Fluttershy was already a little uneasy when she set out for the library and it was all due to her unexpected house guest. The creature had been washed ashore by the basin in front of her house last evening, and since it had looked very down on its luck, she had naturally taken it in and vowed to nurse the poor thing back to health.
She had to rack her brain for quite a while to identify the bizarre animal as a platypus, a creature she had only seen in a book once, by chance. But having never met a real life platypus, she hadn't the slightest clue on how to take care of it. She had taken a wild guess that, since it looked like a beaver, it would most likely eat tree bark. When it refused, she had tried feeding it birdseed, because of its beak, but to no avail. Afraid it might starve if she didn't do something, she had decided she would need to find some additional information on its kind in the Ponyville Library the next morning.
She figured the chances of finding a book on platypuses to be rather slim, which only fueled her unease even more. That she saw Spike crawling out of a tent on the front lawn once she had reached the library didn't exactly help to calm her down either. Still, as a good friend of his, she felt it was her duty to find out what's going on.
Spike was so busy with his morning stretch and yawn, he didn't even notice Fluttershy until she was right in front of him. “Good morning, Spike,” she said.
“Hey, Fluttershy!” he quickly but politely greeted back. “What are you doing here?”
“Um, I just wanted to pick up a book from the library,” she replied. Her hoof drew a little circle on the ground. “I hope you don't mind me asking, but is there a reason why you're sleeping in the front yard?”
“Oh!” Spike scratched the back of his neck. “It's just that Twilight and I had a little... argument yesterday. Then I kinda walked out on her and didn't want to go back. Fortunately, Tent Peg allowed me to borrow one of his tents for the night, as long as I took the one with the advertising cover on the outside. He said it would pay him back with the additional business it would give him.” He pointed to a store on the far side of the lawn by the library. In front of it, an earth pony could be seen, politely waving at Fluttershy and Spike while still marveling at the ingenuity of his latest marketing campaign.
“Oh my!” Fluttershy said, covering her mouth. “And you didn't have a chance to talk to her since?”
“No, I didn't. I just got up a few minutes ago and... Well, to be honest, I don't really know what to do or what to say after what I did,” Spike admitted. He took a good look at the still not open for business library door. “But I guess there's no helping it. I'll just have to swallow my pride and apologize.”
He took no more than his first step before he turned back around. “Unless...” He gave Fluttershy a perfidious look.
She didn't like the sound of that at all. “Unless what?”
“Unless you go in for me and talk to Twilight first,” Spike suggested. “You know, to see if she's mad at me or if she's totally calm and willing to make up just as badly as I am.”
Fluttershy's entire body rocked back like a roly-poly doll that never made its way back up. “T-t-talk to Twilight for you?” It was like a request to fight Nightmare Moon again. “I can't, I just can't! I'd have no idea what to say. What if she's still mad at you and then gets mad at me? What if she isn't mad at you, but I make her mad again?” She was visibly fighting the urge to fly away. “I'm just not good at handling conflict. I think it would be better if you went in yourself.”
“Pe-leeease, Fluttershy!” He knelt down before her with folded claws. “Please, please, please! I just don't know how she'll react to me. If she's still mad, I have to know. I'm sure she won't get mad at you just for asking.”
“But I...” She lost her words. On his knees the baby dragon looked much tinier than usual, while his big, pleading eyes had disproportionally grown. There was no way in Equestria she could have said no to that. So she didn't. “Fine, I'll check on her for you.”
“Really?” There was a bright glimmer in Spike's eyes. He jumped up and rushed over to hug Fluttershy. “Thanks, Fluttershy! You're the best!”
She shot him a smile and gently patted his head, before she walked to the library door as promised. One last deep breath, then she entered.
“I'm sorry, we're not open yet. If you could come back...” Twilight interrupted her default reception. “Fluttershy! What are you doing here? Can I do anything for you?” she politely offered.
“Well, I came here to borrow a book...”
Fluttershy made a pause too long for Twilight not to interrupt: “Of course you would. Are you looking for a book on something specific? Do you know the title? Or the author?”
Fluttershy flinched just a little. “Actually, when I came here I met Spike and...”
“You did!?” This time there was no pause; Twilight was merely too worried to let her friend finish. “Where did you meet him? Is he alright?”
“Oh, he's doing fine,” Fluttershy answered.
Twilight allowed herself to sigh. “That's a relief. I was a little worried he'd run off into the woods again and get himself into all kinds of trouble. But when I checked, there didn't seem to be any footprints leading into the Everfree. He must have learned his lesson the last time.”
“Actually, he spent the night in a tent in front of the library,” Fluttershy said.
“He did?” Twilight cocked her head as if it helped her thoughts trickle down and make room for more information. “I guess he just needed some time to clear his head, didn't he?”
Fluttershy slightly nodded her head. “Oh, yes! He told me he was sorry and that he wanted to make up.”
Twilight gave a big and wide grin. “That's wonderful! I guess I might have overreacted a little too. Maybe I shouldn't have been so harsh on him just because he takes the day off when I'm not around.”
“I think you should tell him, not me,” Fluttershy suggested.
“You're right,” Twilight said. “I should and I will.”
She walked over to the door and upon opening was already approached by Spike, one of his ears leaning towards her. The innocent face he was making was just a bit too innocent to be innocent.
“Hi Twilight!” he sweetly greeted.
“Hi Spike! Fluttershy said you had something to tell me.”
“Yeah.” Spike constantly shifted back and forth like the pendulum of a metronome. “Well, I kinda got a little hot-headed and did something I shouldn't have done. And I'm sorry for what I did. I shouldn't have just walked out on you like that.” His eyes and arms were offering a reconciliation-hug, which Twilight gladly accepted.
“And I'm sorry too,” she said, hooves still wrapped around him. “I shouldn't have been so abrasive just because you didn't sweep the library once. It doesn't matter if you take a day off every once in a while. But it's much appreciated that you apologized for the state you left the library in.”
Spike very abruptly and forcefully freed himself from the hug. “Wait a minute. You do realize I'm only apologizing for walking out on you, not for the state the library was in.”
Twilight offered him a kind smile. “I already told you it doesn't matter. You can skip work and have some leisure when I'm not around, as long as you don't make a habit of it.”
“But I didn't!” he half-yelled at her. “I've been cleaning all day, working til my claws turned sore.”
“Really?” Twilight raised an eyebrow at him. “Then why did the library look like it did when I entered? Did it just magically fall into disarray the second I arrived?”
“Actually it did!” Spike argued. “I only blew up all that dust when I toppled over the bookshelf.”
Twilight's eyebrows turned to furrowing. The rest of her expression quickly caught up to an overall very stern and disapproving look. “You know, slacking off is one thing, but I won't have you lie to me just like that.”
“But I'm not! I've really been spending all day cleaning!”
“You mean because your previous track record has been so immaculate?” Twilight shouted. “Because I haven't returned to a squalid library dozens of times before? Or was it like the time the wind knocked over the plates in the kitchen? Or the time a big spider spilled ink all over my letter? Or my personal favorite, the time a ghost walked into the library and ate all the chocolate?”
“I never said the ghost ate all the chocolate,” Spike explained. “I said I saw a ghost and was so scared that I ate all the chocolate. But you would know that if you would bother to listen instead of jumping to conclusions all the time!”
Twilight had lowered her head to shoot Spike a piercing gaze, but it automatically raised as she wrinkled her nose. “Frankly, I don't like you're tone, Mister. You stop that at once or...”
“Or what? You're gonna make me clean the library!?”
“Obviously I can't, or we wouldn't be having this conversation in the first place! Or perhaps you don't know how to do that, since I've seen you cutting more and more corners recently. Scrap paper doesn't just disappear because you stuff it into excess bookshelves!”
“There we go again! Just because you find some papers in a shelf you jump to conclusions. Ms. Jumps-to-conclusion thinks she knows it all! Ms. Know-it-all!”
“I'm not a know-it-all! If I were, I would be the first to know, since I'd know everything by definition!”
“That's exactly what a know-it-all would say!”
Unwilling to concede even in the slightest, both of them had moved closer and closer to each other until they had now reached the point of literal headbutting.
“You know,” Spike began, “if you don't appreciate what I do around here, maybe I shouldn't stay around anymore. You never give me a break, you never say thank you, and you don't even let me go to those events you make me organize. Like that Booktober-fest. I'm good enough to write up and deliver all the invitations, but when I want to attend you're all like: 'No, Spike. Some of the books are inappropriate for your age. You're still a baby dragon after all.' ” For the last part, he poorly mimicked Twilight's voice.
“If you don't want to be treated like a baby, maybe you shouldn't act like one!” Twilight answered. “You always shy away from responsibility, lay the blame on everything else, and come up with ridiculous excuses.”
From there, their argument descended into petty, incoherent accusations they dug up from months ago. They didn't bother to listen to each other in the slightest anymore, and it was only a matter of time until they would both get tired.
“What do you think, Fluttershy?” they both yelled in a sudden break as they turned their heads sideways. But Fluttershy didn't respond. Because Fluttershy wasn't there any more. She had fled the scene well over a minute ago.
* * *
The rest of the day didn't go any better. Presented with a diversified supply of fruits and vegetables, the platypus only nibbled on some and left the rest untouched. It took a couple of bites more out of one of the apples and the single cabbage head Fluttershy had in her house, but the amount was far from sustaining a proper, nutritious diet. All the platypus did was treading the small margin of food that was barely enough to keep body and soul together. Fluttershy had to admit it to herself: there was no way around getting some help from one of the books in Twilight's library.
When she prepared to leave the next morning, she tried to calm herself with the thought that it had been an entire day since she had seen the two of them. There was some hope that Spike and Twilight would have managed to sort things out by the end of the day and were getting along as good as ever. When she saw a hot-headed Spike arguing with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie in front of the same tent as yesterday, that hope was completely extinguished. Afraid of being drawn into the conflict once again, Fluttershy decided to first assess the situation from afar.
Spike's voice was the first she could clearly make out booming across the lawn. “... I mean, am I crazy for thinking like that?” he said.
“Of course not. It's crazy not to think like that!” Rainbow replied. “You can't just let her walk over you like that. Think about all the things you had to do for her: How many times did you have to sweep her floors?”
“Yeah,” Spike instinctively answered.
“And how many times did you have to pick up her orders from stores on the other side of town?”
“Yeah!”
“And how many times did you have to pack her bags for a picnic or a journey or a science... thingy.”
“An expedition,” Pinkie aided.
“Yeah, that,” Rainbow picked up. “How many times did you have to prepare one of her expeditions?”
“Way too many!” Spike was completely pumped by now. He looked eager enough to take on a manticore by himself, one claw tied to the back.
“And what did you ever get in return?” Rainbow asked expectantly.
The question remained pending in the air like the morning's last dewdrop on the edge of a leave. It seemed his wasn't the kind of eagerness practical for answering questions.
“Um... shelter, a bed, two hot meals a day...” he began after a moment of deliberation.
It was hard for Rainbow Dash to keep her composure at that. “No!” she yelled. “I mean yes, you did get all that, but that's not what's important. What's important is what you didn't get, but you should have gotten! And that is appreciation! That is respect!” All the important words were accentuated by stomps on the ground. “It's time for a change. Until Twilight pays what she owes, you should go on strike.”
Pinkie Pie bounced up and down at the notion. “That's a great idea, Dashie! We should get started right away. We need to paint some picket signs and write some protest songs and, ooh, we should set up concession stands, lots and lots of concession stands, with balloons and confetti and...”
“Pinkie!” Rainbow Dash interrupted. “It's not supposed to be a funfair. A strike is serious business.”
Pinkie Pie's bounciness succumbed to gravity and sobriety. “So, no balloons?”
“No balloons.”
For a moment Pinkie lost herself in thought. She was running through a dozen ideas a second, her pupils flying around like juggling pins. “You know,” she said, “I could bring some more serious balloons if that's...”
Rainbow's hoof spent a visit to her forehead. “Fine! You can bring some balloons. Just make sure you don't overdo it.”
“Can I ask something?” Spike said, catching the attention of both of his friends. “What's a strike?”
“A strike?” Rainbow Dash struck a pose. “A strike is the ultimate weapon for all working ponies. It's when you lay down your tools and tell your boss you had enough. So far and no further. You and your fellow ponies cling together, camp out in front of the library, and together you pressure Twilight until she gives in and admits she was wrong. You know, strength in numbers and all.”
Spike held a claw to his lips. “I don't know. I want things to change, but doesn't that all sound like a bit... much?”
Rainbow swayed her arms defensively. “No, it isn't. If Twilight won't listen to you, you have to show her that you're serious. That you're determined. You have to really take a stand, once and for all.” She leaned in for a whisper. “Just between you and me: Twilight can be a bit on the stubborn side from time to time.”
She got back up. “Come on, Pinkie, back me up on this, will you.”
Pinkie stepped in right away. “She's right, Spike. If work isn't fun anymore, you'll just get sad and grumpy and depressed, and by then you won't get any work done anymore. Then all you can do is liven things up with some music and cake or anything else that makes you feel happy again, and have as much fun as possible. And if Twilight won't let you have some fun at work, she needs to be told that she's being a mean old, grumpy meanie-pants.”
“Yeeeah, kinda like that,” Rainbow said, turning back to Spike. “So, what do you say? You up for it?”
Spike scratched his head awkwardly. “Well, if you say it's a good idea... Alright. I'll give it a shot.”
“Great!” Rainbow flew to Spike, grabbed him from under his arms, and lifted him into the air while turning around. “And the first thing we gotta do is...” She stopped, dropping Spike the short distance to the ground. “Is that Fluttershy?” she asked.
Spike dusted himself off. “Where?”
“Over there. Hiding in that bush.”
“Oh yeah, I guess it is.”
Instinctively, Fluttershy retracted into the bush, but she knew her efforts to hide were futile; she could feel her pink mane distinctly sticking out. Slowly; she stepped out and walked to her friends.
Rainbow Dash asked the obvious question: “What were you doing hiding in the bushes?”
“I, uh...” There was no comfortable answer. Fluttershy decided to at least opt for something that wouldn't lead to any follow up questions. “I just didn't want to interrupt.”
“You wouldn't have,” Rainbow replied. “We were just talking about what Spike should do about all this. Did he tell you what Twilight did?”
“We talked about it yesterday. He told me a little bit,” Fluttershy said softly, cutting herself off time and again with a mumbling whisper.
Rainbow took a step towards Fluttershy. “So you already told him how unfair she is. That things can't go on like this. That things need to change. Didn't you?” she said, pressing forward with the slow but unstoppable force of a glacier.
“N-no, I didn't,” Fluttershy bashfully admitted. She tried to slowly take a step back, away from her friend.
“But you are going to support Spike on his strike, won't you?” Rainbow drew even closer.
“I don't know,” Fluttershy whispered more than anything. There was a slight whimper that had crawled into her words. Rainbow Dash didn't seem to notice.
“But you have to agree Twilight isn't treating him right.”
Fluttershy merely gulped and nodded slightly.
“And you agree that things have to change,” Rainbow continued.
Fluttershy's head moved so feebly, if Rainbow hadn't wanted to see a nod in it, there was no way she could have.
“Then you just have to support Spike in his strike and join the picket line. You just have to.” This was nothing short of a direct order.
Fluttershy completely stiffened. She felt like a damsel in distress from those adventure flicks Pinkie liked so much, helplessly tied to the railroad tracks with Rainbow Dash being the oncoming train. Eventually, her legs gave in and she slumped to the ground.
The lawn below was a far worse hiding place for a fully grown mare than the bush had been, but Fluttershy tried nonetheless. If at least there had been a hole in the ground in which she could have hidden her head, she could have regained some of her easiness. But there wasn't, so her hooves covering her eyes had to do. Like an ostrich sticking its head into the sand, she hoped not seeing the problem could make it go away.
She didn't move a single muscle until she felt a warm hoof resting on her shoulder. When she opened her eyes again and raised her head, she stared into the now much less intimidating face of a smiling Rainbow Dash.
“Is there something we can do for you, Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked. “Like, what you came here for in the first place.”
Fluttershy put her front hooves back on the ground and lifted herself back up. “Actually, I came here to borrow a book,” she said calmly.
“Then why don't you go ahead and do so,” Rainbow offered. “I'm sure we can figure this stuff out on our own. And after that you can just come support Spike whatever way you want.”
Fluttershy returned the smile. “Thank you, Rainbow Dash.”
“Aw, don't mention it.” Rainbow let go of her friend and turned her attention back to the others. “Like I was saying, the first thing you gotta do is get the word out. Make ponies know what you're fighting for. And, of course, you have to let Twilight know that you're out here.”
Fluttershy took one final glance at her friends, before she entered the library. Everything would turn out just fine without her, she hoped.
She immediately heard Twilight's voice coming from the inside. “... I mean, am I crazy for thinking like that?”
Applejack responded: “Aw shucks! I know the little guy means well and all, but I know how much a hoofful he can be when he ain't even trying to. You sure this ain't just one big misunderstanding after another?”
“Positive,” Twilight replied.
“Then I don't see no other way either,” Applejack said. “I guess you really gotta wait it out. Spike's a bright little dragon. He's gonna come to his senses. He can see he did something wrong.”
“I'm afraid I'll have to agree with Applejack, dear,” Rarity said to Twilight. “He might be my little Spikey-Wikey—” She pinched the cheek of an imaginary Spike only she could see. “—but he too must learn to take responsibility for his mistakes and that a certain dedication to your work takes precedence over silly little quarrels and needless tamper tantrums. If I had run off every time a design turned out to be an eyesore, or ended up being destroyed by Opal, or whenever I had to work all through the night to make some last minute changes a customer demanded, which ended up turning a beautiful dress into an atrocious crime against fashion, why, the Carousel Boutique would certainly not be the thriving enterprise it is today. And especially with a business as … struggling as yours, everypony has to pull together.”
“Struggling? What's that supposed to mean?” Twilight asked.
Rarity went over and tried to give her friend her most comforting smile. “Don't you remember what I told you when we took a peek at your accounts last week. Well, no offense, darling, but I don't think your bookkeeping skills exactly match your book keeping skills.”
Fluttershy decided this was as good a moment as any to walk in on her friends. She couldn't hide for long anyhow – the moment she would be discovered was likely to be as uncomfortable as the last time – and this way she could hope to stop a possible argument between her friends before it had even begun.
“Um, hi girls,” she greeted them and they all greeted back.
“We were just talking about the argument Spike and Twilight had yesterday,” Rarity informed. “Oh my poor Spikey-Wikey! Where did we go wrong that you would degrade yourself to such repulsive acts of crudity.” She swooned a little, just for show. “But I remember: Twilight told us you were there, weren't you?”
Fluttershy nodded. “Yes I was,” she said.
“So what do you think about Spike's behavior yesterday?” Twilight asked. “Wasn't he just impossible to deal with?”
Fluttershy averted her gaze to the ground. “I guess he was kind of a little rude,” she admitted.
“Just like I said!” Twilight held her head up just a little higher than was appropriate.
“But I don't think he meant to be,” Fluttershy quickly added. “I think he really wanted to make up with you. I'm sure if you would talk to him and apologize—”
“Apologize!? Me!?” Twilight's glare was so fierce, it could have given the Stare a run for its money. “He was the one who walked out on me! He was the one who refused my apology! He was the one who didn't respect me as his elder! Why should I be the one to apologize?”
Fluttershy carefully took a step away from her friends. “I guess that's true, but...”
“Now wait just a minute,” Applejack chimed in. “If Spike's the one who walked out on Twilight, I reckon he better be the one apologizing first, don't you think? That's only fair! Otherwise, he might be getting the wrong ideas.”
“I guess he should,” Fluttershy admitted. She tried to measure the distance to the door, but it felt a world and a half away.
“Then it's only appropriate for Twilight to wait for him to come to her,” Rarity said. “He has to learn his lesson at some point. What else could she possibly do?”
“Yeah, what should I do?”
“What's she supposed to do?”
“I... I...” Staring into the demanding eyes of her friends, Fluttershy felt even worse than before. Tied to the tracks, it wasn't just one, but three oncoming trains approaching her simultaneously, threatening to collide on top of her in a giant fiery explosion, with no possibility for escape.
She collapsed to the ground and started to weep. “All I wanted to do is get a book from the library, because there was this poor little platypus at my doorstep, and it looked like it hadn't eaten in days, and I tried to feed it, but it wouldn't eat anything, and I was afraid it might starve, and I couldn't let that happen, and... and...” All other words were swallowed by her sobs as she continued to drown herself in tears. Her friends could only watch in shame.
“We're terribly sorry, darling,” Rarity said for herself and the others. “We never meant to pressure you like that.”
Applejack offered to give Fluttershy a hoof up which she gladly took. “I guess we just got a lil ambitious about this here thing, is all.”
Twilight came trotting back with a book floating beside her. “I got a copy of Exotic Animal Anatomy. I'm sure it can help you with your platypus problem.”
They all walked over to the door to see Fluttershy off.
“Th-thank you, Twilight,” Fluttershy stammered. She still hadn't fully calmed down. “I'm... I'm sorry to have troubled you like that.”
“Don't mention it. We're the ones who should be sorry. We should have never dragged you into this.” Twilight opened the door for her friend. “Once you've taken care of that platypus, you have to tell us all about it.”
“I will,” Fluttershy promised. Everypony said their goodbyes and Fluttershy took flight, hoping the rest of the day would go more smoothly, as that was all the commotion she could take for one day.
On the ground, Spike, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie also took notice of what was going on.
“There she is,” Rainbow pointed out. “Twilight, Spike's got something important to say to you.” She reached her hoof around and pushed the assistant right in front of the assisted.
“Twilight...” Spike began, followed by a long pause. Twilight looked at him with wide eyes. She was just as curious what he was going to say as he himself was.
He scratched his head, but there weren't any words hiding up there. He kicked the ground, but there weren't any words down there either. He turned his head to where Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were standing and Rainbow threw a shoving motion in his direction.
Spike closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Without opening them again, he let out a gush of words all at once: “Twilight, until you show me the respect I deserve, I'm going on strike!”
He reopened his eyes and took a good look at Twilight, who was still watching him as curiously as before.
“Suppose I would listen to you,” she asked factually, “how exactly am I supposed to show that?”
Spike stared at her wide-eyed. He turned back to his friends and saw Pinkie pointing at two one-bit coins she was holding in her hoof.
“Maybe you could...” He shook his head and began once more. “With the respect you owe me, I want you to raise my allowance.”
“We could try raising your allowance,” Twilight agreed, “and if, but only if, you prove responsible and don't waste it on junk food, or use it as junk food, I might think about raising it permanently.”
Spike turned to his friends once more, but they didn't seem as impressed with his success as he was. They were gesturing him to push even further.
He turned back to Twilight. “And I demand the weekends off,” he said.
“What!?” This request caused a storm of indignation in Twilight. “You use every chance you can to ditch your work and you think about getting off two days a week!? Well, I demand you start doing any real work around the library in the first place!”
“This is not how this works, Twilight!” Rainbow Dash had immediately flown to Spike's defense and was already butting heads. “All you do is work him like a slave and never let him catch a break. I won't have you talk to him that way!”
“And I won't have you incite Spike to a strike with all this nonsense about Twilight being a slave driver,” Rarity chimed in, just as aggravated as the others. “It would figure that the pony most apt at dozing off and avoiding work at all costs would put him up to this.”
“And just what's that supposed to mean?” Rainbow asked incredulously.
“Exactly what you think it means,” Rarity replied coldly.
“Well, figures you would defend Twilight, since you've been working him just as hard,” Rainbow accused. “You've been treating him like a slave just as much!”
Rarity put a hoof to her chest. “Treating him like a slave? Moi? Why, I've never heard such preposterous accusations.”
“Spike told us all about what you made him do.” Rainbow Dash lifted him up into the air and in front of Rarity. “Go ahead, Spike. Tell her.”
Spike melted into pudding right in Rainbow's arms. Even with that angry scowl on her face, Rarity looked so magnificently beautiful, with her elegantly styled mane and her bright azure eyes. He got completely weak in his knees, elbows, the rest of his arms and legs, and just about any other part of his body, including his tongue. He couldn't have told her she was out of milk, much less accuse her of being a ruthless slave driver trying to work him to death. All he was capable of was staring at her in awe and worshipping her in quiet. If at that moment she had asked him to climb the peak of Mount Olympus and steal fire from the gods themselves, he would have happily obliged.
Seeing him out cold for the most part, Rainbow decided to let Spike down and get back to doing the talking for him. “He told us how he had to clean your attic by himself, how you used his body as a pin cushion, and even about that one time when he had to imitate a hat rack just so you could see what it looks like.”
“Why those were just simple deeds when he wanted to give me a hoof,” Rarity defended. “He always seemed positively delighted and I never forced him to do anything.”
“Sure doesn't sound like what Spike said,” Rainbow said. “Sounds to me like you were only using him whenever you needed some cheap labor.”
“That is complete and utter rubbish.” Rarity placed her hoof on the door. “And neither me nor Twilight nor Applejack will have any more of this. Go ahead with your silly little strike; you'll see that it won't get you anywhere.”
“Oh, is that so,” Rainbow taunted. “If you wanna play rough, you're gonna get rough.”
“I'd love nothing more than to play rough!”
“You don't even know rough!”
“Then why don't you show it to us?”
“Oh, we will show you rough.”
“I can't wait for it.”
“Fine!”
“Fine!”
“Fine!”
“Fine!”
With that, Rarity slammed the door shut in both their faces.
Rainbow Dash snorted, as she turned and trotted away. “Come on, Spike, Pinkie Pie, we got work to do.”