Inside the Castle of Friendship, Twilight was giving friendship lessons to Starlight. Meanwhile, Spike was cleaning the library and doing his tasks of the day. Spike was wearing a serious face, as if thinking about something.
“Spike?” A voice came behind him. He turned around and found Starlight looking worriedly at him. “Are you okay? It looks like you’ve been cleaning the same book for ten minutes.” She pointed her hoof at the book he was holding in his claws. The book was shining spotless, free of any dirt.
Spike shook his head.
“Sure, I’m alright,” he said with a forced smile, thinking of a way to get out of the library. ”I think this is the last book I need to clean and I wanted to make it more shining and cleaner than the others. Oh, look at the time, I think it’s late, and I think my tasks are done for today.”
“Waitaminute,” said Twilight, throwing a suspicious look at him, making Spike nervous. She looked at the book and used her magic to put it in the right shelf. “Okay, Spike, I think you did your best with your tasks. You can have the rest of the day off..”
After that, Spike sighed in relief.
“Thanks Twi, I really need a day off.” Spike smiled and was walking to the door when Starlight asked a difficult question.
“Are you going to see Rarity? Because if you are, she needs to finish the dress she promised to make me. Can you remind her?” Starlight asked.
Spike didn’t look back, but tried not to reply in an angry tone.
“I don’t know, Starlight. I think I’m not going to the Boutique today.” He did his best to make himself sound tired. His answer made Starlight open her mouth a little and made Twilight’s jaw drop.
“What?! You always goes to the Boutique to help her on your days off, Spike. Why don’t you want to go today?” Twilight was beginning to become worried about him.
Spike sighed, rolling his eyes in displeasure.
“Cause I don’t know, Twilight, I just want to spend some time with myself. I need some time to stay with my thoughts and I’m tired today. I don’t have anymore energy to help you or the other girls. I just want to go to my bed and read my comics, okay?” His voice was a little angry and tired.
Twilight was taken by surprise. She didn’t even know Spike was tired. After she nodded, she didn’t speak again.
“Sorry about that, Spike. You go ahead and read your comics. I’ll finish Starlight’s lesson.”
“Great, thanks Twilight.” Spike hugged her and walked to the door, closing it softly.
Twilight looked to Starlight. The unicorn looked like she was worried about Spike.
“Don’t worry Starlight, Spike just needs to rest for awhile. I will talk to him later to make feel better. I think he’s got something in his head he has to talk about, and I think some time for himself is the best thing to do.” Twilight was smiling, cheering up Starlight.
“If you say so,” Starlight said, allowing herself to smile.
“Alright, let’s continue where we stopped,” Twilight said, pointing to the books on Starlight’s desk.
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Spike was reading his favorite comic book, the Power Ponies version 25: Humdrum Revives. He was reading and lying in his basket.
“Finally, Humdrum becomes important in this comic. I can’t believe he went to Tartarus to rescue the Power Ponies, even after what they did to him. I love his new power. He made the other villains beg for mercy!” Spike was reading the comic when somepony knocked on his door.
“You can come in,” Spike said, closing his comic and looking to the door.
Twilight opened the door and walked over to Spike with a smile.
“Hey, Spike, we finished the friendship lesson! I was thinking about coming here and asking how your day off is going,” Twilight said with a forced smile.
“This is not going to work with me Twilight. I’m enjoying my day off, but you didn’t come here to see if I’m enjoying my day. You come here to ask if I’m okay.” Twilight flinched, not knowing Spike had known her true intention, but didn’t back down.
“Yeah, but I want to listen if you want to tell, I don’t want to force you to talk to me, but if Rarity did something to you, I swear I will…” Twilight was starting to become serious.
“Woah, woah, woah! It’s not like that, she didn’t do something like that, Twilight. She didn’t do anything, don’t worry, I’m fine, but…” Spike sighed as he continued.
“I was thinking, Twilight. I tried everything to make her feel special, make her feel like a princess. I helped her a lot and spent all my time on her. But one week, I was walking and some ponies were telling me she’s not worth it, maybe I’m not worth it for anypony because… Even I get married with her, I don’t know if my dragon hereditary will be able to make sons and daughter for us. I wonder what’ll happen if Rarity doesn’t like me. Am I going to find another mare? And if I have to find another mare, what will happen?” His questions made Twilight listen carefully Spike with all her heart.
She opened her mouth but she didn’t have any words to help him. She didn’t want give up on him, she needed to do something, but like a flash, she remembered something important.
“That’s it!” she exclaimed, running to the door. She left his bedroom with speed and ran into the library. She was looking through all the sections.
“Relationships…relationships…A-HA! I found it!” Twilight took out an illustrated book and ran back to the bedroom.
Spike knew something was going to happen when Twilight came back excitedly.
“A few weeks ago, somepony sent me this book. I was thinking about opening it, but the back cover says to open it only if you want relationship or love advice.” Twilight used her magic to levitate the book to Spike.
“A book? Really, Twilight? Why am I not surprised?” Spike said sarcastically, holding the book.
“I may be a princess but I’m still a librarian!” Twilight ignored Spike’s sarcasm and flashed a smile to him. She quickly left the room and closed the door behind her.
Spike was holding an odd book. It was black and has a lot of stars and planets and the title was the most odd thing he ever read it: Shipping Doors, Dimensional Relationships and Answers About Yourself, By D.Q. Quantum.
He stared at the book: Maybe I should give it a shot, he thought to himself, opening the book.
As soon as he did so, the pages were blank. He flipped wildly through the book to look for any words, but there were none.
“What’s going on?!” He tried to close the book, but a powerful forced it open.
The pages left the book and surrounded Spike, creating a small explosion.
“AND THERE HE IS! THE ONE, THE ONLY, THE MOST LOVED DRACONEQUUS, DISCOOOOOOOOOOOORD!”
Discord showed himself to Spike. He snapped his fingers and several hands were clapping.
“Thank you, thank you, you’re too kind!” Discord said cheerfully with his eyes closed.
“Discord?! What are you doing here?!” Spike demanded.
Discord opened one of his eyes and smiled down at Spike.
“Spike, mon cher ami , le plus cher de dragon par ses amis. I’m here because you need me, and you want me,” Discord said, blushing.
Spike felt sick.
“Cut it out, will ya?! It’s gross!” Spike pushed him away with an angry expression.
“Alright, fiiiiine, I will tell you,” Discord said dejectedly. “I made this book for when you or Twilight have a lot of questions about relationships. I can give you the answers and some tips,” Discord told him, showing the new book after the explosion.
“Are you D.Q Quantum?” Spikes asked him with interest and curiosity.
“Yes, Discord is my first name, and my middle name is Q. Only Q. okay?” Discord formed a Q with his fingers.
“Alright, but why do you want to help me?” Spike was suspicious about this.
“Because it’s not the first time you have asked me to help you with this.” Discord sighed like this happened all the time.
“Wait! Did you say I asked you?” Spike was looking at him in disbelief.
“That’s the 11,126th I’ve helped you with this. You and all your versions.” Discord created one giant number with a password number, showing how many times Spike asked the same thing.
“Wait, what? My versions?” Spike was now thinking Discord was being more crazy than normal.
“Yeah, you think I’m crazy, but we don’t have time for that. Do you want the answers or not?” Discord rolled his eyes and went near Spike.
Spike looked down, thought for a moment, and smiled confidently
“Alright, I will, but don’t you want to hear my questions first?” Spike said coming closer to Discord.
“I know all your questions, Spike. It’s better to show you the answers,” Discord said, snapping his fingers. The new book opened and became bigger than before, making Spike scared. this, The book created a typhoon, sucking them inside of it.
After sucking them inside, the book closed shut and shrunk back to normal size.
Spike and Discord were in a void space. Spike didn’t believe what was happening, they were inside of the book. Discord wore a serene smile and wide eyes looking to Spike. Discord giggled happily.
“Your face is priceless when I do that!”
Spike looked to Discord with disbelief.
“Where are we?”
Discord didn’t respond. He only snapped his fingers and thousands of doors appeared in the blank space.
“Welcome to the Shipping Doors. All your dimensional relationships and decisions of your life!” Discord screamed excited with the echo.
Spike’s jaw dropped, looking at how many doors there were.
“Oh my Celestia!” Spike screamed in disbelief.
“Beautiful isn’t it?” Discord came closer and whispered in Spike’s ears.
“What are the shipping doors?” asked Spike, trying to count the doors. “I can’t count. What in Tartarus is this?”
“I’m glad you asked, my dear dragon!” said Discord, using his magic to create a chair for Spike. He made Spike sit and was suddenly wearing a professor coat with glasses, pointing to a blackboard that had appeared in front of him. “Take notes, please!”
A notebook and pencil landed on Spike’s lap. He picked up the pencil and started writing inside the notebook. Discord used his chalk and drew several doors.
“Look at these doors on the blackboard. Think about every time you asked yourself what would happen if you chose that moment and do something different. Or what if I choose that mare and not other?” Discord explained, showing him some doors. “Every door was created by our Entities.”
“Entities? What kind of Entities?” Spike asked, curious and trying to figure what happened and trying to keep writing.
“I called them Entities because they are one of a kind dimensional creatures and they create one possible dimension in one single door. They are the creators of these doors, Spike. Your life has always been watched by them,” Discord said grinning to him.
“Wait, always watching me? Every day?” Spike was blushing furiously, and trying to hide his blush. He stopped writing when Discord saw him.
“Continue writing, the lessons aren’t over!” Discord made Spike keep writing while he grinned.“Oh Spike, you are always adorable when you blush. That’s why sometimes you get some mares, don’t you?” Discord giggled.
.
“What, really?” Spike didn’t know what he felt, pride or shame from himself. But he remembered to keep writing.
“Okay, Discord, they are really watching me, but I need to know, why do they do that?”
“Actually they don’t do that. You do. Every time you think to yourself and try to figure out, what if something different happens, what if I choose Rarity, but what if I like AppleJack, Rainbow Dash, Starlight, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy…” With the last name, Discord cringed, making him feel some rage, but kept himself under control. But after that, he grinned deviously. “Twilight.”
“WHAT?” Spike dropped his pencil and screamed, blushing redder than a tomato. “NO, I CAN’T!”
“Don’t worry, Spike, sometimes you wished to be more than a brother to her.” Discord giggled with his reaction. “Anyway. Every decision we made, the Entities create one dimension door about our lives if we take that decision and create a dimensional life about the consequences and what happened if that really happened. Sometimes incredible, sometimes sad. Every choice we made in our life results in some consequence, being good or bad. Remember that. And my tip is to do what you think is the best for you, and don’t think so much about what if. Because the life we make now. So be yourself,” Discord explained to Spike, the real valour of being yourself making Spike more comfortable with himself.
Spike finished writing, even Discord’s tip.
“Alright, Discord, I’m glad to hear your tip, but I still want to know what happened if…” Spike was going to say something when Discord snapped his fingers.
When Discord snapped his fingers, several doors disappeared from their places, making Spike uncomfortable.
“What did you did?! “ Spike was needed an answer.
“Come on, Spike, our that doors, is if you choose some mare or stallion in all Equestria, not in Ponyville or Canterlot, but all over Equestria! Derpy, BonBon, Lyra, Vinyl Scratch, Octavia, AppleBloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Diamond Tiara, Carrot Tops, Button Smash, Rumble, etc…Everypony in Equestria.” Discord facepalmed himself.
“BlueBlood?” This question made Discord’s mouth drop.
“Wait, WHAT?! NO YOU DIDN’T SAY THAT! NO, NO…” Discord screamed when one big door was created, frightening Spike.
“What happened?” Spike asked with fear.
“Are you happy now? Look what you did. They created a shipping door for your new ship, genius.” Discord facepalmed himself three more times.
“I was joking,” Spike said trying to calm Discord.
“For us is a joking, but for them is their life's Spike, this is serious. Now you have one more door for one different ship here. Okay, you are the first Spike who was joking with that.” Discord kept calm and took some breaths.
“Anyway, I know! What do you want to remember?” Discord snapped his fingers and the chair and blackboard disappeared, and around Spike, several Spikes were asking the same thing.
“I still want to know what will happen if I will choose one of my best friends.” All the Spikes echoed together.
“Woah, I was here quite a few times, right? Okay, Discord, I want to know that.” Spike was surprised at himself.
“Fine,” Discord snapped his fingers, and his coat and glasses disappeared, and seven highways appeared. “Even if you eliminate many doors in Equestria, the Elements of Harmony and Starlight are the most of all doors here, so I made a few highways for you to go there, and chose some doors for you to look at what you did to get their hearts. So I want you choose one, dear 11,126th Spike.”
Spike was breathing hard, and was excited to look at his futures, and what he will find. He looked at one highway with some pictures of the Mane Six and Starlight. He saw Starlight had less doors.
“Alright, I will choose a future with Starlight.” Spike was ready for the new adventure as he walked onto Starlight’s highway.