The next morning Spike approached Sweet Apple acres with a sense of trepidation. Knights were above all else, honorable, and that meant Spike owed a round of apologies.
Approaching the hoof carved wooden sign at the front end of the property he saw Applejack towing a cart out toward one of the family’s many orchards. He waved and slowly walked toward her, hoping that Applejack had calmed down since yesterday.
Applejack tipped her seston by way of a greeting. “Howdy Spike, what can I do ya for?” Applejacks tone was more demure than usual but it still had the earnest friendliness all of ponyville had come to expect from her.
“You’re not mad at me?”
“Not really, I got no right to expect you to give up an afternoon to do farm work just cause I ask you too. I wasn’t crazy about bout you demanding some gems, but that’s on me.”
Applejack might have been willing to let bygones be bygones, but Spike’s conscience wouldn’t let himself off the hook so easily. “No it’s not. I owe you an apology. You asked for help as a friend looking for a favor, not somepony looking to hire a farmhand. If I wanted a new job I could have applied.”
“You lookin to get out of the library there?”
“No, I just...I had a bad day and I guess I overreacted.”
Applejack nodded. “Eeyup. But it ain’t hardly worth getting upset about. I appreciate the apology Spike but you got nothin to fret over.”
“So we’re okay?”
“Right as rain sugarcube.”
Spike felt ten pounds lighter as he breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks Applejack. Do you need anyhelp today?”
The offer was met with a polite chuckle. “Nah, ain't nothing to do but maintenance today. Nothing we can't handle.”
“Okay well if you do need help you know where to find me.”
“Sure do.”
With one wronged pony apologized to. Spike set off to rectify another mistake, this time heading toward the Everfree forest.
Spike stood staring at the door, mustering up whatever knightly courage he could. He had been rude to Applejack, which was problematic, but he had been downright mean to Fluttershy. However good his intentions may have been there was no mistaking the fact that he had outright berated Fluttershy, who was already sensitive to begin with. For a moment he allowed his mind to dwell on the possibility that he had irrevocably damaged his friendship.
Courage summoned, he knocked and it only took a few moments for Fluttershy to answer, but when she opened the door she froze where she stood, awkwardly flinching. “Oh, hi Spike,” she said softly.
It took Spike a few moments of studying Fluttershy to realize exactly what was wrong, Fluttershy was turned slightly away from him and though she often looked at the ground, now her gaze was rooted to the floor. She was scared of him and trying to hide it. The ball of guilt Spike was holding in his chest instantly swelled
“I'm sorry I yelled at you Fluttershy, really I am. I don't care what you're scared of. I was angry about something else and I took it out on you and I really shouldn’t have done that”
“I’m not really scared of the Everfree, well I guess I kind of am. But I didn’t ask you if you wanted to go gather supplies with me because I was scared.”
“You didn’t?” Spike asked with a wince.
Fluttershy shook her head. “No, I had a good time on our last trip and I thought you did too. I just thought it might be nice to spend some more time together.”
Spike winced as the words hit him. Before he felt bad that he had berated a friend, now he was forced to confront the fact that he had insulted a friend who wanted nothing more than to spend sometime with him. If Spike’s dragon abilities included shriveling into a very tiny ball and rolling away he would have. ‘Oh jeez”
“I suppose I could have made that clearer,” Fluttershy said meekly.
Spike found the words tumbling out of him, forcing him to admit a truth he had been avoiding. “Gosh no, this is my fault Fluttershy. I was trying to be something I’m not and I guess I really messed up.”
For the first time Fluttershy looked up at him. “Why did you want to change? I liked who you were before, didn't you?”
He started to tell Fluttershy that it was really an effort to make Rarity like him more but thought better of it. His romantic troubles weren’t in anyway Fluttershy’s problem so instead he shrugged. “Yeah, but I thought maybe some other ponies might like me more if I was different.”
“Well that’s just silly Spike, you’re great just the way you are,” Fluttershy said, and for the first time Spike got the sense that she wasn’t nervous.
“You're being awfully nice to me considering how mean I was,” Spike said softly.
Fluttershy smiled at him, one of the warm caring ones she often gave animals she just met who were nervous. It “I forgive you, after all you were just trying to help, I suppose.”
For the second time today Spike was unwilling to forgive himself as easily as his victim. Knights always had to endure some sort of penance for their trangressions and it felt wrong that he was absolved without so much as a “don’t do it again”. “But I was so mean about it. There has to be something I can do to make it up to you.”
Spike’s anguish must have shown through because Fluttershy place a calming hoof on his shoulder and offered him another reassuring smile. “You can accept my forgiveness Spike. I don't want you to feel bad on my account.”
It was impossible to argue with that logic so instead Spike gave Fluttershy a hug before leaving. Heading away from Fluttershy’s cottage he found himself reflecting on just how lucky he was to have great friends.
Spike had one more stop on his apology tour, it was also the one he was dreading the most. He needed to visit Rarity.