//------------------------------// // No more good-byes // Story: I don't belong here // by Clawder //------------------------------// Twilight's eyes shot open thanks to the sunlight entering through her window; it took a moment for her to adjust her sight to the brightness and realize she was laying in her bed. She decided not to think much about it, since it had probably been thanks to Applejack. Right now, she needed to confirm something. With astounding speed, she got up; paying little attention to her own appearance. She rushed through the all-too familiar corridors of her home, directly to Spike's room. Had he gotten back during the night? Or would she be greeted by his silent absence? To her dread, the room was empty. The place wasn't dusty anymore, and she could recall those few days ago when she saw the dragon sleeping there; she also remembered the talk they had, Applejack's compassionate words and Celestia's tender embrace. She remembered all of it and yet, the chamber haunted her memories. For a dark moment, her friend's words slid out of her mind; she went back to the fear of solitude; she forgot about Applejack, about Celestia, about Luna, about Shining; and she could only drop to the floor and lay still. What good could come from being surrounded by such kindness? none of them were at fault, so Twilight shouldn't burden them with her concerns. Furthermore, what was happening wasn't really a bad thing. When the time came for Spike to leave, the only one affected would be her. “Does it even matter?” she said to no one. And of course it didn't matter; after all, this was an uphill battle only she would fight, and there was no point in trying to hide it. Would she try to keep him in the castle for as long as she could? Would she need to replace him with another pony? There were plenty of solutions to this specific problem, and as Twilight was pondering them, she found herself taking a look at her surroundings; she noticed how incredibly neat it was, compared to many other ponies' rooms. Spike must've learned at least that much from her. She smiled and hopped to his bed, looking up at the ceiling and thinking to herself that this was, quite possibly, the one moment in her life when she felt like doing nothing. Since she just wanted time to pass, getting to read was her best alternative everytime; and yet, she couldn't bring herself to move, most probably because of laziness. She rolled to the side and saw Spike's collection. His comic book collection. Not even once had she despised the medium, but also never had she felt curiosity toward it. So, for the first time, she levitated a random one to her, and checked the cover. It read: “Salvain's Other Side”. “What is that even supposed to mean?” she flipped it to see the other side and noticed a number at the bottom: 652. There was absolutely no way that was the number of entries in the series... right? Shrugging and flipping it again, she opened the comic, and started reading. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Three thousand four hundred and seven. That was the exact number he had to keep up this whole friendship thing going on. Six... Five... Four... Three... Two... One... There! Another hundred steps! Now he was only three thousand four hundred steps away from victory. Discord made a blackboard appear; it already had many marks and he was about to make another. He pulled a marker out of his ear and crossed a group of four lines. “Why do you keep doing that?” Spike asked “Does it mean something special to you?” “Oh, it is something special alright,” he grinned “Just not a common interest we have.” “If you say so...” “Say, speaking of common interests... You wouldn't happen to own the next issue, right?” “Issue?” Spike pretended to not know what Discord was talking about. “You know, about those not-so-interesting comics you made me read,” he explained. “Comic books? Well I have plenty of those.” “Well...” Discord tapped his chin “I'm not asking for just any comic book you see...” “Oh, really?” Spike teased “Don't worry about that. All the titles I own are great. There's 'The Mane-iac's Comeback...” “Uh, sure, but...” Discord raised a hand. “Or; 'Celdiar gone Rogue'.” “I don't even know who that is.” “Or maybe I can show you the latest-” Discord appeared in front of Spike with fire in his eyes “Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about.” Spike expected a similar reaction, but was surprised anyway “Oh, I see,” he still acted oblivious “You want the next number of power ponies.” “I mean, not particularly,” Discord grimaced “But it would be convenient. You see, I like to see things through to the end,” he rubbed his fist in his chest “Especially things that I start.” Spike scratched his head “Well, you're out of luck then,” he said with a tone of defeat “There's a reason I couldn't hand you that one over.” Discord rolled his eyes “Come on, don't tell me it's one of those never-to-be opened-deluxe-I-don't-know-what issues.” “That's exactly the reason...” Spike lifted a claw “and it's not,” he rose the other “It is indeed one of those, but the problem is that I don't own it precisely because of that,” he let his arms flail down “They figured a great way to increase sales was to make that number a little more... exclusive, and it worked. But also backfired, because of negative feedback, of course. They learned and never did it again, but they still didn't print a normal version of that issue.” “But,” Discord pannicked “If that's true, and every pony is as picky and paranoid as you are, that means I'll never know what's next!” he pulled some of his hair off his head “Actually, that also means noone knows! How preposterous!” “Nope, a nameless hero did open one of those, and published the contents of the story by writing them in a scroll. You can read all of what happens pretty much anywhere, but the issue itself is still a treasure to be found,” Spike explained with a shine in his eyes. “Nonsense,” Discord stated. Spike looked up, and saw Discord creating, page by page, the fabled missing number of the power ponies. He stopped on his tracks, amazed, and in a moment, the draconequus was done. With a snap, he passed it on to Spike, who looked at it in disbelief “How did-” he mustered. “Oh, nothing that I can't do, friend, a huff here, a puff there and ta-da!” Shortly after flicking through the contents, Spike raised an eyebrow “Discord... this is not the issue,” he declared “I doubt this is even any of the issues.” “Oh, but it is,” he assured “It even takes off after the last one, see?” It did look genuine, but it was obviously a different story, and a pretty bad one at that “Did you just try to make a prediction on what you think will happen?” he paused and covered his mouth, as if containing a laugh “I'm sorry to say, Discord but this is... hehe... questionable.” “It is not a prediction,” he said, indignant “It's just the way it follows, according to where everything was leading.” Spike tossed the paper back to Discord and walked “That's up to the author, you know?” Discord let the item fall to the ground instead of catching it “Oh really?” he catched up to Spike “What makes it so different? a bunch of ponies want it to be a certain way and you just accept it? What if an idividual's version is better eh?” he enlarged his right eye and pressed it against Spike's face. “That's just it, Discord” he pushed the eye away “It is just one pony writing it.” Discord gaped in disbelief “That's not true. No pony, and I repeat, no pony can have this kind of imagination.” “You'd be surprised!” Spike laughed “They say every head has a world of it's own; you just happen to be able to make all your whims come true. If only you could see what's in ours.” Just like that, Spike went ahead, without looking back. Discord stood there, still thinking it was impossible for a single pony to come up with something as crazy as the stories of the power ponies. Was that true? could a pony actually think of all of that and more? But most important of all: was that wisdom just now, coming from a being like Spike? It was strange to observe him like that: weak and childish at a time; composed and mature at another. The little guy was truly a case for study and entertainment. For a reason he couldn't grasp, he smirked, following the young dragon's steps; and for the reminder of the way, he stayed silent, thinking it would be a nice gift for Spike to get that issue some day. The reason why? he would never know. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Wow,” Twilight deadpanned, putting the low-tier, magazine-like thing back in it's place “That was an extremely boring experience,” she shook her head, still looking up “How can anypony enjoy that so much?” Maybe it had been her poor choice. Maybe she needed context because that was, effectively, the six-hundred fifty-second entry. Maybe it was just a bad number compared to the others... But maybe Twilight was just right and books were the far superior medium. Either way, she got up, realizing she had already slacked off for more than was healthy. Just as she was about to check on her paperwork, she heard the unmistakable sound of the gates opening, along with a couple of distant voices. She dashed to the entrance, and saw both Spike and Discord saying their goodbyes. They were planning some kind of reunion, which was strange in itself, but when they heard the hoofsteps approaching, they turned to Twilight. "Sparkle! my eloquent and never appropiately pondered pony!” Discord wasted no time in appearing before her, dressed in an elegant valet uniform. “As promised, I have come to bring you a Spike (from one of our finest crops, I might add).” Sure enough Spike was elegantly encased toe to neck by a watermelon. Twilight let out a sigh of relief and gave a thankful nod to Discord “Just how I like them,” she let out a giggle that came out with a sadder tone than she anticipated, and Discord took that as his queue to leave. “I'll be around, not really sure where,” he waved to both of them and snapped his fingers, the traces of his magic disappearing along with him. The dragon and pony left in the hall looked at each other for some time. Spike with a hint of shame and apology, while Twilight's appearance showed relief and exhaustion. “So... I'm back,” he decided to break the silence. “And you're very welcome, Spike,” she closed the distance with a slow pace, and wrapped him in a loving hug. Spike return the gesture immediately, “Are you okay, Twilight?” “No...” she smiled weakly “I'm really not.” “I'm very sorry-” “Don't be,” she interrupted. “It's not because of you...” she thought for a moment and continued “Or rather, it is, but you're not at fault,” she broke the hug and Spike just stared at her, confused. “Spike, I really, really don't want you to go. And I don't think I'll ever be ready for that day... But I want you to know I won't hold you back anymore. I want you to live your life and be free more than I want you to stay,” she finally declared, smiling warmly. “Oh, uh,” Spike rubbed the back of his neck with one of his claws “That was really moving, Twilight, but... You don't have to worry about it anymore.” “Huh?” she tilt her head. “You see, I've had plenty of time to think about my future and all that. And this little quest of mine has taught me a couple of things,” he let out a sigh and then drew air to puff his chest “First! I'm better off staying here with my friends than anywhere else. What would I even do? buy my own house? settle down in Canterlot? none of it sounds nearly as interesting as staying in the castle with the pony I care for the most,” he said while raising his fingers on every point “Second, the world is uhm... a little more hostile than I gave it credit for,” he laughed nervously “And I hadn't realized since you and the others were always there for me.” Twilight listened attentive, she held back her comments as to let him finish, but she was clearly eager to say something. “Third and last: I won't be bothered when I feel like I'm useless anymore. My life will be long and... I've come to accept it,” he looked at the floor for a second, but regained his composure right after “So what if I'm just a useless little dragon from time to time? I never needed to prove my worth before, because all of my friends love me as I am! I'll have plenty of time later on to become big and strong as I've always wanted. I'll have time to make something great of my life as the ponies around me are doing. I'll have time to-” he clenched his fists “to love... a pony or a dragon or whatever...” Twilight couldn't hold anymore and started jumping up and down, lifting Spike with her magic “You're right, you're right, you're right!” she then pulled him close to her once again “You don't have nothing to prove, specially not to us! for as long as you're here with me, I'll make sure you feel at home!” Spike, on his part, was surprised at the reaction, but was relieved nontheless “And you don't have to be all that patient to make something great, because that's what you have always been. From now on, whenever there's something you want to do, we'll work to make it happen! Spike, you have no idea how much I needed to hear that.” “H-hey, Twi,” he managed to say under the constricting grasp of his best friend “I'm glad we reached an un-understaninggg” Twilight loosened her grip, still holding him close “And for the record, I wouldn't be able to let you go either.” Their embrace was quickly thwarted by a snort, and the sound of somepony blowing her nose. Their eyes shot open and they towards the sound. There, just a few steps away was Pinkie, holding back some tears and throwing away a used handkerchief. “Pinkie!” both reprimanded. “I'm sorry I didn't mean to I was just coming to say I was gonna throw a 'welcome back for sure this time for realsies' party when I saw Discord and Spike coming but I couldn't bring myself to say anything because you guys were having a moment and that was just too beautiful wahhhhhh!!!!” she covered her eyes as she let out a river of tears. Twilight and Spike looked at each other awkwardly, but then shared a laugh at the whole situation. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On the outskirts of the everfree forest, numerous tents were set up, hidden on a clearing amongst the canopy of an extense jungle. “I see,” an elder centaur lay before a wooden table, serving a portion of hot water into a cup, “How many more besides him?” “Just the one dragon, Sir,” the scout replied. “This is hardly the big deal you're making it out to be, son. What we have in our hands is nothing more than a meaningless exception,” he dismissed while taking a sip from his tea. “But Sir, I have to insist. I saw Discord, the one and only, aiding that dragon. It can't be a coincidence!” The elder shot the young centaur a glare, making him step back instantly “I am well aware about the recent... developings, however this is to be expected.” “E-expected?” the young centaur stammered. “Indeed. After all, are ponies not known for their unparalleled harmony? It is not coincidence that they have always found a way to stick together. Even when their differences were significant, even after war, even after their numerous enemies attacked time and time again... ponies always find a way to band together and triumph. You could say it's in their nature, really. It is no suprise then, that even a creature such as Discord would eventually walk among them as one of their own... mostly. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if you ended up joining them if I let you get closer to them.” “Sir, I would never,” he replied firmly. “Oh, don't take it the wrong way, son. I don't mean to insult your loyalty. It's simply a matter of respecting your opponents capabilities.” The scout remained still and let his leader's words sink in. Would it really be possible for the ponies to turn me to their side? The mere thought sent shivers down his spine. Not because he considered it a terrible fate, but because in his mind this would be the result of a manipulation. A trick no different than brainwashing. “You may go, son. I need some time to think of my next move.” “Sir!” he bowed and left the tent, still concerned of what he just heard. And impressed at the calm with which his commander was taking the news. Am I really cut out for this?