For many, extreme pain is the sign that tells you when to stop. It tells you when you’ve done too much and it’s time to call it quits. Thankfully, most normal ponies acknowledge it and indeed cease whatever painful activity they are doing. However, pain cannot accomplish this if the pony who is working isn’t in charge of when they may stop. Unfortunately, the pony who is making them work cannot feel their pain and keeps them going. It’s an unfair situation, really. It’s also the situation that a young, purple dragon has found himself in.
Spike the Dragon, assistant to Twilight Sparkle, hero of the Crystal Empire, and Ponyville’s second most famous reptile (everypony knows about Gummy) was in a lot of pain. Hours of carrying enormous books and sending numerous scrolls for the aforementioned unicorn had taken its toll on the small drake. Twilight had woken him up way before normal and screamed at him that it was not a time to be sleeping. Confused, Spike had questioned his lavender companion about what she meant and why she was so frustrated. In response, Twilight grabbed Spike, shook him quite violently, and simply yelled that work had to be done.
After a while, plus a breakfast that Spike was forced to skip, Twilight calmed down enough it explain the situation. Apparently, she had forgotten that an important delegate from the Crystal Empire was visiting in a few days. While an event like this would normally be somewhat simple, Twilight Sparkle had other ideas. After all, Twilight Sparkle didn’t want simple; she wanted perfection. Unfortunately for Spike, perfection meant reorganizing all of the library’s books, cleaning the entire place twice, and sending apology letters to Princess Celestia, asking her for forgiveness because Twilight had forgotten an event that was yet to happen.
Spike, who was exhausted, starving, and a tiny bit angry, nevertheless continued with his work, not wanting to disappoint his best friend. However, even he knew that he was going to reach some point where he was going to have to speak up.
“Spike, I need you to resend all of those letters you sent to the Princess. Only after you finish re-restocking the shelves of course.”
That point had been reached.
“And why, Twilight, would I do that?”
Twilight, still slightly stressed from earlier in the morning, was taken aback by her assistant’s tone.
“Well, Spike, I would like you to send those letters again because I forgot to......”
“Yep, that’s what I thought,” Spike said angrily, dropping the heavy stack of books he had been carrying. “This whole thing started with you forgetting something. Something, I might add, that hasn’t even happened yet and will happen in a few days. A few days, Twilight! There is no need for me to do all this work today! I can do some tomorrow and hey, I can even do some the next day because that’s how much time we have to do this! Oh, and ‘this’ doesn’t even have to be done. If you had read any of the letters Princess Celestia sent back, you would have noticed that we’re meeting the delegate at a restaurant, not here! And you know what else you forgot, Twilight? You forgot about me! You forgot to give me a breakfast that I cooked, forgot that I have other chores to do besides clean up your crazy, and you forgot that these books are really really heavy!”
By the time Spike had completed his speech, Twilight herself was speechless. Spike had gotten upset with her before, but this was something else entirely. Her little dragon was genuinely angry at her. Surprisingly, the more she thought about it, the more Twilight believed he had every right to be. Truth be told, it was her fault for forgetting the delegate was coming and Spike was the one being punished for her mistake. She had woken him up maybe a little too early, forced him to cook breakfast, then made him skip it in order to get to work quicker. Twilight did overwork Spike in stocking shelves, sending letters, and cleaning their home.
“Wait,” Twilight thought. “Do I do this to him everyday?”
“W...well, Spike. I...I...I, uh.”
Without warning, Twilight Sparkle collapsed to the floor and burst into tears. The unicorn completely broke down while wailing about being a horrible friend and guardian. Seeing this, Spike’s anger instantly dialed down. While he was happy Twilight had gotten the message, he hated seeing his best friend, who was basically his sister, cry. Waddling over to her, Spike took a few deep breaths to smother any of the anger that may have been left inside of him. Once he had reached her, Spike gingerly wrapped the sobbing mare in a hug and pulled her in tight.
“Twilight, I’m sorry.” he cooed. “I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that.”
“B...but, Spike,” Twilight began in between light sobs. “Y...you...you’re right though. “I wasn’t th...thinking about how you felt and...”
Twilight was shushed by Spike, who put a clawed finger to her lips and smiled. Seeing her friends’ reassuring gesture, Twilight smiled back and tightened the hug. Eventually, the two broke apart and Twilight used a hoof to wipe her face clear of any remaining tears. Looking around, the two saw that the library was already decently clean due to Spike’s hard work, but there were still a few things to be done.
“Hey, Spike?” Twilight asked.
“Ya, Twi?”
“Why don’t you go down to Sugarcube Corner and get some lunch. You deserve a break and you said you were starving.”
Spike’s stomach rumbled almost to prove the unicorn’s point. However, Spike’s face showed a completely different answer.
“But what about the library? I know I got mad about doing the work, but I’ll still do it if you want me t....”
This time, Spike was hushed by a hoof on his lips. Looking up, he could see Twilight smiling down at him. Spike simply smiled back and nodded his head in acceptance. Breaking up the tender moment, Twilight lighted up her horn, causing Spike to look away. Spike wondered what she was doing, until he saw a bag of bits levitating towards them. Twilight flew the bag in front of her and turned it upside down, pouring most of the coins into her hoof. Levitating the remaining bits away, she then handed the money to Spike who quickly tool it.
“Here you go, Spike. That should be enough to get you something really nice to eat.”
“For real, Twi? I mean, this is a lot of money. Are you sure you want me to take it all.”
“Don’t worry,” Twilight chuckled. “I don’t thing I’m going to spend it myself and besides, you deserve it.”
“Wow, thanks Twilight.” Spike said, giving her a quick hug. “I promise I’ll help out some more around here when I get back.”
“Take your time, Spike. You can come back whenever you want, just be back before dark.”
The young, purple dragon smiled once more at his unicorn friend before walking out the door and starting his journey towards Sugarcube Corner.
Spike’s “journey” did not take him too long. The walk from Golden Oaks Library to Sugarcube Corner was a five minute walk for most ponies. Spike, being noticeably shorter than ponies and having way stumpier legs, usually took around seven minutes to finish the walk. However, this time Spike was taking his time, wanting to enjoy the feeling of not working himself to death. After around ten minutes, Spike had arrived at his destination.
“Not a moment too soon,” Spike thought to himself, as his stomach gave off another giant rumble. “I seriously need to get something to eat.”
Walking in the front door, Spike was instantly met by the amazing smell of homemade baked goods. Sugarcube Corner had developed a pretty consistent reputation for having the best pastries fresh out of the oven. Having been here countless times before, Spike knew this was true and seeing all of the cakes and brownies on display made his mouth water just a tiny bit. Spike, unable to wait any longer, quickly started a mad dash to the counter, but was stopped soon enough by a fast moving oink blur. When the blur came to a stop in front of him, Spike saw it was none other than Pinkie Pie, which wasn’t surprising considering she worked there.
“Well, hey there, Spike!” Pinkie greeted while quickly wrapping Spike in a hug. “I haven’t seen you in like, forever!”
“Hey, Pinkie.” Spike responded. “Well, then I guess forever means yesterday when you came by the library to get Twilight for a picnic.”
“Oh my goodness, that’s a good one, Spike! Forever meaning yesterday, ha!”
Spike, who was previously cheered up by Pinkie’s demeanor, was now slightly confused by her antics. The dragon, thinking he was possibly getting lightheaded from the tight hug and didn’t heard Pinkie Pie correctly, pulled away from the pink mare.
“Wait, are you serious? Because, I’m being serious. You actually did come to the library yesterday and we did see each other.”
“Oh, Spike, stop it. You can’t pull a fast one on Aunty Pinkie. You know that. I think I would have remembered seeing such a good friend.”
Again, Spike did not know what to think. On one hand, Pinkie had just called him a good friend, which made him pretty happy. On the other, she really didn’t remember what had happened yesterday. Remembering himself that he had come here for a reason, Spike decided to drop the whole thing.
“Haha, ya, Pinkie. You caught me. I was just trying to uh, pull a fast one.”
“Wow, seriously Spike? I was just kidding around. I knew I saw you yesterday. We had that conversation about scales, remember? You said your scales were itchy yesterday and I said that sometimes Gummy’s scales were itchy so I used a toothbrush to scratch him and then you said...”
At this point Spike simply stopped listening to his hyperactive, pink friend. After all, Spike was still concentrating on fighting major starvation while also trying to comprehend the fact that Pinkie did remember seeing him yesterday, but was trying to get him to admit that she had not. After a while, Spike turned his focus back onto Pinkie Pie, who was still rambling on.
“...and then they said that the bank couldn’t be broken into and then I said that I didn’t think so and then they said that they...”
“Uh, Pinkie?” Spike asked, interrupting.
“Oh, yes, Spike?”
Not having to say anything, Spike once again let his stomach do the talking. It gave off one final, massive rumble, loud enough to cause a few ponies to stare at the duo. Getting the hint, Pinkie Pie smiled at the ponies who had turned their heads before turning her own back to Spike.
“Well why didn’t you just say so, Spike? You’re in Sugarcube Corner after all.”
Just then, Pinkie ducked down and seemingly disappeared from view. Spike was in complete awe before seeing Pinkie reappearing again behind the counter. Acting like nothing amazing had just happened, Pinkie smiled at Spike and beckoned him forward. Driven by hunger, Spike eagerly got his legs moving.
“So what can I get ya, Spike?” Pinkie said when he had reached the counter.
“Hmm, I guess I’ll have the.....”
Just then, Spike was interrupted and he and Pinkie were nearly deafened by a scream coming from outside the bakery.