Starlight wiped the sweat off her brow and her bang off her face as she raked the leaves, in a normal state, she would have used magic, but given how hot it was and how tired she had become, she knew it would just cause her to pass out. Magic was no easy feat after all. It took her years to study it.
There were a lot of leaves to pile up, and it was not fun to do since these leaves were scattered everywhere around the front of the castle, it was also a bit hot today so that didn’t help.
Suddenly she saw Fluttershy walk nearby with some saddlebags on her, once she saw Starlight, she gasped, “Oh my Celestia! Starlight! What happened to you?!” Fluttershy asked in horror yet concern.
“Nice to see you too Fluttershy.” Starlight jokes weakly.
“I’m sorry.” Fluttershy frowned sheepishly before turning more serious, “But you clearly don’t look normal. Your mane is all droopy and you have bags under your eyes.”
“Oh…” Starlight chuckled a bit insanely concerning Fluttershy, “I’m just doing the friendship tasks Twilight assigned me.”
Starlight soon took the list out of her mane, and levitated it to Fluttershy, who looked in disgust at the now wet list before reading it.
“Starlight… this just looks like some average chore list.” Fluttershy told the unicorn with a raised eyebrow.
“Well it may be that way to you.” Starlight smiled reassuringly as Fluttershy spotted Spike about to exit the castle though he paused when he saw both Starlight and Fluttershy, “But Spike told me these tasks all had some sort of friendship metaphors. Like cleaning dishes means cleansing my mind, and organizing books is like organizing friendship activities.”
“Wait. Spike told you all this?” Fluttershy squinted her eyes in Spike’s direction who noticed and smiled nervously as he waved.
Why am I so nervous? I can easily explain to Fluttershy I lied for a good reason… right? Spike gulped to himself.
“Starlight. I think Spike pulled a fast one on you. I feel those were his tasks, but he pawned them off you for some bizarre reason, I know he’s a good dragon and friend but he does have a greedy side.” Fluttershy told her friend sadly.
Starlight seemed to consider it before frowning, “I’m sorry Fluttershy, but I don’t believe you. Spike’s immature and that’s a fact, but I doubt he’d use me to do these tasks, he’s not as bad as I was. We’re friends, and I know he wouldn’t do that to me.” She finished her rant with a smile.
Spike immediately felt a rush of guilt when he heard that, he now realized that even with his semi-good intentions, he still manipulated Starlight to get out of these chores, and now she was suffering because of it.
What kind of friend was he?
“I can’t let this go on.” Spike whispered to himself.
Spike immediately ran over to the two ponies and shouted, “Starlight! I need to talk with you!”
“Oh. Hey Spike.” Starlight smiled at the dragon, “Me and Fluttershy were just talking about you. She thought you were using me to do these tasks for some reason, don’t worry I clarified things.” She spoke reassuringly, causing Fluttershy to roll her eyes.
“The thing is… she wasn’t totally wrong.” Spike gulped nervously, waiting for the fallout.
“Huh? What are you talking abou…” Starlight began speaking before suddenly passing out.
“Starlight!” Spike cried out in shock and panic before shaking the unicorn’s face, “Wake up! Wake up!”
Fluttershy immediately put a hoof to Starlight’s forehead and her eyes widened, “Spike. I think she’s suffering heat exhaustion.”
“What?!” Spike asked incredulously, “How?! It’s not even that hot out!”
“Perhaps, but she seemed quite exhausted. It’s assumed she was already tired from the tasks you tricked her into doing.” Fluttershy said in a lecturing tone.
“So…” Spike said in shock before tearing up, “This is all my fault.”
Fluttershy’s expression immediately softened but she couldn’t help Spike yet since Starlight was already in poor condition, “Look, we’ll talk about this later. We need to get Starlight to a cool place before she catches any illness.”
“I think I know who can help us.” Spike said quickly, he immediately ran inside the castle and quickly went inside his room.
He dug through the shelves until finding a remote, it read: In case of an emergency, press for the Lord Of Chaos
And so Spike did, and soon Discord appeared lounging on a rocking chair and reading a magazine, “You called?” He said blandly.
“I messed up! Starlight’s suffering heat exhaustion because of my idiocy, and I need your help quick!”
Discord’s eyes widened in shock at this news before sighing, “I shouldn’t have let this go on for so long.”
He then snapped his fingers and he and Spike were outside the castle as Fluttershy began carrying the sleeping Starlight bridal style as she hovered with her wings.
“Discord?” Fluttershy asked curiously.
“Ah Fluttershy, nice to see you again but we need to help your little friend here.” Discord smiled before taking Starlight off her hooves.
Soon Discord snapped his fingers again and soon all four creatures found themselves in the bathroom.
“The bathroom?” Spike asked curiously.
“The best way to treat heat exhaustion is to keep the patient’s temperature low.” Discord explained factually, “I’m simply going to sit Starlight upright on the bathtub and let cold water flow around her as the tub fills.”
Discord soon turned on the cold water of the tub and slowly it began to fill and envelope around Starlight, as it did so, Discord put a thermometer in Starlight’s mouth and soon the temperature in her body began to drop in a healthy amount.
“Phew.” Fluttershy sighed in relief, “She’ll be okay.”
“Is there anything I can do to help?” Spike found the courage to ask.
“Sorry Spike, I don’t think you should right now.” Fluttershy said softly, “Good news is Starlight should be fine after a bit, but for now you should stay away from her.”
Spike sighed sadly as he walked off, “I understand. I’m so sorry.” He said, voice full of remorse and regret.
Discord and Fluttershy walked him walk off sympathetically, it was clear he was hurt.
“I’m gonna go check on him.” Discord told Fluttershy sadly, “I already know Twilight’s likely going to be really upset with him. It’s best I help him out a bit.”
Spike just stood at the balcony and leaned on the railing sadly when he saw Discord walk up to him.
“Walking? Must be serious?” Spike said half-heartedly.
“Snap travel is so dull these days. Plus you’re my friend and I feel it would be inappropriate to use it at this time.” Discord said, joking around a bit but Spike didn’t laugh.
“This is all my fault.” Spike sighed bitterly, “I thought I was doing a good thing by having Starlight do this, but I guess all I was doing was just pawning my work off of her.”
“Spike. You may have done all that, but you didn’t know that Starlight was going to get heat exhaustion.” Discord sighed sympathetically.
“Yeah but maybe if I let her take a break or heck, even helped her with the workload without the lies of Twilight making a friendship lesson, maybe this wouldn’t have happened, I’m a terrible dragon.” Spike said angrily.
Discord couldn’t argue against that, Spike was correct in the sense that he should have done that but he wouldn’t let his friend wallow in his self pity.
“Look Spike, despite what may have happened today. You are not a bad dragon.” Discord said sternly.
“And why’s that?” Spike huffed.
“If you were. You wouldn’t be feeling remorse over this.” Discord smiled softly, “Some other dragons would laugh at what happened to Starlight, but you actually care enough to where you feel bad for what happened.”
Spike began to feel a bit better about this and soon Discord added, “Besides, you’re the one who competed in the Gauntlet Of Fire to protect your friends and stood up for a renegade Changeling at the risk of losing the Crystal Empire’s favor, Spike you’re not a monster, you just made a mistake.”
Spike embraced the Draconequus and smiled, “Thank you Discord. I needed that.”
Discord was surprised but hugged back nonetheless, “Anytime.”
Then they heard a little cough noise and turned to see Fluttershy, “Um. I hate to interrupt this adorable moment but Starlight’s awake… and she wants to see Spike, she’s still in the tub.” She said neutrally.
Spike sighed and shrugged, “Well, I gotta face her, might as well do it now.”
He then began heading back inside, Discord looked worried for his friend, he just hoped Starlight and Spike would be okay.