//------------------------------// // Rarity Goes Nuts // Story: And Then There Were 10...Er...67 // by Grey Ghost //------------------------------// “This is excellent,” the puppeteer said, inspecting the object in front of him. “You, my dear did a wonderful job.” He leaned down, poking at the wheels and magically pulled it a bit with his puppets. “It does seem to travel!” He moved up, looking through the window, “Plenty of room for my puppets!” “I’m so glad you like it,” Rarity beamed, soaking up the praise. “It was a pleasure doing business with you Ms. Rarity,” the stallion said, levitating a small bag of bits out from under his hat and dropping it into her hoof. “Oh no, the pleasure was all mine,” she said with a smile, waving as the puppeteer trotted off with his new puppet theater. “He loved it just like I said he would, Rarity,” Spike said with a smile, hoping to get her praise. “You did say that didn’t you?” she asked with a smile. She levitated a gem out of her saddle bag, plopping it into his eager claws. He licked his lips, took a bite out of it, and chewed happily. “Spike,” Rarity asked, tapping her chin, “How would you like to go shopping with me?” “For you Rarity, anything,” the young drake said, nodding eagerly. “Good, maybe you can help me pick out the right gift,” she said, trotting over to some of the stalls. “Who’s it for?” Spike asked, still munching on his gem as he waddled after her. “Well... can you keep a secret?” Rarity asked him, giving him an uncertain look. “Of course Rarity,” Spike nodded, “I won’t tell anypony,” he said, looking up at her with a smile. “Well, ok...” she leaned in close, “It’s a gift for Jason and Chrysalis,” she whispered. “Oh I get it, like a wedding present!” he said, cringing when she shushed him. “Not quite Spike, it’s more... a courtship gift,” Rarity said, rather gingerly. “Y-you mean like a date?” he asked, his eyes wide. “Yes Spike, I’m going to ask if they would like to go on a date with me,” she said looking around to make sure nopony had heard them. “B-but Rarity!” he started, looking heart broken. Dramatically turning away, she said, “I realize that you have a crush on me Spike but... I’m afraid it’s not to be.” She turned back only to find that he had run off. She sighed, shaking her head. “I really hope he’ll be ok... young love never ends well...” “Argh, there's gotta be something in here somewhere,” Spike said as he lifted a book up, flipping through it. Unlike the rest of the old castle, the changelings had not touched the library, besides some structural repairs, at the request of Twilight. In response Owlowiscious hooted from behind him. “It's not ‘who’, it's ‘what’! Like, ‘what’ can help me win Rarity over?” He placed the book down, fiddling with some things on the next shelf up, “Nopony respects or cares about her more than I do.” He turned to look at Owlowiscious. “I can’t let her slip through my fingers!” he said, punching his open palm. “She says I’m her favorite dragon after all, so I already have a head start.” He jumped onto a ladder, sliding several bookshelves away. “There's gotta be some kind of... something that'll do the trick.” He pulled a book out before immediately putting it back. Owlowiscious hooted, causing Spike to look back at him. “Come on, help a dragon out!” he pulled another book out, only to see Owlowiscious behind it. He blinked and replaced the book, causing Owlowiscious to hoot again. Spike slid down a few more shelves, still not having found anything useful. Again Owlowiscious was already there, hooting at him. He glared as he started to climb down the ladder. “Ugh! It's not for me! It's for Rarity! The one who made you that bow tie you like so much?” Owlowiscious hooted, nodding. “Okay, I get it.” Spike said, moving over to a bookcase across the room. He grabbed a book, picking it up when the room started to shake. “You don’t think we should use magic–” he turned, seeing the wall behind them slide away, revealing a glowing book, locked behind a gate. “What is that?” He walked over to it, ignoring his companion’s frantic hooting. He inspected the lock a bit, and a smirk appeared on his face. He gave it a quick blast of his fire, watching in satisfaction as it melted away. He threw the gate open and walked up to the book, ignoring the continued hooting. He gingerly picked it up, examining it. It was carved out of simple grey stone, a ring of spikes in the center. He rolled his eyes at the sound of still more hooting. “What? If I wasn't supposed to have it, it wouldn't be so easy to get. And it's covered in spikes, like me!” He showed it off, not noticing the walkway beginning to crumble. He opened the book, reading as he walked, just barely out-walking the rate at which the falling pieces plummeted into the abyss below. “‘Inspiration Manifestation: Instantly brings ideas to life,’” he smiled, “I'm likin' the looks of this one. Hmmm.” Rarity sighed, slumping down on her couch, rather, rather depressed. She had utterly failed to find a gift of any sort and she had been unable to find Spike to have an actual talk with him. “And this day started so swimmingly too...” she said with a sigh. “Rarity~” Spike called, pushing the door open, walking in with a smirk. “Spike dear where have you been?” Rarity asked, sitting up, trying to fix her mane, “I’ve been looking all over for you.” “Well, after what you said, I had to go out and get you a gift,” he said, climbing up on the couch’s head rest. “Spike, I’m sorry but it just wouldn’t work out between us.” she shook her head, trying to get through to him. “But it’s magic!” She sighed, shaking her head. “Spike, precious scales, I already have magic.” “But not the kind that can let you create anything you can imagine,” he argued. Presenting the book to her, he continued, “This can!” She sighed, taking the book from him, deciding to humor him. “I suppose it’s worth a try.” Opening it up, she looked over the enchantment. “From in the head to out in the world, every thought to action. Hold close this book and through its spell, you'll start a chain reaction, projecting forth whatever beauty you see. Only when true words are spoken will you finally be set free.” She didn’t notice the sickly green magic leaving the book, sinking into her horn, replacing her natural magic’s color with its own. “Well... did it work?” Spike asked eagerly. “Hm! Only one way to find out,” she said. Closing the book, she held it up in front of her face and concentrated on it. She found it rather dull and imagined it as an elegantly bound book. With a flash, the book had changed to exactly what she imagined. “Oh, my! I thought about making this a much more beautiful spell book, and I have!” She turned her attention to her couch, zapping it into a much more elaborate version. “Spike my dear! This is the best gift anypony has ever given me!” she said, pulling him into a hug. “Score!” Spike said, pumping his fist. This was the best idea he’d ever had. “This is the worst idea I’ve ever had,” Spike whimpered as he watched Rarity turn a rather fun looking Pinkie Pie party into a dull looking fancy party. That just wasn’t right! The plan had backfired massively, having caused Rarity to stay up all night creating things non-stop, and now she was morphing Ponyville into her currently twisted sense of beauty. “I have to do something, but I promised not to tell anypony... thats it! Jason and Chrysalis aren’t ponies!” Making sure Rarity wasn’t looking, he snuck off, quickly finding one of the hive’s gatherers. “Is there something wrong, Sir Spike?” the drone asked, looking down at him. “I need to talk to Jason and Chrysalis! It’s an emergency!” Spike huffed, looking around to make sure that Rarity hadn’t followed him. He nodded, levitating Spike onto his back before buzzing off toward the castle. Spike held on tightly, constantly looking over his shoulder to make sure Rarity wasn’t behind him. It didn’t take them long to reach the castle, Jason and Chrysalis were already waiting for him. “What’s up Spike?” Jason asked, tilting his head, “You told one of the drones that there was an emergency. Please tell me its not another invasion, we’ve already had two this month.” He groaned, looking rather worn out. “No, um... this may sound weird, but, uh... you two aren’t ponies are you?” Spike asked, looking at them with hopeful eyes, wringing his claws. “Uh... no Spike I am not a pony,” Jason said, looking rather confused at the question. “Neither am I,” Chrysalis said, looking at him rather critically, “Why would you ask such a stupidly obvious question?” “Well, um...” Spike said, clearing his throat and taking a deep breath, “I kind of promised Rarity that I wouldn't tell anypony about the magic book that I gave her that she's using to transform everything in Ponyville and it turned her magic green and she's gone CRAZY!” Spike panted. Jason opened his mouth to speak before Chrysalis levitated Spike up to her eyes, a rather angry expression on her muzzle. “What was that about a book?” “Um... I found it in the library, i-it was made out of stone and had a circle of spikes on the front, um... it said it could make whatever you imagine into reality... um Chrysalis?” he asked, noticing she was just staring at him, her eye twitching. “Chrissy?” Jason asked, looking rather concerned at her silence. “That bitch!” Chrysalis roared, tossing Spike into the sky, seething with rage. Luckily for the dragon, Jason was there to catch him. “She knew something like that was here and didn’t say anything!?” “Ok just calm down Chrissy... dammit,” Jason muttered as Chrysalis tore off toward Ponyville. “Spike, when this is over, we’re going to have a serious talk about you just taking books from the castle library, especially magic books and shit.” Spike groaned and hung his head, but nodded anyway. “Yes, Jason...” Chrysalis landed in Ponyville, seeing that the very streets had been turned to gold, reflecting the sun to a blinding degree. She hissed, covering her eyes. “Oh, Celestia and I are going to have a nice long talk about this.” She gritted her teeth, starting to push her way through the blinding light. She spotted the affected mare, giggling insanely to herself, in the process of turning a lamppost into solid silver. “Rarity, you have to stop this.” “Oh Chrysalis, there you are!” Rarity said with glee, “I’ve been trying to figure out what the best gift to give you and Jason would be and it just came to me! I’ll make your hive the shining example of changeling fashion!” Her eyes flashed green, an utterly unhinged smile on her muzzle. “Rarity, stop using that book, it’s... cursed,” Chrysalis said, glaring a little, “It’s externalized changeling magic, you have to stop using it before it corrupts you.” “I can’t stop now, I’m almost finished!” Rarity said, zapping a tree into pink crystal. As she did so, her midsection took on the saddle-like appearance of a changeling, while wings sprouted from her back. “Ok, screw the gentle approach. Too slow.” Chrysalis charged up her horn, blasting Rarity in the face with a sleeping spell. The strung out unicorn dropped like a sack of bricks, snoring away rather loudly. “Damnable ponies...” Chrysalis said, levitating the book out of Rarity’s saddlebag and quickly reading through it. “Only when true words are spoken... of course, ponies can’t just be straightforward, it’s always some feelings nonsense.” She draped Rarity across her back, muttering to herself as she took to the sky. When she got back to the hive, she found Jason conversing with Twilight, a very downtrodden Spike sitting on a nearby tree stump. “Rarity!” Spike shouted as he hopped off his stump, rushing over to them. Chrysalis dropped Rarity to the ground and glared at him. He gulped, shrinking back a little. Pointing a hoof accusingly at Spike, she declared, “You! If you don’t want her to turn into a changeling, tell her how you really feel!” She zapped Rarity with an awakening spell. “Now!” “Bwah?” Rarity asked, lifting her head off the ground with a groan. “Um... Rarity...” Spike started, rather nervous about the group watching him. “I-I’m sorry...” “For what, Spikey-Wikey?” “Well when you told me you had feelings for Jason and Chrysalis... I-I just got so jealous. I thought that if I got you a gift you’d feel the same way about me but then I got you that book and now you're not you! Please! I just want the real you back!” he sobbed, giving her a hug. Rarity floated up into the air and the changeling magic swirled around her horn and left her body, returning to the book. “Oh... my head...” Rarity said, rubbing her neck as she sat up. “You’re ok!” Spike cried, hugging her tighter. “You knew she had the hots for us the whole time, didn’t you?” Jason asked, looking at Chrysalis, who had her eyes shut, communicating with her drones. Chrysalis nodded. “Yup.” “And you didn’t tell me, why?” “I wanted to let her work up the courage to ask us out.” “You’d be ok with that?” “No one told you that ponies are polygamous?” “No... but if Rarity wants to ask us out I’d give it a shot.” He gave the tired mare a smile, which she returned. “Thank you Jason... why do I have wings? And this fashionable saddle?” “Later,” Chrysalis said, opening her eyes. “I need to go have a talk with Celestia.” She spread her wings and buzzed off towards Canterlot, the book still in her magical grasp. ‘This can only end well,’ Jason thought as he watched her disappear into the distance.