Four is Greater
Chapter 3
Spike's Mission
“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight called as loud as she could, looking up towards the pegasus's clouds house. She'd ran their as fast as her hooves could carry her after leaving the library. However, after five minutes of screaming up into the sky without a response, she was beginning to worry. The sun was beginning to set behind the mountains, bathing the white fluff in a red glow, and it was looking more and more like Rainbow either wasn't going to answer or wasn't there at all
“Rainbow!” She called once again, her voice hoarse and her throat sore from yelling. With a worried frown she lit her horn, quickly casting her cloud walking spell before charging another. A flash and a pop later Twilight was standing on the clouds that made up the foundation of Rainbow's house. Taking moment she looked up at fluffy white structure turned foreboding by simply being quiet. Taking a deep breath, she walked hesitantly up to the door.
“Rainbow?” Twilight asked hesitantly, knocking gently on the door. When it swung open, revealing a darkened, empty house, she began to truly worry.
“Hello?” Twilight poked her head into the darkness, glancing around the front room. From what she could see, it looked as though a tornado had been through the room. Anything not made of clouds was lying on the floor, anything that could be broken was smashed to pieces, and there were a few holes in the walls that were not supposed to be windows.
Twilight crept into the house carefully, stepping over what looked like thee remains of a glass vase. “Rainbow Dash?” She tried again, scanning around the darkness for any sign of the pegasus who lived there. When no answer came, true fear began to worm its way into her heart, twisting her gut into an aching ball of worry.
Stepping cautiously around the shattered pots and bits of random junk, Twilight made her way up the stairs to where she presumed Rainbow's bedroom was. She found the door open and walked in, taking in her surroundings. She noticed the open closet doors, the lack of saddlebags, and the fact that the Wonderbolts posters normally covering the walls were missing.
“She left...” Twilight muttered in disbelief. She couldn't blame the pegasus, either; she'd have wanted to get as far away from the town as possible if she were in Rainbow's hooves. With a heavy heart Twilight once again descended the stairs, heading towards the front door in defeat, but stopped when she stepped on something. Glancing down, she saw a shattered picture of six smiling, happy ponies. There was a distinct red stain covering the edges of the broken glass.
“Oh Rainbow,” she whimpered, falling to the ground and picking up the picture, taking a moment to examine it before hugging it to her chest. “What have we done?”
-_-_-_-
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
Spike set his lips into a determined frown as he waited patiently at the front door of Carousel Boutique. Under ordinary circumstances, he'd be ecstatic to be on the doorstep of his crush's house, but today was very different. Today he'd found out Rarity had done a terrible, cruel thing to one of his other friends, and he was determined to sort things out while Twilight talked to Rainbow Dash.
“Coming~” Called the sing-song voice of Ponyville's resident fashionista from within the shop. The sun was just beginning to near the horizon as the door was opened, revealing a stunningly beautiful mare. “Ah, Spike, whatever brings you here at such an hour?” She asked, stepping aside to allow the dragon inside.
“I actually wanted to talk to you about something,” Spike admitted, watching as Rarity went into her kitchen, presumably setting on a pot of tea to boil. He had yet to be at her house without being served a cup of tea almost instantly.
Rarity poked her head out of the kitchen, motioning to a couch. “Take a seat; tea will be ready in a minute. In the mean time, would you care for a snack? I think I have a few spare rubies around somewhere...”
Spike opened his mouth to eagerly accept the offer, before catching himself and coughing into his claw. “No, thank you.”
Rarity frowned, noticing how serious the dragon was acting. It wasn't all that uncommon for him to randomly show up, offering his surprisingly helpful services when she needed them, but for him to simply want to talk to her? That was unusual. “Well, what is it you'd like to ask?”
“It's actually about Rainbow Dash,” Spike started.
“Oh yes, simply dreadful how that turned out,” Rarity said absentmindedly, walking back into the kitchen and setting two teacups on a tray. “But I suppose you never know who might be one of them.”
Spike held an icy glare at the doorway to Rarity's kitchen. “Twilight's 'one of them',” he thought bitterly. There were very few things that made him truly angry, and even fewer things that could make him mad at Rarity. Indirectly calling his adoptive older sister, the pony who had raised him for as long as he could remember, a freak, was one of these things. Forcing the glare off his face when her heard the kettle whistle, he asked; “One of who?”
Rarity came out of the kitchen, tea kettle and cups held on a tray kept aloft in her light blue magic. “A filly-fooler,” Rarity supplied simply, setting the tray down on the table before glancing curiously over at the dragon. “You know what that is, don't you? Surely Twilight's taught you how dangerous they are?”
Spike silently ground his teeth, forcing himself to keep an ignorant smile up. “Filly-fooler?” He barely choked out the derogatory term. “Twilight hasn't said anything about that...”
“Oh dear, I thought she'd have raised you better than that. They're a very dangerous type of pony,” Rarity explained casually, taking a delicate sip of her tea. “Do you perhaps know what a paedophile is?”
Nodding slowly, Spike was careful to keep his lips pressed into a nutral line. He was pretty sure if he opened his mouth he'd end up screaming at her for comparing being homosexual to being a paedophile, and for implying Twilight hadn’t done a good job of raising him.
“Think of a filly-fooler as a mare like that, only instead of going after young colts they go after fillies, though they'll take either if they have to. Of course, they do tend to chase down older mares as well, but they're much more oriented around the young ones,” Rarity elaborated as best she could, watching as Spike's eyes grew wide.
“That's what you think!?” He blurted out before he could stop himself, making Rarity raise a curious eyebrow.
“What do you mean? That's what they are, not what I think.”
“That...” Spike was truly at a loss for words, simply staring at the mare before him. “I just... I can't even believe it!”
Rarity frowned, nodding in agreement. “I know. To be honest I'm surprised we didn't see it in Rainbow Dash sooner, but better late than never, I suppose. She didn't hurt you, did she?”
“Rarity, you don't...” Spike trailed off, unsure what he could, or even should say. After what he'd just heard, he wasn’t about to tell her about how Twilight was; that was just asking for trouble, and it was up to Twilight whether or not the rest of them found out. But... there had to have been something he could do. “Rarity, what if I said you were wrong?”
Rarity did a double take at the statement, surprised the little dragon would suggest something like that. “Well, no offence, Spike, but since this is the first you've heard of this, I don't think you really know what you're talking about.”
“But I do, Rarity,” Spike countered. “Twilight... told me about these things already. I just wanted to see what you thought about it.”
“I see,” Rarity muttered skeptically. “And what, pray tell, did Twilight tell you?”
Spike fidgeted nervously on the seat, unsure what the unicorn's reaction would be to what he had to say. “She told me what Cadence told her, which is that, well, there's nothing wrong with... err, ponies like Dash.”
“You can't possibly say that!” Rarity protested loudly, a look of utter shock on her face. “After what I told you? How they go after the young ones? You can't say that that's acceptable!”
“But they don't!” Spike argued. “Rarity, I don't know where you heard that, but it's not true! The only thing different about Dash compared to you is that she's romantically attracted to mares rather than stallions. That's it!”
“Spike please, you're still just a bay dragon; I don't think you really understand this,” Rarity lectured carefully, speaking as though Spike were too young to understand half the words in the sentence.
“Rarity, I'm a lot older and more mature than you give me credit for,” he muttered before strengthening his voice and continuing. “Even if I wasn't, any foal could tell you it's not right to judge a pony based on who they like!”
“Even when who they like are little fillies and colts?”
Spike groaned in frustration, smacking a claw to his forehead. “They don't! If they did Twilight would t-” Spike covered his mouth with a claw, realizing what he was about to say. Rarity, however, caught it.
“Twilight would have what?” Rarity asked, giving the dragon next to her a piercing gaze.
“Told me about it...?” He offered weakly, hoping to preserve Twilight's reputation as long as he could. They'd find out eventually, no doubt, but it wasn't his place to reveal it.
“Spike, are you say that Twilight... is one of... them?” Rarity whispered the final word, as though simply mentioning 'them' would bring about the apocalypse.
Spike glanced around nervously. “N-no?”
Rarity gasped, easily catching the lie. “Spike! Why didn't you tell me sooner? She hasn't done anything to you, has she? So help me Celestia I will-”
“Rarity!” Spike barked, cutting off the unicorn before she could say anything that would make him even angrier, if that was possible. “She would never do anything like that to me!”
“I can't take that risk. From now on you're going to stay here with me, where it's safe. I'll protect you from her, don't worry,” Rarity assured, wrapping a hoof around Spike's shoulders.
Spike pushed the mare's hoof off of himself and stood from the couch. “I don't need to be protected from Twilight!” He shouted angrily. “What is wrong with you? Didn't you notice that the entire time you were with Dash there was nothing wrong with her? She didn't act off or weird. You didn't even notice anything until she told you! Can't you see she's just like you?”
“She is not!” Rarity raged, standing from the couch. “I am nothing like her... filth!”
Shutting his eyes, Spike turned his head away, disappointment thick in his voice as he said, “Goodbye, Rarity. Think about what I said.”
“You will not go back to the monster who raised you! She could hurt you!”
“She is not a monster!” Spike screamed at the top of his lungs as he stomped across the room, his claws balled into fists as he approached the door. “You're the only monster I see,” he whispered sadly, throwing the door open and marching into the dark of night that had descended upon the town.
“Spike!” Rarity called, running out the door after the young dragon, partially out of anger for what he'd said and partly for fear of his safety back at his own home. However, he proved surprisingly fast as he disappeared out into the night. With no other option in her mind, Rarity charged towards Golden Oaks library.
-_-_-_-
Spike angrily slammed the library door behind him, grumbling to himself. He knew that ponies could be stubborn and ignorant, but Rarity was a whole new level he wasn't prepared for.
“Twilight?” He called, scanning the front room of the darkened building. When he didn't get an answer, he walked further into the room, noticing a small light bleeding through from the door at the top of the stairs.
“Twilight?” He called again, climbing up to the second level of the library and knocking on Twilight's bedroom door gently. He heard a weak sniffling coming from the other side.
“I... I'm coming in,” he said as he carefully pushed the door open. The room was lit by a lone candle sitting on Twilight's desk, the mare herself nothing more than a breathing mass on her bed, covered by a deep blue blanket.
“Not now, Spike,” Twilight whimpered, curling tighter in on herself. Her voice was raw, betraying the fact that she'd been crying for the better part of the day.
“Twilight, did you... did you talk to Rainbow Dash?” He asked, carefully approaching the side of the bed.
The mass on the bed seemed to flinch at the name. “She's gone, Spike.”
Spike raised a confused brow as he sat himself on the edge of the bed. “Gone? What do you mean gone?”
“I mean she left Ponyville... all because of me...” Twilight admitted quietly, sniffling loudly. She still held Rainbows smashed and bloody photo tightly against her chest.
“Twilight, it's not your-” Spike tried to comfort her, only to be cut off by the sound of the library door being slammed open.
“Twilight Sparkle!” Rarity bellowed from the main floor. “You will not lay a single filly-fooling hoof on Spike!”
“You told her!?” Twilight hissed, snapping upright in her bed and throwing the blankets off herself.
“I didn't mean to! I slipped up and she figured it out!” Spike defended weakly. “I'm sorry! But she's not going to stop until she gets me out of here. You should hear some of the things she's been told, Twilight.”
“Sparkle!” They heard Rarity scream, accompanied by stomping as she made her way up the stairs. Without hesitation the door was blasted open in a glow of furious blue, revealing a raging white unicorn.
“Rarity, calm down,” Twilight tried, discretely wiping the tears from her cheeks.
“Calm down!?” Rarity shrieked. “When my precious Spike is living with one of you freaks!? Never!”
“Hey!” Spike shouted, stepping onto the floor between Twilight and Rarity. “She's not a freak, and she's not the problem here either. Go home, Rarity; I'm fine here with Twilight.”
Rarity's jaw fell open, but she quickly shook herself from her stupor. “She's indoctrinated you to think she's normal! You need to be removed from her as fast as possible.”
Twilight sighed, pushing herself from the bed and taking her stance next to Spike, though she was much less sure of herself than he was. “Please, Rarity, just go home. It's Spike's choice, not yours. It's late as it is and I just want to go to bed.”
“Spike's too young to make the choice for himself!” Rarity argued indignantly.
“I am not!” Spike yelled angrily. “I'm old enough to know right from wrong, and what you're doing is wrong!”
“You can't force him, Rarity,” Twilight said, eyes still glued to the ground.
“We'll see about that,” Rarity muttered, lighting her horn and grabbing Spike in her magical blue glow. The dragon struggled against it as he was lifted into the air, but was ultimately weaker than the unicorn's magic.
“Hey!” He cried angrily. “Let me go! Twilight!”
The lavender unicorn's head snapped up, glaring angrily at the mare trying to abduct her brother. With a flash of her horn Rarity's magic vanished from Spike’s body and was replaced by her own as she gently set him back on the ground. “If he wants to leave, he can. But I will not let you force him into anything,” she growled.
“You can't stop me,” Rarity argued, already lighting her horn to once again take the dragon.
Twilight shook her head, cast a spell, and the magic fizzled out from Rarity's horn. “I'm much stronger than you, Rarity. Please, just leave. If Spike wanted to go with you he would have.”
Rarity stared agape at her horn, once again trying to cast her spell. Nothing but tiny blue sparkles came off her horn. “My magic!” She gasped, staring angrily at Twilight. “What did you do to me, you monster!?”
“Anti-magic field. All magic other than mine is blocked within the library,” she explained shortly. “Now please leave.”
Rarity tried again to light her horn, but when she was met with the same result, she cast a pleading glance to the dragon standing next to Twilight. “Please, Spike, come with me. You'll be safe at my house; I'll make sure of it.”
“Go home, Rarity,” Spike grumbled, crossing his arms and turning his head away.
“This isn't over yet, Sparkle, I will protect Spike and this town from you, just like we did from Rainbow Dash.” With those final, threatening words, Rarity trotted indignantly out of the room. Neither Spike nor Twilight made a move until they heard the front door slam shut behind the enraged unicorn.
As soon as she was gone, Twilight once again found herself crying as she fell back onto her haunches. Spike immediately ran to her side, placing a comforting hoof on her back. “I'm sorry, Twilight,” he said quietly. “I didn't know she'd go this far.”
“It's not your fault,” Twilight whispered, tears still sliding down her cheeks and dripping off her muzzle. “The entire town will now by tomorrow afternoon... everypony will hate me, and I turned my back on the only one who wouldn't have...”
“It's gonna be okay, Twilight,” Spike assured gently. “We'll find a way to convince them of the truth... somehow...”