“Why do this?” asked Rarity as she and Discord traveled through time, “Why are you doing this?”
“Doing what?” asked Discord as he raised a suspicious eyebrow.
“This, taking me through time. Showing me all this, why ever would you do this?”
Discord turned his mouth into a zipper and closed it. “It’s a secret,” he answered in a disembodied voice. “Besides shouldn't you be more concerned about where we are going next?”
“I know exactly where you are taking me,” said Rarity with a shy smile on her face, “I studied the list while I was traveling, alone!” Rarity gave the draconequus a hateful look. “You’re going to take me to when Spikey found that spell book to make whatever I desired appear.”
“Smart mare.”
The time spell soon made it to their destination, somewhere deep within the Everfree Forest. Rarity quickly spotted her Spike’s purple scales through the branches, with Owlowiscious perched on Spike’s spines. As Discord and Rarity got closer to the dragon, they could overhear the conversation that Spike was having with his nocturnal friend.
“Hoo,” said Owlowiscious as he looked down at Spike.
“I told you like five times now,” said Spike as he pushed some branches out of his way, “I need your help finding something for Rarity. You remember her right?”
Discord quickly cast a spell to translate what Owlowiscious was saying.
“Yes I remember who she is,” hooted the owl as he rolled his eyes, “I want to know where you’re taking me.”
“We’re going to the Castle of the Two Sisters to find something.”
“Who?”
“For Rarity!” yelled Spike in irritation, “For the fifteenth time.”
“You poor deluded dragon. I wish this pipe dream of yours would just end.”
As Spike and Owlowiscious ventured further into the forest, Discord cast the mind-reading spell on Spike to see what was going through his head.
“Oh, Spikey!” said an image of Rarity in Spike’s head, “With this thing you have retrieved for me, I will be able to make something magnificent for the fair!”
Rarity could only giggle at the sight of Spike’s imaginary version of herself showering him in kisses.
“It was nothing,” remarked Spike after Rarity had let him go.
“Come along Spikey-poo. We have a lot of work to do,” the image of Rarity quickly gave Spike a big kiss on the lips. Seeing this caused Rarity’s face turn bright red.
“Oh my!” said Discord in a deep voice.
“My indeed,” remarked Rarity as she continued to blush, “What did Owlowiscious mean by saying he wants Spike’s love for me to end?”
“He meant that he was tired of Spike using him to help make you happy. Like when he watched you and your friends’ pets while you went to the Crystal Empire.”
Rarity could only stand in silence as she thought about all the things Spike had done to make her happy. He had gotten supplies for her, no matter how far or high up they were. He would do the chores she did not want to do. He’d go over to her home on his days off just to help her in hopes of making her happy, and sometimes at the expense of pain.
“And so many other things,” whispered Rarity as the memories flooded her mind, “All these things he sacrificed for me.”
“For your happiness,” Discord pointed towards Spike as he made his way into the Castle of the Two Sisters.
“Alright buddy, let’s hope there’s something in here to make Rarity happy,” said Spike as he and Owlowiscious walked into the main hall of the castle.
“And into sudden death we go,” hooted Owlowiscious as he flew ahead of Spike. As Rarity and Discord followed Spike to the castle library, all Rarity could think about was how she had put Spike into the position he was in to hunt down that spell book that had turned her insane.
“He would have done anything to make you happy,” remarked Discord, not even looking at the mare, “Even if it was something completely different he still would have found something to help you.”
“I know that,” said Rarity as she watched Spike furiously looking through several books, “I just wished I had seen it earlier. Maybe saved him from all the dreadful heartaches.”
“It wouldn’t matt--”
“I KNOW IT DOESN’T MATTER!!!” yelled Rarity at the top of her lungs in hostile tone. Rarity’s eyes were puffed and filled with tears. “I….I think back to all the times he made me happy, and I try to remember what I did to make it up to him, but I simply can’t!”
Discord could look at the saddened mare as she collapsed on the ground near Spike. As Rarity continued to cry, she began to hear Spike talking to himself as he searched.
“Come on, Spike. We can’t go back to Rarity empty-clawed,” said Spike as he threw a book through an intangible Rarity, “She might never speak to me again if we don’t help her.”
“No, Spikey,” said Rarity as she tried to nuzzle the drake, “I would never do that to you. I promise!”
Discord quickly cast the time spell and took Rarity back to Ponyville, where Spike and Owlowiscious were arguing over the corrupted version of Rarity.
“We have to tell Twilight,” hooted Owlowiscious, still being translated thanks to Discord's animal communication spell.
“No,” protested Spike as he crossed his arms, “I promised Rarity I’d keep this to myself!”
“You have to tell her, Spike. If you don’t, this will only get worse.”
Spike refused to look at Owlowiscious as he thought about what he suspected the owl was saying, “But you're right, Owlowiscious. I have to tell. And once I do, I can forget about Rarity thinking of me as her most supportive friend... I can forget about Rarity thinking of me as a friend at all, or special somepony.”
As Spike and Owlowiscious followed the path of creative destruction that past Rarity was leaving behind, Rarity followed after them to hear what Spike was thinking.
“This is it, she's never gonna love me after this,” thought Spike as he made his way to the outskirts of town, “Everyone was wrong! Maybe I should just give up on her loving me!”
“No, Spikey!” yelled Rarity in fear, “Don’t you dare think that!”
“Why shouldn’t he?” asked Discord as he hovered over her, “It’s not like it matters now, since we both know he didn’t, but why shouldn’t he give up?”
Rarity turned her head slowly and gave a hate-filled look, “Whose side are you on?”
“What?”
“I have seen all he’s done, all he has sacrificed, all he has gone through just to win my love, and you have the nerve to stand there--”
“Technically, I’m floating,” remarked Discord sarcastically. Rarity used her magic to take hold of the draconequus' goatee and pull him down to eye level.
“Do not test me!” said Rarity as she stared into Discord’s eyes, “Explain yourself. Why did you say he should have given up?”
“All I’m saying is that maybe he should have.”
“Why? You told me you thought we should be together. I want us to be, but here you are saying we should not be!” said Rarity in frustration.
“I….di….didn’t! HAHAHA!” Discord suddenly burst into a fit of laughter as Rarity’s face turned six shades redder.
“How….how dare you laugh at my love!” Seeing Rarity getting madder only fueled Discord’s laughter.
“Your...your love! That’s a riot!” said Discord as his laughter died down, “I’m sorry but it was too hard to resist seeing you get mad. Plus, it helped.”
“You...you…. Wait, helped with what?”
“Oh, I just wanted to see how you’d react if someone questioned if you loved him and, as Stephen Fry once said, you passed your test with all the flying colors of the rainbow.”
Rarity tried to find something to say back to the draconequus, but failed. All she could think about was what he had said. It was true; she had just admitted she wanted to be with the drake.
“You know, he actually thought about letting you stay under the spell’s influence,” commented Discord, pulling her out of her thoughts.
“Really?”
“Yes, but he knew it wasn’t really you and wanted to save you so….” Discord quickly turned Rarity’s attention back to Spike who had just freed her past self from the inspiration spell.
“The spell took over you, and you wanted to change everything in Equestria!” said Spike as he tried to explain to past Rarity what all had happened. “I was afraid to tell you how I really felt about it, but then I... I told you the truth.”
Past Rarity could only give a comforting smile to the worried drake, whose heart was almost breathing out of his chest.
“Dearest Spike, you should never be afraid to tell me the truth,” said past Rarity as she pulled Spike in for a hug, “We're friends, remember?”
As Rarity watched her past self and Spike hug, she could feel the sting of the words that Spike must have felt.
“Yeah…..friends,” said Spike in an almost mute voice.
“Not for long, Spikey!” said Rarity as she watched her past self and Spike walk back to Ponyville, “Do I dare ask how much trouble he got into after this whole debacle?”
“Not too much,” answered Discord as he cast the time spell, “but….”
“What?”
“Twilight did say something that hurt him.”
Rarity could only stand there, thinking about what her best friend had told Spike, but before she could ask for Discord to show her, they had already arrived in Spike and Twilight’s room at Golden Oak Library.
“Spike, what in Equestria possessed you to do a reckless thing like that?” asked Twilight as she paced back and forth.
“I thought that it could help Rarity--” answered Spike before Twilight interrupted.
“Rarity! That figures!” said Twilight in a disgruntled tone, “You always do what she tells you.”
“Hey, I do the same for you! What’s the difference? Besides, nopony got hurt.”
“That’s the thing Spike, somepony could have gotten hurt because of your recklessness!” said Twilight.
“Well, I’m sorry!” said Spike in an angry tone as he stood from his bed, “I wanted to make Rarity happy.”
Twilight and Spike just stood there in silence before the alicorn broke the silence, “Spike, I know you wanted to help her, but---”
“But nothing! I admitted that I messed up, but I thought I could help.”
“I know that, but I'm thinking that maybe you should just stay away from Rarity for a while.”
No one in the room dared to make a sound as the two stood there. The tension between Spike and Twilight was at the point that it could be cut by a knife (Discord even pretended to do so).
“I knew I shouldn’t have told her the truth,” said Spike out loud.
“What?”
“The spell only broke if I told her truth. I spent the whole day arguing with myself about it, and decided to save her. Now that I think about it, I could have finally been with her, but I chose not to, I saved her instead.”
“You did the right thing Spike,” said Twilight as she tried to place a comforting hoof on the dragon's shoulder, “That wasn’t her.”
“I know that. She offered to take me with her,” said Spike as he pushed Twilight’s hoof away and looked out the window at the hill where Rarity’s chariots still stood. “If I did, then maybe I could have found another way to save her, and then she'd love me.”
“Spike, maybe it’s time you just--”
“Just what? Give up on Rarity?” asked Spike as smoke came from his nose. Twilight slowly nodded her head, unsure of what would happen next. “Some friend you are, telling me to give up on my dream. How would you feel if I told you to give up on your weird alternate universe relationship or what ever you call it?”
Twilight and Rarity just stood in shock of Spike’s display of anger. Nopony had ever seen him like this. In spite of everything he went through for Rarity, Spike had never lashed out like this. Before long Twilight began to cry, surprising the dragon and making him feel a sharp pain in his heart.
“Twi...Twilight, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. Please don’t cry,” begged Spike as he hugged her, and much to his surprise the alicorn hugged him back. “Please don’t make me leave.”
“Spike, I’d never do that,” said Twilight as she lowered herself to his level, “I’m sorry for what I said too. I understand how much Rarity means to you, but I just don’t want you to get hurt while being with her.”
As the two began to make up, Rarity was still in shock over what she had just seen. She could not believe the anger Spike had displayed in that moment. Thankfully, Discord was there to pull her back.
“He was serious about leaving with you,” commented Discord.
“I know,” said Rarity in a whisper. “I’m grateful that he chose not to.”
“I am too. He would have gone to a dark place if he did.”
Discord’s statement scared Rarity as she thought of what that could mean. Spike could have been her slave, or worse. As the thought flooded her mind, an idea struck Rarity.
“Show me,” said Rarity, “Show me what could have happened.”
“Rarity, I don’t think you want to know,” said Discord, trying to make her stop, “Besides it didn’t happen anyway.”
“Show me, please.”
“I’m telling you, you don’t want to know. Besides, I’d be taking you to a different universe and time, and trust me, my frequent flyer card won’t allow me to,” joked Discord as he pulled out his tongue which transformed into card.
“I need to know,” said Rarity with tears in her eyes, “I need to know what would happens to him. So please, just show me.”
Discord, seeing no way to change her mind, slowly raised his paw to cast a spell, but before he did he looked down at the unicorn with worried eyes. “Are you sure?”
“Yes!”
“Don't say I didn't warn you.”
It did not take the spell long to take Rarity and Discord to the alternate reality, but when they arrived, Rarity was horrified by the sight before her.