//------------------------------// // Powder Dasher // Story: Friendship is Equal to or Greater than Magic // by Fanon Canon //------------------------------// Spike kept up a decent pace, milling about the streets of Canterlot with no particular idea of where he wanted to go, only with the single goal of the palace in mind. Trying to balance that objective in mind as well as try and engage ponies in conversation was proving to be quite a challenge for the little dragon indeed. And when Spike grew stressed at a large amount of work, he grew hungry in his stomach. A rather bad reaction that certainly didn't help his situation at all, for it was hard to maintain conversations on a restless stomach, and after all he had been through the day before, he was growing worried that he might succumb to greed and abandon all thought and start regressing into his old dragon ways. A frightening prospect he shuddered to think of. So Spike decided he needed a break from all the thinking, and usually when he wasn't thinking he was either sleeping, eating, drinking or talking. Well talking was becoming just as common as breathing as of late, so it looked like what he needed right now was another pony to talk to, but as he found out, it was quite easy to bump into somepony when he was thinking to himself. Quite the conundrum, but he might as well engage this oddly repetitive behaviour, so the little dragon stood on the spot and thought a good thought. And sure enough... A flash of random, yet predicted events brought him back to it. Not too far to his right, a certain Pegasus had crashed into the ground, causing quite the commotion amongst the crowd of ponies. Getting over it himself, Spike had time to get a good look at the new conversation prospector, and was pleasantly surprised when he recognised the hapless Pegasus. Rainbow Dash lay disorientated in the middle of the ground, her wings bent foppishly from their little stunt, and her multicoloured mane a mess. Spike briefly thought of how odd it was that this was how she had met him before, but considered himself a lucky dragon that he found himself another familiar face in this unfamiliar town. "Hiya Dash." He said cheerily. "Doing what you do best again." "Spike, fancy running into you here." The Pegasus was quick to get over her daze once she found a friendly face. Spike could make out something strange in her voice, more so then all the strangeness he had been witness to over the past day. She sounded quite worn out, something to expect from a crash like that, but some kind of feeling between surprise, distress and embarrassment. Taking on a much more curious tone, he further pressed her. "What exactly have you been up to?" He asked with concern. "Oh Spike, it's been a nightmare." Rainbow Dash replied with alarm. "I've been flying all night." "All night?!" Spike exclaimed in shock. It was like Rainbow Dash to spend a great deal in the air, but not at the cost of sleep, something she was known to preform equally. For some reason, Spike couldn't help but feel partially responsible for her to be so reckless, recalling his earlier interactions with her and the Wonderbolts. "Why would you do something like that?" He asked with much more notable concern. "I haven't got a clue." Rainbow replied worriedly. "I remember feeling angry for some reason, but no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to find it to enjoy flying anymore." Now Spike was starting to feel remorse for some strange reason. Even if the odds were very unlikely, he couldn't help but feel that he definitely had some burden here. Something about their little talk the previous day must have really stuck with her. "Does it have anything to do with those Wonderbolts?" He asked. Rainbow Dash turned her head away from the little dragon, like she was unsure of how to respond. But eventually she found her voice. "Yeah I think so." She began. "But now that I think about it, there's something about something Twilight did yesterday that turns me the wrong way." "Oh, that would be the spell." Spike replied. "Spell?" Rainbow Dash replied cluelessly. "Yes the spell." Spike did his best to explain. "Don't you remember that big discussion we had yesterday." "Big discussion?" The Pegasus replied, still I'm confusion. Wow, now Rainbow Dash was known for being quite absent mind but this was... well actually it was pretty much how Rainbow Dash usually was, but still. "You know." Spike did his best to explain. "We talked a lot about how everyponys not feeling like themselves." "And I'm not feeling like myself." Rainbow Dash recited back as if hearing it all for the first time. "And then when we were done." Spike continued. "You just zoomed off to go do, I don't know, work." "Yes I did." Rainbow followed him, before a sudden wave of thought swept over her. "Oh no! I gotta go work." And like a mare possessed she spread her wings, stood upright and took to the skies in a flash, zooming off high above the streets before she shot straight through a cloud and was gone. Shame, he was just getting started. As Spike stood there and came to grips with Rainbow Dash's sudden departure, it suddenly struck him that since arriving in Canterlot, he had just spoken with two mares that he already knew. A pretty simplistic thing since he had already reflected on it, but now he got the very strange impression that Canterlot seemed awfully smaller then it looked, like a sudden fear of running out of ponies to talk to. But that was just nitpicking the whole thing. There were plenty of ponies around him, each a prospering conversation for him to get really dug in. But even glad he strolled about the place, he couldn't help but think it rude of him to just engage total strangers in discussion. So what he going to do? Just wander about until somepony interrupted him. Who would it be this time that he didn't know: Pinkie Pie, Scootaloo, Time Turner, Big Macintosh? How about Octavia.