//------------------------------//
// The Final Chapter 
// Story: Somepony to Care For 
// by CNUBRONY 
//------------------------------//

	The thoughts were back in Spike’s head. He had avoided them for as long as he could, but there was always a nagging. A subtle thought, but one that simply wouldn’t be gotten rid of. Still, on this day, Spike made no effort to eradicate these thoughts. He had no friends, not even Twilight. He had been walking for miles; he was a misfit and an assistant; he was an outcast.

Spike sat down on the stump of a nearby tree, there was a river beside him that flowed at a steady pace, adding noise to the background of an otherwise still night. Spike gazed up at the night sky and sighed. “There has to be someone out there for me, someone who loves me unconditionally, someone who sees me as more than an assistant; someone who I can call a true friend.”

Spike thought back to the town of Ponyville, to the ponies he had known for several years now, and admittedly, was sad for the first time at realizing he had left them. It lasted only for a moment though, before Spike moved on. His life, he realized, was at a crossroads. The ponies he had known his entire life, friends or not, were back in Ponyville, perhaps some were even looking for him. But the world out there was big, and worth exploring.

“What’s the point?” Spike thought aloud to himself, furthering his sorrowful state. He stood up from the tree stump he had been sitting on and walked along the edge of the river. He had no idea where it went, what it was named, or anything about it. He simply knew it was the river at the edge of Ponyville, the very edge of everything he had come to know over the past two years.

But knowing didn’t equate to joy, to laughter and fun, to friends. Knowing Ponyville was nice, certainly, but Spike couldn’t lie to himself and pretend to be sad about getting away from that place. There was only one pony he would ever miss, and that was Twilight. He figured he could write her, or even write Celestia, but he figured Celestia would do nothing but try to convince him to go back to his old home.

Spike was, as he had always been, alone. But this was a different feeling. It was not an alone of depression, of bitterness or sorrow; it was an alone of great thought, of figuring out where to take his life next, of figuring out is he even wanted a life anymore.

Spike’s mind kept going back to that thought of the dreaded, the unthinkable, but the increasingly nice sounding escape from life, the end to it all. He didn’t try to ignore it this time, for he knew it was something he had given some thought to. It seemed his sole reason for trying to fight the thoughts was for the hopes of keeping Twilight happy, but with her gone, his mind considered and reconsidered the possibility.

The river stared up at Spike. Its current was steady; its path was ever changing through twists and turns. The revelation hit him and he backed up away from the river banks. He thought of what this meant, what it possibly couldn’t mean, but he had decided upon it. The river could take him to new, exciting places, beyond his wildest dreams, where everypony, or every dragon, accepted him, and loved him, and shared in his friendship. The river could also take hold of his small body and thrash it around in a way that would surely kill him. Both possibilities seemed okay with Spike, and he was prepared for either outcome.

So, with no regrets, and final thoughts of uncertainty, Spike stared up at the sky for what could be the last time. His old life in Ponyville, the ponies he used to know all not given a care in the world. He ran forward with an uncertain future, if any future, awaiting him and plunged into the river, ready to follow it wherever it took him.




The End.





AUTHOR'S NOTE: I couldn't decide if Spike was better off dying, or living happily ever after, so I left the ending vague, and for you to decide as a reader. If you want to decide that Spike goes off and lives a happy new life with a beautiful lady dragon/pony, or that the Mane 6 come and rescue him and tell him how much is loved, that's great. If you want to decide that Spike's life is destined for tragedy, and he drowns in that river, that's great as well.