Short stories about ponies and whatnot

by shutaro

Of greed and generosity

Dear Spike,

Before we begin, this letter is for your eyes only. Under no circumstances may the Princesses, Twilight or any other pony find out what I am about to tell you.

Now, I better start by telling you who I am: I’m you from the future. The thing I write you about will also be prove of this because I you we have not told a living soul about what will happen tonight.
The sapphire and ruby we have grown for the last year, the favor we asked from Luna, the secret research about biology and the viability of pony-dragon hybrids, the wine in the hidden compartment under the stairs and the order we placed under Twilight’s name at the Corner: You plan to confess to Rarity tonight.

I have some good news and some bad news for you: Rarity will accept. Our dedication will win her over and she will wait for our growth spurt with us, for us to mature.

I have waited for twenty years for that growth spurt to come. Twilight doesn’t know why we don’t develop like other dragons. Maybe it’s because we have grown up in the strong magical field of Canterlot? Or maybe it’s because we are subconsciously afraid after that greed-growth last summer? Nopony knows. We even reached out to the great dragon sages in the badlands, but they only told us that dragons do not mature in years. 'A dragon will grow when he is ready and when his time comes.'
Whatever that means.

I’m sure you have done the math already, but I’ll better spell it out: Even if my growth spurt hits today and only takes the five years it does for normal dragons, Rarity will be too old to have foals of her own.

I remember it like it was yesterday. When I confessed and brought that point up, she said that parenthood was not even on her long term plans and that I shouldn’t bother with it.
Then Rainbow got her little bundle of joy, then AJ, Fluttershy, even Pinkie Pie found someone to settle down with. And Rarity smiled through it all.
But when Sweetie Bell had her first filly five years ago, -
I can’t tell you how much it hurt to hear her cry at night. And she always tries to hide it, that makes it even worse.

She doesn’t talk about her grief, but it shows in her art, in the way she looks at the pictures on our walls and in the way we kiss. She is so, so great, I couldn’t ask for a better partner, but it’s eating her. And it is eating me, too. Sometimes we go for days without talking now.
The only good thing about this is that I still have no wings. Otherwise I would have flown away and hidden in some vulcano already.

Twilight, Celestia and Luna, even Discord, the old grump, we have exhausted all options. The only viable way would be to place Rarity in a stasis field until we finally grow up. And I won’t even consider that. She suffered enough for us. Taking her from her friends and family for our selfish desires? No.
Just No.

I trust that you will do the right thing.

In hope of not existing at all,

Future-Spike

PS:
I can’t stress enough, how important it is that nothing about this letter becomes known. It’s probably best if you just burn it.

---

A little dragon sat on a bench in the park. He had pulled in some favors and now it faced the rising stars just right. He looked up as he picked up the sound of hooves on gravel. Rarity walked down the path and once again he could only stare at her grace and poise.

“Good evening, Rarity.”

“Good evening, Spike. And what an evening it is, just look at that sky!”

“Yeah, Luna gave it her all tonight.”

They watched the sky together for a few moments. Then Spike led her over to the bench and they sat down together. Spike took a pair of wine glasses from a little basket, opened the bottle of wine he had gotten for the occasion and poured the rich, red liquid into the glasses. Rarity took one in her magic, they clinked them and enjoyed the scene together.

“Say Rarity, have you ever thought about the saying ‘If you love someone, set them free.’?”

The pony looked at the dragon with a bit of amazement. “That’s a pretty grown-up thought for such a young dragon, Spike. And for a dragon, no less,” she answered. “Indeed I have, and I couldn’t agree more.”

Spike opened the little packet he had collected from Sugercube Corner earlier and passed it to the mare.

“Do you want some too?” Rarity asked.

“No thanks, I’m good.”

A little piece of dark chocolate cake flew up to Rarity, and she took a tiny bite. “Oh, you just know how to please me, Spike. This is perfect!” She savored the taste. She looked down as she heard a crunching sound. “Oh Spike! Is there something wrong? Why are you crying?”

The little dragon brushed a tear from his face. “Yes, I … it’s alright. Only this gem is a bit spicier than I expected.” The fire-ruby in Spike’s claw was already missing a bite. He noticed the look Rarity shot him. “Sorry, but they taste just too good! But I’ll give you this sapphire I grew. It looks just like in your cutie mark. I couldn’t eat that one anyway.”

Rarity levitated the stone to her and created a small light to inspect the perfect gem. “You know Spike, there is a second part to that saying. ‘If they come back, they are yours. If they don’t they never were.’ I want you to know that I will always, always come back to a good friend like you. And I know you will for me.”

In the dim light Rarity could only see him nod. For a moment she wondered about the little dragon’s taste in food. If a foodstuff made her cry so much, she would not have eaten it at all. But maybe gems were that tasty.

They spend some more time together in the park and enjoyed the meteor shower that Luna had created for tonight. Then Spike escorted Rarity back to the Carousel Boutique and wished her a good night. Rarity watched him walk down the road, his little form almost lost. Just as she was about to turn and walk inside a green flame lit up. For a moment Spike’s face could be seen, then he was swallowed by the darkness.

Author's Note:

Yeah, this story has been done to death. But I like it anyway. I think there is even more sadness in this one then in "Twilicorn watches her friends die".

---

The prompt: Be careful what you wish for … because you just might get it.

Comments

[Twilightsparklefairy]

so h he... He just stopped... existing? He died? No, flames, flames don't hurt him... so... what? What did he wish for... Let's see. Future Spike hoped not to exist? Spike hoped to... be set free? Set Rarity free? Have Rarity love him? Also, since you said this is sad... please do explain (not sure I actually WANT to know )

[shutaro]

5738547
Future-Spike asks Now-Spike to forego his love to Rarity so she can have another chance on happiness without him. Had Spike confessed, the two would have exchanged the two gems: Rarity would take Spike's fire-ruby and Spike her sapphire.
But Spike eats the ruby and, for lack of a better word, friend-zones himself. He breaks his own heart.
The flash of light at the end of the story was supposed to be Spike burning that letter from the future. I should have made that clearer.