//------------------------------// // Enough is Enough // Story: Spike the Fairy // by PonyJoel //------------------------------// Just another typical day in Ponyville at the Castle of Friendship, Spike is waking up as Princess Twilight Sparkle enters his bedroom. Spike yawns and stretches as Twilight tosses him a list of chores. "Morning, Spike. I hope you had a goodnight's rest," Said Twilight, happily. Spike unveils the list to read. He sighs as he reads the long list of chores. "Wash and scrub the floors, windows, reorganize the shelves and dust the shelves in all library rooms, buy food, supplies for studying, clean the kitchen, clean all spare rooms, sweep the throne room," Spike groans. "I know you can do it, Spike. Also, Rarity has asked me to give you this," Twilight uses her magic to levitate a list of chores for Spike to do at the boutique. Spike sighs as he reads what Rarity wants. "I would help but, my friends need me to organize our anniversary as being friends," Twilight smiles with glee as she leaves. Spike gets out of bed and goes to the closet to grab a bucket and scrub. He starts his day by scrubbing the floors after washing them, then the windows. Washing and scrubbing took five hours of his day due to how big the castle's interiors are. Spike takes a break and decides to head over to Sugarcube Corner for a tasty treat. As Spike opens the front doors of the castle, a bucket filled with ice water pelts him. Due to Spike being cold-blooded, he shivers in pain. Two ponies, in particular, are laughing at Spike's misery. "Gotcha!" Pinkie delightfully glee as she points at Spike with her hoof. Rainbow Dash couldn't help but mock Spike. "So much for the Brave and Glorious," Rainbow laughed. "More like Lame dragon," Rainbow chuckles. Spike balls his claws as he's shivering like crazy but sighs. He is not in the mood for any of the prankster's nonsense. "Good.., prank," Spike calmly said, sounding a little distraught with the prank. "Oh, relax, Spike," Pinkie noted, putting an arm around Spike's neck. "Yeah," Rainbow concurs with a smile. "We're only messing around," Said Rainbow, shoving an apple pie in Spike's face. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash laugh harder as Spike starts walking away from the pranking duo. Spike loses his appetite thanks to the pie in the face prank. As Spike heads over to Rarity's boutique, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie hurry over to meet with Applejack and Twilight. Spike enters the boutique and goes to the bathroom to wash up. After a few minutes, he grabs a broom and starts sweeping the floors. According to Rarity's chore list, he needs to sweep the floors, fix Rarity's room, clean Sweetie Belle's room, and feed Opal. It's not much but, Spike had just enough with the chores. After an hour of cleaning up, Spike's appetite returns. Spike crumbles Rarity's list and tosses it away. He opens the door to the boutique and stands back. He sighs in relief as Pinkie and Rainbow didn't plant another bucket of ice on top of the door. Spike leaves the boutique and walks over to Sugarcube Corner. As he's walking, he wonders if there is some miracle that Twilight and her friends would decide that he should come along as well. Surely they would appreciate his company. Right? As Spike enters Sugarcube Corner, he sees Twilight and Applejack waiting in line to get cupcakes. "Hey, Twilight," Said Spike, greeting his sister-like friend. Twilight turns around and sees Spike. She gives Spike an inauspicious look. "Spike," Twilight said. Not sounding pleased with him. "What are you doing slacking off?" "Slacking off?!" Spike said in shock. "I've never slacked off!" "Spike," Twilight commands. "Get back to work. No time for lollygagging. You have other chores to take care of." "Twilight, I came here to-" Twilight's hoof cuts off Spike's speech. "To the castle and finish your work," Twilight said. "Better run along, Sugarcube. Don't want you to get into any more trouble with Twi, now will you?" Applejack said. "Now, Spike," Said Twilight, annoyed. Spike sighs in defeat and leaves. As he walks out of Sugarcube Corner, a bucket filled with ice water pelts him a second time. This time, the bucket hits Spike on the head. Not only he fell to the ground, clutching onto his head a bit, but Spike is also in pain once more. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash come out to laugh at the baby dragon. Twilight and Applejack saw and couldn't help but laugh as well. It reminded them of the ice block incident. Spike gets up. His teeth couldn't stop chattering as he walks back to the Castle of Friendship, upset. "Pinkie, that's a new record," Rainbow said, still laughing at the ice bucket prank. "Two for two!" Pinkie cheers. "We should get him again with the same prank later tonight. When he opens the door for Twilight." "Definitely!" Rainbow nods as she smiles. "We gotta tell Twilight and the others of our prank." As Spike slowly walks back to the Castle of Friendship, he reminisces all the times Twilight had used him instead of being a friend. Twilight gets to live her life as a pony, as a Princess while he is left behind, doing everything as a slave would and being called a slacker. It hurts him. More than anyone could have ever known. He sighs sadly. Spike enters the Castle of Friendship and goes to the kitchen. He opens the fridge to see some carrots and a slice of apple pie. Spike takes the carrots and puts them on a plate. A tear fall from Spike's eye, hitting the plate of carrots. "Why must I suffer while Twilight and our..., no.., Twilight and her friends get to enjoy life?" Spike looks up at the ceiling as he takes a bite out of a carrot. "The things I do for all of them, with my dragon code and all.., they still take me for granted," Spike takes another bite out of the carrot. "Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash have no remorse with their ice water bucket pranks whatsoever. Including other pranks they have pulled, Rainbow mocks me for not being like the other dragons. Today, she used my Crystal Empire title as Brave and Glorious in a disrespectful manner while calling me a lame dragon," Spike finish one of the carrots on his plate. "Does she care about my feelings? Do they realize that they are killing me slowly with ice water? Do they want me to die?" Spikes gasps as his eyes widen in shock after the question came out of his mouth. He starts getting teary. All he experienced, all he went through, it's starting to add up. Spike spent the next hour writing everything he experienced during his tenor in Ponyville. All the times he's been with Twilight and her friends. He wrote in full detail of their wrongful doings and rightful doings. "I can't believe this," Said Spike, shaking his head in disbelief. "I can't remember an actual good time I had with Twilight and her friends. I'm a slave to them, an errand boy. An object that they pass around," Said Spike in tears. "Twilight uses me for chores, cooking her breakfast, lunch, and dinner. She belittles me for being too young but gives me all the responsibility of taking care of the castle while taking care of her. Also, she would use me for any of her research as well as being a test subject. Rarity uses my emotions for her benefit. She uses my crush for her for leverage and uses my body as a pincushion," Spike groans in the realization that he was nothing more than a tool for Rarity at the time. "Pinkie Pie never invites me to any parties she's thrown unless it's my own birthday," Spike sighs. "Only one time she threw one. She has forgotten three birthdays of mine. Pinkie hasn't invited me to any of her social gatherings as well. Rainbow Dash continues to mock me and participate in any way of humiliating me for laughs," Spike sighs heavily. "Applejack would use me as an example of sporting or hogtying me with her lasso. She uses me as an object and not be my friend. Whenever I do help, she rarely thanks me. I get no appreciation. The time with my dragon code, instead of talking to me about it, she tried many ways of getting rid of me. Fluttershy has slowly forgotten about me. She pays more attention to Discord than me. Not that I'm jealous but, she has more of a friendship with him than me. Am I just a forgotten friend to them?" Spike walks down the corridors of the castle to his room. Disregarding the rest of his chore list as he is too sad to handle it. As he walks down, he remembers all the other times he missed out due to work and chores. Visiting Cloudsdale and seeing Rainbow Dash performing at the Young Flier's Competition, getting left behind at the Gala in Canterlot, missing out on Twilight's birthday party cause it got relocated to Canterlot, not invited to see Maud Pie. Spike continues to think about every possible outing he missed because of chores and Twilight leaving him behind. Spike starts to question his faith with the friends he has. He enters his bedroom and lays in bed. "They're not my friends," Spike exclaims. "They are nobodies. They claim I'm their friend but, I'm not. I'm a slave. A tool for their amusement," Spike sadly claims. Spike burps a letter. The seal on the letter is from Princess Celestia. "Screw it," Spike uses his flames to burn the letter. He's not in the mood to leave his bed. Also, he has a feeling that another bucket is placed for when he leaves the castle. "Celestia probably wanted Twilight to come over for a party or some sort," Spike falls asleep on his bed to ease his emotions. Hours later. It is now 9:30 at night. Twilight and her friends are on their way to the Castle of Friendship. After having a splendid time together at the river, celebrating their anniversary as being friends. Twilight wants her friends to sleepover at her castle. She promises that Spike will make his freshly baked homemade triple-decker nut-crazy vanilla cream cookies. As they enter the Castle of Friendship, Twilight and the girls see Spike's handiwork on the floors and windows. As they trot down the corridor, Twilight notices that several libraries have not been reorganized and dusted. Pinkie Pie trots to the kitchen and alerts Twilight that she doesn't have much food. Twilight goes into her study room to find out that there are no new supplies. "What the heck?" Twilight said in frustration and disappointment. "Spiiiiiiike!" Twilight shouts in anger. Twilight angrily stomps her way to Spike's bedroom as the others overhear Spike's name. Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity follow Twilight to Spike's room. Twilight slams the door open with her magic, startling Spike in his sleep. "Spike," Said Twilight sternly. Unbeknown to Twilight and her friends, Spike has a mild cold. He yawns and looks at Twilight. "Yes, Twilight?" Spike replies, coughing a little. "Spike, why haven't you finished your chores?! It's 9:45 at night!" "I was tired. I've done so much and endured a lot," Spike tiredly said. "Well, Spike," Twilight turns and uses her magic to levitate Spike's Power Ponies comic. "I am officially revoking you of reading any Power Ponies comic until further notice." "You can't do that!" Spike retorts, balling his claws. "I specifically told you no lollygagging back at Sugarcube Corner. I caught you slacking off. Surprise surprise, I've come back home with our friends and find the library's shelves not reorganized and dusted, there is no food in the fridge, no supplies for my study room. All I see is a slacker sleeping off!" Spike is now infuriated with Twilight and her tone in demeanor. He breathes heavily as a lot of anger is swelling up from the inside. If he were to breathe fire from his breath, he could melt some structure of the castle in his room. "Slacker.., SLACKER!" Spike raises his voice at Twilight. The sudden outburst surprised Twilight and her friends a bit. "I've been doing chore after chore every day while you get to live your life! I do all the cleaning, all the cooking, all the errands," Spike stomps up to Twilight as she starts backing up a bit. "What do you do? Sit around reading books or hanging out with the girls on all sorts of get-togethers, social outings, parties, adventures, and creating memories. What do I get, abandoned by my so-called friend! Spike breathes a little fire in anger. "Spike, calm down," Pinkie said in a lighter calming tone. Spike turns to face Pinkie. "Don't you dare tell me to calm down, you, wild party animal!" Pinkie and the girls gasps. "The party mare of Ponyville that brings smiles and cheers, and yet, you forget all about me!" "What?!" Pinkie shockingly expressed. "I don't forget about you! You're my friend Spike." "When was the last time you invited me for a hangout or party?" "Well.., uh..," Pinkie ponders for a few moments. Trying her best to recall the times she has. After a few moments, Pinkie realizes that she has not invited Spike to any parties or hangouts whatsoever. Her mane deflates a little. "That's what I thought," Said Spike, angrily. He turns back to Twilight. Twilight sweats a bit, seeing Spike in an agitated state. He walks in front of Twilight. "I've done more for you than anypony else in their lifetime. You've shown me no appreciation, no fellowship. The rest of you are equally as bad as Twilight and Pinkie!" Spike takes deep breathes to calm himself. He doesn't want his anger to get out of control. "I'm done. Goodbye, Fiends of Harmony," Spike shoulder bumps Twilight as he leaves the room. Twilight and the rest are left dumbfounded by Spike's remarks. Twilight couldn't believe what she heard from Spike. Pinkie Pie cries her eyes out. Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rainbow start to question what Spike meant by being equally as bad as Twilight and Pinkie. They don't understand. Spike leaves the Castle of Friendship. He's starting to regret not telling what Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash has done to make his life more miserable. He knows they deserved it but, he chose not to. "They are not my friends. They were never my friends. I'm a slave, an errand pony to them," Spike sighs heavily. "They don't deserve to have me as a friend. They are not worth my time anymore." Spike walks to the river aimlessly. He sits by a tree, looking up at Princess Luna's night sky. "I guess I should write to Princess Celestia and tell her all I have been going through in the hooves of Twilight and her friends. However, she could end up sending me back to Twilight to patch things up. I could go and live in the Crystal Empire. Continually being the Brave and Glorious around my peers. Then again, Princess Cadance or Shining Armor will tell Twilight of my whereabouts, and try to make amends." Spike sighs heavily. "Who am I kidding? Anywhere I would go, someone will eventually tell Twilight of where I'm residing to make amends. I'll never be free. Plus, if Twilight were to tell Celestia of what transpired, Celestia will find me no sweat. My life is doomed to slavery, isn't it?" "Alright, that does it!" Said Discord. He rises from the grass Spike was sitting on and transforms into his Draqonecuus self. "Discord! What were you doing here?" Asked Spike. "So, I have a habit of listening to stories of sad folk. They are usually alone looking at the night sky. It's a way of learning how to deal with Fluttershy or any of our friends whenever they are depressed." "Interesting." "So, what's wrong with you, Spike?" "There are a lot of wrongs, and I wish to get away from it." "Hmm, where would you like to go?" "A world where friendships are like family. It doesn't matter what you look like as long as they appreciate your company. A world where friends do care about your well-being. Is there a world that exists, Discord?" Discord looks down at Spike. "Look up," Discord said. Spike looks up and sees a shooting star. "Make a wish, and I shall grant it." "I wish to live in a world where I can be free and make all sorts of new friends. Going on adventures, partying, creating new memories, laughing, and having fun." Discord smiles and snaps his claw. A swirling vortex appears before Spike. "When you enter the portal Spike, it'll take you to the world you wished for." "Thank you, Discord. I will always remember you," Spike thanks graciously. "Ah, you're welcome. Before you go, care to share what transpired you into leaving our world?" Spike reveals his emotions to Discord. Everything in full detail on what he'd endured. Discord becomes perplexed. He can't believe that Twilight and the Elements of Harmony have brought Disharmony to Spike unintentionally, having no regard for his feelings whatsoever. Using him for their benefits. Having no grace to say thank you whatsoever, using and abusing Spike. Making him feel abandoned and forgotten. He is also upset that Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie plant buckets of ice water to dump on Spike. He knows Spike could die due to cold water. "Wow.., I'm shocked..." Said Discord in disbelief, shaking his head. "Most things don't shock me as much. I now understand why you want to leave so badly. They don't treat you as one of them. They treat you below them. I understand why you would call them Fiends of Harmony. Friendship within their species and fiends outside of it." "Yea," Spike nods. "Well, I wish you luck in your new life, Spike." "Thanks, Discord," Spike hugs Discord. Discord pats his head. "Bye, Discord," Spike said, waving goodbye. Spike walks into the portal. It closes as Discord stares at the night sky. A star twinkles. Discord salutes, then transform into Spike. "Farewell, Spike. Have a nice life." In a land far, far away, lies the Kingdom of Fiore, a small peaceful nation of 17 million, and a place filled with magic! Found in every home, bought and sold in every marketplace, for most, magic is merely a tool, a mundane part of everyday life. For some, however, magic is an art, and they have devoted their lives to its practice. These are the mages. Banded together into magical guilds they apply their skills in search of fame and fortune. Many such guilds dot the landscape of Fiore. But there is a certain guild in a certain town that soars high above the rest, one from which countless legends have been born... a guide that will no doubt continue to create legends well into the future. Its name... is Fairy Tail.