• Published 24th Nov 2012
  • 2,040 Views, 18 Comments

Eternal Sunshine of the Spikeless Mind - UtterlyLudicrous



It's easy enough to erase somepony from your mind. Getting them out of your heart is another story.

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Chapter 2

The air was frigid at the Cloudsdale train depot. They weren't like the depots in Ponyville. The dragon thanked his lucky stars for his tough scales, although even those didn't protect him entirely from the harsh winter beating down on him like an army general. Across the way, he saw the mare again, from the cafe. Had she followed him here? The dragon began scribbling furiously.

There’s that pegasus again.. Why would she be here? I’m leaving Cloudsdale.. Shouldn’t she stay here? She keeps waving at me. Why do I have to be so bad at this whole love game?

"ALL ABOARD FOR PONYVILLE!" the conductor cried to break the palpable silence. The dragon stepped aboard, and the mare followed suit. They took their seats at opposite sides of the car. After awhile, the dragon noticed that the pegasus was looking over at him periodically. His frantically sketching hand paused for a minute, and he flipped to another page and began writing:

-She keeps looking over at me from across our seats on the train.. I wonder if she knows I’m sketching her?

The rainbow pegasus broke the silence, as if in response to the dragon's entry, and gave a simple, "Hi." The dragon looked up from his writing as if jolted from a trance.

Oh, damn, the dragon thought as he frantically tried to hide his notebook from the multicolored pegasus.

"Umm.. Beg pardon?" The dragon said carefully. The rainbow pegasus gave a slight roll of her eyes and responded, "All I said was hi." "Oh.. Um.. Hi." "Mind if I come a little closer?"

The unlikely two sat uncomfortably next to each other, silence looming over them. The rainbow pegasus smiled and said, "So where are you getting off?" "I’m, um.. Getting off at Ponyville." "Really? So am I!" "Really? Huh.. That's uh..." The rainbow pegasus cut in, "unlikely, right? What are the odds?" "Heh, yeah.."

Part of me is desperately hoping she’ll leave as the silence comes in, but I want her to stay, too, the dragon thought to himself as the rainbow pegasus spoke with him.

"You look familiar... Have I seen your face around Ponyville before?"
"I, um.. I’m not sure." The rainbow pegasus plastered a pensive look on her face and studied the dragon for a few seconds before exclaiming, "I've got it. You ever go to Dash's Racing Accessories?" "Um.. From time to time, sure."

The dragon's imagination kicked in again: Why do I have to lie in every stressful situation? I should know it never helps.. Applejack always says honesty is the best policy. So why can't I just say the truth?

The pegasus' face brightened. "That's what it is! I'm the owner! I know I've seen you there before! I've owned the place since my grandpa Cumulus Dash founded it way back when." The dragon put a phony look of thought on his face. "Huh.. Weird, I thought I would've.. Remembered you." "Yeah, you know, most ponies tend to recognize me by my hair."

The dragon tentatively asked, "You color it like that?"

The pegasus jumped back a bit in shock. "You crazy?? I would never mess with this beautiful mane! This rainbow is all natural!" The dragon cringed a little, and a thought went off in his mind:

Man.. Now I've already gone and upset her, just like Rarity. Damn it, man, why can't you just talk to mares? It's not like they'll ever like you anyway..

"I'm sorry, I was, um.. Just trying to be nice." The dragon responded.
"Haha! It's okay. Lots of ponies say that about me. I just act all offended to mess with them. You a prankster?"
"Can't say that I am, no.. I don't tend to do things like that..."
"Oh, really? You should try sometime, it's so much fun! Like every Nightmare Night, I sneak up behind all of my friends with a raincloud, and I give 'em a.. SHOCKING, surprise!" The pegasus began laughing at this thought, and the dragon laughed nervously along.
"Huh.. I'll bet that sends them running, huh? It doesn't seem like they would like it as much as you do, though..

The pegasus stopped laughing. "..Well.. Maybe. But they know it's all good fun. What's so bad about a little prank?"
"Heh.. Yeah, I guess so.."

Pull yourself together, man. There's no reason at all for you to fall for this mare. It's better if you just keep to yourself. The dragon tended to think like this more often than he liked to.

"Well, anyway, a lot of them have tried to come up with names for my mane's colors that match my total awesomeness! None of them are usually that cool, but I've heard some that I've held on to over time.
"Well, how many different color names could ponies come up with.. They're pretty simple colors."

The pegasus eyed the dragon and continued, a little more slowly. "Yeah... Well, anyway, a few of my friends have come up with some cool names, wanna hear 'em?"
"Uh.. Sure, why not.. Could be nice."
"Okay, well this one's Agent Orange.. And this one's Sunglow.. And Blue Ruin, and Royal Purple, but I'm so not a royal pegasus, and I'm proud of it... You're bored, aren't you?"

Tell the truth, old boy. It's okay, you don't even know this mare. Follow Applejack's lead. Don't you lie, the dragon told himself.

"Oh, um.. No, I wasn't bored. I was listening. I like these color names.

You lied. I knew you would. Why do you do that? It was becoming difficult for the dragon to keep up a conversation with both himself and his secret love.

"Hm.. You know, I'll bet somepony has their cutie mark in color naming," the pegasus thought out loud.
"You think there could possibly be a cutie mark like that? I mean, what would it even look like? A paint palette, maybe."
"There is somepony in Equestria with that cutie mark. I know it."

The dragon laughed uncomfortably and cleared his throat. Silence began to press in all around. The dragon was about to continue writing when the rainbow pegasus cut back in.

"I've got it. Rainboom Red. That'll be my red streak's color. I came up with that one. Unfortunately, my hair is most of my personality.."
"Oh, I doubt that."
"Well, you don't even know me, so you don't know, do you?"

Is this just one of her pranks or is she being serious?, thought the dragon.

".... Sorry.. I was just trying to be nice."
"Yeah.. Whatever."

The rainbow pegasus reclined in her seat and played with her hair for awhile, looking rather pensive, as the dragon took his place back up in his writing. After awhile, the pegasus suddenly widened her eyes and jolted back up to face the dragon again.

"My name's Rainbow Dash, by the way."
"I'm Spike."
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Spike.. Oh, and don't joke with me about losing. Oh.. Wait a minute, you wouldn't do that. You're trying to be nice."
"I wouldn't know any jokes about you losing."
"Oh, please... Rainbow Crash?
"I don't know what that means."
"Rainbow Crash? Are you kidding? That's so obvious. It's a given pun. What are you, nuts?"
"Some say so.."
"'Nice going, Rainbow Crash!' 'Good work, Rainbow Crash!' 'Quick, hide your breakable items, it's Rainbow Crash!' No?

Spike let out an uncomfortable, nervous chuckle and looked down at his notebook. "Nope.. I'm sorry, it's.. It's a pretty name, though, really, it is. I think, uhh, it means 'loyal,' right? Loyalty?"

Rainbow Dash took on a bitterly sarcastic tone. "Although it hardly fits." She leaned in closer to him and looked him directly in the eyes. "I'm a deserting little bitch, truth be told." Spike couldn't bear to hold her gaze. He looked away and grinned,"I, um.. I wouldn't think that about you."

Rainbow Dash shrunk back a little. "Why wouldn't you think that about me?" Spike shrugged, and mumbled, "I dunno, I.. I just, um.. You seem nice, so..."

Now Rainbow Dash took on an angry stance. "Oh, I see, now I'm the nice one? Sweet Celestia, don't you know any other adjectives besides nice? I don't like 'nice.' I don't need 'nice,' and I sure as hell don't need anypony or anydragon accusing me of being a 'nice' mare or telling themselves they're being a 'nice' stallion, or in your case, dragon."

Between racing emotions, the dragon told himself, what did I tell you, old boy? No luck with women. May as well give up. Maybe I should ask for that ruby back...

Spike ushered in the silence with a dejected "Okay..." Rainbow Dash reclaimed her seat across the train for awhile, and Spike resumed writing in his journal with an abject look on his face.

"ALL CALL FOR FILLYDELPHIA! NEXT STOP: PONYVILLE!"

Rainbow Dash called over, "Spike?"

That could be any Spike. She can't be talking to me, the dragon naively decided.

After hearing no response, she said, "It's Spike, right?"

Spike looked around and said softly, "Yeah.."
"I'm sorry for yelling at you. I'm just feeling a little discombobulated today. The truth is, I like nice. And I'm glad you're being it. I mean, I can't tell what I'm gonna be like or where I'm gonna be one moment or the next, and I sure as Discord don't know from one moment or the next what I'm gonna like or dislike.. But right now.. I can say that I like you. And I like you being nice."

Spike didn't say anything for awhile. What could he say to something like that? Rainbow Dash let out an embarrassed giggle, like a giddy schoolgirl, and Spike looked around for something to say as if words would appear out of thin air to guide him. He gestured down at his notebook. "There's, um.. There's a lot that I have to do, and, uh... I'm just kinda..."

Rainbow Dash gave him a bereaved look and cut in, "Oh! Oh.. Well, I'm, uh, I'm sorry. No, that's okay. I'll just..." She began to get up slowly, but suddenly stopped and gives Spike a playful, too-strong shove, startling Spike and causing him to exclaim. He looked over to see Rainbow Dash with a playfully mischevious smile on her face. "You take care, then," she said.

"ALL CALL FOR PONYVILLE!"

The two made their way off the train and went in opposite directions.

Spike took his journal out and made another entry.
Oh, Spike.. What am I gonna do with you?