> Crystal Affair
>  by FamousLastWords
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Welcome To The Show
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

   The bright and shining brilliance of the Crystal Empire twinkled in Rarity’s eyes as they walked through the glowing city. The buildings, ponies, and even the streetways reflected the beauty of the sun into a masterpiece of dazzling art that surrounded them.

“Oh, Spike! Just look at how magnificent this kingdom still looks after all these years. It’s like no one lives here at all! It’s so beautiful… and marvelous. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Under the immense weight of all of Rarity’s personal belongings, Spike was tiring quickly, and the only view he could enjoy was that of Rarity’s purple makeup bag which was pressed to his face. He had never had a problem carrying all of Rarity’s bags or doing various little odd jobs for her, especially now that they had become an item since Spike was of age. The dress designer had always had a soft spot for Spike, and over the years she grew quite fond of him.

“Well, Rarity, I’m sure it looks lovely,” he responded with a shaky voice. “I’m just a little, oomph... tied up at the moment!”

The two made their way through the city, Rarity gazing in awe at the gorgeous sites and Spike struggling along under the weight of an absurd amount of clothes and travel supplies. However, they eventually found themselves at their destination, the Crystal Palace.

“Rarity, did Shining give you a reason why he wanted us to come for the weekend?” Spike asked, setting the cumbersome bags down at the castle gate entrance.

“Darling, he simply wished that we would come down and enjoy the weekend with he and Cadence,” Rarity replied. “If you ask me, we’re due for a nice vacation anyhow.”

Spike couldn’t argue with that. Between supporting her efforts at the boutique and working at the library, he had been busy non-stop. Besides, everypony knew that Rarity needed some time off. Not to mention that he hadn’t seen Shining or Cadence in quite some time.

The doors to the Crystal Palace flung open and fifteen crystal servants trotted down the steps to greet the Empire’s two guests.

“Welcome, welcome, Ms. Rarity, and Mr. Spike! We have been eagerly awaiting your arrival all day! I do hope you both had a pleasant trip here,” said one of the ponies. 

“Well, actually it was pretty ni–”

“Wonderful! Now then, let’s get you inside where everything has been set up for your absolute comfort! Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadence are waiting for you in the throne room,” said the same pony as before. While he was talking, Spike didn’t even notice that the other crystal servants had grabbed the bags and fled up the stairs with them.

“Wow, Rarity! Seems like Shining Armor and Cadence went all out this time to make our trip really special.”  

“Why, yes… for our trip…” she whispered.

As Spike and Rarity entered the Palace, they were completely taken aback by how much it had changed. A few years of love and peace had really made the whole Empire shine more brightly than ever. They eventually made their way to the throne room after some searching. Along the way they spotted many crystal picture frames holding portraits of various important ponies.

“Look, Rarity—it’s Flash Sentry! He looks pretty bored in that painting, though,” Spike laughed at the new captain’s dull expression. He maneuvered his arm so he could give Rarity a nudge, but he noticed she wasn’t beside him.

“Rarity?” he called out, turning his head and searching for his marefriend. He walked a bit down the corridor and found her down a hallway. “Hey! There you are, Rarity. What’re you doing here?” Spike ran up to Rarity and noticed her eyes locked on a painting. He saw that in the painting stood a beautiful Princess Cadence and a strong Prince Shining Armor.

“Wow, they look pretty awesome together. Don’t they?”

Rarity held her stare, barely even acknowledging Spike’s appearance. Spike wasn’t too sure, but it seemed to him that she was looking at Cadence.

“Yes, they look perfect,” she answered plainly.

Spike turned to Rarity and gently laid a claw on her shoulder. “You okay, Rares?”

“Yes, I’m wonderful! Anyhow, let’s go meet with our hosts now, shall we?” Without a second thought, she trotted off toward the throne room, leaving Spike in her wake. He raised an eyebrow for a moment before shrugging.

As the two made their way through the winding corridors, Rarity’s smile widened and her pace quickened. As they passed through the massive double doors into the throne room, they were hit with the sound of loud fanfare. The sound of trumpets echoed throughout the room, bringing the prince and princess’ attention to their guests.

“The Crystal Empire welcomes Rarity and Spike!” announced the captain of the guard, Flash Sentry. Cadence and Shining Armor rose from their thrones and trotted down the steps.

“I’m so happy that you two could make it!” Cadence said, looking at the guests.

“Yes, it’s been far too long!” Rarity replied, gently bowing her head to the royal couple.

“And you, Spike? How are holding up these days?” Shining asked, smiling at Spike..

“I’ve been great! Things have been crazy busy for the two of us, so it’s nice to be able to get out for awhile.” Spike smiled up at his beautiful marefriend.

“Why, yes. It was positiviely wonderful of you to invite us,” Rarity said. “There was no way we could say no something like that.”

Cadence gave them a sweet smile. “Well, we’re thrilled to have you.”

Shining turned his gaze to Spike and Rarity with a smile. “Anyway, you two must be tired from your trip. Our staff have taken the liberty of moving your items to your room.” Shining switched his attention to a nearby attendant. “If you could, please show our guests to their room.”

“Yes, sir!” the pony responded.

“Get some rest, you two,” Cadence called out as they left. “Dinner is served in the dining hall at seven o’clock if you want to join us!”

“We’ll be there!” Spike said, smiling in response.



With the young couple’s bags unpacked, and bellies empty, they decided to head down to the dining hall just a little bit early.

“I wonder what kind of food they have tonight! What do you think, Rarity?” Spike asked his lover.

“Oh, I’m not all too worried about the food…” she replied, magically adjusting the sapphire necklace she was wearing.

“Yeah, they’re rich so I’d imagine that it’ll be top of the line stuff,” Spike said with a wink.

Rarity merely nodded her head and gazed into the distance. “Hmm, yes.”

Spike shot her a curious gaze. “Are you okay, love?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”  Rarity questioned, snapping to attention.

“Well, you’ve seemed kind of… out of it today.”

“Don’t worry, dear, I’m just tired. It was a long trip out here.” Rarity leaned over and gently nuzzled Spike’s cheek. “Nothing to worry about, Spikey.”

“Well, if you say so. You can’t really blame me for worrying about my girl, though.” Spike gave her an affectionate hug, and they continued toward the dining room.

When they arrived, the pristine table was already set with an exquisite looking meal, half-full wine glasses, and a scrumptious looking velveteen cake as the dessert. Shining Armor and Cadence had already been seated, Shining sitting on the end with Cadence to his right.

“There they are,” Shining said, pointing a hoof in their direction. “Have a seat!”

Rarity immediately took the seat adjacent to Cadence, on Shining’s left side, followed closely by Spike, who sat next to his marefriend.

“Spike, we actually had a spot reserved for you on the other side of the table by Cadence.” Shining pointed to the plate of food set out at the seat next to the pink princess.

“Yeah, it’s not every day I get to visit with one of my oldest friends,” Cadence said, smiling all the while.

“Umm, okay.” Spike nodded and made his way to the other side of the table, taking his seat.

Their meal consisted of a small salad for starters, a beet and cucumber pasta dish with fresh spring water for the main course, and sparkling red wine with velvet cake for dessert. 

Despite not having gems, the food was very delicious. The cucumber pasta was heavenly, and the cake was more rich and moist. Every last portion was pristine and delicious.

After the four had finished their meals, they exchanged various conversation topics, such as how business at the Carousel Boutique had been, the status of the Crystal Empire, the latest crisis caused by Twilight’s quest for magical knowledge and other interesting topics. Their conversations slowly died down as a very shiny crystal pony came into the dining hall and approached Shining Armor. This pony whispered something briefly into Shining’s ear before turning and fleeing the room as quickly as he entered.

“Well, Rarity, Spike. It’s time,” Shining announced to his guests. Spike and Rarity glanced at each other, their looks of confusion matched.

“Time for what, Shining Armor?” Rarity asked the prince.

The crystal prince and princess rose from their chairs and smiled. As they trotted towards the open door leading out into the hallway Cadence turned and winked at Spike.

“It’s time for the Saphirum.”  





Shining Armor and Cadence led the way down their dazzling castle, with the Ponyville couple only a few steps behind. There was an unusual tension between the royal couple, one that Spike had felt all night.

“Hey, Rarity… have you noticed anything… odd about Shining and Cadence?” Spike whispered to his marefriend. Rarity kept looking forward, but leaned her head towards Spike and answered him.

“Whatever do you mean, Spike? They seem just as happy and in love as when we first met them!”

The dragon looked closely at the ponies leading their way, and saw nothing “lovely” about their interaction.

Honestly, there wasn’t even any interaction in the first place. Shining Armor and Cadence stood a few feet apart and paid absolutely no attention to one another. Spike could practically feel the awkward tension between the two. Neither pony had argued, or even disagreed at any point during dinner. Only now it seemed like they were only tolerating each other’s company on the way to this “Saphirum”.

“Rarity, I’m serious. There’s something going on between them… Something not good,” Spike insisted, his face scrunching up.

“Spike, whatever is going on between the prince and princess is none of our business. I think whatever you’re feeling might be because of something you ate at dinner,” she replied, much to Spike’s dismay. She turned her head and glanced at her lover’s face. Seeing the distant look and deep frown on his face made her lighten up.

“Listen, Spikey, there’s nothing to worry about. Let’s just do what we came here to do—relax and have a good time,” she said, kissing his cheek softly.

At the touch of her lips, Spike calmed down. His stomach fluttered a bit and he smiled. “Alright, love… you’re probably right.”

Shining Armor and Cadence approached a door embroidered with an image of Cadence’s cutie mark, a crystal heart with golden branches underneath. They raised their hooves and gently tapped them together. At their contact, the cutie mark on the door lit up a dazzling azure blue and slowly swung open.

“This is the Saphirum, a room we found not long after we started our rule. We noticed something extraordinary happens every night when the crystal ponies give thanks over the empire, or when they all show an extreme amount of love or excitement. Please, enter,” Cadence said with a smile. Shining Armor entered the room first, followed by his wife. Rarity and Spike went inside next.

“Whoa…” Spike said, his voice full of awe. Rarity had a hoof up at her mouth and she let out a gasp.

“This is beautiful,” she said to Shining, who smiled at her reaction.

The room was made entirely of crystal. Not just diamonds or rubies, but every single type of crystal you could possibly imagine. Jade, emerald, sapphire, lapis lazuli, onyx… any gem imaginable was a part of the room. Spike’s stomach growled, his eyes wide.

“They look delicious…” he whispered to himself. Cadence trotted up next to the dragon and tapped her hoof against his head.

“Hey, Spike! These gems are not for eating. They instead have another amazing purpose.”

Shining Armor stepped forward and explained the amazing phenomena that was the Saphirum. “When Cadence and I first took leadership of the Crystal Empire, we knew that we had much to learn about its history and culture. As time went on, we completely learned and honored the ways of the empire, but we couldn’t help but realize there was one thing we had yet to do. Explore our own castle.”

Cadence took her place next to her husband and continued the explanation. “As we explored the massive castle a bit deeper, we discovered this room. Seeing as how it’s in the back of the abandoned, left wing corridor, it made sense we hadn’t seen it before. At first we were confused at seeing my cutie mark on the door… but it seemed that the castle recognized our love and the door opened by itself. It’s like some form of magic resides within it. That’s when we discovered this,” she spun in place, waving a hoof at the marvel of the room.

Shining now stood in the middle of the room. The floor beneath him was decorated with a beautiful crystal star that twinkled and shined no matter the angle you looked at it.

“But the design of the room isn’t what makes it so special. When the crystal heart is powered by the magical energy that emanates from true love, it fires off a beautiful rainbow light into the sky. Everypony that sees it has their heart warmed almost immediately. The beam flows right through this room and well… I think you’ll have to see it for yourself to believe me,” the prince finished.

Spike and Rarity wore huge smiles and quickened their pace to see just what Shining was talking about. Rarity ran up besides Shining and poked her hoof at his chest.

“Shining! You never showed me this at any other time I’ve visited!” she said with wide eyes. 

The prince chuckled nervously. “Well… I never really thought to show you! We,” he said, gesturing to Cadence, “just figured this would be the perfect time to share!”

Spike’s claw ran along the many crystals that made up the wall, then looked around in wonder. “I think this is amazing! When will the crystal heart be powered enough to fire? I would love to see how this room shines!”

“Well, Spike, the heart is always ready. Just the tiniest hint of powerful or new love should fire it. And it has been charging for some time,” Cadence answered. 

Shining Armor started to walk towards the door, and motioned for the others to follow. “Well, guys, as much as I’d like to wait for the heart to fire, it’s been a pretty long day. We’ll have to come check it out in the morning. I’m sure you two are tired from your trip anyway. Let’s get some sleep and we’ll start up again tomorrow.”

Cadence and Rarity followed Shining out the door, but Spike took a moment to admire the room one last time. Something bothered the dragon deep down. A bad feeling seemed to burn in his stomach. He knew for sure that it wasn’t the food he ate. Before he could investigate the room a bit, however, Rarity called for him to follow her to their room.

“Alright, I’m coming!” he yelled back, walking out of the room slowly. The door creaked to a close behind him. He turned and caught one last glimpse of a bright and shining fire ruby on the far side of the room.

“Power or new love should fire it. It has been charging for some time,” a booming voiced echoed from the wall around.

“That’s odd… ‘cause I…” Spike started to whisper aloud. He smiled and waved the thought off. “Nah! It’s probably my imagination.”

Spike ran back up to the group, looking forward to a good night’s rest.





“Wah!” Spike gasped. He rolled over a little too far and fell out of bed, waking from a deep sleep.

“Oh, great. That’s just perfect,” he said as he sat up and dusted himself off. “Don’t worry, Rares, I’m fine. Just fell out of bed. That’s all.”

He turned around to climb back into bed when he noticed Rarity didn’t respond.

“Rarity?” he whispered, reaching his claw out in the darkness for her. Feeling around her pillow, he found nopony. His heart fell into his stomach. Rarity never woke up from her sleep. Nopony slept as deeply as Rarity.

“Rarity? Hey, Rarity, where are you?” Spike shouted, turning on the crystal lamp on his nightstand and scanning the room for his marefriend. Panic started to take over Spike. He turned to run out of the room and stumbled over the balled-up blanket on the floor. Silently cursing himself as he untangled himself from the blanket, his mind played the worst possible scenarios that could have befallen his lover.  

“Rarity, I’ve coming for you!” he yelled as he threw the doors open. As soon as he took a step out of the room, a powerful magical grip  his body. The dragon could neither move nor speak. The thoughts of burglars or changelings flowed through his mind, certain that whatever held him down was about to end his life.

“Shush, Spike! It’s just me.” Cadence stepped out of the darkness with a hoof over her mouth. Her horn glowed its blue aura for a moment before extinguishing. Spike felt the grip on him loosen and he gasped for breath.

“Cadence! What… what are you doing?”

Cadence took a deep breath, trying to calm her own trembling hooves. “Sorry, Spike. You busted out of your room screaming bloody murder, and I didn’t want the whole castle to wake up. Are you okay? What are you yelling about?” Cadence asked.

Spike stood up and pointed at his bed.

“I woke up and found Rarity missing! I kinda got a little nervous. Rarity never wakes up once she’s asleep,” he explained. Cadence’s expression went from confused, to absolutely terrified in a short moment.

“Shining Armor is also missing. I… I don’t know what’s going on… but I bet I know where we can find them. Come on,” she said,turning and galloping down the hallway. 

Spike ran beside her and spoke in between pants. “Where… are we… going?”

Cadence kept her focus forward, waiting a few moments to reply.

“The Saphirum.”   

The bad feeling Spike felt earlier that night rushed back to him, pulling all of the air out of his lungs. “How come?”

“I can feel a disturbance in the Saphirum’s magical energy.  I have a feeling about this.”

It couldn’t be… he thought to himself.

The pair ran down several hallways, making lefts and rights wherever necessary. After a good few minutes, Spike and Cadence slowed down as they approached the Saphirum’s hallway.

“Please… please let me be wrong. Please,” Cadence whispered.

She turned her head around the corner and nearly bursted into tears when she saw the door to the Saphirum open and Rarity and Shining Armor standing in the middle. She pulled her head back around the corner and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. Spike turned the corner and grinned.

“Hey look! There they a—” Cadence grabbed him and pulled him back before he could finish.

“What are you doing, Cadence?” he asked, “They’re in the Saphirum. Let’s go talk to them!” When he finished speaking, Cadence’s face altered from a surprised gasp into a mess of tears.

“Cadence, what’s wrong?”

Tears rolled down Cadence’s face. She choked back a sob as she spoke. “Spike… the door to the Saphirum can’t be opened like any other door…” she started, rubbing the tears out of her eyes with a hoof. “It can only be opened by two ponies… that are…”

The castle softly rumbled.

“What was that?” Spike asked. 

Cadence shook her head, totally disregarding Spike’s words. “It can’t be. I have to get closer and see if it’s true.”

She stood up, turning the corner and approaching the room, as Spike reluctantly followed, whispering to her as quietly as possible as they snuck down the hallway.

“What are we doing?”

Cadence continued to ignore him. The pair finally reached the room, hiding behind the open door, now within earshot of the two white unicorns.

“This truly is absolutely dazzling, Shining,” Rarity said.

“Not as dazzling as you,” he replied.

Cadence could practically feel her heart breaking. Spike’s jaw opened wide and his brain functions came to a full stop.

“Rarity… you wanted to see the room light up, right?” Shining Armor asked her, stepping a tiny bit closer.

“Yes…” she replied softly, closing the distance between them. With each step they took the castle responded back with a small shake.

“Then kiss me,” Shining said, leaning his head down a little towards hers. Rarity raised her head up and their lips made contact. Their tongues entertwined and bounced around each other’s mouths as they reveled in the deliciously forbidden taste the other had to offer.

The castle shook violently for a moment, and the walls started to hum. Every crystal in the room intensified in color. A blast of light shone up from the star where the two kissing ponies stood, hitting them directly. As it flowed through them they both turned crystal, fur and manes shining brightly. The crystals of the room began to glow brightly from within and shot light down into the star, changing its color from bright white to rainbow. With an incredible hum, the light blasted upward through the ceiling, shooting the rainbow light into the night sky. Through all of this, the unicorns never broke contact, their kiss long and uninterrupted.

Tears welled up in Spike’s eyes. 

Cadence’s face twisted into a dark grimace born of pure anger unbridled hatred. “I will destroy her!”
> Victim of the Virtuoso
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Oh, she is gonna pay!” Cadence whispered sharply. Her horn surged with energy. Its hum drowned out by the sound of the Crystal Heart firing through the Saphirum. Even then her husband and Rarity continued to kiss, oblivious to their lovers standing right outside the room.

Spike wiped his eyes and turned to face Cadence. His expression changed from sad to terrified at the sight of the fuming alicorn. He stood right in front of her lowered horn and shook rapidly shook his head. 

“What are you doing?” He quietly asked

“Move out of my way, Spike. I’m gonna put a nice generous sized hole right through her head!” 

Spike firmly grabbed her horn and yanked it upward, bringing her face up near his. 

“No you will not.” 

Spike’s claw started to heat up. The slight tingling feeling forced Cadence to lower her offensive. She knew that if she fired now, she would blow off Spike’s claw. 

The dragon turned and faced his marefriend, and felt so betrayed. 

How could she do this to me?

Shining Armor wouldn’t unlock his lips from Rarity’s, they slowly shuffled to the room’s right side, out of Spike’s view, pressing their lips hard against each other groaning as they went. 

“Spike let me go! I cannot let that homewrecker just kiss my husband in my own home!” 

“Yeah well imagine how I feel!” Spike replied, releasing Cadence. He turned and swiftly closed the door, holding them both tightly till the slight puff of air breezed out from between them. “But I can’t just go in there and set Shining Armor on fire.” 

“I can,” the princess retorted back.

Spike stood still for a moment. The tragedy finally starting to hit him. 

Rarity… she’s cheating on me. I don’t… I can’t… 

His thoughts wandered.

Cadence turned slowly paced behind him. Mumbling unintelligibly to herself. Spike’s memories began to wash over him. He remembered when him and Rarity first met… way back when Twilight first went to Ponyville.  He had worked so hard, over so many years to earn her affections, and when he finally did it was the happiest day of his life.

But now, it seemed to be all for nothing. He could feel the broken pieces of his heart falling into darkness as he thought about it. And if the tears pouring down Cadence’s face were any inclination, she was feeling the same.

Spike put away his sadness for the moment and gently tilted Cadence’s head to look him in the eye. “Look, we need to get away from the problem for the time being. Come on, let’s go back to my room and calm down for just a little bit so we can talk about it.”

The pink mare’s eyes darted between Spike and the Saphirum room for a few moments, before she silently nodded and followed Spike away from the heartbreaking scene.

The two slowly walked back to the guest room where Spike was staying and locked the door behind them. Cadence crashed herself onto the bed and buried her face in the pillows.

“What am I going to do? I- I can’t believe Shining would do this!” Cadence screamed, only for her voice to be muffled by the pillows and mattress.

“Look, I know this is bad,” Spike said, taking a seat on the bed. “But we have to think this through. If we act without thinking, it’s just going to end up being worse for everyone.”

“I know! I just.. It’s like.. I can’t… Ugh!” Cadence threw her hooves up in despair. “We can’t just let this go! I can’t let her get away with stealing Shining away like that!”

“Hey, how do you know this was Rarity’s fault?” Spike asked with offense.

“Well, I don’t, but… I have to blame someone, don’t I?” Cadence let out a deep sigh, and tears slowly started to streak down her cheeks. “I don’t know what to do! This is just too much to take in right now.”

Spike moved over to her and gently wiped the tears from her eyes. “Look, I know what you mean. I haven’t even really processed the situation yet. But, how about this. We go back to sleep in our rooms, and talk about the situation in the morning after we’ve gotten some rest. We’ll be able to think about everything in a different frame of mind, and hopefully come up with a plan. Does that sound okay?”

Cadence tilted her head to look over at Spike then drooped her head in defeat. “Fine. But if you wake up to find your marefriend has become the new den carpet, don’t be surprised.”

“Duly noted,” Spike replied with a curt nod.

“Well, good night, Spike. And… I’m sorry. I know this is hard on you as well.” Cadence wrapped Spike in a hug, before turning around and exiting the room.

“Ugh…” Spike collapsed onto the bed, thoughts of Rarity floating through his mind. “What are you doing, Rares?”


*****	


The sun peered in through the most annoying hole in the curtains, directly on Spike’s eyelids. With a montage of annoying groans Spike tossed and turned to avoid Celestia’s harmful rays. As soon as the dragon found a comfortable spot away from the sun, there was an intense banging on his bedroom door. 

“Excuse me, Master Spike, but you’re late for breakfast,” the voice of a young crystal servant said through the door. There was a moment of awkward silence before the knocking continued. 

Spike groaned once again, and looked up at the door with pure hatred. He had half a mind to burn the door down with a quick blast of fire, but he decided against it and replied to the servant. 

“Alright! Let… Shining and Cadence know I’ll be down in a moment.”

Spike froze, and prayed silently to Celestia and Luna that Rarity was in bed with him. He slowly reached his claw over to her side and felt nothing. He could feel his heart getting heavier in his chest, letting the events of last night replay in his mind for a quick second.

“Rarity… what did I do wrong?” 

His eyes locked on a frame that sat on his nightstand. The picture the frame held was one of Spike’s favorites. He had been sick earlier that year, and spent many days in the hospital. Twilight had come into his room one morning and found Rarity, hair a mess, laying at the edge of the bed. She had spent all night with her lover, reading books to him, holding his claw, and telling him everything was going to be ok. 

“How about now, Rarity? Is everything ok now?” 


*****


Spike didn’t bother to put on a nice outfit, or fix up the spines on his head. He barely had the courage to go downstairs at all. He was really close to just packing up his bags and going back home. The only thing that kept him from the doing the latter was Cadence. She was going through the exact same situation and needed him. 

Spike couldn’t help but realize that he needed her too. 

As he approached the doors to the dining hall, two crystal ponies bowed, and welcomed him. They both grabbed the handles and pulled the massive doors open. 

His eyes quickly scanned the environment of the dining hall, taking in the setting before him.  The table was set with bowls, spoons, and empty glasses, with pitchers of juice in the center. 

It seemed alright, but of course, there they were: Shining Armour and Rarity, sitting next to each other, their laughs echoing throughout the dining room. 

Oh lovely…

His face morphed into a scowl that could send Chrysalis running for cover, and he waddled his way over to his designated spot at the table by Rarity. With every step he took, he mumbled a few choice expletives that conveyed his true thoughts on the situation.

Taking his seat at the table, he turned his attention to the empty bowl in front of him. Before he could even lift a claw to question the lack of food in front of him, a crystal servant was at his side, pouring cereal and milk into it.

“Here you are, sir. One bowl of Cocoa ‘Splosion with 1% milk.”

“Oh, thank you,” Spike responded, waving off the servant.

Rarity swung around in her seat and enveloped Spike in a tight hug. “Darling, so good to see you up! How did you sleep?”

Spike turned his face away from the white unicorn. “Meh.”

“Umm, okay. Sorry I didn’t wait for you to come to breakfast this morning. I was simply famished!” Rarity threw her hooves up in dramatic fashion, only to be greeted with Spike stirring his cereal around in his bowl. “Um, did you have any interesting dreams, dear?”

“Meh.”

Rarity and Shining shared a brief awkward glance at each other.

“Is everything alright, Spikey? You seem dreadfully upset about something.”

Spike had to fight back every urge to retort with a few choice insults. He barely managed to succeed and just returned his attention to his bowl of cereal.

“...Meh.”

Before Rarity had a chance to respond, the dining room door burst into a flurry of splinters, wood chips and chunks of expensive materials. Standing behind the cloud of rubble was a pink alicorn who looked ready to snap at any second. Massive bags under her eyes, mane frazzled, and a frown that would have Luna running back to the moon in a heartbeat - she was a frightening sight to say the least.

One of the servants darted to her side, eyes wide as saucers. “Um, pardon Your Majesty Cadence, allow me to escort you to-”

“I know the way!” Cadence retorted, tossing the servant to the side. 

She trudged her way over to the table, glaring daggers at Shining and Rarity the entire way, causing them both to sink into their seats. Upon reaching the table, she dropped into her seat next to Shining Armour, and dropped her gaze to the table. 

“Good morning, darling. How are you?” Shining asked, cautiously taking a bite of his cereal.

“How am I? How am I?  Well, let me tell—” Her potentially violent actions were swiftly brought to a halt with a nervous cough from Spike. “I’m… fine.” She flashed her magic over her body, straightening her mane and combing through it fixing all imperfections, her eye make-up was less streaky and more defined now. She approached her chair and plopped down. 

“Just… had a bit of a nightmare last night is all,” she finished. Spike sighed noticeably from his seat. 

Shining Armor lifted his hoof towards his wife’s face.  “Oh no! Perhaps it’s best you get a little more rest, my love,” Shining offered, but Cadence only scoffed. A servant placed a bowl of the chocolatey cereal in front of Cadence, but she smacked it away with her hoof. 

“I’m… not… hungry…” she growled. 

A disturbing silence fell over the table. Rarity’s eyes were glued to her dragon	companion. “Is there something going on this morning? You both seem so, oh what’s the word... cranky?”

“Oh, no, we’re perfectly fine, Rarity,” Cadence snapped. “On that note, how did you sleep last night? Was it too hot in your room? We wouldn’t want you to suffocate while sleeping, now would we?!” Her eye involuntarily twitched several times, before she snapped out of her anger again.

Rarity stroked her chin and looked over Cadence for a moment. "Wait just a moment, I think I understand exactly what's going on."

"You do?" Cadence said, eyes bolted open.

"Of course, darling," Rarity replied, beaming. "Someone needs a relaxation date at the spa! You're coming with me right this moment!"

Before she could open her mouth, Cadence was pulled from her seat and dragged out the door by the white unicorn. 

Rarity is going to die... Spike chuckled lightly then turned his attention to the pony he was now awkwardly alone with.

"So, Spike… how ya been?”

Spike looked up at the stallion across the table and let out a deep sigh. “Meh, I’ve been alright. You?”

Twiddling his hooves, Shining suddenly rose from the table and moved across to sit by Spike. “Actually, Spike, I kind of needed to talk to you about that. I, um, well, there’s something I have to confess to you.”

Spike was afraid that Shining would hear how hard his heart was beating against his chest.

Is... he gonna confess to me? 

"What's wrong?" 

"Things between me and Cadence... Well they haven't really been the best. With her princess duties taking up all of her time we never are together... And when we are, she is too tired or cranky to really speak to me... So I..." 

Spike stood up abruptly. "You what?" 

The prince's hoof was gently placed on Spike's shoulder and eased him back into his chair.

"I want to renew my wedding vows to Cadence."
> The Relentless
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Cadence grimaced and squinted her eyes in pain as her ears were being battered with the nonstop chatter that Rarity decided to provide during their spa treatment. At the moment, the two of them were sitting side-by-side in the spa room, getting rejuvenating mud mask facials, ‘guaranteed to relax the body and brighten one’s demeanor’.

It had no such effect on Cadence.

“Oh, Cadence, you would not believe the trouble Twilight can get herself into,” Rarity said, carrying on her one-sided conversation.

Cadence could feel her head heating up, and a headache was approaching rapidly. It was all she could do to not force Rarity’s mouth shut by driving the white unicorn’s own horn through her lips. However, that would not sit very well with the poor spa ponies who would be witnessing the event, and Spike might not appreciate it either. So for the time being, revenge would just have to wait.

“And then I said to her, ‘Sorry Twilight, but that’s a test tube, not a bowl of ‘Cocoa Splosion!’” Rarity burst out in laughter, causing a few bits of saliva to land on Cadence.

Cadence wiped off the spit from her leg and gave a few token chuckles at the punch line, despite the fact she hadn’t been paying attention at all. One thing, and one thing only had been on her mind. 

The kiss.

The slobbery, tongue locked, unholy kiss that Rarity had placed upon her husband. The images flickered through her mind, one frame after another, impacting her sight and thoughts with every beat of her heart. And every beat transferred into a vicious explosion of pain in her head, like a migraine that would never go away. 

“And you wouldn’t even believe the reaction Spike gave me when I told him he looked handsome at dinner several weeks back. Ha, he still admires me the same way he did when we first met all those years ago,” Rarity said, with a chuckle. “He really is adorable.”

The pain, the voice, the images, the white unicorn - it was too much, and she had enough.

“Now, Cadence—”

She.

“—how are things going—”

Had.

“—with you and your wonderful husband?”

Enough.

“Shut up, you obnoxiously narcissistic marshmallow!”  Cadence screamed, bolting up in her seat. “Do you even have an off button for your mouth?” 

The ensuing silence in the room was broken only by the noise of two cucumber slices falling off Cadence’s face and falling to the floor.

Rarity sat in a stunned silence, along with the entire staff in the spa room. The latter quickly went about their work, while Rarity attempted to speak. “M-Marshmallow? Are you sure you’re okay, darling?”

Cadence used every bit of self-control she could muster to keep from murdering her right then and there.

Keep it together, girl. You just have to play it cool until you meet up with Spike this afternoon.

“Um, I’m s-s-...sorry, Rarity,” Cadence said, forcefully spitting every word out like it was a warm drink of water on a hot summer day. “I guess I’m just a little tired, seeing as how I didn’t sleep too well last night. But, of course, you wouldn’t understand that, because I’m sure you slept just fine and peachy last night!”

“Oh, I did, darling. The sleeping accommodations you provided were just splendid! I feel sorry for poor Spike, though… it looked like he didn’t sleep a wink last night. I hope the poor dear is okay. I’d hate for him to be sick on vacation,” Rarity said, pouting. “He works so hard back home, he deserves some time to enjoy himself.”

Cadence could hardly believe the words spewing forth from Rarity’s mouth. First, she cheats on Spike with Shining Armour. Then, she has the nerve to play innocent and practically mock the poor dragon she’s betraying. This was going too far.

“Well, you know, Rarity… maybe Spike just couldn’t sleep because something was bothering him. You know, maybe some kind of heart pain.  Like, perhaps, the kind somepony might feel if put under severe emotional stress?” Cadence said, on the verge of slapping Rarity silly.

Rarity rubbed her chin for a moment. “No, I don’t think so, dear. Must have just been something he ate. Now, how about we finish our spa treatment?”

Cadence somehow found herself to be blown away by the Rarity’s ignorance for what must’ve been the fifth time that day. She was starting to feel sick to her stomach. 

The way she saw it, she had two options: handle the situation maturely and discuss things like a responsible adult, or, she could break the door down and angrily make an exit.

She chose the latter.

“Ahhh!” With a short burst of magic, the spa door was blown to pieces, and Cadence stomped out, cursing every object in her way.

Rarity, once again, was left stunned by her actions. Collecting herself, she dashed to the now broken door and shouted after Cadence.

“Darling, is it that time of month?”





Spike had no idea how to process the words he had just heard. His brain began to spark and smoke just trying to think about it.

He wants to renew his vows… to Cadence? The beautiful mare he had just been unfaithful to the previous night? Is it possible for someone to be that unrealistically ignorant?

“You… uh…” Spike stuttered, giving Shining a chance to explain himself a bit further. 

“Listen, Spike. When I invited you guys to the empire, I was hoping both you and Rarity would be willing to join us in the ceremony. Everything that has happened over the years hasn’t done anything positive for our relationship, but having some of her friends around while we work on renewing our vows might just be the perfect thing to bring the two of us back on track. What do you say? Will you be my best dragon?” 

Shining reached a hoof over towards the still seated Spike, and offered him a small medal in the shape of a diamond. 

“This pin was always worn by the groom’s best colt at weddings in the old Crystal Empire… I’ve been researching a lot of the old history so I can follow the traditions correctly. While digging through some of the old rooms of the castle I found it, and I’d love for you to wear it.” 

Spike balled up his claw, and looked away from Shining.

You must think I’m some kind of fool.

He turned back and smiled at Shining.

“Yeah, of course, Shining! It’s so cool that you’d want me to be the best… uh… dragon!” Spike took the pin in his claw and squeezed it tightly. 

Wait until Cadence hears about this... 

Shining rose from the table, and slowly moved towards the window. It was a large, floor-to-ceiling piece with a wonderful view of the kingdom. He sighed and hung his head low. 

Spike wanted to walk out without Shining even noticing, but something compelled him to stay.

Shining turned and faced Spike, tears rolling down his face. 

“What’s wrong?” Spike asked.

“I don’t know, Spike. What if she doesn’t accept my vows? What if she decides to end it right then and there?” 

Ha, you’ll be lucky if there’s even a ‘there’ to be at after you ask her.

Shining was looking out the window again, and ran his hoof along its glass. “Maybe you can help me?” 

Spike barely paid attention to Shining’s confession, his mind instead taking the opportunity to call him every possible curse word he knew. 

“Spike?” 

The dragon’s concentration broke, and he realized Shining was talking to him. 

“Yeah, of course! Whatever you need, I can help.” 

He immediately regretted offering his assistance to Shining, but in a matter of seconds his anger and regret hatched a plan. 

"Oh thank you, Spike!" Shining said with excitement. “It'll be a grand affair! There will be a feast, a dance, and of course my sister and her friends will be there!" 

The prince placed a magical grip around Spike, and started to carry him out of the dining room. 

"Let me show you what I've done so far!" 


 

Spike plopped himself down on the comfortable guest room bed and sighed. 

"I have absolutely no idea what's going on around this place." 

Rarity and Cadence hadn't returned from the spa and it was getting late. At first Spike was afraid Cadence might've done something regrettable to Rarity. Something that would involve maniacal laughter, funeral preparations and the sound of vengeance being echoed throughout the halls.

“Ugh, why can’t things be simple?” Spike said, laying back onto the bed. “Maybe I can just have Twilight zap me back in time before I ever came on this trip. I feel like everything is just going to crash and burn… more than it already has!”

Spike was trying to make sense of everything going on, but he ended up with a pulsating headache. 

“Let’s see… Shining and Rarity kiss each other in the Saphirum; they pretend to know nothing about it; Cadence wants to kill Rarity; I’ve waged a personal war with Shining; Shining breaks into tears saying he wants Cadence back.” 

“...”

“... ...”

“. . .”

“Yep, we’re all going to hell.”

The door burst open in a cloud of smoke and wood splinters, which could only mean one thing.

“Um, Cadence? Is everything okay?” Spike asked, sitting up at the arrival of the Princess. “Is everyone, you know, alive?”

“Unfortunately…” Cadence replied. “Spike, I have no idea how you put up with her. Does she even know how to shut up or mind her own business?”

“No. I just got used to it after awhile,” he answered. “Just gonna throw this out there, but... I take it your spa session didn’t go very well?”

Cadence pierced Spike with a sharp glare. “Ya’ think? I cannot stand her! She acts like she’s perfectly innocent!”

“Tell me about it,” said Spike, scooting over to make room for Cadence on the bed. “Shining almost made me sick with what he said after you left.”

“What do you mean?” Cadence replied, curling up on the bed next to Spike.

“Well, he said things weren’t really working out between you, and—”

“Ha, surprise, surprise,” Cadence scoffed.

“Well, that’s not all. He said he wants to renew his wedding vows with you… and he wants me to help.”

Cadence’s face was frozen, her mouth open and her left eye twitching uncontrollably. “I’m sorry, Spike, I don’t think I heard that right. Did you say ‘renew… vows’?”

“Yeah,” Spike said with a nod. “But don’t worry!”

“Spike, you have exactly ten seconds to tell me why I shouldn’t suffocate Shining in bed tonight!”

“No, you can’t kill him! Not yet, at least.” Spike stood up and looked eye-to-eye with Cadence. “I have a plan.”
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
> Voices
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cadence slowly crept into her room. It was late, and she didn't want to wake Shining up, lest she would be forced to have a conversation with him.

She had stayed up a few extra hours going over the dismal situation with Spike, and then spent an additional hour gorging herself on chocolate ice cream in the kitchens. 

More importantly, however, she and Spike had managed to concoct a plan that may finally reveal their mates' true intentions and motives.

Cadence was ready to end this drama once and for all.





Spike stared up at the ceiling, using his exceptional night vision to trace along every intricate pattern that was painted upon it. He was able to notice that the paint had been chipping away at certain areas for some time, and it became rather distracting to his eyes. It was nothing that could be seen with a passing glance, but with careful inspection, one could see that some major touch-ups were needed.

Spike felt like his relationship was that ceiling.

From the outside, he and Rarity had a great relationship. It was honest, intimate and loving. But after the events of the past few days, perhaps it was starting to unravel. Or maybe it had been unraveling for some time and he had just failed to notice?

Either way, his plan would hopefully put an end to all speculation.

It was incredibly simple, really. At breakfast, he and Cadence would simply excuse themselves, leaving Shining Armour and Rarity alone. They would then eavesdrop on them and find out exactly what kind of scandalous plot they have cooked up.

It was foalproof!

“Mmm, Spike, I’d love another chocolate-dipped strawberry,” Rarity mumbled in her sleep. She cuddled closer to him and buried her face into his chest. 

“Oh, please,” Spike said.





Nuzzling into her covers, Cadence could hear the low breathing sounds of Shining Armour as he was dreaming. Not even a few weeks ago she would have been wrapped in his hooves, warm and happy. But now, his closeness just left a searing pain in her chest.

Its all that stupid Rarity's fault. What with her being beautiful and put-together all the time. It's so not fair.

Cadence had to double over what she was thinking. It sounded so immature, just blaming Rarity for everything going on. But the only other option would be the one thing she had been terrified to think about this entire time.

What if it's been me pushing him away this entire time?






Spike tossed and turned in his bed trying to get comfortable. After so long, he got used to sleeping close to Rarity, having her nuzzled in his arms. The smell of her mane and the warmth of her coat would always lull him to sleep.

But now the mare next to him felt like a stranger.

Spike turned over and looked at his wife. She had her sleeping mask on as usual, and she had the same content smile she always had.

Why, Rarity.... please tell me.

Spike reached his claw over and gently stroked her mane. Instinctively she moved into his body and cuddled close, asleep all the while.

She was so beautiful, so perfect, yet she broke his heart like it was nothing. 

Spike leaned forward into her and held her close to him, burrowing his face in her mane. Depending on how things went in the near future, this may be the last night they would spend together. 

He missed her already, even though she was wrapped in his arms.





Cadence tossed and turned in her sleep, vivid dreams starting to encroach upon her subconscious.


Cadence forced her eyes open, feeling as if she just dragged herself out of bed after a horrible night’s sleep.

“Oh, my head…” 

She rubbed her temples with her hoof, trying to get rid of the throbbing pain that had built inside her head.

“Here, darling, allow me to help.”

Cadence jumped in surprise. “Sh-Shining?”

“Of course,” Shining said, gently caressing his wife’s cheek with his hoof. “Were you expecting somepony else?”

She quickly swatted his hoof away and turned her face away. “What do you want? After what you did to me, why do you think I’d want to see you?”

Shining Armour let out a deep sigh and followed it up with a light chuckle. “Heh, you really don’t understand what’s going on, do you?”

Cadence’s eyes widened and she snapped her head around to face him. “What exactly am I supposed to understand? That you cheated on me? That you never loved me in the first place?”

“Of course not, my love. I do love you. Do you not see where I brought you?”

 It’s not what you think.” Shining inched closer to Cadence, and gently stroked her mane with his hoof.

“Then please tell me what it is!” Cadence could feel her brain throbbing, as if something was trying to force it’s way inside. A powerful migraine with absolutely no remedy.

“Why tell...when I can show you?”

Without a word, Shining pulled Cadence toward him and he placed his lips on hers. Cadence tried to pull away, but something warm began flowing through her. The pain in her head started to vanish and all she could feel was warmth of his touch.

She started to move with the flow of the moment and wrapped her hooves around him, pulling him closer, deepening the kiss. It was intense, warm and passionate. It reminded her of the first kiss they shared so many years ago. The kind of kiss that sparked intense love from the heart. 

Perhaps she was wrong about Shining. Maybe he did love her still…

A few more seconds passed by, the kiss growing deeper.  Cadence could feel her heart beating faster and faster. The moment was getting more and more heated.

But something was wrong.

As the kiss continued, Cadence could feel the fur around her husband’s face start to disappear. The familiar sensation of his hoof flowing through her mane was replaced by something, sharp, prickly almost, trailing through her fur. 

Cadence opened her eyes, expecting to be greeted with Shining’s soft gaze, but she was instead faced with a pair of slitted green eyes.

“Ah!” She jumped back in complete shock of what happened. Her husband, the pony she had been kissing had morphed completely into, into…

“Spike?”

She had to blink several times to make sure of she was seeing.

“Cadence?” he responded, eyes wide and mouth agape. 

She shook her head in disbelief and looked around the room. Shining was nowhere to be found. Spike was the only one with her.

Something was very wrong.

“What’s going on?!”





“Ahh!”

Cadence thrust her head up from her pillow and thrashed around in her covers. She darted her eyes around the room, her heart beating a mile a minute. 

Sunlight streamed through her large bedroom window, illuminating her surroundings. She was alone in her bed, in the safety of her room.

“It was just a dream,” she said with a deep sigh, collapsing back onto her pillow. “It was only a dream.”

She could feel her heart rate die down as she lay in her bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. She turned her head over and felt the empty spot next to her, signifying she was alone. That in turn meant she needed to get up and go down for breakfast.

But she needed a moment to herself before she could face the imminent challenges of the day.

Scenes from the dream kept popping up in her head. It was so intense, so real. She could feel the cold spot where her sweat drenched her pillow over the night. 

It was just a dream, right? 

What did it all mean? Was she supposed to forgive Shining and move on? Or not? Why in the name of all that is holy did Spike show up? Especially during such an...intimate moment.

So many questions. Absolutely no answers.

Confusion seemed to be a running theme in her life recently.

“Ergh, what’s going on around here?!”

knock! knock!

“Ah!” Cadence shrieked, snapping to attention. “One minute!”

Cadence jumped out of bed and cast a quick-fix spell on herself to remove any signs of wear and tear the night may have had on her.

“Come in!”

The door flew open and a purple dragon dashed in.

“Spike?”

Spike hopped up onto the bed so he could be at direct eye level with the princess. “Cadence, we’ve gotta talk.” 

“About what?” Cadence asked.

Spike took a deep breath and looked Cadence right in the eye. “I think there’s something seriously wrong here. I had a really weird dream last night about Rarity and me in the Saphirum and-”

“Wait,” Cadence said, putting a hoof over his mouth. “You had a dream about the Saphirum, too?”

“Yeah. It was really strange, too.”

If this was going where she thought it was going, she really did not want to go there.

“What happened in your dream?”

“Well, me and Rares were just randomly in the Saphirum together, and she was all over me. Like, she was apologising for what happened, saying how much she loved me, all that good stuff. It was actually kind of nice.”

Oh no… It’s going there.

“Anyway, after that, she randomly started kissing me. Like, hardcore kissing, you know? But that’s when things got weird…” A rosy tint began to form around Spike’s cheeks and he turned his head to the ground.

Oh, sweet Celestia. We are almost there.

“After a few more minutes of kissing, well, I looked up and she wasn’t there anymore. You were there...”

And there it is.

“Umm, so yeah. When I woke up a bit ago, I noticed Rarity was gone. And she left her false eyelashes on the table, so she must have left in a hurry!”

Cadence needed a moment to sort everything out, but that would have to wait. Time was a luxury at the moment.

“Spike, I agree. There’s something weird going on. I had an identical dream last night, but with Shining...and...you.” Cadence could feel her face heat up. “Anyway, on top of that, Shining is gone, too.”

Spike let out a sigh and frowned. "You don't think they..."

"Ran off somewhere, together? I don't even want to think about it." Cadence rubbed  her forehead in a desperate attempt to ward off the approaching headache. "Let's just go down to breakfast. I would imagine somepony must know where they are."

Spike nodded in agreement and followed Cadence out the bedroom door and toward the dining room. Both of them remained quiet on the brief trip, both lost in thought about what new pain-inducing ventures would await them throughout the day. Heartache, jealousy, hate and revenge seemed to be the predominating theme for the past several days, so why would this be any different?

Cadence paused before levitating open the large doors leading to the dining area. Her mind flashed to the Saphirum, to Shining...to the dragon next to her. All manners of scenarios of what things could be like at the end of the day passed through her head.

Spike experienced a similar rush in his head upon approaching the closed doors. Images of Rarity's beautiful face flashed through his head, followed swiftly by images of Cadence pressed against him, tightly wrapped in his arms. It all led to a strange, ominous feeling in his belly.

Both of them knew something was going to go horribly wrong this day.

Neither of them,however, would have ever guessed what awaited them in the room beyond.

As the doors opened, allowing the two of them entrance, they were immediately greeted with a sight were not expecting.

Sitting at the centre table were Rarity and Shining Armour. However, as opposed to the happy, flirtatious banter they would have expected, they were met with something entirely different.

"Rarity... Are you okay?" Spike slowly approached his wife who had tears freely flowing down her face. Her mane was a wreck and the matted fur on her face only further proved these tears had been going on for some time.

Sitting across from her,Shining had his face pressed firmly into his hooves, not even willing to acknowledge his wife's presence.

Spike glanced at Cadence who seemed just as lost as he was.

Spike inched closer to his wife,his lips turned into a concerned frown. "Rarity, talk to me,what's wrong?"

Spike gently reached out to touch her shoulder but his claw was quickly smacked away by Rarity's hoof.

Spike jumped back as Rarity jumped to her hooves, her look of sadness intensifying into anger.

"Spike, how could you?!" Rarity moved forward and connected a strong hit with her hoof right across his left cheek. "How could you do this to me?!"

Spike shook off the smack, eyes wide in confusion. He tried to respond, but was cut off immediately.

"How could you?! I thought you loved me!"

"Rarity, how could I what?" Spike looked her straight in the eye only to see a barrage of fresh tears flow down her cheeks.

"Cheat on me....with her!" Rarity lunged a hoof in Cadence's direction. "I saw you two kissing last night.... Spike, why?"

Rarity collapsed to the floor in front of Spike, a mess of tears and sobs.

Spike had no idea how to respond, and judging from the blank stare Cadence wore, she didn't know either.

Spike looked back to Rarity, unable to find words to explain. Instead, he could just hear her whimper out the same words over and over.

"Spike, why? I love you..."
> Lust of the Lost Pt. 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“He just, I can’t, they were… Ahh! Why does nothing make sense anymore?” Cadance threw herself into her bed where Spike was sitting, his head plopped into his palms.

“This is impossible… Me? Cheat on her? How?” Spike shook his head and rubbed his temples, trying to get rid of the headache creeping inside.

“Of course its impossible, Spike!” Cadance said, flipping her head around. “I would never kiss you! ...No offense.”

“None taken. But, the look on her face. The way Shining looked… they were so broken.” 

“I noticed that, too,” Cadance said, letting out a sigh. “I’ve only seen Shining with that look once, and that was when we fought for the first time and I threatened to move out. It was just heat of the moment yelling, but still, that look is so genuine.”

“Cadance, maybe we need to, once again, attempt to break down what’s happened since I’ve been here.”

“Alright, we can try. But to be honest, I’m not sure I know anything that’s going on.”

Spike hopped off of the bed and began pacing back and forth in front of Cadence.

“Okay, number one, you show us the Saphirum. True love, mystical stuff, yada yada yada. Number two, we both wake up in the middle of the night and find Rarity and Shining kissing each other, apparently cheating on us. Number three, they both show little to no awareness of what happened, but instead appear to be just as in love with us as always. Number four, they accuse us of cheating in the same manner of which we accused them. Does that all make sense?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Yeah, same here. But that’s what happened. So, if we’re gonna be able to find some way of working anything out, we’re gonna have to go off of what we know.”

“I guess, but I still think this whole situation could be resolved with a smoking beam of concentrated love power.”

“Let’s save that for when we actually know what’s happening. Because, I’m not sure if you feel the same, but something just doesn’t add up.”

“Something like what?” Cadance asked.

“Like, it’s kind of suspicious that the same thing we saw was the same thing Shining and Rarity said they saw. And at the start of both events, we both had synchronized dreams regarding the Saphirum. There’s gotta be a connection.”

Cadance rubbed her chin thought. “Come to think of it, you might be right. It’s more than a little odd that both incidents not only happened at night, directly during or after a dream, but in the Saphirum itself.”

“You know, I have a feeling the Saphirum may have a bit more to it than we think. Like, how much do you know about it, really?” Spike said with a cocked eyebrow.

“Well, we know it’s powered by love, or at least I think it is. I don’t know, anymore.”

“I think we need to do a bit of research on this Saphirum. ...And I know just who we need to talk to.”






"Cadence? Spike? What are you two doing here?" Twilight looked at her two friends with a half smile from the living area of her palace. "Not that I'm complaining, but aren't you supposed to be enjoying some vacation time down in the Crystal Empire? You know, like a romantic getaway thingy?"

"It's a long story," Spike said with a straight face.

"You're much happier not knowing it," Cadence added on.

"Um, okay... So, I take it you need something other than just saying hello?"

Spike looked Twilight right in the eyes. "Twilight, search your memory banks for anything under the heading 'Saphirum'."

Twilight scrunched her face for a moment. "Saphirum, Saphirum... I feel like I've heard about this before. But where?"

She tapped her hoof on her chin, leaving Spike and Cadence in impatient agony.

"I've got it!" She shouted out. "Come, to the library!"

Spike and Cadence ran after Twilight to the castle library. After a brief search, Twilight levitated a large, gray book from one of the shelves, and brought it to the table that was in the room. The three all sat around it.

"This is a book I haven't read in awhile," Twilight said, blowing some dust from its cover. "'Sacrificial Love: A Ritualists Guide.'"

"Sacrificial?" Cadance said with a frown. "Anything with that in the title must be bad news."

"Or bad fanfiction," Spike quipped.

"This book is an old tome that details ritual practices and effects of magical entities of the past," Twilight said. "From evil spirits out for blood to unholy beasts desiring sacrifice, it’s in here."

"You know, why are old, archaic tomes always so depressing and scary?" Spike asked. "Aren't there any old tomes with colouring pages or activities? Ponies were too obsessed with death back then if you ask me."

"Spike, shut up," Cadance said, whacking him upside the head. "Please, continue Twilight."

"Ahem, as I was saying, this book contains details on a lot of magical powers and beings and I think I read something about the Saphirum in here, once upon a time."

“Alright, Twilight. Please, see if you can find anything about it. It’s really important.” Cadance looked at Twilight and then the book sitting in front of her.

“Don’t worry, I’ll try,” Twilight said with a smile. “We just have to crack this baby open and see what we can find. To be honest, though, I’m surprised at how little you know about it considering it’s in your castle. Something just seems a bit… I don’t know…”

“Off?” Spike finished.

“Exactly.”

“Sorry, Twilight,” Cadance said. “Shining and I never really looked that much into it. It just seemed so magnificent, so beautiful. We never thought it would be dangerous or anything. And there’s no shortage of magical anomalies around here, so we never really thought twice about it.”

“Well, we need to do a little research now,” Twilight stated.

She flipped through the pages of the book, scanning every one up and down with blazing speed.

"Nope. Not here. Nu-uh. Maybe...no. Not this. Aha! Saphirum."

Spike and Cadance raced over and huddled around Twilight.

"What does it say?" Spike asked.

"Theres not much, but there's something. Let's see here..." Twilight cleared her throat and began reading.

"Saphirum: Goddess of Love and Jealousy

In the early days of the Crystalline civilization, there existed a spirit said to be of divine beauty and love that none could match. Living amongst the creatures of the magical realm, she was gifted with many privileges, the utmost of those being the task of overseeing the love and union of the earthly creatures. 

However, after viewing the Jealousy and hatred that stemmed from the inside of said creatures, she attempted to banish it completely by absorbing it into her own life force. The negative energy was far more than she could've dreamed possible, and the once beautiful Saphirum became a goddess of jealousy and treachery. Instead of overseeing love and unity, she was twisted into a role of causing division and instability. 

To prevent further damage, the other spirits did her a final kindness and trapped her in a crystal enclosure. The prison was then given to the earthly rulers to be hidden away, never to be awoken."

"Uh, wow, that was interesting... To say the least." Spike looked from the book up to Twilight. "Does any of this really mean anything, though?"

"I don't know, Spike," Twilight said. "I mean, it could just be an old story from Crystalline lore. But if what it says is true, we could have a serious problem here."

"This is a bit much to take in," Cadence said. "Like, what this is saying is that the room we stumbled upon actually contained an evil spirit. And we awoke that spirit somehow? Is that even possible?"

"Judging by what I've seen so far, it wouldn't be a total stretch," Twilight said. "But like I said, nothing is certain."

"Well, what should we do?" Spike asked. "Whether we're dealing with a spirit or just some emotional trauma, we need to figure something  out, and fast.

" You're right," Twilight said. "But before we make any further assumptions, I want to see this Saphirum for myself. And I'm bringing somepony with me to help."

"And who's that?" Spike asked.

"Somepony who knows his stuff."
> Lust of the Lost Pt. 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Cadance sat back in the living area loveseat, hooves crossed and face scrunched. “Twilight, my weekend has been chaotic enough without him interfering.”

“Yeah, no offense, but I’m not in the mood for a lesson on undeserved reformation right now,” Spike said, shaking his head.

Twilight scoffed. “I understand that you two have reservations about him, but the bottom line is he’s the only one with the knowledge to help us.” She punctuated her statement by slamming a book onto the table in front of them. “Can you name anyone else in this book that was alive that long ago and that we know?”

Spike scratched his chin. “Well, Luna always seems to show up in situations like this? Can’t we just bring her in and call it a day?”

“Spike, I very much doubt that Luna would want us to pester her with our daily problems. She’s not just some deus ex machina, you know.” Twilight facehoofed.

“True enough,” Cadance replied. “And I guess we need all the help we can get at this point. So, other than waiting for him to randomly intrude on us, how do we get him here?”

Twilight sighed, quite obviously not looking forward to what they would have to do. “After that whole Starlight Glimmer debacle, I told Discord that it would be better if we could simply summon him when we needed him.” As she spoke, she trotted into her kitchen, and she returned with a quill and parchment floating right in front of her. “The… summoning ritual, if you can even call it that, involves writing out a very stupid phrase.”

“Somehow, that does not surprise me,” Cadance said, slapping her face with her hoof. “Why can’t anything just be normal right now?”

“No joke, right?” Spike said. “Is this how love is in the real world? Because sadly, I wouldn’t know…”

“Regardless, it’s time to start the ritual,” Twilight groaned, not looking forward to what she had to write at all. With her quill suspended by her magic, she began writing out exactly what Discord had requested those few months ago. Once she was finished, the two leaned forward to get a better look. “And… done!”

Spike and Cadance took a look at the undoubtedly mystical words Twilight wrote out before them. Together, they read the powerful phrase aloud:

“Discord Is Best Princess. Sunbutt can’t even lift.”

The two gave each other a quizzical look.

“What the—”

A flash cut the two off, and the Lord of Chaos appeared directly behind Twilight. He had on a shower cap and was scrubbing his back with a long brush while humming an obviously off-key melody. “Huh?” He paused, looking around. When he spotted the three staring at him with disgusted looks on their faces, he chuckled. “Oh, of course. So, did you enjoy calling your dear princess ‘Sunbutt’, Twilight?”

Twilight ignored him, waiting for him to make himself decent. Cadance had no such patience however. “Cut the crap, you inbred freak,” she said, smacking him across the face. “I’ve had the most trying weekend anypony has ever gone through, and I refuse to play your dumb games. Now shut up and listen for a darn second. Understood?” 

Discord rubbed the spot her hoof had hit, but maintained his ever-chipper look. With a snap of his talons, his shower cap was gone, and he was positioned in the spot she’d just leapt up from. “Oh, the most trying weekend anypony has ever gone through? Do spare me the details, princess of looove,” he said, drawing out her title mockingly. “Until you’ve been frozen in stone for over a thousand years, you don’t know the definition of trying.”

“Enough, both of you,” Twilight frowned. “I realize that this is a trying time—”

“There’s that word again,” Discord interrupted her. “I don’t think you understand just how hastag triggered I feel right now.”

“How about I pull the trigger on my magic energy and blow your tail off, huh? You think that would be trying enough for you?” Flames radiated behind Cadance’s eyes.

“ANYWAYS!” Twilight shouted, grabbing their attention again, “Cadance and Spike have a situation that they’d like for you to—”

Discord raised his paw, and Twilight’s mouth literally zipped shut. “I know all about the relationship fiasco that they have, going on right now. He kissed her, she kissed him, now everyone hates each other. Now, what I want to know is, why should I help somepony who just moments ago threatened to dispose of me?” Discord asked. “As if she could…”

Cadance looked like she was about to snap at him, but Twilight managed to get in her way before she could. The zipper covering her mouth disappeared, and she turned to face her sister-in-law. “Cadance, you need to calm down. You and I both know what will happen if you make Discord angry, so let’s all just calm down and be civilized about this.”

Spike decided to take things into his own claws and rose from his spot. “Look, Discord, from one rare species to another, we really need your help, man. I may never have another chance at romance like this again, so please help us unscrew this. We turned to you because you’re the only one we know with super-ridiculous and all-knowing powers that can help.”

Discord let out a sigh. “I suppose I do owe you for messing up during that whole Tirek shindig.” Before anyone could ask what that meant, he snapped his talons again. Their surroundings changed in an instant, and Cadance fell to the ground in shock. When the three looked around, Discord was nowhere to be seen.

“Discord?” Cadance shouted out, pushing herself back onto her hooves. “Where have you taken us?”

“Over here,” Discord called out, pulling their attention towards a rather bland looking window pane. It was at this point that they finally recognized their location, the Royal Hall. The mischievous creator of chaos popped into view on the window, his head poking in from the side. “Hello!”

“Ugh, this again…” Twilight grumbled. This wasn’t how she envisioned their conversation going.

“Does he do this on a regular basis?” Cadance asked, intrigued by Twilight’s obvious annoyance.

“You have no idea,” Spike said, frowning.

“The first time we ever met him was when he broke free,” Twilight recalled. “He moved around inside the window panes while he talked to us. He even did a little dance on my head…”

“Oh, don’t act like you didn’t love it.” Discord limply waved his paw at her. Well, as much at her as he could in his two dimensional form. “Now, are you three interested in learning about this malevolent spirit, or not? As the Lord of Chaos, I have quite a busy schedule and there are much more entertaining things I could be doing than giving you all a history lesson.”

“If you can tell us something useful, for once,” Cadance snarked at him. “I’m not holding my breath, though.”

“Really, anything would be useful at this point,” Spike said. “Please help us.”

“Just start at the beginning,” Twilight instructed him.

With a mock salute, Discord snapped the claws on his paw, and the window pane he was in sprung to life. The scene was of a mountain high in the sky, caked in snow. Harsh winds appeared to be circulating above it, and Discord began to weave his tale. “Long ago, before your beloved Celestia and Luna were even but a thought, the old ones watched over the planet.”

The scene quickly changed, a group of silhouettes forming in the clouds above the mountain. “The old ones have long since disappeared, but they were once the only beings capable of keeping Equestria in balance. Saphirum was one of these old ones,” he spoke, the scene shifting to a small town. A beautiful woman appeared to be watching over it from the skies, her flowing pink hair surrounding it. “As you already know from that cute little tome of yours, Saphirum was the Goddess of Love and Jealousy. Kind of like you,” he pointed to Cadance as best he could, “but actually important.”

“Yes, yes, we know about her,” Cadance said, doing her best to ignore his dig at her.

“Do tell me,” Discord said, snapped his fingers, pausing the scene entirely, “if you just learned about her today, how did you know what to call that precious room of yours? Seems a bit… convenient if you ask me.”

“Well,” Cadance said, attempting to gather her thoughts. “It kind of just came to us. Come to think of it, it’s a tad strange that we both thought the same thing. But I guess we didn’t question it because it just seemed so perfect at the time.”

“Or because you were under her influence,” Twilight reminded Cadance. “Now, continue, Discord.”

“Very well,” the draconequus replied, circling around a bit and then flying to the top right of the pane. With a snap, the scene came back to life. “The old ones tasked Saphirum with overseeing the union of ponies, dragons, and all other manner of creature. Not only that, but she was entrusted with the management of all the jealousy, domestic abuse, and strife that encompassed the planet’s creatures.”

“Even draconequi?” Twilight asked. 

To her surprise, Discord shook his head. “No. Many of the old ones were draconequi,” he answered her, then went back to the scene at hand. “Now, the old ones didn’t know it, but ole’ Saphirum was just a little, teensy-weensy emotionally unstable.”

He flew over to Saphirum in the pane and tapped a claw against her. Almost immediately, her hair changed to a crimson red and began to flood through the streets of the village. The many ponies in his little windowpane-play were caught up in the waves, unable to move. “She was corrupted far too easily by the sight of everyone but herself having a significant other. Jealous much?”

“Wait a second,” Spike cut in. “You’re saying she got corrupted from all the ponies she helped finding love? The book said she turned evil from absorbing all the negative energy in the world.”

“The book, you say?” Discord laughed raucously. “You mean the book that was written thousands of years after all this went down? You may want to check your sources next time, children, because stories tend to change as the years go by,” he warned them. “Now, if you’ll allow me to continue.” He paused, waiting for them to give him the okay.

Twilight nodded to him, and he smiled. “Thank you. Now, once lil’ ole’ Saphirum was corrupted, she tried to control everyone. Make them fight and separate from one another. Very possessive for someone that claimed to know about love, wouldn’t you agree?”

“No kidding,” Spike replied with a nod..

Discord chuckled darkly. “Of course, that didn’t sit well with the rest of the old ones. So they…” With a snap of his fingers, the entire windowpane shattered to bits.

“Ahh!” The three onlookers screamed in unison, Spike in particular upset by the piece of mystic glass protruding from his arm.

Spike clawed at it futilely, and let out a groan. “This sucks…”

“Oh, don’t be such a downer,” Discord tittered. The shards of glass sticking out of the trio rumbled a bit before flying back into place, the windowpane reforming good as new. “As you just saw, she was shattered into millions of pieces by the old ones, myself included.” He grinned. “But it appears that that wasn’t enough.”

“Ya think?!” Cadance shouted.

Discord ignored her, much to her chagrin. “... And if she’s back for the reason I believe, then this situation doesn’t surprise me at all.”

The three looked at each other, then back to Discord. Cadance decided to voice the question that was going through all of their heads. “Why is she back?”

“Because, Cadance.” Discord flashed out of the mural, and the windowpane behind him returned to normal. The three looked at him, waiting for him to continue. He glared down at Cadance intently, making her shuffle her hooves around. “You are the Saphirum.”
	
> Legends and Legacies
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	If the floor wasn’t made of stone, it would’ve shattered to pieces with how fast their jaws collided onto it. Spike, Cadance and Twilight were all stunned at the words they just heard uttered from Discord’s mouth.

“What did you just say?” Twilight said, being the first to break free from shock.

“Oh, were you not listening the first time? Allow me to say it a bit clearer.” Discord pulled a megaphone out of the air and spoke into it. “Cadance, the princess of love, is the Saphirum! In a manner of speaking, of course.”

“What you talkin’ about, Discord?” Spike asked. “That makes no sense! Not that anything you do makes sense, though…”

Discord shook his head and waved a paw. “Oh, come now, I’m sure you don’t want to hear all the details. They’re rather small, trivial little things, after all.”

“Discord,” Cadance said, slanting her eyes. “You come to me and tell me I’m a long lost demon or whatever, and then you tell me you can’t go into details? I’m losing my husband, I’m dreaming of making out with a dragon, which may or may not considered pedophilia depending on who you ask, and now I’m traveling through whatever multiverse this is to hear your tales. Listen here, I want details, and I want them now.”

“Oh, fine, if you insist!” Discord groaned, hesitantly snapping his talons. The scenery around the group changed, but none of them recognized it. By the looks of things, they were in a village, but it seemed to be far behind in terms of the architecture. There were a few ponies milling about, but they appeared to be… watching. For what, the group had no idea. It was snowing heavily, but that didn’t seem to be it. “Before any of you ask, no, they can’t see us. Think of this as a… high definition replay,” he chuckled.

The three of them looked around in confusion.

“Where are we?” Spike asked. “I’ve gotten used to your mind games at this point, but some clarification would be nice.”

Cadance scanned her eyes back and forth across the environment for a moment. “None of these ponies or houses look familiar. I don’t think it’s any place I’m familiar with, personally.”

“Oh, quite the contrary!” Discord said with a smug grin. “You are quite familiar with this place indeed, my dear ponies… and dragon. Of course, you wouldn’t know it just from looking, but I would like to introduce you all to Crystalline, a small, quaint little village that had just been founded by this time. However, you all might know it a bit better now as the ‘Crystal Empire’”.

“This was the precursor to the Crystal Empire?” Twilight was stunned. The history books had never mentioned a village named ‘Crystalline’; she definitely would have remembered that. She mentally reminded herself to have Discord take her on more excursions like this in the future before. He wasn’t kidding when he said that the history books didn’t have anything compared to the real thing. Turning back to him, she asked him the question that was on everyone’s mind. “Why did you take us here, of all places?”

“Don’t tell me it isn’t obvious.” He grinned. With another snap of his talons, the group found themselves covered in beachgoing equipment. “We’re here to go to the beach, obviously! The weather this time of year is wonderful! And besides, I figured we could all use a little break from ‘As The Crystal Castle Turns’.”

“But… there are no beaches here…” Spike pointed out the obvious, and Discord slapped his paw to his face.

“I know that! We’re here to watch exactly what happened to Saphirum, you dolts!”

“Okay, cool, cool, that makes more sense,” Spike said with a doofy grin.

“Enough with the jokes,” Cadance said. “I feel like we don’t belong back in time anyway, so can we just do this and be done with it? I really need to know the basis for these ridiculous accusations you threw at me.”

Discord didn’t bother dignifying that with a response, instead pointing off near the edge of the village. The group watched intently as the shadowy silhouette of a pony became apparent through the dense snowfall.

The three in attendance watched intently as the figure approached.

“Who’s that?” Spike asked. 

“Whoever it is, they don’t seem to care that they’re walking through a blizzard,” Twilight pointed out. “I think this is bad news.”

Once the figure finally pierced through the snowy veil, the group gasped. Cadance in particular looked horrified. “Is that…”

“Saphirum?!” All three of them shouted. The last time they had seen her, in that mural, she definitely wasn’t a pony. And yet… they could just see that it was her. “Why is she a pony?” Twilight asked.

Discord didn’t answer, and Saphirum continued stomping her way towards the village. The pony’s head was drooped, and she looked freezing cold with the way her coat shivered with every step.

“Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner!” Discord clapped and smiled. “Congratulations! That is indeed Saphirum. However, she’s not quite the goddess she once was,” he noted.

“What happened to her?” Twilight questioned.

“Yeah,” Cadance said. “What’s wrong with her?”

“Well, you see, the old ones, myself included,” he winked, “weren’t too fond of ole’ Saphy after she tried to take over the planet. So she was locked away into an artificial body. A husk, if you will.” He summoned a string puppet and made it walk around to emphasize his point. “She had her free will, but her powers were locked away. As opposed to outright destroying her, she was given a chance to live as a pony, with a normal pony lifespan.

“Unfortunately, there was one thing none of us could account for. Her willingness to go to great lengths just for revenge. I assume you’re familiar with a pony named Sombra?”

“Oh no, not him again,” Cadance said, shuddering. “How in the world could he be involved in this?”

“Instead of simply taking our offer and living the rest of her life in peace, she tried to make a pact with Sombra. She recognized that he had a heart of pure darkness. One that would easily give into the temptation of taking over an entire empire. Of course, what she didn’t plan on happening was him betraying her. The fool gave her latent power to Sombra, and he was quick to turn her over to us,” he smirked. “All while keeping the fact that he’d been given her power a secret.”

“So is that what’s happening here?” Twilight asked. “This village, this snowstorm. Was this a set-up to turn her over?”

“Well, why don’t we take a look and find out?” Discord asked.

The group watched on as the pony, shivering and cold, trudged her way to the village. The village where Sombra would assuredly wait for her to begin their plans. As she entered the main gates, however, things took a turn far different than what she had foreseen. 

Sombra was nowhere to be found, but instead, a bright beam of light shot through the clouds and enveloped the area of town in which she was standing. Time seemed to freeze in place as all the towns ponies around were frozen in place. 

“You have betrayed us,” a loud voice from the heavens rang out. “We gave you a chance to move on in life, and instead you attempt to abuse your influence once more and hurt more ponies.”

“I didn’t do anything!” Saphirum shouted at the top of her lungs. “I’ve been living for four years now as nothing but a model citizen.”

“Spare us your fables,” the voice boomed out. “You have walked the planes of existence for the last time. You will be stripped of any and all of your power and have it given to one of us, and then you will be destroyed.”

“It won’t work!” she screamed out. “You can’t destroy a fellow God! You can strip my title and my power, but I will never be destroyed!”

An even brighter flash of light appeared on the ground, adjacent to her, revealing one of the ancient ones. A very familiar one at that.

“Discord!” the voice sounded. “You know what you have to do.”

“Of course, homies, you don’t gotta worry bout nothin’.”

The scene instantly froze as a giant pause sign flashed over the image.

“Oh my Celestia, is that what you used to look like?” Cadance asked, snorting with laughter. He appeared to be wearing some sort of tie-dye shirt, neon green bell-bottom pants, and had, of all things, a large gray afro. “Okay, I take everything I said back. This trip was so worth it!”

“Well excuse me, but things were different back then,” Discord said. “The old days were pretty crazy times. Now, if you’ll let me continue…”

The scene resumed.

Saphirum could only watch in horror as Discord leaned down, grinning like a madman. The moment one of his talons touched her nose, her snout shined white. Deep red cracks emanated from that spot, slowly spreading throughout her body. She could do no more than scream as the cracks eventually formed over the entirety of her body, piercing deep through her.

“I would say I hate having to do this, but I really don’t,” Discord chuckled grimly. “See you when I see you!”

It was at that moment that the group was forced to shield their eyes as an intense explosion rang out. Saphirum had been blown to shreds and shot off in all directions as the Discord of old siphoned her energy into his own being. He let out a burp, and then disappeared in a flash of white, the village springing back to life as if nothing had happened.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t realize at the time that she had given Sombra the bulk of her power. He, in turn, managed to hold us back long enough for his power to grow. Our only hope was to pass on all of our power into some artifacts that you may be familiar with.”

“The Elements…” Twilight muttered. It all made sense now. That was why the Elements had a seemingly endless amount of power.

“Precisely. And of course, as we all know, our very own Celestia and Luna were the first to find and unlock the power hidden within them. With it, they defeated Sombra and restored balance to Equestria.”

“But if you gave all of your power to the Elements, how come you’re still here, Discord?” Spike asked, scratching his head in confusion.

“The old ones thought it best that one of us remain behind to watch over the land. They made the fabulous mistake of trusting me with that position,” he chuckled.

“But that still doesn’t explain how I’m Saphirum,” Cadance argued, stamping a hoof on the ground.

“I’m getting to that, if you’ll just hold your horses,” Discord said, clutching a gaggle of pony plushies he then threw to them. “If you recall, she was living normally for several years before returning to her evil ways. In that time, Saphirum managed meet a handosome young gentlecolt with which she managed to have some offspring, which she hid well from us. These offspring, in turn, had their own offspring. So on and so forth, that bloodline is alive today, Cadance. In you.”

“But why would Saphirum pick now of all times to come back?” Twilight asked. “What’s so special about right now?”

“It wasn’t a matter of picking her moment, my dear Twilight. Saphirum is dead, so she can’t choose anything. However, the power that once was hers, the malevolent energy that consumed her, is still alive. It travelled through the bloodlines until now.”

Cadance shook her head and yelled at him. “But why me? Why now?”

“Because,” Discord began, “you’re in the exact position she wanted to be in. Ruling an empire of ponies through the power of love.”
	
> In Perfect Hindsight
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Venting to the Prince of the Crystal Empire wasn’t something Rarity thought she’d ever find herself doing, let alone in his personal quarters. But in a case like this, she had make an exception.

“I just can’t believe that Spike would cheat on me with that… that… hussy!” Rarity screeched out, pacing back and forth.

“Rarity, I understand you’re peeved, but that’s my wife you’re talking about,” Shining said, attempting to remain calm.

“Huh! Your wife? Well, when she was swapping dragon spit with my Spike, she sure as Celestia didn’t look like anypony’s wife!” Rarity’s cheeks were puffed out and aflame as she screamed at him. 

Shining deflated a bit at that. “... I guess you’re right. But still, we should focus on trying to fix our relationships. I still love Cadance, and I can only hope that what we saw was a mistake.”

“Shining,” Rarity said, forcing a smile. “Regifting a present by accident is a mistake. Stepping on a pony’s hooves whilst walking in a theater is a mistake. This is treachery!”

Shining scratched the back of his head with a hoof. “No, no, I get that. It’s just… I can’t imagine my life without Cadie. ” He paused for a moment to take in Rarity’s facial expression. She was hurt, more than he’d seen her hurt since he’d known her. “Can you honestly do the same without Spike?”

“Well, of course I can imagine life without that swindling snipe! I… I… I miss him so much!” Rarity’s composure melted and tears burst from her eyes as she collapsed into a pile on Shining’s bed. “I just love him so much! Why would he do this? How could he?”

“That’s what we need to find out, Rarity,” Shining responded, placing a hoof on her shoulder in consolation. “But we can’t do that if we just sit here.”

“How can we possibly do that? Personally, I’d rather not learn more about their lewd actions than I already have.” Rarity pouted. “It’s painful enough as is. The image of him kissing her like that keeps replaying in my mind. Not exactly a road I want to continue travelling down.”

“Rarity, do you honestly think that they could have done anything more than kiss? Aside from today, they’ve been on opposite sides of the country. I highly doubt they’ve found the time or circumstances to be with each other before this.”

“I suppose,” Rarity said. In all fairness, Shining brought up a good point. Up until this point, Spike had been a model partner. Caring, loving, ridiculously loyal and protective. He did anything and everything to make her happy. Of course, that simple fact is what caused this situation to be all the more painful. She wouldn’t have ever suspected Spike of something like this. It was simply impossible to even think about.

“Until we get to the bottom of this, I don’t think we should just abandon our relationships. We need to talk to them and figure all this out.” Shining was doing his best to keep his composure, but that mask was slowly falling away the longer their conversation went on. “Besides, talking about this is making me a little antsy.”

Rarity sighed and flopped back onto the bed. “So, you’re saying we need to sit down and discuss this like responsible adults? Because, honestly, I feel as though I’d rather listen to the part of my brain telling me to ignore it and hope it goes away.”

Shining glared at Rarity. “Rarity…”

“Don’t say it!” She said, holding her hoof up. “I know what we have to do. Besides, I really want to find out what’s going on here as much as you do. I need my Spikey back!”

“Right. Well, I think we both know what we need to do first.”

“Go to the nearest Pony-Mart and buy two tubs of Vanilla Oat ice cream?”

“Well, the nearest Pony-Mart is just down the street, but… how about we start by going to look at the Saphirum?”

“Oh, please no,” Rarity said,. “I for one have had enough of that ghastly room. For something so romantic, it sure has been the scene for some rather heinous actions recently.”

“Don’t you think that makes it kind of, I dunno, important?” Shining prodded.

“I suppose it is a tad suspicious,” Rarity said, glancing at Shining. “I mean, it’s possible that they snuck off there for the sole purpose of being secretive, but if my many encounters with villains have shown in the past, the setting is just as important as the characters.”

“Exactly. So what do you say we get out of this room? I’m starting to feel a bit cramped,” Shining said, jumping down from his bed and making his way towards the door.

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Rarity said. “I suppose if I do much more crying and moping my face will be beyond fixation for the day. Accursed tears and such. We can’t have that, now can we?”

She was quick to follow Shining Armor’s lead, and the two made it to their destination in no time at all. “Alright,” he pointed, “the Saphirum is housed within this room. Before we just go barging in, though, I have a thought.”

Rarity turned her head to address him. “A thought? About what, if I may ask?”

“Go into the room, Rarity. By yourself, if you don’t mind.”

“By myself?” she questioned. “What will that solve? Is it even allowed?”

“I’m the Prince of the Crystal Empire, Rarity. I’m pretty sure you can go in there if I say it’s alright,” he replied, rolling his eyes. “Just trust me on this, alright?”

Rarity shook her head and rolled her eyes back. “Alright, Shining, if you so insist, I’ll go check in on it myself.”





Rarity steeled her nerves and pushed the door open, prepared for anything, or so she assumed. The door slammed shut behind her the moment she stepped inside, and she turned back to it. “Um… Shining? Was that you?”

“Shining isn’t here, Rarity.”

“Huh?” Rarity whirled back around, and was stunned to find that both Cadance and Spike were in the room with her. Rarity’s jaw dropped in disbelief as she saw the two of them standing together. It took her a short moment to gain her composure, however, and she dashed forward to approach them. “So! You return to the scene of the crime? I demand an explanation right— huh?”

As she moved closer she noticed something distinctly off about them. “What’s wrong with your eyes…?” Cadance’s face was visible to her, and her eyes currently sported a dark green glow, casting a spooky light on Rarity’s body as she got closer. 

“I’m not sure what you mean, Rarity,” Cadance answered, raising up a hoof and looking at it indignantly. “You see, it’s just me. Perhaps you’re simply imagining things.” Cadance punctuated her sentence with a smile.

Rarity took a step back, eyes fixed on the two in front of her. “Something isn’t right, here. Spike! Please, tell me what’s going on here! I demand to know at least that much.”

Spike slowly turned his head to meet Rarity’s eyes with his own. His eyes cast the same green light on her as Cadance’s, yet they were a strikingly pitch black. “You don’t know anything.”

Spike took a step towards her, and she reeled back in fear as his other leg seemed to go limp. Another step, and that leg simply dragged behind him on the floor, giving him the appearance of a lame pony. What in Equestria was going on?!

“And after today, nopony will know about you,” Cadance added, advancing towards her. Rarity’s eyes shot in her direction. The fashionista had gone up against the likes of Nightmare Moon. Discord. Chrysalis. Even Tirek, and yet nothing had frightened her this much. The Princess’s eyes ceased their glowing, and what Rarity saw behind that glowing made her fall down to the floor in a ball.

“Y-you’re not Cadance!” She shouted, not daring to move a hoof and uncover her eyes. “What are you? “S-someone, please help!”

Her breaths came in short, quick wisps as an ear shattering scream pierced her eardrums, echoing madly throughout the room. Then, in the blink of an eye, nothing. Everything was dead silent.

After a few moments of cowering, Rarity slowly shifted her head up and briefly uncovered her eyes. “Is it… Is it over?” She glanced about the room, but nothing was there. Just a dark room. She slowly rose to her hooves and turned around toward the exit. As she made her way to the door, a hoof slowly reached out and touched her on the shoulder, freezing her body in place.

“Shining? Is that—”

A voice came from behind her, whispering directly into her ear. “I am the end to everything you love. Get out of here!”

“Ahhh!” She slammed herself into the door, almost breaking it off of its hinges as it whirled open.





Rarity crashed through the door and flopped to the ground as the door slammed back shut in her wake.

“Rarity? What’s wrong?” Shining yelled as the mare crashed down in front of him.

“No! Make it stop! Ahh!” Rarity jumped towards him, crying hysterically into his chest. 

“Rarity,” Shining said, holding her close. “What’s wrong? What did you see?”

Rarity took a slow, deep breath and looked into his eyes. “I don’t know what I saw. But whatever it is… it wants to hurt us.”

“What do you mean? Did you see a vision or something? Maybe I should go take a look…”

“No!” Rarity screamed. “Don’t open that wretched door! Please! Please, let’s just leave for now.”

Shining’s eyes drifted between the door and Rarity. “Alright, we’ll leave it alone for now. Let’s get back to the room. I’ll have them bring us some food or something.”

Rarity nodded and followed Shining down the hall. She took one last glance at the door behind her as they trotted off.

This was going too far. What Rarity had seen on the other side of that door couldn’t have possibly been real. … Right? It certainly felt real, but maybe that was just the room’s latent magic. She knew that she wasn’t even close to the most magically inclined of unicorns, but even she could tell now that something about that room was seriously corrupted. Almost as if… 

“That’s it!” She exclaimed, causing Shining to stop in his tracks.

“Um, what’s ‘it’, Rarity?”

Rarity paused for a moment, looking back towards the room, then back to Shining. “Do you remember, Shining, what happened to Twilight when she tried to open King Sombra’s door?”

“She told us that it used dark magic to hypnotize her into seeing her… worst… fears…” He trailed off, following her gaze back to the door. “... You don’t think that’s what’s happening here, do you?”

“No,” she replied, still frowning. “But I dare say that something very similar is happening. We should have Twilight take a look at it! If anyone can figure out what’s going on, she can”

Shining rubbed his chin in thought for a moment. “She does have the book knowledge and experience for these kinds of things. And honestly, whether or not what you saw in there was real, we need to find out what it is. I’ll have someone contact Twilight right away.”

“Thank you, Shining,” Rarity said, before an idea struck her. “Do you think she’d be willing to meet us at the ice cream shop?”
	
> To Play Hide and Seek With Jealousy
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spike and Cadance were lounging in the food cart of the train on the way back to the Crystal Empire. It was a long ride, unfortunately, as the two of them needed to address Rarity and Shining about their findings.
 
“Okay, Spike, when we get b—” Cadance was halted mid-sentence by the dragon stuffing his face with the speed of an unladen swallow across from her. “Spike, could you please stop that and listen? This is kinda important.”
 
Spike paused his brazen debauchery for a moment. “Sorry, Cadance, but these biscuits and gravy are to die for! I thought my honeymoon with Rarity was heaven, but this… this is something special.”
 
Cadance rolled her eyes and shot a blast of magic at the plate, causing it to burst into flames. “You’re full, now listen.”
 
Spike grimaced and licked his chops. “I wasn’t full…”
 
“So, here’s my plan,” Cadance continued. “We go back to the Crystal Empire and track down our respective spouses.”
 
“Okay, good start.”
 
“Then, we muster our respective self-control and explain the situation that we learned from Discord.”
 
“Pause, we might have a problem there,” Spike said, holding up a timeout symbol. “Don’t you remember? Shining and Rarity still think we cheated on them. There’s no way in Tartarus they’ll hear us out, especially if we’re trying to explain why we did what we did… if we did it.”
 
“Spike, once again, I refuse to believe we just walked to the Saphirum in our sleep and swapped spit,” Cadance said with an eye roll. “I do have some standards in regards to my actions.”
 
“Heh, sure, Miss ‘Ima go kill Rarity’.” Spike chuckled but halted his foolish behavior upon the Medusa stare he was receiving. “Ahem, yeah, well, I’m sure it didn’t happen. But it doesn’t matter what we think. It’s a matter of what they think. And, if you think you’re stubborn, try convincing Rarity of anything once she gets her mind set on it.”
 
“I can only imagine. She ran her mouth so much when we hung in I couldn’t get a word in edgewise.” Her face began heating up just thinking about it.
 
“Easy there, cowgirl,” Spike said, waving a claw at her. “There’ll be time for violence later, after we get this sorted out. Because, if everything seems to be as it would seem, it would seem to be as it is.”
 
Cadance blinked. “Can I have a map to that sentence, please?’”
 
“Okay, I’ll dumb it down for you,” Spike said with a smirk. “What I’m saying is, right now, it’s more than likely that this whole shindig is just a fabrication being created by an evil entity that’s manifesting itself through you, somehow.”
 
“Oh, I get it, so we just walk in all hunky-dory and say ‘Hey there guys, we didn’t actually cheat on you. I’m just a demon goddess from a billion years ago.’ Yeah, that’ll work wonders.”
 
“That’s my point!” Spike exclaimed. “Your idea is gonna take a lot care of and attention to detail. Which is something we haven’t done a whole lot of until recently.”
 
“Spike,” Cadance said. “Why is all this happening? Do you remember when things used to be simple? Because I sure don’t.”
 
“To be fair,” Spike said, “things are never simple in Equestria. We can hardly go a year without a supervillain hopping in and trying to destroy everything. If you ask me, I’d say we were due one.”
 
“Not helping,” she replied with a salty stare. “But I’m talking about that, in particular. Even before this whole nonsense went down, things weren’t perfect. What Shining mentioned to you before… he’s right. My work keeps me busy, his is always a huge stress. We would go days without seeing each other at times. Sometimes, I can’t help but wonder if this is all happening for a reason.”
 
“What do you mean?’
 
“I’m the Princess of Love, Spike! But I can’t even keep my own marriage steady. Maybe, in some twisted way, the powers that be are trying to send a message. A message that things need to change. For the better, even. I’m just so confused.”
 
“Look,” Spike said, reaching across the table and holding onto her hoof. “I don’t know what’s really going on. Neither do you. But what I do know is how much you love Shining, and obviously how much he loves you. The same thing with Rarity and I. Things get hard, but that’s no reason to give up. In fact, that’s what makes couples grow closer together in the long run. If everything was easy, there’d be no reason you’d have to lean on each other.”
 
Cadance looked up at him, a few tears trickling down her cheeks. “But, Spike, this is really really hard.”
 
“And that’s exactly why you and Shining need each other more than ever. You’re definitely in a weak state, and who knows? Maybe that’s why that Saphirum thing is preying on you. Because you’re an easy target. But, if you let her break you, the whole of the Crystal Empire could be in danger. I don’t know about you, but I’m not ready to let that happen.”
 
Cadance wiped a few tears away. “Thanks, Spike. I’ve been ready to kick the butt of anything that moved these past few days, but I guess I needed my butt kicked.”
 
“Not a problem,” Spike said, leaning back in his seat. “I’m an equal opportunity cheery-uppy dragon, thing… Anyway, we’re gonna get back and we’re gonna figure out what’s going on once and for all. And you know what else? We’re gonna have our loved ones with us, because we’re just that awesome. Understood?”
 
“Understood.”
 
“Oh that was weak! Understood?”
 
‘Understood!”
 
“Louder! Let me hear you!”
 
“We got this!”
 
“Yeah!”
 
“YEAH!”
 
The Princess and dragon, now standing on top of the table sharing a high-hoof, had all eyes in the lunch cart locked onto them.
 
“Hey, some of us are trying to eat!” And older stallion said from the corner. “I suggest you take your dope and go somewhere else! Mm, crazy kids…”
 
Spike and Cadance blushed and sat back down.
 
“So, on a separate note,” Spike said in a much more hushed tone. “Why are we taking  a train back?”
 
“What do you mean?’
 
“Well, if Discord can teleport us to edge of the universe and Celestia knows where else, why didn’t we ask him to send us back to your castle? You know, given the severity of the circumstances.”
 
“I did ask,” she replied. “He said it’d be irresponsible use of his magic.”
 
“And throwing a gaggle of pony plush toys wasn’t? That makes no sense.” Spike let out a groan.
 
“True, but when was the last time Discord made sense? It’s kinda his thing.”
 
“Well, his thing sucks.”
 
The train continued its ride down the tracks, taking the two to hopefully find a way to reconcile with their lovers. Hopefully.
 




 
 Rarity was sitting on a sofa in her guest room, where Shining was pacing in front of her. This would normally be a time where the dramatic unicorn would be working herself into a tizzy, but stuffing endless scoops of her favorite ice cream into her mouth was a nice substitute for anxiousness.
 
“Mmm, thish is sthooo good!” Rarity said, bits and pieces of her dessert flying out of her mouth, before swallowing it down. “Do you need some?”
 
Shining grimaced, his eyes falling upon the array of ice cream blanketing his once clean piece of furniture. “Uh, no thanks. Not super hungry.”
 
Rarity shrugged and shoved another spoonful into her mouth.
 
“I’m sorry, Rarity,” Shining said. “I’m just anxious about all this. I can’t even think about eating, sleeping or even my job. I had to put one of my Generals in charge until it works itself out.”
 
“I know how you feel, darling,” Rarity said, setting aside her ice cream for the first time in hours. “I feel the same way. But, I don’t have even the faintest idea of what’s really going on, and neither do you.”
 
“Yeah, but that being said, I have no idea what to feel about this whole thing. On one end, I know what I saw. You can’t tell me I didn’t see it, because I did. But on the other, what you said about that room. The visions… something isn’t adding up. I feel like we’re missing a piece of the puzzle.”
 
“That is definitely true,” Rarity stated, trotting over to him. “But, listen dear, there’s only one thing we can do as the mature, responsible adults I like to think we are.”
 
“Ignore everything and hope it goes away?”
 
“No! Shining, I’m going to give you some advice that Spike gives me sometimes.” Rarity looked him in the eye with a soft gaze.
 
“Advice from Spike? He’s usually the one on the receiving end.” Shining scratched the back of his neck. “Then again, I am too from Cadance. Must just be a guy thing.”
 
“It usually is,“ Rarity said with a giggle. “But, in all seriousness, Spike has worked miracles in keeping me sane throughout our time together. Any time a situation seemed too big for me, he’d always say this: ‘Control what you can, don’t try what you can’t.;. Of course, when he usually says that I’m so flustered I haven’t the time to hear a word he says, but it still has truth to it. We don’t know the whole of the story, here. With any luck, Twilight will help us in this regard. But, what we can do, is stay calm the best we can and find out what’s going on.”
 
“But, with all due respect, Rarity, what if the truth is as ugly as we fear?”  Shining put his hoof to his forehead.
 
“Well, if that comes to be,” she said, wincing at the thought, “we’ll cross that bridge when it comes to us. But, for now, I’d like to not believe that our spouses are engaging in lewd infidelity behind our backs.”
 
“I can definitely agree with that,” Shining said.
 
“Now, I think we could both use a distraction from all this,” Rarity said. “When will Twilight be arriving?”
 
“Not until tomorrow at least, I would imagine.”
 
“Perfect. In the meantime, we need to focus on other things. Let’s say you and I head down to the spa room together for a deep tissue massage. That sounds utterly fantastic right now.”
 
Shining Armour flexed his shoulders and felt a bulge of tightness. “Yeah, that does sound nice. And I guess a distraction would be good. Let’s do it. Besides, it’s not like Spike or Cadance are here. They might get the wrong idea if they saw us in the spa together.”
 
“Oh, one could only imagine, darling. One could only imagine.”
 




 
A large train slowly came to a stop and pulled into the Crystal Empire train station. Ponies got on and off as it did, but two of those were Cadance and Spike, who both had grins on their face. The first legitimate time they’ve felt any kind of hope in days.
 
“You think they’re doing okay?” Spike asked as the two of them strolled from the train through the station. “I hope Rarity isn't’ too broken up, still.”
 
“Yeah, I’m a bit worried about Shining, too,” she replied. “He puts on a tough exterior, but he’s pretty much got a huge ball of emotion where his heart should be. Then again, maybe it's fair for them to have a bit of a rough time after all we’ve been through.”
 
“Yeah, but I really don’t want them to be too hurt,” Spike said. “And I’m sure you feel the same.”
 
“Yeah, i guess you’re right,” Cadance said, feeling a bit of heaviness in her stomach. “But, you know, there’s always the chance they were just putting on a show and used our absence as an excuse to party and do who knows what else with each other.”
 
“Hey, we promised to think positive, remember?” Spike chastised her. “Besides, it’s not like they’ll just be hanging out at the spa getting a massage together in the midst of all this.”
 
“Yeah, I guess you’re right, Spike. Thanks for helping.”
> Searching For A Home
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spike and Cadance approached the castle halls, ready to put an end to their misery, once and for all.

“Oh, that’s so crazy!” Cadance said as they walked into the entrance hall of her home. “So that’s what happened to your parents. How come you or Celestia never went out to sea to look for them?”

“Well,” Spike said, “that was when we first moved to Ponyville and I couldn’t be bothered with anything that wasn’t spicy Power Ponies fanfiction. You know how it is.”

“Hehe, I get you, Spike. But, you know—” Cadance cut herself off and sniffed the air. “I feel a disturbance in the force.”

Spike tried his hoof at sniffing the room. “Uh, what? I got nothing. But somepony around here does need to take a shower. You might wanna give your guards a break sometime soon.”

“Hush,” she said, thrusting a hoof over his mouth. “There’s something going on here. Something fishy.”

Spike knocked the hoof away and smelled again. “Well, it has been awhile since you’ve taken a shower, too.” A slap to the back of the head shut him up rather quickly.

“Hold on a minute,” Cadance said, walking over to a poor, unsuspecting guard. “You!”

The guard instantly saluted. “Yes, ma’am!”

“You’re going to tell me where Shining Armor and Rarity are and you’re going to do it right now.” Cadance looked at him with a gaze would could pierce through armor. "Tell me what I need to know."

The guard took in a futile gulp of air. “Uh, well, uh…”

“Tell. Me. Now.”

The guard cowered to the ground. “I can’t say for sure, but I think I saw them head off toward the spa room, your Highness. Please don’t hurt me. I'm an accomplished fanfiction writer!”

A fire burned in Cadance’s eyes. A fire that not even the biggest pails of water and suffocation could extinguish.

“Spike, follow me!”

Spike raised a claw to protest, but found himself engulfed in an aura of magic and placed onto Cadance’s back. “I guess we’re going this way.”

Cadance couldn't see anything but red as she stormed through the room. “Heads will roll…”





Rarity hummed peacefully from underneath her cucumber eye covers.

“See, Shining. I figured that a nice relaxing day at the spa would be just what you needed with all that’s going on.” Over to her left, Shining shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He lifted his cucumber up.

“I don’t know, Rarity. I feel… this weird disturbance.” He said sniffing the air. The air smelled... staticky. Rarity laughed, and rolled over on her back, crystal spa ponies started massaging her.

“Does that feel good?” the spa pony asked her.

“It feels divine. You’ve no idea what kind of stress I’ve been going through.”

Another spa pony moved towards Shining, offering the same massage, but he waved him off. Shining ripped off the cucumbers and slid out of the spa chair. He scanned the room and found a few glasses of water on the checkout counter. He moved really close and lined his eyes against the glass.

It shook ever so slightly.

"Um. Rarity?" He called out. She sighed with delight. "Rarity, I think we should..."

Rarity shushed him, voice vibrating as the spa pony struck his hooves against her back. He turned around  and checked the water again, it shook with more intensity. An employee came up behind him and urged him back to his chair.

"Wait stop," he said, "Do you... hear that?"

The chandelier above rattled suddenly, the water below splashed up the sides of the cup. He jumped to Rarity's side and started urging her to get up. Rarity smacked his hooves away.

"Shining, darling the whole point of coming to the spa today was to relax, and enjoy a little bit of alone time to think of what we'll do when Spike and Cadance return. Now sit down and—"

The entire room shook violently. Bottles of oil, perfume and other spa essentials fell to the floor from their stands. The various spa ponies were speaking with raised concern. Shining lifted Rarity from her seat and into the air.

"Rarity, there's something wro—"

The next time the room shook, Rarity panicked. She thrashed in the air and broke free of Shining's magical grip landing right on top him. They fell to the ground, Shining on his back and Rarity across his chest.

"Oh dear, Shining. I—" She couldn't finish the sentence. The door to the spa exploded, wood flying every direction. Spa ponies ducked out of the way of the debris while Shining rolled over and held his body over Rarity's to protect her. Heavy amounts of dust and smoke filled their lungs.

"What in the world?" Shining coughed. He stared at the door waiting for the smoke to clear to see who was attacking the royal spa. "Who dares—"

A sudden gust of air blew around the room and the smoke escaped into the hallway past the door. Shining gasped as it was revealed that it was his wife with Spike upon her back. The Princess emitted a mighty howl to the heavens upon finding her prey.

"RARITY??"

The cucumbers fell from Rarity's eyes and she shoved Shining off of her with a surprising amount of Strength. The prince fell back a few feet... and outside of Cadance's tunnel vision.

"Candance!" Rarity squeaked. "It's not what you think! We only were trying to relax but then the room started shaking and was totally ruining the moment of relaxation when Shining got scared and gently picked me up and..." She trailed off. Spike quickly and silently hopped off of Cadance's back, and ran towards Shining Armor who lifted himself up from the debris and dusted himself off.

"Spike, what is going on?"

From the doorway, Cadance shot a blast of pink light at Rarity, who swiftly jumped out of its way. The light hit the bed Rarity was laying on and instantly disintegrated it. Rarity in turn levitated several bottles of massaging oil and threw them at the princess, completely coating her in the slippery liquid. As Cadance took a step forward she slipped across the floor, and crashed right into Rarity.

"Spike!" Shining complained, "Can you stop your wife before she hurts Cadance!"

"Uh, dude... can you?" Spike said, pointing at Cadance as she stood up and shot another beam at Rarity. She ducked and the light collided with a crystal pony, turning him into a chocolate bar.

"Yeah... I'm going to sit this one out." Shining whispered.

Rarity rolled away from another one of Cadance's blasts, throwing out insults.

"It would appear your aim is just as good as your confidence in Shining Armor, Cadance!" She yelled whilst throwing a hair dryer at Cadance who swatted it away with ease.

"I don't know why I was so mad at Shining Armor. I should've known he wouldn't go for an airhead, ragged dress designing floozy from Ponyville! It's not the Saphirum thing causing this discord in my home, it's you!" She answered back, shooting a small arc of pink lightning that Rarity had to dive behind the checkout counter to avoid.

“Did somepony call for me?” Discord appeared in a flash of bright light, smiling. He then took one moment to survey the war going on. “Yeah, you two look buys. I’ll just come back later.” He then disappeared into the same flash of light from whence he came.

Rarity poked her head up from behind the counter. "Ragged?" she pouted. Cadance blasted the counter into dust.

Spike was still hiding in the corner of the room with Shining, who was eating from a small bag of complimentary popcorn that the Spa was giving out that day. Spike snatched it from Shining's grip.

"Really? Come on, man we need to stop Cadance before she kills Rarity," Spike said. Shining ripped the back away from Spike and threw a hoof full of popcorn into his mouth.

"Look, when I'm scared I eat, alright! I have a problem!" Shining mumbled between chews. Spike slapped his claw against his forehead. He started to charge forward, calling Cadance's name and ordering her to stop. Cadance turned at the outburst and glared at Spike, her eyes were glowing with a pink aura, her voice in response sounded doubled.

"Stay back!"

Spike jumped backwards and turned to Shining.

"Gimme some of that popcorn," he said voice cracking.

Rarity threw some contests from a nearby trash can at Cadance, then threw the trash can itself. It bounced off her head and Cadance belted out a vicious snarl with rage.

"Get out of my empire!!"

She grabbed hold of Rarity and lifted her high into the air. Rarity winced and fidgeted, crying out for Spike's help. The dragon snapped out of his fear and threw his popcorn aside. He jumped on Cadance's back and grabbed her horn in claw, as soon he made contact there was sizzling sound and Rarity was released from her grip. He wailed in pain.

"Cadance, stop this! That voice... that isn't you! That's Saphirum, you can't let her gain control."

Cadance reared upwards, throwing Spike from her back. She turned to face Spike and her husband who jumped at her sudden attention. Her voice was heavy with unnatural distortion.

"You will free me, Shining Armor. And we can be together forever." Her horn illuminated with a dark pink light and the entire castle started to shake. Spike ran to Rarity's side and brushed some of her hair away from her face. She was unconscious, but still breathing. Shining was being pulled into Cadance completely encased in the pink glow. He was attempting to shield himself but the demonic Goddess’ power was too much.

"Free me, Shining Armor! Bring me back and witness my power over love and dominance. We will rule all, feeding off their love and jealousy, in turn becoming strong enough that even the old gods couldn't stop us!" Shining blasted her horn with a beam of light but it bounced off, hitting the bar of chocolate on the ground and reverting it back to a crystal pony who screamed and ran away.

"Cadance, yo-you aren't yourself. Please!" He was suddenly lifted off his hooves yanked towards the door. Encased in a magenta light.

"ENOUGH" Twilight Sparkle yelled, flashing an immense blinding light at Cadance. Cadance collapsed as the spell was broken. Twilight dropped her brother, and ran to Cadance's side.

"No no no no," Twilight cried out, checking for a pulse. When she found it she breathed a sigh of relief. She then took a quick look around the room before shooting out another beam of magic into the middle of the room. After a moment everything that was destroyed started to revert back to the way it was before Cadance's rampage. She nodded at Spike who was carrying Rarity and then pleaded to Shining. "We need to get her down into the Saphirum. Right now!”

Shining took a moment to rub his head. “Wait, will somepony please tell me what’s happening! All I know is my wife just tried to butcher Rarity and almost myself in the crossfire, and now you’re trying to tell us we need to take her to that stupid room that might be causing all of this!”

“Shining,” Twilight said, placing a hoof on her brother’s shoulder. “The thing inside of your wife is beginning to take full control of her. But, if we can destroy that crystal remnant in that room, we might be able to set things straight. There’s no guarantees about anything right now, but it’s our best bet. So, unless you want to wake up as stallion flambe with a side of Rarity sauce in the near future, you need to trust me! Okay?”

Shining shook his head before taking a deep breath. “Okay, let’s try it.” He looked at his wife, the mare he once felt so in love with, the mare he hardly recognized at the moment. “Let’s wreck that bitch!”

“That’s the spirit!” Twilight said. “Profane, but spirited. I can tell you love her, Shining. Please, just trust that this is for the best. We’ll find a way to fix her.”

“That’s nice and all,” Spike said from the doorway of the room, “but can we please save the inspirational chit-chat for when we get there? You know, before Ms. Menstrual Rage and her twin sister come to and kill us all!”

Twilight and Shining nodded. Shining grabbed his wife and Twilight led the way. They were going to where it all started, and with any luck and little magic, everything might go back to normal.

Or so they hoped....
> Even a Ghost Has a Sanctuary
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As they moved through the castle their hoof steps echoed off the empty halls. Shining led them down several corridors explaining to Twilight what happened in the spa. Cadance was resting on his back, mumbling softly in her sleep. Shining stopped for moment, waiting for Spike to catch up.

“Come on, Spike.” Shining called back to him, “Keep up!”

After a few seconds Spike appeared besides Twilight. Rarity was sound asleep in his claws. He collapsed on her shoulder and inhaled deeply.

“Wait, so what are we doing? Twilight you mentioned we have to go back into the Saphirum. Why’s that? Please, enlighten me.”

Twilight opened her saddlebag and pulled out a journal. The cover was brown with unintelligible writing on its cover. She flipped through the tattered pages gingerly. They crinkled under the very little stress she was applying.

"I was reading through a few of their ancient texts we had uncovered, and I think I found what we need to do to fix Cadance. It appears tha—" Twilight couldn't finish her sentence with Discord's sudden pop into existence right in between the pages of the book. Twilight yelped and dropped it forcing it to shut with Discord still inside.

"Well," Discord mumbled under the pages, "I come here to check on my favorite ponies and this is the treatment I get? How uncouth."

The book flipped open and Discord jumped out, dusting himself off. He looked over at Cadance sleeping peacefully on Shining's back and laughed.

"Well, I see she's still relatively normal. Not that any of you would know what normal was, anymore."

Shining Armor turned his body, hiding Cadance from his vision. His horn lit up and he puffed up his chest. "Do you have something to do with what is happening to my wife, Discord? This whole thing seems like your chaos at work!"

Discord sat down in mid-air, crossing his legs. "Hmmm. Well technically yes, I suppose this is my fault, but..."

Spike and Twilight had to throw themselves in front of Shining who charged forward. Spike shot a dirty glance at Discord.

"What Discord is trying to say is that this whole thing isn't what it seems. It turns out that thousands of years ago there were these powerful god-like ponies that had tremendous power. Saphrium was actually the name of the goddess of love and jealousy. She did a lot of damage, even helping Sombra rise to power. As a result Discord was forced to destroy her. Her crystallized remains slowly starting forming together, creating that power source you found beneath the castle!"

"I do believe I was wearing the 70's back then, in quite a fetching manner I might add," Discord said elbowing Twilight on the side. Twilight nervously chuckled and took a few steps away from Discord. "What? It was just a phase! We all have them!"

"She's trying to come back," Spike continued with an eye roll, "and she's trying to take control of Cadance's body. Cadance is a descendant from that old blood line. Over the years you guys have rebuilt the Crystal Empire to its former glory. Which is exactly what Saphirum wanted. She wanted a land full of ponies that love their ruler. If she takes control of Cadance's body and starts to feel that love she'll gain her strength back. If that happens no one will be able to stop her!"

Shining Armor shook his head in disbelief. "So, you're telling me that the room we found is actually the remains of an ancient goddess who is slowly possessing my wife and using her body to steal all the love and happiness from the empire in an attempt to gain power?"

The others nodded in agreement. Twilight stood beside him and placed her hoof on his shoulder. "Shining, I have a plan to fix this. We just need to get to the Saphirum and we can make things normal again for you, Cadance and Spike and Rarity. Now, which was to—"

"Oh don't worry, Twilight!" Discord patted her on the head and smiled. "I'll just take us all there together! Besides, we could use a speed-up in the action after that exposition dump."

Twilight started to protest, but Discord snapped his talons and everything flashed. They had moved, but not where they wanted to go. They stood on a bright marble street lined with massive houses. The gates between them were gold and the hedges were perfectly trimmed. The house they stood in front of had to massive initials engraved onto the gate.

"Spike laid Rarity down gently and stared at the letters for a moment. Running a finger along them. "S S? Sapphire Shores?" He guessed. Shining Armor threw a hoof in the air.

"You transported us to Las Pegasus? Really?"

Discord took out his compass and rapidly shook it. He squinted down at it. "Saphirum, Saphire Shores, I mean it's pretty close. My compass doesn't point north but it does give me the direction of what my heart desires. Sometimes I have trouble figuring out exactly what it is I want. Besides, wouldn't you all rather hang out here instead of that cold, nasty castle?"

Spike couldn't help but chuckle. "Nah, we good, fam."

"Well fine! Let's all be ungrateful to their pal, Discord. That'll sure fix everything."

Twilight let out a flash of light and took them all back to the Crystal Castle. Discord looked disappointed.

"Oh, I remember what I wanted!" He pulled a Sapphire Shores autograph into existence. "I wanted an autograph!"

Twilight rolled her eyes and sprinted down the hallway, Spike and Shining not far behind.

"So, Twilight? What about Discord? Don't you think we'll need him to beat Saphirum?" Spike said.

"Discord's magic isn't as strong as it was when the elder ones were all alive. I don't think he'd be much help to us here. Besides Spike, my plan here isn't to fight her. We just need to expel her from Cadance's body before she gains full control."

Shining Armor took the lead, leading them down several corridors and down a few flights of stairs until they found the crystal doors leading into the Saphirum. Cadance's cutie mark on the door was pulsing. As he approached the door he could hear a soft humming coming from inside the room. On his back, Cadance's cutie mark starting to pulse in sync with its copy on the door.

“Alright, everypony,” Twilight said, addressing Spike and Shining. “We have to be prepared for anything when we go in here. There’s no telling what’s gonna happen when we cross the threshold into this unforgiving territory of madness and demonic energy.” Twilight turned back towards the heavily engraved door. “The entire fate of the world and our very well-being could rest on the success of our actions behind this door. You guys ready?”

“Yep!” Shining shouted. “Let’s do it!”

“Good,” Twilight said. “How about you, Spi— What are you doing?”

Spike was holding up a peace sign to a camera he was holding, Rarity laid out on the floor beside him. “Hold on, Twi. Discord got me a camera from Las Pegasus and I’m taking an end of the world selfie. What fits better: Hashtag YOLO, or hashtag partytime?”


The camera quickly burst into flame, leaving a pitiful scowl on Spike’s face.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Spike, there are a million reasons why I’m disappointed in you at this moment, but I’ll just have you write an official report on it later. Now, are you ready to save your wife, or not?”

Spike nodded and cast a steel gaze at the door. “I’m ready. Let’s do it!”

With their passed out wives on their respective backs, Spike and Shining approached the door which Twilight opened and they all made their way in. The room was no longer the picture of beauty and light that it once was. Dark shadows permeated every corner, creating a feeling of uneasiness in the air. The crystal in the center of the room glowed a faint green color, giving the room just enough illumination to see the path on the floor leading to it.

The uninvited guests cautiously stalked their way to it, hearing nothing but the sounds of their own breaths and steps with every movement.

“This is really intense,” Shining said, taking a gulp of the still air. “If there was any doubt before, I can definitely guarantee you that there’s some evil force at work here.”

“Yeah,” Spike agreed. “Sorry, Twilight.”

“What are you apologising to me for?” Twilight responded as they inched closer to the crystal.

“I’ve read horror stories like this before,” Spike continued. “Either the zebra or the nerdy one always dies first and we’re fresh outta zebra.”

“Oh, shoot, you’re right, Spike.” Shining formed a cross over his chest with his hoof. “I’m sorry, little sis.”

“Both of you, be quiet,” Twilight responded. “Or you’re both grounded when this is all over. Ugh, boys…”

“Yes, ma’am,” they both responded in unison.

“Okay, so here’s the deal,” Twilight said in her most calm voice as they finally reached the eerily glowing crystal of demonic energy. “This is a remnant of her, so perhaps we should try going for the obvious solution first, just to see what happens.”

“What’s the obvious solution?” Spike asked, eyes wide.

“We’ll try to break it!” Twilight said.

“Sound reasoning,” Shining said, throwing his two cents in. “How do we do that?”

Twilight rubbed her chin and darted her eyes around the crystal, taking in it’s shape and movements. “Hmm… Well, if I stand on the southwest corner and shoot it with a blast of magic toward the bottom angle, it should have enough energy to break it.”

Spike and Shining nodded vigorously.

“Go for it!” Shining shouted.

“You got this, fam,” Spike added on.

“Okay, here goes.” Twilight trotted toward the designated area. Her horn glowed with a bright purple aura, illuminating the entire room. The light and heat from it intensified and just as it reached its peak energy, she threw her head down, releasing a bolt of concentrated magical power right at the crystal. “Ahhhh!”

As the magic collided with the crystal, a shockwave of light and intense vibration wafted through the room, followed by an immense cloud of dust. Spike, Shining and Twilight were all thrown to the ground from the pure energy of the explosion.

Shining was the first onto his hooves and ran over to the crystal.

“Did it work?” Spike called out.

“Uh…” Shining glanced over the crystal and drooped his head. “Nope. If anything, she just gave it a nice cleaning. There’s less dust on it than before.”

Twilight rose to her hooves, huffing and trying to breathe. “Curses! That was the most powerful magic I had.”

A fierce glow emitted from Shining’s eyes, fueled by the rage he felt for the benign magical artifact in front of him. “You’re going down, Crystal!” He then proceeded to slap and scrape at it with all the force he could muster. “Nobody messes with my family like this!”

Twilight and Spike shared a deadpan look.

“Shining, stop harassing the Crystal,” Twilight stated.

Shining pouted and looked at his sister. “Sorry.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Spike said. “Why don’t you go find your purse and let a real alpha male show you how it’s done.” Spike spat on both of his claws and approached the cause of their problems. “Here we go!” He struck out both of his claws toward it. “Swiggity swoogity, break-ity brookity!”

Nothing happened.

“Well, that’s about all I can do,” Spike said, wiping a well-earned bead of sweat from his brow. “Now what, Twilight?”

“Well, I didn’t honestly think that’d work,” she replied. “It was worth a try, though. However, the crystal, and Cadance herself, are remnants of an evil goddess driven by the hatred of love and all things associated with it, correct?”

Spike nodded. “Something like that.”

“If that’s the case,” Twilight carried on, “then it only stands to reason that if we expose said goddess to true, unbreakable, unfiltered love, it might force her back into recession inside of Cadance. Or,even better, it might cause enough distress to annihilate her once and for all!”

“That’s a great idea!” Shining exclaimed. “But, where are we gonna find Cadance’s true love in a time like this?’

Twilight smacked him. “That’s your wife!”

“Oh, yeah!” Shining said, his face reddening for reasons besides the harsh slap. “So, uh,what should I do?”

Twilight paced back and forth. “Well, the greatest act of true love in today’s society is a kiss. We do it at our weddings, to show affection to our loved ones and even as a sign of endearment to our closes friends. I suppose it stands to reason that maybe you could kiss her.”

Shining looked at the still passed out body of his wife. “Well, I guess that makes sense. But I’ve kissed her tons of times. Why would it matter now?”

“Because before, your wife wasn’t under the control of an arch-demon.”

“Point taken,” Shining said. “Alright, I’ll kiss her. Besides, now’s the time while she’s passed out, I guess. But, don’t you think this whole thing is a bit, I dunno, cliche? Kissing her to save her life and all?”

Spike chuckled. “After all the insanity we’ve been through, I could use a cliche moment.”

Shining nodded and slowly walked over to his unconscious partner. “Alright, Cadance, my love. This is for you. Please come back.”

The stallion knelt down and slowly placed his lips on hers. He could feel the familiar textures of her mouth and lips caress his own, causing a stray tear to flow down his cheek. As he gently released himself from it, he noticed her eyes start to crack open.

“Cadance?” Shining asked. “Is it you? Are you back?”

The Princess of Love let out a few small coughs and slowly rose to her hooves, head drooped to the ground.

“Cadance!” Shining ran over to her, ready to embrace her in a hug. “I’ve missed you so mu—” His affection was cut short as a powerful blast of magic sent him flying back against the wall.

“You fools…” she said, slowly raising her head.

“What’s going on?” Spike asked, looking at her. “Who are you?”

Cadance fully rose her head up to greet them. It was then they saw the true face of panic and horror. Her once beautiful features were replaced by a face contorted and twisted by Tartarus itself. Her eyes were glowing a deathly green and a wicked smile laced with razor sharp teeth filled her mouth.

“I… am Saphirum. And you will have the honor of being my first victims in many years.”

Shining rose to his hooved and stumbled over to Twilight and Spike.

“This can’t be good,” he said. 

“Yeah, I didn’t know you were that bad at kissing,” Spike added on. "But i think that demon chick wrapped up Cadance tighter than a birthday present and shipped her first class to possession-ville"

“Boys, save the comedic banter for later,” Twilight stated, trying to keep her cool. “We’re in trouble.”

Saphirum emitted a dastardly laugh as she crept closer to them. “Yes. Yes you are.”
> 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.”
> The Show Must Go On, Pt. 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

On a normal day, the sun was a good thing. A happy bringer of light that resulted in smiles and wonderment amongst all of Equestria’s citizens. A sign that a new day is ready to begin and the old day has passed.

That was not the case for Cadance.

The sun’s rays burst into her slowly cracking eyelids, resulting in her closing them immediately. “Oh, my head.” The Pink alicorn slowly burrowed further into her covers.

“Oh, hey, sleeping beauty lives!” Spike shouted out. 

Cadance slowly peeked open an eye and brought it into focus to see the scene surrounding her. There were ponies. And a dragon. 

“Ugh, what happened? Where am I?” Cadance eyed the individuals surrounding her. Shining, Spike and Rarity were all present with her.

“Oh, honey, it’s so good to see you awake!” Shining Armour wiped away a tear as he rose from his bedside chair. “I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to hear your voice again.”

Cadance painfully jerked her head to the side to greet her husband. “Shining?”

“I’m here for you, my love.” He leaned over the bed and planted a small kiss on her cheek. 

The action caused Cadance to slightly jerk her head. Given the more recent events, she wasn’t sure what to entirely think in regards to his affection. However, she did her best to put on a smile.

“Thank you… Shining. I’m alive, though.” Cadance took a moment to look to her other side and noticed the visage of Spike and Rarity sitting down. “Hey, guys. I, um, I suppose an apology is in order.”

Rarity waved a hoof. “Oh, dear, absolutely not. Mystical beings possessing your soul are neither your fault nor your burden to carry the guilt of. We’re just glad you’re alright.”

“Possessing my soul?” Cadance asked with a confused glint in her eye. “What happened, exactly? The last thing I remember was getting off the train with Spike to come home and then… nothing.”

Spike motioned with his claw that it was his turn. “Okay, I got this.” Spike got up and hopped on the side of the bed to get a more direct view of Cadance. “So, here’s the deal. We get back to the Crystal Castle and you go haywire. You start smelling the air, interrogate guardsmen and go ballistic. ‘Fee Fala Feefa Yo Rum, Ima kill that cheating bitch’, the whole shebang. You eventually go full on murder machine, declare war on us in the castle and start saying how you’re Saphirum and you’re gonna cast a spell enslaving everypony in the Empire. Twilight, Shining and I think fast and boom, we take you down. That answer your question?”

Cadance blinked a few time before it all came back to her. Her mind flashed between various scenes. The destroyed spa, Rarity getting tossed about in her magical fury, the Spahirum, Spike kissing her...

Her brain froze and the world stopped around her as she looked upon the dragon sitting next to her. Did that really happen? There was no way.

“Uh, yeah,” she responded, shaking away the thought for the time being. “I think I remember. Is everyone else okay? Did I, um, did I do any kind of lasting damage?” Cadance shrunk back into her covers, fearing the answer.

“Well,” Shining spoke up, lightly rubbing the back of his neck. “There was a lot of damage to the spa and we had a couple of the guards and staff quit, but don’t worry, it’s nothing that can’t be fixed in due time. All that matters is that all of us and our citizens are okay. So, please, don’t worry yourself about it. Personally, I’m just happy you’re okay.”

Cadance breathed a sigh of relief and smile. “That’s good to hear. But, how long has it been? How long have I been out?”

“Three days, darling,” Rarity stated. “We were all very worried about you. It was all we could do to keep Twilight from calling a national state of emergency.”

Cadance let out a slight chuckle before she spoke up. “Speaking of which, where is Twilight?”

“Oh, she’ll be back before long,” Spike said. “She went off to Canterlot to talk to Celestia about everything that went down. But, she should be back pretty soon. I think she was going to have dinner with us tonight.”

Cadance smiled once more. “That’s good to hear. I was worried she didn’t want to see me. Our last interaction didn’t exactly go as planned.”

Spike rubbed his chin. “Yeah, you guys do seem to have a flair for the dramatic. It seems every time you two meet the world hangs in the balance of destruction.”

He was quickly shut up by a whack to the back of his head from Rarity. “Now is not the time for jokes, dear.”

Spike rubbed his head. “Yeah, yeah, no time for humor these days, I guess.”

“Anywho,” Shining spoke up, “I should probably go get the nurse and let her know you’re doing alright.”

“Yes, that would probably be for the best,” Rarity said. “And I could definitely use some beauty sleep before dinner is ready this afternoon. I love you darling, but sleeping in a chair is no sleep at all.”

Spike stretched out his scales and let out a yawn. “I second that idea.”

Shining nodded. “It’s settled then. I’ll get the nurse then we can all get some rest before dinner tonight. You don’t have to join if you don’t feel up to it, by the way. I can arrange for dinner to be sent here for you.”
Cadance tried to move from her pillow and her body jolted with pain as if all her muscles were screaming at her. “Ugh, yeah, that may be for the best. But I’ll try and join. I want things to get back to normal as quickly as possible. If we could at least all enjoy a meal together, that’d at least make something about his vacation worthwhile”

Shining smiled and once more planted a small but infectious kiss upon his wife’s cheek. Once again she blinked and did her best to enjoy it.

“I love you, Cadance,” Shining said before turning toward the door with Spike and Rarity. “Hopefully we’ll see you tonight. If not, I’ll make sure to come back before bed.”

Cadance nodded and watched her friends leave the room. She was left alone with her thoughts, and none of them made sense, at the moment.



The dining hall was especially quiet. The wood cracking in the fireplace was soft but easily heard across the room. Crystal guards stood silently at the doors and chefs flew in and out of the kitchen bringing and taking various meals from the ponies at the table. Spike and Shining were gorging on bread and vegetables while Rarity sipped her soup from her spoon. Twilight was reading at the head of the long table. 

"It's hard to believe all of that really just happened," Twilight said. The others stopped eating and looked up at her. 

Spike had a mouthful of food when he responded.  "Yeah... all of that was pretty insane. How are you feeling by the way?" 

Twilight rubbed her head and winced. "Still pretty sore. I'm sure the rest of you are too." 

They answered with nods and went back to their plates quietly. Shining Armor stared across the table at Rarity for a few moments before speaking up. 

"Rarity?" he asked. "What did... what did Saphirum do to you?" 

Shining felt an air of tension wash over him from Rarity's direction. She took a deep breath while gingerly raising her hoof towards her horn. 

"Have you ever felt angry with Cadance, Shining?" she asked. Shining opened his mouth to speak but was silenced by Rarity’s continuation. "Please, do me a favor and Imagine that feeling when you're properly angry with her. The one thing that really keeps you committed and that allows you to forgive her is your love for her, correct?" 

Shining attempted to cut her off, but Rarity kept talking. 

"Now imagine, quite literally mind you, having all of your love ripped up through your body, and up to the crown of your head. Imagine now that all the memories you've ever shared with her, and every feeling you've ever experienced was torn away. All you can feel is that anger and nothing else matters." 

Spike stopped chewing and swallowed loudly. 

"That's what it felt like." Rarity finished. She lifted her spoon back towards her mouth, sipping softly on the soup. Shining slumped back in his chair and rubbed his hoof against his mane. 

"I'm assuming that when she was destroyed those memories and feelings returned?" Twilight asked, being met with a silent nod from Rarity. "Is it bad that those feelings returned?" 

"No," she answered flatly. 

For the next few moments, they all ate silently and Spike felt his face heating up. 

Rarity?

Rarity took a deep breath and smiled at her husband. "I remember you running to save me, Spike. It was rather amazing. Thank you all... you not only saved Cadance but you also saved me. Forgive my sour mood I just... I almost can still feel her rummaging around inside my head. It is not a pleasant feeling." 

Twilight got up from her chair and moved beside Rarity. She smiled and embraced her. Shining Armor and Spike both jumped to her side and did the same. Rarity giggled softly. 

"You ponies are simply the best!" 

The others let go and Spike kept his arms wrapped tightly around her. Her breathing against his chest usually gave him butterflies like when he had first met her so many years ago. This time he felt nothing. She leaned up close to his chin and planted a kiss.

"I love you, Spike." 

"I... love you too, Rares." 

He held her tight and let his mind wander.

What... is wrong with me?

Twilight sat back in her chair and threw open one of the massive tomes she had strewn all over her side of the table. 

"Well,  I've been doing some reading and—"

The others in the room, including the guards, all sighed. 

"—and I found something interesting. There are various writings from scribes that worshiped the ancient ones. There are a few ponies like Saphrium that were banished or destroyed by them, and some of them may have artifacts left behind that preserved their life in some way much like the crystal heart did for Saphrium."

Shining cut in. "So there are potentially a few more beings like Saphirum out there? They could be a serious threat if people found and released them." 

Twilight shut her book and smiled. "Which is why I propose we find them!" 

Shining deadpanned and shook his head. "Twily, the last celestial being we tried to fight nearly killed us and possessed my wife. Should we seriously throw ourselves into another potential conflict like that?" 

“Maybe not immediately, but it would be worth looking into if nothing else.” Twilight waved over a guard and whispered into his ear. The guard hurried off and Twilight levitated her books over her head.  "I’ll pack my things and we can head home soon Rarity. Once we’re home I’ll probably build a plan for the princesses to see if we can investigate some of these myths. If we can find more of these beings then we can learn so much!." Twilight galloped out of the dining hall and Shining chuckled at the puff of smoke that followed.

"Once she gets going, there's no stopping her," he turned his head towards Spike and Rarity, "I figure you guys are probably going home after all this."

"Yeah... I think we've had enough superstition and god-like entities for one vacation." Spike answered. 

Shining rose from his chair and moved around the table. He pulled Spike into a firm hug and laughed.  "I'm sorry this happened. You thinking Rarity would cheat on you and us thinking you and Cadance would do the same. it was intense but... I'm glad our friendship is still standing. Can’t say the same for a few of the Castle’s rooms, though." 

Rarity pushed herself from Spike and rubbed his scales. "I could never hurt my Spikey-Wikey in such a way. I love him too much!" She said. She gave him a kiss on the cheek and trotted to the door. "I'm going to finish packing for us, Spike. On the way home you'll have to tell me what adventure you and Cadance went on before you came back. Shining dear, let Cadance know I wish her a quick recovery. I’d go see her but she’s probably asleep. I’d rather not wake her at the moment." She exited the room without waiting for a response leaving the two husbands alone. 

Shining Armor let go of Spike and grunted.  "I really am happy that we defeated Saphrium and saved Cadance. But I need to know how you did it. You kissed her and it killed her instantly. How?" 

Spike froze. He made a motion to respond but couldn’t find the right words, being taken aback by the look in Shining’s eyes.

Shining Armor's fierce gaze was heavy with frustrated concern. He turned away and stared into the fireplace on the far wall. "That wasn't your first time kissing her was it?"

Spike jumped from his seat and patted Shining on the back. "No way, dude. Cadance and I... nothing happened between us. I figured when Twilight mentioned a shocking form or love or whatever would stop her, me kissing her could do the trick. I wasn't completely sure it would work. We're just lucky it did I suppose."

Shining took the bait. He turned and smiled warmly at Spike. 

"That it did.” Shining let out a sigh. “I’m sorry to sounds so intrusive. I just, I’ve had a hard week, to say the least.”

“We all have, Shining. No doubting that.”

Shining smiled and shook his head free of the negative thoughts it was trying to produce. “As always, my friend, it was a pleasure to see you and Rarity. Even if things got a little weird." He hoof-bumped Spike and called for his guard. "Now we just need to find out if there is something we can use to replace the Crystal Heart. I’ll probably see Cadance later about it since she’s likely sleeping still. I'll leave you, for now, Spike. Have a safe trip home.” 

Spike waved goodbye and stood silently by the table for a few minutes after they had gone. He rubbed his claws together and sighed. 

Cadance... 

Spike sprinted out of the dining hall, heart racing as he realized the truth. He felt butterflies in his stomach now. 



Spike slowly slipped into the bedroom. The moonlight was the only illumination, casting its soft light onto the form of the sleeping alicorn in the bed.

The dragon crept over to the side of the bed where his chair from earlier still resided. He flipped on the table lamp located next to the bed and watched the resting mare stir awake from her slumber.

Cadance slowly blinked her eyes open until her gaze fell upon the dragon sitting merely a foot away. A small smile slipped onto her lips. “Hey, Spike,” she said through a quiet yawn. “I thought you would’ve left already. I imagine you and Rarity want to get away from here as quick as possible, huh?”

“Heh, you’re not wrong,” Spike said with a chuckle. “But, I wanted to say goodbye before we did. They were all like ‘Nah, she needs her sleep.’ But, I thought that after all we’ve been through together recently, it was the least that needed to happen.”

Cadance maneuvered onto her side, having to squint due to the residual muscle pain she was still dealing with. “Well, ah, well… I appreciate it. I’m sorry that your whole vacation thing didn’t go according to plan.”

Spike shook his head. “Like we talked about before, don’t worry about it. I can always count on things being exciting around here. If the world wasn’t constantly in danger, I’m not sure what I’d do with myself.”

Cadance let out her own chuckle. “Heh, it’s almost like the constant chaos is the glue that holds the fabric of all our relationships together.”

Spike nodded and smile. “No joke. But, I do have a more serious question for you.”

“Hmm?”

Spike let out a deep sigh. “In all the confusion of what went down, I’m honestly not sure what to believe anymore. But, just to hash something out, are you and Shining gonna be okay? I mean, there was a super-demon at work and all, but still.”

Cadance opened her mouth to speak but no words came to her. Her mind flashed through all the events of the preceding days. The pain she felt in her heart. The anguish that was buried in her soul. Was it all the demon’s fault?

“I’m sorry, it’s none of my business,” Spike said, shaking his head. “Forget I mentioned it. I’m sure everything will be just—”

“I don’t know,” Cadance cut in.

“Huh?”

“I don’t know what to feel right now,” Cadance reiterated. “After the last few days, there’s not a whole lot you don’t know anymore. Shining wasn’t lying when he said we’d been having some… problems. Before the chaos of the Saphirum, I mean. If anything, I want to believe that working through what happened recently would bring us closer together, but I honestly don’t know what to think. What to feel.”

Spike slouched back in his chair. “I understand. I mean, not in the whole demonic possession way, but I do get that things might be a bit tough from here on out.” Spike leaned forward and put on his best smile. “But, if anyone is fit to figure out what to do, I’m sure it’s you. You are the Princess of Love and all.”

Cadance smiled. “I guess you’re right. Maybe I just need a few days to think about everything.”

“That might be for the best,” Spike said. “I’m not an expert or anything, but decisions made in emotional angst don’t always work out the way we want them to. I mean, the last time you did that, you blew up the spa.”

Cadance rolled her eyes. “If I wasn’t in too much pain to get up, I’d punch you.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll open a tab for ya’.” Spike rose up from the seat and inched forward. “Can we hold that off for later though and settle for a hug before I leave?”

Cadance rubbed her chin. “Hmm, I think I can settle for that.”

Spike leaned over and gently embraced her in his arms. She slowly moved her forelegs around him. They took but a moment to hold onto each other, feeling each other’s warmth. Cadance felt a smile start to grow on her lips, the first one she’s had in a long time.

Spike broke the embrace, a smile lighting up his lips. “Well, I guess I should get going. Twilight and Rarity both want to get out of here tonight and get back home. Can’t say I blame them. But, you know, I’m here for you. We all are.”

Spike slowly started to walk away, back towards the door but was halted in his tracks by Cadance’s voice calling out from behind him.

“Uh, Spike?”

He turned around. “Yeah?”

“Just wondering…” Cadance lightly bit her lip. “But, did you actually kiss me?”

Spike could feel his face start to heat up but quickly turned his blush into a smile. “Yeah, that actually happened. And if you must know, it wasn’t too bad. Kinda nice, actually. You could use some more practice though.”

Spike sent a final wink her way and exited the room, leaving Cadance alone in her bed once again.

She brought a hoof to her lips. She wasn’t herself at the time, but she swore she could still feel a tingling sensation. Her mind began to wander back to what happened and heart picked up in pace a bit.

The smallest of grins appeared on her face as she thought about it. 

“Nice, huh?”