//------------------------------//
// Leap of Faith 
// Story: Where Was Spike? 
// by powerpony 
//------------------------------//

	Spike was in the kitchen of the library, making a cup of tea. Just as he was pouring the hot water into the cup, he heard a huge sneeze coming from the bedroom. Spike picked up the teacup and carried it upstairs, where he saw Twilight lying in bed. Her eyes were bloodshot, she was hacking and coughing and she had an ice pack on her forehead. 
“How are you feeling, Twi?” asked Spike as he placed the tea on her nightstand. 
“Terrible,” said Twilight with a raspy voice. “I can’t remember the last time I was this sick.”
She then used her magic to lift up the teacup and take a sip. 
“Thanks you taking care of me, Spike.”
“Hey, what’s a number one assistant for?” said Spike. “I’m going out for a little bit. Do you want anything?
“No thanks, I’ll be fine,” said Twilight before letting out a number of hacking coughs.
“If you say so,” said Spike who was a bit uneasy about leaving Twilight.
As he walked through town, Spike couldn’t help but feel terrible for Twilight and tried to think of a way to make her feel better fast. She told him that she just needed plenty of bed rest, but he figured there had to be another way. As he was thinking, he heard someone call out:
“Tonic! Get your tonic here!”
Spike looked up and saw a small stand with two ponies with red manes selling bottles of a strange green liquid. Spike reconized the two as the Flim Flam brothers. But what really shocked him was that Granny Smith was with them. The brothers were the last ponies Spike would see with Granny Smith after they tried to run the Apple family out of business the last time they were in town. 
“Howdy stranger,” Flim said to Spike. “Care to try our one kind tonic?”
“Guranteed to make anypony and dragon feel right as rain,” said Flam. 
Spike picked up one of the bottles and read the label: 
FLIM FLAM BROTHERS’ MIRACLE-CURATIVE TONIC
“Just one sip and any sickness you have will just disappear,” said Flam. 
“I don’t know,” said Spike. 
“Try it. It worked on me,” said Granny Smith and she demonstrated by doing a cartwheel right in front of Spike. “I couldn’t do that before without hurting my back. But thanks to that tonic, I can do about a hundred of them.” 
Spike was shocked to see Granny Smith so up and about. 
“And the best part is that it is approved by the most honest pony in Ponyville; Applejack,” said Flam. 
Spike thought about it for a second and figured that if Applejack, the pony who would never tell a lie, approved of it then it must be good. He started to realize that with the tonic, he could use it to cure Twilight. 
“I’ll take it,” Spike said as he slammed a few bits onto the stand. 
“An excellent choice, my friend,” said Flim. 
Spike ran back to the library and made his way to Twilight’s bed where she was still sneezing and coughing. 
“What is that?” Twilight asked when she noticed the bottle in Spike’s hands. 
“This is what is going to make you all better,” said Spike. 
He handed Twilight the bottle and she was not too happy when she read the label.
“You got this from the Flim Flam brothers?” she asked. “Those two con ponies who almost kicked Applejack out of her home?”
“You don’t understand, Twilight,” said Spike. “This tonic is guaranteed to get rid of any type of aliment you have. It can even work on your cold. You should have seen what it did to Granny Smith. She’s as spry as a filly. And Applejack approves it, so it must be good.”
Although Twilight didn’t trust anything made by the Flim Flam brothers, Applejack was one of the most honest ponies she knew, so the tonic must do what Spike just told her. 
“Well, if it’s Applejack approved.”
Twilight then popped off the cork of the bottle and said “Bottom’s up,” before guzzling down the entire tonic. 
Spike’s eyes lit up as he hoped that it worked. Twilight looked at him, and it seemed like she was looking a bit better as a smile appeared on her face. That is until she let out another huge sneeze and then began coughing hacking again. 
Spike was shocked that the tonic didn’t work. But then he figured that maybe Twilight just had to wait a bit longer for it to kick in. But come the next day, Twilight was still sick. In fact, Spike thought that she looked even worse than she was yesterday. 
“I just don’t get it,” said Spike. “That stuff worked on Granny Smith. Why didn’t it work on you?”
“I told you not to trust those brothers,” said Twilight.
“Yeah, you’re right Twilight. I feel like an idiot.”
“Don’t say that, Spike. Those brothers just have a way of tricking other ponies into believing everything they say.”
“Still, I can’t believe I wasted my money on a useless tonic,” said Spike, who was now getting a bit angry. “I’m going to those two jerks and give them a piece of my mind.”
Spike then stormed out of the library. As he walked through town, he could see Applejack walk towards him. He decided to have a little talk with her about the lousy product she approved of. 
“Applejack, I’d like a word with you,” he said, showing Applejack the empty tonic bottle. “How could you approve of a lousy product like this? I gave it to Twilight to help with her cold, and it didn’t do anything.”
“I know,” Applejack signed, looking disappointed in herself. “I’m really sorry, Spike. I knew all along that that tonic was a fake. But I kept my mouth shut because it seemed to make Granny Smith happy and I didn’t want to disappoint her. I understand if you’re angry at me.”
Spike could tell by the sad look Applejack had that she was truly sorry for lying and he just couldn’t stay mad at her. 
“I’m not angry with you, Applejack,” he said. “I’m mostly angry at those Flim Flam brothers. I was about to find them and demand my money back.”
“Well, good luck trying to find them,” said Applejack. “As soon as I revealed to everpony that the tonic was fake, those two took off faster than you can say ‘Cider.’”
“Don’t worry, I’ll find them,” said Spike. “And I’ll  get my money, and every other pony’s money back from them.”
Spike walked all through town, searching for the brothers. His search brought him to the center of the park where he could see fresh tire tracks in the field. He followed them and sure enough he caught the Flim Flam brothers pushing their wagon through the field, which was filled with dozens of bottles of their tonic. 
“Stop it right there, you two,” Spike said. 
The brothers stopped and saw Spike walk towards them with an angry glare on his face. 
“Let me guess, you came here to get your money back,” said Flim. 
“Not just my money,” said Spike. “But all of the money from the ponies you ripped off.”
“Sorry son, no refunds,” said Flam. “Says so right on the label.”
Flam then used his magic to lift up a magnifying glass and placed it on the label where Spike saw in tiny little writing the words: SORRY, NO REFUNDS. 
“That is just despicable,” said Spike. 
“Hey, that’s life kid,” said FlIm. “So why don’t just run along now and stop bothering us.”
Flam walked up to the cart and was about to push when something inside it caught his eye. 
“Um, Flim, we might have a problem here,” he told his brother. “The money’s gone.”
“WHAT?!” Flim then starred into the cart and saw that Flam was right. “But I put it in here before we left. This is all your fault!”
“How is it my fault?” Flam asked angrily. 
“The bag probably fell out because you were pushing the cart too fast. “
“You were pushing the cart too. You were the one who pushed too fast.”
"Did not!”
“Did too!” 
“Liar!”
“I know you are but what am I?”
Spike decided to walk away from the argument before things started to get ugly. As he walked away he heard someone say “Psst” from his right. He turned and saw a silver coated pony standing beside him.
“Who are you?” Spike asked. 
“My name is Silver Shill,” said the pony. “I used to work for Flim and Flam, but then I quit. I have something you might want.”
Silver Shill then went to a nearby bush and pulled out a large brown sack and handed it to Spike, who opened it up. Inside were dozens of gold bits. 
“That is all of the money from the ponies Flim and Flam ripped off,” said Silver Shill. “I stole it from their cart before they could make their getaway. I know stealing is wrong, but they didn’t deserve any of that money.”
“Thank you,” said Spike. “I’ll make sure this goes back to it all the ponies that were cheated.”
Sliver Shill smiled and shook Spike’s claw as his way of saying thank you and walked away. 
In the middle of Ponyville, Spike set up a small stand where he handed out all of the bits back to each pony who bought the tonic. The last pony he gave to was Granny Smith, who had tons of bits returned to her since she was the brothers’ “best customer.”
“Thank you kindly, Spike,” said Granny Smith. “I still can’t believe I believed everything those con ponies said what that tonic can do. I feel like a ninny.”	
“Don’t worry, Granny Smith, you’re not the only one,” said Spike. “I actually thought that tonic could work too. I even tried it on Twilight to help her with her cold.”
“Twilight has a cold? Well, I think I have something that I might help.”
Back at the library, Twilight was still lying in bed, coughing like crazy, when she heard someone come up the stairs. She looked up to find Spike coming towards her, holding onto a bowl of a steaming yellow liquid. 
“What is that?” she asked. 
“It’s Granny Smith’s spicy apple soup,” said Spike. “She told me she gave it to her family when they were sick and they were better in no time.”
Spike gave Twilight a spoonful of the soup and she licked her lips at how delicious it was. And sure enough, Twilight felt better the next day. She thanked for Spike for all his help and also told him how proud she was of him for learning an important lesson on how if something sound too good to be true, it probably is.