The Show Must Go On, Pt. 1
I just wanted a normal vacation for once.
Rarity started to come to when Shining kissed Cadance. Everything seemed normal and she could feel her anxiety and stress start to fade.
“Rarity!”
Her ears were ringing. When she sat up she saw Cadance carelessly blast her husband's body across the room right into the solid crystal wall. The impact shook the room, and while he stood up and shook off the hit like it was nothing, Rarity could feel her heart breaking.
"Rarity. All of this is because of you. Thank you for helping to set me free."
Rarity looked up, hearing slowly returning to normal. Cadance was stepping towards her slowly. Each step she took in her direction made her feeling of sadness stronger. Under her hooves, the crystals lit up, the heart in the middle of the room spinning with a higher velocity than when Spike and she had arrived just a few days prior.
"Rarity? Can you hear me?" Saphirum said. Her voice was soft and yet powerful. It was heavy with concern. Soothing enough to make Rarity want to close her eyes and fall into a deep sleep. Rarity looked at Spike standing between Twilight and Shining not even twenty feet away. She could feel her face heat up, her breathing becoming shallow.
"Spike. You cheated on me." Rarity muttered softly. Saphirum circled behind her and snickered.
"That's right, Rarity. He betrayed your trust. He broke your vows and chose me over you. How does it feel? I mean surely after all you've been through together you couldn't just stop loving him. Could you?"
Saphirum's words washed over Rarity and she could feel her love slowly being swept away. Memories of Spike and her over the last few years being erased from her mind. Their first real date, when Spike took her to Prance when he proposed to her... the wedding.
"Get away from her, Cadance!" Spike pleaded. He tried to take a step forward but Shining pulled him back.
"We can't get close to her, Spike," He said. He looked over at his sister and felt a sudden urge to blast her with magic.
How dare she come here, thinking she could fix all our issues. Always with her ridiculous ideas. Thinking she's smarter than everypony else!
Shining shook his head and groaned. "Twilight... something is wrong!"
Twilight pressed a hoof against her temple and winced. "I feel it too... what is that?"
Saphirum lifted a hoof over Rarity's head and smiled.
"So much love in this world. So much love, and kindness and... jealousy."
Her horn lit up with a sharp shade of green. The light connected with Rarity's own horn which started to smoke at the touch. Rarity screamed and strained her neck as Saphirum extracted all of her remaining love. Rarity saw flashes of all the things in she'd come to love in her life. Spike, her sister, her friends, her business and anything else that Rarity had tucked away now belonged to Saphirum.
"Spike! I'm sorry!" She said between clenched teeth. She let out a wail before her connection to Saphirum was severed. She crumpled to the ground and Saphirum carelessly stepped over her. Spike fell to his knees slamming his fists on the crystal floor. Twilight leaped a few feet forward but immediately was pushed backward by an invisible force. The pressure she felt pushed back feelings of patience and love, replacing them with anger and distrust. She looked at Shining and growled.
"You always treated me like a child. Never giving me the chance to show my talents! Everypony wanted to watch you, Shining Armor. The warrior, the charmer, the Princess’ guard! I had to earn my title and earn my seat of respect beside Celestia. I didn’t have the luxury of just getting to marry into it!" She spat the words out with venom. Immediately as the words left her mouth she gasped and started to apologize, but Saphirum cut her off.
"Go on, Twilight," she said, voice slithering off the walls, echoing in their heads. "I can feel... your anger."
Shining Armor made a move for Saphirum this time, tears welling up in his eyes as he stepped forward and sent a few blasts of magic at her. "Give me back my wife, you demon!" Saphirum lifted a hoof and batted the blasts away like they were nothing more than gnats buzzing about. She raised her hoof at him and he froze in place.
"Your wife is dead, Shining Armor." As she lifted her hoof higher into the air he rose with it. Shining let out a grunt under the pressure from her spell and slipped out a few words.
"You'll be dead soon, too. Mark my words!"
Saphirum's smile faded, and she flicked her hoof sending Shining Armor through the air. He crashed through the door causing it to burst into an ocean of splinters. Spike snapped to attention and ran past Saphirum to Rarity, still motionless on the floor. He checked for a pulse and felt his heart flutter when he found it. Twilight ran to Shining's side and repeated the gesture. Saphirum watched them both and cackled.
"Do you fools see it now? See how foolish love is? You both are so quick to jump to their sides to check on them, neither of you questioning what I've done with Cadance."
They both stood and positioned themselves directly on either side of Saphirum. Spike creeping up behind her while Twilight grabbed her attention.
"Listen to me, Saphirum. We saw what happened to you! We saw how the elder ones sacrificed their power to destroy you. What Discord did to you. Please, I beg you let Cadance go and we’ll find a way to fix you!”
Saphirum stopped in her tracks and stared deeply into Twilight’s eyes. “No.”
She spun around and blasted Spike away right as he pounced. He flew backward crashing into the wall. After a terrifying moment, he sat up and groaned.
Twilight saw red. She threw herself at Saphirum shooting her own blast of magic. It caught Saphirum off guard and sent her sprawling.
"Spike!" She yelled, bringing him back to reality. "The crystal heart! It's her heart! Destroy it! The tome I read prophesied that the only way to fully destroy her is to break her heart! You have to do it!"
Saphirum stood up, eyes flashing a variety of colors as she shot a concentrated beam of energy at Twilight. It grazed her neck and Twilight cried out in pain before collapsing. Spike took a step towards her and was swiftly blocked by Saphirum.
"I told you, Spike. Love is for fools. When I do away with you peasants I will descend upon the world a wave of hate and jealousy. Their memories and love will fuel my power for a thousand moons!" Saphirum glared at him with a dastardly glare.
Spike balled up his claw and chuckled softly. "Ya know, Queen Chrysalis tried something similar and it didn't really work out in her favor. Apparently, all it takes to beat you is to break your heart. You're plan is going to fail, Saphirum. Every single one of the idiots that try to go against us always lose."
Saphirum's horn started to pulsate with light and hum loudly. She cackled and aimed her horn directly at Spike's chest.
"I am a Goddess you worm! How dare you compare me to the likes of Changeling scum! Nothing you've ever faced will be able to measure up to the power I have amassed while living under this empire. I will burn your world! To say my plan will fail is calling me a liar! You wouldn't dare to call me a liar, Spike!"
Spike smiled. "Well, I ain't calling you a truther."
The hum died down, and Saphirum stood up straight raising an eyebrow at Spike. "Excuse me?"
"Now, Twilight!" Spike shouted as he pounced her head, clamping his claws over her horn tightly. Light escaped between each finger as Saphirum tried to blast him off of her. Near the entrance, Shining Armor and Twilight shot up and encased her in a bubble of mixed blue and magenta light. Spike hopped off and sprinted off towards the crystal heart.
"Twilight w—what do I do with it?" He asked. Twilight was sweating trying to keep the containment field strong under the pressure of Saphirum's magic.
"I don't know! Her weakness was always a hypothesis! Try eating it!"
I have a feeling this isn't going to work.
Spike eyed his prey and took a large gulp of air. He had a mission to accomplish and there was no way he was going to fail. Everypony depended on him. He had saved the Crystal Empire before and by Celestia’s ever-flowing mane, he was going to do it again.
“Alright! Here goes!”
The young dragon through all the might of the universe into his jawbone as he slammed it upon the crystal heart. He bit, he chewed, he gnawed, he licked.
It was to no avail, however.
“What the heck!” Spike called out, grasping a claw to his mouth. “I think I broke one of my teeth!” A few small shards of tooth fell out of Spike’s mouth as he pulled back from the giant crystal.
“Ha! You fools!” With a mighty burst stream of destruction, the containment field of magic surrounding the enemy was shattered, sending shards of magical light and beams of energy across the room.
Twilight and Shining were forced onto the ground, panting, trying to regain any footing they once had in the battle.
“You thought you could defeat me with an idea so juvenile!” Saphirum screeched out, slowly approaching the two injured heroes. “My power is beyond your understanding and nothing you could possibly come up with in your feeble minds could undermine me. You are mere mortals, but I am a Goddess!”
Shining Armour put all his remaining strength into his legs as he crawled in front of Twilight to protect her any way he could. “You’re not a Goddess. You’re nothing but a washed up reject who didn't get her way!”
Without a second thought, Saphirum sent a blast of magic toward Shining, knocking him back on his hooves with a whimper. “You’d do well to watch your mouth, pony! Unless you wish to die here on the spot.”
Shining tried to rebuttal her onslaught, but could only let out a mild whimper.
“That’s what I thought.”
From his perch by the crystal, Spike ran through his mind trying to think of something, anything that might work. But what! These were the times he really wished he’d have taken advantage of all the books Twilight had lying around her home.
“C’mon, think Spike, think!” He furiously rubbed his temples, but nothing was coming to mind. "Think, think, think!"
Meanwhile, a bright glow began emanating from Saphirum’s horn. “Soon, you will all see the true power I have.”
Twilight struggled to open her eyes and address her. “What… What are you doing?”
The light from her horn began to brighten in intensity. “With this spell, I’ll be able to, shall we say, inspire all of the ponies in your kingdom to see things from my point of view. Before long, the castle will be overrun by its own citizens. And it won’t stop there either.”
Twilight shook her head. “No! Don’t do it. It’ll never work!”
Saphirum let out a cruel laugh. “Oh, I think it will.” The light grew even brighter in intensity and an eerie green glow began to emanate out throughout the room. “Yes, I think it will work just fine.”
Spike looked at the glowing stream of green light. He had to think fast.
He replayed Twilight’s last words to him through his mind. ‘We have to break her heart.’ But how?! What am I supposed to do?
He thought back to everything that had happened in the events leading up to this moment. The marital struggles Cadance and Shining had had. The dreams the two of them experienced. The way Shining’s kiss seemed completely… ineffective. Was it possible?
Spike snapped his claw. That’s it!
Saphirum let out yet another might laugh as the glow from her horn intensified. However, her attention was cut short as a sharp object hit the back of her head.
“Hey, Saphirum!”
The glow from her horn immediately stopped as she took a moment to drop her eyes to the ground and see a small tooth laying next to her. “Oh, yes, I suppose I have one more loose end to tie up.”
She flipped her body around to see the image of Spike standing by the crystal, a fierce grin across his face.
“You know,” Spike began, “all you villains are the same. You could’ve easily had the whole kingdom under control if you hadn’t been monologuing so much. But no, you just had to assert your superiority in our faces.”
Saphirum let out a huff and walked toward him. “Hmph, it matters not. Your friends are unable to stand against me. What do you think you can do, little dragon? You can’t possibly think you can destroy me by yourself.”
Spike shook his head as she got closer to him. “Oh, why don’t you get a little closer to me and see for yourself. Or, are you just gonna monolog some more and waste everyone’s time? I guess that makes sense, though. You were the Goddess of emotion after all, not intelligence.
She snarled and walked closer. “That’s the Goddess of love to you! And soon, all the world will bow before me! Just like they should have since the beginning.” At this point, she was only a few feet away from Spike. She could have blasted him with some magic, but his taunts deserved a more personal approach. “I will be victorious and I’ll be damned if a puny, little dragon stands in my way!”
Spike got a dangerous glow in his eye. He took a few steps toward her and mustered all his might to grab her head and pull it a few inches away from his own. “You know, around here, they call me the Brave and Glorious.”
Without a second thought, Spike pulled her lips into his and kissed her with all the passion and might he could. He ignored every motion and struggle she put up and brought to his mind everything that had happened in the previous days. The dreams he had of kissing Cadance, the pain of seeing Rarity with Shining. All the emotion he had stored in his mind he released into his lips and forced them into the kiss he was planting on the villain in front of him.
As he continued the kiss, the whole room shook violently. Beams of bright light shot out of the crystal, illuminating the entire area in a bright flash of light and energy.
Spike finally let go of her, a smug grin on his face.
“No, w-what’s happening!” Saphirum backed away from him and collapsed to the ground. “What have you done?”
The room started to rock and heave with even more violence. The crystal heart at the center began to smoke and radiate an even brighter aura of light and power. Shards of dust and small flakes of crystal began to fall from it.
“Ahh! No!” Saphirum tried to rise to her hooves but found herself immobilized. “No! No!” She took one last moment to look up at the dragon standing over her. “What did you—”
Before she could finish her thought, a giant crack pierced the circumference of the crystal and a giant flash of neon light exploded from inside of it. The entire room was engulfed in a blinding wave of energy and with a loud crack, the crystal burst into a ball of fire and broken shards.
“Ahhh!” Saphirum screeched as loud as she could, but it was too late.
Just as quickly as it started, the shards flew across the room and all the light went out, leaving the room in a dead silence and darkness.
Spike chuckled to himself, the only sound permeating the quiet. “Well, Rarity did always say my kisses were to die for.”
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Drake and Josh reference?!
Yes! Spike saved the day
great chapter
At least there was a moment of cadenceXspike in the story :p
orig11.deviantart.net/c167/f/2017/010/5/0/oops_by_hillbe-dauxfut.jpg
8323271
Oh, then you'll enjoy the final chapter.
8323223
It would appear my efforts to come up with a terrible one liner were successful!
8323173
Lol we saw an opportunity and we ran with it
8323310
Quite at that ones been done to death and back.
I don't get it. How did that kill her?
8324011
It will be explained in the final chapter. Because I guarantee Twilight and co are curious too.
Oh my God, you guys... that's so genius! WOW! This is such great writing!
👏👏👏
8324034
You and Tidal should totally do this more often. This is really fun! Despite...the whole brainwashing Equestria bit is supposed to be a little dark I guess, the whole overtone of the story really makes it a wild ride. Keep it up! And do try to get another collab' going. The both of you really know how to work together.
8324803
Thanks! We've been friends IRL for a few years now, so we know how to work together to our strengths. He's honestly a better writer than I, so he picks up my technical slack whereas I just make it look enjoyable, lol.
................okay, which one of you two decided to use that line at the end? he deserves to be bapped.
also, I believe "Goddess of Love" would be a title, of sorts, same with all the other versions you guys used. so, they should be capitalized.
8324811
Tidal might say the same? I guess it's good to have someone watching your back
8324011
Dragon Morning Breath?
8326504
Yeah we balance really well together. Often having suggestions for our writing to make it better!
This is definitely not gonna be our only Collab! We've been talking about some other stuff. A more serious one for Famous' account and we'll end up doing something for my account as well! I appreciate the compliment
8328267
How would Rarity put up with that?
8329057
My tongue ?
and lots of industrial strength mouth wash...A tongue has other................................
RARITY! SPIKE!
TMI you two TMI....
8328964
Good luck!
I look forward to it! Honestly
8330946
Thanks
Now there's an anachronistic fourth wall joke if I've ever seen one.
*badumtish*