Spike Quits His Job and Goes on Numerous Quests

by B_25

69 – "Heh, 69, Get It?"

~69~

"Heh, 69, Get It?"

The newly appointed leader of the Royal Gaurd found herself standing in the center of a mass of guards which were now at her charge, willing to obey her every whim and not question her judgment. Protecting her was no longer just another objective of the mission, but that she was now the mission. Her death would lead to the hysteria that had claimed so many of the guard, and it was a requirement of the element she embodied to seal away this dragon in stone.

Though none of that attested to the reason why she stood in the middle.

Applejack stood tall with her head bowed low, eyes sealed shut as her every breath stuttered the occasional spike derived from the nervousness clogging her heart. She was a mare of confidence that did battle with a certain chromatic mane pegasus to establish this fact, as well as running a farm with only her brother and granny. And yet, here she was, not knowing why her heart was pumping every last vein in her body to the brim with apprehensive chaos.

The prospect of leading her fellow ponies into battle to buy enough time for the princesses to do what they needed swelled Applejack's chest with a confidence she never experienced before, playing the illusion in her mind of a fully capable mare barking out perfect orders in coordination to the circumstances of the situation as they arose.

That she was rolling the dice in her head and going with the best odds, and understanding the statistics of the battle enough to pave the way for the best possible outcome. Yet here she was, Applejack the farm pony, standing in the center of a mass who entrusted to her their lives, and she felt her words were all but lies going against the element she held dear to her heart.

The battle was soon approaching.

Applejack used the blackness behind her eyes to envision her home back on the farm but had half of the canvas painted with the blood of the soldiers dedicated to her, and the sky forever fading behind the heavy clouds of smoke. She was almost content to just give up and hide her head underneath her hooves, succumb to the same fate she had judged those poor stallions before, but a squeaky voice spoke out from her subconscious.

'I think I bit more than what I could chew, Applejack.' The split canvas of contrasting peace and chaos were awash by a purple ball of flames accented by green glowing tips. 'Twilight and I got into another fight, and this time, I said I was capable of doing just as much intellectual work as her. She asked me to prove it, and after an hour of trying, here I am coming to you to complain.'

Applejack's eyes shot open with a start, recoiling back with a few breaths as she looked to the surrounding guards. They awaited their next orders silently after completing their first, which was to form the way which they did in the mass that they constituted. Thankful that she had already begun breathing through her mouth to calm her already nervous heart, she cleared her throat and prepared her next lines.

Though the conversation she thought she'd escape resounded from the hollow space in her mind, used exclusively by her imagination and memories, sometimes both. 'Sometimes I feel I'm just as good as Twilight due to all the time I spent with her,' the squeaky voice continued in Applejack's mind, causing her eyes to gaze around to see if its source was coming from somewhere else. 'But when it came to measuring up to the task, my mind and body were just...too small. It seems that every time I convince myself that I've advanced in some way, I always come short when it comes time for the work to be done.'

Applejack cleared her throat again in the hopes that the rumbles it generated would drown out the voice and clear it away, though it only served for the next line from the semi-transparent flame to be amplified.

'Maybe I should just give up on becoming my own dragon,' the flame said as its flame began to dim, slowly fading from existence in accordance to the mare's wish, 'and stay close to the genius that is Twilight Sparkle. She could probably pick out a better life for me anyway.'

The last ember of purple flame prepared to dimish entirely but was given the oxygen need to survive a little longer from maw below it.

"That ain't right!" Applejack shouted, becoming aware of all the confused eyes trained on her, as she stomped her hoof on the ground and metaphorical crushed the snake of doubt. "We're gonna have a quick shuffling before the dragon has a chance to attack. Now, I want for unicorns to form a circle around me first, and then for the earth ponies to fill in afterward with their weapons at the ready."

Silence reigned over the platform expect for the occasional clank of armor. No one moved outright after being issued the order as they processed it through their heads first. Though a different thing entirely was occurring inside the forefront of Applejack's mind as her soul of brown flames joined alongside the embers of purple.

'No amount of believing in others is going to make up for the lack of belief in yourself, Sugarcube.' The fangs of doubt had retracted from her heart and began nibble at her mind, inflicting even more treacherous voices that spoke of her shortcomings and of all the terrible things that could happen, but the flame of her soul began to catch fire around her mind. The fangs were burnt away by the heat of the mare's faith as the venom it injected slowly seeped out of the wounds it created. 'It worries me that you and Twilight have been going at it so often, but if ya feel like you gotta prove yourself, then you owe it to that urge to give it everything you got. If you give it anything less than your all, then you'll always be wonderin' if ya could've done better – and thinkin' about how Twilight could be doing it better ain't gonna help you in the slightest.'

Applejack popped the kinks in her back as she stood up straight, directing her fierce eye contact to any pair of disbelieving eyes. "I don't recall stutterin', now are y'all gonna get into formation, or am I gonna have to pull out the whip."

That silence was broken not only by the voice of a leader but by the numerous sounds of metal clanking as they filed into their new formation.

"You got a plan yet?" Applejack turned to the source of the voice, relaxing upon seeing a familiar afro. "Or are we still goin' with the flow of things."

Applejack nodded her head and gestured with a hoof for him to bring his ear closer; a request he complied with. "I got an idea that the dragon isn't goin' to fall for the same counter attack again, so I decided to use that knowledge against him. Fella's already proven himself clever, so anything out of place isn't gonna score the same reward."

Afro couldn't help but cock his head right with a raised brow. "So you're idea is to bunch us up altogether as to over tantalize the dragon? I mean, it might work, but the risk is too great for the reward of maybe landing a few shots on his eyes."

Applejack shook her head. "That ain't the idea. Besides, the archers followed after the princesses to make sure they reach Twilight and the others safely, leaving us on our own."

Afro rose his other brow and looked his new leader directly in the face. "Forgive me for putting this so bluntly, but your grand idea is to bunch us all together and allow for the dragon to take us out in one strike? And not only that but for this to happen without the fallback of having the princesses magic to save us?"

Had such things been said to Applejack while her head still hung in the depths of doubt, she would've given the reign immediately to Afro and fully dedicate herself to whatever he had to say in order to make up for her incompetence. But now, after hearing the voice of Spike and giving him the wisdom that she'd forgotten about, she could stand tall in someone else's doubt and clear it away with the confidence dripping from her voice.

After all, she had dealt with the fears of another dragon. Surely the vice-versa could apply to the guards around her, and Applejack knew exactly the words and tone to clear away those fears.

"We're gonna face the dragon's attacks, head on."

Comments

[B_25]

The chapter title makes me chuckle every time.

Did the title, or any of the words inside the chapter 69, make you chuckle?

~B_25~

[OmniFox]

When I think of 69, I think of Trixie and Starlight.

[RadicalDishonesty]

Spikeadvice?! That's unexpected.

It's still good advice.

[B_25]

8061830 I've been simplifying the later chapters. If you ever decide to come back to this bizarre tale, then please simply begin anew at ACT III.

Until then, should it ever happen, it has been a pleasure writing for you.

~B_25~

[Inferno demon Dash]

...Go on.

[Daedrik]

Heh 69 nice...