended to travel very fast in Equestria, and many of the townsfolk had learned of Spike's breakdown at Celestia's castle. Needless to say, the Mane Six weren't the most popular group in Ponyville, and from what it seemed, Rarity was the most hated out of all of them. Why shouldn't she be? Spike's love for Rarity wasn't exactly the best kept secret in Ponyville, and many of them already began to dislike her because of how long she had been using Spike. When news hit that Twilight and Rarity had been having sex behind Spike's back, her popularity decreased at ten times the rate that it had been before. Was it not for the fact that almost all of her business was done outside of Ponyville, she would have been homeless by now.

As Rarity reached her home, she began to reach for the door just as her younger sister, Sweetie Belle, stormed out the door and right by Rarity. She carried a black suitcase in her hand.

"Sweetie Belle?" Rarity asked, "Where are you going?"

Sweetie Belle stopped in her tracks and turned around to face her sister. An angry look was etched into her face, and her eyes burned with rage. "I'm staying with Apple Bloom for a few days." she said, "I don't want to be around you for a while."

Rarity looked down at the ground. "I guess you've heard about Spike, then."

Sweetie Belle gritted her teeth. "Yeah, and most of the town knows, too. You know, I was hoping that one day, you would come to your senses and finally give Spike a damn chance. I should've figured you'd do something like this."

"Sweetie Belle, please," Rarity protested, "You don't understand--"

Sweetie Belle interrupted her, "Oh, I understand, all right." her voice menacing, full of hate, "You're a stupid whore who never gave two shits about how Spike was in love with you unless you could use that to get some free work out of him. Back when you guys were younger, he would follow you around like a dog with his tongue hanging out, and the whole time, you were the one holding his leash. Sure, you would occasionally toss him a gem or two like an owner giving a treat to a loyal pet, but you never gave him a chance, or even thought of telling him how you feel. You didn't think about him back then, you didn't think about him when you started screwing around with Twilight, and I bet you don't even think about him now, because all you probably can think about is how this whole fucking thing is going to affect your reputation."

Rarity tried to protest again, "T-That's not true. I-I feel just as guilty about Spike as the rest of the gir--"

"Shut up." Sweetie Belle cut her off once again. She spat at Rarity's feet. "You're such a bitch." she turned back towards the road and walked away.

Rarity was left speechless. She had never heard her sister talk in such a way, much less curse. She turned back to her front door and walked inside. After turning the sign on her front door to CLOSED and closing and locking the door, she walked up the stairs and into her bedroom. She closed and locked her bedroom door, dropped her own suitcase on the ground, and plopped down on her bed, staring up at the ceiling.

"Is what Sweetie Belle said true?" she asked herself aloud, "Am I really that heartless?"

"It seems like the rest of the town would care to think so, along with the Princesses and most of your friends. Personally, I agree with them."

Rarity shot upwards into a sitting position. She recognized that voice anywhere.

"Discord..." she groaned irritably, "What do you want? I'm in no mood for any of your tomfoolery"

Discord materialized in the middle of the room, floating a few inches off of the ground. He looked like he'd rather be anywhere else instead of in Rarity's home and place of business. "Do I sound like I'm here to exchange pleasantries?" he sneered, "I'm here because I know about what happened at the castle. I saw it all from one of the stained-glass windows in the throne room. I wouldn't have bothered hiding, but I figured that the last thing that poor little Spike needed was the god of chaos getting involved in his personal life."

He moved away from her bed and over to her suitcase that she dropped when she entered her room. "I figured that Spike would have to snap sooner or later with the way that you and your little friends treat him. The only thing that I didn't see coming was this whole thing with you and Twilight. Even I wouldn't have had the nerve to pull off something as backstabbing and selfish as that. Congratulations. You've managed to out-evil me." A party hat appeared on Discord's head while a banner with the words 'CONGRATULATIONS! YOU FUCKED UP!' written in bright red letters appeared in mid-air. Discord blew on a noise-maker and threw a handful of confetti in the air before all of the party decorations vanished, along with the confetti and his party hat.

"Are you done?" Rarity asked through gritted teeth.

"Not quite." Discord responded. He opened her suitcase and reached inside. A second later, he pulled out the Fire Ruby. The stone was now completely black and the crack was still there, extending across the ruby from the top right to the bottom left. "I saw what happened to the Fire Ruby back at the castle, and I figured that I might as well tell you the truth about this gem."

Discord floated back over to Rarity's bed. "First of all, did you know that Fire Rubies are not really shaped like hearts?"

Rarity's eyes widened. "They're not?"

"No," Discord continued, "Now here's where the history behind these things comes in." An armchair appeared at the foot of Rarity's bed, which Discord took a seat in.

"You see, the Fire Ruby has great meaning to dragons that are part of the same species as Spike. For thousands of years, these rubies were used to represent one's love for another. When a dragon of Spike's species finds such a ruby, they spend years shaping it into the commonly known heart shape that ponies believe these things to form into naturally. When the dragon finally finishes shaping it, he then waits to find the one person that he decides that he wants to spend the rest of his life with; The one person that he loves with all of his heart. When he finds that one person, he gives them the Fire Ruby. By doing so, it becomes a sort of formal admission of their love for that person. When they give that person the ruby, a piece of their own soul is left inside the gem, representing how much they would give for the one that they love."

Rarity was in shock. "So when he gave me his Fire Ruby...he was officially telling me that he loves me? The whole thing about it being his birthday dinner was untrue?"

"Yes." Discord answered her, "Spike had originally found it when he was eight years old when he was exploring some old caves in the Badlands with Celestia. She told him about the customary traditions that members of his species performed when he first discovered it. He had been shaping it ever since. He never told Twilight about any of his plans for the ruby, and instead fed her some bullshit lie about how he wanted to wait until his thirteenth birthday to eat it, when it would be fully ripe." Discord rolled his eyes, "For a student of Princess Celestia herself, you'd think that a brainiac like Twilight would have known that a gemstone cannot ripen, but let me explain what's happened with this one." Discord held up the blackened Fire Ruby.

"You see, when Spike caught you in bed with Twilight, the crack in the stone and the gem's color turning black was actually the result of you hurting him so badly, that the bit of his soul that is in this ruby has turned black and died. When he gave you this Fire Ruby, that part of his soul became yours. It made an actual spiritual connection to your soul and his soul. By breaking his heart, you have destroyed that bond. While its had no effect on you, part of Spike's soul is now actually gone. While it will eventually grow back as part of him, while the part of his soul that was stored in this ruby will stay dead, you have actually managed to temporarily take away his ability to fall in love. How long it will take to grow back depends on how long the damage you've done will take to repair."

Tears poured from Rarity's eyes. She tried to say something. Anything. But she didn't know what she could possibly say as a response to the information that Discord had just given her. 


"I...I...I" she stammered.


"Well, my job's done." Discord rose from his seat and the chair disappeared. "I'll leave you here to mull over what I've told you. Perhaps you may learn something about yourself." He laid the Fire Ruby down on Rarity's bed in front of the crying mare and disappeared, leaving Rarity alone in her room once more. 

Rarity felt like her heart had been split in two, and then what was left was roasted over an open fire. No words could even begin to describe the immense mixture of sadness and guilt that she felt.

She laid back down on her bed and let her tears flow freely.

DIscord said that perhaps she would learn something.

Well, she definitely learned something about herself just now.

I'm such a horrible bitch.