Timed Ramblings

by Midnight herald

Operetta

The stairs creaked. A light, sharp tapping came from low down on Rarity’s doorframe. She rolled over on her messy bed and blinked her sore, puffy eyes.

“Rarity?” Spike’s voice carried from the half-open door. Rarity curled tighter around herself, idly twitching her tail, watching how the tangled knots and snarls swished across her quilt. “I’m coming in now,” Spike announced, and his head popped around the door, all furious green eyes and wisps of smoke and bared teeth.

Rarity swallowed as he near-stomped in, his little claws balled up into tight, tense fists. “Are you here to yell at me, too?” she croaked, the hairs on her neck prickling up as he caught her in a glare. Rarity could feel sweat trickling down her neck and withers as Spike’s bright green eyes bored into her, sharp and unforgiving as emerald shards.

And then, it seemed, he took her in, her whole miserable self. His anger dimmed and his eyes softened, his slitted pupils widening in … shock? Forgiveness? He took two cautious steps forward, nearly soundless on the hardwood floor. “That was the plan when I got here,” he admitted, scrutinizing her from a distance. “Now I’m not so sure…” He took one more step forward and shifted nervously, still looking her over.

Rarity breathed a sigh of relief. After Applejack had come in chomping at the bit and torn her up even more, a little respite was welcome. Spike cleared his throat, and Rarity swallowed heavily. “So I guess what I want to know is, why did you do it?” Spike asked, his pupils narrowing again.

Rarity teared up again and scrubbed furiously at her eyes, flinching as they came away streaked with damp mascara. “I didn’t want to,” she choked out, “But it’s for her own good, I think. I hope.”

In three sudden, alarming strides, Spike was right by her, smoke curling again from his nostrils. “Twilight loves you, Rarity,” he growled, pinning her with a glare. “She loves you, and I thought you loved her back. And then you left her, and it’s somehow for her own good?” Rarity’s ears pinned back against his bellowed words and her own shame.

“She’s a Princess now,” Rarity half-whispered, staring intently at the quilt below her. “Everything she does, everypony she consorts with is multinational news. She needs somepony who’s …” She choked up, fighting back tears and hugging her aching chest with her forehooves.

“Who’s what?” Spike prompted gently.

“Who’s good enough,” Rarity spat, before she lost herself in grief. Wracking sobs shook her body, her wailing cries tore into her throat, hot, burning tears streamed from her already burning eyes, leaving sticky tracks on her face and stains on her bed. And suddenly Spike was holding her, hugging her silently, a warm pillar of love and comfort. After a long while, Rarity quieted down into shaky breaths and hiccups, sniffling away the last of the runny, salty snot that dangled from her nostrils. Spike’s claws, diamond-hard and sharp enough to gouge granite, ran through her mane like a comb in steady, smooth motions.

“I probably would have destroyed Ponyville with the power of my own greed if you hadn’t been there to stop me,” Spike said, almost conversationally. “But you reminded me of who I was. You reminded me of who I wanted to be. And when I went off to find myself with the Migration, you put aside all your work to follow me and make sure I was safe. You stepped forward and protected me, in front of a whole gang of teenage dragons, without a second thought. Do you know how amazing that is? Do you realize how amazing you are?” Spike paused and sighed, still running his claws through her mane with a gentle care that melted her pain away.

“I thought I was in love with you, back when,” Spike continued earnestly. Rarity breathed the whisper of a chuckle at that. “And I’m still happy that I was, y’know?” Rarity didn’t. So she flicked her ears and shifted and waited for him to continue.
--TIME--

“Because I still think you’re beautiful, even though I don’t want you that way. Because I still think you’re one of the most amazing, kind, hard-working ponies I know. Because I can see how much of yourself you put into your work, and I can see how much your work affects people. Because you’re never just making clothing, Rarity. You’re using clothes to make ponies shine out. You’re helping the world see what they already have. And I can respect that. You’re always finding the beautiful things in everypony and bringing them into the light. And so I’m glad that I thought I loved you, because if the first mare I ever wanted romantically was you, then I’m probably gonna do alright for myself, right?”

Rarity felt lighter than she had in weeks, as those wonderful claws ran their way up and down her neck. She sighed happily and lifted her head to look at Spike, at his kind, warm eyes and the small smile that lingered on his face. “So don’t you ever let me catch you thinking you’re not good enough for Twilight,” he rumbled playfully, thumping her forehead with two knuckles. “She needs you more than you think, Rarity. Especially now that she’s ‘multinational news.’” Rarity chuckled softly, lifting herself onto shaky hooves and dropping off the bed, making for the bathroom.

“I’ll be by to apologize after I’ve washed up,” she rasped, smiling gratefully at Spike.

“You’d better,” he answered, quirking an eyebrow before hopping off her bed.

Author's Note:

Prompt 462: Spike in Rarity's Boudoir
Special rule: The reason Spike is in Rarity's bedroom cannot be directly related to Spike's crush on Rarity

Comments

[Mermaid]

Magnificent!

Funny how Rarity totally wanted to marry up -- despite having the potential to move up in society through her own work and social skills alone -- early on the series, and now that she gets the opportunity, she gets cold feet. Character development!