The first day of summer. The sun stood high in the sky, but it was a couple of degrees off from where it should have been an hour before noon. Some speculated that the princess might have had a few too many drinks and had a massive hangover that morning, but the gossip quickly quieted down when somepony pointed out that the princess retired to her chambers a good time before many others.

Still, it was funny to think of the sun princess as not being a morning pony.

Spike walked leisurely down the street, taking time to enjoy the day and the summer activities of the townsfolk. While at first many ponies were intimidated either because of his species or his nobility, Ponyville had all but accepted him now, with many of the ponies native to town waving or saying hi to him as he walked past.

Last night was a barrage of emotions and tragedy. One of the guards that had tried to stop Nightmare Moon before was apparently in a coma, and it seemed that nothing short of magic might wake him up. Using magic on a pony in a coma was risky, and usually the hospital had to ask officials in Canterlot to try and use magic to bring the victim back.

However, technically, Twilight Sparkle was a Canterlot official.

Spotting the tree house in the distance, Spike hurried his walk. Coming close to tragedy himself when his own sister risked her life to stop Nightmare Moon, Spike was on a mission to make sure everypony got their happy ending, including the family of the poor guard in the hospital. Right now, he only needed to tell Twilight to head to the hospital to help out. He wasn’t going to exactly tell her what was wrong with him.

Both he and the nurses agreed that she might be a stickler for the rules and deny she was a “Canterlot official”. Might as well push her into the situation so she can be won over by the nurses with the stallion in sight. A bit devious, but if the stallion wakes and his family becomes happy again, then no harm no foul, right?

When he got to the treehouse, Spike was greeted with the odd sight of a bunch of mover carts he hadn’t spotted from afar, with Moody and Braken shelving various boxes onto the carts.

“Hey!” he yelled, getting their attention. “Is Twilight already leaving? I thought she was going to stay a while.”

“Hello, Sir Spike! Actually, Twilight is our supervisor from Canterlot’s School of Scholars. You know, the reason why we came here to Ponyville?”

Spike stared at the two scientists. It felt like a whole half year ago when he last spoke to the two, even though it was only a few weeks ago he had to talk to Moody Eye about some flat rocks he had found somewhere.

Turns out there was a deer in the area. One who ate some bad grass.

“Uh, remind me again?” Spike asked, scratching the back of his neck and smiling awkwardly.

Moody sighed. “Like I said, we were in Ponyville to study the local flora and fauna, before our supervisor, Twilight, would come and take over the operation herself. Plans went quicker than expected when Celestia asked her to oversee the Summer Sun Celebration, although you know how that went.”

Images of being blasted across Town Hall’s main room by a breezie flashed through Spike’s mind.

“Now, Twilight will be staying indefinitely to study “friendship”, according to Celestia. Honestly sounds more ridiculous than somepony of Twilight’s position to do, but it’s an order from the top, so we cannot complain. Me and Bracken are heading back to Canterlot, so we’ll soon be out of your hair, er, spines soon enough,” Moody explained, correcting himself when he noticed the green spines protruding from Spike’s head.

Admittedly, Spike grew self-conscious at the mention of his spines, and he tried to flatten them as per a habit he made back in high school.

“Uh, well, if you go back inside, can you ask Twilight to come to the hospital?”

“What for?” a voice asked behind Spike. He turned around to see Twilight Sparkle walking back from grocery shopping, her saddle bags overflowing with various fruits and vegetables.

“Oh, so, the nurses need you at the hospital for something. Probably just want an opinion on medicine or whatever,” Spike said, trying to play the ‘indifferent’ card to not let her get suspicious.

“Ooo, professional opinions! I love giving those!” Twilight giggled, hopping in place for a few moments before she reacted to a carrot almost falling out of her bags. “I’ll, uh… Just tell them I’ll be there soon!”

“No problem. Also, glad you’re staying around. It’s… kinda cool that you’re the Princess’s personal assistant,” Spike complemented, again scratching his neck and smiling.

“I’m her personal student, but thank you! One of these days, I’d really like to get to know you more, Spike. There’s so many questions I have to ask about dragons!” Twilight replied.

“Ah, I’m no one interesting. I just work as an assistant to Rarity’s shop. My sister is the one who you want to talk to more, she’s the Wonderbolt. Or at least, she’s trying to be one.”

“Rainbow Dash? Um, no offense, but I think I’ll pass on that. She’s a bit too full of herself, even if she’s a friend.”

Spike raised a brow. “A Canterlot type calling another pony ‘full of themselves’?”

“You know what I mean! And not all Canterlot ponies are snobs!” Twilight defended herself, blushing at the jab to her home.

“Relax, I’m just joking! But really, give her a chance. I heard that she gave up the opportunity to be a ‘shadowbolt’ or whatever. Trust me when I say it’s not the first time she gave up an opportunity so she could stay with ponies. She’ll be there for you whenever you need it.”

“Yeah, well,” Twilight absent-mindedly kicked the ground as she looked away from Spike, “It was ‘awesome’ of her to stay loyal. Guess that’s why she’s the element of Loyalty, huh?”

“I can’t think of any pony better than her, to be honest,” Spike agreed. “Well, I gotta go. It’s my day off, but I want to see Rarity about something.”

“What’s going on?” Twilight pried.

“Oh, just, some personal stuff between us, nothing concerning. Get to the hospital as quick as you can, once you’re done with whatever you’re doing.”

“No problem. See you soon!” Twilight waved as she walked towards the treehouse, catching a falling box from Moody’s cart and glaring at him. Spike turned around, lightly chuckling, and walked towards Carousel Boutique.

When he arrived at the boutique, he noticed a couple of carts and some random ponies standing in front. Scrunching his brow in confusion, he went up to one of the ponies to ask what they were doing.

“Waiting around for the clients to come out. Said they were meeting their daughter for a brief visit before heading to Baltimare to board an all summer long cruise.”

“Daughter? What do you mean dau–”

“ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?!” A loud and very angry voice screamed from within the boutique.

“…Was that Rarity?” Spike spoke out loud. He walked up close to a window near the door, and looked in.

Two ponies he hadn’t seen before were glaring at Rarity, whose hair was frazzled like he had never seen before. The only part of her that didn’t seem to be reacting to what was happening was her tail, where he was pretty sure she put in a tail extension to cover up the fact she had cut her tail last night.

“Rarity! We’ve taught you better than for you to use such crass language! You’re not in Fillydelphia anymore,” the mare of the two ponies spoke up. She looked like a mare who was trying to use makeup and clothes to cover up her age, which was certainly much older than Rarity.

“Yes, I’m not. And neither is Sweetie Belle, these days…” Rarity seethed. Spike had never seen her this angry before, even when he had made big mistakes in sewing during his first few days on the job.

It was oddly attractive.

“Now now, you said before you would love Sweetie Belle to be with you here in Ponyville. Where’s the bright young mare we remember - the one that had many dreams and is finally achieving a big one of them?” the stallion asked. Like the mother, he too was older than Rarity, and clearly trying to grow a mustache to assert his masculinity, although to Spike the facial hair looked more hilarious than macho.

Months of working with Rarity had clued Spike in on some of her tics, along with an uncanny ability to read her lips. In the room, Rarity lowered her posture and relaxed her body, leaning away to avoid eye contact with the two ponies. He knew this wasn’t her relaxing, but her accepting the situation despite her complaints, as he’s seen her do with pushy clients. Tilting her head away, he read the lips of what Rarity said under her breath.

“She grew up and realized who was holding her back.”

“I… I will take care of Sweetie Belle while you two are off on this blasted, AHEM, lovely cruise that will last the whole summer,” Rarity spoke out loud, turning back to the ponies.

“Wonderful!” the mare replied. “We’ll send you postcards whenever we can! Let’s go, dear,” she said, gesturing to the stallion to move out the front door. Spike heard shuffling behind him and saw that the cart ponies also tried to eavesdrop like him. With no cart to hide quickly, and sticking out like a sore thumb since he was a dragon, Spike dove into the bushes near the door, and waited.

Luckily, the two ponies hadn’t seen him dive in, or even saw how deformed the bushes were. They exited the boutique, barked a few orders to the cart ponies, and left. Releasing a breath he didn’t know he was holding, Spike leaned out and peeked through the open front door and into the boutique.

Shaking off a few leaves and branches and walking in, he witnessed Rarity, a kind and generous soul that would never try to hurt a fly, on the verge of a breakdown, glaring harshly at the door her parents walked away from. She didn’t even recognize Spike in her glare until he was almost right up to her, where she only glanced up at his face and back down to the door.

“I’ll… I’ll take care of Sweetie Belle. Better than they ever took care of me…” Eyes clenched shut and teeth gritted, she choked back the tears threatening to run down her muzzle from her eyes. She breathed in short bursts, trying to establish control of her emotions as Spike had seen her do many times with Sweetie Belle, whenever the little sister made a mistake.

It wasn’t until Spike gently hugged her that the dams flew open, and even then it was quiet sobs and wretched shaking, much unlike her other sob-fests where she would cry loudly with a bowl of ice cream after a bad review from a client. Spike held her close to his chest as he idly scratched her back, a little move that helped wonders to calm her down when she was particularly stressed.

A few minutes passed by, and Spike noticed that she was breathing somewhat normally again. “Hey, let’s get you upstairs to the bathroom, clean your face before we go and get Sweetie Belle from her early dismissal at the last day of school. We’ll go get some lunch, my treat. I’ll get you your favorite mint chocolate surprise from Sugarcube Corner. What do you say?”

Rarity nodded her head up and down Spike’s chest, a small smile peering out before returning to a neutral expression. “Just… just stay here a little bit more. Please…” she silently pleaded, her voice wracked by a sore throat from the crying.

“Sure thing. Take as long as you need,” Spike replied. He lowered his head and closed his eyes, gently rocking back and forth.

Anything to help Rarity.

Author's Notes:

I have an idea of how to develop Rarity's character more, but it's going to take a little experimentation. If successful, it will be a more fulfilling role about following your dreams despite the sacrifices. That's if it's successful...

Also, I need to write a Rainbow chapter one of these days...