Okay, NOW it's the finale. I promise I really mean it this time. This is the last chapter.
SEE PREVIOUS CHAPTERS FOR DISCLAIMERS
To those who disagree with the adding of a climactic fight scene with self-sacrificing stuff to a shipping fic, know this: I wracked my brain, and I honest-to-God COULD NOT COME UP WITH ANY OTHER WAY TO SET UP THE SPIKE/RARITY RECONCILIATION. I TRIED AND I FAILED, AND THUS HAD TO FALL BACK ON THE "SEMI-DARK EPIC BATTLE" OPTION. If you think you could come up with something better, by all means go ahead and write your own "Spike & Rarity have a nasty fight and later have a heartwarming reconciliation" fic.
-CHAPTER START-
A few days later
At first, there was blackness and silence. But after a few seconds, sound began to be picked up by her ears – a rhythmic beeping to her left. Touch came next, the feel of soft cotton beneath and atop her, and what could only be a pillow under her head with her mane loosely splayed out on it underneath her head, along with a warm weight further down. Slowly, she managed to open her eyes. Thankfully, the lights in whatever room she was in were off, so she didn't get that type of shock to her system. She managed to move her head to the left and right, identifying her surroundings as a hospital room. She felt something stir down near her hips, and saw Sweetie Belle lying curled up next to her. It was then that she remembered everything that had transpired, her breath catching in her throat.
"I'm… alive…?" she whispered out.
Sweetie Belle's ears twitched at this, and slowly she woke up and raised her head, eyes half-open. As the filly made eye contact and registered what she was seeing, her eyes shot open and she let out a shuddering gasp.
"S-Sis…" she choked out.
Before Rarity could say anything else, the little girl lunged forward, trapping her in a tight hug, burying her face in the young-adult mare's chest, and starting to cry. Slowly, she managed to get her forelimbs to come up and hold the girl. They stayed like that for a little while, before a middle-aged unicorn mare with pink fur and two-toned purple mane & tail barged in the room, having heard her youngest daughter crying and assumed the worst. Her fears were dashed upon seeing that her eldest was awake.
"Rarity!" she cried, running forward and embracing both of the girls. "Oh, thank Celestia! I thought I lost you!"
"How am I… still alive?" Rarity asked, her voice weak.
"Twilight Sparkle teleported in when you let out that huge pulse of magic," her mother explained, "and the others weren't far behind. Spike explained what happened. Honey, you burned out pretty much all of your life energy; you were dying. But your friends saved you thanks to Twilight casting an emergency spell that let her and the others each transfer some of their own life-force energy into you. It kept you alive long enough to get you to the emergency room, where all the doctors could really do was set you up and hope you had been given enough life-force to trigger your own to regenerate naturally. Everyone's been worried sick about you, dear. We had to actually cast sleep spells to get most of them to sleep at night, they've been so worried."
"How long have I been out?"
"Three days, dear. The doctors were saying that if you hadn't woken up by the end of today, chances were you never would. I almost lost you."
"I'm sorry for… worrying you all…"
"It's okay, honey. It's okay. …You're a hero, you know. Not just for saving Spike and his little girlfriend. Those demons were going to hit the town. That many of them… it would've been a slaughter. Twilight says that even she wouldn't have been able to take them out without demolishing the town in the process; her element affinity is fire, which… isn't exactly good for avoiding collateral damage. It's probably gonna be a while before Flutter Field is all fixed up, though."
"Sorry about that, mother. I'm assuming most of the damage is from my Desert Tsunami spell?"
"Twilight said she's never seen an Earth-based spell with such power."
"You're…" Sweetie Belle sniffled. "You're not gonna do that to yourself ever again, are you?"
"Unless someone I care about somehow gets themselves into a similar situation where I am their only hope for survival, no" Rarity replied. "Though maybe I should train to increase my non-life-energy reserves, just in case."
It was at this point that the sound of thundering hoof-falls could be heard outside, approaching the door. It opened, and Sweetie Belle and Rarity's mother both broke their hug just in time for Fluttershy to dive in and latch onto Rarity with all her might. Several others quickly filed in; Twilight, Applejack, Dash, and Pinkie quickly made it into a group hug, holding onto their revived friend for dear life.
"AJ!" Rarity squeaked out, forelimbs flailing. "Squeezing chest! Can't… breathe!"
"Oop! Sorry" Applejack sheepishly backed off a bit, adjusting her hold.
"What the hell did you think you were doing?-!" Dash said, the tears in her eyes and tone of her voice foiling her attempt to sound angry. "Why didn't you get one of us to help first?-!"
"There wasn't any time" Rarity replied. "If I hadn't acted right then & there, Spike and Silver Spoon would've been killed. And… after all I've done to him, I couldn't let that happen. I had to make amends… to protect him at any cost."
"You coulda sent up a signal flare spell or somethin'!" Dash said.
"Ease up, Rainbow" Applejack said. "Twi went over what happened, an' she says we wouldn't have noticed. Heck, even with all the landscape-shapin' spells she was slingin' about, we didn't notice anything until she let out that last pulse."
"I still can't quite believe how much has happened in the past week or so" Pinkie said, her mane & tail slowly, gradually poofing up as the worried sadness dwindled away. "Everything has happened so fast. The arguments, the misconceptions, the guilt breakdowns, the reconciliations, Spike & Silvie getting together, little Diamond Discording herself out of guilt and sadness…"
"Wait, what?" Rarity said at the last one.
"Don't worry, Silver Spoon brought her back" Sweetie Belle said.
"Yeah, and now I have to add another factor to my next multi-celebration party" Pinkie continued. "I gotta figure out how to add Rarity's recovery and saving the town to Diamond & Silvie's reconciliation, Spike & Silvie getting together, and Spike letting go of his misplaced anger at Rarity. Oh, and Mr. Cake's birthday is in a week, so I have to plan for that one, too. I guess that one can be separate, though."
"Is... Are Spike and Silver Spoon okay?" Rarity asked.
As if on cue, five sets of footsteps came racing in.
"Rarity!" the aforementioned two cried out in unison, practically leaping into the room. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and the reformed Diamond Tiara walked in behind them. The group hug broke apart, letting Rarity see them unobstructed. The lead two promptly latched onto Rarity with their own hugs (Rarity wondered why Silver Spoon was hugging her, but then realized that saving the girl's life and that of her beloved probably had a hoof in that). She hugged them back, and after nearly a minute they broke apart.
"I'm sorry" Spike croaked out. "I never wanted any of this to happen. If… If we'd never had stupid fight…"
"…Then you wouldn't have met and gotten together with Silver Spoon," Rarity replied, "and I'd still be unaware of the awful things I'd done. It was painful for both of us, but it was also necessary, I believe."
"I still wish you didn't have to almost die for this to happen" Spike mumbled. Silver Spoon hugged him.
"I had no other option, I'm afraid" Rarity said.
"Twilight explained that to us already" Silver replied. "That doesn't make it any less hard to swallow."
"I know. And I'm sorry for putting you both through all this."
"So what happens now?" Diamond Tiara asked. "From what I've heard, the situation between you three is really complicated right now."
"One step at a time, kid" Rainbow Dash replied. "They got plenty of time to work things out."
"For now, let's let Rarity get her strength back" Twilight said. "She should be back in top form within about two weeks if she's recovered to this point already."
Rarity was about to say something, when she caught Fluttershy staring. She quirked an eyebrow at the yellow pegasus.
"Oh! I'm sorry. Um… It's just… You look nice with your mane down, Rarity."
Rarity blushed a little when Twilight, AJ, and Spike nodded in agreement.
"Well…" she said. "I guess I could try not putting it in curls once in a while…"
-SCENE BREAK-
Two days later
Twilight sat on a cushion in her library, having one last look at the multi-author Report she was about to have sent to Celestia.
"Dear Princess Celestia,
The past week has been beyond eventful. Many important lessons have been learned by several individuals. Thus, this larger-than-normal report will have input from those many who have something to say.
Sp: I've learned, first off, that you shouldn't assume that someone's deliberately trying to hurt you if their actions can be better explained by accident, ignorance, or otherwise just not fully knowing what they're doing or saying. It can be hard to tell what others are feeling, and thus it can be easy to accidentally hurt someone else's feelings without meaning to or even knowing you did it. If you're unsure, it can be a good idea to give that other someone the benefit of the doubt. I've also learned that love can be both more fragile than glass, and more durable than treated steel. One slip-up can result in heartbreak, while at the same time the connections of love can be unbreakable. I also learned that love can come from unexpected places, but I'll leave that to my girlfriend.
DT: I've learned that if you retreat into yourself in response to pain or loneliness, you can lose sight of who you once were, and if you're not careful you can become a monster. Never allow yourself to lose sight of whatever light and hope and kindness is still in your heart, because if after that you lose your darkness and anger, there's nothing left inside your heart at all. I've also learned that, contrary to what I came to believe of myself, nopony is beyond redemption or saving. My own anger at the world made me into a monster, and it cost me my only friend. But now that part of me is gone, our friendship is mended and stronger than ever, I have new friends, and they're all helping me become a better pony than I was before. And for that I couldn't be more thankful.
SS: I've learned that love can come from the most unexpected places. You never know who you'll bump into one day. Love doesn't care about age, gender, or species. If two individuals mesh together just right, they can form a bond that not even the end of the Universe can sever. …I've also learned that it's important to forgive. Sometimes, someone can lose sight of themselves and cross lines that really shouldn't be crossed, but it's important to know that not everyone who does this is truly beyond hope. Sometimes, when someone wrongs you, it can be in everyone's best interest to forgive them, especially if they're having trouble forgiving themselves.
GT: I've learned… well, to be truthful, I've already known that it's important not to be too hard on yourself. Sometimes we make mistakes, and say or do things we shouldn't, and we regret it dearly. But it's important not to attack yourself too much over it. Never consider yourself beyond hope of redemption. If you give in, if you consider yourself beyond saving, guilt can completely and utterly destroy you. Nopony is all black or all white inside; everyone has their own shades of gray, their own flaws. Don't assume that if you're not pure you are wholly dirty. If you've wronged someone, don't despair and assume that things can never be right between you. Talk to them, explain yourself, make amends, ask for forgiveness… and don't forget to forgive yourself as well. …Also, if you are badly hurt emotionally by something, don't respond by completely shutting your heart away to avoid more pain; if you do that, you miss out on the chance to experience the good things in life.
Rt: I have learned that one must be very careful to not let the selfish desires of one's subconscious gain control of one's conscious actions. I have also learned that it is frighteningly easy to hurt someone's feelings without meaning to or even being aware of having done so. But when that happens, one must still do whatever is necessary to apologize, make amends, and set things right. But be careful not to go too far; if your actions to make amends to whomever you have hurt result in too great a cost to yourself, you may cause that other individual more pain as their worry for you and guilt over your suffering for their sake eat at them.
TS: As you can see, a great many of your subjects have learned a great deal. I hope you approve of the lessons we have all learned. Yours truly,
Your Faithful Student's Assistant, Spike
Your Humbled Subject, Diamond Tiara
Your Humble Subject, Silver Spoon
Your Once-and-Still Servant and Friend, Golden Tiara
Your Penitent and Loyal Bearer of Generosity, Rarity Belle
Your Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle"
With a puff of enchanted green flame from Spike, the message was on its way.
-STORY END-
And that's a wrap! Cut, print! Good job, everypony!