//------------------------------//
// Cryptic Caretaker Conundrum 
// Story: Elements of Spike 
// by Yinglung 
//------------------------------//

The next day, Spike was slowly treading towards Fluttershy's cottage, carefully holding a big bag of bird feed. 

He stepped onto the quaint little bridge over the creek, and looked to the distant cabin door. Tiredness overcame him, so he sat on the ledge, while looking at the cottage and recouping his breath.

At some distance away, a large, innocuous-looking bush shook vigorously. Two heads popped from the hedge at the same time, and turned to each other with some surprise.

"Well slap mah head and call me silly... Fancy seein' you in here, Twilight." 

The orange mare shook a stray leaf off her head and smirked. "What are the odds we've picked the same bush to hide in?"

"I saw you tail behind him, so I started following you." Twilight gazed at the orange mare with a poker face. "What's this all about?"

"Easy there sugarcube." Applejack raised both her hooves. "Ah jus' heard that Spike's goin' to check on Fluttershy, and Ah want to make sure everythin' goes fine."

She then shrugged. "Fluttershy didn't show up the other day to pick up the diced apples for her animals, so Ah delivered to her by mah own hooves. She thanked me, but lawds'a mercy, did she look like a ghost! So Ah reckon Ah've gotta keep a tab on things."

Twilight narrowed her left eye, seemingly unsatisfied with the answer.

"Eh, you don't look so convinced." Applejack looked to the side suspiciously. "Ah say, this is all just normal friend caring about another friend..."

"Let's not beat around the figurative bush. I know what you're up to, AJ."

"... Huh, so Spike told you everything?" Applejack slowly grinned, shedding any remaining pretense. "Ah knew it. After all, Ah would've turned to you as well, if Ah were still a dragon."

"So you did ask him out." Twilight raised a brow in disbelief. "This is outrageous! What exactly are you thinking?"

"Whoa nelly, shhh-" Applejack hushed, and then explained with a light voice. "Look, Ah don't know about you, but having him by mah side feels so snug and safe..."

The orange mare looked up towards the wavering treetops and muttered. "The apple orchard can feel so vast and empty sometimes, y'know? Ah just did what Ah had to do to persuade him to stay with me more often."

"Were you saying those things... just so that you can claim him all for yourself?!"

"Sheesh Twi." Applejack's smile turned droll. "Ah didn't expect to be put in a wringer when Ah stepped out of the Acres this morning."

"Answer me." Twilight's laconic words sound non-negotiable.

"Ah'm not playin' him for a fool, nor am Ah lyin' to get what Ah want, if that's what yer implyin'." Applejack shot back. 
"Unlike you, Ah don't have the leisure of havin' him tag along by default. But at least Ah'm honest with mah feelin'. Whatever we become and wherever we go, Ah'm not goin' to be regrettin' what Ah said, that's fer sure."

Twilight looked a bit stung, but she insisted. "... We'll talk about this later."

"Yeah... and there! He's on the move again."


***


A gust of spring wind blew at Spike's face. He sighed, stood up and dusted himself off. He inspected the bag, and lifted it up with both his arms again.

Heavy as the bag was, he was more preoccupied with the yellow mare in the cottage.

From what he heard from the other girls, the pink-maned pegasus had been lethargic and withdrawn ever since the fateful day. Therefore, once Spike heard that Fluttershy had not collected the bird feed the day before, he volunteered to help the animal caretaker to do some manual work, planning to give her a pleasant surprise. 

Admittedly, it was also a way for him to briefly put aside what happened with Applejack. 

Indeed, Spike felt quite sorry about Fluttershy. She was the only newly-met pony who showed him a modicum of interest before everything happened, even though it's only due to the fact that he's a baby dragon. 

She was a gentle soul, living by herself by the vast Everfree and caring for the animals. But all he did to her after the incident was to scold her for not chinning up like the rest of them, all with the tact of a sledgehammer.

After all, at the time, Spike only knew to treat them as 'copies' of himself, since that's what they exactly said. But one thing was becoming more and more apparent - what the Elements did was much more complicated. Exactly how, he was not sure, but to treat them as courteously as he would to the originals seemed like a good idea.

He shook his head and found himself at the door already. He laid the bag on the ground, and was about to lay his claws on the door.

"STOP! Don't you even try to move an inch closer to my house!"

A voice blasted from inside the door, sending the dragon into a jolt.

"Huh?"

"I- I am not gonna say this again!" The voice stuttered for a brief moment, before returning to full strength again. "GO AWAY, OR ELSE!"

To say Spike did not expect this reaction would be an understatement. "F- Fluttershy? Is that you? I'm just here to deliver the bird feed to you! What's this all of a sudden?"

"Can you not understand me?!" The voice grew more anguished and agitated. "Go, just go, please!"

Spike was dumbfounded. What could have prodded Fluttershy into shutting herself in again? He thought they had everything cleared up in their last meeting. And to hear the usually soft-spoken mare practically barked at him was all-the-more disorienting.


***


Holding two pieces of large lotus leaves above themselves across the creek, the peeping mares gazed at the scene with eyes wide open.

"What's going on?" Twilight was similarly puzzled by Fluttershy's reaction. She turned to find Applejack looking at the scene with a mesmerized expression.

"Applejack?" Twilight poked at the orange mare, and she poked again when she received no response. "Applejack?"

"Ahh..." The orange mare let out a long sigh. She turned to Twilight with a knowing smirk. "Ah see... Ah see."

"What do you see?" Twilight frowned.

"Ah reckon Ah might know why she's acting like that." 

Frustrated at her crypticness, Twilight asked anxiously. "Then tell me!"

Applejack waved away the purple mare's concern, and turned her gaze back at the scene. "Let's jus' keep watchin' where this goes first."


***


"Look Fluttershy, whatever it is, we can talk it out..." Spike extended his arms like he was dealing with a raptor, while frantically thinking what could have ticked her off so badly.

"I- you... Did something bad happen? Panic attack? Night fright? O- or..." Spike continued with fretful realization and a wince. "... have you somehow become yourself again?" 

The door abruptly yanked open, revealing a yellow pegasus, very much not looking like the paragon of kindness. Fuzzy mane covered her blood-shot eyes, and her outstretched hoof basically slammed the door onto the cottage wall, causing the tweeting birds at a distance to fly away in alarm. 

"NO! I'm still not 'myself'! I just don't want to see you! At all!" 

The angry yellow mare yelled, but she seemed to be deliberately avoiding direct gazes. "Get lost now or I'll sic Harry on you!"


***


The scattered birds flew at the onlooking mares' heads, and they promptly ducked in avoidance.

"Applejack, do you know who Harry is?" Twilight asked, raising the leaf with her magic again.

"He's an animal friend of Fluttershy... a bear, Ah think? Quite a large fellow at that."

"A bear?!" Twilight sounded clearly aghast. "He is in danger!"

"No, he's not." Applejack was cool as a cucumber. "She's just bluffin', anythin' to get Spike away from her sight."

"How are you so sure of that?" Twilight frowned at Applejack, and then looked back to the silent but very tense standoff in the front of the cottage. 

"She just isn't the kind of pony to hurt others. She doesn't even rise to stand for herself when she should. There's no chance in Tartarus she would really sic a bear on Spike."

"But she- Ugh, then tell me already!" The purple unicorn was overwrought with suspense. "Why exactly does she not want to see him?"

"Twi, oh Twi," Applejack clearly derived much pleasure in teasing the anxious purple mare. "Yer eyes are bein' covered yer frenzy. Look at me, and look at Fluttershy, you'll see somethin' in common, but jus' expressed in a very different way."

Twilight knitted her brows immediately and quietly pondered. Suddenly, she too seemed to understand what Applejack was hinting at, and let out a long breath.


***


"... Fluttershy." 

Spike was the first to reopen the conversation. "I don't know what happened that made you so mad with me, but whatever it is, I apologize."

"..."

"W- Was it because I scolded you? If that's the case, I am really sorry. I thought you were all just me so I kinda..." The dragon trailed off and sighed. "I don't know what I can say or do to make up to you, but-"

"That's not it!" Fluttershy yelled again impatiently, stomping the ground with a disgruntled face. But this time, a pleading tone crept up her voice. "Why won't you just leave me alone?!"

"I can't leave you alone. I don't care who you are or who you think you are, every one of you is my responsibility." Spike tried his best to soften his tone. "Not least because I don't even know why you're so crossed."

"If I tell you, are you going to go away?"

"Just tell me first."

"I... I can't stand your sight!" The yellow mare finally yelped in distress. "I just can't!"

Spike froze, hit by her words like smashing into a ton of bricks. 

Fluttershy shivered and averted her gaze further, but she eventually began with a smaller voice. 

"... This whole ordeal feels like a dream that I can't wake up from. I talk with the animals, care for them, chat with friends, live the life of an animal caretaker... But I always feel drained by thoughts of you."

Spike gulped, and he bit at his tongue in an attempt to keep his emotion in check.

"I've felt it ever since I argued with Angel on the first day, and what you said... It simply made my confusion stronger. It doesn't feel right. Nothing feels right. It's like I am always looking through an hourglass. Even when I do everything just right, something still feels wrong. I don't even begin to know what's wrong, and how to even begin to describe it." 

The yellow mare slowly turned her head back to the diminutive dragon, her brows knitted tight. "But... But when I look at you, I just feel that dissonance so strongly. So much so that I couldn't help but lash out. So if you can just leave and make me feel less stressed out, I'd be... I'd be..."

She let out a heavy sigh, unable to continue her thoughts.

"I... I can't hurt you." She then simply shook her head, strain was apparent on her face and in her voice. "I don't hate you either. But please, just leave me alone."


***


"There you go." Applejack remarked with a head-shake. "Poor Fluttershy, she's so confused."

"And your head is so clear, huh?" Twilight sourly noted.

"No need to add so much kick to your words, Twilight. Remember, we have much in common." The orange mare thinly smiled. "But Ah think she's not thinkin' right with her noggin'."

"You think what's troubling her is the same as yours?"

"Ah'm surprised you asked it out loud." Applejack turned to look at the scene with a tinge of concern, but mostly with the amusement one looked into a funhouse mirror. "Of course we all feel the same kind of confusion. But we're also dealin' with that in very different ways. And the way Ah deal with it is to set mah eyes in the right place, fire mahself up and take charge."

"Right."

"Right." Applejack showed the purple pony a toothy grin. "Ah jus' think she's not seein' right. Spike the dragon is the root of all these. To run away and pretend he doesn't exist is a way to deal with it, but it's at the end no use. Dread him, run from him, the piece of him in us remains."

"... That makes more sense than I'd like to admit."

"Ah'll take that as a compliment." Applejack gave the purple mare a wry grin. She checked to make sure the dragon and the pegasus still stood in a stalemate, and continued. "Ya see, Ah came here to check on Spike. He sure looked right sprung on yesterday. But seein' how it is now with Fluttershy... Ah can't honestly say Ah look forward to competition, but this also would not do. She is our friend after all."

"Competition? Sheesh." Twilight raised a brow, but then asked. "But what exactly do you plan to do?"

"Why, we jump out like two bush bunnies and clear their heads with words."

"... You are serious."

"Or we just sit here, and watch him tuck his tail and scurry away." Applejack shrugged. 

"No way. Spike... He just isn't a dragon who would give up on somepony he cares about like that."

"Ah know, but Ah also heard Fluttershy has a weapon to surpass Harry the Bear."


***


Fluttershy slowly drew in a breath and broke the silence this time. "... You're not leaving."

"I can't, sorry!" Spike quickly bowed but stood his ground. "I don't know what I can do right now, but I know what I definitely can't do: to leave a mess I made behind and leave someone else to deal with it."

He rose and stared the pegasus in the eyes. "We need to talk." 

A gust of wind blew against his spines, and the dragon drew a half-circle in the dirt with his foot. 

"Mister, you are making this very difficult." Fluttershy seemed both vexed and perplexed at his tenacity.

"No matter how difficult," The dragon breathed out slowly. "I must stay and fix this-"

"That's enough!" All of a sudden, it was as if the air itself froze solid. An oppressive atmosphere enveloped the scene, the yellow-coated mare darted forward and harshly glared into the diminutive dragon's eyes. "How exactly are you going to fix this, Spike, when you exactly are the problem?! Now would you be a dragon of his words and GO AWAY!"

The dragon let out an audible gasp. He stumbled backwards and sat awkwardly on the ground, two arms hastily setting down and holding up his small torso. His eyes seemed to get drawn in by the relentless glower of the pegasus, like a lone rowboat in a maelstrom. 

In a green bush at a distance, a suppressed whisper could be heard.

"That's the Stare." 

Applejack hushed, awe apparent in her voice. "Fluttershy told us she only used it in dire situations. Naughty varmints are deathly scared of it, and Ah suspect it can even bend wills of lesser ponies... Pro'lly one of the reasons why she's such a capable caretaker fer the critters."

"Indeed, I can feel the tension even at such a great distance. That's no mere effect of willpower..." Twilight frowned but surmised. She looked carefully at the dragon, who struggled against the overwhelming gaze from the usually demure pony. "But I don't sense any magic that I can detect anyway."

"This ain't no time fer magical research, Twi. You can grab Fluttershy into yer lab fer that, after we deal with the problem at hoof." Applejack added. "But thank Celestia Ah'm not yer assistant... now anyway."

Twilight first glared at the sheepish orange mare, and then pondered aloud. "That's an enticing suggestion, actually. It will be a good point of entry for my so-far fruitless research, since the pony that stands there can use a very unique skill seemingly only accessible by the Fluttershy of old-"

"Shh, there!"

Twilight was pulled from her thoughts, and quickly looked back to the duo. 

The dragon somehow managed to withstand the fierce stare from the pegasus, and to their even bigger surprise, stood up against the suffocating presence and held his own. While he was by no means comfortable-looking, judging by his twisted brows and cold sweat on his forehead, he did not seem to cede any more ground either.

"At the risk of soundin' like Ah'm praisin' mah own apples, Ah'm quite proud." Applejack nodded smilingly. "Ah never saw someone manage to resist the Stare before."

"At the risk of sounding obvious, he is a dragon, not a 'critter'."

"Oh, of course," Applejack squinted with a wide grin, her laidback demeanor was grinding the gears of the anxious purple pony. "Then again, it could also be that the Fluttershy of now can't wield the full power of the Stare right now."


***


"Gah!"

Fluttershy could barely believe it, as she was pushed to the point of exhaustion before the effect of the Stare fully took hold. She tumbled back and leaned on the cottage wall herself, before letting out some big labored breaths.

"Hah, hah, is it... It's over?" Spike himself also sounded as if he was pelted with a fierce storm of hailstones, his voice hoarse and thin. The dragon's gaze swam with tiredness and he groaned. "Argh, what in Equestria was that? My head is a total mush..."

Fluttershy gritted her teeth with a mix of shame and anger, but she did not know if she's more frustrated with the dragon or herself. She simply looked away, refusing to meet gaze with the dragon. 

To her surprise, she found her pet rabbit Angel peering intently at them, sitting with his legs crossed on the window ledge. Instinctively, she looked to him for support, only to remember that they were not exactly on the best of terms right now.

Just before she looked back dejectedly onto the ground, the rabbit jumped off the ledge and ran up to the startled mare. He immediately mouthed off something that Spike had no idea about, but it was evidently enough to turn her face stiff.

"... Angel, you-" Fluttershy muttered.

The bunny first gave the dragon a brief stink eye, before he turned his full gaze back to Fluttershy. He jumped up and made an exaggerated motion with his upper limbs, his frustration was apparent despite the wordlessness. At first, Fluttershy retorted quietly but vigorously, however soon found herself on the defensive.

"How was I-? But- But I was just trying to-" Fluttershy looked almost dazed, and after receiving another grand earful from Angel, she lowered her head further, seemingly full of shame. "... You really think so...?"

Spike then merely ogled with wide eyes, as the pegasus and bunny rabbit simply went back and forth. The bunny rabbit seemed to be both venting and lecturing the pegasus mare, and its wordless nature .  

He was befuddled but largely relieved, when the pegasus's demeanor softened considerably. Unease was still clear from her body language, but he saw she tentatively walk near him, this time much more diplomatic.

"I... I know it's a really odd time to say this." She fidgeted. "But, um, please come in. I'll make tea."

Spike sharply breathed in, he actually got to talk to her. He was somewhat worried that by defying her order to leave, he was actually going to make her hate his guts. Apparently, he had the prickly yet persnickety bunny to thank for.

Shrugging his little shoulders, he motioned a heartfelt thank-you to the rabbit with his paws, quickly grabbed hold of the bag of bird feed, and followed the pegasus into her house.


***


"Okay, I am now officially, totally lost. What exactly happened?" 

Twilight gawked as the duo entered the cottage, followed by the door loudly slammed shut. The midday sun shone down the grasses and the glistening river stream, and tranquil peace have suddenly returned to this brim of Ponyville.

"Tartarus if Ah know. Ah never really figured out what 'Shy's deal with her critters was. That Angel bunny though, he often pushed her around, but Ah guess mostly for her own good. Seems like he must've figured that getting the two to talk is the way to go, which Ah agree." 

Applejack then snorted. "Aw shucks, at least things are lookin' up?"

"Are we still going to, uh..." The unicorn cocked her head sideways and frowned. "Ugh, I don't even know what to do anymore. It's not like they're coming out any time soon."

"Oh, you were originally stalkin' me fer stalkin' him." The orange mare rolled her eyes and chuckled. "Should we go back to that?"

Twilight rolled her eyes back up briefly, but then bit her lips. "I... I think maybe we should leave them alone for now."

"Oh?" Applejack smirked again.

"Mind you, it's not that I am not curious what they would be talking about inside the cottage." The unicorn mare then lightly exhaled. "But whatever it is, it's probably their businesses and their own."

Twilight then paused for a bit and hesitantly tapped her hoof. "They need their own space. He needs his own space. I just don't think it's right to be too possessive, if only it could distance him even further."

Applejack's smirk faded, and she deliberated over Twilight's words.

"He would find help in me when he seeks it." Twilight then looked sideways with a lower voice. "Besides, I have faith in him."

"... Well then." The orange mare, for the first time, dropped her wryness in her tone, her expression replaced with one of ponderance. She rose from the bush and dusted herself. 

"... You're leaving? I thought you come this far just to see what he's up to, what with him wanting to avoid you and all-"

"So he was avoiding me." Applejack sharply looked back, and couldn't help but show a bit of disappointment in her voice.

Twilight covered her mouth, but Applejack quickly picked herself up and nodded briskly. "Ah reckon yer right. Ah should probably jus' leave him alone fer a bit, let him stew in his thoughts. Don't want him to think Ah'm even more overbearin' by bein' a nosy snooper and all. We can always check back on them later, when they're ready."

"I am not trying to call you out or anything, it's as much for you as it's for me-"

"Yeah, no need to couch it. Yer jus' tellin' it like it is, sugarcube. Ah'm stupid fer gettin' too caught up in mah desire, and not caring enough about what he thinks." 

Applejack stepped onto the winding path and turned her head back again. "Ah guess Ah must've sounded like a wind-up, huh? Sorry 'bout that. Ah was probably a bit defensive, what with me fixin' to get a hold of him... But Ah guess you've already told me what Ah need to hear."

Twilight nodded then shook her head. "I should be more patient and understanding as well." 

"So anyways," The orange earth pony continued. "Ah still have some time before Ah have to go back to the Acres. You probably won't be starting your usual afternoon research session till later either, if Ah remember correctly? So let's go fer a lunch in town."

"Um, I didn't bring my saddlebag out when I-"

"Then it's on me."

The unicorn was about to open her mouth to protest, but she was already dragged along by the strong earth pony, who already began to mouth off a list of dining locales like a travel guide. Twilight could only smile and exhale in resignation as she was forced to canter along. 

Indeed, it has been a long time since her mind was primarily occupied by something as mundane as choices of hay burgers and cider drinks. 

She was also grateful for it.