//------------------------------//
// Rainbow Falls 
// Story: Where Was Spike? 
// by powerpony 
//------------------------------//

Twilight and Spike made their way to the center of the Ponyville Park where they saw Rainbow Dash coaching Fluttershy and Bulk Biceps while Pinkie Pie was cheering them on. The ponies were getting ready for the Equestria Games tryout at Rainbow Falls that were tomorrow and Spike and Twilight decided to see how they were doing. 
The two watched as Bulk Biceps tried his best to lift himself off the ground, but he was only able to get up a couple of feet before falling flat on the ground. 
“C’mon Bulk Biceps, you can do it,” said Rainbow Dash. “You’re a powerhouse.”
“P” is for “Powerhouse!” shouted Pinkie Pie. 
“More like “P” is for “Pathetic,” chuckled Spike. “With wings like those, I’m surprised he can even lift himself off the ground.”
Bulk Biceps overheard the little dragon saying his little jokes and Twilight could tell by the unhappy look on his face that he didn’t think it was funny.
“Seriously, Bulk Biceps, it’s called a salad. Make friends with it.”
Twilight started to get a little annoyed at the insults Spike had been throwing at Bulk Biceps. 
“I guess I know why there are only three members of this team. Bulk got hungry and ate the other teammates.” 
Now Twilight was getting mad that Spike just wouldn’t stop  with the mean jokes. 
“I bet..”
“That’s enough, Spike!”
The young dragon turned to Twilight and was a bit shocked that she would raise his voice at him like that. 
“I have had it with those insults,” she said. “Can’t you see that Bulk has enough problems without you rubbing it in?”
“Twilight, calm down,” said Spike. “I was only kidding.”
“Well, I don’t think it’s very funny,” said Twilight. “And neither does Bulk. I am sick and tired of you always throwing insults all the time.”
“All the time?” Spike was a bit confused at what Twilight just said. “Name one time I’ve been insulting.” 
“How about during the last Winter Wrap-Up?” said Twilight. “I messed up trying to skate and you said I was a natural all right. A natural disaster.”
“Oh yeah,” Spike said while rubbing the back of his neck. He had forgotten all about that incident. 
“It pains me to say this, Spike. But with the way you’ve been acting, you’ve have been a very bad friend.”
Those words pierced through Spike's heart like daggers. Twilight soon started to feel awful for what she just said to her little dragon friend. 
"Spike. I'm sorry. I didn't mean...."
"No Twilight. You're right," Spike stopped her. "I am a terrible friend. I don't think I deserve to go to the tryouts."
"What!?" Twilight was shocked that Spike would say something like that. "But you've been looking forward to them all week."
"I know," said Spike. "But a bully like me doesn't deserve to enjoy them."
Spike then slowly walked away from his friends, feeling terrible that he hurt them. 

The next day, Spike was in the library, dusting the shelves, while still feeling terrible. Twilight tried to convince him to come to the tryouts with her, but Spike refused. He just could not believe that he was so mean to Bulk Biceps. He was starting to believe that he would never speak to him again after the way he treated him. 
Spike then pulled out a brown book from the shelf and began removing the dust from it. Just then, the book let out a small sneeze. 
“Bless you,” Spike said to the book before stopping dead in his tracks. “Wait a minute. Books can’t sneeze.”
All of a sudden, a pair of yellow eyes and a mouth appeared on the book’s cover. 
“There’s always a first time for everything,” it said. 
Spike was so shocked that he dropped the book on the floor. The pages of the book started to flip wildly as a huge tornado came out of it and when it died down; Discord appeared in its place with a huge smile in his face. 
Spike quickly pointed his feather duster at him. 
“Back off, Discord,” he said. 
But Discord just chuckled at the small dragon. 
“What are you going to do with that? Tickle me to death?” he said. “That wouldn’t work anyway. I’m not even ticklish.”
Discord then proved it by grabbing the feather duster out of Spike’s hands and used it to tickle both of his armpits, his belly, and the bottom of his lizard foot, but he didn’t laugh once. 
“I don’t need that,” said Spike. “One wrong move and I’ll use my breath to roast you.”	
Discord only rolled his eyes and let out an annoyed sigh. 
“How many times do I have to tell you? I am reformed. Do I have to spell it out for you?” 
He then snapped his fingers and three other Discords appeared behind him, all wearing cheerleading outfits. He then shouted to all of them, making them jump and do different moves. 
“Give me an R!”
“R!”
“Give me an E!”
“E!”
“Give me an F!”
“F!”
“Give me an O!”
“O!”
“Give an R! Again!”
“R!”
“Give me an M!”
“M!
“Give me another E!”
“E!”
“Give me a D!”
“D!”
What’s that spell?”
“REFORMED!”
“Okay! Okay! I get it,” said Spike. “What are you doing here anyway?”
“Oh, just looking for something to eat,” said Discord. “Those pages from Twilight’s books that I ate the last time were so delicious that I decided to come back to see if Twilight had any other tasty reads.”
Discord picked up a book that said “The Big Book of Oceans” and licked his lips. 
“This is perfect. I love seafood.” 
Discord then placed the book between two large slices of bread and was about to take a bite when he saw Spike just standing with his arms crossed and staring at the ground with an sad face 
“What’s the matter with you?” asked Discord.
“Nothing. I’m fine,” Spike mumbled. 
“You don’t look fine to me."
Discord then sat down on a nearby chair and gently picked up Spike and placed him on his lap. 
“C’mon. Tell your Uncle Discord what’s bothering you.”
Spike then took a few deep breaths before letting it all out. 
“I was a jerk to Bulk Biceps. I made some mean jokes to him and Twilight told me that I was being a bad friend. And I think she's right.”
“Very interesting,” said Discord “Tell me, what kind of jokes did you actually say?”
Spike then told all of his jokes to Discord; the “P” is for “Pathetic” line, the joke of how Bulk Biceps should make friends with a salad and the one of how he ate his other teammates. 
“Well, I don’t think those jokes are bad at all,” he said with a little bit of sarcasm in his voice. “I mean, all they did was make Bulk Biceps feel like a loser, but that’s no big deal.”
Even though Spike was not too happy that Discord was rubbing it in, he knew that he was right. Bulk Biceps probably thought he was worthless thanks to Spike's jokes. He tried of think of something to make up for what he did when he got an idea. 
“I got to go to the tryouts,” he said, jumping off of Discord’s lap. “I need to apologize. Discord, you can send me to the tryouts with your magic. Just snap your fingers and we’ll be there in no time.”
“I don’t know,” said Discord. “This sounds like something that can get me into trouble. And that is something I’m trying to avoid, remember?” 
“Please. This is important,” said Spike, giving Discord the biggest puppy dog eyes ever. 
“Oh, all right,” Discord chuckled. “Even I can’t say “no” to a face like that.” 
He then picked up Spike, snapped his fingers, and in a flash of light, the two disappeared from the library, only to reappear on top of a huge mountain.
“DISCORD!”
“Whoops! Must have taken a wrong turn somewhere. Hang on.”
Discord snapped his fingers again and this time, he and Spike appeared in a large green field, surrounded by waterfalls flowing with rainbow colored water.  The two could see Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Bulk Biceps and Derpy standing a few feet away from them, each of them wearing a gold medal. 
Spike and Discord made their way to where the others were standing until they heard a happy "Spike! You made it!" from behind them. They both turned around to see Twilight, who was wearing a rainbow colored wig, smiling back at them 
“Oh, hi Twilight,” Spike said. “Did you do something different with your mane? It looks good.”
Twilight chuckled at what her little dragon friend just said.
"I'm so glad you're here," she said. "How did you even get here so fast?"
“I may have had something to do with it,” said Discord, who was holding onto a sign with a big black arrow on it that was pointing right at him. "Please. No need to thank me."
“Thank you, Discord,” Twilight said before looking back at Spike. "Do you wanna check out some of the other tryouts?"
"Not just yet," said Spike. "There's something I need to do first."
Spike then made his way to the other ponies and walked right up to Bulk Biceps. He took a deep breath and said what was on his mind. 
“Bulk Biceps, I’m really sorry. I’m sorry for saying those awful jokes to you yesterday. I thought I was being funny, but now I know that I was just being mean. That’s my problem, I never think before I open my mouth. I’m really sorry if I offended you. I just hope you can find it in you to forgive me.”
Bulk Biceps just stared at Spike for a few seconds. Then he simply smiled, picked up Spike and put him in a headlock while giving him a friendly noogie, causing the little dragon to giggle. 
“So, does this mean we’re good?” Spike asked after Bulk Biceps put him back down. 
“YEAH!” Bulk Biceps shouted, causing Spike to fall on his back. 
“That’s good to know,” Spike chuckled. 
Twilight, who had watched the whole thing, went up to Spike and smiled at him as she helped him get back on his feet. 
“That’s what I love about you, Spike,” she said. “You may be insensitive sometimes, but at least your heart is in the right place."
Spike couldn't help but blush at Twilight's comment.
"What do you say we look at some more of the tryouts? The ice archery is about to begin."
"I would love that," said Spike. 
Twilight then used her magic to remove her rainbow wig and place it on Spike’s head. 
“It looks better on you.”
The two chuckled as they then joined each other in a hug. 
Just behind them, Discord was watching them with small tears dripping from his eyes. But then he saw Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy looking at him with silly grins on their faces and quickly rubbed the tears away. 
“What? I have allergies.”