Saudade
There was a lot he could see through the window. It hadn’t always been that way, but it had of late. There had been smudges he’d put there himself. They were the things that kept him from truly seeing: his own opinion and his own misconceptions.
But even in the beginning, there had been much that he saw all too clearly. He saw the way the ponies walked, with existent but diminished purpose. Day by day, they worked to earn a living in a world that didn’t seem to remember joy as well as it had, as if it had amnesia.
The once perfect Equestrian society had become something far less. Spike could remember all of this though it was a century ago, back when he was still a child. One day, they all disappeared, the patrons of the sun, the moon and the stars. There were no longer any alicorns in Equestria.
A provisional government was set up, and those leaders soon took control of all. The economy was expanded, and suddenly concepts which had never been conceived became commonplace. Investing, corerations, and credit became a way of life. For a time, life seemed better than it had ever been. But as the divide between the rich and the poor grew, so did unrest across Equestria. Peace gave way to uncertainty; happiness gave way to despair. That was what he saw out of his window.
This went on, not just for days, but for years. It troubled him deeply. He often found solace in his other friends, who together mourned the loss of a friend and prayed that she would come back. Even in an increasingly foreign land, they managed to make something of their time.
Recalling these memories brought a smile to his face. He remembered the season where the Apple Family harvest went badly, and he, Rarity, Pinkie and the rest worked on the farm for the whole of applebuck season. Thanks to the help, the Apples managed to pull through another year, despite the harsh taxes. He remembered the time Pinkie ran off into the Everfree and wasn’t seen for a week. After coming back, said only that she’d wanted to “take a short hike”. Even after having searched for her that whole time, they all shared a laugh. He remembered the time Fluttershy gathered the courage to ask Caramel out on a date. That one date had turned into a long, happy marriage for the both of them, and foals too.
That was the one thing he most remembered about that time: Fluttershy’s children. First she’d had twin colts: Rocky Shoal and Forrest Dew, and then a few years later, a Pegasus filly who they’d called Wind Whisper. Often, they brought the foals over to the library with the rest of their friends, and all together they watched them start to grow up.
Spike didn’t remember when the Library became their regular meeting place; over time, it just happened. Whether this was in homage to their missing friend or just a random event, nopony had a clue. It was like a second home to them, especially to Fluttershy and co. The timid mare time and time again thanked Spike for having them. It was no trouble, of course – after all, almost nopony had bothered to visit the library in those days - but over those months he began to notice that the couple was bringing their children over more and more.
One day, Spike asked Caramel about it. The two sat down across the kitchen table, poured themselves some cider of the harder brew, and discussed it. Spike had grown from a baby well into his adolescence, and although by dragon standards he was still little more than a child, the ponies of Ponyville seemed to treat him as an adult. After all, he lived by himself, had a job, paid his own taxes, and the like.
Caramel thought of him this same way, and didn’t hesitate to share the very adult problem. Spike remembered this conversation very clearly, as it had been a turning point in his life.
“Spike, I’ll just cut to the chase here,” Caramel said, pouring himself a second shot of cider. “I take it you’ve been to Shy’s cottage, right?”
Spike smiled weakly. He knew this was serious, but the fact that Caramel still had it in him to use his wife’s nickname was a good sign. “I’ve been there a few times. It’s a nice place if you don’t mind the animals.”
“Yeah, those critters really do get in the way sometimes,” he admitted. “You see, that’s actually part of the problem.”
“What, are you afraid the animals will hurt Whisper? Rocky and Dew seemed to do fine with them.”
“No, it ain’t that. Fluttershy told you how she built the cottage, right?”
Spike nodded. “She said she found it when she first moved here, and asked the mayor if she could have it. I guess she didn’t really built it, but that’s how she found it”
“Pretty much,” replied Caramel, refilling the glass which Spike had just emptied. “You see, under the old law, that house wasn’t owned by anypony anymore, so they said could have it without paying and what-not.”
Nodding, Spike took a sip of the Apple family brew. He could see where this was going, and he didn’t like it.
“Now they’re saying that the house ain’t rightfully her cause she never bought it and she ain’t paying taxes on it.”
“I thought it was tax exempt because of what she was doing for the animals.”
“Yeah, well the big guys up in Canterlot decided we gotta pay taxes on it now, and pay the original value of the house too.”
“Why are they making you pay the prince? Did they find the original owner of the house?”
Caramel shook his head. “It’s just them being them, Spike. There ain’t anything we can do about it.”
“So what are you going to do now?”
“I don’t know. I can’t pay for the house by myself, and you know I love ‘Shy to death, but she doesn’t earn much of anything these days. You have any ideas?”
Spike thought about it, but it didn’t take him long to figure out what he was going to do. He looked up, and in meeting Caramel’s gaze, he saw that he was thinking the same thing. It was more of a formality for him to ask; he was too proud to state it outright.
“I suppose you could come live here, if you wanted. There’s plenty of extra space.”
Soon after, Caramel told the others what was going on, and they all went along to help relocate Fluttershy’s things – mostly of the animal variety – to the library. It was a tight squeeze at times, but despite the rambunctious foals and Fluttershy nearly taking his ear off thanking him, it had not been that bad. After all, if he needed any help, all Spike had to do was ask, and a friend would be there.
These things didn’t trouble him, but there was something else that did. It had to do with the foals, and at the same time everything else. Even with the crowded house and things to do, he still spent most of his time in front of that window. He saw a controlled unrest that wouldn’t take all that much to become anarchy. Most of all, he saw the foals running amuck, vandalizing buildings and stealing things as if it were something casual that had always been part of life.
When he wasn’t looking out that window, he looked back at Fluttershy’s young ones. They managed to keep the three of them isolated from the toxic society outside, but he knew that there was only so much he, Fluttershy, Caramel, or anypony else could do to keep that out, or them in. The only thing separating them from everypony else was a door, a door that they couldn’t just lock them behind forever. Eventually, those foals would grow older, and they would be exposed to this as the others had been.
So he decided he should something about it. The government had made its citizens feel helpless for some time, but Spike remembered a time when they’d been very powerful. Sure, he hadn’t been one of the elements, but the elements weren’t really the point. It had been more than those necklaces that made them powerful. They were ponies who were willing to take a risk to get something good done, and even without Twilight, they could do it again.
So one day, when they were all over at the library per usual, he brought it up. A long conversation followed, but in the end, they decided against it. They all had their reasons to hate the regime, but unlike the other times, they would not be fighting a rampaging dragonequus or changeling queen, but Equestria itself, and for that reason they refused
Later on, Spike realized how unfair of a question was. His friends were adjusted to their life in this new world, and they were moving on. Fluttershy had her children to take care of. Applejack and her brother were barely managing to keep the farm running, so asking her to spare any more time was out of the question. Pinkie Pie was now the sole owner of Sugarcube Corner, which was one of the few places that seemed to bring happiness to the Ponyville ponies. Rarity had been forced to close Carosel Boutique, and had seen better days.
But there was Rainbow Dash. She, like Rarity, had seen her dream fade before her when the Wonderbolts had been absorbed into the military, no longer a group of elite fliers but of elite fighters. There were other teams which had taken their place, but she didn’t pursue that path. Instead of holding on to a dream that wasn’t there, she’d just continued flying on her own, flying against her greatest rival: herself.
Spike never saw any rational reason for her refusal, so one day, he asked her the same question once again.
“Didn’t I tell you before I didn’t want any part of this?” Dash asked, slowing her flight and at last coming to a hover.
“Yes, I know you did, but you never told me why.”
Sighing, she folded up her wings and let gravity take her the short distance to the ground. “Spike, I’m not going to help you, and that’s that. It’s overkill.”
“Overkill? Are you kidding? After all the government’s done to us, you think its overkill?”
“Yeah, I do. As fun as it would be to have one last adventure, I don’t think it’s the right time; it might not ever be. I mean, yeah, they suck, but they haven’t hurt anypony. Everything that’s happened has been something we’re doing to ourselves just because we can’t handle a little adversity. Why blame the government?”
Spike didn’t really have a response to that. It wasn’t what he’d expected, although now that he thought about it, he hadn’t known what to expect in the first place.
“Dash, when did you get so deep?” he asked finally.
She chuckled. “I don’t know, guess it just happened. I’m glad you understand and stuff.”
“No, no, you’re completely right. I guess I’ve been getting a little bit carried away.”
“Yeah, try to remember that Spike.”
He remembered. Every time they did something he didn’t like, he remembered that in the end, it wasn’t some diabolical ruler that was ruling Equestria, it was regular – albeit misguided – ponies.
He remembered as the years went by, when they continued to share those moments that made every day special. He remembered it as they raised families, and went about their lives as they had before. He remembered as he saw them grow old, and as they one by one ended their time under the Equestrian sun.
And he remembered as he looked out the library window year after year and watched the foals play. Where once he’d seen only the result of a society gone to hell, he began to see a happier, more hopeful scene. The world around him hadn’t changed, but the lens he saw it through had. For those same foals still ran amuck and still didn’t know the difference between right and wrong, but they still shrieked, laughed, and romped as they always had.
Over this time, he’d become a leader, and in his lack of action, he’d done the hardest thing a leader could do: not lead. More so than the senseless ponies up at the top, he was in control. In a sense, he was the leader - an Emperor with the best interests of his subjects in mind.
He had no idea if things would change, but if they would, violence could not induce it. It would have to happen through the course of time, not guided by some leader but by society itself. In taking power, he would be no better than those who currently led, who abused those under their power.
All he could do was watch the world fall, and hope it would catch itself before it was too late.
One ought to hold on to one's heart; for if one lets it go, one soon loses control of the head too.
-Friedrich Nietzsche
This was an interesting one to write. The original concept was called "Spike: Ruler of Equestria", and was supposed to be a comedy. But this kind of came out, with Spike not being a literal Emperor or King, but an embodiment of what a real leader is, though they never seen to reach the top of any real-world government. I hope everybody enjoyed this.
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I'd like to think that the alicorns just took a really long vacation and are going to come back and go, "We just don't know what went wrong!"
Ok, that was terrible. Liked the story though
3309394
Well of course. They deserve a vacation every once in a while, don't they?
And thanks for the comment!
3309398 Your very welcome! I felt like this was a good tragedy that didn't rely on cheap sad stuff,but instead makes you think about it for a while and the realization makes you even sadder.
But hey, what do I know?
sweet jesus more
I demand you take this off 'complete' and continue this!
This was pretty awesome, the idea that Spike would eventually step forward and rule Equestria is a fascinating one; he is a creature with centuries of life ahead of him and he's been raised with excellent morals thanks to Twilight and her friends, he could be a good ruler
If you're thinking of diving into Spike's story of becoming emperor, I'd love to read it!
3309813
I would, but that would defeat the purpose of the story. The point was that Spike didn't do anything because he didn't want to stoop to that level. A continuation would just be him watching his friends grow grow old and die and sit around waiting for society to fix itself. That, or he could unlearn the lesson he learned and try to take down the government.
Did you name this fic after my DeviantART name on purpose, or pure coincidence?
Wow.
Well done.
3310132
Coincidence. I don't go on ze deviants.
3309823>>3310156
Thank you!
Celestia and Luna are not in this story why is it linked to the group?
i demand more!
That feel when you write a one shot and everybody wants it to be longer.
3310483
The exact same thing I thought. If you (Garbo) are going to be an attention whore, at least be less blatant about it.
-Lumino
3310735 Doesn't help he's got a journal titled The Master of Group Whoring.
3310813>>3310735
If that's your opinion, you should have talked to the mods of your group and had them handle it, or at the very least just leave it at that first comment. There's no need to bring that sort of thing to the comments of my story and victimize me for it. Furthermore, I make a conscious effort to divide putting my story into groups up so it doesn't bother people. And I'm not deserving of ridicule just because I think it's funny how someone managed to get stories into groups very quickly, or because you disagree with me posting stories in groups that are relevant. The comments section of a story is a place for discussion of the story itself, not site meta.
Despite the complete lack of respect you've shown me, I did what you said. I didn't notice the rule that stated that the story had to be centric to the two characters, and I apologize for that. Now I'd ask you kindly to either comment on what you thought of my story or leave.
Spike is best leader
Okay... I actually read this story a long time ago but I've never found the strength to write my comment, because I don't have a lot of nice things to say about it. Alright, I'll be even more honest: I really don't like this story. At all. Allow me to explain why.
Perhaps the reason why this fanfiction fills me with such anger (I'm sorry, but it's true) is only one, but it's a problem that completely eclipses the good things about the story, like the neat writing: the story's final message.
Alright, I don't know how consistent your views are with the points expressed by Rainbow Dash (really, I wanted to strangle her in this story) and Spike at the end, in fact I wouldn't be surprised if you actually disagreed with them since their views completely contrast with your Screw Society blog, in fact I really hope you don't seriously think that the only solution to a bad government that ruins your life is sitting on your ass not doing anything! I hope that for you! One of the reasons why this world keeps being so crappy is because there are a lot of people who don't even try to change anything and just suffer in silence!
Besides the fic seems to say that you either don't do shit or do a violent coup, it doesn't work like that! There are middle ways you know? How about Spike organizing non-violent protests to try to open everypony's eyes about the mistakes of the government? How about... anything?!
Seriously, when I reached the end all I could think about was this:
(The video is directed to Spike and RD, not you, take it as a way to make my harsh comment funnier so you might feel less embittered
)
I may not be very respectful of a different opinion, but we're talking about a kind opinion that is actually dangerous. If you disagree with Spike and Dash, that's good.
Bottom line, as long as there will be weak people who just surrender and hope for some kind of miracle nothing will ever change for better, it'll just get worse and worse, and Spike and Dash are dumb as Hell.
Sorry, I just had to say this, don't hate me, I don't plan to unfollow or block you, I still think you're a decent writer... but still, if you agree with RD and Spike... that's low.
3406831
Thanks for the comment. Really. I love this kind of stuff. Sometimes the "I liked this" comments make me want to strangle people. But anyways, I can see where you're coming from, but at the same time, I think we're missing the point of the story here. I originally had a very long comment going here, but I've decided to summarize. The reason there's a jarringly low amount of hope is that the Equestrians just aren't ready for mass protest or war. They're too peaceful, and it will take longer for them to adjust their society to a point where they can do that. That's what the story means when it says that, one day, things will get better. And though the mane 6 have fought off enemy after enemy, those weren't just regular ponies. They were some sort of evil enemy, and they just aren't ready to face off against themselves. Spike seems to have the most hope because he's different. He's a dragon. But he realizes that even if he wanted to do something, most ponies wouldn't be willing to fight their own race. That's my own interpretation of it.
3406831
Also, the story was meant to be jarring.
3406962 Ah, then I'm kinda relieved, at least you weren't trying to tell your readers to be passive dorks, and I'm really glad you're not offended, good thing I had faith in your maturity. Still though, I kinda disagree about Equestria being really that peaceful and utopian, in the show when ponies get mad they can be quite ruthless even with other regular ponies, I think some bronies tend to idealize Equestria a little too much when (in my opinion at least) it's way more similar to our world than some people think, so I still think the story doesn't work that well from a certain viewpoint but at least now I know it's not trying to get across a point that is venomous for humanity so I'm cool
3407761
I look at it from the other perspective. Too many fics like mine here paint Equestrians in the exact same light as human, sometimes even more violent. Although I don't idealize Equestria in a smaller social standing, which is clear in a lot of my writing, I do idealize it in terms of education and politics. Basically, I think that an Equestrian as an individual isn't any more nice than a human, but when all those individuals are put together, they have a far less venomous society. I think it has a lot to do with cutie marks, personally.
But at the same time, point taken. Boast Busters shows how judgmental ponies can be without reason, and the lack of cross-breed romance (like in Hearts and Hooves Day when the CMCs do a montage of all earth-pony suitors for Cheerilee) shows a bit of lingering racism.
Um ... I didn't really get this story. I think the main problem is that this story feels too condensed. Certain things should have been more flushed out - primarily, what's bad about the government? I understand it's supposed to be awful, but I don't understand how it's awful. The biggest hint I found is, "For a time, life seemed better than it had ever been. But as the divide between the rich and the poor grew, so did unrest across Equestria. Peace gave way to uncertainty; happiness gave way to despair. That was what he saw out of his window." So is the main problem with the country an income gap? Is that why "peace gave way to uncertainty"? It's not explained very well what's wrong.
It's also hard for me to get behind Spike. I don't understand what he wants to change, and I don't understand what he wants to do. Protest? Revolt? Lobby change?
Sorry, but I was left with too many questions to enjoy the story.
The story was too condensed. It was a short story written for a short point. It's artsy fartsy crap at it's best, doesn't have any general direction, and leaves it up to the audience to decide what the lesson is instead of blurting it out ... don't know where I was going with that.
I understand the story being condensed, but I think your argument about Spike is baseless. The point is that even he didn't really know what he was going to accomplish. That's the theme of the story. Don't make rash decisions like taking down the government without thinking about it for a second. It's a parody of the fact that the first thing anybody does when there's oppression is resist, assuming the outcome will be better if they do. But as Egypt has proved, not so much.