//------------------------------// // An old issue & an old friend // Story: Is this how it ends? // by Slick Dash //------------------------------// I left the bathroom feeling more alone than I ever had before. I needed Dash! She could make it all better! I’d had enough, my friends were important to me, but seeing Dash was my prority now! After seeing what Discord had done to her I knew that if I waited too long, she’d hear the rumours of a human in town, shed brace herself and then she’d never believe me! I reached the door to the living room, the door was ajar. As I reached out to push it open wider, I heard Twilight mention my name. “I lost Tom once without a fight! I won’t lose him again without telling him!” Oh god! Why did I have to walk in on this convocation! To my joy, Spike began to reason with the unicorn. “Twilight, you know he loves Rainbow right? You can’t go trying to make him change his mind! He came all this way for HER yes he’s glad to see us, but we all know who he’s looking for.” Rarity supported him. “Yes Twilight, darling. You can tell he’s missing her terribly, all you have to do is look in his eyes and you can see.” Twilight seemed to huff into a sulk, I was surprised, she’d never acted like this in all the time I knew her! “I looked in his eyes...” She said quietly, I had to press my ear to the crack of the door to hear her. “And all I saw was my reflection, a sad, miserable pony who’d finally saw the man she loved after thinking she’d lost him forever! Why can’t I tell him how I feel?!” She pouted. Almost as though there were a psychic link between me and the dragon, he spoke the words I was thinking. “He already knows Twilight, he knows you like him. But he belongs to Dash! He gave her his heart, he can’t take it back to give to someone else.” How oddly poetic, I thought. Rarity seemed to think so, because with a small “Nawww” she leant over and pecked the dragon on the cheek. “B-but...” Twilight hesitated, jeez it hurt to hear her go through all of this because of me! “B-but, why doesn’t he feel the same way about me? I’m not...ugly am I?” OH GOD! “Darling no! Of course not!” cried Rarity. “Then, boring?” “No more than any other pony.” Reassured Spike. “Then why won’t he feel the same way for me as I do for him? I’ve liked him like this for a long time! In fact, I think I started liking him the second I began to speak with him. The way he talks, the way he moves. His complete different outlook on life is...beautiful.” Somepony please stop her, this is tearing me apart with guilt! “I know we’re friends but... what makes Rainbow so special?” The magenta pony finished miserably. She looked like she was on the verge of tears. Rarity crossed the room, and took hold of her friend. She comforted her, trying her best to keep Twilight from crying. Spike also rose up from his seat, he began to move away from the two. “I’ll be right back.” He told them, then he headed straight for the door I was hiding behind. Oh no, not good! I was eavesdropping and now I was about to get caught. I backed away from the door, looking for a place to hide but nowhere was close enough to make it in time. The dragon opened the door, passed into the hallway and closed the door behind him. He looked down at me without the slightest hint of surprise on his face. He squatted down to the ground and invited me to do the same. I had to ask him! “How did you know I was here?” He smiled and twitched his long green ears. “There are few advantages to getting older.” He smiled. As he looked at me his face began to fall into seriousness. “Look, you need to sort this all out!” He jerked a thumb to the room behind him. I gulped nervously. “H-how exactly?” I muttered. Spike sighed, and slumped to the floor properly, planting his end on the floor with a soft thump. He ran a clawed hand through the ridges on his head as he thought hard. “I have... an idea, but it’s unbelievably selfish...” The second the words left his mouth, I knew what the request would involve me doing. And I didn’t like it! “You see, I could stay here...for the night, and you could stay at the library with Twilight... Talk to her, make her understand. She’ll listen to you...” The dragon saw my crestfallen face. He looked ashamed. “You heard me in there, I know you want to see Rainbow more than anything! I couldn’t imagine having to keep away from Rarity for no reason! So trust me I understand! It’s completely selfish, and if you chose to go find her instead I’d understand. I could always give it another try when we got back home...” The dragon trailed off into an awkward silence as he stared at his feet. I NEEDED to see Dash, but I couldn’t leave my longest standing friend in a fit of misery as I left her to go find the pony I loved. All these damn choices! No matter what Discord had said, I WAS causing chaos! The more time I spent away from her, the less chance I had of Rainbow believing that I was really me! By tomorrow pretty much everypony would have noticed the car in the town centre, and everyone would have heard about Big Mac chasing a human across town. My heart sank! What if Big Mac had gone to mine and Rainbow’s house and warned her already about Discord posing as me?! If she saw me coming after that, she would take off before I even got close! Tomorrow was the anniversary of what every pony in town thought was my death. How could I even approach Rainbow, when probably everypony would be giving her their condolences and giving me an even smaller opportunity to get near her. I needed time to think of what I should do, and Twilight needed help. It seemed the circumstances where what made my decision for me. I stood back up and brushed myself down. “Let’s do it, stay here for the night and I’ll talk to Twilight.” The dragon smiled with relief and also lumbered up back onto his feet. As I passed him and headed for the doors I patted the dragon on the shoulder and whispered. “Staying at your girlfriend’s house for the night. Gee, you really are taking one for the team!” The purple reptile chuckled, and then followed me back into the living room. Here goes nothing! Me and Twilight left the boutique and headed back to the library. Twilight hadn’t seemed too worried about Spike staying at Rarity’s, by her cool exterior I could guess that this was a regular thing! The sun was slowly making its way down towards the horizon, and with the fast approaching night the wind brought with it a cold and chilling breeze. We hurried back to the warmth of the library hunching over to shield ourselves from the bitter wind. It didn’t take us long to reach the library. We rushed in and slammed the door against the growing wind, I gave a sigh of relief as the waves of warmth washed over me. Now that I wasn’t in a rush like before, I took a look around the familiar room. It looked almost identical to how it used to look, there were a few new bookcases, the occasional new table in a corner, but it was pretty much the same! Twilight smiled at me, then went to the sofa. Without the slightest bit of dignity towards her guest, she simply jumped into the air and landed roughly on the seat. She lay down and exhaled loudly. She was still the same old Twilight, but these little new things she did worried me. She’d have never done that –in what was in my perspective- a few days ago. She’d never sulked like she did at Rarity’s either, like I said, I was a little worried. “Hey!” I shouted as I headed to the small kitchen. “I’m thirsty, you want a drink?” I heard a faint, “Mmhhm” from the living room. So I began to search for something to drink. From the inside of the kitchen I couldn’t see anything going on in the rest of the building, so when a loud crash came from the living room I had no idea what was going on! I turned to run back in, but was stopped by a familiar voice from inside the next room. “WERE IS HE!?” They seemed angry, and it wasn’t hard to guess who they were looking for. “WERE IS HE TWILIGHT?! MAC HAD BEEN CHASIN’ HIM ALL ‘ROUND TOWN. THEN HE VANNISHED JUST AS HE CAME CLOSE TO YOUR LIB’RY!” I could hear Twilight stuttering and whimpering with insecurity. Hoof steps sounded out loudly as they approached the open archway into the kitchen. I just hoped that I could persuade her that it was me! The pony entered the room in a blur of orange, without pause she barrelled into me and took me to the ground. A ten gallon cowboy hat fell to the floor just beside me as we skidded to a halt on the polished wooden floor. Applejack stared at me in silence, her expression was livid. A panic stricken Twilight appeared at the door, she looked terrified. “A-Applejack I”- She began but was cut off by a curt whistle from the country pony as she flung her foreleg out for silence. Her muzzle was only inches from my nose, her breath came out of her nostrils and burnt my face with her rage. “Big Mac tried not to tell me...” She growled, “I whent and heard it from Derpy in the town cen’re. Mac lost sight of you and you vanished, well here yah are!” She didn’t blink once. “And I’m here to make the decision mah brother made for me earlier!” She grew silent for a moment. I was unsure of what to do, but I lay there looking back up at one of my dearest friends staring at me in disgust. This hurt a lot, on the inside mostly! To see Applejack look at me with such anger was one of the saddest sights I had seen in my life. The country pony spoke, “What... did Tom do when he thought Rainbow didn’t love him?” WHAT?! All this for a stupid question like that? I tried to sit up, but the pony slammed me back to the ground with her strong forehooves. “Nuh-uh! You tell me, then you get up!” I racked my brains trying to find an answer that would satisfy her. “Uhhh I ran away?” I asked uncertainly. “Everyone knows that!” her eyes flashed menacingly! “Before that! The day Soarin’ came to Ponyville, what did Tom do?” she was speaking as though I wasn’t Tom, and it hurt me deaply. Then again, at least she was giving me a chance to prove who I was, which was more than could be said for her brother! “I...” My brain began to clear the cloud of panic that fogged my memories. “I came to the farm, and I picked apples!” I said triumphantly, but the pony didn’t release me. “And then?” “You came out to talk to me about Dash.” I responded, the memories were as fresh as though they had only happened a few hours ago! “Then?” “I started to cry, so I ran to the forest!” her eyes began to burn with rage as she pushed me for the answer she obviously wanted to hear so badly! “Before you ran!” She said ‘you’ was she starting to believe me?! “an’ after I came out to talk to you. You ignored me and tried to carry on pickin’ apples, but what EXACTLY did you do next?!” An image of an apple sailing through the air flashed across my mind’s eye. It was the only thing I hadn’t mentioned, so I gave it a try. “I threw an apple across the orchard?” The rage seemed to falter for a moment, and then it re-ignited. She thrust her face closer to mine. “Why?” This was starting to scare me, “Because I was upset.” “Why?” “Because I thought Dash didn’t love me.” “WHY?!” she screamed. “BECAUSE I LOVED HER SO MUCH MY OWN STUPID MIND COULDN’T THINK STRAIGHT!” I yelled back at her! We both lay there panting, over her shoulder I saw Twilight sigh sorrowfully. Damn it! I wanted to make her happier, not more miserable! Applejack looked at me, every sign of anger and doubt had gone from her face. She simply looked at me for a moment, her lips twitched and slowly curled into a smile. “It is you!” She took her hoof off of my chest and let me sit up. As soon as I had she threw her forelegs over my shoulders and hugged me. I squeezed the orange pony tightly as the scent of apples filled my nostrils. Over her shoulder I saw Twilight turn silently and head into the living room again. Another moment of silence, and then “Is she gone?” whispered the country pony. I frowned in confusion and surprise. “Uhhh yeah...” Applejack pulled herself away from me and sat on her haunches, she spoke in a low whisper so that she wouldn’t be heard in the next room. “I’m sorry if ah hurt yah sugar cube, but Twi needed to hear that.” Wait! Had that all been an act?! What the heck was Applejack playing at? She saw my expression and continued hurriedly, “She gets like this sometimes and we can’t help it, she cares ‘bout yah, but she needs to know you don’t feel the same. This way she heard it, without you telling her. Now she can get over it without any bad feeling t’wards yah.” The plain made unbelievable sense, but... “Applejack...” I muttered, “You mean to say you... lied just now?” She looked at me and winked, “Well, I wouldn’ say lied, just actin’ is all.” I began to laugh, but brought my hand to my mouth to stop it from escaping the room. When I took it away, I had grown serious again. “How did you know it was me?” she smiled at me. She picked up her hat and brushed it off as she spoke to me. “Well, you aint the only one who can hide outside Rarity’s house and hear what’s going on inside. Mac came back and seemed down, I asked where he’d gotten to but he was a bit quieter than usual. So like I said before, I wen’ into town and overheard Derpy talkin’ bout a human being chased by my brother, and about a ‘machine’ appearing in the centre of town.” The pony punched me in the arm playfully, “I knew it wasn’ no trick of Discord’s when I saw the three of you heading for Rarity’s place, too natural to be anythin’ else but true. So I followed yah, an’ when you left only with Twi and came here instead of Dash and your place, I reckoned you were going to sort thin’s out with Twilight first. By the sounds of what was going on inside Rarity’s, she still won’t stop fawnin’ over yah.” She raised an eyebrow and smiled. “Am I a shade close to the truth there sugar cube?” I felt my face blush at her brutal honesty. She smiled, and then asked a question that made my heart skip a beat. “So what you still doin’ here, and not finding Rainbow?” She giggled at my shocked expression. “I’ll take care o’ Twilight, you need to go find her. I can tell you’re itching to go chasin’ after her. You’ll do yourself harm if you don’t go soon!” She winked yet again. We both stood, I looked down at my new shirt under the jacket. I don’t know why, maybe it was my subconscious wanting to set myself up for a terrible joke later. But when I saw Rainbow, I wanted her to see me only wearing this shirt. So I took my jacket off, folded it neatly and passed it to Applejack. She took it in her mouth and nodded silently telling me she would take care of it until I came back. I ruffled her head through the top of her hat. She gave a muffled giggle. I ran from the room and headed for the door, I was about halfway across when I had a change of heart. I couldn’t leave without it! I turned back around, and headed straight for the sofa. A few strands of purple mane hung over the arm, telling me who sat there. I took hold of the back of the sofa, leant over it. and bent down and kissed Twilight on the cheek. She looked up at me surprised. I smiled and said quickly. “Just because I’m not with you, doesn’t mean you’re not my number one girl!” To my joy, the Unicorn beamed at me. Through quickly forming happy tears, she laughed slightly. And with that I was off! Out of the window and into the cold night! I let out a yell, She may hear me she may not, but I didn’t care. “RAINBOW DAAAASSSH?!”