Chapter 6: The Truth Comes Out

Pitch darkness was all that filled her vision. There wasn't a single speck of light to show where she was. Somewhere in the distance she could hear a distinct beeping sound, but where exactly it was coming from she knew not, for it seemed to be echoing all around. Other than that, the strange, black void in which she seemed to have ended up was silent and still, and there wasn't even so much as a scent to tell her whether it contained anything or anypony other than herself.

“Rarity...”

A faint voice echoed through the void, causing her to stir slightly.

“Rarity...”

There it was again. It sounded so familiar too.

“Rarity...”

Rarity cautiously, ever so slightly opened her eyes. She could just make out a purple blur hovering above her, and as her vision cleared, the blur gradually shifted until it had reformed into a certain lavender alicorn wearing a golden tiara. She tried to sit upright, but her strength was so low that she couldn't even lift a hoof. The best she could do was to slowly turn her head towards the direction of the beeping noise, which she had finally realised was coming from her right; there she noticed a heart monitor measuring her pulse, along with a bag containing some form of medicine that had been hooked to her front right-hand leg through an IV tube. The air smelt so sterile and odourless, and the walls were almost pure-white, so she clearly wasn't in her own room at the Carousel Boutique.

“Where am I?” she asked groggily.

“Take it easy, Rarity,” soothed Twilight. “You're still not in very good shape right now.”

Now that she was more awake, Rarity realised that she was in one of the wards at the hospital. “What happened? Why am I in a hospital bed?”

“You passed out from exhaustion shortly after you came in with Spike,” explained Twilight gently. “The doctors later discovered that your dive into that river had left you with a pretty bad case of hypothermia too; that and the hard sprint had nearly killed you, and it was lucky that you actually made it to hospital before it did. As it is, you were out cold for around four days.”

At the mention of Spike, Rarity almost fainted from shock as she began to worry about him again. “What about Spike?” she asked anxiously. “Is he alright?”

Twilight pointed to the next bed along from Rarity. There lay the unconscious form of Spike, his eyes closed and his entire body motionless, with an oxygen mask over his mouth and a life-support machine standing next to his bed. His face was soft and peaceful, and his breathing was shallow; it was as if he was hanging onto life by a thread far more frail than any that she had ever used on her dresses and other clothes. Just looking at him brought tears to Rarity's eyes, causing her vision to blur once again.

“He was nearly dead by the time you arrived,” Twilight clarified. “It took a while to get his heart going again once he was in the recovery unit, but they only just managed to save him. He's in a pretty deep coma at the moment, but he'll soon recover.”

Rarity felt deeply ashamed of herself. Not only had she nearly broken Spike's heart as well as her own, but he had put his life on the line because of it. “I'm so sorry, Twilight,” she faltered. “Spike had nearly killed himself, and it's all my fault. I shouldn't have been such a coward over my feelings.”

The lavender alicorn looked confused. “I don't follow, Rarity. What feelings?”

“I suppose I'd better start from the beginning; ever since you first came here, I could see a firm friend in both of you, but had taken a particular interest in Spike. The whole reason I never told you about it was that I only thought it as being a mere whim at first, him being such a cute little darling and all; but as time went on, I began to grow so fond of him that the very thought of him brought a smile to my face somehow,” Rarity explained, raising a hoof to her chest as she poured her heart out. “When you and the others told me about what happened when you tried to save me from the Diamond Dogs, I was grateful to all of you, but once again it was Spike who stuck in my mind after that. He was the one who led the rescue, and was even brave enough to part with the gem I gave him as a reward for helping me. And then there was the day after the Gala...”

“I remember that,” interrupted Twilight with a faint smile. “I had given him the day off then, so he went out for a walk; but when he returned, he was telling me how upset you were about Prince Blueblood. I still can't understand that pony,” she added. “Back when I was young, he was so genial and friendly, and yet he has to be all high-and-mighty?”

Rarity nodded weakly. “That royal pain in the neck had broken my heart quite badly, and I had a difficult time trying to hide the pain,” she went on. “But I managed it nonetheless, and when Spike came in and saw me crying, he didn't make too much of a fuss over me. He just hugged me tight and told me to let it out. After that, I began to wonder if I actually wanted to hook up with a stallion for life – certainly not with another mare though. I couldn't understand why, but there it is.

“But the thing that really convinced me was what happened around the time of Spike's birthday, when he gave me that Fire Ruby he intended to save for his dinner – and later still when I managed to bring him back to his natural state after his greed caused him to grow out of control and turn the whole of Ponyville upside-down. As we fell, he began to tell me of his crush on me; but I was so deeply touched by his words that I had to stop him before he finished.” Rarity smiled warmly at the fond memory. “I didn't actually realise that I felt the same way, however, until I rediscovered the necklace I had made to go with it, and that's why I was probably acting so erratically back then.”

Twilight blinked in amazement, almost as if, for the first time since her brother Shining Armour had married Princess Cadance, she was unable to comprehend the meaning of the word “love”. A long pause followed, with Twilight carefully processing what had just been said while Rarity was left wondering what she was thinking.

At last, the lavender alicorn broke the silence first. “Wow, Rarity, I never expected you actually felt that way about Spike,” she remarked. “I always thought it was just a one-sided crush, and that he'd soon find that he'd probably be better off with finding someone closer to his age.”

“That's what he seemed to have been thinking while I was away, according to Sweetie-Belle. She told me that he thought I didn't want to be with him, and had been trying to date the Cutie Mark Crusaders one by one after I had left; but I think that might have what drove him to the point of suicide, because she had been saying that Scootaloo had proverbially tossed him aside like a ruined ball-gown,” confessed Rarity, starting to shed tears again.

Twilight rested a comforting hoof on Rarity's shoulder. “Calm down, Rarity, it wasn't your fault,” she told her softly. “From the way you were behaving last week, and what you told me today, you were clearly struggling to come to terms with your own feelings.”

Rarity turned her head away, avoiding eye contact. “I know, but I still feel so responsible for what happened,” she lamented. “I should have told him how I felt the moment I realised my feelings for him, and to Tartarus with anypony who disapproves.”

“It's not too late for you to tell him, though,” observed Twilight. “As soon as he wakes up – and he will wake up soon enough, the doctors are sure of that – you'll be able to come clean to him about how you feel. But it has to be done, or else it'll come back to haunt you for the rest of your life.”

Rarity nodded bravely. “Of course you're right, Twilight,” she conceded. “When Spike comes round, I'll definitely tell him this time. It was unfair of me to leave him in the dark for so long, and the sooner he knows the truth, the better.”

“Good girl, Rarity,” encouraged Twilight. But just then, another thought popped into her head; “Actually, if you're planning on revealing your feelings to Spike, it's only fair that I let you in on a little secret he had been keeping.”

“What's that?” asked Rarity

Twilight checked to make sure Spike wasn't secretly listening in on them. “It's about the Fire Ruby,” she replied in a low whisper, having satisfied herself that Spike was still unconscious. “He hadn't actually been saving it for his birthday dinner as he said he was; he had wanted to show how much he loved and cared for you, and had decided that since you loved gems, that was how he should go about it. But he didn't just stop at finding a twenty-four carat Fire Ruby; if it was for you, then it had to be carefully cut into a more regular shape, and so he decided on making it into the shape of something he had wanted to give you for a long, long time – his heart.”

Rarity was so touched by this revelation that her own heart skipped a beat. Despite all her ignorance, Spike truly did love her. For the umpteenth time that day, tears glistened in her eyes, but this time not out of guilt or sorrow, rather out of joy and affection. “Oh, Twilight,” she wept, “I never realised that he was so fond of me. Of all the kindest things anyone could possibly have done for me at any point in time, that was the kindest possible thing. I really don't deserve someone so chivalrous and thoughtful as him.”

“Well I think you do, Rarity,” smiled Twilight kindly. “You rest yourself now; I'll see you tomorrow with the girls.”

“Okay, Twilight,” replied Rarity, and watched as the young alicorn left the room before drifting off to sleep.


***********************


A whole week went by, and still Spike hadn't woken up. Even after she had fully recovered, Rarity refused to leave his side, and kept a close eye on him day and night to make sure he was alright. She only left periodically to use the little fillies' room or to get something to eat or drink, but otherwise she was sat next to him round the clock, waiting hopefully for him to open his eyes again.

The pure-white mare sat almost alone in the ward, tearfully watching over Spike again. The hospital staff had deemed him stable enough to take him off the life-support machine three days ago, but he still lay unconscious on his hospital bed with IV tubes hooked up to him. Rarity hung her head in her depression, wondering if maybe her little dragon would never wake up ever again...

Suddenly, her ears pricked up to the sound of groaning. She looked up at Spike, hoping she wasn't hearing things – sure enough, his breathing was picking up, and he was gently stirring. His eyelids flickered, and he slowly turned his head towards her; it seemed like a struggle for him, but at last he was looking directly into her eyes. He lay still for a while, letting his own eyes adjust to the light.

“Hullo, Rarity,” he murmured in an almost slurred voice.

The sudden wave of euphoria Rarity felt was so strong that she found it hard to suppress the urge to fling her arms around Spike and hold him for as long as she could manage. “Oh, Spike,” she wept, “thank Celestia you're alright. I was so terrified for you.”

Despite his groggy state, Spike's face somehow managed to take on a rather disheartened expression. “But why?” he asked weakly. “I thought you didn't want to see me again.”

“Oh no, Spike, far from it,” replied Rarity softly. She climbed onto the bed and lay next to Spike, resting a hoof on his hand. “I know I may have seemed a little ignorant of your feelings on occasion, but it's never your fault. Dressmaking can be very stressful sometimes, and that gets me worked up about the pettiest things.” She closed her eyes, unable to make eye contact with the little dragon; “In fact that was why I was acting so strangely two or three weeks ago.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I had worked myself to the bone with my newest fashion line, and had gotten into such a horrible dilemma over my feelings for a certain other creature after I noticed a certain jewel,” explained Rarity. “That was putting me under so much stress that I had lost a lot of sleep – but then Fancypants told me the most insightful story about himself and Fleur de Lis, and that was when I realised that all my worries about how my reputation would suffer if I allowed myself to come to terms with these feelings weren't worth worrying about.”

Spike blinked. “I still don't understand, Rarity,” he objected. “What 'certain creature' are you referring to?”

“The one lying right next to me at this very moment,” answered Rarity simply. “It took an awfully long time to realise that I'd fallen for you, Spike, but that Fire Ruby you gave to me was what helped me see the light. I'm only sorry I hadn't realised it sooner.”

“So...you mean......”

“Yes, Spike,” affirmed Rarity. “I love you, and always had done ever since the day before your birthday. When I saw you go over that cliff and into the river, it felt like my world was falling apart, and after I noticed you fighting for life when I'd got you out and rushed you to hospital, I......it just broke my heart.” She wrapped her arms around Spike and hugged him tight. “But I'm so glad you survived; I don't know how I would have carried on if you were no longer in my life.”

The little dragon started to shed a few tears in his happiness. Out of all the ponies that could have come to his rescue when he had tried to take his own life, Rarity had been the one pony who cared for him enough to get him to the hospital in time to bring him back from the brink of eternal oblivion even though his salvation was almost beyond hope, and not merely out of fear for his safety either. No, she had done so out of love – love that he had been craving for ever since he had first come to Ponyville all those years ago.

“Oh, Rarity,” he murmured affectionately, returning the embrace. “Thank you so much for saving my life. I'm really, really sorry about what happened earlier.”

“That's okay, Spikey-Wikey,” replied Rarity, planting a small kiss on his forehead. “Just promise me you'll never do that to yourself ever again.”

“Don't worry, Rarity,” soothed Spike. “I love you too, and I'm never leaving you again – Pinkie Promise.”

Rarity's eyes twinkled as she smiled fondly upon her new love, happier than she had been for weeks. With one foreleg still wrapped around Spike, she slowly leaned in towards him, puckering up her lips. Spike didn't need to ask what she was about to do; he wrapped his little arms round Rarity as best as he could, and the gap between both dragon and unicorn slowly closed along with their eyes until finally their lips met for the very first time.