"Fine, Capeesh."
The ponies still trance-bound sat in silence on the platform, unable to see the event occurring before them. The sound of something exploding rang out over their heads, causing them to look up in time to see neon squares manifest themselves into existence.
The earth ponies were baffled, the pegasi confused, the unicorns befuddled, and the Princesses knowing that all those words meant the same thing. The interior of the squares flickered into fluid images as a buzzing sound accompanied the phenomena, sealing the ponies attention to the projections of their ‘televisions.'
Horror soon crossed their faces as their bodies were frozen into place.
“And that takes care of that!” Spike clapped his claws upon ensuring that there would be no disturbances to his little chat with the girls, though he slouched to the right upon seeing the mass of ponies just...sitting there. “Hmm… Nah, it would be too weird just to have ‘em sitting there.”
He snapped his fingers. The black matter hanging over the mass of ponies came to life, unfolding like a curtain around them and concealing their very existence to those on the other side.
“Much better!” Spike said to himself in a great joy before shifting his attention to the five mares sitting before them. Most of them were looking around in confusion in the strange place they had been left in, before almost falling into tears once their eyes settled upon the dragon.
Spike only grinned as he looked back at them all, raising his claw into the air. “Did ya miss me?’
Before any of them could cry out his name, they heard the snapping of his claw, and fell under his spell. Dash’s eyes widened at seeing this and went to charge at the drake, but stopped in her tracks upon seeing him raise his claw.
“Stay in place, Rainbow Dash.” Spike turned his head to grin at her from behind the fingers of his claw. “I didn’t make my return from distant lands just to foul you girls with cheap magic. So don’t you worry your prismatic tail, and listen close to the lingering guilt of your closest friends.”
“Like I would let someone like you tell me what to do!” Rainbow Dash flew at him again with a hoof already cocked, ready to unleash into the drake’s face. But something flew at her instead as cloven hoofs held back her punch. “Ack! Fluttershy, what are you—”
“Enough is enough, Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy commanded as she held back her friend from taking another step, drilling deep into her eyes with her own. “Our poor Spike has already been through enough! All he wants to do now is sit down and talk, and you’re not even willing to do that?”
Rainbow Dash took a step away from her friend, leaving her tight grasp, and shaking her head. “This doesn’t make any sense!”
“Well, it makes perfect sense to me.” Fluttershy turned away and began to walk back to where she was sitting, giving a quick nuzzle to the drake while on her way, before finally coming to sit down again and direct her gaze back to her friend. “I want for you to keep quiet as we discuss what happened with Spike, capeesh?”
“But...Fluttershy…”
“Capeesh?”
“Shyyyyyy.”
“Capeesh?!”
Rainbow sighed, falling to her rear. “Fine, capeesh.”
Fluttershy smiled. She looked to the drake. “Whenever you’re ready to begin.”
Spike nodded to Fluttershy, before walking to the start of the line.
Applejack sat there with a blank face, staring off into the distance. When she heard the snap of his fingers, it was like she became suddenly awake once more.
“Wha…” Applejack shook her head try and regain her consciousness, blinking at how dark the night was and the formation of how her friends were sitting. She then took notice of the drake standing before her, eyes going wide as her mouth began to open. “Sp-Spike? Wha...what are you doing here? Where have you been? The girls have been worried sense—”
Spike snapped his fingers into the air, slowly bringing down his palm as if against some pressure. The brightness of Applejack’s eyes began to dim as he hunched forward, though she was still vaguely conscious of herself and the world around her.
“Much better,” Spike said to himself, gazing at the other mares who were starting to come to. He pointed his finger at all of them and snapped, placing them underneath the same spell as Applejack. “Might as well make my life easier while I’m at it.”
He heard an irritated cough emit somewhere to the right of him. “Don’t worry, don’t worry. I didn’t do anything harmful, just a simple spell to make them lax enough to answer my questions.”
Rainbow Dash continued to stare at him as he returned to Applejack’s side.
“Now then, if I recall correctly, you’re biggest gripe about me was my ineptitude.” Spike proceeded to walk in circles in front of the orange mare, her eyes lazily following him. “That if I just got rid of my need to impress other ponies, that if I just stopped being clumsy and treated things with more care...that I would’ve become a drake capable of working on your farm.”
“I...I don’t quite recall phrasing it like that.” The words were thick to get out from her lips, her body suffering underneath some weight that made her extremely tired. “But you hit the core of it alright. If ya just practice a little harder on the things ya need to work on…”
“You enjoy saying that a lot, don’t you?’ Spike question with a terrible grin plastered to his lips. “That I should just hold a book more tightly, and then, I wouldn’t drop it! It’s not like my clumsiness was a direct response to all the times Twilight were suddenly scared me into dropping all my things, or the times she would just allow me to fall flat on my face or ‘accidentally’ injure me.”
“Uhh.”
“Of course, I should never be blaming other ponies for my problems, right Applejack?” He said almost in a chuckle. “The fact that I tried to hard to impress you that day wasn’t because of all the times I would slave away to help Twilight, only for her to tell me my best efforts were useless. No, instead of actually helping me, you just told me what was wrong and to do my best to get over it.”
“But that’s just how it is, Spike.” Applejack did her best to try and open her eyes wider, looking down at the drake with a frown on her lips. “Ain’t nopony perfect. We all have flaws that we have to tackle, and as you said, some of them ain’t our fault. But it is our responsibility to work to rectify them.”
“Riiiight,” Spike said as he snaked his head around. “But when I asked you if I could help you on the farm after that. If you could help me figure out why I have this desperate need to impress other ponies that ends up in me making a fool out of myself, what did you say?”
“I, uh.”
“Tell me, Applejack.” Spike tried again as he stomped to the right before her face, peering deep into her eyes to see her honesty fully. “What did you say when I came to you for help?”
“I told you...I said that I was busy.” Applejack tried to pull away from the drake’s gaze, but her body was too weak to listen to any of her commands. “I was too busy showing Twilight around the new parts of the farm to show you the ropes.”
“And the day after?”
“...Rainbow Dash needed my help again with a new move.”
“And the day after!”
Applejack kept silent. Her mouth hung open for a second, before closing.
“Just be honest.” Spike finally tore his gaze away from hers, looking down at his feet. “You didn’t want to help me in the first place. You just wanted an excuse to keep me satisfied and away from you.”
“Now hold on just a gosh darn minute.” Applejack felt her voice grow desperate as she tried to raise her head against the weight on her back. “You should know better than anypony that I always enjoy your company whenever you’re around.”
“But never once will you ask for it,” Spike said, looking at her one last final time. “Face it, Applejack. You don’t mind me when I’m around, but you sure aren’t going out of your way to have me by your side.
“I’m still just Twilight’s tag-along dragon.” He continued to say, beginning to turn away from her. “You can say all you want that you wanted me to improve. But every time I went to you for help, for advice, for work that would give me practice – you always just gave me superficial words and promised to help me some other ways.”
Although Applejack came to see it, Spike began to grin.
“N-No!” She shouted, her eyes going wide as she began to pant. “I swear I wanted to help you – I really did. Just time isn’t a luxury for me; I swear it ain’t! I knew you could improve if ya just knew what your flaws were – I never meant for you to beat yourself up over something that wasn’t your fault.”
Spike stopped walking, raising his claw once more into the air. “Excuses, Applejack. That’s all you ever gave to me. Those same excuse you said to me still linger in your heart today, because you know them to be untrue, despite the element you embody.”
Applejack would’ve screamed her denial if she hadn’t fallen back into the trance created by his snapping fingers. “You made me believe that everything I touch was just bound to fail...it is this guilt alone that causes you despair. Now!”
Spike pointed his claws like a gun at the black space, bringing his thumb down onto his index finger as a neon square became alive. Applejack’s eyes were drawn to the creation, becoming lost in the projection of her greatest fears.
“Now it’s time to pay up!” Spike said in laughter. “Suffer through a day bearing my ineptitude! Listen to how ponies laugh behind your back as you're forced to laugh at yourself with them. Watch your every ambition crumble because you don’t have the capable hooves or mind to achieve your dreams!”
Spike then gaze down at the other four mares.