Spike Quits His Job and Goes on Numerous Quests

by B_25

89 – "Rarity...you Can't Keep Being Cooped up in Your Room and Watching Television All Day."

~ 89 ~

"Rarity...you Can't Keep Being Cooped up in Your Room and Watching This Television All Day."

‘Who is Spike?’

Rarity was startled by the distant thunder and the pounding of rain upon the window to her room. She was enshrouded in a comfortable darkness made possible by the blanket she donned around herself, though she’d be lying if she said it was completely dark.

The soul consuming light of the television was inside the blanket as well, as her eyes were bloodshot at being unable to blink or look away from the screen. Then, after a few seconds, her eyes grew moist at the next question that appeared on the screen.

‘Was Spike adorable or annoying during his time in Ponyville?’

Before she could even hope to answer, another question flashed into existence and took the place of the other.

‘Was Spike right in saying that we were not his friends, but mere acquaintances?’

Again, before her lips could even part, a new question appeared.

‘Was Spike right in saying that he could never become the drake he needed to be in Ponyville, or was he wrong in leaving the town in general.’

Rarity didn’t even attempt to answer as the next question buzzed into existence.

‘Should Spike ever return home and to us, or is the group truly better off without him?’

Even though her body had been stricken immovable ever since the television had flickered to life, Rarity somehow managed to bring a hoof to repress the beatings of her heart. The questions felt wicked to the fragile organ, and to partake in even processing them, nonetheless answering them, felt like she would become wicked herself in the process.

‘What do I even feel for Spike?’

“I think you’ve watched enough television for one day, Rarity.” Her sapphire eyes didn’t even catch sight of when the other entity had snuck inside the blanketed fortress alongside her, but for whatever reason, her hooves were able to move once again, and they set upon the scaly forearm aimed for her television.

“Just who do you think you are touching...my...television?” The rest of the sentence died in her throat once she saw the face of the creature sitting next to her, the goofy smile adorning its lips all too familiar. “No...it can’t be...is that...you?”

“Kinda.” Spike shrugged his shoulders before directing his attention back to the screen. “You know that too much T.V is bad for the eyes. I’d hate for you to have to wear glasses even when you're not working.”

Rarity stared blankly at him for a few moment longer. Then, she gave a huff, and looked back to the screen – she had missed some vital questions because of him. “You make it sound easy to turn off the screen.”

Spike withdrew his claw from her grasp, scratching the side of his head with it. “You mean it isn’t?”

“Why of course not! Do you truly believe me to keep doing this if I had any choice in the matter?” Her eyes were once again plastered to the screen, yet she now possessed the ability to move her body once again. “The questions that appear on the screen reveal too much about myself and my world to simply be ignored. I can hardly answer any of these questions, yet I know I must somehow simply memorize them all!”

“That sounds silly.”

“It is anything but!” Rarity exclaimed as she tilted her head in his direction, though her eyes never left the flashing lights. “Do you know how much I’m bound to miss out on if I let one of these questions pass me by? They feel all so important, even if I haven’t grasped them yet.”

Spike watched the scene before him with a frown. He glanced at the questions on the screen and almost fell to despair; he saw the same questions, except with different names attached.

Sighing, he gently placed his claw on her hoof.

Rarity fidgeted, finally turning to look at him. “Just what do you think you’re doing?!”

“Rarity...you can’t keep being cooped up in your room and watching this television all day,” he said, keeping his claw softly on her hoof even as she tried to pull away. “There are so many designs to be made downstairs, breakfasts to be cooked with Sweetie Belle, and picnics to be had with the girls. Plus, if you don’t get any exercise, then you won’t get your knight in shining armor.”

“But that’s just the thing, Spike.” Her head leaned back as her lips quivered. “The questions on the screen pertain to everything! If I don’t answer those questions, then I can’t have the best designs, nor the most fun with the girls or with Sweetie – I need to answer those questions in order to live a better life.”

Spike shook his head with a sad expression adorning his features. “I’m sorry, Rarity, but you’re never going to answer all those questions. I’ve already fooled myself enough with thinking that they were in the books around me, in the ponies surrounding me, or out in the world, and I don’t want the same thing to happen to you as well.”

“And just what would that thing be?”

“Always thinking instead of living,” he stated, tearing himself from her piercing gaze, yet leaving his claw on her hoof. “It may not have been great, but I did enjoy those times I spent with you girls – though I would’ve enjoyed them more if I wasn’t cooped up in my head. Especially when I moved in with Fluttershy and life became perfect...I still let those questions cloud my being, and now I’m away from that perfect life with her...and the rest of you girls.”

Rarity had grown quiet as she digested his words. Something pricked at her heart, something real, though she tried to bury it under the weight of the faux questions. “So what is it you’re suggesting, Spike? That we just forget these personal questions and just live?”

“Not at all.” He returned to looking back at her, this time, with a small smile. “You can only answer those questions by living. The only way to know if life without me is better or worse is by living without me."

“But Spike! That’s such a harsh thing to say.”

“I’d rather you be harsh and honest than a liar in turmoil.” Spike paid her one final glance before looking to the knobs next to the screen. “Even if you girls decide you’re better off without me, that I’m just a whiny better that would be better off in the world – that doesn’t mean I still won’t look to you for inspiration. I have countless days of being your little helper to pull from.”

“Wha...what do you mean by that?”

“I’ve been there for the days you did nothing but throw yourself into your work.” He lightly picked up her hoof with his claw, feeling no trembles inside her upon doing so, as he slowly began to lift it to the screen. “How’d you then cry yourself to sleep with a tub of chocolate ice-cream because of how much you failed to reached that perfect image set upon your mind.”

Rarity gave him a look from over her hoof, feeling the static of the screen.

“But the next day, and the day after that, you always had the resilience to assess your flaws and where you had gone wrong. You’d tweak every detail, glance from every angle, and correct your every mistake until your flaws were resolved.”

He smiled as he let go of her hoof, leaving it front of the dial that acted as the power switch to the screen.

“And you’d always have a hard time making the same mistakes again,” Spike said with a small chuckle, pulling his claw to his side and leaving her peripheral vision. “Seeing a mare as great as you constantly resolving her flaws, despite the world being fine with how you are now, gives me the inspiration I need to improve myself into the drake I wanna become.”

Rarity looked at the questions on the screen, they looked so tempting to just stare at again and fall back into a trance, though her eyes darted back to the power her hoof was now upon.

“It’s good for you to have these questions, Rarity,” Spike said, his voice becoming faint to her ears. “But no amount of thinking in this place will get you the answers you crave. Only by living, only by failing and resolving, and only by constantly improving will you get the answers you desire.”

Finally, Rarity gave a small lady-like giggle, before switching the television off. It made a small sound, as the static left the room. “When did my Spiky-Wiky become the dragon who notices? Oh, when did he become so wise!?”

A chuckle resounded from behind her. “Who knows? Now get out there, Rarity.”

An aura of blue magic surrounded the alabaster horn as it began to seep inside of it, concentrating itself along its length, before exploding outward in a magical burst. The comfortable blanket went flying, the thin room was dispelled, and a familiar blackness greeted the pair of blue eyes.

Her horn was no longer restrained by despair.

Comments

[B_25]

I'm super sad I can't make sex jokes with chapter 89.

It sounds freaky when I say it out loud?

Did you giggle at all while reading chapter 89?
~B_25

PS. An announcement will be made in tomorrow's chapter.

[OmniFox]

I was born in '89.