It's All Downhill From Here

by B_25

Failure Is Not Flattering

Spike sauntered steadily along the path through downtown Ponyville. It was later in the afternoon and the calm winds combined with the warm temperature made for a perfect stroll through town. But this was no stroll. This was a mission to find the pony who could singlehoofedly save his chances of winning the scavenger hunt.

Let's see... If I know Rainbow Dash, she should be on her favourite cloud, finishing up her nap right about now.

Spike dashed out to the special hill just outside of town where Rainbow would spend the warm afternoons, hanging out on a particular fluffy cloud.

"Rainbow! Raaaainbow! You here?" Spike wandered around, eyes to the sky in search of his pegasus friend. Not a sight of her though.

"Rainbow Dash, its Spike! I need to talk to you!" Spike looked around once more, his hopes of seeing her in vain. "RAAAAIIIINBO-AAAHHH!"

Spike was suddenly kissing the ground as a heavy force tackled him from behind. Spike flailed around and tried to turn his head to identify his attacker, but it was all in vain as he got dragged into the bushes.

"Hey, lemme go!" Spike cried out, trying to free himself. "I'll have you know I'm best friends with a Princess, and-"

"Spike, shh, it's me."

Spike stopped writing about and cracked his eyes open. "Rainbow?"

"Yeah, calm down, it's just me."

"Oh, that's a relief," he replied. "But wait a minute... What was with the whole tackling me to the ground thing?"

"Sorry, but I had to be quick when I heard you calling my name." Rainbow gulped and looked around. "I couldn't let her find me."

"Um, her?"

"You know, Trix-"

"Rainbow Dash! The Great and Powerful Trixie demands your presence immediately!"

"Oh my gosh, Spike, here she comes. Be quiet and hide me!" Rainbow ducked behind Spike and pushed him out of the bushes. "Quick, make her go away!"

Before Spike could retaliate he was on his own, directly in the line of sight of Trixie.

Oh no...

"You there, dragon!" Trixie shouted, trotting toward Spike. "Your friend, the rainbow maned pony, where is she? I have something rather important to discuss with her."

"Uhh, I don't know," Spike said, trying to avert his eyes from the shivering bushes behind him. "She might be down at the bar. She sure does love her cider."

"Hmm, it would appear to be a bit early for hard cider, but you may be right. Thank you, young dragon. The Great and Powerful Trixie shall grace you with her presence at a later time, for the bar awaits." With a haughty huff she turned around and ran off toward town. "I'm coming for you, Rainbow Dash!"

The leaves rustled behind Spike as Rainbow poked her head out. “Is she gone?”

“Um, yes? She’s gone.”

Rainbow jumped the rest of the way out and shook the dried leaves out of her fur. “Phew! She’s been hounding me all day. I thought I’d never get away.”

“Any particular reason you’re avoiding her?” Spike asked, cocking his eyebrow. “I mean, she’s annoying, yeah, but it’s not like you to back down from another pony like this.”

“You don’t understand!” she replied, grabbing his shoulders and lifting him to eye level with her. “She makes Spitfire seem like a Kindergarten teacher with the way she bosses me around. And I’m not even allowed to fight back or leave the competition without losing some of my credibility with Spitfire. I can’t take it anymore!”

Spike freed himself from her grasp and rolled his eyes. “So you’re running away?”

“Desperate times call for desperate measures, Spike,” she said matter of factly. “And any time you find yourself at the mercy of Trixie, it’s desperate.”

“Oh c’mon, Rainbow, she’s not that bad,” Spike said.

“Dude, her idea of training was timing how fast it took me to get her a taco from town square. It’s that bad.”

Spike let out a sigh. “Well that’s just great.”

“Huh?”

“I was going to ask you for advice on how to handle some partner issues I’m having with Cloudchaser, but you’re having a worse time the I am.”

“You want some advice? Get out, Spike. Get out while you still can! It’s not too late for you, Spike.”

“Uh-huh… I’ll keep that in mind.” Spike just took a moment to look over his friend. Here was one of the coolest ponies around sneaking and hiding to try and get away from another pony, just because of a few personality differences. Well, maybe a lot of personality differences, but that wasn’t the point. The point was that he did not want to end up like her.

“You know what, Rainbow, I’ve got a better idea. I’m going to face this head on.”

“Head on?”

“Yeah. Attitude or not, me and Cloudchaser are going to start working together. Even it hurts… which there’s a good chance it will.”

Without a second thought, Spike walked away, leaving a head-scratching Rainbow Dash in his wake.

****

Spike popped open the front door and was immediately greeted by Twilight, who was, as per the usual, intently reading a book.

“So, what did Rainbow have to say?” she said, tossing her book aside.

“Nothing useful, that’s for sure,” Spike replied with an eye roll. “I thought I had partner problems, but man, she’s really up a creek.”

“Explain?”

“Rainbow plus Trixie. Do the math.”

“Ah, I see. I was hoping she’d at least have found some way of working with her by now, but I suppose I was being a bit generous with my assumptions.” Twilight shrugged and picked her book back up. “Sorry about that Spike.”

Spike smiled. “Hey, just because she didn’t have any good advice, doesn’t mean the whole thing was a waste of time.”

“Once again, explain?” she said, looking up from her book.

“Well, you see, Twi, I just had to take a quick look at the sorry state of Rainbow’s partner relations, and it hit me: there’s no way I’m gonna let myself end up like that. Instead, I’m just gonna face this whole thing head on. If Cloudchaser doesn’t like me still or whatever, too bad, we’re gonna do our best to win.”

“Wow, Spike, that’s a really adult outlook from you,. I’m impressed.”

“Yeah, well, don’t get used to it,” Spike said with a chuckle. “I’ve got a maturity quota and I’ve almost filled it for the entire week. So, if you don’t mind, I’ve got a date with a sexy lady I like to call ‘sleep’. She never has a bad attitude and is always waiting for me in bed, if you know what I mean. Perfect mare.”

Twilight face hoofed and laughed lightly. “Yeah, go ahead and take some of those maturity points off. Get some rest, alright Spike?”

“Thanks, Twi. See you in the morning.”

Spike hugged Twilight and lightly kissed her cheek goodnight, before dashing off to his room to finally get some much needed sleep..

He was ready to take the week by storm. He had a purpose. He was ready to get down to business.

Author's Note:

Don't ask me why, but I can't think of Cloudchaser or Rainbow Dash without thinking of punk-pop music.

Comments

[FamousLastWords]

[themouthofmush]

that does sounds like a fun lady there. a lady one could take home even.

[Frankie2]

Doesn't Rainbow Dash realize by constantly hiding and avoiding her partner, she is going to make herself look really bad in front of Spitfire? If Rainbow Dash can't make this work somehow, Spitfire can think that Rainbow Dash won't be able to handle any problems that may come up if she doesn't like one of her teammates. That Rainbow can not be a team player. That Rainbow can't 'suck it up and deal with it'. Now, I want Twilight to get on Rainbow like she got on poor Spike, but I know she won't, the hypocrite.

[Mustafa]

He was ready to get down to business.

To defeat the Huns.

[DarkDMan]

Nice!

[Frostbite4]

Sleep, the first girlfriend a guy will ever have

[FamousLastWords]

5949998 The best girlfriend in the world.

[Ignaltus]

Poor Rainbow.

[Geoice]

5950033 indeed

[Starguy135]

Don't ask me why, but I can't think of Cloudchaser or Rainbow Dash without thinking of punk-pop music.

Makes perfect sense to me.

[Eonflare]

Hahaha, after seeing the last few chapters being so moody, seeing how Rainbow is dealing with her partner is was good for a laugh.