Spike Quits His Job and Goes on Numerous Quests

by B_25

ACT I: 1 – "Twilight, It Comes with Unfortunate News That I Handed You That Paper."

Spike stood in the middle of the Golden Oaks library with a scroll in one claw and a quill in the other. He looked for the place where he would write the letter that would take him to the freedom he always dreamt of, and found Applejack at the desk where the aftermentioned task would be done.

At the center of the library there stood a stump at a height of several feet, its top perfectly sliced as to have an immaculately flat surface – which was now adorned with a statue of a bowing equine head. The width of this stump used to be of several feet as well, but the artisan responsible for constructing the interior of the library decided to hack away at the thickness to leave a more narrow base. However, the artisan left the center of this excessive wood intact at the height of a few inches, which made for a terrific, circular desk that circled around the stump.

Applejack's head began to wobble, her eyes focusing on everything but the heavy tomb held by her trembling forehooves. This odd positioning continued for a few moments longer, before the heaviness of the tomb could no longer be sustained by her hooves, and slipped past their grasp. The resulting thud from tomb colliding against the hardwood did not register in her ear, as she continued to idly sit there.

Spike watched the scene from afar, blinking a few times through its course, then proceeding to stand at the same desk as she. Upon standing before the mare, he began to extend a nervous hand, and touched her on the shoulder.

"MY BOOK!"

No sooner had he done so that he retracted his hand in fright. Applejack had thrown her hooves straight up into the air at hearing the delayed thud, as it was enough to shock her system into releasing a dose of adrenaline to course through her veins, fueling for her head to be able to snap in every possible direction in order to find the tomb she had been reading.

Finally, the pairs of wide, emerald eyes came to look into one another. Both of their owners were panting out of fright of the present moment, though it was Applejack who was the first to speak.

"Spike?" Applejack panted out a few more breaths before returning to a somewhat steady rhythm. "What in tarnation do you think yer doin'? You should know better by now to touch a mare without her express consent – wait just a sec...what have you done with my book!"

The drake's brow's had reached their apex halfway through the mare's accusation, his mouth opening ajar as she came to finish. He allowed for a few to comprehend the mare's present logic, but upon seeing the drool marking her lips and the black bags adorning beneath her eyes, the drake came to a conclusion by himself.

So instead of reply by words, he instead pointed a single claw down at the desk before her. She traced the claw's direction until her eyes stumbled on what he had been pointing at.

The tomb had landed perfectly upright on the desk with its panels split apart, allowing for the mare to see a trickle of liquid running down the page. She didn't know why, but her own hoof began to trace her lips, where they wiped away the lingering drool there. After a moment, she put two and two together in her head, and promptly chuckled at the answer given to her.

"Sorry 'bout that, surgurcube." Applejack looked at the drake with a less intense gaze, awkwardly adjusting the stetson atop her head. "I'm afraid I bit off more than what I can chew by trying to study agriculture and all that by myself. But, that aside, is there anything I can do 'ya for? Though, that aside, is there anything I could do ya fer?"

Spike shook his head at her offer and continued to point at the desk. "I was just going to ask if it's okay if I write a letter here."

"...Spike, this is yer library, ya can do whatever ya want here."

"I know that." Spike said with a heavy sigh. "I just thought it would be polite to ask you first."

Instead of replying to his face, Applejack opted to knock over her tomb onto its side, and lay her wearily head on its cover. "Knock yerself out, sugarcube."

The drake proceeded to do just that. He dropped onto a knee and placed the scroll upon the desk, raising the claw holding the quill to the paper, and beginning to compose the letter that would take him to the freedom he always dreamt of. As the sound of quill scratching against paper wafted into his ear, so too, did the winds of adventure whistle into his ear of the promise of many distant lands.

Spike couldn't help but see those aforementioned lands in the spaces in-between the lines of his now, finished letter.

Applejack rolled her head so that her other cheek rested on the tomb. Her heavy eyelids wanted nothing more than to close, but the heavy scratching next to her prevented sleep from claiming her. So she decided to glance at just what the dragon was writing to passionately about, before allowing herself to fall into the sweet embrace of the Dreamscape.

Her eyes trailed over the words of the letter:

Spike the Dragon

Number-One Assistant

Golden Oak Library

Ponyville

To Twilight Sparkle.

Please accept this as formal notice of my voluntary resignation from the position of Number-One Assistant, which will be effective two weeks from today.

Due to recent events, it’s in the best interest of all parties that the company and I part ways now. I thank you for your support during my time at the library.

Yours sincerely,

Spike the Dragon.

The two pairs of emerald eyes that had been so focused on the words of the paper finally began to look up, slowly coming in contact with one another's gazes, before they locked onto one another. They stared, not quite sure what to think or say, until the dam that was both of their lips finally burst with laughter. The sweet, happy sound began to fill the once-oppressively silent room, and served to lighten the atmosphere while it was at it.

Applejack felt her heavy eyelids lose their heavy weight in that precise moment.

“Whoo-wee!" Applejack struck her leg with joy as her laughter began to cease. "That’s a mighty funny letter, Spike. Ya really must have some guts to begin a prank just below where Twilight is.”

Their combined laughter had echoed into Spike's mind, drifting down to his subconscious, and banishing the reluctance stopping him from handing in the letter that his fears told him to burn instead. He ignored nausea washing over him at the thought of handing Twilight the letter, not at all liking the expressions and words his cowardice tossed his way.

"I'm glad that you at least found this funny, Applejack." Spike dropped the quill on the desk, picking up the letter instead, and returning to his normal height. He looked down at the mare. "But you got this being part of a prank wrong. I'm acutally going to quit my job."

Applejack rose her eyebrow and looked up at him with a mouth ajar.

"Now, if you'll excuse me." Spike gave a farewell bow, much to the mare's confusion, before turning around and beginning to approach the staircase to the rightmost of the room. Uncharacteristically, he didn't hesitate to take the first step upward, and endured through the sensation of a jagged knife being twisted in his heart.

Finally, the drake reached the entryway that led into his shared bedroom. He paused before the threshold to give his letter one last look through, as well as to contemplate for a single moment if he really had what it took to follow through with what was going to happen next. He banged his claw against the wall, creating a thud that resounded throughout the bedroom, and pulled the head of a lavender mare from the book she was apparently reading.

"What was that?" Twilight's eyes flitted all over the contents of the bedroom before they finally came to rest on the drake standing in her doorway. "Oh Spike, it's just you." It took her a moment to process the drake had just struck a wall, causing for her shoulders to slump. "Care to explain why you're banging the walls?"

The hand slid off the wall as the drake passed the threshold. He couldn't help but slump his shoulders at seeing Twilight's seemingly innocence expression, which she picked up on the second it happened.

"Actually, don't worry about telling me." She returned her gaze back to her book, but not quite delving back in just yet. "I'm reading this book right now that's getting really good. Pony Dantés friends just framed him and had him thrown in prison, and he's beginning to lose his mind! Could you imagine our friends doing that to us? I feel so bad for Pony Dantés."

Spike could stare at her for another moment, trying his best to get the words he wanted to say out of his throat. But all he could was close his eyes, extend both of his hand forward, and present the letter to Twilight. Her eyes were still directed to the book, so it took a moment for her to realize the moment of silence meant something, and for her to turn around.

When she did, she saw the drake almost bowing. He seemed to be presenting something for her, so, in summoning her magic around the letter, she brought it to her eyes and began to read.

Once the heavy weight had been lifted from Spike's open palms, he cracked an eye open to see his life-long friend softly murmuring the words as she read. Seeing how her expression was slowly turning into something that caused the drake dread, he opted instead to look at everything else the room had to offer.

It also probably didn't help that he was twiddling his thumbs.

Twilight finished reading the letter in her telekinetic grasp and turned the paper around so that it faced its owner. "Spike, what exactly is this?!"

Spike inhaled heavily, letting it expand his chest, before expelling all the air out. “Twilight, it comes with unfortunate news that I handed you that paper.”

“And I still trying to figure out what this paper even means!”

“Well..." Spike's head began to wobble as he couldn't bare himself to focus his eyes on her. "That. Is commonly referred as a two-week resignation.”

"I already know that!" Twilight felt her head fill with anger and confusion, and she had no sense on how to expel either or. "Spike, what exactly are you trying to tell me?"

"It's not obvious?" Spike asked, to which, he received a shake of the head. Sighing one final time, he gave his resignation in verbal form.

"Twilight, I'm quitting my job as number one assistant."