--- The Other Side ---
"My name's Spike, it's... nice to meet you?"
"I'm Spike! Yes, I'm a dragon. Yes, I'm a weird-looking dragon. That's... not really important right now though. Don't worry about it. It's fine..."
"Uhh... Hmm... S'up, dog? How's it chilling in yo... fo shizzle?... Yeah, those are words..."
The long dragon sighed into the bathroom mirror again, still unsure exactly how to deal with what he was about to go through in who knew how long. Twilight had left a while ago to go get the ponies she'd be introducing him to today, and Spike had spent that time preparing himself for that coming encounter. The idea of speaking with other ponies hadn't been anything he had seriously entertained since he started his world-spanning adventure with Twilight, but the past couple of weeks had done something to alter that mindset of his as of late. Hearing about Twilight's interactions with the locals had piqued his curiosity, not to mention the time the two of them had spent with Fluttershy. He couldn't remember the last time a random stranger had been that nice to him or Twilight, but he wasn't willing to complain about it. That alone was enough to get him curious about what the other people in this town were like.
But right now, that curiosity was leading to a bit of a nervous streak in him. He remembered Twilight using the phrase "butterflies in my stomach" before to describe the idea of being nervous about something, and he felt like that saying was appropriate for what he was feeling right about now. He knew nothing bad would happen, Twilight wouldn't let anything go too horribly wrong, but he couldn't help but feel a little antsy about the whole thing.
"Come on, you've talked to other ponies before..." He reassured himself, gazing deeply into his worried reflection. "Twilight... Twilight's family... Cadence... that's like, five ponies right there!"
That didn't help him feel much better about the up and coming meet and greet, but it did enough. He gave his reflection a pearly white toothy grin, he knew that everything would be alright in the end. He didn't really need to be stressing out over this like he was. He was overthinking things, it was just a couple of Twilight's friends. What could go wrong?
That question was answered when Spike heard the door slam with immaculate force, sending a noticeable shockwave throughout the house and causing Spike to nearly leap out of his scales. It took him a second to process what that thunderous crash was at all, and it brought a chilling sense of dread to the young reptile. In his short life thus far, he had never known the slamming of a door to be anything good. It usually meant that someone was very upset with something.
"Agh! No, no, no!" Twilight soon shouted out from the other room, followed by a few muffled stomps of her hooves. The distressed tone in her voice cemented it in Spike's mind that something had gone wrong in today's plan. "Of course. Why not?!"
Oh boy... this can't be good... Spike couldn't remember the last time Twilight sounded this upset about something. Slowly but surely, he slinked his way out of the bathroom and towards the living room. He wasn't sure what was going on, but his curiosity and concern for Twilight outweighed his trepidation towards all of this. When he arrived at the scene, there were a few things he noticed right off the bat.
Firstly, he saw the dusty old cape that Twilight always wore to keep her wings hidden off in the far corner of the room, with a few more black patches than he remembered it having. As a fire-breathing creature himself, he had long since learned what fire-damage looked like. And that was definitely fire-damage, not anything too severe, but it was fire-damage all the same. He didn't know why Twilight's cape would be fire-damaged, but it did add to the dread welling up in Spike's mind right about now.
The next thing that stuck out to him was the severe lack of other people in the immediate area. It was just him and Twilight alone in the temporary home, the latter of which was busy glaring daggers at the calendar with an intensity that Spike had rarely seen of her in his lifespan. He found himself comparing her present state to distant and hazy memories of Twilight's school days, how she would spend hours on end glaring like this at whatever books or papers her teachers had thrown at her. The long dragon winced at those recollections, distinctly remembering just what the alicorn had gone through during her time in Celestia's torture chamber of a school. Or at least Spike had always assumed it was torture, given how much he had watched his closest friend suffer through it.
Though these familiar feelings were dashed away in the instant a blot of light lept off of Twilight's horn and incinerated the calendar that seemed to have been tormenting her so. Spike could sparsely even remember the last time that he saw Twilight lash out at something like that, he wasn't even sure if she ever acted like this in the past. If she had, he either hadn't seen it or just simply didn't remember it. But regardless, the dragon shuddered at the alicorn's sudden display of violence. He knew Twilight would never do anything to hurt him, it was more of a reflexive reaction rather than a logical one. But even still, it wasn't an easy thing to watch.
Something was wrong, anyone could see that if they just looked, and Spike knew it better then anyone at the moment. So much so that he was compelled to move forward, albeit with a meek hesitance about his stride, knowing that he had to do something about it. For as long as he could remember, the young dragon had been a source of comfort for his equine caretaker. For one reason or another, his presence had an almost healing effect on Twilight and her mental state, and she was the same for him. And in times such as these, Spike had learned to view it as his solemn duty to help ease Twilight through troubling times like these. Even if he seldom knew what exactly was wrong nor how to fix it. All he could do was be there and try.
"Twilight?" He asked meekly, earning the alicorn's immediate attention with an unnerving jerking motion. Her eyes were cold and hollow, devoid of everything other than the anger she was already exuding in droves. It was enough to make Spike hesitate his decision and his self-appointed roll in the alicorn's life for but a moment before he was able to continue, albeit a bit shakily. "Did you... talk to them?"
That question might not have been the best in this situation, but it was the only thing Spike could think of right now to get the alicorn talking. If her attitude was to be believed, the talk with those ponies most definitely did not go according to plan. And that question would more than certainly get Twilight to talk about it, with any luck at least. But Twilight didn't say a single word in reply, at least not at first. She just stood there with that same dark grimace for a few seconds before a new emotion began to make itself known. Another one that Spike, unfortunately, recognized right off the bat. Guilt was the quickest way to describe it, Twilight looked like she was feeling an immense amount of guilt. But this too only lasted for a second or two before she became almost bitterly stoic.
"It didn't work out," Twilight answered snappily, her gaze falling back to where the calendar used to be. "Go get your things. We're leaving. Today." The answer and the cold way in which Twilight had given it had caught Spike off guard, to say the least. He did not like the sound of that at all, and his priorities shifted from trying to help Twilight and more towards figuring out what was going on. Something was very wrong indeed, and it was far worse then Spike could have imagined
"Wh-what do you mean we're leaving?" That was the first of many questions that came to Spike's increasingly worried mind. With each passing second, he felt more and more like he was back in the woods being chased by those timberwolf monsters. Or like he was back in that cave with that horrible red dragon. Regardless, Spike felt scared and confused, his mouth moving before his head could and continuing to spout out questions. "What about that stuff you were dealing with? What about Fluttershy?"
"Rainbow Dash can take care of it, it's her job." Twilight walked away without even looking at him, hastily beginning to go through drawers in search of something. "Hurry up, we don't have time."
"But what about—?" He was abruptly cut short the instant he saw Twilight begin to spin around towards him.
"Now!"
Spike was not expecting Twilight to snap back at him with such, nor was he expecting her to shout out with such intensity. The fire in her eyes burned hotter than any comparatively meager flame that Spike could ever hope to produce. And then, just as quickly as she had lashed out she was back to rummaging through the drawers and cabinets without anything further to say. No backpedaling, no apology, just a burst of rage followed by cold indifference.
It was harrowing. So much so that Spike could do nothing left but silently scuttle back to his room in hopes that he wouldn't set Twilight off again. He quickly slipped inside and shut the door behind him as if the alicorn would be stopped by a simple wooden door. With wide eyes glued on the wooden floor beneath him, Spike stood there holding the door shut for an almost unnecessary amount of time. He could scarcely breathe, and the ones he could take were short and hurried. A foreclaw found its way from the door to his chest, the dragon's heart pounding like an anvil from what he had just been through.
Did that really just happen? The question looped over and over in the stunned dragon's head, unable to even process what had just transpired. Never had he seen Twilight direct that kind of anger towards him before. At other people who deserved it? Once or twice. But never at him, she had never once spoken to him like this. That didn't happen, that didn't happen, that didn't happen.
Never before in his life did Spike feel this helpless and small. He couldn't stop shaking, practically on the verge of tears from that short lived discussion with Twilight. He still didn't fully grasp what was going on, but even in this uneasy state, he was able to decipher that whatever it was must have been bad. Very bad, if it was enough to get Twilight to explode at Spike like that. This wayward thought was enough to get the dragon to begin his assigned task of getting his possessions so that they could leave.
Not that he had many possessions, though. Just a few toys and books that Twilight had accrued for him over their travels. Aside from the book about dragons that he had long since sworn off, he had a couple of other texts on basic reading and mathematic skills—ever the scholar, Twilight was, not even traveling the world in search of long dragons would stop her from educating Spike. The toys were another story, just a few trinkets and bobbles for Spike to fidget with whenever boredom struck, they weren't anything particularly elaborate or special. A ball or two, a chess set, a stuffed goat, and several puzzle boxes and other similar items. Just simple things to entertain him from time to time.
Though Spike didn't bother with taking the time to wax romantic about his personal belongings, he was far too busy gathering them up into a neat little pile on the ground for whenever Twilight would be around to collect him. It was the best he could do without having the saddlebags himself to put his things away, but he wasn't about to go out there just to grab the pouches. He'd already made Twilight mad enough, and that fire certainly didn't need any more fuel.
But that sentiment was thrown right out the window as another thunderous crash echoed through the house, followed almost immediately by a series of unfamiliar voices shouting out one by one.
"Twilight! Mr. Knox got arrested!! Do you know what happened?! What did—?!"
"Pinkie, you can't just barge into other people's houses like that! It's not—!"
Spike could have sworn he felt his heart stop for a moment or two with this sudden development. Intruders had made their way into his and Twilight's home with seemingly no difficulties, something that was only made worse in the dragon's mind as he remembered Twilight telling him that her talk with the others "didn't go well." Were they here to do something about the dragon that had been hiding in their town? That was the only logical answer that came to mind, even if what they were saying didn't really match up with that idea at all. Either way, Spike was compelled to leave the relative safety of his bedroom to see what was going on or not. Outraged or not, the safest place right now was as close to Twilight as physically possible.
"YOU'RE AN ALI—HRMNN?!"
Twilight's magic suddenly surged through the whole house at that moment, every physical surface now glowing with a familiar magenta hue. The light's purpose was made painfully clear with the clicking of nearby locks—doors and windows—sending a brand new wave of distress through Spike's already alarmed mind.
"H-Hey!!" He blaired out with blatant fear, frantically working the door handle to try and get out of his newly made prison. But his efforts were all in vain, or they were until he remembered that this door locked from the inside. He couldn't help but feel a little dumb as he looked down towards the simple latch that stood between him and freedom, wasting no time in unlocking the barricade.
"Quiet! Both of you!" Twilight's voice stopped the dragon in his tracks—just as he opened the door by just a crack—effortlessly convincing him to stop and listen for a second or two. "S-sorry... just don't make a scene... please." His equine caretaker didn't sound anywhere near as angry as she did mere moments ago, her voice was now giving off this meek tone of distress. What in the world was going on out there?
"You're an alicorn!" The first intruder answered at the absolute perfect time, catching Spike's full attention. "Why are you an alicorn?!"
This was bad, really bad. On top of everything else, now Twilight's being an alicorn was out in the open? Oh, if she was angry before, Spike didn't even want to know what was going through her head right now. For reasons Spike never fully understood, Twilight did absolutely everything in her power to keep that part of her a secret from everyone outside of a select few. From what he did know, alicorns were exceptionally rare, he had only ever heard of there being two or three others in the whole world. So, in his mind, it made sense why Twilight would keep that a secret from the masses. And he could scarcely imagine the wrath that was born from this secret being exposed.
But that divine fury never came, much to Spike's shock. As he continued to silently listen to the conversation, he was surprised by just how calm Twilight was acting with these complete strangers, especially after how she had exploded at him not even ten minutes ago. And with a few simple words from one of the interlopers, Twilight's anger was drowned out by apparent sorrow as the conversation took on a quieter tone. This prompted Spike to venture further outward, keeping himself low to the ground as to not be so easily spotted. Yet once again, his advances were cut short by a simple sentence.
"Alicorns aren't born, they're made... Made by the Queen... the only one who can anymore..."
Made by the Queen? Spike asked himself, not knowing what the stranger was talking about. Spike knew for a fact that Queen Celestia wasn't Twilight's mother, so the statement made little sense to the young dragon. Nothing about this situation made sense, with dozens of questions forming in his head as the three equines continued the discussion.
"Don't remind me," Twilight hoarsely murmured back.
"Okay... well, why don't you just tell her you don't wanna be an alicorn anymore?" The first invader seemed almost giddy about that suggestion. "We were talking about it earlier, remember? It's reversible! And she's going to be in town for the Festival! I could even sneak you into the—"
"Do you not think I already tried that?!" And with that, Twilight's anger was back in full force and Spike silently winced in reply. "I've been like this for six years. That was the first thing I thought of!... And it won't work... Not for me." Just as quickly as it had flared up, her anger died back down into that weary droll. "The spell is absolute... undoing it would put me right back where I was before she cast it... Just like Poesia. She's right back where she was before the spell was cast."
"... So you'd be six years younger? I can... imagine how that would be a setback. But if being an alicorn upsets you this much, then growing up again shouldn't be that big of a deal."
"I wouldn't even get the chance..."
What in the world were they even talking about? The question tormented Spike ever so, his young mind hardly able to follow the conversation. Alicorns being made, Twilight not being able to go back, none of it made any sense at all! It was driving him mad, so much so that he just wanted to leap out and ask Twilight what she was raving about. But then as if to answer his silent pleas, Twilight began to try and explain everything. And as she did, there were a few parts of her tale that stuck out especially in Spike's mind.
"Six years ago."
"Stupid egg."
"Killed me."
Spike may not have been fully following what was going on up until now, but this brief little story definitely put a few things into perspective. And while his memories from that long ago were hazy at best, he did know that he came from an egg and that he had hatched six years ago, right around the time that this event in Twilight's life took place. Anyone could have put those pieces together, and an overwhelming sensation of guilt overcame the young dragon as he put them together himself. A claw moved by its own accord up to his snout, claiming his mouth shut in a vice grip as to keep him from screaming out in horror.
I... killed Twilight? Part of him fought back to deny this outrageous claim. There was much he didn't know about the world as a whole, but he knew that when something died that it didn't keep going. And Twilight had certainly been going for the past six years, even if she seemed fully convinced otherwise. A forced smile came to his sealed lips as he convinced himself of this delusion. But that dream was shattered when the first interloper spoke up again.
"So you... actually died?"
"Yeah... I'd be in some grave right now if Celestia didn't step in when she did..."
Twilight's words cemented it in Spike's mind that she was only speaking the absolute truth. And it hurt him, it hurt him more than he ever knew he could hurt. Knowing that his very existence only came to be because of Twilight's own suffering, that he was the cause of that suffering. It was absolutely heart wrenching. But at least he wasn't the only one going through an excessive amount of emotional turmoil, evidence as Twilight continued to rant and rave. Volatile streams of magic were flung this way and that as her wrath reached its apex before the enraged alicorn fell to her flanks and began to softly cry once again. Going on and on about how it wasn't fair. Spike couldn't help but agree.
Nothing else of interest was said from that point forward, at least not anything that Spike particularly cared about. It was around now that Twilight let the two intruders leave without any further fuss before making her way over to what was left of the couch, sitting down admits the sorrowful sofa's shreds. Spike, in the meanwhile, held his position on the hallway floor practically on the verge of tears himself. Twilight's testimony had a truly damning effect on the young dragon, one he didn't think he could recover from. The fact that Twilight had just admitted to all of this pain she had endured since Spike's birth, pain that he couldn't help but feel at least somewhat responsible for despite her consistent claims that Celestia was the one at fault. Because of him—in Twilight's own words—she had to choose between dying another horrible death or living forever. To watch everyone else turn to dust around her until she was all alone.
Those words in particular stuck out to Spike in retrospect, even in his dismayed state of being. Twilight seemed utterly convinced that she would, one day, end up alone in the world. That at some point or another, she would be on her own with nobody else besides her. And while it might have been selfish of him to think of this right now, he wondered when this would apply even to him. If fact, now that he was thinking about it, another question came to mind.
If Spike had been the catalyst for all of this torment in her life, why in the world did she want anything to do with him? She had shown him nothing but love and compassion for as long as he could remember, minus a few lectures on behavior and etiquette here and there. She had even gone as far as to say that he meant everything to her, it didn't make any sense. How could these two truths co-exist? Spike's existence took Twilight's life away from her, yet she loved him with all of her heart. So much so that she offered to leave her home behind to help him find the other long dragons.
And then it all came crashing down, the realization cutting deep. His silent whimpering stopped in that very instant as he stood back up, blankly staring ahead of him with this stern expression of mixed pain and revelation. He didn't like it, but he had answered his own question.
She's trying to get rid of me... As the conclusion came to mind, the intense guilt he felt for what he unintentionally did was joined by a sharp sense of betrayal. This whole time she's just been trying to ditch me! That's why she wanted to find long dragons! It has to be! There wasn't a doubt in his mind at this point, he was convinced that this was all some elaborate ruse to be rid of him. All these years of love and learning that had shaped Spike into who he was now, what did they even mean to Twilight? Was it all just a means to an end for her? After all, what did she have to lose? She had all the time in the world, that much had just been made clear.
"Twilight." A bitter snort escaped from the dragon as he marched into the living room, bitterly glaring at the alicorn with nothing but disdain.
"Spike!" Twilight flinched at his arrival, a wide-eyed look of shock strewn over her lying face. She sat there on her throne of scraps, eyes red and puffy from her still-ongoing display of tears. "... How much of that did you hear?"
"Oh. Enough," Spike's tone was as venomous as his anger, "Enough to finally know the truth."
Twilight's shame was easy enough to spot, her eyes loosely narrowing as she hung her head low. "... I'm sorry."
"You really should be. Were you ever going to fess up about it?"
"... I don't know," her voice carried weakly across the room, seeming to Spike as if she were fishing for his pitty in this scenario. "It's... not an easy thing to talk about it."
"It seemed pretty easy when you were talking to those two," Spike scoffed much to Twilight's apparent surprise, "But then again, they're not the stupid egg that ruined your life! Are they?!"
A hurt-filled look was quickly turned Spike's way, not that he cared much at the moment. "Spike, that's not what I meant! I—"
"Shut. UP! I'm done with all of your LIES!" Spike roared back, searing tongues of emerald flame bursting forth to emphasize his words. "You've been lying to me my whole life and I'm DONE WITH IT!"
"Spike..." The tears that had been rolling down Twilight's face were coming harder and faster now. Evidently, she was caught off guard by Spike's sudden change in character, so much so that she stayed quiet for an almost unbearably long time. Likely to try and come up with some new lie to worm her way out of this, Spike couldn't help but think. "Where did this come from?... What did I do wrong?"
Spike couldn't answer that question, not at first, at the very least. In spite of his newfound rage towards the purple pony, he still couldn't help but look back on all of the times she had been there for him. All of the laughs they had shared, and the tears, and the lazy days where nothing happened. And seeing Twilight hurt like this was so painful for him despite his anger. Doubly so knowing that he was the one who was causing a great deal of that hurt. But his temper was burning far too brightly to be doused by a few wayward tears. He wasn't even sure if they were sincere or just another of the lies he was accusing Twilight of spewing. And that uncertainty only served to make him angrier and angrier.
"You... made me love you..." Spike snarled through gritted fangs, beginning to tremble as every muscle in his body tensed up. He could feel himself beginning to cry as well as his conflicting emotions raged within him for dominance. "Just so you could... ditch me, and hurt me like I hurt you!"
Twilight didn't say a single word in her defense, a clear enough signal to Spike that he was correct in his persecutions. She stood there shaking almost as much as he was, tiny gasps and wimpers occasionally escaping through her agape mouth. And in any other situation, Spike would be the first to run towards the distraught alicorn with open arms to try and help her through this obvious state of agony. But not this time, he was far too gone in his wrath at this point. He was convinced that this had to be some trick on her part, some ploy to get Spike to stop asking questions and accept the status quo she had established for him. Some part of him still believed that Twilight was being fully sincere right now, yet another louder part was quick to retort by claiming that she was just that good at lying by now.
"Well... mission accomplished," Spike continued in a low growl, doing everything he could to keep up his furious persona. "You got what you wanted... Here, I'll even save you the trouble of ditching me..."
Nothing else was said as he turned his back towards his former caretaker and strode on over to the door. He didn't know where he was going to go or what he was going to do, but he didn't care at all right now. All he wanted right now was to get away and never see Twilight for the rest of his life. But that plan was cut short when a familiar magenta glow surrounded his form and a firm yet gentle pulling sensation began drawing him back towards the alicorn.
"Spike, don't," Twilight commanded as sternly as her tears and her agony would allow her, "You have it all wrong, just let me—"
"SHUT UP!!" Spike bellowed again as he bore his claws into the wooden floor, the natural weapons grinding loudly against the hardwood surface for a second or two before he was able to halt his backward momentum. "JUST LET GO SO YOU CAN BE RID OF ME!" With great strain, he began to move forward against the alicorn's magical pull. She tried pulling harder, Spike could tell as much, but even still he kept going onwards.
"Spike, stop! Just let me talk!" Twilight tugged even harder with her magic, though not nearly enough to cause any kind form of harm to the escaping long dragon.
Spike groaned as he kept fighting the arcane pull, a losing battle at this point. She wasn't going to let up anytime soon, and he knew that she could easily end this charade if she wanted to. He knew enough about alicorns—Twilight, in particular—to know that she wasn't even putting in a fraction of her full effort right now. It was almost insulting, at this point. Like she wasn't even really trying to stop him from leaving. That only made him angrier, causing him to fight even harder against the alicorn's magic. An unpleasant numbness began to spread through his body as his fury grew evermore, boiling over entirely into a seething foam of unbridled wrath. At this point, there wasn't anything that could be called a rational thought in Spike's head. Right now he was a being of pure emotion, little more than a wild beast. Not unlike the red dragon that had chased the two into Ponyville in the first place. And it was this state of pure unadulterated frenzy that Spike made his move.
"I HATE YOU!!"
He spun around without a moment's hesitation and lunged towards the purple pony, using her magic to speed up his assault upon his prey. Through his own furious hissing, he heard Twilight gasp in shock before yelping in pain as he sunk his teeth in as deep he could get them to go. He kept himself latched there for what felt like eons, breathing heavily as the gushing warmth filled his maw, the pounding heartbeat in his ears overwriting all other sounds.
And then he realized what he just did.
With a loud, shocked gasp he pulled away from the purple pony as quickly as he could, the bitter taste of blood still ever-present in his mouth. It was this moment that some sense of clarity came back to the long dragon and all of his unfounded wrath and hatred was replaced with fear and regret. He didn't really hate Twilight, he didn't really believe all the horrible things he just said and thought, but he had let his own anger run away with him in a time of vulnerability, and now he was to pay the price. He scurried backward, shaking his head rapidly as if to deny the evidence of his crime standing before him.
Twilight didn't make a sound. She just stood there, with a look of abstract horror strewn over her face as she stared down at what Spike had just done. Her right foreleg was held slightly aloft, the gaping bite-wound now upon it persuading her to keep her weight off of it. Blood trickled from the freshly delivered wound, as did it from Spike's newly crimson-colored maw. Neither one of them knew how long they stayed like this, both staring at the results of what had just happened. It was Twilight who finally broke the stalemate after an eternity of silence.
"You... bit me..."
She didn't sound angry at all, that was the worst thing about this. The only thing Spike could parse from her tone was a legitimate sense of surprise and disappointment. The alicorn didn't even bother to look up from the horrible thing Spike had done in a moment of uncontrolled anger. Without another word, Spike ran. As fast as he could manage, not even bothering to acknowledge as the alicorn called out for him. In his terror, he ran back to the only safe place he could think of, his bedroom. He wormed his way inside and slammed the door shut behind him, fumbling with the lock for a few seconds before getting it to click in place. He knew it wouldn't stop Twilight, he knew that for a fact. But that didn't stop him from at least trying to buy himself a brief bout of time. It was now, in the relative isolation of his bedroom that Spike allowed himself to weep. He paced back and forth about the room, sobbing and sniffling, unable to process the reality of his new situation with Twilight.
"Why'd I do that?! Why'd I do that?! Why'd I do that?!" He demanded of himself in a shouted whisper, over and over again without any sign of stopping anytime soon. With each passing second his sobs became louder and louder, and a newfound hatred for himself grew more and more.
At this point, he could hardly even remember the feelings of unjustified anger and hatred he had aimed at Twilight over a few hasty assumptions in his head. That's what they were, he only now realized, hasty assumptions that he made of Twilight's character in a moment of weakness. He knew that she loved him with all her heart—she wouldn't have given him a single year of her life if she didn't, let alone six—and he had just repaid that love and kindness by brutally tearing into her flesh right after screaming horrible, horrible things at her because he let his anger get away from him.
On that note, he could still taste the blood upon his tongue and could feel it dripping from his vicious maw. And upon realizing this, he began to cough and gag to get that horrible taste out of his mouth, trying to wipe away the red smears on his face with his claws. This did nothing for him, as he could still feel that bitter warm taste dancing in his mouth, and now even his claws were dyed crimson as if to remind him of his crime.
The long dragon was an incoherent murmuring mess at this point, once again unable to form any meaningful coherent thoughts. But now instead of rage clouding his mind, it was self-loathing and regret that kept him from thinking with any kind of logic or rationale. And it was in this sorry state that drove Spike to his next hasty decision, his eyes glancing up towards the room's only window.
"If she didn't hate me before, she has to hate me now..." He murmured to himself as he skittishly approached the room's only other exit. He didn't know for sure what Twilight was going to do next in response to what he had done, but he did know that he could no longer bring himself to face her. Not after everything he had just accused her of, and certainly not after attacking her like that. And thus, still shaking from the traumatic experience he had just lived through, he began to unlock and subsequently open the window, hesitating for just a moment as he looked to the outside world.
Three knocks upon the door halted any further progress the dragon would make, shortly followed by Twilight's haunting voice.
"Spike?" She meekly asked from behind the wooden barrier, the only thing standing between her and the long dragon at this moment. "Can I come in?... I just want to talk..."
Spike could feel the tears rolling along her face and he could hear the quivering of her lip as she choked the words out. She was hurting, that much was obvious enough. But it was far more than physical hurting, Spike didn't need to look at her to know that much. That bite was so much more powerful than just a simple flesh wound, and it must have sent a very nerve-racking message to the one he had given it to. Yet even still, he couldn't bring himself to turn back towards the door. He just couldn't.
So with a heavy heart, Spike moved as silently as he could and slinked out of the window down to the soft grass below. It wasn't a long enough fall to cause any harm, but he wouldn't be able to crawl back in without Twilight's help in pulling him back. There was no going back anymore, and for as much as it hurt him to do it, the long dragon went on his way. He didn't know where he would go from here, all he knew was that he had to go.
"SPIKE!?"
Twilight's shrill scream echoing through the open window caused him to hesitate for but a single second before he took off running, managing to get away long before Twilight had the chance to see his shameful escape through the window.