Chapter 4

The barrating that Spike received from Rarity was pretty disheartening, after everything that he'd done to make sure that she was safe, and as he stood there, head heavy upon his shoulders and eyes cast to the ground, he felt an overwhelming amount of regret. He knew that he'd jumped to conclusions about Unholy Gem, and in his rashness, he'd upset Rarity.

The two unicorns were now sitting on a lavish couch while the young dragon shuffled his feet together and tried to not shrink in on himself. Rarity, as gorgeous as ever in his eyes, was still fanning herself as the three of them attempted to recover from the incident he'd caused, her stern eyes only shedding the smallest shred of sympathy once he'd explained his fears and worries as an excuse for his actions.

Unholy Gem was startling understanding to Spike, and had, much to his surprise, even offered to vouch for him to Rarity. The action, though appreciated, had done little to sway the mare's opinion, though.

"He still shouldn't have come here! I have not been in any danger since I got here, despite being so close to the Everfree, and neither of us asked for him to be here." Rarity grumbled to Unholy Gem once her heart had stopped trying to burst from her chest. "The only thing of note was me being pounced upon by a few articles of clothing, nothing more, and that hardly warrants anypony's special attention. It was a minor mishap."

"But his heart was in the right place, that counts for something, right?" Spike was still trying to get used to his rival being on his side, even though the stallion had no reason to do so.

Rarity huffed in indignation, crossing her forehooves and looking at the floor, pointedly away from the two others. "Maybe, but we were here to discuss business and the trade, and I would have much preferred to go through today without any distractions, so that I could see just what kinds of. . . potential you have. I am a master, and I was hoping to see just how well you hold up, is all. Spike, darling, you needn't worry about me. I can handle myself, and I don't want you to need to worry over any mishaps, least of which is my safety while I'm with Sir Gem here. Do you understand where I'm coming from, dear?"

"I guess." Spike mumbled. He looked up to her after a second, seeing the sharpness in her expression had faded away, leaving only a minor look of concern and the much more painful to see expression of disappointment.

"Good, because I think there needs to be a lesson about trust for you to learn: I may be a lady, but I am far from a helpless damsel in need of saving. And it certainly doesn't help that you broke Sir Gem's door, an inconvenience born of a misguided desire to help me. You still need to find some way of making it up to him." the mare looked over to the mentioned stallion, who now wore a thoughtful expression as he tapped a hoof to his chin. "Perhaps we could think of some way that this could all be turned around, maybe we should see my little Spikey-wikey out and then we could brainstorm some ideas?"

"Actually, that won't be necessary." Unholy Gem waved a dismissive hoof, his eyes lighting up as an idea seemed to spark up. "Spike, I fully understand why you'd want to ensure Miss Rarity's safety, something that I equally find important. However, she did raise the fair point that you've intruded upon our. . . examinations, as well as the damage you've done to my own property. I wouldn't mind just letting you head out, and maybe there's a chance that it could work, but I'd also like to be able to discuss a potential partnership with Miss Rarity in peace. I think the best solution to this little problem could be this: I've got a cellar-dontaskmewhyitsthereitjustis-and I can just have you down there for the day, or two. However long Miss Rarity and I need to have our discussion. I can promise that you won't be hurt, and then we won't have to deal with anymore interruptions. What do you say, Rarity?"

"Well. . . a cellar doesn't sound too bad. And I would love to be able to have a proper talk with you about the potential I've already seen. . ." Rarity seemed to think about it for a few more seconds before she smiled and nodded to Unholy Gem. "As long and you can promise that Spike won't be hurt, I don't see any issue with you taking a minor precaution so we can talk"

"But, Rarity. . . I don't think that I should be locked up, what if something happens? I won't be there to help you." Spike tried to protest, before Rarity held her hoof up to shoot down any arguments.

"As long as Sir Gem here promises that you aren't hurt, then I'm fine with it, because I am fully confident that nothing is going to happen. You've been snooping around long enough to know that this absolutely lovely manor is more than sufficient to protect us. I'll be fine, and if we can know for sure that you aren't going to bust down any more doors, then I'm okay with any decision Sir Gem proposes."

"Any decision I propose, eh?" Spike didn't like the devious smirk that the stallion flashed to Rarity, but he knew he had no ground to try to argue with the two unicorns anymore. He was an intruder, and he had been the one to cause a ruckus, so he sighed in defeat and let the two lead him out of the room they were in and down a second hallway. One discrete door later, and he found himself barred in a rather spacious basement. It even had vents that let him peer up into the manor proper. He grumbled to himself about the whole situation while he jogged around the cellar, trying to get himself familiar with his new surroundings.

As he walked around, he could hear the two unicorns above him, discussing various aspects of the clothing industry, with Rarity taking a very active role in the conversations. The two ponies would spend some time in one place, before moving to another, all at the insistence of Unholy Gem, and Spike found it increasingly difficult to keep track of them. As expansive as the labyrinth of halls and tunnels that made up the cellar were, they didn't seem to cover every area of the manor above.

Spike found the fact a little frustrating, as he was doing his best to keep up with the two ponies. Rarity may have been confident that nothing would happen, and even though his worries about the stallion had faded, they were still worryingly close to the Everfree. He couldn't help but still feel nervous for the mare.

Time seemed to go both dizzyingly fast, and achingly slow as he darted around the cellar to keep track of the unicorns, but after some amount of time, their conversation had shifted from fashion to their personal lives. Spike did what he could to listen, only getting to hear from Rarity things that he'd already picked up over the years, yet, before he could get to hear more of the story of Unholy Gem, the ponies had walked into a room that the cellar couldn't follow through, leaving Spike standing against a wall, at a loss as to what he should do now. He tapped a foot on the ground, trying to think of something that he could do.

Trying to escape was an option, and one that he found appealing, but if Rarity had discovered that he'd done so, she would've been angry at him. Or worse; disappointed. He shuddered to think of hurting her in such a way again, the one time was enough, so he figured he had better stay put and at least try to wait this out

"Maybe this cellar has some things to do while I wait." he mused to himself as he began to genuinely explore the space around him. He tried to find anything of interest in the damp, cold, gray cellar, but was only met with the same stones from the floors as the ones on the walls. At first, he didn't mind the boring scenery, but as time dragged on and on, he started to find it grating. He was bored out of his mind, and having nothing around him was making his eyes itch with anticipation. He couldn't remember being this bored before, there was always something to read at the library, something to do at the castle.

Here, there was nothing but space to walk around.

Spike wasn't sure how long he'd been down here, at some point he'd sat down against a wall and must have dozed off, given how dark the cellar seemed. The lights bleeding through the vents took on a warmer, more candle-like glow, as if the lights inside the manor had been switched on while he was out. He sat there for a few more moments, wondering if it was even worth his time exploring, given just how little light he had down here, but eventually figured that he could at least sit next to the door he came through. If the two ponies upstairs wanted to get his attention when they finally let him loose, it made sense to wait there for them.

He considered himself lucky to be a dragon, staying down in the dark cellar; the fire within him kept him warm even when he could see his breath in the meager light filtering down. It let him comfortably nap where ponies would have been cold.

There was a loud shriek from somewhere in the manor, and it startled Spike from his sleep. He jumped to his feet and rushed to the nearest vent, ears perked up to listen for whatever the noise was. After a minute of silence, he started to think that he'd just imagined it, and that his boredom was finally starting to mess with his sleep schedule, until a door loudly swung open from upstairs, and he finally heard the sweet sound of Rarity's excited voice.

"Well, if this is really going to happen, then I simply must begin work right now!" she exclaimed, and even from his perch in the cellar, Spike could tell that she was on the edge of hyperventilating. "This is really big news, and I mean really big news! How am I supposed to get any rest like this?! Ooh, I just have so many ideas coming up, it's like a dream come true! I have to-"

"Rarity, please. Calm down, breath. There you go. Look, we'll get some work done tomorrow, when the sun's up and we've had enough time to think about everything that needs to get done. For now, why don't you just come back to bed? There's another surprise waiting for you in there, and I just know you're going to want to try it out." Unholy Gem's voice sounded. . . playful? Spike couldn't be sure where that particular tone came from, it was one he'd only heard Night Light use on Twilight Velvet when they thought they were alone at night. He had no idea just what it meant, though.

Before he even had a chance to get to where they were to ask Rarity just what was going on, she had voiced her eager agreement to the stallion's suggestion, and the two had vanished. Spike growled in renewed frustration, his unhappiness at being left in the literal and metaphorical dark starting to overpower his restraint.

He was planning on trying to get some sleep, and he was now fully expecting an explanation from Rarity when he got up. His grumbles would not go unnoticed, he hoped, and he stomped his way back to the door so he could try to get some sleep, though with all the excitement Rarity had, his mind was working overtime to try to figure out what had gotten her to act so foalish. He couldn't remember the last time she acted like such a school-filly. Whatever it was, he needed answers. Unfortunately for him, he needed those answers so bad that he just knew that he was going to struggle to get any form of sleep, not for a long time at least.

Spike really hated it when he was right, and that night had been one of the longest ones he thought he might have ever had. He couldn't go back to sleep with the anxiety that came from just not knowing what was going on, though it certainly didn't help that he was trying to sleep on a hard stone floor.

When the hoof-steps above him became apparent, he ran over to the vent closest to them and called out. His stomach was protesting, sure, but he needed answers more than he needed food, and he waited for whichever pony was there to answer him.

"Spike? Oh, dear Celestia, you're still down there?" Rarity's voice still sounded as excited as before, but there was a tinge of stress in her voice, one Spike knew came from when she was spending too much time working on one project or another. "Well, I wish I could say that you're more than free to come out, I'm afraid that things are just moving along way too fast for that right now. Ooh, how about I go fetch Unholy Gem real fast and we can break the news together? I promise, I'll be right back!"

"Rarity, wait! I-" before he could get anything else out, her rapid hoof-steps told him that she was gone, and now he'd have to wait even longer until he could get any answers. He tapped a foot impatiently, something he felt himself doing way more than he usually did, and he felt his temper slipping as he waited. Thankfully, Rarity didn't keep him waiting too long before she returned. "Rarity! What's going on?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry darling, truly; I am. Things are just moving so fast, but they're almost like a dream coming true!" he could practically hear the happy grin on her face as it sounded like she was trotting in place. He breathed a sigh of relief that whatever happened wasn't anything too bad, though it didn't really sound bad from last night, or whenever it was that it happened. "Oh, it was such a surprise! Truthfully, had it been anypony else, I don't think it would have happened at all, certainly not on such short notice, but Sir Gem and I just have this. . . connection, you know? It's like we were meant to be, that fate had lined up to let us meet! We got talking about this interesting technique he uses when fashioning organic materials, and the rather interesting stitching methods his family seems to have perfected, and then I got a hooves-on approach to learning it, and then our hooves touched and it felt like time froze as we gazed into each others' eyes, and then he looked away with this super cute blush-"

She took such a large breath that Spike found himself surprised that she hadn't passed out, but the mare wasted no time in diving right back into her explanation. "-and I don't really remember what happened next, but we were sitting at this desk, and he had flipped out this picture album that had sooo many cute pictures of when he was a colt with his family, and we were talking about our upbringings and it was like that spark lit up when you finally meet that one special somepony that's truly special! Later that night, we were talking about how wonderful it was that we had met each other, and then the unthinkable happened, and he used his magic to make this absolutely gorgeous ring for me! Just like that! He proposed right then and there, and who was I to say no to such an amazing stallion?! So, we had to really think on our hooves there for a little bit, but I was totally ready to start making the perfect wedding dress right there, and that we could have started getting everything ready to be married as soon as possible.

"But he reminded me that we're going to need some time to get everything ready, and that waiting through the night would mean we could get some bit of sleep-though we didn't do all that much sleeping." her happy giggles were met on deaf ears as Spike stared lifelessly at the grate. "I'm going to get started on designing the most beautiful, most perfect wedding dress that anypony's ever seen. Oh! Right, I guess you can't really see me, but Unholy Gem had a couple of errands he had to run, so he's left me in charge of everything over here while he's out, and that's why he isn't here. Silly me, forgetting to tell you that. I'm off to grab something to eat while I brainstorm some ideas, this has to be perfect, and I'm not going to stop until it is!"

"You're getting married?" Spike whispered in disbelief, his eyes shrunk to pinpricks and his entire body feeling frozen in shock. Rarity couldn't hear him, her own head soaring above Cloud Nine as she hummed blissfully to herself as she left him. She was getting married, and he was stuck locked away in the cellar of the stranger that was taking his mare away from him. He was powerless to stop them, though he doubted that anything he could say to Rarity would have even reached her.

What could he say to her though? She was getting married to a pony that she seemed to be significantly interested in, and even though he had showered her in attention for years, she'd never even shown the slightest bit of genuine interest in him. What could he do to stop this. He felt a chill run down his spine. Should he stop this? Rarity seemed to be really happy, happier than she'd been whenever she was pursuing romantic relationships with any of the other stallions she'd met. He cared for her, dearly, so should he really try to prevent her from being happy?

He sat down on the ground, his head a battlefield the likes of which Equestria could never dream of, and his heart the site of a war to put even that to shame.

Time was an abstract illusion, something that not even the sun rising and setting could fully explain, something that was only used in societies who needed an excuse to move ponies around. When somepony is shut away from that society, time loses all meaning, and if there is nothing trying to preserve it, then that pony can freely become the silent mountain, an obelisk of stillness, and a bastion of the unaffected. Spike was such a pony, well a dragon really, but he was the one now experiencing the loss of time's meaning, the disillusionment of the meaning of reality, and the process of conscious thought.

At some point, somepony had placed some food at his side, and at another point, he'd eaten it. Rarity was getting married, and he still had no idea how to process it; his world was crumbling because he wasn't the object of her affections, no matter how hard he tried. Somepony had come into her life, and in no time at all became her world. He was robbed.

He didn't know what day it was, what week it was, or even what year it was anymore, all he knew was that if he continued to sit there and do nothing, he'd lose everything. He stirred, rising from the miserably pile he's spent far too long in, and decided that inaction was going to get him nowhere, no worse than nowhere, if he wanted anything to save him, he knew he was going to have to act himself. There was no waiting for his friends to come to his aid this time: what could they even do to help here?

He jumped up to the door, but it was locked behind him, forcing out of him a growl of frustration, then he tried the vents, but they were both made of some kind of hardened material he couldn't pull apart, as well as being simply too small for him to fit through even if he did break them open.

Left with no other options, he ran through the corridors around him, searching for any sort of secondary entrance or exit, somewhere that he could slip out of. As he darted to and fro, he quickly learned that many of the paths simply circled back on themselves, that was, until he finally caught a break, and there was a poorly lit tunnel that seemed to shoot off into the distance. It was the first option he had, and so he dove down into the darkness, eagerly sprinting for as far as he could, which very quickly morphed into a slow jog as the tunnel continued to stretch on and on. Wherever he was going, it was clear that it led very far from Unholy Gem's manor, though he had long since lost sense of direction. For all he knew, he was running deep underneath the Everfree.

The thought left him with a shiver, but he knew that he had to push onward, for Rarity.

After an eternity of running, he finally came across a break from the seamless tunnel, and found himself in a room lit by some strange green crystal. He peered around the room, finding two more tunnels that split in opposite directions. Not wanting to waste any more time, he chose the right-most tunnel and charged down it, hoping that this wasn't some sort of trick. He'd come too far for this to have been some kind of ploy to keep him from protecting Rarity from something he knew she would come to regret, to keep him from her.

After running down yet another seemingly endless expanse of tunnels, he finally made his way to what looked like yet another cellar. He had no clue where he was, or what he had to expect, so he slowed to a walk and quietly approached the room, his heart pounding in his chest and thumping in his ears. Even with these distractions, he kept his attention focused on anything that could be hiding in the darkened room.

At least it was brighter than the tunnels he'd emerged from. . .

This cellar looked even less used than the previous one, complete with cobwebs and an unhealthy coating of dust on the floor. Nopony had been using this place in quite some time. As he crept around the cellar, he did his best to listen for anything, but the room was eerily quiet, and he didn't know whether or not he liked that or not. At least he wasn't dealing with any resistance. . . yet.

Once he found a door, he carefully opened it, but fully threw himself through it and into whatever was on the other side, his relief at finally being out of that forsaken tunnel system outweighing his caution. Once he'd caught his breath, he finally took the time to look around him, if only to know that he'd actually emerged from the tunnels below.

Indeed, he had freed himself, and it even appeared that he'd broken out of Unholy Gem's manor entirely, seeing as the spacious hallway he found himself in now was lined with loads of Wonderbolt paraphernalia. He blinked a few times, then rose to his feet, glancing around and seeing posters, pictures, a banner across the railing of a second story, and more than one signed picture of Rainbow Dash.

"Huh." he wasn't too sure what to make of whatever he was seeing, and opted to just roll with it, his attention needed more to get himself back to Rarity than freak out over this odd building.

As he roamed the various rooms, in an effort to find some exit, he came across one thing that truly blew his mind wide open: Rainbow Dash herself. Now, Spike knew very well that his prismatic friend's house was both a cloud, and very much not anywhere near the Everfree. Dash had told him herself that she hated the uncontrolled weather patterns that came out of that place.

So it really surprised him to see her standing in the middle of what appeared to be a lounge, mug of cider in one hoof, and three pearly white wedding gowns displayed before her. The only thing that managed to match his surprise at seeing her here in this particular scenario was her own surprise when she turned around and saw him there, in this particular scenario.

"Um, hey, Dash." he waved at her, finding most of his other abilities completely gone.