A Sympathetic Gemstone

Spike nervously stood in front of the door to Sweet Apple Acres's farmhouse. He couldn't figure out why exactly his claws were ice cold, or why his heart seemed to be trying to escape his chest. A million times over he and Twilight visited the farm, so why now would he be jumpy? Maybe it had something to do with the reason for his visit. Usually he came to see Applejack, as she was the main pony Twilight ever came to see when taking a trip to the orchard. Today he was alone, and visiting Applebloom, who was closer to his age, and had no more than thirty minutes ago asked him to attend a slumber party. That last thought brought his worry to a different place.

What if Applejack answers? he thought frantically. His warming blood ran cold in the afternoon sun when he thought about who else lived there. Or worse, Big Macintosh! What if they think it's a date or something!

Spike might have been a dragon, but at that moment he remembered that he would be lucky if his largest spine would reach the bottom of Applebloom's much bigger brother's chin. He swallowed the growing lump in his throat, only to have it shoot right back up his esophagus. The thoughts of leaving and catching Applebloom someplace farther from her protective siblings began to sound better and better with each sliver of paranoid scenario he managed to come up with. He nearly managed to steps away from the door when it opened.

"Howdy Spike!" Applejack greeted happily.

Fear seized the dragon's body. "H-hey, Applejack", he barely squeaked.

"Whatcha doin' here, par'dner? Ya look like ya seen a ghost! Everythin' alright?"

He forced his head to rock in a nod. "I just came to tell Applebloom…that I can stay this weekend for the slumber party."

"Well, she ain't here right now, but Ah'll let her know", said the orange Earth Pony.

She began to close the door, and Spike was almost home free, that was until his mouth got the better of his head. "It's not a date!" he yelled before bolting as fast as he could away from the house.

Applejack watched him take out. "That dragon's actin' weirder than a frog with no ribbit…Why would Ah think it was a date?"

Spike's feet did their duty until he was completely sure that he was well out of sight of the Element of Honesty. Slowly, he came to a slow walk. He gasped heavily to regain the oxygen he lost during his sprint back into the center of Ponyville. Along with his galloping heart, Spike's head spun with the rush of adrenaline that still blended his thoughts into one of the finest mental soups he had ever felt. There was so much going on he could barely handle it! If only he had known that he was merely stressed out by one, single thing he probably would be able to think straight.

The dragon took a couple of deep breaths and eventually got his lungs to listen to him. When his vitals were back to as normal as an embarrassed dragon's could be, he took a look at where his frantic running brought him. He plummeted straight into the depths of depression when he saw the Carousel Boutique towering before him. The anger from the day before returned, and he could feel his face begin to burn with the memories of his vain attempt to charm the unicorn who called the fashion shop home.

He clenched his fists to in a physical effort to force the tears away. To quell his anger, Spike turned away from the building, and was unfortunate to find that his ears did the work his eyes couldn't: hear what was going on inside. He tried to block it out, yet he desired to know what was happening. There seemed to be a small conversation going on between her and what was probably a client. That's what he thought, anyway, until Rarity's voice got excited.

"Oh, Linen!" giggled Rarity, "Of course I'll go to the Ballroom Blitz with you!"

Spike couldn't hear what the stallion said after, for his world was crashing down around him too loudly. That was it. Now all possibilities of ever capturing Rarity's heart shattered into broken dreams. The sadness crept into his stomach, adding nausea to his heartbreak. His gaze dropped to the dirt path now that he no longer had a reason to keep it up. He dragged himself away from the vicinity, unable to hold his tears back. One or two ponies called out to him for conversation, but were unable to grab the dysphoric dragon's attention.

It was lucky none of his closer friends saw him. The last thing he wanted to do was half to be faced with a happy pony in his time of sadness. He was still at the point of disbelief, and a comforting smile in his face would only get in his way of trying to make sense of what just happened. The contradicting glorious day slowly passed by Spike. Everypony else enjoyed themselves all around him, laughing and playing, hanging out with friends, or just walking in the warming sunlight. The day was so bright and nice that not one pony noticed Twilight Sparkle's depressed assistant brooding among them.

Spike's feet eventually became weary as he walked through town. Coincidentally enough he came upon a bench not much farther after he emotionally limped past Vinyl Scratch's music store. There he sat to study the ground. The clock tower's bells from the tinkering shop across town rang with the passing hour. He counted the chimes to three and wondered exactly where the time of the day went. False relief warmed his cold heart up somewhat. He leaned back against the bench, and felt the ruby he stashed under his scales press against him. Having nothing else to do and knowing that he could at least try to eat away his sorrow, he brought it out into the light. It looked much brighter in the sun's rays, making it look much more delectable. He licked his lips and moved it to his mouth. That's when he noticed something odd about it.

A small flame flickered underneath its transparent exterior. Upon closer inspection, he saw it divide and grow until a blaze was raging inside of it. Sheer amazement was the only thing that kept him from dropping the stone immediately. As time passed, the fire shaped itself into a pony-like figure. It looked at him intently. If he didn't know any better, Spike would have thought that it was looking directly into his soul.

Suddenly, in a blinding yellow flash, he was sucked into the gem. He screamed as he fell through the white nothingness inside of the ruby. He fell for what felt like forever until he was suspended in midair. He stopped shouting in protest when the pony he saw in the gem approach him. She was completely white now, not the flaming spirit he saw earlier. She was light itself, radiating with warmness. None of her features could be made out. Only her eyes were distinguished against her white body. At that moment he knew she was the pony from his dream.

"Who are you?!" he shouted, "Where am I? Why did you bring me here?"

The pony sat and watched him. "It is not I who has brought you here", she said, her mouth never moving. Her soft, yet powerful voice echoed around them from an unknown source.

"What?" Spike asked in disbelief, "If you didn't, who did?"

"When you looked inside of my gem, you sought to use it to extinguish the hurt that has been afflicted upon your heart", she explained, "When our eyes met as you inspected my Sympathy Gem, I saw the hurt within you. You wanted so badly to do away with it your soul acted on its own, and plunged into my sanctuary."

Spike's head was swimming with thoughts and questions as he tried to process it all. "W-who are you?"

"I am one of the twelve surviving Gem Sprites. My name is Selphia, and I am the guardian of the Sympathy Gem. I know who you are, Spike, and I know why you are hurt." She stood up and circled him, inspecting him.

"Whoever said my name was Spike and whoever said I was hurt?" He crossed his arms.

"Your soul has told me, Spike. While you may not be obliged to share your feelings, your soul has a very loose tongue. It has explained everything to me. It is desperate for help." She stopped in front of him and approached him close. Her golden eyes stared directly into his.

"Why am I here then? Why can't I go back?" Spike tried to struggle from his midair suspension, but he only remained as weightless as he had been since he stopped falling.

"You are here because you no longer want to feel the disappointment of failure. You want to find love as many of your friends have. You have a nice, strong, and peaceful soul, and I want to help." Her glowing white form faded and she changed her form a second time so that she was now a regular earth pony. Her coat was ghostly white, and her mane and tail matched. Her eyes were as red as the gem around them. On her flanks was a Cutie Mark that resembled a ruby surrounded by flames.

"I offer my help to you. Do you accept?" Now that they were normal, her eyes seemed more piercing than before.

"You can get Rarity to like me?" Spike asked giddily.

"I will help you find love." Her statement was simple and to anypony else it may have seemed vague, but it was good enough for the dragon.

"I accept then!"

In a second flash of light, Spike was again in Ponyville, still holding the ruby. Selphia was no longer inside it. From the looks of it, he had been asleep for about an hour, as the sun was setting.

He looked at the gem again. "I knew it was too good to be true", he sighed. He dozed off and had been given a false hope.

"Spike", echoed Selphia's strained voice in his head.

He looked around. "Selphia? Where are you?"

"I am still inside the Sympathy Gem. It takes much of my power to speak through telepathy, but I must to instruct you on how to release me. We must hurry, my strength is steadily fading!" Her voice was becoming more stressed.

"How?" He asked the ruby.

"You must kiss my gem. It will provide me with a way to escape. Now hurry, if I lose any more power, I may not succeed in leaving!" Her voice was fading as she lost strength.

Spike hesitated; he had to kiss the gem? It was weird, but it sounded like Selphia was suffering. He quickly gave the stone a small peck. It started to glow orange, and then started to grow brighter and brighter. When it was hard to look at, the orb of light left it and floated outward, materializing into the Sprite known as Selphia.

She sighed. "It has been a few centuries since I have stepped hoof outside my gem." She looked at him. "Is something wrong?"

Spike was staring at her in awe. Outside the gem, she still radiated light, even though she was now in her mortal form. "You're glowing!"

"Thank you for the compliment." She giggled, and called back the light. It crept back inside her. "Better?"

"Yeah. It would be kind of weird to walk around looking like a candle", Spike teased.

"You tease me, but that trick always receives a compliment!" She pointed to the library. "Shall we set off, then?"

"Oh, right, I forgot all about that." Spike started to walk, but Selphia lowered her head and flipped Spike onto her back.

"Before we arrive, I must tell you my mortal name. You must refer to me from now until I say as Star Dancer."

Spike thought the request was a bit strange, but nodded regardless. "Oh, uh, okay."

The door to the library creaked open, whining in protest. Spike had been meaning to fix that for a while now, but he would always remember at a time he didn't have oil.

"Twilight, I'm home!" He called, hopping off Star Dancer as she closed the door behind them.

"Shhh!" Came the hushed reply. Spike looked to where Twilight's shush had come from. He saw her resting on her favorite reading couch with a book open in front of her. A gray-blue Pegasus snuggled up to her in his sleep. To somepony who didn't have a taste in things like that would have thought the scene was a bit nauseating—Rainbow Dash especially—but Star Dancer almost broke her posture and let out an "awww". After being shut away for a few centuries, a scene like that made her inner filly nearly present herself.

"Who's your friend?" Twilight asked, gently hopping off the couch so as not to disturb the sleeping Pegasus.

"This is Star Dancer, she's a-", Spike started.

"Traveler. I was walking through town looking for a place to rest my hooves. I found Spike and we were hoping I could stay for a night or two", she interrupted before he spilled the beans. She gave Spike a glance that told him she would handle it.

Twilight didn't hesitate. "I don't mind. After all, any friend of Spike is a friend of mine." Twilight smiled. She never once turned down a tired pony.

Selphia was about to give her thanks, but the sound of hoofsteps caused her to pause. Twilight looked back over her shoulder to see the now awake Pegasus.

"Twilight, I think that's a good idea", he yawned, rubbing his eyes. "I can take the couch for the next few nights to free up the spare bed. After all, I know what it's like to be in her position."

"If space is a problem, then I will not trouble you for a place to sleep", Star argued. "I can find someplace else to rest. It will not be a problem."

"Nonsense. You can have the spare bed. I'm sure Dream Runner wouldn't mind if he slept in my bed for one or two nights." Twilight flashed Dream a smile.

Scratching his head, Dream asked, "But Twilight, where are you going to sleep?"

"In my bed of course", she giggled.

Dream started to shake as he tried to process it. Soon, he fell over, eyes wide with shock and face as red as can be, making him look somewhat violet.

"Is he…?"

"Yep. He'll think it all out momentarily." Twilight pointed to the staircase. "My bedroom is right up there. Feel free to sleep whenever you see fit."

"Thank you, Twilight Sparkle. I think I will do just that." The Earth Pony left the room for the upstairs.

"I'm pretty tired. Guess I'll get some sleep too." Spike said.

"Since when do you turn in at six?" Twilight asked suspiciously.

"Uh, Rarity needed me to do something that really made me tired. Besides, I am a baby dragon after all." Spike nervously replied.

Twilight eyed him suspiciously, but dismissed it. "Okay, I guess Dream and I can clean up. It's not too messy."

"For once." The two looked at Dream. He was standing up again, still blushing. He was smiling at Twilight teasingly.

"Oh, hush, you know you read just as much as I do." Twilight pointed to the very big stack of books that were all about dreams next to the farthest reading couch.

"I know", Dream replied. "But my messes are neater."

Spike left the two playfully arguing about their messes and started upstairs. The scene was starting to remind him of all of his failures. Upon making the last step, he saw Star Dancer stretching and yawning.

"Um, Star Dancer?"

"Yes, Spike?" She yawned.

"When can we start trying to help me—?"

"Dawn, I promise." She climbed into bed. "My power has been drained. I must rest. A full night's sleep will get my energy back."

"Oh, okay, good night then."

"Spike…"

He climbed into his basket. "Yeah?"

The Gem Sprite didn't feel comfortable about what she was about to say, but she had to. He was giving up his hopes. "Spike I…When I told you that I would help you find love that is what I meant. I did not mean Rarity specifically…"

The only reply she got in return was the gentle sound of Spike snoring. He didn't hear her.

All well, it may be best for him to find out himself. For now…I must do some dream searching.

And we finally have the beginning of a new adventure! I wonder exactly what's going to happen to Twilight's number one assistant…

Finals are finally upon me. Hence the delay. You'll probably notice a difference in the style of the content of this chapter. That's because the majority was used in the first draft, and I brought it back as it was still needed in the plot. There will likely be more mistakes after the point where Spike takes out his gem too, and I apologize for being unable to revise them.

Trivia:

Selphia comes from my old phase of wanting to model all of my characters after some kind of element or emotion. She's probably the last to come out of that phase, and I'm not certain whether we'll see the others.