I traced the facets of the ruby in my hand with a claw again, while sitting on the edge of my bed, for what must have been the hundredth time since I had arrived at the royal palace in Canterlot. It isn't like I needed to memorize the red heart shaped fire ruby. I had committed its crimson angles and surfaces to memory a long time ago.

It came back to me sixty years ago. It's still hers. I'm taking care of it for her.

It is a companion of mine, a reminder. It mourns with me over her death. Found in a bedroom full of the richest of gems collected over a pony's lifetime, a tempting hoard for any dragon, it was the only gem I truly wanted. Her younger sister Sweetie Belle saw how much significance it had to me and let me keep it. The fact that it was in a beautiful gem bedazzled box, the only occupant of the top left hand drawer of Rarity's nightstand, is not lost on me. It was a treasure from the first year of our relationship. No, relationship isn't quite right. Companionship fit us better.

"Spike! I need your help. I'm looking for my costume and for the life of me I can't find it anywhere. Oh I hope we brought it with us!" The Princess of Friendship's alarmed voice breaks my reverie like a bucket of cold water, the makings of our suite in Canterlot Palace returning to me. Rambling nervousness from Twilight Sparkle hadn't ebbed one bit since she hatched my egg for me about a century ago. I looked up from the ruby in my hands and watched her as she nervously looked around my room, under the nightstand, under the lamp shade. It wasn't like her old Star Swirl costume could have magically sprouted its own hooves and walked in here, but this was Princess Twilight Sparkle, tonight was Nightmare Night, and that Star Swirl costume was tradition.

I rolled my eyes and looked through my mental list of questions. "Where did you have it last? Are you sure you packed it? Did you check all your luggage? Is it possible that you are wearing it but have been so busy that you forgot putting it on?" I ended the list, adding inflection to the end of each. None of these questions were unimportant. They've been asked of her many times in the past, even the last one had been used at least once.

Twilight stopped and looked at me with an arched eyebrow. "In my chambers in Ponyville. Yes. Yes. And I'm not wearing it right now!" She spread her wings to punctuate her point and she indeed did not have the AWOL costume on her body. If I could describe Princess Twilight to someone who had last seen her in her heyday as Celestia's pupil, I would say not much has changed. Her century old body has pointed a bit at the tips of her wings and her horn, owing to her phenomenal magical abilities over anything else. She's still the same height as she was in her twenties.

Her ascension to Alicorn means that she will never age, she will never die. Sure, she could suffer a mortal wound. There are many stories, some legend, about how close she came during times of crisis. But it just seemed unlikely that anything could earnestly kill Twilight Sparkle. She was far too stubborn a mare to allow something as inconvenient as death to overcome her.

I stood up from the bed. I was twice Twilight's height then. I was the same height as Princess Celestia. Twilight followed my eyes as I stood up and sighed. "I'll help you find it."

"Oh thank you thank you thank you!" She repeated sincerely, completely unintimidated by my stature over her. It's understandable. I'm her dragon, she's my princess. I've sworn my life to protect her, and will do anything to keep her safe and happy, as is my oath to her, unspoken and unbroken to this very day. That doesn't mean I can't grumble about it every now and then.

I sat the fire ruby down on the nightstand and started walking towards the door, expecting Twilight to follow me. "I think we should ask your personal servants if they've seen it." I waited a beat for Twilight to say 'good idea,' but her silence instead prompted me to turn around and look.

Twilight was standing beside my bed, turned towards the nightstand, looking down at Rarity's fire ruby. It was sparkling beautifully under that dull electric lamp. It had a magic all its own. "I remember when you gave it to her." She said softly to me.

I nodded. She is not only my princess, but she is my deepest and closest connection to my past. To our past because we have shared so much of it.

"Rarity was genuinely happy when you gave it to her. Not that dramatic kind of happy that she was prone too from time to time, but, I think you made her day then, Spike." She turned to me. "Are you still planning on going through with the spirit candle ceremony tonight?"

It took me a moment to respond to her. That precious memory of Rarity's presence as she kissed me on the cheek played through my head in full color fury. It was a haunting thing. To this day I can smell her wonderful hair, and whatever lavender shampoo that was her favorite. Her smile and her blue eyes filled my reality and she utterly and completely stole my heart right then and there, both physically with my fire ruby, and figuratively with my very soul. I could not stand to be around lavender after her death for that very reason. Her voice haunted my footsteps, her scent permeated my senses.

In death, Rarity had been a force more pungent and prominent than in life, her absence screaming to me. I had been…inconsolable…but only for a time. As Twilight was wont to point out, Rarity would have been heartbroken to see me mourn her so. She had always preached to her friends about life being for living. I did her no honor by putting my life on hold on account of her departure. And so I moved on. Not forgetting her, but keeping her in my heart. The fire ruby was a constant reminder of my companionship with Rarity, but also of my vow to be true to her spirit, and embody her Generosity as best as I could.

Letting go of my thoughts, I focused in on Twilight again and was thankful she had let me stammer for a moment. "Yes. Yes, I do. I still need your help to enchant that ruby with the spirit attraction spell. I also need you to enchant a gem with a light spell."

Twilight approached me and looked up. I could see the concern in her eyes. Damn it all. She had agreed to let me do this. She agreed to let me try the spirit candle.

I remember finding references to it in Twilight's personal library. The books were light on details. It was a spirit projector of some sort. Rumored to be in the deepest hallways of the Canterlot palace, moved from its previous home in the Castle of the Two Sisters after the banishment of Nightmare Moon.

Poking and prodding that library, itself stocked with books from the old castle, finally revealed the answers I was looking for.

The candle was made of beeswax from the royal hives by the sisters' personal chandler. It was enchanted by a powerful zebra magic. Legend says the sisters used it to consult the spirts of ancient rulers during the earliest days of their reign, when Equestria was still a fleeting little haven from the cruel world at its edges.

It required dragon fire to light. Not a problem for me. It also required enchanted crystals to act as attractors for the spirits. It could only be used during a full moon, and was at its most efficient when one occurred during harvest's end. A night which we all know now as Nightmare Night.

Prodding of books turned to prodding of Twilight, who enthusiastically acknowledged its existence. She had seen it herself back when she was Celestia's student in Canterlot. Celestia admitted that most of the time it's actions seemed to amount to a parlor trick. It only truly worked a few times and was quickly forgotten.

I knew in my heart that they were missing a crucial piece. They didn't need just any enchanted gem to act as a spirit attractor. They needed an enchanted gem that had significance to the spirit they were trying to attract.

I looked over at Rarity's fire ruby when Twilight said "What if I said no?" It wasn't a mean question; it wasn't Twilight trying to hold something over my head. I looked back at Twilight and at the worried look she gave me.

I shook my head and walked past Twilight, back into the room. "No. I've got to do this. I need to do this."

"Spike. Thousands of ponies every day lose somepony close to them. They leave us with unanswered questions. It is the nature of things, even if nature can seem cruel."

"But Rarity was different!" I protested, and sat down on the bed again.

Twilight levitated herself up on the bed to sit beside me. "She was your unanswered question."

I could not respond to that because I knew she was right. There I was, a century old dragon, on the verge of acting like a big baby drake. So, when Twilight tried to nuzzle up against me to comfort, I moved away. I didn't want her comfort, because I wanted to cultivate my pain. Twilight is my closest friend, like an older sister or even a mother, and she was trying to get out of her promise to help me. I refused to make it easy on her.

That I was in love with the Element of Generosity had not been lost on the Princess of Friendship. I must have been giving off all the classic signs of a smitten dragon, whatever they were. I was young. Twilight let me indulge instead of forcing me to keep Rarity at claws length.

I didn't truly know if Rarity knew to what extent my heart bled for her. I never got to complete my pronouncements of attraction turned love. This was the reason I was sitting there with Twilight, arguing over a candle that might or might not have let me see Rarity one last time. She was a mare who had been dead for so many moons that the adventures of the Elements of Harmony were printed in school textbooks as history and not current events.

Twilight jumped off the bed with a sigh and approached the gem. "We don't even know if this gem will serve as a proper attractor."

"It will." I said. It had to. I needed it to.

"Also, there's so many other variables. This candle hasn't been lit for centuries. What if it doesn't light? What if clouds obscure the full moon? What if you do succeed but the spirit you get isn't Rarity at all?"

"I'm well aware of the risks."

"But what if. And this is a big if," Twilight looked up at me with intensity. "What if Rarity does appear, and she doesn't answer your questions, or, heavens forbid, the answers you get are not the ones you are looking for. What then?"

I gave her nothing but silence. She had promised me this after all. True, it was in a moment of pure excitement when I had put a tantalizing piece of an ancient magical puzzle together all by myself, or seemed to. It had set her off on an intellectual contact high, probably thinking about all the possibilities this revelation might have. Would she be able to use it to talk to intellectuals like Haycarte? Now, as we stared each other down, I having not budged at all since I first brought up my plan, and Twilight having had several nights' worth of contemplation to convince herself that my plan might not have been a good idea after all, she called my bluff.

"Fine." Twilight said sharply as she turned to the gem. She tilted her head down so her horn hovered over its surface. I could see little sparks of light jump from her horn to the fire ruby. They danced upon its surface and then sunk deep within, coalescing at its center, before they faded into its structure. I smiled inwardly. I did feel sheepish about getting my way like this. I still do. But they say dragons are instinctively greedy, and I am a dragon.

Twilight lifted her head up and looked at me. "We'll enchant another gem with an illumination spell tonight."

"Thank you." I returned sincerely.

"Now…" She walked towards the door. "Let's find my costume."

"Right behind you." I said. "And Twi."

Twilight turned her head to look back at me.

"This will work." It was almost a plea to her to understand.

She nodded quietly. With no other words spoken between us, we started our search for her Star Swirl costume. The questions began to swim in my head.

Would this work? Would I see Rarity? What would she say?

OooooooooooooooooooooooO

It was a bright sunny spring day, after the ground had thawed and cave entrances were once again revealing themselves to the world from under mounds of snow, slumbering inhabitants of the caves were leaving for the sun above ground.

Rarity and I had scouted out this cave before, but had never entered it. Instead we stalked it like a couple of secret agents; watching it for signs that it had been claimed by something or somepony else. It showed no signs of being a dragon's cave, which meant whatever was inside wasn't a hoard.

We had spent a fall and a winter planning and plotting together to finally hit that cave as soon as the thaw had come and gone. So, once the ground was dry of the remaining melt from the winter snow, we descended in to the cave. A few close calls with falling rocks in past excavations had prompted me to don a hard hat of my own. Just a plain yellow one. Rarity's was a sight to behold. It had a special light on the front, made of a gem that she could attach a light spell to. She had bejeweled the entire hard hat so that it could almost light up the cave just by its presence alone, which made the light almost comical. On the back of the hat, she had attached the cutest blue bow I had ever seen. Add a white gemmed saddle bag and she was truly a sight to behold.

I was her official basket holder slash bodyguard. Though over time I had agreed to just basket holder. Bodyguard was foolish of me. Rarity had proven herself more than capable of navigating and surviving a gem cave, even outsmarting the occasional diamond dog pack we crossed paths with.

Innocent romantic fantasies of a young dragon saving his fair mare from certain peril aside, my role in these gem hunts made for a lot of fun and special moments. Rarity got assistance in holding all the gems she found, and I got to watch her put her true talent to good use. It was very special to me, very special to us, I think, and that day in a newly discovered cave wasn't any different.

It didn't take long for us to find a big chamber. Rarity's gem detection spell was screaming at us that we had found the mother lode, but for the life of us we couldn't find it, until we both looked up above us and there it was.

At the center of the chamber's ceiling, its highest point, was an outgrowth of rock with a very different color from the rest of the cave. It glistened under the light of Rarity's hard hat, which made it obvious that water had worked its way throughout its entire structure. It was absolutely studded with gems of various varieties.

"Do you see that?" I asked.

"Oh I do, darling, I do." Rarity's voice trailed off in astonishment. "It looks like all it needs is a gentle push." She mimicked a gentle prod with her front hoof.

"Or some heat to boil the water." I offered. We looked at each other and a smile crept across our mouths.

"Do you suppose if I levitated you up there, that you'd be a dear and use your dragon fire on that hideous rock?"

I bowed to Rarity with a flourish. "It will be my pleasure."

Rarity turned to me and let her head down slightly. "Are you ready?"

I sat the basket down beside me and assumed what must have been one of the most ridiculous poses, like I was about to run a marathon. "Ready."

"Okay Spikey, stay still." With those words, I could feel Rarity's levitation magic taking hold. It gently lifted me up off the ground and towards the top of the chamber.

"W, whoa." I yelped quietly, feeling as if I had lost my footing. In truth, I had. Twilight's liberal use of her levitation spell on me gave me no forewarning. I never had a chance to truly take in all the ramifications of suddenly not being on the ground. Rarity's levitation magic was much more gentle, which made me half thankful, half terrified that she'd be too gentle and then drop me.

Half way up, I looked down at Rarity, who was concentrating on keeping steady, and my fears started to ebb. Not that I should have worried. I never felt unsafe around her. Perhaps sometimes like this she was more my protector than I thought I was of her. I didn't take my eyes off her until I was right beside the outcrop.

"Okay, now hold me steady." I called down, then looked at the rock. It was brittle, hardly containing all the gems throughout it. It even sounded hollow when I knocked at it with a fist. "Oh this is gonna be a cakewalk!" I exclaimed, and inhaled a breath.

Calling my dragon fire from deep within, I exhaled a bright green flame at the rock. In a split second I could hear steam forming from somewhere within the rock as it began to sizzle and hiss. Then, absolute chaos erupted.

I could see from below me, just as the rock exploded, that Rarity was beginning to realize just as I had that this plan could have been better executed. I should have gone for the slow roast and not a full-on barbeque. Now we had hot molten rock and scorching gem shards to contend with.

I knew I had a few embedded in my scales from the initial explosion, but I was more concerned with how gravity had just taken hold of me when Rarity's levitation spell let go. I started to fall and could see Rarity gasp then crouch into a ball as the gems started to hit the ground along with the hot rock.

"Rarityyyyy!" I called out while halfway to the floor.

Rarity looked up just in time to realize she had dropped the spell, and by extension me, and quickly grabbed hold of me again with her magic while shielding her eyes with a hoof.

It wasn't a soft landing, but I'm still here to talk about it. Once the dust settled, I looked around at the aftermath as I got up. I ignored the burning sensation from the gem shards that were obviously sticking out from my cheek and arm. Getting my bearings, I limped over to Rarity. She was still crouching down, in shock from what had just happened.

I reached out and placed a hand on her hoof. She flinched and then dropped her hoof to look at me. It was as if chaos erupted a second time, as soon as she saw the shards embedded in my cheek. "Oh my dear Spikey-Wikey. You're injured! Hold still." She craned her head slightly to get a few items out of her saddle bag with her magic, and I noticed the bright green crystal shard embedded in her shoulder, opposite of where she was looking. It was long and nasty, and seemed very deep. Blood was oozing from underneath her white fur, darkening her coat around the wound in a deep, menacing maroon.

How can she not feel that, I thought, then realized she was shaking slightly, probably from an adrenaline rush. But once it wore off…

I reached out a hand to stop her. "Uh, Rarity, I don't, think you should move much right now."

"Oh but my Spikey-Wikey is injured and I insis-"

"I…" I cut her off, "will be fine. You…" I decided to be blunt with her, "have a big gem shard embedded in your left shoulder, and you need to lay down now, so I can take care of it."

Her eyes softened a bit from their franticness of a few moments earlier, and I could tell the adrenaline was wearing off. "Oh." She responded, and tilted her head the other way. "Well that's not good, I, I think I shall lie down, now, that you… Mention it…" I made a mental note that Rarity couldn't stand the sight of blood, let alone her own, and I had to catch her mid faint. Catching a pony that's tipping over is a rather difficult task. This was not a jab on Rarity or any pony, but you guys are heavier than you look.

Panic set in as I realized that she could be in shock. I looked over her body again and noted no pools of blood, no other injuries. I held a hand in front of her snout, and could tell she was breathing. I let out a breath I hadn't even realized I had been holding and made a quick conclusion that she had just fainted.

I gently let Rarity's head down on the ground and removed her hard hat. The enchanted light continued to glow, so I sat it beside me to illuminated the area, and made my way to her saddle bags. I gently removed them from her body and began rummaging around inside for bandages and cloth before finding some, along with a bottle of medical grade alcohol and a canteen. After a few close calls with stalactites we had decided to bring a first aid kit, and I had become forever grateful we had decided to do that.

I turned back to Rarity, and noticed that while not bleeding, the wound still had a lot of blood around it, which would make this next step a little difficult. I grabbed the offending shard with both my hands and pulled it gently out of Rarity's shoulder. The wound started to bleed, though not as bad as I had thought it would.

Banishing thoughts of my own carelessness leading to Rarity suffering this horrible injury, I took the cloth and held it to the wound. "Stitches for sure…" I muttered to myself, so I reached again for the saddle bags. I found a needle and some blue thread, which seemed fitting. After all, it wasn't every day you got to apply stitches to somepony you adored, and style seemed fitting.

I quietly cleaned Rarity's wound with cloth and alcohol, and then began to stich her up. After sterilizing the needle with a bit of dragon flame and alcohol, I threaded it.

As soon as the needle poked into her skin, Rarity let out a loud yelp.

"Oh thank goodness, you're awake." I said.

"W-what are you doing?" Rarity tried to lift her head up but I pushed it back down gently with a hand.

"Hold still. I removed the shard and now I'm stitching you up."

"Stitching me up? Goodness, is it really that bad?" She said, then breathed in sharply as the needle pierced her flesh again.

I laughed nervously as I worked. I hated doing this, but it had to be done. "That is what I'd call one of the biggest green crystals I've ever seen embedded two inches into your shoulder muscle. Now, just stay with me. Breathe in, breathe out. This'll only take a few moments and then I'll bandage you up."

Rarity said nothing, but I could almost predict her mind was awash with thoughts of what would become of her beautiful shoulder. Would there be a scar? Truth be told, I was thinking the same thing. I had to shake my head gently and focus on the task and hand.

"Spike?" Rarity asked quietly.

"Yes?"

"Thank you for coming with me on these gem hunts. I couldn't begin to imagine what would have—ouch!," she squeaked, "…happened to me if you were not here by my side. Being my basket carrier, as it were." Rarity offered.

"Some basket carrier." I laughed bitterly. "I was the one that thought full on flame broiling that stupid outcrop was a good idea."

"Oh hush." Rarity admonished me. "I-" she inhaled a sharp breath as I ran the needle through her skin again, thankfully for the last time. "let go of you and almost killed you. Will you ever find it in your heart to forgive me? I'm not used to levitating dragons."

"You're forgiven, if you'll forgive me for such a stupid and dangerous plan."

There was a pause. "Yes, I forgive you of this most unfortunate transgression."

I smiled. Her proper Trottingham accent assured me that nothing was truly wrong. No concussion or anything. I snipped the rest of the string, and bandaged up her wound in silence.

"All done. You can sit up now." I said, standing up. Rarity sat up on her haunches. I offered her the canteen of water and she levitated it from my hands quietly, then drank from it greedily.

Saying nothing, I sat beside her, and tended to my own wounds, which turned out to be superficial considering how close I was to the outcrop. My scales took the brunt of the damage. We looked around at all the colorful gems scattered around the floor. They glittered in rainbowlike colors under the light of Rarity's helmet. Her wonderful smile returned and her eyes lit up. Her happiness alone made that cave trip worth it. "This is an absolutely splendid find."

"Yeah, it's too bad we destroyed most of it just getting them down off the cave ceiling."

Rarity nodded, she offered me the canteen and I accepted. "Although darling, I'm sure I could still find some purpose for them. We shall collect the largest pieces, when we've caught our breath of course. I can see it now." First Rarity tried to lift her shaky left hoof, but decided to raise her right hoof. She gestured to the air in front of her. "Rarity's summer fashion line, it'll practically explode onto the scene." The words of a true visionary.

We both broke out into laughter, and once that subsided we turned to look at each other. Rarity's eyelids were tired, her mane was unkempt and fell over her right eye, but that sincerity in her smile became my reality, like it always did.

"Thank you for tending to my wound, my dear Spikey-Wikey." She paused, then looked down at me with eyes half lidded. "My, bodyguard…" Her voice came to my ears like song.

"Awww shucks…" I blushed and giggled bashfully. A thought crept into my head at that moment, that this was one of those opportunities that I would have been remiss not to take advantage of. The words began to fall from my head and onto my tongue. "I only do all this because I lfffff…"

And just like that, a gentle hoof muffled me. It stopped the flow of words quite effectively. Then Rarity let her hoof down. It was maddening how she could just stop me with a hoof like that. But she did.

"Let us collect what gems we can and depart post haste. I should see a doctor about this wound, and I think I see an iced gem cake in your future." That same hoof that stopped my profession of love earlier, then poked me gently in the nose.

I laughed. "Okay. Let's go."

OooooooooooooooooooooooO

I looked at the plain looking gemstone in my left hand. Its glow was the same raspberry color as Twilight's magical aura. It would serve as my light source before I lit the candle. The books were very explicit:

The room shall not have anything but magical light illuminating it, from a gemstone enchanted by an Alicorn. This is to prevent disturbing the spirits. In the presence of the candle, the gems light will fade when the candle is lit, and will return when the candle extinguishes.

In my other hand, I held the fire ruby. Its brilliant crimson didn't reflect in the light of the gemstone.

Truth be told, I didn't even know if Rarity would be in there. Twilight was right, I could have been walking right into a centuries old parlor trick. Would I see any spirits? Would Rarity even visit me? Would she know to be in Canterlot at the very same time I lit the candle? I closed my eyes and put the thoughts of the mechanics of the unknown spirit world out of my mind.

I was standing in a long and very cavernous hallway towards the back of the palace and close to the mountain. This was an older section, built early in the palace's life. The room itself was unassuming but hard to get to without the help of a princess. I'm sure there was disorienting magic at play as a defense. Inconsequentially, this is not part of the palace tour.

In front of me was an old wooden door on iron hinges. It was old oak, thick and worn with time. The door handle looked like it had barely been used. What could I prove that three powerful alicorn princesses could not? The questions repeated themselves. Would I see a spirit? Would I see Rarity?

I had only one way to find out. Only one way to prove this. I had only one real chance to see her again; my beloved Rarity.

I put both gems in one hand and then reached for the door with my other. I opened it slowly, and it was immediately obvious the door hadn't been opened much. It creaked and groaned as it protested giving up the secret that lay in the room behind. I imagined that the last time the door had been open, Princess Celestia and her young excited student had peered in on a darkened room and an unlit candle as a story was told.

"Spike, wait." The timbre of Twilight's voice stopped me instantly. I turned around, expecting more objections from her, a continuation of our earlier argument. Instead, there stood my princess, eyes cast downward, as if she too were going through the same emotional turmoil inside. Longing. Mixed with fear.

She was wearing her Star Swirl costume, complete with comedically mal-fitted fake beard. I didn't even hear her approach. Those bells were constantly jingling when she walked. We had found it in her room, in a piece of luggage on her bed. Irony of ironies. It had to practically be rebuilt once a decade, from scratch. Now only the bells were original. Each Nightmare Night saw "Nightmare Moon" Luna versus Twilight "Star Swirl the Bearded" Sparkle in an epic battle between good, evil, and candy. Their mock battles were stuff of legends amongst the foals that got to see it.

I'm ashamed to admit now, that I wanted to turn around and ignore Twilight that very moment. But try as I might, she was my best and my oldest friend. Her opinions mattered to me no matter what, even when I thought she was wrong.

"Whatever I say isn't going to stop you from going in there. What you and Rarity had between each other was special. But, please understand that she's been dead for over half a century now…They've all been."

Images of Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rainbow, Starlight, and all the other friends that left us behind in death began to plague my thoughts. I couldn't hide the retort that came to my lips. "Do you think I don't know that?" It sounded sharper, more biting than I meant it to.

Twilight seemed to brush it off her back though. Her retort came as a fact like only Twilight could deliver. "No. Just please understand that the stories and legends you and I have read about that candle give a very simple caution. You may not like what you learn in there. Spirits cannot lie, they have no cause to." She said meekly, almost a whisper.

I frowned and looked at the doorway. "I know that, too."

"Then you must do this I guess. But please, be careful."

I matched the softness of her voice. "I will."

Twilight looked on as I stepped through the threshold of the door and into the darkened room. I shut the old wooden door behind me. This left only the illumination of the enchanted gem with which to see. The darkness was profound beyond the gem's light. This was so unlike the caves that Rarity and I explored in my youth. But here I was, attempting to excavate something more precious than gemstones…

Truth.

I held out the gem in front of me towards the center of the room, and the light fell on it. It was indeed the only object in there with me. It seemed lonely; a plain beeswax candle resting atop an adorned gold table. It was ancient and laden with dust. It's yellow-brown color was that of the royal bee colony as it existed hundreds of moons ago.

I noticed the coal black wick sitting at the center of its top had a gentle curl to one side as I approached. It was a taper candle, half the height that it once was. A thin tunnel of wax formed a lip that the wick had burrowed itself in. It scattered the light from the gem in an almost impossible purple and amber glow from underneath the dust. A rivulet of wax spilled from one side where it had cut through the barrier, and pooled at the base of the candle.

I could imagine Princess Celestia and Princess Luna in a room like this on the earliest days of their reign as they secretly consulted the spirits of the ancients for advice and guidance, because even timeless leaders have moments of indecision and need honest answers to show the way.

Various gemstones of various sizes, cuts, and colors laid out around the candles base. I had no doubt they were enchanted with alicorn magic, but they were not as beautiful as the heart shaped fire ruby that I had gifted to Rarity so long ago.

As I placed Rarity's ruby on the table with the others, I read another passage in my mind:

The candle, itself enchanted, will act as the light source. Its light will cast through the gems and across the floor, bathing the walls in light. Its flicker will be the breath of the dead, and their presence the shadows on the walls.

All it lacked was a flame. It needed dragon fire to complete the magic trifecta…

"Here goes…" I whispered, then inhaled. I leaned down to the small lonely candle. Channeling my dragon magic, I let fourth a small wavering green flame from within my parted lips.

It started with an ember, teased by the flame. Then a few seconds later the candle lit, the little white dot of an ember brightened and wavered into a gentle fire. Its light bathed the entire room in a greenish amber light. The light gems magic extinguished on cue like the books said it would.

I stood in the center of the room and began a silent vigil, watching the gentle burning flame for any signs of disturbance; A flick to the left or right, a thinner or girthier flame, something to tell me I wasn't alone in the room.

Fifteen more minutes saw me sitting against a corner of the room, front legs circled around hind, as I stared at the flame. The loudest noise was my own thoughts, thoughts of Rarity, and the excitement I had of seeing her again.

From somewhere outside the door, I could hear the chiming bells of a dozen or so grandpony clocks stationed throughout the palace. I counted the bell chimes to twelve. Nightmare night was over. But the night had just begun, so I stayed there. I stared into the flame until my eyes hurt.

Somewhere between midnight and when the clocks chimed one, I fell asleep.