//------------------------------// // 88 – "Remember Dash, I'm No Longer a Part of Your Girls' Group." // Story: Spike Quits His Job and Goes on Numerous Quests // by B_25 //------------------------------// ~ 88 ~ "Remember Dash, I'm No Longer a Part of Your Girls' Group." “Spike left us because he couldn’t be content with being my assistant!” Twilight’s head flew over to the center of the table, her face scrunched up at the yellow pegasus seated at the other side. “All the answers were out there, who he was supposed to be was out there, the only way he could improve was out there. It was all just a cry for attention!” “I’m not too sure about that.” Fluttershy met her opponent in the middle of the table, her face calm and her tone relaxed. “I know that Spike's not exactly in the right here, but all he wanted was to become great like the six of us. But he felt that we weren’t entirely willing to help him improve, so he went out to find someone or somewhere that would.” “What lies!” “I don’t believe so.” Both of their faces turned to the chromatic mare sitting a few feet away from the table. Her eyes were wide and desperately wanting to blink after being forced to look to and fro the arguing mares. “What do you think, Rainbow Dash!” “Uh.” The magenta eyes quickly looked elsewhere in the room to giver her mind a moment to think, a time of peace that would not come, if the other arguing mares were of any indication. By the desk that sold many treats, Pinkie and Rarity were arguing if they even truly saw Spike as a friend, though Applejack was mysteriously missing. Soon, the unicorn and earth pony looked to her as well. “Tell her Dashie!” Pinkie exclaimed from behind the corner, propelling herself off its edge. “Tell her you thought that Spike was just one great cry baby that needed to grow up. That he was just an annoying addition to our group because Twilight was forced to bring him along, and we were always glad when she left him home alone.” “Why that was never truly the case!” Rarity exclaimed in Pinkie’s face, before twirling around to face Rainbow. “He may be crude and likes to get in the way sometimes, but our group would never be the same without him. It’s just sometimes there are situations where he’s just not mature yet to handle them, so we have to leave him behind until he’s ready to face them.” “Pfft, yeah right.” “It’s the truth!” The two then shot their heads towards her. “What do you think, Rainbow!” “Uh.” Slowly, the four mares began to come together in the center of the room, almost growing in size as their shadows blanketed her form. Words streamed out from their mouths as their bodies grew upward to the ceiling of Sugarcube Corner. Rainbow slowly began to back away as he looked over her shoulder – there wasn’t any door to where the entrance of the shop was. There wasn’t any escape from her giant friends and their large words. “You agree that Spike was just overacting, right Rainbow? Of course, you’d agree with me; you did take me in after all.” “No, Rainbow knows what it’s like to look up to the Wonderbolts, and how much she had to improve to reach their skill. Besides, Rainbow and I have been best friends since flight school!” “Rainbow would certainly agree that our group would not be the same if it were without our favorite dragon. And besides, while Rainbow and I have had our differences, she was always there for me in my time of need – which would be about now, by the way.” “Don’t be a silly, Rarity! Dashie always stands up to those who are in the wrong, as she did for me when Gilda was a great-big-meanie pants – which Spike as been as of late.” Finally, their giant heads bore down on the small pegasus. “Are you just going to walk away and be silent the whole time! Which one of us is right – to who does your loyalty lie!?” Rainbow Dash only squeaked as their forms got closer and bigger. She couldn’t take much more of it, not since her back pressed into the wall, and knew his to be the end. After falling to her rump in defeated, her eyes slowly began to close. And then she heard the sound of a breeze. “Are you giving up, just like that?” A voice asked her, one familiar and not. “I honestly never thought I’d see the day that drama was the defeat to Rainbow’s awesomeness. Seriously, I thought it would’ve taken flying sharks to take you down.” Rainbow opened her eyes. A dragon was standing before her, face set forward, though she caught a glance of its side. “Y-You!” She struck her hoof in his direction. “What in the hay are you doing here?” “I could be asking you the same,” he said, staring at the giant mares and keeping them in place with his gaze, just long enough to give Rainbow that moment she needed to breathe and think. “Usually I’m the one that lives in self-doubt and despair – I thought such things don’t exist to a mare as awesome as you.” Rainbow’s hoof faltered, much like the features of her face. “Oh, no, Spike. You’ll come to learn that that type of stuff affects everypony – I just don’t let myself indulge in it.” “So why are you letting yourself indulge in it now?” “I…I don’t know.” Rainbow hung her head downward, hearing the bickering of her friends just beyond the drake. “I always thought that as long as I’m loyal to my friends and myself, that everything would just kinda worked out in the end. But...but I never thought just who I would be loyal to if they were ever to split.” “The girls would never break apart!” Spike turned his head to look at her from over his shoulder, a grin beginning to stretch across his lips. “Especially not over someone as minuscule as me. I think you’re repressing yourself too much, Dashie, and you know that repression kills character.” “Wha…” She shook her head before looking up at him. “I’m not quite sure I know what you mean.” “Oh come on Dash!” Spike finally spun himself around to face her, fully exposing himself as he struck a thumb at his chest. “Everybody knows that you hate me with all your guts. You already know what ponies you agree with and which ones you disagree with, but you’re too scared of upsetting them.” Dash went silent for a moment. “Loyalty isn’t about being there for someone, but just being there,” Spike said as he took his thumb away from his chest and pointed it to the mares over his shoulder. “These ponies could say or do anything, and in the end, you’d still be there for them in the end. Ponies may think you’re egotistical, but I’ve seen you keep your mouth shut when another pony desperately need to talk about something you hate.” Dash exhaled, not too sure what to do with the present information. She didn’t quite know why, but she found herself pushing off from the ground, and returning to her hooves. This only made the drake smile wider as the ponies behind him began to shrink in size. “Remember Dash, I’m no longer a part of your girls' group.” Spike began to turn around, his voice becoming strained as his face could no longer be seen by her. “So I can’t be there for Twilight when she’s had a bad day, I can’t be the one to calm her down from her manic phases, and I can’t be the one to listen to her worries.” He took a deep breath. “But you can,” he said, still not turning his head as the hoofsteps came next to his side. “It doesn’t matter if you agree with what they have to say, it doesn't matter if you don’t agree with how they live their lives – as long as you’re there for your friends, then you’ll always be loyal to them.” Rainbow Dash couldn’t suppress a chuckle from escaping her lips, standing next to the drake of equal height for just a moment, as the shadows of her friends began to fade away. Then, she spoke. “I can’t believe I took your place as a wimp for a moment.” “I’m the one and only, so I would’ve had to sue.” They shared a chuckle. Dash then turned her head to look at his face. “Is that really you, Spike?” Spike took a deep breath, not moving for a second, before he looked over to her as well. “I’m what I would like to be.” Dash squinted her right eye before letting loose another chuckle. Then, her face turned serious as she thoroughly looked at him. “Y’know, I still don’t like you, and I hate what you did to all my friends – none of this would be happening if you treated as with the same care you wanted us to give to you.“ Spike nodded his head with a sad expression, before looking forward once again. “Yeah, I know.” “But if you were this way before you had left, then maybe things wouldn’t have turned out this way.” Spike looked over at her in surprise. “And I think I’ve changed my mind,” she said as she began to walk forward, only coming to a stop as she was before the brilliant portal of green and purple. “If you are in fact the real Spike, or somehow connected to him, then tell him to come home soon. I may not want him to stay, but I know I can’t resolve all the girls' issues without him there.” Spike chuckled, before waving his claw in a goodbye. “If he doesn’t die rock-climbing, then I’ll give him your message.” Rainbow smiled, turned around from the drake, and left him behind as she entered the portal. Her wings were no longer bound by despair.