Nopony ever seemed to remember Spike. He thought this odd, as he was all but the son of the now deceased Twilight Sparkle, and was now left alone to think back on his life. When Spike thought of a mother, only two faces popped into his head. There was, of course, Twilight, but then there was also Princess Celestia. Princess Celestia, that was a name that brought many emotions to Spike’s mind. There was love for one of the only parental figures he has, then there was a bitter anger for what she had done to Twilight. For it was ultimately the princess's fault, in his eyes, she was the reason Twilight was dead.
Now, there were plenty of ponies that were willing to argue this fact. They'd say that Twilight would rather of had the death she did have, rather than dying in any other way. To Twilight, the most important things were pleasing her teacher and the pursuit of knowledge. In the end, she died trying to complete an unknown spell that her teacher entrusted her with. So twilight died doing as she loved, not only that, but she was surrounded by those that were most important to her when she passed. Spike honestly could not have thought of a better death for her, though that was his only solace in this matter.
The citizens of Ponyville had been nice enough to let him continue on living in and running the library. Spike appreciated their thoughtfulness, but they had failed to take into account what kind of memories that he now had to live with everyday. The worst were Twilight’s friends, for they each felt guilty and believed that it was their fault, considering that they were the ones wielding the elements when they went off. Because of this, they felt that Spike would blame them and took to avoiding him as much as possible. Since they would not go near him, he had never gotten the chance to explain that he did not believe that any of them had done anything to deserve the blame. As far as Spike was concerned, this was all the fault of the princess.
Again, his thoughts came back to the princess. Maybe it had to do with the fact that ever since the death of Twilight, she had not said a word to him? She is one of the only ponies in this world whom Spike might call family, and she refused to send even a simple letter. This was the core of his resentment towards Celestia. She never came by to apologize, and seemed to have totally forgotten about the poor dragon. On the other hand, Spike now had a lot of time to himself, with no one telling him what to do; he had no chores and no responsibilities. The problem that came with that was he really had nothing to do, as he had spent the whole of his life following twilight around and helping her out.
Again, Twilight came to mind. It always came back to her. Why was it that even after the last few months she was the only thing he could think of? Maybe he needed a new hobby, something to keep him out of trouble and to help him to get his mind off of Twilight. His new hobby would have to be something that could evoke no memories of her whatsoever, so that he might be able to actually enjoy whatever he might be doing at the time.
Spike just felt so confused nowadays. Before, he always had Twilight to run to for advice, as she would help him with anything he struggled with, and was always willing to listen to his problems. Now Spike had no one to run to. He was all alone with his thoughts, slowly becoming more and more depressed.
Spike slowly rose from his chair and trudged over to the front door. He had decided that since he was not doing anything other than leading his thoughts around in circles that maybe he should go and work on finding that hobby now.
Spike stepped outside and flipped the open/closed sign on the library to say closed. As Spike walked away from the library, he noticed that many ponies were giving him odd looks. Spike attributed this to him not showing his face outside the library since he came back from Twilight’s funeral. A frown came across his face, as he thought back to that day.
• • • • Funeral • • • •
Everypony was gathered at the palace gardens to say their farewells to one of the most loved ponies in Equestria. At the center of the crowd, standing next to the urn holding Twilight’s ashes, were her parents: Night Light, and Twilight Velvet. Spike noticed the princess start to approach the two, and was somewhat curious as to what would happen. Earlier, Twilight Velvet ordered every single one of her daughter’s friends, including Spike, away from the urn. This had hurt Spike more than anypony could know. Most ponies seemed to underestimate Spike’s love for Twilight. Most ponies did not understand that Twilight had been there for him since the day that he had hatched. They did not understand that Twilight was one of only two ponies in all of Equestria that Spike could call family.
Spike sadly observed as a pony that Twilight loved so much was sent away in tears. He could almost understand Twilight Velvet’s frustration towards the princess, considering what had happened, but what about her behavior towards Twilight’s friends? They had done nothing whatsoever to warrant such hostilities. Spike idly wondered if these hostilities had something to do with the trip that Twilight’s parents had taken to Ponyville to understand what had happened to their daughter.
• • • • Present • • • •
Spike knocked into something that felt rather large and solid, causing him to snap out of his reverie. After standing there dazed for a second, Spike saw Big Macintosh towering over him, just sitting there quietly.
Spike decided that he may as well try and speak to him, “Hey there Big Mac,”
His response was met with silence as Big Mac studied spike with pity-filled eyes. Seeing that expression on Mac made Spike angrier than he could ever remember.
“What are you staring at?” Spike exploded, “Go and take your stupid pity elsewhere, I don't need any of it here! I just want to be left alone.”
Spike could see Lyra, Colgate, and several other citizens of ponyville passively observing this confrontation. Most of them had only pity in their eyes when they looked at Spike.
As Spike looked at Mac then the rest of the ponies around, Big Mac started to speak. “I think you should visit Aj. She still blames herself for what happened to Twilight, and I would like to have someone set it straight with her. It would probably be best to come from you, seeing as how you were the one closest to Twilight. All you gotta do is tell her you don't blame her. I am hoping hearing that will alleviate some of her guilt and she might rest a bit easier. Then you might want to consider visiting the rest of the girls and talk to them to see how they feel.”
Spike sat there, somewhat dumbfounded. He had expected all sorts of sympathy from everyone around, instead he was tasked with something. This served to cheer Spike, as he got sick of everypony’s sympathy a long time ago. Spike realized that he was just standing there, with that angry expression still plastered to his face. He cleared his face rather quickly and looked up at Big Mac, who was still waiting for a response.
Spike cleared his throat then said, “I will do it.”
Big Mac nodded his head, then trotted off in the opposite direction. Everypony else who had gathered around, now seeing that the confrontation was over, went about their business. Spike started to retrace his steps back to the library, deciding that he had better think on how he was going to approach Applejack.
As Spike made his way back to the Library, he noticed a familiar pressure in his stomach. It was a feeling that he never expected to feel again since the death of Twilight. He picked up his pace as the pressure continued to build up inside him. He was now all but running and holding it all in his stomach was actually becoming rather painful. Finally, Spike arrived at the library and dashed through its door. After standing there for a few seconds, Spike let out all of the pressure that had built. Out it came, as billowing green smoke with a letter that fell on the floor.
Spike sat there, staring bewildered at the letter. After all this time, she was going to try and talk now? Spike almost decided that it would be better to just scorch the letter and be done with Celestia. As he was about to belch out a few flames to incinerate the letter, Spike considered that, perhaps, she was going to apologize to him, so he slowly reached down to pick up the letter. He then proceeded to open it and read the contents. As he read it, a smile came across his face.
“It looks like I’m paying the girls a visit whether I want to or not now,” Spike chuckled.