//------------------------------// // 43 – "So It's Going to Take Even Longer for the Fun Times to Begin Again?" // Story: Spike Quits His Job and Goes on Numerous Quests // by B_25 //------------------------------// ~43~ "So It's Going to Take Even Longer for the Fun Times to Begin Again?" The Cantorlot Express began its journey across the iron clad path toward the capital of Equestria. A chime from the whistle informed all those standing by the station’s docks that the train was now disembarking, as a puff of steam escaped through the train’s exhaust pipe. The doors separating each of the box carts slid closed on their own, entrapping an individual carriage of close friends who sat the furthest part away from one another. In this cart lay a unique chest too, that only those in the cart, and the conductor himself, knew about. Rarity watched the landscape outside her window change drastically as the train was nearing its full speed, though her thoughts were on a different matter. An occasional glance around the cart showed that none of her friends were sitting together, rather lost to the whims of their sadden minds just like she was. Any invitation by the Princess that would ask the Elements of Harmony to meet her in Canterlot was always met with excitement and a giddiness to aboard the quickest train. Meeting the Princess was always an honor, and the conversation had with her were always filled with wisdom, but that wasn’t what always got Rarity excited. Rarity loved it when all of her friends would come together for one mutual excitement, talking about what the Princess may want or what sightseeing they’ll do in Canterlot. Simply, having all her friends being giddy together was the best part of the adventures. And here her friends were, all sitting apart, with not a word being spoken. No whispers about what this summoning could be for, nor anyone coming up with some twisted fate that would be shot down by everyone else. Just silence. “Hey, Rarity.” A voice earned Rarity’s attention away from the window. “Is it okay if I sit here?” The tired smile on Pinkie Pie’s muzzle was the first thing to be caught by Rarity’s eyes, as she gave the nod of the head before returning to the window. “Be my guest.” Pinkie took the seat on the opposite bench, which Rarity wished she hadn’t, for she took up her peripheral vision. “Sooo. Crazy how the Princess is requesting us so late into the night, huh?” A smile tried its hardest to form on Rarity’s lips to try to support her friend on carrying on with the conversation, but the act felt too forced, as her lips began to crumble. “Indeed. I wonder why...eh…” The sentence ended there as Rarity searched for something in the landscape that could take away the stress that burden her mind. There was no point to having a proper conversation that would end in awkwardness when a sudden sadness had limited her mind. The cart softly swayed across the tracks as the chugging wheels could be heard from underneath the mat. “Rarity?” “Yes, darling?” “Do you think the girls are drifting apart?” The alabaster unicorn whipped her head toward her friend. “Heavens no, Pinkie! What on Equestria possessed you to ask such a thing?” Pinkie began to twiddle with her hooves like a filly who had just asked a dumb question. “Well, it’s just that, the girls don’t seem all there here right now.” “I suppose everyone has a lot on their minds at the moment.” The tiring events that composed the last few months flashed simultaneously through Rarity’s mind. “This season has particularly harsh on all of us.” “Do you mean just this season...or the whole year?” Rarity opted to get herself out of her pool of thoughts so she could fully focus on her conversation with Pinkie Pie, who seemed to have needed someone to talk to and came to her first. “And just what do you mean by that?” “Well.” Pinkie scooted back into the bench to press her lower back against the seat, though she still ended up slouched over. “It’s just, everypony seems so distant and non-talkative as of late. At first, I thought that’s just how things were going to be for a ‘little while,' but upon all of us walking to the train station together, I realized that it had been longer than just a ‘little while.'” “Well, that’s because…” Rarity stopped herself before she could sprout some lies that she didn’t believe herself, knowing that it would only damage the bond of honesty the two mares had. “I’m sure whatever is going on with all the girls is going to pass soon, just everypony recover from their problems at different paces.” “So it’s going to take even longer for the fun times to begin again?” Rarity blinked, not quite sure how to answer that question. “I guess so, Pinkie Pie. But you know you can always come over to the boutique whenever you get bored or lonely.” “Okay.” The phrased ended the conversation as Pinkie lifted up a hoof and began to stare into her sole. Awkwardness washed over Rarity as she watched her friend, not quite knowing what to do or say next, so went back to doing the thing she did before. Staring out a window and trying to ignore the jumbled thoughts, which she could never answer even given all the time to fathom. “What do you think of Spike?” Rarity choked on absolutely nothing as her heart stopped beating for a moment, nervousness surging through her body making it feel weak, as only pained gasps could escape the clenched throat. When her heart started beating again, Rarity stole a breath, not prepared to face her friend in her unprepared state, content with staring out the window for just a few more moments. ‘What in Equestria is possessing you to ask such things on a night such as this one, Pinkie Pie!” “Uhm, what do I think of Spike? Quite the question Indeed! Heh…” Rarity tried to swallow the saliva formed in her mouth caused by her nervousness; its descent painful as it sought to slip past the tight muscles. “Obviously, like most of the girls, we miss him dearly and wish all the safety we can wherever he is in the world. Our last encounter with him may not have been the most pleasurable, but that doesn’t stop us from still seeing Spike as we always have.” “But wasn’t the Spike before this one cringe and clingy?” Rarity’s mouth opened all on its own, and she had no idea how to close it. “Those were the reason you weren’t overly fond of little Spike, and only to sort of like him when he mellowed out in his teenage years. But since in those teenage years he held some repressed issues, it made him bitter toward all of us. So then, what Spike are we supposed to be remembering? “Tiny and annoying Spike, or, tall and bitter Spike? Hmm, which is better to remember, do you think?” Rarity’s superficial words on the subject had been destroyed by the blunt observation that Pinkie had decided to gone deeper with, unphased by the possibility that her analysis could be damaging to anyone within earshot. “I like them both equally, to be honest.” Pinkie decided to give her opinion first after the long silence which Rarity did not fill. “I liked tiny Spike like he was the nephew I occasionally got to see, though I wouldn’t consider him a friend just yet.” The delicate subject which held other ponies emotions and facade feelings were sliced in half by the pink mare’s honesty on the subject, allowing her deeper access to what she actually felt on the subject, regardless of the pain she caused by cutting the subject open. “Bitter Spike in concept, maybe I could get along with.” Pinkie’s hoof tapped on her chin in an attempt to lure out the rest of her thoughts. “It would be fun to turn his frown upside down, from time to time, but if I had to do that for our every encounter, then it wouldn't be fun anymore. Honestly, I don’t believe Spike thinks he’s entitled to someone to help him, but he just has these issues that are forcing him down a wrong path.” “So.” Rarity finally took her gaze away from the landscapes outside to settle it on her bizarre friend. “You don’t think Spike expects anything out of us, despite how some of us denied him the care or attention he craved?” Pinkie shook her head. “Nope. I mean, that isn’t to say that we’re not to blame in some of the mental issues he has going on, but Spike doesn’t really blame us for them. You could say those times Spike helped us was because he wanted to get closer to us, but he also did so just because he’s a nice drake. He simply isn’t the type to hold a grudge against someone for long, or at all. “Nor is he the type of dragon to think he’s entitled to more just because he didn’t get what he want, or even what he deserved for that matter. He just goes on, still helping when he can, while dealing with his own issues.” A layer of guilt wrapped around the egg inside Rarity’s mind that served to resemble all her feelings on the dragon, where her superficial opinions came from just a glance at the thing but never daring to drill for what laid inside. Yet Pinkie had taken her egg and cracked it against the side of the pan, exposing the thoughts and feeling hidden inside of it into the pan, where truth began to form into the perfect omelet. By eating the said omelet, Pinkie knew once and for all where she stood on the subject, with her guilt and worries being properly fed so that they would growl out no more. “So we shouldn’t be blaming ourselves for something that wasn’t entirely with our control.” Rarity spoke the fragile carefully so they would not shatter slipping past her lips. “Our personality just didn’t match with his, at the account of him being so little, and to force yourself to think otherwise simply wouldn’t be fair to both parties. It makes sense, logically, but doesn’t seem fair to our poor little Spike.” “Maybe that’s just the curse all outsiders have.” Pinkie looked down her body akin to a child once more, not quite knowing what feeling was possessing her at the moment. “I think Spike handled it the best way he could, though not as clean as he may have liked. But why stay in a place where you’re an outsider when you go to where you’re like everybody else.” Rarity couldn’t summon any objection to the twisted logical sense. “There’s no real point at all, I suppose. It’s just a conflict of personalities, where neither party is at fault, and its best they go separate ways.” Pinkie nodded at her friend without looking at her. “Yeeep. So Spikey can’t complain about not being accepted or liked by ponies, and we can’t berate Spike for trying to find a place where he’d find the welcoming he craves. We even shouldn’t be feeling sorry for it.” “Yeah.” Sadness no longer clogged her mind, nor did awkwardness force her to look away, and yet, Rarity still looked back to the drastically changing landscape not quite sure what it was she was supposed to be feeling. “Spike should be free of the chains he had to Ponyville and go and explore, and we shouldn’t be feeling any guilt toward our actions against him, besides changing some things in hindsight.” “Yeeeep.” Rarity looked away from the window, but she did not lay her eyes upon her friend. Instead, her eyelids came to a close as a wet breath was expelled below; the mind resistant to both feelings and emotions at that moment. Logic didn’t dictate what she was supposed to say, rather, her words were inspired by the pounding of her heart. “I wish Spike will come home soon.”