Ch.1

Looking Back

The rustling of train tracks was the only thing he could hear, as the train moved in silence towards Baltimare.

The only thing he had in his sights was the land that passed by as the train proceeded through a tunnel temporarily clouding his vision. Across from him sat a salespony. The dark green stallion stared at the baby dragon in silence, only to look away out the very same window as the young drake had whenever the dragon had glanced in his direction.

Once the baby dragon looked away from the stallion, the salespony would take a quick glance at the drake’s belongings.

The only thing he had was a backpack no doubt filled with whatever memories that were precious to this young dragon. Just as precious as the ponies or other friends he had undoubtedly left behind to take up this long journey far away from home.

The salespony said nothing to the young drake who continued to stare off into the space out the window. Even as they passed through yet another tunnel, that clearly obscured his vision the dragon never once let his gaze fall from the vastness that was the land they passed.

Shifting in his seat the salespony cleared his throat a bit, unintentionally gaining the drake’s glance at him as he shifted once more in his seat uncomfortably.

Loosening the knot on his tie, suddenly feeling quite constricted the pony simply stared out the same window in silence. The two passengers that sat across from each other temporarily ignoring the various coughs, clearances of the larynx and sneezes along with shifting of position that dispersed around the entirety of the train.

The dark green salespony cast another glance at the young drake. But if Spike had noticed he didn’t show any sign of doing so, for he had other thoughts on his mind at the moment.

Thoughts of his home.

Was...was it really worth it? the dragon thought to himself with a dull expression on his face as he looked off into ember colored sky, seeing the sun slowly begin to set off in the far off distance behind a hill.

Did I make the right choice? Spike asked himself, subconsciously clenching his fist.

Of course you did, a part of him said. You wanted to find what made you...special, what you could do to grow.

Yeah but was it worth all...all of this? he asked not even bothering to look behind him. Obviously knowing what’d he would see. Just a bunch of travelers off doing their own things. Some of them knowing exactly where they were going. Others lost and searching for a way, a meaning, a path to improve themselves.

Just as he was.

A sigh escaped his lips. “I don’t know” Spike said aloud, unaware of the salespony that looked at him once more. “It just doesn’t feel” he placed a claw on his chest. “It just feels like something’s missing.”

It’s only natural he looked up to see his reflection speaking once more. At the same time he looked up to see the fiery sky above.

After all, you left your friends, your loved ones, your sister, behind. It’ll take some time to get used to it but don’t you also feel-

“Good” he finished for his reflection, a small smile gracing his lips. He nodded, though slowly, his right claw still placed over his chest. “Yeah, yeah I do feel kinda good.”

The salespony watching Spike talk with himself simply watched in silence. For he knew just as well what the young dragon was going through. Most likely right now, the drake was asking himself if he’d made the right choice. Leaving it all behind. Starting anew only to come back better, stronger, feeling more confident or important about oneself than they could have ever felt if they had remained in their home.

The earth pony smiled sadly, watching how Spike continued to look on outside with a mixture of what could only be seen as joy, sadness, happiness, yet grief. It was a painful thing to endure. Especially for one at such a young age.

The salespony decided to wait, let the drake finish his thoughts before he would ask him what he was doing out here, what he planned to do and if he had any idea where he was going.

He smiled weakly as he caught the dragon lift an outstretched claw that gently touched the window, as if trying to grasp something that wasn’t there or that was too far out of reach.

Spike’s ears drooped. “Right now Twilight might be reading a bunch of books to try and figure out how to track me. Or maybe just re-reading that letter” he said with a slight smile.

“And Pinkie” his light smile faded. “Who knows how bad I’ve made her feel. Fluttershy...I can’t even bring myself to think about. That poor kind angel of a mare” he said to no one in particular, the salespony however listened to every word carefully.

“Rainbow Dash probably won’t be coming out of her cloud for the next week” the drake said his voice now beginning to crack with emotion. “Applejack” a sarcastic chuckle left Spike’s lips. “She’ll be crying for days. But she’ll most likely be doing it” he raised both hands up as he stared out onto the passing valleys, before he curved his fingers and made air quotes. “On the inside.”

Spike let both his hands drop to his side. A few seconds of silence passing throughout the entire train, or at the very least in the train car they were currently in.

Slowly the railroad vehicle came to a stop. Dropping a few ponies and one or two griffons off as well. Spike and the salespony however payed them no mind. This stop was Vanhoover. Spike was heading to Baltimare.

So the two sat in silence, that is till the train moved and eventually picked up the pace pulling out of the station dock, as the city of Vanhoover faded from the drake and stallion’s view.

Spike went back to looking out the window, so did his silent earth pony partner.

“Then there’s Rarity” he said after a few seconds of moment filled silence. The mirth in his voice returning.

“The mare I-” Spike bit his lip, his heart feeling like it was ready to leap out of his chest, as he could only think of how hurt the mare he loved, would feel over his letter to them. Despite her never knowing how much she meant to him.

A hoof was placed on Spike’s shoulder. It was warm, reassuring, and most of all carried the thing Spike needed the most right now.

Empathy.

He looked up and stared into the aquamarine eyes of the earth pony who had moved to now offer some comfort. Spike smiled, weakly at him before nodding he was alright. The stallion backed up in his seat, offering a kind smile as well before the two continued to look out in silence.

Tears had begun to sting Spike’s eyes, but with a great force he willed them away.

I can’t cry now, he told himself. The journey’s just begun and if I cry now. Well then, I can’t say I’m ready to start improving now can I?

Lifting his arm up and about to wipe his nose the dragon was tapped on the shoulder. He looked over to the pony sitting across from him who silently offered him a tissue. Spike gratefully took it after a moment’s hesitation and a grateful nod to the stranger.

Wiping his nose the stallion watched the drake gain a small smile as the tears that had emerged in the baby dragon’s eyes began to fade as if they were never meant to be.

Swallowing hard the salespony gathered what little confidence he had and opened his mouth to speak to the young dragon he felt could use a bit more than a pat and a tissue.

“If you don’t mind me asking” the stallion began only to hesitate a bit when the dragon looked at him having finished wiping his nose. “W-What’s got you looking so chipper again?” he stuttered.

Spike looked up at the pony he could somewhat consider his comrade. Or rather someone he could tell knew what he was currently going. “Oh, nothing I just remembered how my sister, Twilight- you’ve heard of her right? Princess of Friendship?”

The stallion shook his head. “Sorry can’t say I have. I’ve been on the road selling from city to city ever since I left home to find out what my cutie mark was. Never really stayed in place long enough to know much till I had to leave and find another place to improve my stockings. ”

“Cutie mark huh?” Spike said. Another thought occurring to him. The CMC, he smiled a bit now recalling how they weren’t the same CMC he had known them to be since the three friends gained their own cutie marks. What a joyous day that had been.

“How old were you when you left your home?” Spike asked. Only realizing he may have said something that was possibly something the stallion may have not wanted to talk about.

“I- I’m sorry I didn’t mean to-” another pat on the shoulder made Spike look up at the stallion who simply smiled at him.

“It’s alright” the salespony said. “I was, definitely older than you young dragon” he said to Spike with a mischievous grin. “Possibly around the age of 18 or 20 when I left.”

Spike stared in clear surprise. He’d been a blank flank for that long?

The salespony noticed this and merely smiled once more when Spike realized that he may have been being rude. “It is alright. I am fine with it. After all it took me travelling all of Equestria before I finally found something I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing.”

“The rest of my life doing...” Spike repeated, his thoughts travelling back to the errands he had run for Twilight. And not just for her but for the others as well.

The young drake felt a small pressure build in his chest, but he forced it down.

Once again Spike found himself questioning his decision. Why did I do this?

And once more he found himself only to be answered by the irrefutable truth.

Because Spike. You know you want to.

“But” he stared at the ground, conflicted by his inner doubts and desires. The dragon knew he wanted to be more than just Twilight’s number one assistant, more than just get smacked around by fate, karma or whatever had him held so closely to Twilight and the others.

He wanted to prove it not just to the friends he had left behind, but he needed to prove it to himself. He wants to prove it to himself. That’s why I took this journey Spike thought.

Taking in a deep breath he exhaled preparing to ask the stallion the question he had hesitated on.

“But when you left, did you ever feel like- like you made a mistake? That you hurt the ponies you cared about the most and felt that if you ended up” he gulped. “Failing that you would not only have let yourself down, but hurt everypony you cared about for nothing?”

The stallion who had held an encouraging smile now began to frown at Spike’s question, a look of genuine surprise in his eyes.

This child is too young to have such thoughts he almost said aloud. Looking around the slightly smaller crowd of other travellers the salespony glanced back a Spike who waited expectantly for an answer of sorts, not caring if it was good or bad.

“Yes” the dark green pony replied. “Yes I have” he said. “There were times I nearly gave up on my journey to find a cutie mark. There were times I’d even thought that this ‘mission’ I’d set for myself, was nothing but a lie. A lie I was hoping to use as a stepping stone to more lies to keep me going towards something I could never hope to achieve.

“But then” he smiled recalling the wonderful memory. “I got a letter from the mare of my dreams. My wife or rather at that time my marefriend” he said warmly. “During my travels I left her and my family and all my friends behind. Never left a letter, never said a word, not a hint or even a clue as to where I went or where I was going” he said taking note of the drake’s surprised yet understanding reaction.

It was then that Spike actually began to wonder if he should have written the letter in the first place, only to shake the thought out of his head when he considered how everypony in Canterlot, the Crystal Empire and Ponyville would turn the nation upside down looking for him.

That made him and the salespony chuckle heartily when he told the dark green stallion this.

“Well. As I was saying” the salespony said getting back to where he left off. “I didn’t leave a clue to my whereabouts. And about two months into my journey I ended up finding a letter in my temporary apartment at Whinniopolis.

“Around this time things... well things weren’t going to well for me and I rarely got any mail. So you can only imagine my surprise to see a letter was addressed to me for once and not mistakenly put in at the wrong mailbox. So I opened it” the salespony said recalling the memory with a smile.

Spike’s eyes widened in anticipation but the stallion never continued merely grinning widely at the recollection of the memory. A faint rosy touch to his cheeks.

“Well what did it say?” Spike asked when he’d finally had enough.

“It was from my sweet Honeycomb” the salespony said. “She told me that...well here” he said reaching into his saddlebag. “Take a look for yourself.”

Spike took the letter carefully and read it.

“Dear Ardent Merchant (Merch),

Merch, I’ve never been more angry with you in my entire life. In fact if you were here right now I’d spread my wings take you into the air and drop you fifty feet off the ground and watch you plummet to your doom, kicking and screaming only to save your life and do it over and over and over again till the very thought of going outside scarred you for life. Let alone the thought of even looking up at the sky!”

Spike outwardly cringed at the brutality of this letter. He was sure his friends would be mad at him but not to the point of wanting to permanently scar him for an eternity. He looked up at the stallion with a questioning brow on whether or not he should keep reading.

Merch merely nodded his reassurance. Spike continued.

“Despite the fact that I want to rip out your soul and throw you into the dirtiest Swamps of the Everfree, I....I miss you. Oh who am I kidding, I can’t stop thinking about you since you’ve left. The first week you were gone everyone went into a frenzy. Searches were conducted, authorities were called only for us to find out from your neighbor after a fortnight of searching and upon his return from Yak Yakistan that you had left the town to find what your true calling in life was.

Honestly I can’t tell you whether I’m more upset and fly over to that apartment right now and kick your flank. Or fly over to that apartment right now and kiss you, wrap you in my wings and tell you everything will be alright, despite you knowing that it’s not.

What I’m trying to say is. I won’t come find you. I know you’ve been going through a lot, considering how important it is for a pony to find a cutie mark nowadays I get why you’re so concerned. Since you were a colt and before we even began our relationship I watched you encourage others to never give up in their endeavours in what they wanted to do. Even though you never really knew what you wanted to do or how to even big how to do it, knowing how greatly it bothered you. And if you think travelling all across the globe is the only way for you to find your cutie mark then...I wish you the best of luck my Merchant. But, when you come back- because I know you will- promise me-- NO, SWEAR to me that you will never and I repeat never give me a heart attack like that ever again!

Your family, all your friends and I support your wishes. And I’m not sure how long you’re going to be staying at this apartment, nor do I plan on telling you how I figured out how I found your address (for fears that you wouldn’t understand a girl to have), but for the love of our diarchy. Just make sure you keep in touch every now and then, Alright?

Your loving marefriend,

Honeycomb."

P.S. You have three days to respond to this letter before I do come there and do as I threatened, no joke. I Know. Where. You. Live.

P.P.S. Stay safe love.”

Spike stared at the letter in silence for a few seconds. Probably more shocked by the levels of ferocity a mare could put in words and how clear and serious she had been in every single sentence.

It made him feel happy for this new companion of his yet at the same time, extremely terrified of his wife. There was one question that bugged him though, one he just had to ask.

“So Ardent Merchant-”

“Merch is fine” the dark green earth pony said with a smile. Spike nodded, handing him back the letter.

“When did you get this letter again?”

The smile the pony held suddenly seemed to disappear almost instantly. And Spike was pretty sure he knew why.

Merch rubbed the back of his head with a weak smile before replying. “I saw it on the third day I was supposed to have responded by...I never rushed to write a letter so quickly in my entire life” the stallion said with a laugh. Spike joined in the two laughing at the memory, that is till the stallion said “And I never had a heart attack when she came that very night.”

The merriment almost died instantly, Spike smiling sheepishly as he patted the earth pony’s haunch gently for reassurance. “I’m sorry” the young drake said.

Merch nodded gratefully. “Luckily the mailstallion, flew by that night to state that my letter wasn’t able to reach her. Bless that pegasus, he saved my life.”

An awkward silence filled the two’s small seat space as they stared at each other.

Then the two burst out laughing.

It took a few minutes and the shaking of the train car before the two were able to calm themselves once more. In all honesty it felt good to Spike, laughing once more. He didn’t think he’d be able to do that till he’d gotten very deep into his journey but it turns out he’d been proven wrong.

Something he was very glad for.

As the two wiped the tears from their eyes Merch smiled and Spike and waited for the last of the young drake’s chuckles to cease before continuing, with his point.

“The point is kid. I know what it’s like. To feel lost, helpless almost at times. And while you may feel like there are things you can’t do to help those you care about despite you feeling you can, never forget that your friends, those you consider family. Those that are true family, may get mad at you for what you did. May not even talk to you for a while because of your actions. But never forget champ, they’ll always be there for you when you need it the most.”

Spike smiled, feeling the heavy pressure in his chest almost completely evaporate but not fully. The heavy weight of pressure he’d placed on himself for making this decision was now slowly fading thanks to this stallion’s kind words.

It was nice having someone who understood what he was going through to talk to like this. It felt pretty good.

Then Spike realized something. “Wait” he said slowly. “If you said you were travelling to find your cutie mark. Now that you’ve found it how come you’re still travelling?”

Merch smiled, understanding the young dragon’s question. Leaning forward a bit and motioning the baby dragon to come closer he spoke in a low tone so that other passengers wouldn’t hear.

“I may have found my cutie mark, but that doesn’t mean I’m fully done improving myself am I?” he said with a smile at the dragon. Spike took a second, understanding what the pony was trying to say before nodding with smile of his own.

I see Spike said leaning back in his seat and staring out the window once more. Finding what I want to do isn’t the only thing. If I want to get stronger, better I need to keep improving, and not just stop once I’ve found what I want.

That’s right Spike’s reflection said with a smile from the window. Like the saying goes, “there’s always room for improvement.”

Warmth filled Spike’s body. He looked up at Merch who smiled back at him. For a second Spike compared the older earth pony to his friends the former founders of the CMC branch. And for a second Spike wondered if the three had met this stallion and learnt his story like he had, would they have been devastated...or would they have felt as much peace he currently felt now?

Spike shook his head, now was not the time for such thoughts. The train was beginning to slow at it’s next destination, Batlimare was just a couple miles away from this stop.

He looked out the window once more, thinking about the others.

He was almost there. Ready to begin taking the first step, the first step to a long journey ahead.

Spike had fallen asleep.

His thoughts were focused on the wise words of his ally that sat across from him, having fallen asleep shortly after they left their second stop. The young drake hadn’t slept much at all since the train ride and since his stop would be there in a few hours according to the conductor he’d decided to get as much rest as possible.

As Spike dreamt, his thoughts recalled the words of Merch. “Those that are true family, may get mad at you for what you did. May not even talk to you for a while because of your actions. But never forget champ, they’ll always be there for you when you need it the most.”

He’s right you know? Spike stood, standing in front of his reflection. They’ll always be there for you when you need them.

“That’s true” Spike said with a small smile.

Is there something else that bugs you?

He averted his gaze simply shaking his head. Spike, you can’t lie to yourself. I’m you remember? his reflection said with crossed arms.

Spike rolled his eyes. “Yeah yeah I know. It’s just something came to mind.”

Which is?

“Well, Merch said that search parties were made for him. And granted everypony didn’t know where he went at the time till his neighbor informed them. However, they didn’t stop looking for him his wife proved that in her letter” Spike said the concern now starting to be clear in his voice as he nervously tapped his fingers together.

Your point is?

“What if the others don’t take my letter to easily and accept it? Fluttershy and Rarity maybe. Applejack it’s possible. But Twilight and Rainbow Dash?” he said with a hint of his voice cracking.

Spike’s reflection now reflected his worried look. Oh...I see your point. Both soon brightened up pushing the thoughts away.

I’m sure they’ll understand. They’re the elements of Harmony for crying out loud!

“Yeah!” Spike nodded with a smile. “They’ll understand. They are my friends after all.”

The train shook, waking Spike from his sleep. Rubbing his eyes and looking around the dragon saw Merch staring at him with a smile. Spike looked out the window only to see Luna’s moon up high in the sky, stars twinkling ever so brightly in the night.

“You sleep well?” Merch asked.

Spike nodded, but Merch seemed to catch something in the dragon’s expression that told him that wasn’t the entire truth.

“Something wrong?” the dark green pony asked.

Spike sighed, feeling somewhat defeated. “Yes” he said.

A shifting of position before he looked up to see the earth pony sitting straight up told him that Merch was ready to offer some advice. “Shoot” the salespony said encouragingly.

Reluctantly the drake did as such, “I was wondering, when your friends and family found out what your real purpose for leaving was and that you were alright. Did they ever try to visit you or I don’t know bring you back or something?” he asked twiddling his fingers, and nervously looking up.

Merch raised a hoof up to his chin, in thought a slight frown touching his lips as he realized where this conversation was going.

“Well, yes there were one or two cases where I happened to accidentally come across a relative of mine or a close friend. But, that was only in a few rare cases.”

Despite the fact those were rare, this did nothing to quell Spike’s concerns. “What did they do when they saw you?”

“Well obviously the tried to bring me back. Tried to talk me out of it in a few cases and almost like my wife when she visited me came close to beating me back home. Although in her defense I should have replied to that message sooner.”

“I’ll say” Spike commented.

“Though in the end after some lengthy convincing they understood that my mind was set. And that I didn’t intend on heading home till I had found my cutie mark, what made me feel like I had an actual goal in life. And” he added touching Spike’s shoulder gently making the dragon look up at him. “If they’re your true friends that care for you. They’ll understand...eventually” Merch said with a sheepish smile.

Spike stared in silence for a few seconds at the pony, mulling over his advice. He chuckled, taking Merch’s hoof in his hand and shaking it. “Thank you Merch” he said as the train came to a stop.

“Your welcome Spike.”

“Destination: Baltimare!” the conductor called as he trotted through the train cart and entered another. “Get your things and pack your stuff. Head to the doors and prepare for the stop if this is your destination!” the voice sounded throughout each train car.

“Well, this is my stop” Spike said grabbing his backpack and putting the heavy object on. “You coming?”

Merch smiled sadly. “Sorry Spike. But my stop is off to Maretonia. I’ve still got a few more stops to go before I reach my stop.”

Spike’s smile went slightly limp. “Oh” he said his ears drooping. “I uh...I understand” he said as the train came to a slow stop, it’s smoke box releasing a large cloud of smoke before whistling loudly into the night that it had arrived.

“Baltimare! Destination Reached! Doors Open!” the conductor called. Once all the doors opened ponies and any other passengers heading for the city began heading out. Spike hopped off his seat and looked back at Merch the two exchanging sad smiles as they would soon be parting ways.

The young dragon had enjoyed the salespony’s company. He’d provided him comfort, advice and given him a feeling like he wasn’t alone in the world, despite the fact he clearly knew he was not. But that didn’t change how reassuring it was.

“Hey, Merch” Spike said. The salespony looked at him with a raised brow. “Thanks for everything. It was nice talking to you while it lasted.”

“LAST CALL! Baltimare LAST CALL!” the conductor bellowed as a few more ponies filed out of the train carts.

Spike glanced at the door, then back at his new friend. The two stared at each other for a few seconds before Spike turned his back to the salespony and exited towards the door.

“Hey Spike!” the salespony said, galloping towards the exit and stopping in front of the door. Spike watched brow raised as the earth pony, gave him a card with the pony’s name on it.

“My card” Merch said with a smile. “contact me whenever you feel like you want to talk” he said. “And your welcome, it’s been fun talking to someone as interesting as you” Merch said with a smile.

Spike’s eyes began to sting but he ignored it, lifting his hand up one more time the two shook as the conductor moved towards the dragon who was too close to the train now.

“‘Scuse me sir” the conductor said. “Please stand back the train will be moving soon.”

Spike nodded, backing up a safe distance onto the station’s platform.

“Everypony for Baltimare gone?” he asked one of the workers inside. A shout of yes was the response before the unicorn conductor blew into his whistle. “Alright then” he said pulling on a switch. The train roared steam into the air after it had gained a few more ponies in it’s carts before slowly pulling off.

“Next stop Stalliongard!”

Spike stood there watching Merch slowly move through the cart and watch Spike begin to fade out of view. The two shared one more smile, before Spike saw his new friend and their short lived relationship disappear off into the distance.

Spike sniffed, looking at the card and information on it. Sliding the card into his bag with all the other precious memories and supplies, he turned and faced the station making his way inside where he would find a place he would spend the rest of the night resting before he began his big day in Baltimare.

And as the drake made his way through the station Spike never once looked back at the train that carried his friend off into the distance. Because Spike had been reassured.

“True friends, true family. Will always be there for you.”

Ch.2

View Online

A Desperate Chase

How long was it that they stood there?

Hours? Minutes? Seconds? she didn’t know. When she’d heard the end of that sentence though the only thing the cyan pegasus could think of was that this was some sort of joke. One big horrible prank that Spike had decided to play on them and the others for all the times she and Pinkie Pie had pranked him.

If it was a joke, which it wasn’t, then the rainbow maned pegasus had to admit. It was grand.

Horribly, horribly grand. A true masterpiece that ripped at her heart and threatened to make the burning in her eyes leak with tears. Despite the fact she was nowhere near onions.

Dash spread her wings when her alicorn friend had finished reading the letter, but forgot she still had her saddlebags on since they’d just got back so it weighed her down a bit.

Wordlessly the mare removed the bag and with a heavy thunk it landed on the crystalline floors as she flew up to the room to check once again just to make sure that this was all just a joke.

Dash ignored the sniffs, the tears, the surprised wail of Rarity and her friends entirely, as she made her way up to Twilight’s room. Despite having it already been checked the mare hoped without a doubt that the little guy was just really really good at hiding because of his small stature.

Even despite the letter that Twilight had read the pegasus wasn’t willing to accept such a thing had really happened. She wasn’t willing to believe that Spike had just up and left them behind with only a letter to explain his justification of doing so.

In truth Rainbow Dash just didn’t want to believe the little guy was gone. Gone on an adventure all by himself without anyone there to back him, without anyone there to make sure he was safe.

So she assumed this was a joke. A sick and twisted joke that Spike had possibly picked up on, based off of some of the more crueler pranks her and Pinkie had played on other ponies in the past.

Yeah this is all just one bad joke.

Sadly Rainbow Dash was proven wrong.

This is a really good joke Spike she thought with a fake smile as she slowly opened the door to Twilight and the drake’s room. But this prank has gone far enough.

The door swung fully open. Dash trotting inside the room, moving to look under the bed expecting to find Spike hidden expertly under there.

There was no Spike.

Dash turned to one of Twilight’s nearby closets, ignoring the small pinch that nipped at her when she saw no dragon in there as well.

This joke is seriously going to far Spike! Rainbow Dash took off, leaving the room then moving into the one just opposite of it.

No Spike.

She tried again in the next room and the room after that.

No Spike.

She was starting to get frustrated, angry almost as her eyes began to sting. Zooming down the stairs into the common room and ignoring the worried glances her friends gave her, the mare completely forgot that the library had already been checked in her desire to find out if Spike was there.

Bursting open the doors to the library the mare trotted inside and then gave the entire room a quick look.

Once again the cyan pegasus found: There was no Spike.

Disheartened as she slowly floated back into the common room where her friends now stared at her with tears in their eyes Dash struggled with herself to keep the tears from pouring out.

This is awful she thought.

“Dash” AJ said gently trotting towards her.

What kind of cruel prank is this?! she thought her eyes shut tight, her ears falling against her head and now biting her lip hard enough to draw blood Dash felt like a dam would break any minute in her heart.

“Dash” AJ tried again to grab the broken hearted mare’s attention.

Who just packs up and leaves one day on a whim like that?! Need to get stronger? Need to find who you are?! All that mushy stuff he wrote about always wanting us by his side and then just leaving like that without even a proper goodbye!

“Dash” AJ said gently wrapping a hoof around the stiff pegasus. “It’s alright Dash” AJ said as her own tears began to blind her. “Just let it out, we miss him. We all do.”

Rainbow Dash who rarely cried except on very few occasions, did her utmost best to stop the tears from freely flowing. But try as she might she was incapable of doing so.

The tears flowed freely. Sliding down her muzzle as her vision blurred and the dam in her heart broke.

“He...he really is gone isn’t he?” Dash asked in a broken voice.

None of the others replied, the only response she got that could be considered remotely close to answering her question was Applejack and the others huddling around her, tightening the embrace to provide even more comfort.

That day all six mares realized, just how much they’d miss their little dragon. Just how much they’d miss Spike.

The birds chirped. And the sun gently shined through Rainbow Dash’s window.

She was already awake though, she did not sleep the previous night. Most of her time had been spent trying to accept what Spike had done, leaving them like this. Almost abandoning them.

It hurt. It hurt a lot. And what was even worse was that Twilight was the only one who hadn’t cried as much as the others and herself had. She’d been choked up as she read the message. And fought on multiple occasions to remain in control of her emotions.

There were a few times where her alicorn friend had shed a few tears, but genuinely broken down and cried like how Fluttershy had, when they found out Spike had left never happened to the young alicorn. Crying the way Rainbow Dash had cried, forcing all the pain within her till it burst like a dam didn’t happen to Twilight either. Even Applejack, the mare who really did cry more on the inside wept that afternoon.

“But Twilight. She hadn’t cried a bit” Dash said sadly.

Dash turned on her side, looking at the wall something glinted off the sunlight, causing her eyes to turn in that direction.

It was a picture of her, Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie and Spike after Twilight’s coronation.

Dash frowned, turning her gaze away from the picture. It would only bring up sad memories.

Getting off her cloud made bed the mare trotted towards her living room and sat down, feeling both bored and not really having the will or desire to get up and head to work.

She had Cloudbusting duty today. Ponyville was scheduled to have clear skies for the next few days, but to Dash she’d rather just have it rain for the rest of the day so she could just stay in her house and mope till these feelings finally left her system.

Rainbow Dash’s ear twitched, she turned her head in the direction of buzzing to see Tank flying towards her. She smiled sadly when the tortoise flew up to her and rubbed his cheek gently against her own..

He’d heard what happened with Spike and had come to offer his support to his mistress.

Grabbing the tortoise and giving him a squeeze Rainbow Dash snuggled back into the couch while Tank rested his head on her cheek, letting her know he was there for her.

I don’t get it she thought. Why would he just get up and leave like that? Find a path to life? Be useful to us? That idiot’s always been useful, and he never worried about what he wanted to do before. Why the sudden change?

The whole thing was confusing. The return home, the letter, Spike’s departure. It confused not only Rainbow Dash but the whole group. Despite his letter saying that he wanted to see what he could do without them why didn’t he wait till they at least came back before he left? Why did he leave so abruptly? This wasn’t him going on a journey, this felt more like abandonment.

At least that’s how Rainbow Dash saw it.

Her embrace on the tortoise tightened just a bit.

“Did he even factor how we would actually feel when he left?” she whispered the feeling of sadness leaving and getting replaced with the small sparks of anger.

He did her conscience reminded her.

Remember he said “don’t be mad.” This thought only made Rainbow Dash even angrier. She snorted, her hug around Tank tightening even more.

“That was a stupid thing to say. Of course I’d be angry! Anypony would! No one would take this lying down! He just got up and left! Like, like we weren’t even important!” she said releasing Tank and staring at him. “You understand what I’m saying don’t you?” she asked.

Tank merely blinked, then smiled at her warmly before licking her cheek.

Rainbow Dash smiled sadly. “Thanks.”

The two snuggled back together in the couch. Rainbow Dash thinking about Spike’s letter and what she could do to bring him back.

The pegasus wasn’t about to let this go without a fight.

There were many things to take into account on why Rainbow Dash particularly refused to allow Spike to leave, like this. Hurting all of them in the process with only a letter to justify his reasoning. He’d hurt her. He’d hurt Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Twilight. Especially Twilight who hadn’t said a single word to them the night before when everyone left her home late that night.

Dash was sure that at this very moment the young alicorn had plunged herself into her studies to try and either figure out where Spike was, or to repress all the pain that was stewing around in her heart.

She winced thinking about it. Rarity especially had also looked pretty disheartened.

So there the athlete sat. Thinking up what she could do to find Spike. To bring him back and make sure he apologized not just to her but to everyone else he’d thrown this heartache on.

Because Spike was a part of her flock Dash was willing to do anything to find him. Anything at all to find the little guy. It was a pegasi’s way of life. Those in a flock stuck together and looked out for each other. And Rainbow Dash had long ago accepted Twilight and Spike into her flock when they’d came to Ponyville.

Proof of this was when she’d insisted they go after Spike when he decided to travel with the other dragons and see how they lived their lives. There were multiple instances where she had to be held back because natural instinct kicked whenever she’d seen a member of her own flock in danger, only for Rarity and Twilight to hold her back or defer her from continuing with her actions.

A knock on her door drew her out of her thoughts of reminiscence. Grumbling as she trotted released Tank, the cyan pegasus opened the door to see the last pegasus she wanted to see.

Thunderlane.

Thunderlane was co-weather supervisor when Dash was too busy doing stunts, slacking off or just simply not doing her job. And it looks like her co-worker had come to tell her off based on the annoyed look the stallion now gave her and the slight way his wings were unfurled.

Of all the times this was the worst she snorted angrily. “What do you want Thunderlane?” Dash said trotting back into her living room.

“What do I-?! Rainbow Dash, it’s past 1! We were supposed to clear the clouds southeast of Ponyville half an hour ago! And we don’t have enough pegasi on hand today so I was told by the board to come and get you.”

“I’m busy” Dash said firmly plopping down into her cloud with Tank.

“Doing what?! You haven’t been out all day! No one in Cloudsdale has seen you outside since last night! Now get outside and d-” he paused, noticing how Dash’s tail flicked briefly and her ears slightly wilted.

If there was one thing pegasi were good with it was reading nonverbal expressions. Kinesics especially. And Thunderlane could tell without a shadow of a doubt that something was bothering his superior.

“Dash?” he said gentler tone, tucking both his wings back to his side as he trotted towards her. “What’s wrong?”

Rainbow Dash said nothing at first. This was something that she and the others needed to figure out on their own. Spike was a part of her own little flock and she didn’t want other members of a larger flock involved. But if she was going to find the little guy in a big world like this, and a large nation like Equestria, she’d need as much help as possible.

Dash sighed, seeing Tank fly by her side and gently nudge her with his head as if goading her to do what she had to do or what she believed was right. Dash smiled at her armored soldier before whispering a “thank you” to the tortoise.

Turning to Thunderlane who’d been waiting patiently Dash made her way towards the door but stopped when she saw Thunderlane standing back in her living room staring at her with one ear perked up as a sign of uncertainty.

“Well what are you waiting for? Let’s get to work” she said spreading her wings before taking off. “But after the job’s done I need you to do me a favor!” she called back.

Thunderlane who still was unsure of everything that was happening merely nodded and followed the mare outside before he said bye to Tank and followed her out into the skies.

“As long as we get this done before 2, I’ll do whatever you want.”

“He did what?!” Thunderlane exclaimed.

“Spike left Ponyville to find some kind of purpose or whatever philosophical mumbo jumbo you want to call it. The point is I need your help to help me find him.”

Thunderlane looked away, rubbing the back of his neck, unsure of what he was being asked. “I know I said I’d do anything but Dash what you’re asking me to do is-”

“Please!” Dash said with some desperation. “I need to find him!” she said almost bumping snouts with Thunderlane.

Thunderlane frowned, thinking of what procedures he’d need to take for what his friend was asking to be remotely possible.

Rounding up pegasi for something like this wasn’t something he had the power to do. They’d have to go through the board of Cloud Council, before he’d be able to get permission or even the authority to round up as many pegasi as possible to be even able to cover a sixth of Ponyville and Canterlot let alone the rest of Equestria in general.

“Dash I get how you feel. I liked the little guy also, he made some pretty funny comments but if this was his choice we have no right to interfere. Plus-” a blur swooped over Thunderlane’s muzzle.

Instantly the stallion felt a small pinch of pain radiate through his nose, like it had just been swatted or tapped rather roughly.

It had.

“What was that for?!” he asked rubbing his nose.

“For giving up without even trying!” she yelled her wings slightly spreading to assert her dominance. “Spike’s one of my closest friends and even if this isn’t that big of a deal to you it is to me!”

“Well what do you want me to do?! Make a riot happen or send word to every pegasus across Equestria to keep an eye out for a baby dragon that looks just like Spike?!” he yelled unfurling his own wings now to show he wasn’t about to get intimidated.

Then the two froze, as if a stroke of genius hit them.

“Wait...” Thunderlane said as the idea began to build in his head. “Maybe there is something I can do” he said with a slight smile.

Dash’s eyes glistened with hope at this. “Go on, what is it?!”

Thunderlane folded his wings back to his side trotting around on the cloud the two were now standing on as he paced.

“If we send word to every pegasus in Equestria to keep an eye out for a baby dragon that looks just like Spike we wouldn’t need to bother the Cloud Council on something like this, because we wouldn’t be making every pegasus on Equus do a worldwide scale search for him.” He stopped looking at Dash to see if she followed. The mare nodded slowly as she digested this bit of info then waited for him to continue.

“If we don’t have a scour mission for Spike the council doesn’t need to get involved. No complications, no time limit for how long they’ll search, and we won’t have to worry about the constant reports we’ll need to make till we find him. Having other pegasi keep an eye out is a different approach entirely since it’s of their own accord.”

“Meaning” Dash said slightly lost.

“Meaning if any of the pegasi in other parts of Equestria find Spike they’ll be able to send word back to us here. After all we all are kind of one giant flock so it’s only natural they’d send word back to us” Thunderlane said with a smile.

Thunderlane wasn’t expecting the bone crushing hug that was common between pegasi to show gratitude and appreciation, at the same time asserting a sense of a strong bond and trust.

“Your welcome” he wheezed as Dash’s hug tightened. Once released he coughed a bit before stretching his wings to make sure none of the bones in them had been broken.

“When can we start the search” Dash asked feeling pumped.

“Anytime if that’s fine by you” he said looking out at the clear skies. “We’ve already finished cloudbusting so we’ve got the rest of the day off. I can get Cloudchaser to send word to some friends of mine in Baltimare and Las Pegasus as a started and we’ll work our way spreading the message from there.”

Dash grinned, blinking a few tears away quickly before she wiped a hoof over her eyes. “Let’s get going now then.”

Thunderlane nodded, spreading his wings. “Follow me, she should be at her place.”

Dash nodded as the two took off in Cloudchaser’s direction.

As the two soared through the air one thing firmly kept Dash’s newly found confident smile on her face.

“I’m coming for you Spike.”

Ch.3

View Online

A Visitor

It was late tonight. Just another day at work for a baby dragon. For the past month, many things had gone wrong and right for the young drake.

When Spike had arrived in Baltimare he hadn’t expected things to go his way instantly or easily at all. And he was right to think that way. Being a baby dragon and all meant that he wouldn’t get a lot of work, mainly because he was seen as a kid. And the ponies in this city weren’t keen on hiring kids for work.

They did seem to offer him some bits for his troubles though. One’s which he had gladly accepted otherwise he would have ran out of money for food two days after his arrival.

It was a disappointment really. Spending day after day, trying to find something that would keep Spike busy, something that would keep him going and ensure him that this whole trip had not been one giant mistake and waste of his time.

Each job he came to required him to do something he was either too short to do, didn’t have the magic or capability to do because he lacked the strength, or simply wasn’t right for him because the company didn’t want to hire a child who in his interviewer’s eyes had little to no experience on the real world, let alone the subject at hand that was a requisite for the job.

That last one had really set Spike ablaze. If that interviewer realized who he was he’d probably have reconsidered on refusing the number one assistant to the princess of magic. The guy who helped save the world not once or twice, but many times along with his friends.

Time passed and Spike continued his search, his purpose. Trying to find what made him unique in his own way. Eventually after five days of job hunting, Spike finally found a place that would take him.

It was a diner. A prominent one at that, yet at the same time it was not too fancy, not too casual. Just in between where manners were considered and the occasional reservation would be held on certain special events or occasions.

Spike had taken the job as chef, the only job that had been left open since their previous one quit and moved to Canterlot to broaden his own business.

His manager, Lavish Dish, a yellow unicorn with a well styled mane -one that Spike noted Rarity would have loved- seemed to like the young drake’s courage and spunk. Especially when Spike had explained his reasons for traveling to Baltimare in the first place.

Though it was brief, Spike saw a small grin cross upon the older unicorn’s face. Lavish had told him he could take the job and would be payed at the end of every three weeks with a salary of 32 bits. Provided he did his job well.

Spike smiled as recalled how he’d puffed his chest out with confidence stating: “Cooking is one of my many special skills.”

Lavish Dish had merely stared at the young drake with mild surprise and broke out grinning shortly after Spike’s declaration. He was sure he’d made the right choice in hiring the drake, and Spike was glad himself that he’d taken this job out of all the others. All his coworkers were nice, they didn’t bother to ask about his past, nor was he treated like a child but as an equal. It made him feel...good inside. Proud frankly.

Another thing that had him feeling proud was that not a single one of their customers had complained since Spike took up kitchen duty. Working as Twilight’s assistant for most of his life had taught him to be diligent and hardworking, as well as tidy and careful with everything he did. That was something he’d definitely have to thank Twilight for when he got back.

That and well he’d learned to ask for help with things he wasn’t able to reach himself unlike the time he’d tried to help Applejack back at Sweet Apple Acres.

A thought crossed his mind as he helped the only waitress that had stayed after hours to clear the tables. His chef hat slightly tilting down his face a bit since it was a bit larger than him, sitting kind of awkwardly on his head.

I wonder how Twilight and the others are doing, he thought. I haven’t heard from them in a while...and haven’t really gotten the chance to send them a letter since I’ve been busy with work and all. He frowned slightly at the mess a few kids had made at one of the tables, distracting him from his thoughts.

Spaghetti sauce the three colt’s families had ordered for them lay splattered all over the table’s design. A few signs of pasta looking like it had been smeared on the table by accident, or as if the foals had been playing with their food displayed itself on the corners of the table’s edge and on the center.

He gave a frustrated sigh. “Slaving over a pot of spaghetti and using my best recipe for that sauce and look where it ends up, as paint for foals” he muttered shaking his head with his hands on his hips.

Hopping off from the seat he’d been using to observe the mess Spike turned his attention to the light orange unicorn mare in the blue buttoned dress and apron. “Propeté, could you take care of this last table while I take the rest of the dishes you’ve got to clean ‘em in the back?”

Propeté turned to Spike and nodded with a smile, taking the cleaning towel she’d been using to wipe over the tables and their messes with her magic. Turning to Spike and stacking eight or twelve plates in his short arms carefully, the mare watched Spike stumble a bit with a reassuring smile as he backed up behind the counter. His body disappearing as he kicked the door open to the “EMPLOYEES ONLY” sign, save for his spikes and the dishes he carried being visible as he entered into the kitchen.

Spike heard muffled giggles come from the Prance unicorn as the door to the kitchen closed behind him. He smiled to himself as he somehow managed to keep his balance with the stack of dishes he carried, sliding most of the dishes into the large kitchen sink, before climbing a small stepping ladder and placing the rest of the dirty dishes inside.

Turning on the faucet, Spike waited patiently for the water to begin filling the sink before he began washing.

The thought of what the others would say if they could only see him now filled him with pride. He continued to wait for a few seconds, allowing his thoughts to travel back to his friends back home. Wondering what Twilight and the others had been doing for the past month.

Slightly nervous on whether they were furious at him for what he’d done, and how everypony else would react back home if they even knew he was gone, considering whether Twilight or the others said anything.

Then again knowing Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity they’ll definitely tell anyone they know so they can find me he thought with a sad smile.

A minute had now passed and Spike left his thoughts behind as he noticed the faucet hadn’t released water to allow him to clean these dirty dishes and silverware.

He raised a brow, moved his hands to the back of his neck and removed his chef apron then lifted the lever to the faucet moving it towards cold.

A sudden splash of cold water hitting him in the face made Spike yelp, jump back off his stepping ladder and fall to the ground with a loud thud. He winced, rubbing his rump and scowled as he watched cold water sail through the air and hit the ground.

“What the hay?” he said getting up with an annoyed pout as he looked to see that the sink’s removable spout for spraying water around the sink in cleaning was switched on instead of the main faucet.

“Spike, are you okay?” Propeté asked in her gentle Prance accent. “Do yoù need ze help with ze dishes?” she asked her hoofsteps coming closer.

Quickly turning off the water and switching it back to the main faucet Spike sported a sheepish smile. “I’m fine!” he called hearing the hoofs stop. “Just got a little surprise is all, probably from one of the other kitchen workers. Forget to switch the main faucet back on. Everything’s fine, but we still have a couple minutes left before the diner closes up. Could you make sure to let anypony that comes in we’ll be closing up soon?”

“I will Spike, please be careful” Propeté said before Spike heard her hoofsteps retreat from the kitchen door.

Spike let out a sigh of relief. Then his ears stood up as he felt his elbow touching water. Looking down just in time Spike managed to see the sink was starting to overflow. A gasp and some quick hurried movement and he had shut the pipe off completely, managing to stop anymore water from leaking onto the ground.

“Great” he said. “Guess I’ll get the mop.”

Jumping down and heading over to the very back of the kitchen, Spike opened the door, grabbed the mop then shut the door with his tail. His ears managed to catch the faint ringing sound of the bell that told them whenever a customer entered or left Serve & Dine.

Mopping up the small mess he had made quickly, Spike could hear Propeté, talking to whoever was now inside the building with her.

I’ll check on her as soon as I finish this, he thought hearing the mare giggle at something the voice had said. Hopping back up to the sink, and quickly turning on the drain, Spike managed to catch the words through all the noise the drain made as: “Somepony, back there?”

Propeté most likely responded “The chef” since whoever was talking to her said something else. An order maybe? Spike wasn’t sure. He turned off the drain after a few seconds when he saw the water level was just right.

Beginning to wash the dishes Spike’s thoughts once again travelled to the others as he washed, and dried. Placing silverware and utensils in their designated spots.

“Oh chef!” Propeté called from the other side as Spike was just finishing up.

“Yeah?” Spike called back.

There was a brief pause as Spike heard the voice ask the waitress something he couldn’t hear as he placed a bunch of forks and knives in their respected areas.

“Oui, I can get him” Propeté responded.

Spike raised a brow as he heard Propeté’s hoofsteps come towards the kitchen. Finishing up as he washed his own hands and dried them Spike looked at the unicorn with a slightly confused look.

“Does our somewhat stubborn customer want something? It is past closing time you know” Spike said as he got off the stepping ladder and walked up to Propeté.

Propeté smiled warmly at Spike. “I believe, our guest would like a drink. Besides he seems kind of eager to see you.”

“Me?” Spike asked pointing at himself with a claw. Propeté nodded.

“I will get him ze drink, you should go meet him. He is waiting at the counter for you” she said walking past him and going to the fridge.

“Well who wants to see me? Did he say his name?” Spike asked feeling a little nervous by the sudden announcement of somepony desiring to see him so late at night.

Propeté gave another warm smile. “You will see once you go outside” she said turning him around and giving him a gentle nudge towards the door.

Spike gulped, looking back at the Prance mare who merely nodded to him encouragingly before turning to get the stallion’s drink.

Pushing open the kitchen door and then making it to the counter Spike saw a familiar looking dark blue mane and a pale blue coat. The stallion wore a jacket, and from his back Spike could see he had wings.

Opening the door and walking away from the counter Spike stood there, mouth agape as he watched the stallion slowly swirl in his stool in front of the counter towards Spike with a kind smile.

The pegasus hopped off the stool and moved towards Spike who still stared at him confused and slightly afraid now that Spike thought about it.

“Hey Spike” the pegasus said with a smile hugging the young drake.

Spike licked his dry lips as the hug was broken and he stared at the pegasus before him. He managed a very weak, sheepish smile, his eyes moving around as if he were trying to avoid looking at the pegasus in the face.

“Spike” the pegasus said “I stumbled here by accident, the least you could do is look at me” he said with a frown.

Spike sighed, reluctantly giving in to his captive’s demands. “Hey Soarin. How you been?”

Soarin and Spike sat on stools side by side. Neither of them saying anything else to each other after both had asked how the other had been.

This was one of the things Spike had feared. One of the things that constantly gave him worries at night. That he would end up running into one of his friends or acquaintances from Ponyville. And here he was, Soarin, the very source of his nightmares now making reality quite clear to Spike that he had to face.

Propeté came back a few seconds after with a smoothie for Soarin. Soarin smiled kindly at her, before the mare, batted her eyelashes at him and trotted back inside.

Spike rolled his eyes. Propeté was the number one flirtatious waitress on this entire street. Right now Spike couldn’t tell if she was genuinely interested in Soarin or if this was just her being classy with a bit of appeal.

Spike rested his elbows on the counter, keeping his head up with both his hands. He gave a quick glance over to Soarin’s direction. Soarin who had been staring at Spike silently, looked away. Slurping his smoothie loudly.

Propeté who had sensed the awkwardness that threatened to suffocate everyone in this current establishment decided to intervene.

“So, Soarin. What brings you here to ze Baltîmare?” she asked, moving a strand of her gold and peach mane out of her sight.

Soarin stopped slurping his smoothie and smacked his lips together. Ears perking up a bit as he gave an awkward glance in Spike direction hoping to see Spike look interested.

He noticed Spike’s eyes give him a quick glance, which to Soarin meant that he was interested.

“Actually I’m glad you asked.” Soarin replied after an awkward cough. “Baltimare was hosting an event for pegasus athletes and being a part of the Wonderbolts I was asked to come as a spectator.”

“Oh, sounds wonderfùl. Isn’t zat wonderfùl Spike?” she said with a smile in his direction.

Spike shifted in his seat uncomfortably. “Yeah. It is.”

Silence. Another long awkward silence.

Propeté looked between Soarin and Spike both of whom were feeling extremely awkward and weren’t really sure what to say judging from the looks on their faces and the way their eyes would look at each other then look away.

Propeté sighed. Then an idea came to her mind.

“Spike, Soarin told me he knows you. How do you two know each other?”

“Oh that’s easy” Soarin said with a smile in Spike’s direction. Spike managed one himself.

“Spike and I know each other from the Wonderbolts event. Back when Rainbow Dash saved our lives, me, Spike, and her would hang out for awhile every now and then. We had a blast didn’t we Spike?” Soarin asked hopeful of a response.

Spike chuckled now allowing some form of eye contact with the pegasus. “Yeah...we did.”

Another brief moment of silence passed.

Propeté looked between the two of them once more starting to grow a bit frustrated with Spike’s lack of courage to talk to an old friend. After a few seconds with nopony saying a word the Prance mare slammed her hoof on the counter causing both dragon and pegasus to jump. Soarin’s wings spreading out in the process from the surprise and twitching a bit as well.

“Will you two just talk already! It is obvioüs that you two wish to speak to one another! So talk!” she yelled, moving away from the counter and heading toward the kitchen with a harrumph.

“W-Wait Propeté!” both Spike and Soarin called.

The mare merely disappeared into the kitchen shouting in french: “N’écoute pas!”

Spike and Soarin were left at the counter both slightly surprised by the mare’s outburst. Spike especially since he’d never seen the mare get so flustered up about anything even with the most annoying of guests.

A few seconds passed in silence before Soarin cleared his throat ready to speak, only to be cut off by Spike himself.

“So how’s everyone back at Ponyville?” Spike asked not making eye contact.

Soarin looked at the young drake and smiled. “They’re fine. Everyone’s fine.”

A satisfied nod came from Spike. “Good. Glad to hear.”

“And how are you doing Spike?” Soarin asked after another few seconds had passed.

“I’m doing fine. Well actually” he chuckled. “Before I got this job a month ago I probably would’ve wanted to come back home instantly.”

“Why didn’t you?” Soarin asked pushing his empty glass aside.

Spike’s ears wilted a bit. “I...I couldn’t.”

Soarin gave Spike a confused look. “What do you mean you couldn’t Spike? Everyone back in Ponyville and Cloudsdale miss you. We all do. Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, and especially Twilight. They all miss you little bud” Soarin said gently placing a hoof on Spike’s shoulder.

Spike’s shoulders relaxed a bit at the gentle touch. He smiled a bit, then gently moved Soarin’s hoof off his shoulder. “I miss all of you guys too, but the reason I couldn’t was because I needed to figure out what I could do, what I can do without Twilight and the others.”

“Soarin, it’s been a month. I’ve grown up a lot in the past month. I’ve got a job, a place to stay at, and have made friends here. Not to mention I’m providing for myself and looking out for myself also.”

Soarin opened his mouth, but closed it. His brows slowly relaxing as he took in what Spike said.

The little guy was right. Now that Soarin actually looked at him there was something about Spike he’d noticed had changed but wasn’t sure what exactly. But now that he heard the young dragon speak he knew what it was that had grown in Spike.

Maturity.

He’d become a bit more mature, considering all the things that had just been described to him, Spike definitely did have that “experienced” air about him that Spitfire constantly gave him whenever he was around her.

Soarin smiled sadly though as a thought crossed him. “Does that mean you won’t be coming back to Ponyville Spike?”

Spike, looked up at the pegasus with some sadness and shook his head. “I can’t Soarin. Not yet, it wouldn’t be right.”

“What wouldn’t?”

“This!” he said in almost a yell. “I can’t come all this way, to start things and just let it end because I don’t have you or any of the others watching my back. Soarin, I need to learn. I need to see what I can do on my own, I need to know Soarin, you get that...don’t you?” he asked with some slight desperation.

Soarin’s brows rose slightly when Spike yelled, but returned back to a relaxed state as he took in what Spike was saying.

Yeah, I get it. You want to prove you’re not just a kid, who can't do anything by himself. He smiled nostalgically as he recalled his times back at Wonderbolt Academy.

“I do Spike. Believe me I do. You know, I never told anyone this but before I was accepted as a member of the Wonderbolts, back at the academy I use to get a ton of heat from the others. Spitfire at that time was a supervisor and wasn’t running the place till a year after I officially joined her and Fleetfoot.

“And trust me Spike. If you’ve heard anything from Dash when Spitfire was supervising things were brutal. I can’t tell you how many times I got knocked down, talked down by different supervisors aside from Spitfire, and made fun of by my peers because I was one of the younger members of that year’s member.”

Spike’s ears perked up a bit as Soarin talked. Feeling a bit bad for him, only to offer his own comforting smile and pat the pegasus on the back gently with his claw. “But it all worked out right? You’re with one of the best flying teams in all of Equestria.”

Soarin laughed. “Yeah, but I lost my place with Spitfire and Fleetfoot three days after becoming an official Wonderbolt. The director said they’d found someone much better than me and I got kicked off and made to stay in the lower ranks for almost an entire year.

“And lemme tell ya Spike. That did not look good on my career.”

“Oh...” Spike said sadly. “How did you get back i?”

Soarin smiled. “Luck honestly. Apparently the guy that had replaced me somehow used his father’s connections to get the results switched when the speed scores were supposed to be posted. He got kicked out of the Wonderbolts for doing that, but after I got back in I put in a good word for him and he was able to get back in.

“Had to restart from the academy though” Soarin said with a chuckle.

Spike laughed also. “Was Spitfire director at that time?”

Soarin snorted. “No but she might as well have been.”

Both of them laughed at the comment for a few minutes. The tension in the air disappearing as they talked about their own jobs and how Spike was doing pretty well in Baltimare as a chef.

“I’ll have to try your food sometime” Soarin said playfully hitting Spike’s arm.

“Trust me, it’s to die for. Last pony that had one of my sandwiches refused to leave till he had three more for the road” Spike said, chuckling as he recalled the bizarre moment.

“HA! Maybe I should get the recipe then or the road” Soarin said joining in.

The two laughed a bit more for a few seconds before things got quiet again. Finally Spike asked the question that had been bugging him since Soarin’s arrival.

“Hey Soarin” he said with a weak grin. “How exactly did you know where to find me? I haven’t sent a letter to any of the others because of work and everything so...how did you uh?”

“To be honest Spike I didn’t even know you were here” Soarin said, staring at his cup to see if he could get anything left of his smoothie.

Spike raised a quizzical brow at the pegasus.

“Okay I knew you were here but that part about the pegasus event was true” Soarin said with a raised hoof.

“How did you know?” Spike asked now curious.

Soarin rubbed the back of his neck with a hoof looking away.

Spike didn’t like that. Whenever Soarin did that it meant bad news, or at least in his case it would be bad news.

“Soarin. Tell me, how did you know where to find me?”

Soarin said nothing. Spike continued to give him a look that said “tell me” but the pegasus remained silent, squirming in his seat.

Spike looked at the kitchen deciding to call Propeté only to see the mare’s face disappear behind the window in the door. Spike rolled his eyes.

“Propeté, could we get two more smoothies please?”

The kitchen door bursted open as the mare came out with two smoothies rested on a tray on her back. “Here you are” she said placing the smoothies on the counter with her magic, before taking a seat behind the counter.

“Don’t mind me. I will just be here, to take your glasses” she said innocently. Spike stared at her skeptically before turning his attention to Soarin who was now greedily drinking his smoothie.

“Well?” the dragon asked slightly impatient.

Soarin raised a hoof up as he took one more quick sip, then turned to face Spike. “Alright you see Spike Rainbow Dash has been looking for you.”

The dragon who had been drinking his smoothie nearly did a spit-take catching himself quickly enough not to make that mistake, before he swallowed everything in his mouth.

“What?!” he said with fear quickly making it’s return. “Is she here?! Is she outside?!?!” he asked now looking for a way to escape.

“Calm down Spike!” Propeté said gently.

Spike took a deep breath and exhaled while Soarin held both his forehooves out as if making sure to catch the dragon in case he decided to pass out on him. His wings folded back to his side when Spike had relaxed.

“She’s not here, so don’t worry about that. But she hasn’t given up on trying to find you” Soarin said. “In fact she had Thunderlane help her spread the word that you were missing a month ago. Now every pegasus up in the skies, are keeping an eye out just in case one of them sees you. But probably not as much as before, since it has been a month now.”

“I see” Spike said frowning. “I really bucked up didn’t I?”

“Hold on a minute Spike” Propeté said gaining their attention. “You have nothing to worry about. Now I may ‘ave been eavesdropping while you two were talking” she said with an apologetic blush and smile. “But I do know one thing!” she said before Spike or Soarin could speak.

“You are a hard worker. A month ago I thought you were just a child chasing something that you could never hope to achieve. That reality would come crashing down on you soon enough. But ze past month has shown me that I was wrong, you are possibly the most strong-willed dragon I ‘ave ever met. Well you are the only dragon I ‘ave ever met but you understand what I am saying.”

Spike stared in silence, feeling both proud having heard those words and a little confused on where his current relationship with Eta de Propeté stood. But he got what she was trying to tell him.

“I haven’t messed up. Have I?”

“Oui, you ‘ave only worked hard to get to where you are today” she said warmly.

Spike smiled a bit, turning his attention back to Soarin. “How is...how’s she doing?”

“She’s, alright. She and the others have gone back to normal, but I’ve heard from Thunderlane that Rumble often tells him that the CMC aren’t as extremely active as they usually are since finding out you left.”

“I see...” Spike said with his drooping just a bit. Soon enough though they rose once more as confidence filled Spike’s eyes.

“Well tell them I’m doing fine and that I’ll try to send them a letter as soon as I can on how I’m doing. But, don’t tell them where I am.”

“W-What? Why?! Spike, they miss you I can’t tell them that if I can’t tell them where you are” Soarin protested.

“Then don’t tell them” Spike said plainly, with his cheerful expression turning serious.

Soarin froze almost by his friend’s sudden change of mood.

“Spike...”

“Soarin, I’m serious. If you tell them, they’ll come here. They’ll find me. And then all of this, everything I’ve done this past month will be for nothing. Please, don’t tell them.”

Soarin bit his lip, feeling torn between Spike’s words and his duty as a fellow pegasus to tell a member of the flock the truth. After all the pegasus motto was: We all look out for each other.Flock members take care of each other.

But then again this talk with Spike made him feel a bit closer to the dragon. So after a few minutes of careful thought, Soarin nodded. Though it was reluctant.

“I’ll try” he said as he finished his smoothie and got up.

Spike and Propeté got up as well. Turning his attention to the waitress Spike asked her to take the glasses back to the kitchen. He’d be closing as soon as Soarin left so they’d just handle those glasses tomorrow.

Once Propeté had left them Spike walked with Soarin towards the front door of Serve & Dine. “So I guess I’ll see you around?” Soarin asked lifting his hoof up.

Spike stared at the hoof, looked at Soarin and smiled, bumping his fist with Soarin’s hoof. “Definitely. I’ll be sure to write to you guys as soon as I can.”

Soarin nodded, and waved goodbye with a smile as he exited the store. Spike watched his friend walk down the street then turn down a corner into the night. Propeté voice called for Spike which he reassured he was still here.

Looking down that street one last time Spike turned and headed back to the kitchen to help his friend close up the store. Tomorrow would be another big day. And he’d need all the rest he could get after today’s events.

Soarin walked down the street he was on for a few minutes before stopping. He looked around a bit giving a secretive like look before he tapped his hoof on the ground twice.

Two pegasi descended by his side, Thunderlane and Twinkle Spark.

“How’s he doing?” Thunderlane asked with concern.

Soarin smiled with a laugh. “He’s...actually doing quite well. I don’t think we had anything to worry about.”

“Yeah but now that we’ve found him shouldn’t we tell Dash?” Twinkle Spark asked.

“I promised I wouldn’t tell. But, this is Dash we’re talking about here” Soarin said kicking a pebble away.

“We’ve got no choice Soarin” Thunderlane said as the three took off into the sky. “Rainbow Dash and the others need to know he’s alright.”

Ch. 4

View Online

Surprising Events

A week has passed since Spike had talked with Soarin. The stallion’s short visit had been comforting. In a way it had settled many of Spike’s worries and concerns and in all honesty Spike felt much better now that he knew the girls and everypony else were doing alright.

Then again he still felt bad about causing Rainbow Dash, Twilight and the others all this pain and worry. He would definitely need to get to writing that letter soon. Work as a chef had just kept him busy all day and all night that when he finally would get off work he would just be too tired to pick up the quill.

But having put off the letter long enough Spike made a solemn promise to himself that after all this he would send his first letter to Twilight.

After all, he wasn’t sure how she had taken it. Plus if he sent the letter to any of the others there’s not a doubt in his mind that one of them would go rushing to the others to let them know they had received a letter from him.

On second thought Spike considered as he gave the dish to one of the waiters, I’ll just take my time and write one for all of them. Even if I told Twilight not to tell anyone knowing her she wouldn’t be able to contain herself.

Then there’s that bizarre way with how whenever someone in our group says to not tell it ends up getting told anyway, he shrugged as he wiped his claws on his apron and went back to working on the tulip and sunflower sandwich that had been requested. I’ll just think about what I’ll say in the letter after work. I’ve got plenty of time anyway.

Spike finished the elegant sandwich on rye bread, lifted up the plate, placed it on the separate counter meant for foods of various types only, then hit the bell. A loud ding resounding through the kitchen as he waited for one of his assistants to bring up the next order.

Propeté soon turned up in the kitchen, carrying three trays of plates in her magic. Spike gestured for her to leave it near the sink, he’d have Bon Goût see it to it those dishes were taken care of.

Using his tail to carefully lift the dish Spike handed it over to Propeté who took it up in her magic before exiting the large kitchen. Leaving Spike and his team to continue their work.

Every now and then as Spike worked he’d get a call from outside, where he would be praised greatly for his dish. The kind of lauding made him blush greatly every now and then and in a few cases made his ego swell up a bit. An ego which Propeté made sure to remind him to keep under control.

Morning had long passed and afternoon soon took over as the day grew a bit hotter. Somewhere along the line customers became less and less frequent for the current time being. At this point in time, several of Spike’s workers -some of whom were earth ponies and unicorns working part time- told their boss they had to leave for their next jobs.

“No problem” Spike said to a young pegasus who was actually preparing for his cooking exam. Spike wished the pegasus best of luck. A young pegasus by the name Acute Etiquette. A young pegasus who had found his cutie mark the first time he made a dish for his family, on a special occasion.

Spike watched the light green pegasus leave Serve & Dine along with a few other of his team. The young drake couldn’t help but smile at the pegasus’ determination to become a cook. The stallion’s family had originally been against such a wish, since his family were all from a long line of racers, or weather crafters. His parents being strictly against his wishes till he eventually he ended up leaving home to pursue his own dreams.

It was admirable, and in some ways Spike couldn’t help but feel a bit jealous. This pegasus knew what he wanted to do. Spike on the other hand was still trying to figure out what he could do. Then again his current achievements were pretty good on their own.

He had a steady job, a means to provide for himself, his current social life and his relationship with his workers and customers were all generally pretty healthy. Spike had to admit for a baby dragon he was doing pretty well on his own.

Hearing his name getting called Spike, turned around and headed back inside the restaurant entering the kitchen once again.

Someone had ordered carrot soup, and that wasn’t going to get made on its own.

An alicorn, and a pegasus sat on top of a cloud, staring down on the streets of Ponyville. Apparently Rainbow Dash had something extremely important to tell Twilight this afternoon and from the way the mare had zoomed into her home with such speed it was serious.

Twilight noticed that there were two other pegasi in the area. Thunderlane and Soarin. It was kind of weird in all honesty she had to admit, having two pegasi watch over you like that when she’d been told this was supposed to be private. But since gaining wings and being assimilated into a flock of her own, Twilight had grown used to pegasi watching over her from the skies.

Right now what was on her mind was what Dash was so desperate to tell her.

Glancing over at Dash, Twilight saw how her wings looked a bit unkempt. Both wings had a few feathers that were slightly out of place. At the same time the fur around Dash’s wings looked like it hadn’t been properly taken care of for at least a day or two. They would twitch every now and then, with the occasional flapping, as if Dash were agitated or nervous about something. Dash’s expression as well was currently held by serious thought. One that Twilight and the others rarely saw the pegasus display.

Her muzzle slightly scrunched up as she engaged with her thoughts, wondering whether she should even tell Twilight now that she actually thought about. Word had been sent to the others, Twilight included that they were looking for Spike.

Rarity, and Applejack had participated in anyway they could with the search. Pinkie, Fluttershy and Twilight herself had all said they wouldn’t help in finding Spike.

Something that deep down greatly angered the pegasus. Rainbow’s wings twitched in agitation, her tail violently smacking the side of the cloud her and Twilight now sat on.

Twilight noticed this and said nothing. Currently the young alicorn was engaged in her own thoughts. She had heard for the past month that Rainbow Dash had been searching for Spike, with the aid of other pegasi.

Maybe this is what she wanted to tell me? she reasoned, her heart beat suddenly picking up as she thought about her little brother. Is he alright? Were they able to find him? she wondered now starting to feel a bit worried and desiring to know why she was up here.

Granted she may have refused to join in the search, but that was only because it had been Spike’s decision to leave in the first place. If they had all gone to find Spike after he said that he was just doing a bit of soul searching. Some growing up, it would be a violation to their trust in him to learn how to handle things on his own.

And they all knew that the little guy could do a lot on his own if given the space.

It had been more than five minutes since she’d been called up to the clouds above her and...Spike’s home but if Twilight wanted to drown herself in her studies instead of sitting out here, she’d need to get this over with.

She just hoped whatever the news was about Spike it would be good. Instead of something that would make her instantly regret not helping in the search.

"Dash” Twilight said, Dash’s wings spread out a bit hesitant before the mare turned her attention to Twilight working a small smile in her face.

Twilight managed to offer an awkward smile back before she spoke again, her hoof doing donuts around the cloud as she stared at her friend. “What was it you wanted to talk about?”

Dash sucked in air then blew it out like a raspberry, before she folded her twitching wings back to her side. “Okay Twilight. I called you up here because I have news.”

Twilight’s brow rose, kind of anticipating where this was going she said “News?”

“News” Rainbow Dash said firmly.

Twilight nodded, her hoof having stopped making circles on the fluffy cloud they sat on. “And what is this news?”

“Well, it’s um....it’s” Dash said trying to figure out how she was going to say this.

“Is it about Spike?” Twilight asked a look of concern now tracing her face.

Dash nodded. Twilight’s body visibly tensed, her ears falling on either side of her head as the concern grew in her heart.

“I-Is he alright?” she asked trying to keep the emotion out of her voice.

Dash immediately became alert and shook her head, moving her forehooves in refusal from side to side. “No, no it’s nothing like-”

Twilight’s brain took this a different way. You see, noticing how tense Dash had been the entire fly up to this cloud. Noticing Soarin and Thunderlane weren’t too far away, watching over them like this was bad news or something bad was bound to happen. Twilight’s ears registered that the news Dash was bringing wasn’t anything bad about Spike, her brain however was a whole other story.

Rising to her hooves Twilight began pacing the cloud. Sweat beginning to form as her nerves began to kick in. A feeling of nausea adding in to the effect as well at the thought that something bad may have happened to Spike. That something horrible had happened to Spike and she'd be unable to do anything to help him because she didn't know where he was!

Twilight’s left ear smacked the side of her head erratically, both her wings slightly unfurled in a defeated manner and her tail swishing to the side madly. Dash was too confused to understand that Twilight was currently seeing things in the wrong light.

“Hey Dash!” Thunderlane’s voice yelled. “Just tell her already! What’s the hold up? Nothing bad’s happened to him so just tell her what you plan to do!”

“I know just give me a minute to-” Dash caught something falling from the corner of her eye. She looked at the cloud and noticed Twilight was gone. Peering over the edge of the cloud she could see the alicorn was now taking off in haste towards her home.

“Why is she?” then it clicked. Her response to Twilight’s question must have been what made her start acting so strangely. Dash’s eyes widened in horror as she watched Twilight pick up the pace towards the castle.

NO! If she sends a letter to Spike, he’ll know that others know what he’s doing! I won’t be able to get him after this! “Soarin, Thunderlane! Cloudchaser!” the pegasus shouted to the mare flying by.

“We need to stop Twilight! Now!” and with that Dash took off leaving behind a contrail of rainbows as she took off. Soon enough three pegasi joined her and they were all heading for Twilight.

Dash was the first to make it to the young alicorn, whose thoughts were full of concern, anxiety, and a sick feeling bubbling in her stomach at the mere thought that something awful had happened to her little brother and there was nothing she could do for him.

“Twilight!” a voice called to her side, the young alicorn looked to her right and there was Dash. “What is it Dash? I need to send a letter to Spike!”

“No you don’t! Spike isn’t hurt, he’s fine!”

“What?!”

“She’s right!” Thunderlane’s voice called from behind. Twilight turned in the air so she could see behind her and saw Soarin, Thunderlane, and Cloudchaser following after her.

“Spike isn’t hurt he’s fine! We were trying to tell you he’s doing alright! He’s got a job as a chef in Baltimare and he’s doing fine!” Soarin called.

“What?!” was the only thing she could repeat in clear surprise.

“Twilight look out!” Dash said called before picking up the pace to reach her friend.

Twilight looked up just in time to see that she was a few feet away from a building, ready to smash right through it, and much to her disappointment and fear a foal happened to stand right in her way as she went flying towards it like a stone.

“Look out!” she yelled to nearby ponies. Ponies who immediately scrambled out of the way, overturning tables, their own seats and whatever foods that were on their tables. All in a chance to escape colliding with the princess of magic, yet at the same time coincidentally providing a straightway path for Twilight to not only hit the take-out restaurant but also knock out the foal that was trembling in her path, unable to move his hooves to get out of the way.

Twilight’s horn glowed with a force as she focused her attention on teleporting. She was inches away from injuring the foal and herself once she hit that building, and just like when it looked to late, Dash flew right by and carried the foal away, Twilight disappeared in a burst of magic just a second after.

Appearing less than a second later in front of the building, Twilight looked around and internally winced at all the mayhem she’d caused in her worry for Spike. Rainbow Dash landed with the foal in her forehooves a second later.

Twilight offered an apologetic smile to the colt, “Sorry, I um, I’m still working with the whole flying thing” she said as the foal trotted off with a huff.

With the foal gone, and the place a mess Twilight set to work fixing her mistake. Soarin, Thunderlane, and Cloudchaser helping out as well while Dash maintained watch from above.

“So, Spike’s doing fine?” she asked as she lifted a few plates into the air and had them sent inside the food industry.

Rainbow Dash nodded. “From what Soarin tells me. He’s fine. Got a job as a sous chef even and is living it pretty well.”

A sad smile crossed Twilight’s face as she fixed the rest of the tables. “That’s good...I’m glad he’s alright.”

Once everything was fixed and settled Rainbow Dash landed beside Twilight. She told Thunderlane, Soarin, and Cloudchaser she’d contact them later when she finished business with the alicorn.

The two friends then began trotting towards Twilight’s castle in silence for a few seconds.

“So, what did he say when you saw him?” Twilight asked.

“I actually didn’t see him. Soarin, Thunderlane, and Twinkle Spark did. But from what Soarin says, he’s grown a lot” Dash smiled a bit. “Said the little guy radiates a level of maturity he couldn’t have sensed a couple months before.

Twilight laughed a bit at the statement, feeling a bit better in the process. That bubbly feeling that’d been building in her stomach receding. “That’s good. I’m glad he’s alright” Twilight said.

A few more minutes of silence passed as the two neared the castle. Till finally Dash stopped her friend from going any farther.

“Look, Twilight...I’ve got something else I need to tell you?”

Twilight stopped and looked at her friend. “Yes?”

“I...I’m going to see Spike. I need to see how he’s doing for myself, maybe I can convince him to come back and-”

The slam of a hoof on the ground was what silenced the pegasus. Twilight now stared at Dash with an angry look on her face.

“Rainbow Dash, I told you before. This was Spike’s decision. Although it hurt me and you all just as much that he left like this, it was his choice. Nopony forced him to make it, he chose this. I thought when I explained my reason for not joining you’d understand. But it looks like I was wrong.”

Rainbow Dash’s ears wilted in shame, but soon enough that shame was overcome with pride. The pegasus was only looking out for her own. A member of her flock. It wasn’t like she was trying to force him to do something he didn’t want. If he still said not to her she’d back off and accept his decision, she was just worried is all.

Was it wrong for her to care about a friend? She’d have done the same if any of the others left he way Spike did. Heck they even chased Applejack all the way to Appleloosa when she didn’t come back to town after she finished that rodeo.

And that was her choice. Why the hay was this any different?!

Rainbow Dash now gave Twilight a displeased look of her own. “You know what Twilight, fine. I get it. If you don’t want to check on Spike and make sure everything’s okay for yourself that’s fine by me. Stay cooped up in your castle like you’ve been for the past few weeks. But I’m going to check on Spike.” That said Dash turned her back to Twilight who’s mouth now stood open in offense.

“Soarin, Thunderlane!” she called flapping her wings aggressively. “Come down here! We’re going to Baltimare and you two are leading me to where Spike is.”

Before Dash could take off into the air though a force wrapped around her and held her grounded. Twilight trotted around her friend, her horn glowing, her nostrils flared, and wings displaying a feature of burning anger.

“Leave him alone Dash. He told Soarin what he wants. You have no right to do this, you’re only going to make things difficult for him!”

Rainbow Dash squirmed in Twilight’s hold before giving up after a few seconds. Soarin and Thunderlane landing beside the alicorn shortly after.

“Twilight, you remember the time Applejack left Ponyville? She didn’t want to come back because she wasn’t able to get first place in the rodeo and wasn’t able to win the prize. So she felt really bad, guilty that she believed she let us all down.”

Twilight paused, her expression softening a bit, before she nodded. “Yes...I remember.”

“And do you remember how you felt when we found out she wouldn’t be coming back till she felt it was time?” Dash asked with a sad smile.

A sigh. “Yes...I was confused, we all were. We didn’t get why she would do that all of a sudden and when we did find out her real reason we thought it was a little silly.”

“Well that’s how I feel right now” Dash said trying to work a sympathetic smile in. “We’re all worried about Spike. Nothing big has happened recently, the cutie map hasn’t been calling us out on missions as much for the past month, and none of us have heard a single word from Spike since. Don’t you feel anything? Aren’t you worried about him?”

Her ears wilted a bit as her expression grew stiff. “Of course I’m worried about him. He’s my little brother, my number one assistant. I’ve helped look after him since I hatched him from his egg. Of course I’d be worried” Twilight said, her voice beginning to crack a bit with emotion.

“What kind of sister wouldn’t care for her family?” she said, not really asking a question either as she released Dash from her hold.

The pegasus trotted up to the alicorn and wrapped a hoof around her withers, whispering calming words gently into Twilight’s ear. “It’s okay Twilight, I know you’ve been worried. One of the reasons you haven’t been coming out as much is because you’re scared for him...just like we all are.”

Twilight sniffed, her head hanging morosely, as her eyes began to burn a bit with tears.

“Twilight” Thunderlane said placing a wing around her as Rainbow Dash gave her friend a comforting squeeze of reassurance. “It’s not too late you know. You could come with us, meet Spike. Maybe talk to him and see how he’s doing. Soarin said he was worried about you guys and I’m pretty sure you seeing him would do much better for the both of you.

“What do you say?” he asked with a kind smile, as the alicorn wiped away the tears threatening to leak from her eyes.

Twilight took a second, sniffling a bit in the process as she regained her composure before shaking her head. “I can’t. I just can’t, I still feel this isn’t right but...” she bit her lip then looked at Dash.

“If you can see him for yourself and tell him that I miss him...please do. That Rarity, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Cadence, Shining Armor and all the others miss him” she smiled a bit. “I’d appreciate it.”

Rainbow Dash smiled, hugging her friend, who returned the hug just as well. The two hugged for a bit then Dash broke the hug, promising she’d do her best not to complicate things. Soarin and Thunderlane reassured Twilight they’d make sure the mare didn’t go too far when they find Spike.

Twilight watched the three pegasi take off in the direction of Baltimare, their priority reaching Spike. Deep down Twilight wished she could go, but she knew better. She just hoped nothing bad came of this meeting.

Turning around and walking back into her castle Twilight decided to get back to reading. Maybe things would turn out well after all.

It was now late afternoon. A few customers were just finishing up their meals and Spike was helping Propeté and a few other waiters clear the last table that had been vacated.

“Today has been steady, oui? I do not think we ‘ave had such a pleasant work period before” she said with a smile.

Spike merely chuckled. ‘Yeah, today has been pretty good I admit” he said nodding to the unicorn client that had just left.

“Think tomorrow will be just as good as this?” one of the waiters; an earth pony, asked as he trotted into the kitchen.

Spike shrugged, tipping his chef hat back up on his head. “I hope so. It’s usually pretty busy here in the afternoons and evenings but today seems pretty slow.”

“Monsieur Spike” a voice called from within the kitchen. Spike looked up from the table he was cleaning.

Bon Appétit, Spike’s junior chef, held a phone in his magic. It was the service line. One that was used for reservations and reservations only. “Monsieur, we ‘ave a request from a reservé, she desires to speak with you” the unicorn said.

Spike cocked a brow. This is new, he thought.

Never before had he gotten a personal call for himself. This was, strange. Didn’t really follow the restaurants protocol so he wondered if he should even bother.

“Monsieur zey are waiting” Appétit said.

Spike felt a gentle tug on his tail, looking over he saw Propeté nod her head in the kitchen’s direction. “Go ahead Spike. I’ll will handle ze rest with the others” she said with a smile.

Spike nodded and hopped off the seat he had been using for leverage. Going around the register, and opening the door to the kitchen he entered where Bon Appétit handed him the service line.

“Hello” Spike said quizzically. “This is your number one chef, Spike speaking how may I be of service this afternoon?” Spike asked. A small grin crossed his face as he finished the sentence.

He’d been practicing that line since last night, ever since the idea came to him to try it out.

“Spike?” a familiar voice called.

Spike’s brows furrowed in confusion. “Yes...? Who is this and do you have an order to place here at Serve & Dine?”

The voice grew excited greatly as Spike could hear the voice cheer with glee. “OH Spike this is AMAZING! Twilight came over here asking to use the Cake’s service phone, and when I asked her why she wanted to do that she said that she was going to try and call you, but didn’t want to use her phone because she knew, you knew, the number to that phone- and oh my gosh Twilight! TWILIGHT! GET YOUR FLANK OVER HERE SPIKE IS ON THE LINE!!”

Spike’s eyes widened as he realized who it was he was talking to. That bubbly persona, that way she was able to say paragraphs so easily without biting her tongue, the excitement in her voice.

Spike felt a chill run up his spine. He gulped, before speaking. “P-Pinkie Pie? Pinkie...is that you?” he asked feeling a rock drop in his gut.

“Mmmmhmmmmm” the mare said from the other end. “Oh Spike I’m so happy to hear from you again. It’s been a month! Oh my gosh, I have to throw you a party when you get back this is-”

“Pinkie, Pinkie” Spike said trying to calm the excited mare. “I’m uh...at work right now. What um” Spike couldn’t think. This was all too sudden, all so surprising.

How did she know where to call? Did Twilight use some kind of tracking spell or something to find my location? How did- Spike’s eyes widened then slanted in anger. “Soarin” he breathed, flames rising and mixing with his breath.

“Yup Yup Yup!” responded. Spike could practically feel her exuberant smile from here. “Soarin, Thunderlane, and Dash said you worked in a restaurant so Twilight came here and said she was going to call every restaurant in Baltimare till she finally found you.

"She had help though” Pinkie added as an afterthought.

Spike sighed, forcing his anger down a well. He would deal with Soarin’s betrayal later. He just couldn’t believe the stallion had snitched on him like that.

“Alright Pinkie” Spike said rubbing the bridge of his nose as he felt a headache beginning to form. “Why did Twilight want to talk?” he said the anger in him slowly dying out as he felt a pang of panic gently wrap him in its embrace.

“Oh that’s easy it’s-”

“Pinkie!” Twilight’s voice could be overheard on the other line. “Give me the phone, you called me over here and now you won’t--” there was some sound of Pinkie’s insane giggling, followed by Twilight’s groans.

“PINKIE GIVE ME THE PHONE!” there was a cracking sound, followed by Pinkie’s hilarious laughter. Then silence.

Twilight sighed. “Finally” she said with a breath of frustration. Spike could hear the service phone of the Cake’s being taken and placed near Twilight. His ears twitched as he heard her tired breathing from chasing Pinkie around.

Neither said a word. It felt like an eternity to Spike as he felt himself being choked by cold hands wrapping around his chest.

“Spike?” Twilight finally said. Her voice was shaky. Weak and fragile almost like it would break if not spoken to delicately.

Spike cleared his throat, he felt a lump rising it as he did so but he forced himself to speak. The first time no words came out, but he tried again. Twilight waiting patiently to hear the baby dragon’s voice.

“H-...Hi Twilight” he said weakly.

Spike heard something fall to the ground with a thud, Pinkie’s voice making an “Ahhh” sound. Spike just assumed that his big sister had released their friend from a freezing spell.

“How are you?” she sniffed. Her voice shaky once more, trying to regain control. Spike could feel his heart breaking. His ears wilting as he listened to her voice.

“Hey Spike how’s it going with that-” Double Serving was silenced with a hoof to the mouth by Propeté as the mare came behind the stallion, immediately noticing the change of mood in the air.

“Shhh” she whispered to the waiter. Spike hadn’t noticed they were a few feet away from him, still standing in the door’s path. They watched their friend and boss walk closer towards the receiver of the service line and away from the door.

Propeté ordered the waiter she had silenced to stay absolutely silent. If they made a sound Spike would notice and could possibly end this call. Double Serving nodded his head, the mare retracted her hoof from his mouth.

“I’m..I’m alright” Spike said weakly, playing with his tail a bit. “How’s everyone in Ponyville.”

“They’re all fine!” Pinkie’s voice chimed in from behind Twilight. Twilight and Spike laughed a bit. His heart feeling a bit heavier as he heard Pinkie’s giggle and Twilight’s laugh.

“Yeah, they’re all fine. I heard you became a chef huh? I knew my number one assistant could do great things.”

Spike felt a tug on his heart, he smiled and held the phone in both his claws, releasing his tail. “Thanks. I” it was his turn to sniff. “I really appreciate it.”

Silence channeled through the kitchen. Propeté feeling her eyes begin to water, sniffed lightly barely audible. Double Serving remained silent, not shedding a tear or showing any emotion like a true stallion would.

“So” Spike said after he’d managed to calm. “What do I owe this surprising yet warm call. You aren’t making a delivery are you?” he asked jokingly.

“Well now that you mention it-”

“Pinkie! Shh!” Twilight chided. “No, nothing like that. I called because I have something important to tell you.”

All sense of joviality left Spike immediately. A serious expression crossing his face, but not without the pleasant reminder of panic still looming around the corner.

“It’s about Rainbow Dash” her voice grew serious.

Spike’s ears perked up immediately and his anger began to flare with a new burn once again. “Soarin” he growled.

“I don’t think I’d blame Soarin completely for this Spike. It’s not entirely his fault” Twilight said.

“Then who’s fault is it? I trusted hm and he betrayed me!”

“I get it Spike, but you have to listen to what I’m about to tell you.”

Spike sighed, taking in a deep breath he slowly calmed himself. “Alright Twi, I’m listening.”

“Thank you. Now about Rainbow Dash, I’m sure you’ve heard from Soarin that she’s been searching for you.” Spike nodded his head slowly.

“Well then I guess you can piece everything else together. If I know then-”

“Wait...he didn’t! I don’t mind him telling you but Dash! What’s she going to do come here and try to talk me into coming back?” Spike said with a chuckle and a large amount of disbelief.

Twilight remained silent on the line, so did Pinkie. Spike continued to laugh awkwardly to himself for the next couple of seconds, each chuckle slowly growing more awkward and filling him with even more panic as Twilight said nothing.

“Wait...wait, wait...Twi, she’s not...didn’t Soarin tell her how I was getting along?” he asked anxiety chipping away at his calmness.

“She doesn’t seem to care Spike” Twilight said, sounding almost exhausted on the other end. “I tried reasoning with her. But you know Dash, when she sets her mind to something she’s just as stubborn as Applejack.”

Spike felt that rock resting in his gut rise to his chest. He could feel a pressure starting to build in it, one that threatened to suffocate him.

“Are you saying she’s-”

“Yes Spike” Twilight said, her voice sounding almost apologetic. “Dash is coming. And she should be there any minute now.”

Suddenly a ding traveled through the kitchen, the sounds of more than one set of hooves clopping against the vinyl sheet ground of the restaurant as Propetë and Double Serving turned their heads to see who was standing at the front door.

“We’re looking for a dragon here” a familiar voice said.

Spike’s body tensed, his clutch on the phone weakened, and it fell from his grasp. Landing on the ground with a clang.

On the line Twilight and Pinkie’s voice were asking questions: “Spike? Hello? Are you there? Spike?”

The young drake couldn’t think. His mind shutting down by these sudden turn of events as the familiar voice was accompanied by one he knew very very well.

“Does a dragon named Spike work here?” Rainbow Dash’s voice asked.

At that moment. At that exact second, when Spike heard Dash’s voice. He knew he had only one option and one only left.

“I need to leave. I need to leave now."

Ch.5

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Dragon On The Run

Of all the things that could have happened to him right now this was the worst. Why? the young drake asked himself. Why was this happening now? he wondered as he frantically began pacing the kitchen floor.

Couldn’t she have waited just a bit longer? Spike thought as he could feel panic rising within him. Couldn’t she have just waited for me to send that letter to her? Spike thought. This is awful! All of it! Everything I’ve worked for is going to be ruined! Dash won’t just be satisfied with meeting me she’ll want to take me back to Ponyville with her. Panic had begun taking its toll on Spike as this realization dawned on him. His nostrils flared, his teeth beginning to chatter and his hands slightly twitching as he continued to pace across the floor.

He had come so far, worked so hard for the past month. This couldn’t be happening to him. Everything he worked for couldn’t be taken away from him in just one day like some twisted set up by fate, it just couldn’t! He wouldn’t let it. He had to do something, he had to make a choice right now or it meant everything he’d done would be for not.

A creak from the kitchen door drew Spike’s attention to it for the first time since he had received the call from Twilight and Pinkie-- Spike froze. “Twilight and Pinkie!” quickly turning to the service line he had dropped Spike picked up the phone and heard the silent hum of a dead line. His sudden freeze at hearing Rainbow’s voice must have made Twilight think something else had happened.

Spike frowned, “Wait to go Dash” he said sourly.

“Sir?” Double Serving, a cherry coated earth pony, with a garnet colored mane and magenta highlights made his way towards the sous chef, Spike himself just now noticing Double Serving was standing by the door.

For a brief second the two stared at each other, Double Serving still holding the kitchen door open with a hoof pulling the door back with him as he approached his boss. The waiter stopped for a second and looked back towards the counter, Spike cautiously walking towards the door and peering through the it as well.

Outside Propeté’s voice could be heard she was currently talking to Bon Appétit along with a few other voices joining in, and from the sound of it, it must be Rainbow Dash and company. He couldn’t hear what was being said, but he could definitely hear the unicorn waitress’s voice.

Good Spike thought, that’ll give me some time to escape. Spike looked at Double Serving and noticed the stallion was beginning to move closer towards the exit to get a better listen at what was going on outside.

“Double!” Spike’s voice stopped the cherry stallion from going any further, Double Serving turned around and looked at his boss. “Spike is uh everything alright? Propeté told me to stay in here but the way things are sounding out there I should probably go and help out with our-”

“NO!” Spike shouted yanking the stallion by the tail. “Don’t I need your help!” Spike stated. The worried and confused look on the stallion’s face told Spike he needed to explain a few things first. He hadn’t really told anypony here aside from Lavish Dish his issue, all his co-workers simply just enjoyed his company.

They never asked questions, they never bugged him about where he was from or the fact that he was one of the creatures that saved the Crystal Empire and Equestria a few times. Though it was also one of the reasons why a lot of ponies and griffons constantly came to Serve & Dine, most mainly came for Spike’s amazing cooking. To put it simply, all his co-workers didn’t really care that much for Spike’s past.

A few had asked questions, but when he told them he didn’t want to talk about it they understood. Never asked again. It was one of the reasons why he loved this job, why he didn’t want to leave. He felt like all of these guys were a part of his family or at least close friends he’d keep in touch with after he figured out it was that he was looking for.

“Spike” Double Serving said grabbing the drake’s attention. “What’s going on? Who are those pegasi out there, and why did you look so distressed? I know you don’t like talking about it and all, but I’m pretty sure that mare was Rainbow Dash, is she here to take you back? What’s-” a claw placed itself gently against the stallion’s lip to silence him.

Spike rubbed a temple with his other hand, his face scrunched up by the list of questions the stallion had just shot at him, he sighed. “Sometimes I wonder who’s worse, you or Pinkie” he said under his breath.

“The element of laughter? I heard she’s pretty cute actually” the waiter said with a slight sheepish grin.

“Oh my Celest- okay” Spike pinched Double Serving’s lips shut. “I’m in need of help right now” Spike said slowly so that his friend would understand his current situation. “Propeté is talking to Dash right now and I’m-”, he paused when they heard a shout come from Bon Appétit.

Spike and Double Serving stared through the open door, now unable to see anyone in front of the counter. Propeté must have made Rainbow Dash, Soarin, and Thunderlane sit somewhere Spike reasoned.

Silence passed for quite some time, with which the birds that chirped outside the building could be heard. After a few seconds had passed and Spike was sure the tension and aching silence had risen enough, he silently ushered the cherry earth pony away from the door towards the center of the large kitchen.

The kitchen door closed by itself in a gentle swing followed by a muffled bang.

Double Serving who had kept silent the entire time, and whose curiosity was beginning to reach its peak, pushed Spike’s fingers off his lips with a hoof before staring at Spike with a raised brow.

“Spike, what’s going on here?” Double Serving asked, his patience beginning to run thin, (which in Spike’s opinion wasn’t a lot). The stallion liked the dragon, his cooking, even more so, but he’d been silent long enough and it was time he had some questions answered.

“Spike, cmon what’s happening? I want to-” the chef raised his hand up for a moment of silence, as his ears stayed up to listen for any sound coming outside of the kitchen, where the customer tables were.

Where Rainbow Dash and the others were.

There was not a peep.

This is my chance, Spike thought. Whatever was happening outside meant one thing. Propeté was dealing with Dash and company, he briefly glanced at Double Serving who was staring at Spike with worry, and honestly it made Spike cringe. He didn’t want to leave. He really really didn’t want to leave. But he had no choice. Dash was here and only two things could happen at this moment.

He could confront her and try and talk things out, but ultimately with three pegasi he was sure they could find some way to convince him to come back. As Dash wasn’t really the type to use her head first, and went more with her gut.

The second option was he could confront Soarin, that traitor, Thunderlane, and Dash and flat out tell them he wasn’t going with them. And knowing Dash that could lead to her using force. Soarin wouldn’t that Spike was sure of. Thunderlane was his own pegasus so he wasn’t sure but that didn’t mean he was going to take either option or the chance since he already knew their outcomes. Dash would find a way to get her to come along one way or another.

Spike sighed, why can’t I just get a break? “Look Double, I don’t have a lot of time, so I got to be quick. I’m only going to ask you once, and only once. Understand? ” Spike asked, pausing for a second to let his words sink in.

Double Serving, a waiter, and working to become a chef himself, looked at Spike in silence for a few seconds without saying a word. The earth pony stared into Spike’s pistachio green eyes in silence, seeing just how distressed the young drake was.

“I understand” Double Serving said with a solemn nod. “What do you need me to do Spike? I’ll help you out anyway I can” Double said with a smile.

Spike stared at his comrade in silence. And for the second time that day he felt like his heart was about to break. Choking back a sob the young drake smiled weakly at the waiter and nodded his head in appreciation.

“Thanks Double” he sniffed. “I appreciate it a lot.”

Propeté and Bon Appétit were staring at their “customers”, both looking quite displeased. If there was one thing the unicorn waitress didn’t like, it was seeing her friends in moments of distress. And the moment she had heard Spike say “I need to leave” the waitress had immediately caught on that something bad was going to happen.

So she confronted the small group of pegasi. And their leader, Rainbow Dash seemed to be more intractable than she thought. The rainbow maned pegasus was now shooting the light orange mare a stare of her own. Bon Appétit giving his look of displeasure to both Thunderlane and Soarin who sat on either side of him.

The reason Bon Appétit had yelled to begin with was because after Propeté had told the rest of the workers to attend to the guests Rainbow Dash repeated her question again. Which Propeté proceeded to explain the true meaning behind.

If there was a dragon that went by the name Spike who worked here, was actually Rainbow Dash’s way of saying “We’re here to take Spike” the Pranch mare said pushing a strand of olive colored hair out of her face.

When Bon Appétit had responded just before Propeté herself had forcefully joined in on the conversation, Thunderlane had told the unicorn chef that they wanted to see Spike. But before the commis chef could get a hoof to the kitchen Propeté had stopped the stallion in his tracks and demanded to know what was going on.

Rainbow Dash, obviously one with quick senses knew that this waitress was going to be a challenge, and had told the light orange mare rather frankly, to show her where their boss was.

Propeté had refused, and told them to either pick a table or get out. She didn’t hesitate to glare at Soarin also who noticeably cringed back at the time, clearly understanding that he’d lost love points with this unicorn since he blabbed.

“What do you mean zey are here to take Spike?” Bon Appétit asked still staring between the two stallion’s then granting the element of loyalty his stare. “Zey do know that Spike is a successful chef no?”

“Apparently, Spike’s success doesn’t seem to matter to zis pegasus” Propeté said with some bitterness as she looked Rainbow Dash over.

“Hey!” Dash said slamming a hoof on the table, the milkshakes they had ordered as they waited momentarily lifting off the table in the process. “I didn’t come here to get accused for something that you wouldn’t understand!” she shouted, her voice drawing the attention of a few waiters that were escorting one or two customers out of the building. Rainbow Dash however didn’t care, she simply leaned forward over the tabletop pointing at Propeté with a hoof as she continued to speak. “I came here to meet Spike, and I’m going to meet Spike. Now either you two can tell him I’m here and I just want to talk or I can go to that kitchen myself and meet him on my own! What’s it going to be?” she asked with a quizzically angered stare, her magenta eyes shifting between the other chef and the extremely infuriating look this unicorn mare was giving her.

“Hmph!” said Propeté with a turn of her nose. “It seems you really are the element of loyalty, Miss Rainbow Dash” said the mare. “However I do not appreciate your stubbornness. Spike is not your friend only, it would be best for all of us if you” the mare said smacking Rainbow’s hoof out of her direction and back on to the table, “would remember zat!” Propeté said with great displeasure. “If you want to see Spike, you will have to wait till he is ready to come out and meet you on his own. I will not tolerate you barging in here and making demands when Spike is the one in charge of this restaurant while the manager is away!”

At this point voices had risen to the point that every customer, which was only a few considering now that it was late in the afternoon, stared at the group of five. Seeing the Element of Loyalty had attracted some attention, but this fight between the most flirtatious waitress in the Serve & Dine, and the athletic element of loyalty herself was beginning to draw eyes from not only the customers that had now begun to return due to the shouts that could be heard outside, but also between the workers themselves who were clearly unsure how to react with what they were hearing.

“Wait, you guys want to take Spike away?” Etiquette asked sounding quite exasperated. “Why would you want to do that? He’s doing a great job here! Serve & Dine never got this many customers with our last Sous chef, and seriously Spike has been raking in customers with his status, not to mention his cooking.”

“We fully understand he’s doing well, but you see we’re just worried about him. We came to check and see if he’s doing alright that’s all. It’s not guaranteed that we’re taking him just yet. Right Thunderlane?” Soarin asked the pegasus for back up, but Thunderlane merely shrugged.

Even he wasn’t sure if Spike should continue staying anymore. At first he was with Dash and wanted Spike to come back, things had gotten kinda hectic in Ponyville since the guy left. Everything was fine, but...it just didn’t feel right is all.

Hard to explain in all honesty, Thunderlane thought. His muzzle scrunched up in confusion as his eyebrows furrowed. “I...I’m not sure.” He said in all honesty.

“Well I am! I just want to talk to Spike! I get he’s doing alright, but we’re worried about him! He’s got a sister back home that he hasn’t talked to in nearly two months now! What could possibly be keeping him so busy that he couldn’t send any of us, not even Twilight or Rarity a single letter! I mean c’mon you two don’t you think something’s up with that?!” Rainbow Dash asked turning to her allies, both who had to nod at the bizarreness of that fact.

“He is busy with work Madame Rainbow Dash” said Bon Appétit. “It is not zat hard to understand when you work at Serve & Dine, time tends to be invested in the orders, reservations and work done around here. Your statements are understable, but ultimately we are a busy and well establishêd restaurant. If Spike could not send you ze messages then it is because of his duty.”

“Yeah! I mean, from what Spike’s told us in a few stories he’s shared Princess Twilight Sparkle sent him on a boat load of errands. Not just for her, Spike did errands all over Ponyville, so you should understand where he’s coming from.” A worker said

Rainbow Dash backed up in her seat, slightly taken aback and snorted out of frustration. This wasn’t going the way she had planned. “Alright enough of this!” she stated, spreading her wings and landing on the table Rainbow Dash stared down at Propeté who was staring at Dash once more.

“Where. Is. Spike?!” Dash asked her eyes lidded as she bent her head towards the light orange mare, almost touching snout to snout.

“Propeté” the Pranch mare look at Soarin, a frown creasing her lips when she saw the pleading smile on his face. “Please, we just want to have a chance to talk to him that’s all. Just a minute, please?”

Bon Appétit said nothing, he simply looked at his subordinate and as well as the rest of the kitchen staff which was roughly about nine members now since the rest had gone home their shifts done. A few seconds passed, customers had now lined up at a few windows, some even coming in to see what was happening and gasping and pointing when they saw the three pegasi from Ponyville and Cloudsdale. A few even coming in to get a closer look, while the customers that hadn’t left yet or were about to leave held their tongues at this situation.

Dash’s hoof tapped impatiently, and every second that passed made her grind her teeth, “Well?!” she asked in almost a yell, as she lifted her head up and looked down at the mare from her standpoint on top of the table.

Propeté simply stared at Soarin, her frown still live before giving Rainbow Dash a second to look at her displeased face. She sighed, meeting the element of loyalty had clearly been a mistake. It was obvious the two of them weren’t going to be on friendly terms for awhile after this.

“Fine...go ahead, he’s in the kitchen” she said averting her gaze from all three pegasi with an annoyed look on her face as she slid out of the table and made her way back to the kitchen.

In a flash rainbow contrail passed by everypony in the room, as the kitchen doors swung side to side before closing on their own. Rainbow was now in the kitchen.

“Spike!” Rainbow called the moment she was inside, looking around frantically. “Spike are you here?” she called walking around the kitchen, looking all over and even checking the cooking tables to see if Spike was hiding under them. “Spike please come out I just want to talk with you” Dash pleaded. Her expression turning into a sad one as she kept searching the kitchen.

Soarin and Thunderlane were inside the kitchen as well watching Dash become increasingly annoyed and grow more concerned by the second as she continued to callout to Spike and look through other parts of the kitchen.

“Maybe he went out for supplies?” Thunderlane offered, hoping to brighten Dash’s mood.

“Y-You think? Yeah, that might be it! He probably just went out for supplies and we didn’t see him because we were in such a hurry” Rainbow Dash said with some belief in those words, forcing the doubts that were beating her away.

“He does not want to see you Rainbow Dash” Propeté stated. Rainbow Dash looked up and saw the light orange mare with the nicely styled olive mane stare at her, just behind Soarin and Thunderlane.

“Don’t you think you’re being a bit overdramatic by saying Spike, our friend, your friend, doesn’t want to see us? I mean why would he push us away like that. I get he’s concerned but there’s no way he would just...ditch us like this not for a second time at least” Thunderlane said, trying to foster up some hope in this bleakly looking situation.

Propeté said nothing, she merely remained silent, staring at the group. Her ears were fully up, her expression basically deadpanned, and she was standing up completely straight. All the traits of a unicorn who simply did not like her current situation, but didn’t care enough about how it was turning out to do anything.

Rainbow Dash who had now stopped looking around and was now biting a hoof in agitation noticed the unicorn mare was staring at her, with what looked like an indignant look. And for some reason...this really seemed to tick her off.

“What?” Dash barked, her hoof slowly moving away from her mouth. “Why do you keep looking at me like that!?”

Propeté merely turned her nose up and proceeded to walk towards the pegasus. She didn’t make eye contact the entire time, till she was directly in front of Dash. “For the element of loyalty, you don’t seem to understand your friends concerns that much. I admire your courage for coming out here and doing zis, but I must say” the mare began to turn around, “you can be quite dull.” With that said, Propeté’’s tail gave Rainbow Dash a light smack on the face.

The slapping sound echoing all over the kitchen and even going outside, drawing a few eyes as Propeté proceeded to leave the kitchen.

At first Soarin and Thunderlane didn’t say anything. They just stood there, stunned, and for a brief moment Soarin and Thunderlane both felt a rousing amount of attraction to this mare. If it hadn’t been for the current situation, they both would have asked her out instantly.

But alas, things don’t always go as planned.

A slap in pegasus language is the same way as saying “Go jump off a cliff you insolent, arrogant, moron!” in simple terms it was a way of saying “fuck you.” There were different ways pegasi could express this, but using the tail to do it was the worst way to go about it. That was basically the same way as saying you’ve lost all respect for the person you are talking to. Or if not all of it then a large portion.

Whether Propeté knew what she had just done or not was unknown, but the mare faintly held a sly smile as she exited the kitchen so it was possible she did know what she had just done.

Rainbow Dash sat there, feeling conflicted. She was mad. Furious at Spike for one thing. Leaving like this for a second time was just as painful as the first. Didn’t he trust her? They were friends, she’d never want to hurt him. She simply came with the idea of talking to him....and then maybe persuading him to come back, but if he didn’t that would have been fine!

Slowly Dash turned her face towards the door as she saw Propeté’s tail disappear as the kitchen door swung shut.

The pegasus felt her wings unfurl in hostility, her chest heaving in and out, her breathing becoming ragged and unsteady with every second as she felt that this waitress had probably given Spike some stupid idea that she would force him out of here.

Soarin and Thunderlane who knew what Dash looked like when she was mad...immediately left the kitchen, and a second later Rainbow Dash came soaring out straight towards Propeté with a piercing scream that could have broken several glasses.

The Element of Loyalty was seeing red, and she blamed Propeté for all of it. All this trouble she was receiving, and she was ready to dish it all out.

“You made him leave!” Dash yelled at the mare as she soared out the kitchen and landed on the registering counter. “You. Fed. Him. LIES!” she screamed at Propeté, who herself was now looking slightly surprised by Rainbow Dash’s reaction.

But after a few seconds of silence, the only thing that could be heard was Dash’s ragged breathing, Propeté’s expression grew stern, and she allowed her own anger to bubble out.

She had taken this mare’s crap long enough. She had allowed Dash to stand on merchandise, throw a tantrum, yell at her, and even barge into the kitchen that was strictly meant for staff only. But now...now Eta de Propeté, had had just about enough of this bull.

Spike was now with Double Serving, he had crept through the back door of the kitchen with his friends help, and managed to make it a quarter of the way away from Serve & Dine with Double Serving acting as a lookout for his friend.

They weren’t too far away from the restaurant when they heard a ear piercing scream that literally made the dragon freeze. He was wearing sunglasses and had his backpack on again.

“That was Rainbow Dash!” Spike said with worry, he noticed a crowd was beginning to form at the restaurant.

Spike bit his lip, feeling ambivalent about this all. Maybe he should go meet Dash, this was causing a huge amount of commotion and it would all end if he just talked to her, right? But...the chances....he didn’t want to go back home.. He’d come so far and it was just so frustrating and annoying to think about her telling him to come back that he’d felt he would accidentally breathe fire the next time he spoke.

“Spike” Double Serving said drawing the drake’s attention to him. “What do you think we should do?”

Spike, still chewing on his lower lip, didn’t say anything. His eyes slanted in pensive thought as ge tried to think. Finally after a full minute had passed Spike said: “I honestly don’t know what to do anymore Double...I’m so...confused...”

Double Serving frowned, and gently wrapped a hoof around his friend. “I’m sorry Spike. About all of this, I knew the element of loyalty was a bit hard headed but she really outstands her rumors, huh?”

Spike chuckled, “Heh, you have no idea.”

The laughter that was made between the two seemed to lighten the mood. But that all changed when one of the ponies watching from a distance heard the chuckles, and turned her head in Spike and Double Serving’s direction.

The two hadn’t noticed yet.

“Spike?!” the mare called in surprise. Literally loud enough for all to hear. “Spike? Oh My Diarchy! It is you! Heeey, Spike! Over here!” the mare waved, clearly thinking that Spike was out to get groceries, but obviously she was mistaken.

Both Spike and Double Serving fumbled like a bunch of hoofball players, before scrambling to their feet trying to signal for the mare to be quiet, but she just kept on talking.

“Hey Spike! Rainbow Dash is inside Serve & Dine isn’t that like totally awesome! Er My Gosh, this is like fabulous, hey guys. Spike’s over here-- Oh look Double Serving and him are waving at me. Hi guys!” she waved back with both hooves completely unable to tell they were trying to. Shut. Her. Up.

Spike facepalmed, with a sigh. “I forgot Astonish Celebrity never caught on to things too quickly.”

Soon enough a few other ponies began waving and calling for Spike to come over, to see what was happening inside the restaurant, but he didn’t need to. And he was about to find out why.

*** **** ***

“You know what Miss Dash, I believe the element of loyalty was given to ze wrong pony!” Propeté yelled, a few staff members gasped. Some customers gasped exceptionally loud before fainting due to a lack of necessary oxygen in their body.

“And I think you’re just a stuck up mare who’s gotten a bit too comfortable with my friend! What lies did you feed him while he was working here, huh “Propeeté or whatever you name is!” Dash snorted, jumping off the table and landing beside the mare.

The two eyed each other with a new found rage, before both their ears perked up and Rainbow’s face shifted from anger to surprise.

“Spike?! Spike?! OH My Diarchy! It is you!” said a voice from outside.

Rainbow Dash didn’t waste a second, she went right through the ceiling and stayed in the sky, looking around. Good Ol’ Scrub, part of the hygienic workers screamed when he saw the hole in the ceiling and the dust that now caked the vinyl sheets that was the floor, he didn’t stop yelling till Bon Appétit gave him a broom and a shovel to start cleaning.

“Does he always do that?” Thunderlane asked feeling a bit concerned.

“Oui, he is how do you say...a germaphobe pony.”

“Ahh I see” Soarin said nodding slowly. “Anyway we should see what Dash is up to.” The two pegasi promptly flew out of the new skylight and only managed to get more dust and plaster on the ground that made Scrub curse under his breath.

Spike’s name was still being called outside, and Propeté had a gut wrenching feeling this was going to end badly. She ran right outside, shoved her way through everypony, but stopped when Dash was standing beside her along with Soarin and Thunderlane.

The pegasus mare stared at Spike. Tears stinging her eyes as she stared at him. Spike had grown, not physically but she could feel, tell he had grown a lot mentally. It made her feel warm, proud also inside. Her wings twitched a bit when she attempted to a step closer, to Spike as the two’s eyes continued to lock with one another.

Propeté turned her attention to her boss, and saw the look of fear in his eyes. Spike moved his lips, but due to how low he was talking and being a good eight feet away they couldn’t hear him. Double Serving, the cherry coated earth pony beside him nodded solemnly, before both him and Spike slowly turned.

Then made a mad dash for the train station.

“Spike!” Rainbow Dash cried, as the dragon ran away. “Come back!” she kicked off with haste and took off the quickly retreating stallion and drake.

“For crying out loud!” Thunderlane groaned as him and Soarin took off after the mare.

Propeté just stood there dumbfounded, watching. Then in a second she realized what Spike was going to do. “He is leaving Baltimare” she said sadly.

“What?!” Astonish said in surprise, the same mare that had blown Spike’s cover. “Why?!”

“Zat pegasus is here to try and convince him to leave” Propeté stated as she slowly broke into a gallop towards the train station, which was about half a mile away. Just several buildings down.

Propeté didn’t bother to wait for anymore questions as she gallopped after her friends, taking a shortcut she knew about that would get her there quicker. It wasn’t long till she heard Etiquette’s voice beside her. The pegasus was flying above her and had come to help.

“We must hurry!” Propeté told him, He nodded, and together the two picked up the pace that would have put Applejack to shame.

“Spike wait!” Dash called as the two continued running.

“No!” Spike yelled. Suddenly feeling a mouth clamp on his backpack Spike, was tossed into the air, and landed on Double Serving’s back. Double smiled at Spike, who smiled back as they ran towards the station.

Its silhouette in the distance, as they got closer. “I’ll pick up the pace” the stallion stated, and with one strong push, they were picking up speed, pulling away from Dash, Soarin, and Thunderlane.

“Whoa” Soarin complimented. “Talk about fast.”

“Yeah well I’m faster” Rainbow Dash said, and with two strong flap of her wings she zoomed off, Soarin looked at Thunderlane. “I feel like we’ve crossed a line here.”

“Feelings mutual buddy” Thunderlane simply replied before following Dash in tow.

“Spike will you just stop and listen to me!” Dash yelled as she began to catch up.

“No way! You just want to take me back home or am I wrong?”

“...Well...you’re not completely wrong- Hey!” she yelled just barely managing to avoid a flame that came at her. “What the what! SPIKE! What the hay man?!”

“I’m warning you Dash back off or I’ll do it again” Spike said, shooting a few embers at her, Dash had to maneuver out of the way. This made her lose speed and in the process lose them as Double Serving made a turn through a path that would get them to the station quicker.

“Everypony!” Double Serving called to those outside around this time. “Some of Spike’s friends are here to take him back to Ponyville! If you care about Spike and don’t want him to leave help me get him back to the train station so he can avoid all this trouble!” the stallion yelled.

“WHAT?!” twenty different voice came from their homes.

Seconds later, Double Serving and Spike began passing pony after pony as they made their way towards the station.

“Good luck Spike!” one filly called as Spike zoomed by them. “We’ll miss you and your awesome cooking” an adult stallion said as they passed by him.

“Stay safe!” a mother and her foals said as Spike went by their home.

Spike’s eyes began to water as he watched pony after pony. Even a few griffons living in the area come out and form a line behind them as Dash and the others made the turn in their direction.

“Thank you everyone” he sniffed. “I really appreciate it” he said in a shaky voice as they began making their way out of the rural area.

“Spike wait up!” Dash called as she began passing by the homes and ignoring the citizens below.

Rainbow Dash’s ear twitched, and instantly she stopped, just barely managing to avoid a water balloon. “What the-” she dodged another and looked down with annoyance. Some of the townsfolk were chucking things at her.

“Hey!” she shouted at them. “What’s the big idea?”

A griffon floated up and stared at Dash with an annoyed look. “The ‘big idea’ here is that you are taking someone important to us away. And we won’t stand for it!”

“YEAH!” Everypony below the griffon cheered.

“What? I just- I don’t get why-??- Ugh!” she growled. “Get out of my way!” she said trying to fly around the griffon, but surprisingly he was able to keep up quite well.

“And if we refuse?” he asked with a light smirk crossing his beak, his claws folded as a few water balloons were floated into the air and others loaded.

“Then I’ll bust my way through!” Dash said rearing up her wings for a sonic rainboom.

“Hold up!” Thunderlane cut in managing to stop the pegasus before she ended up destroying homes. “Can’t we just take it easy for a second here?”

The townsfolk below looked at each other, then shrugged. The griffon looked up at them and nodded. “I guess.”

“Thank you” Thunderlane said breathlessly.

“Dash look, I’m glad you’re willing to go to such lengths for Spike. You know destroy homes and stuff, upraise an entire restaurant and all that jazz, but don’t you think you’re going a bit too far?” Thunderlane asked with a slight frown. Soarin was looking at the townsfolk below and noticed how they were all staring at the three of them like they were the enemy.

Eesh, Spitfire is gonna be steamed with me after this.

“Going to far?! Thunderlane are you kidding me. They shot water balloons at me! That’s nuts! And no! I don’t think I’ve gone far enough! All I wanted to do was talk with Spike. And what do I get? Berated and labelled a jerk well I’m done! I want to talk with Spike and I’ve had enough of today and all this stupid load of horseapples, I’m talking to him and that’s final!” she said flaring her wings out to assert dominance.

“Are you- did you really just flare you....you did not just....” Thunderlane noticed the extremely annoyed and crossed look on Dash’s face, before sighing in defeat. “Fine, do what you want. See if I care.”

“Thank you. Soarin” Dash asked the stallion who had just now looked at her. “Are you coming with me or going back?”

Soarin sighed and looked at the crowd, then back at Dash, then back at the crowd. He shrugged. “I’ve come this far so why not?”

“So I assume you’re continuing with your pursuit then?” the griffon beside them asked.

“Of course!” Dash answered.

The griffon shook his head, “Fire the torpedos.”

An onslaught of water balloons was launched at the group. But Dash had had enough tomfoolery for one day.

“Soarin help me out here” she said as she began to move in circles. “You can help too you know Thunderlane?”

Both pegasi looked at each other and shrugged. All three pegasi began moving in a circle together as the balloons neared them. And within a matter of seconds they had gained enough wind speed to create a miniature tornado, one that sucked up all the water balloons headed their way and shot them out the mouth, so that the townsfolk were hit with their own attacks.

Gasps, shouts and childish screams were made as the three pegasi stopped their tornado and allowed the air to disperse before breaking formation. “Let’s go!”

“Wait!” a filly yelled at Dash, making the mare come to a complete stop. “Please. Please don’t take Spike. We like him, don’t force him to leave if he doesn’t want to.”

Rainbow Dash for the first time today was actually able to calm down for a second and take in what was being said to her. She looked around and noticed everypony that had been hit with their water balloons were shooting her glares, and in all honesty it made her feel kind of bad.

“I...I uh, I can’t promise he won’t want to come but-” she stopped as her eyes caught on to something in the distance.

Nearing the station not too far away, was a light orange mare and a pegasus. In the distance the sound of a train’s whistle could be heard. And that sound made Rainbow Dash tense with great worry.

“No” she whispered in fear.

“What?” one of the griffons asked the mare, as she shook water out of her coat.

“Soarin, Thunderlane come on! Spike’s leaving! We have to hurry now!” Rainbow Dash flapped her wings, changed her position and in a blast of colorful air, she was gone, a rainbow contrail flying after her.

She had just performed a sonic rainboom, that knocked back both Thunderlane and Soarin, and also shoved a bunch of the townsfolk back to the ground as well.

Soarin frowned. None of today was going as peaceful as he had hoped.

“Let’s hurry” Soarin said, before taking off with a light shade of blue following after him as well, Thunderlane shaking his head to clear himself of the dizziness as he followed after the Wonderbolt.

Today was not a good day at all.

Spike and Double Serving had got a ticket for the drake. His train would be leaving in five minutes, but in all honesty Spike wished it would leave now.

“Spike!” a voice called, making the dragon groan. He was beginning to see a pattern with how many times his name had been called out through a majority of the day.

“What is it this time? I mean seriously can’t a dragon get a-” the quickly paced sound of hooves and a sudden heavy load on his body made Spike stop his droning as two hooves wrapped around him tightly embracing him.

“Mrotyty?” Spike said his voice a little muffled due to the mare squeezing him into her chest.

“Oh sorry” she said with a light shade of pink touching her cheeks. She released Spike, and the dragon took in his healthy dose of oxygen with great gratitude.

“Propeté? Etiquette? what are you two doing here? Shouldn’t you be back at the restaurant helping the others fix Dash’s mess” Spike asked with some concern, forgetting his own troubles briefly.

“HA!” the hot pink pegasus said. “Like I would miss my favourite boss’ departure like that. Don’t worry Spike. Everyone sends their goodbyes by the way...and we hope we’ll get to see you again” Etiquette said raising a hoof up, with a sad smile. “Don’t forget to write to us alright?”

Spike’s ears wilted, and the grip on the straps of his bag tightened fiercely. He stared at the red hoof offered to him before he forced a smile of his own. “Right...I’ll be sure to write you guys, don’t worry.”

Spike bumped a fist with Acute Etiquette’s hoof and the two smiled at each other weakly before the pegasus turned away and allowed Propeté to speak.

The mare looked really sad. Heartbroken almost that all this was happening. She had come to like Spike quite a bit, and...though she would never admit this to anypony ever, if he were a bit a older she would not have minded ahem ahem, “getting to know him better” if you catch my drift wink wink, nudge nudge, sparkle sparkle.

But in all honesty Propeté was disappointed. And she told Spike so “I just wish your hard headed, scatterbrained friend would see through her thick skull zat what she is doing will only hurt you my chef” Propeté cooed gently rubbing a fetlock against Spike’s cheek.

Spike had to admit, this was a bit of a new change of contact with the mare. She had always been the physical type but this level was...different. He wasn’t sure how to feel.

“Ahem!” Double Serving cut in. “I agree Spike, it sucks that Dash won’t see reason. But...you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. I’d say we fight her for you but...I know you wouldn’t want that....would ya?” Double asked kind of hopeful.

Spike merely smiled and shook his head. “No, No I wouldn’t want that. I’m sorry.” Spike said, gently patting the stallion on the back in the process.

“Then I suppose zis really is goodbye for now, right? You will visit won’t you? I mean after all we ‘ave been through it would...it would hurt if you didn’t you know?” Propeté said with a sad smile. Her plum colored eyes staring at Spike with a level of sadness that equalled his.

Spike smiled and opened his arms for a hug. “I promise. I will, don’t you guys worry alright?” he said reassuring. “I won’t ever forget you. This past month with you all. Working with you, making mistakes with you. It was” Spike swallowed even though there was nothing in his throat. He could feel his voice giving way to the emotion. But he had to stay strong.

“It was really fun” he said finally after a few seconds of silence, the three equines hugged Spike tightly. His backpack falling to the ground with a thud as he was lifted off the ground and embraced tightly between all three equines.

“We’ll miss you Spike” Etiquette said.

“We sure will” Double Serving said.

“Please do stay safe” Propeté pleaded.

Spike could feel it. Their warmth. Their affection, the fact they cared so much for him warmed his heart. He noticed a few ponies that were getting off their trains and coming through the station docking hall, were staring at him and the ponies hugging him, but he didn’t care. He just wanted to take this, soak it in, And use it as fuel for whatever he faced next.

Finally after a more few seconds of hugging the four broke their embrace. “Oh yeah” Etiquette said with a grin, digging into his saddlebag. “”I got you a little something from the kitchen, to remind us by on your journey and the next time you come back.”

“What is it?” Spike asked with a raised brow, as he brushed a tear away.

“Your chef hat” the pegasus said with the object in his teeth. “Take it, and make sure you don’t forget us. Inside it are several addresses from the entire staff and even more from the customers. Of course I put mine in there also, I also had Double Serving and Propeté’s place in there as well so we can talk and stay in touch” the pegasus said with a smile.

Spike stared at the hat and noticed inside that indeed, there was a neatly folded up piece of paper that could easily fit into his claw if he reached for it. The dragon merely smiled when he realized magic had been used to shrink it so the hat wouldn't get overflowed with all the addresses inside.

“Thanks” Spike said looking up, feeling his eyes beginning to sting again. “I really appreciate all of this. I can’t-”

“Spike!” Dash yelled bursting through the entrance doors and doing a slightly quick canter towards the group as Soarin and Thunderlane floated inside as well. “Spike please don’t leave. Come back with us, we just want to show Twilight and the others you’re alright!”

“Dash I think this is getting a bit out of hoof. We should stop” Thunderlane said noticing all the eyes staring at them.

Dash merely ignored him. “Spike please. Don’t leave. At least talk with us for a bit. Do me that justice at least please, I’ll do my best not to let my instincts get control over me but don’t leave without talking to me, to us” Dash said gesturing to Thunderlane and Soarin. “Please don’t go. We’re your friends right?” Dash asked a smile forming on her lips as she approached.

Spike said nothing, his eyes merely slanted in silent anger as he stared at the pegasus that had caused him all this trouble. Before he could get a word out though Spike’s co-workers blocked Dash’s view of the dragon as they stood in her way.

“I think you’ve done enough for today. You should leave” Etiquette said, one wing pushing Spike gently back while the other fluffed aggressively. “Now.”

Silence filled the room as Rainbow Dash stared at the three ponies blocking her from one of her closest friends. Someone she considered a brother to her. Just like she considered Scootaloo a little sister, Rainbow Dash considered Spike to be a brother. “Move” she growled.

“Make us” Double Serving said in a menacing tone.

No one had the chance to do either. Because just then Spike’s train tooted a powerful blast of air that screeched and screamed, echoing throughout all of the train station.

“All aboard!” the conductor’s voice yelled.

Spike wasted no time in shoving his hat deep into his bag, that had been enchanted to carry a multitude of things with spatial magic, before he quickly turned and scurried off towards the station’s hull.

“Wait Spike!” Dash kicked into the air and was about to fly over and block Spike, but a sudden tug on her tail made her stop. She looked at it and saw a light purple glow, Propeté held the athlete back from her objective and this ticked Rainbow off.

“Let me go!” she yelled.

“No!” Propeté answered.

“RRRGH! Let me go! Spike! SPIKE! Wait up!” she called to the fading dragon as he walked right into the train station hull.

Thunderlane had instincts. And these instincts like any other creature were kicking in and had taken over. Taking off and picking up Propeté the pegasus managed to distract her for a brief second, which freed Dash. The mare who was still thrashing about, lost control and slammed right on to Double Serving.

Soarin and Etiquette looked at each other. But at this point Etiquette who now considered Spike a part of his own flock acted on his own instincts and Wonderbolt or not, he attacked Soarin who was just about to say “we shouldn’t be fighting.”

Seconds passed as a slight struggle occurred and species of all types began leaving their trains and watching what was going on in the middle of the departure area It wasn’t until security broke the squabble did the train toot it;s whistle once more.

“Spike!” Dash, took off , smacking one of the guards with her hoof in the process for grabbing her tail. “Hold on Spike!”

The rest of the slightly restrained group, quickly moved to follow the rainbow pegasus themselves.

When they got to the train hull the train Spike was on had just started moving, and Rainbow Dash who’s mane was now slightly disheveled, and looking quite tired and annoyed. Began desperately looking through windows to find her friend.

“Spike! Spike! Don’t leave! I promise, I won’t do anything. I promise!” she called out to the train as it pulled out of the station, but Spike’s face was nowhere to be seen. The train pulled off and eventually became a distant dot.

Rainbow Dash felt upset, tired, and angry. She was mad at herself for not being a bit more calm when she got here, she was mad at these ponies whom she glared at when the train disappeared completely and she was mad at everything else for not reaching Spike in time.

Suddenly another train whistled loudly, before everyone turned their direction to the left. There was another train there. And the conductor had come out to make one last call. “Last Call!” he called. And just in the nick of time, the group of saw a purple tail head inside the train.

Rainbow Dash felt a burst of energy, the tears that had stung her eyes spilling, when she felt she could make it up to Spike. Apologize, tell him he didn’t need to leave. That they could fix this, that she was sorry. Quickly the entire group made their way to the train, Propeté keeping a close eye on Dash in case the mare tried anything.

When they got there, Spike was sitting two seats away from the exit and was looking at them all with a smile.

“Spike I-”

“Dash” Soarin said trying to calm the mare down. “It’s enough. You tried but Spike’s made his mind up, we frankly crossed a line and I think we should leave before we cause anymore trouble.”

Thunderlane nodded. “I agree, the flock may look after its own, but we went a bit too far with all the trouble we caused today. Let’s just go home.”

“What?!” Rainbow asked turning on her friends. “I can’t leave I need to tell Spike I’m-”

“Rainbow Dash” Spike’s voice cut in silencing the mare.

“Yes?” she said with an apologetic and sheepish grin. Spike’s expression was not one of mirth. It was one of cold anger. And everypony of the group saw it as they backed away from Rainbow Dash slowly.

“S-Spike?” Rainbow Dash said hesitantly a feeling of fear gripping her. Spike said nothing his train whistles one last time before it began departing. And all Spike did was just stare coldly at the mare as he and his train began leaving.

Propeté and the others began following the train in a slow pace watching what was going on as Dash followed after, never leaving Spike’s piercing gaze the entire time as she struggled to find the words to speak .

“Spike I don’t know...I’m not sure what to say I- I’m. I’m sorry” she said her ears dropping to the sides of her head.

Spike said nothing, and the train began to pick up pace, making everyone break into a quick paced canter.

“Spike?” Dash said the fear squeezing her hoof as she stumbled for a second. “Say something.”

Spike said nothing, his eyes just continued to stare coldly at Rainbow Dash. Like he just didn’t know who she was anymore. Like he...hated- she forced the thought away.

“Spike please, I’m sorry I didn’t mean for this to happen I just got excited, my instincts you know. They kicked in I wasn’t trying to be harmful or anything” she pleaded. They had now broken into a gallop.

Spike still said nothing he just stared at Dash with that same icy stare, blinking every now and then. His eyes briefly glanced over the platform his friends and the Element of Loyalty, Rainbow Dash were running on.

Once they pulled out of the hull the platform would end, and they wouldn’t be able to chase him anymore unless the pegasi flew. But judging from their expressions it didn’t look like they’d be doing that any time soon.

“Spike” Dash said, now rushing to keep up with the train. “Please say something.”

Spike honestly had nothing to say to Dash. He was mad at her. Furious for what she had done. A month’s worth of work. Gone. And for what? Because she couldn’t control her instincts? He remembered what happened the last time he let his dragon instincts take control, and it had resulted in almost all of Ponyville getting destroyed and the others getting hurt. Since then he’d kept a tight lid on those feelings of greed.

And now she was telling him this all happened because she lacked self control? He wanted to laugh, scoff at that but he couldn’t so he just kept on staring at her. His eyes moving from her to the others who were now struggling to keep up with the train.

“Spike” Dash said in a lower tone, that barely could have been audible thanks to the wind picking up. “Please” she said taking to her wings to keep up.

Spike briefly glanced at the others and saw they were slowing down. Just watching. His eyes turned back to Dash she was just inches away from him now, he looked at the platform and saw it had ended now Rainbow Dash was just floating along side him.

“Spike, please...I’m so sorry” Dash begged her voice wavering, shaking almost.

Spike sighed. Took in a deep breath, and shook his head as he prepared himself for what he was about to say.

“Dash, I can’t forgive you.”

The words hit the mare like a knife as she stopped for a few seconds and let the train pass her by. She snapped out of her stupor and quickly met with Spike again.

“What do you mean you can’t forgive me, we’re friends right? Buddies? You and I?” she said her voice still wavering as she spoke.

Spike shook his head. “I’m not sure I can call what you did being a friend. I’d call it being selfish. If you were my real friend you’d understand what I had going on here was good, I’m sorry Dash, but I’m going to need time to forgive you and accept your apology. I won’t yell at you, I won’t make you suffer for what you did here today. Knowing you, you’ll do that yourself, and I hope for your sake when the others hear about this they aren’t too tough on you. But I won’t accept your apology. Not now, not today, not tomorrow, not in a week or even month. I just want you to know that, what you did today” he paused and took a deep breath. “Almost makes me hate you” Spike said with his eyes slanting at he gave the hurt mare a hard look.

“You’ve done a lot of crazy stuff. We both have, but after today Dash” Spike shook his head and moved back into his seat away from the window.

“I’ve got to say...I’m really really disappointed in you.” Spike moved to shut the shutters, and gave Dash only one chance to see his angered expression before he closed the window.

This conversation was over. And Rainbow Dash knew it. She simply floated there, watching the train pull away, Spike’s expression burned into her eyes as she watched the train pull off and slowly fade away into the distance. One more loud whistle coming from it as the mare watched Spike, disappear.

Rainbow Dash floated back to the train hull where Soarin, Thunderlane, Propeté, Double Serving, and Etiquette were waiting.

“What did he say?” Double Serving asked.

Dash’s lips moved, her face expressing clear shockbut no words came out of her mouth.

“What?” Double Serving asked. “What’s wrong why are you-” a polished hoof placed itself on the stallion’s mouth, and Propeté told the stallion to be quiet.

“What’s going on here?” he whispered to her.

Propeté merely looked at the shocked Rainbow Dash with pity. “It seems Spike refused her apology.”

Everypony went deathly silent before Propeté turned away from the three pegasi and ushered her co-workers to follow. “Let’s go back to ze restaurant, I ‘ave somethîng important to tell Lavish Dish after work.”

The two stallion’s looked at Dash with a hint of sadness, bade Soarin and Thunderlane goodbye before they passed by a group of ponies coming inside the hull, all looking out of breath and worried.

“Soarin!” a voice called to the stallion who was comforting the silent Dash. “Where is he? Where’s Spike?” Fluttershy asked.

Soarin merely shook his head, and moved aside to reveal the tears slowly spilling out of Dash’s eyes.

Twilight Sparkle looked at Soarin and Thunderlane, who both shook their heads, then fixed the crying pegasus with a harsh stare. Slowly Twilight moved towards the pegasus, her anger flaring, her wings twitching.

“What did you do?” she asked Rainbow Dash.

The pegasus merely whimpered and let out a wail before breaking into tears.

“What the hay is going on here?! Applejack asked clearly confused. “When we got here ponies were giving us the stinkeye for miles, what in the plumheck did you do Rainbow Dash?”

“Yeah! I was going to throw Spike a “Congratulations on being an amazing and wonderful and fantabulous chef surprise surprise!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“Why are there two surprises in that sentence?” Rarity asked.

“I accidentally told him I would throw him a surprise over the phone” Pinkie said with a sheepish smile.

“Girls!” Twilight yelled silencing her friends. The young alicorn turned her attention back to Rainbow Dash. Who had now stopped wailing and wiped away the tears. She forced herself to get up and act like everything was alright, even though deep down she was hurting.

“Let’s go” she said in a stern yet shaky voice.

“No” Twilight said, spreading her wings. “What did you do? Soarin, Thunderlane! What did she do?” she asked almost snapping at the two accomplices in all of this.

“Well” Thunderlane began rubbing the side of his neck with a hoof.

“She...basically got Spike run out of town, it was...it was a mess” Soarin chipped in. “We kinda bailed on the whole idea of getting Spike after we saw how much ruckus we were causing but she um...she was persistent.”

Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, Element of Magic. Fixed her friend with a cold and hard stare that made Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy back away.

Pinkie Pie however looked worried. “Twilight, why don’t you calm down. Here! Have a cupcake, it’s cheery flavored” she said trying to lighten the mood as she offered her friend the cupcake.

Twilight merely turned her glare on Pinkie and the cupcake literally deflated in her hoof, Pinkie laughed nervously and backed away understanding the situation. “Right, you deal with this.”

For awhile Twilight didn’t say anything. Neither did Dash, the two just stared at each other for a few seconds before Twilight turned around and began pacing.

“I told you didn’t I?” she asked the mare in a minacious tone.

Rainbow Dash said nothing.

“I told you to leave. Him. Alone! That he would come back when he felt necessary. That we should trust Spike, for being mature to handle this since he chose to do it but NO!” she exclaimed rounding on Dash and bumping snouts with the unmoving pegasus.

“You didn’t listen did you?” she said rhetorically.

“I was just trying to make sure he was alright I didn’t-” Rainbow began only for Twilight to slam a hoof on the ground and literally crush the mortar that made the platform under her hoof.

“No! Don’t tell me you were trying to help. You were being selfish! Selfish! Selfish, selfish, sELFISHHH! Sometimes you can just be so rash it’s infuriating. What did he tell you. What did he say after you tried to apologize?”

Rainbow Dash’s bottom lip quivered and she looked away briefly for a second. Not wanting to say it.

“ANSWER ME RAINBOW DASH!” Twilight yelled at her friend, her voice echoing throughout all of the train station and parts of Baltimare itself. Her friends and most of the ponies had to cover their ears, Rainbow Dash’s merely plastered themselves against her head submissively.

“He said he was disappointed in me, and that he wouldn’t accept my apology.”

“Great!” Twilight said throwing both her hooves in the air.

“But” Dash continued. “he said he would think about it.”

Silence filled the hull once more as Twilight looked at her friend. The young alicorn merely got up, turned around. Looked at Applejack and her friends who were all giving Rainbow Dash a look of their own. Twilight shook her head.

“Wow.” Was the only thing she could say.”Rainbow Dash come here.”

Rainbow Dash hesitated, said nothing, but moved forward. The sound of her hooves being the only thing that could be heard.

Twilight turned around a second later and a loud smacking sound could be heard for miles as Rainbow Dash fell to the ground with a hoofprint on her cheek.

Twilight Sparkle had just slapped Rainbow Dash.

Tears began to sting the athlete’s eyes and she saw her friend walk right up to her and say the words she didn’t need or want to hear right now.

“You know what Dash. I’m disappointed in you to.” With that Twilight Sparkle turned around, told her other friends she was leaving and left the train station with all eyes on her and ponies scurrying out of the fuming alicorn’s way as she left.

The princess of magic was ticked. And Rainbow Dash had crossed a line. Applejack walked right over to her friend, and helped her up as the others watched Twilight leave the station without another word.

“Sorry to inform you sugar but, we’re all disappointed in you two.” The farmer left with the other following behind her. Soarin and Thunderlane passed by Dash, Soarin not saying a word. But Thunderlane offering a chip of his own.

“I told you we shouldn’t have done this. I hope your happy.”

Rainbow Dash was far from happy. Tears stained the ground as she followed her friends outside and back to Ponyville, today really wasn’t a good day after all.

Upahead Soarin was asking Pinkie Pie how they were able to get to Baltimare so quickly. Pinkie Pie simply said "After we called Spike to warn him you guys were coming he went all silent on the phone for some reason. And then after that my whole body started shaking badly. And that usually means something really really really bad is going to happen, so when Twilight saw that she cut the line, told me to get get Rarity and she would get Applejack and Fluttershy. She also told me to bring a picture of Serve & Dine with her so she could get an image of where she was going to take us. When I asked her how she was going to do that without a train she said she was going to use magic and then-" the mare stopped and looked at Soarin who tapped her on the hoof.

"Slow down could you, you're speaking a bit too fast for me."

"Oh" she said, then nodded. "Sorry, anyway! After I got Rarity and Applejack and Fluttershy came over with Twilight. I placed the picture on of that restaurant in front of her and the next thing I knew we were all FWOOSH! and SWOOSH! and then we were here in Baltimare right in front of a crowd of ponies, and the restaurant. We asked around and were told Spike went down to the station so Twilight used her magic and forced herself to get us closer to the station. We had to run the rest of the way but we made it a little too late I see." She finished on a sad note.

"Oh...I see" Soarin said a little surprised they had went that far. "So I guess we're heading back to Ponyville huh."

"Do you want to tell Twilight you talked to Spike?" Rarity asked as she passed on by.

Soarin froze and watched the alicorn in the distance trot ahead. Her wings were twitched and there was a slight twitch in her own step. The stallion merely shook his head and said "No thanks." He moved on up ahead, a sad Rainbow Dash following everyone in tow.

Ch.6

View Online

Making Calls

Propeté the waitress now sat in her home, staring out a window. The young unicorn, had had a long day. She was tired, upset, and most of all sad. Today’s events hadn’t gone well at all.

This morning when she awoke up, she hadn’t expected one of her friends to be leaving town so suddenly, especially not like this.

That mare known as Rainbow Dash, the element of loyalty had really annoyed the Pranch unicorn, but what’s done is done. There was nothing that could be done about it now, Spike was gone. And Rainbow Dash had gone back home, she didn’t know what happened to the pegasus mare after her, Double Serving and Etiquette left, they did however see a few other familiar ponies trotting past them as they were leaving.

Propeté however didn’t care to think about that right now. She simply just stared out at the starry skies.

It was late outside right now. The moon high up, shining moonlight everywhere only made the unicorn wonder what Spike was doing, not only that but the unicorn also wondered what Lavish Dish would say when she would tell him later today or maybe in the morning and give him the news of what had happened to Spike.

She sighed, it was sad really. When Spike had first joined Serve & Dine, she had obviously deemed him a child that had no real experience on the real world. Whether he was one of the ones that helped save Equestria or not, Serve & Dine was a business. So in all honesty she hadn’t expected much from Spike in the beginning.

A small smile crossed her lips, reflecting back at her on the glass of her windows, “Hmph, was I wrong about zat.”

Granted, Propeté wasn’t from around other neighboring countries in Equestria. She was born in Prance, and had only come to Baltimare about three months prior to Spike’s arrival at the restaurant. She only knew of the things that happened in Equestria thanks to the Equestrian Daily, and that was it.

Unlike Ponyville, Propeté had never had the unfortunate luxury of getting to know danger first hand. Prance was a fairly safe place, and the only real dangers they had experienced was when Nightmare Moon returned, Discord came back and Tirek’s escape. Aside from that the country hadn’t faced many dangers at all.

So the few things she had heard about the mane six and their dragon assistant wasn’t a lot compared to the countries that were more in closer boundaries with Ponyville and Canterlot.

Taking a few more seconds to stare outside Propeté took in the peaceful silence of the night, before sighing once more. Her mind was full of concerns. For Spike, for the restaurant, for her co-workers.

When she came to Baltimare she had only done it to gain a first hand experience of the type of business she would be inheriting. Etat de Propeté in Pranch meant “Clean Condition”, and her father’s company was meant to stay that way. In a clean condition.

Clearing her head of these thoughts the Pranch mare rose from her french styled windows, and moved to get some tea. She didn’t think she would be sleeping that well tonight.

“I just hope when I tell Lavish Dish ze news he will not be too upset” she said with some concern. Making her way to the kitchen Propeté opened the fridge with her magic and allowed a slice of cake to float out. A plate, and silver fine cutlery floated out as well, along with a cup, a tea set, and a her coffee jug that contained water waiting to be boiled, all floated about to the designated areas the Pranch mare wanted them to go. A logo on the tea set caught the mare’s eye momentarily as it floated by her.

She gave the logo that she had come to know since a filly a small glance then mundanely looked away from it, turning her attention back to what she really wanted right now. A steaming cup of green tea to make her troubles melt away.

Just as the mare had set the jug within its device so that it may begin to boil, her ears perked up as she heard a gentle yet loud knock on her door. The tea set that had been suspended in her magic clattered onto the table it was floating over with a loud clang. Nothing breaking but the sound was loud enough to startle the mare for a brief second.

Carefully Propeté lifted everything back into place, her horn dying out in the process as she then glanced over at the cabinet door she had held in her magic around the time the knock had occurred. It hung loosely on one of its hinges.

The mare groaned, and almost wanted to curse. Spike leaving had done enough to upset her for today, she didn’t need her home getting ruined along with her day.

Knock Knock.

“Ugh! I’m coming, give me a few zeconds!” she called clearing out any form of annoyance this as she spoke. Turning her attention back to the cabinet door the mare’s horn glowed a light purple color.

The white door was lifted up slightly into the air as its hinges were fixed, before they clamped back onto the door. Propeté swung the door gently with her magic to make sure it was fixed. All the while, she ignored the same logo that was on the interior design of the shelf that had also been on her tea set. With the door fixed, Propeté turned her attention to the front door again. Just in the nick of time as well, whoever was there had now continued to knock for the past five seconds and it was really getting on her already well spent nerves.

Cantering over out of the kitchen, the mare looked at the time on her clock and frowned deeply. It read it was 10:39 p.m. “Who could be knocking at zis hour?” she asked with annoyance, as she moved towards the door.

As Propeté grew closer to the door, so did the knocking grow louder, till finally the mare couldn’t take the annoying racket anymore. “Arrêter cette insolence à la fois!” she yelled from behind the door.

The pounding stopped instantly. Then a voice spoke to her. One that she hadn’t expected to talk to her at this particular time. At least not after everything that had happened, back at the station and all.

“Double Serving?” the unicorn asked in a confounded voice. “What are you doing ‘ere?” the door slowly swung open as Propeté stared at the stallion without his Serve & Dine uniform. From the looks of it, Propeté could tell he had headed home and showered before coming over.

“May I come in?” Double Serving asked. “It’s kind of late and I’d prefer we not talk out in the open like this.”

Propeté, the waitress, and heir to Squeaky Clean Corporations looked at the stallion standing in her doorway for a few seconds before she heard the humming out of her boiling water make itself well known that the hot water was ready for making tea.

For a few seconds Propeté didn’t say anything. She merely just looked at the cherry stallion before coming out of her daze as the whistling sound grew louder and louder by the second.

“Yes...” she said absentmindedly “yes come in, please ‘ave a seat. I’ll go make us some tea.”

Sitting on a frilly cushion made of fine silk, were two equines in Propeté’s hall. Adjacent to them, a large bay window that displayed the streets of Baltimare and the starry skies that cake the night above. And adjacent to that window and it’s audience was a rather large painting, displaying Princess Celestia and Luna in all their glory.

Both equines sat silently. Neither had said more than a “Thank you” that came from Double after his tea had been brought to him.

In all honesty this was the second time Double Serving had been to this place. Anyone that passed through Neittril street could tell you Propeté’s home was quite large. One could easily get lost in these halls if they were not careful, yet it always seemed somewhat strange to Double that the mare never bothered to get hired help to keep this place tidy.

Don’t misunderstand. The apricot orange mare knew very well just how to keep her home nice and clean. It would be a surprise to the stallion if the mare destined to inherit Squeaky Clean Corps was not as tidy as the chain of industries were with their products.

Nevertheless it was still somewhat surprising. Double Serving had worked for Lavish Dish for eight months, meeting Propeté half-way through then eventually meeting Spike later on and continuing through the seventh and nearly eight had the little guy stayed for another week or two.

At this thought the stallion sighed. When Spike had heard that this week would mark the cherry stallion’s eight month working here (which was a good feat to pull since most that worked for Lavish Dish ended up quitting because of his connections getting them better positions or fired because they did not meet his standards) the young drake had decided he would throw a party for him when the time came.

Initially this had rubbed off as a bit weird to the stallion. Sure Spike was one of the creatures that saved Equestria and yes the whole world on numerous occasions but that didn’t mean just because he was grateful and appreciative the little guy had to go acting all buddy buddy with him.

Double Serving took a sip of his tea as he recalled how he and the others had originally thought Spike was too young to be working in a well established restaurant like Serve & Dine, even with his status they felt it was still no excuse. They had all worked hard- countless trials and errors to get or even land a job here at this well known restaurant, so it was no surprise that he felt jealous when Spike was suddenly given a position as a regular chef then a week later bounced up to sous chef.

In fact he was downright furious.

But when Spike had later heard that this would mark the stallion’s eighth month working in this establishment, the stallion couldn’t help but smile as he recalled the way the young drake’s eyes glinted with what looked like pride or inspiration.

Then there was Spike’s cooking skills. Dear Celestia he had never had a hay burger that made his mouth water the way Spike’s did.

Suddenly feeling quite thirsty Double Serving took another sip from his cup, leaning his head in and lapping up the green tea with its sweet yet slightly bitter taste relaxing him a bit.

Glancing across from him he looked at his friend, Propeté who delicately levitated her cup to her lips and sipped like one were in the presence of royalty.

Another small smile crossed the earth pony’s lips as he stared at her. She wasn’t looking at him but that was fine. He just found it funny how she tended to behave so differently when at work and with friends or those close to her.

Another thought popped into Double Serving’s head as he recalled when he had asked Spike why he would go to the trouble of throwing a party for a stranger when he had just started working there.

The words Spike had told him put a wide grin on his face. Licking his lips as he smile beamed Double Serving noticed those violet eyes of his friend staring right at him.

Double chuckled lightly with a raised brow as he finished off the rest of his tea. “There something wrong?”

“I do not know. You ‘ave been staring for quite some time now so why don’t vou tell me?” the mare responded.

Double simply shrugged his slightly cocky expression still live. “Nothing just recalling some things Spike did when we were still getting used to him working there.”

Propeté smiled. “Yes, he was quite the help after Monsieur Sweet Tart left no?”

Double nodded. “Yeah, he was pretty unique in the kitchen that Spike.” A sad smile crossed the stallion’s face. “And he has a great personality, I hope wherever he goes next sees he does well there as he did here. Luna knows I’d buck a pony where it counts if that hurt that kid. Came close to doing it to Rainbow Dash back at the station” he said with a bit of sourness.

Propeté merely frowned at the statement. “Yes, zat was why I suggested we leave before you attempted to start something I know we could not win. Spike was leaving, zere was nothing we could do as long as he felt his own better judgement was getting threatened.” A light clunk sounded as Propeté placed the teacup in her grasp back on its miniscule plate.

“And although it disappoints me to see him gone I’m sure we’ll hear from him soon enough. After all he knows how to message us, zere is nothing to worry about” Propeté said but the slight waver in her voice said otherwise.

Double Serving didn’t respond. He knew that was a lie, but he didn’t want to call her out on it. Angering a mare like Etat de Propeté was the last thing any stallion in their right mind would want to do. Financial influence aside, the mare had been brought up by very well educated unicorns that had been taught in Princess Celestia’s Academy for the Gifted and she knew her spells.

Double snorted as he remembered how Spike had pranked some of the waiters and waitresses one night during closing by having Sunny Side-Up, one of the product supervisors for Serve & Dine conjure up fake cockroaches and have them move around scaring the living daylights out of them by appearing in the most random places.

As if reading the stallion’s mind Propeté took the spoon she used for sugar cubes and gently tapped his forehead with it. This only made Double laugh instead of stifle his amusement.

“Hey you had to admit the guy had a great sense of humor. He had all of us laughing when he came inside sitting on Sunny Side’s back with a wicked grin then telling the unicorn to cut off his magic. Bon Appétit himself, the uptight guy was chuckling when he came out and saw us worrying.” Double said with a gentle and playful tap on the mare’s shoulder.

Propeté merely rolled her eyes with a slight smile of her own. “Zere was ze prank he pulled on last week I found hilarious.”

To this Double’s grin disappeared instantly. “Pretending to fire me because I mixed up five orders was not funny. I nearly had a heart attack that day” he stated with some annoyance.

Propeté shrugged the comment away. “I thought it was funny” she said turning her nose to Double only to peak at him through a slightly open eye and small hint of a smile.

Double Serving shook his head then merely laughed. “Well I’m glad you’re feeling a bit better” he said once he had stopped chuckling.

Propeté raised a brow in response. “Did you come ‘ere to just check on me?” There was some surprise in her voice.

Double shuffled on his seat a bit, feeling a little awkward. Propeté was the kind of mare he took to be strong and resilient, he didn’t want to say it when she had opened the door flat out if she was alright or needed comforting. A lot of mares found that sweet yet annoying, he didn’t want to be one of those guys.

Propeté smiled warmly at the stallion. Thankful for his thoughtfulness and keeping in mind to remember it she rose with the empty teacups and retreated to the kitchen. A second later two plates with cake on them floated over to the table and the mare returned with a fork for herself.

“Zank you for your concern Double, but I am fine now. I didn’t expect company but I’m glad you came to visit regardless” Propeté replied still smiling.

Double smiled in return. Glad he was able to do something good to at least lighten up today after all that had transpired.

The two began digging into their desert, the moonlight outside providing a rather warm feeling as the stars twinkled light years away.

“So...I- what do you think is going to happen now? You know with Spike gone and everything. It’s not like customers will stop coming it’s just you know, we may not see our regulars again for a while” Double said.

Propeté’s left ear twitched slightly at his words but she knew he was right. When Spike was here he had made many connections with the customers and citizens of Baltimare. Being a sous chef was a lot of responsibility.

Sous chefs were tasked with managing the kitchen, watching the other chefs and making sure orders were met precisely and accurately, assuring that products were in stock in case they had surprise inspections or private dining they needed to set up. As well as making sure the staff worked properly and cooperated well with each other.

With all this taken into account Propeté had to admit she was still a bit amazed, impressed that Spike had been able to keep up with all the work load, but then again she had heard through the grapevine when Spike worked there the young drake was the assistant of the Element of Magic. And the customer, who if Propeté was right, went by the name Carrot Top.

Carrot Top had told her once that Spike was constantly running errands for Twilight, and given the rumors of Princess Twilight’s study habits, it made a lot more sense just exactly why Spike was able to handle all the work he did.

If it was any consolation despite all the work Spike had, he always maintained a friendly disposition even when they were crammed with work on certain days. Being a sous chef meant Spike had to look over not just the kitchen staff but the service staff as well. Orders being prepared aside Spike was also in charge of checking on customers from time to time. It was one of the reasons many liked him so much. Even when filled with work Spike always tried to stay friendly, working with Twilight and the others had taught him a lot about that. That and being patient.

Traces of a smile crossed over Propeté muzzle as she bit into the last pieces of her cake and placed the fork down gently.

Double Serving waited patiently. Not bothering to repeat his question a second time he allowed his friend to contemplate the question as he busied himself with his own cake. Minutes passed by as the two ate in silence, occasionally staring out the window to gaze at the stars Luna had so well organized for the night.

“I am sure we will be fine” Propeté said after she had stared at the night for a good few minutes. “Spike will be missed, but I’m sure we will manage without ‘im. I suppose Bon Appétit will be taking Spike’s place in ze meantime though.”

Licking the chocolate frosting off his lips, Double Serving cocked a brow. “That’s understandable. Bon Appétit did work with Spike mostly when we were packed or on a tight schedule, but does Mr. Dish know yet?” he asked.

A loud clatter resounded throughout the large and decorated halls of Propeté’s home. Double Serving slightly taken aback by the sudden reaction stood from his seat and looked to his friend with concern.

Currently standing frozen, Propeté’s mouth hung open as she realized that with all the time she had spent talking to Double Serving, worrying about the restaurant and Spike, she had forgotten to call or even send him a letter.

A wave of nervousness flew over the mare as she quickly began pacing trying to figure out how fast she could get a letter down and have it sent to Lavish Dish by morning.

Then all of a sudden she stopped. Double Serving watched on with confusion, not sure what was happening anymore.

“Quick Double, what time is zit?” as the question was asked a purple glow emanated from her horn as she moved towards her living room.

“Uhh, um” he looked around but not a single clock was in sight. “I’m not sure why?” he asked.

“I ‘ave not informed Monsieur Lavish Dish of what has happened today. He must know immediately, perhaps he could even get Spike another job wherever he ends up at his next destination” she explained as the two entered her living room.

“But Prop, we don’t know where that train was headed. Spike could be anywhere in Equestria right now.”

“I know ze place the train was headed. Or at least ze two places it was scheduled to go to” she said with a hint of a Pranch mare’s confidence. A quill, ink container, and parchment floated down from the second floor and landed on the table Propeté was heading towards.

“And what would those two places be?” Double Serving inquired as he watched his friend quickly take a seat in front of her desk and begin scribbling away quickly with her quill.

“One was Manehattan, ze other was ze Crystal Empire. You remember Princess Cadenza’s wedding to Princess Twilight and also Spike’s brother?”

“Yes but how does-- oh” he said now understanding what she was getting at.

“Oui. He might go zere and if he doesn’t zen he may be at Manehattan. Either way I am telling Monsieur Lavish Dish to make sure his contacts know that they keep an eye out for Spike in case he needs help financially. I would help him myself but...” her eyes glanced over to one of the pranch doors she had custom made for her kitchen that held her cutiemark on it: A gold and silver featherduster.

A small frown crossed her face. She hated how she could not help Spike in his current situation, but not even she was willing to go back to him yet. Even for Spike, not now, not yet.

“Hey” Double’s voice said, softly coaxing Propeté out of her thoughts she felt a fetlock place itself around her withers. “It’ll be alright. He’ll be fine. He’s a tough dragon after all and Bon Appétit, you know him, he’s a hardworker. Let’s just get this letter written and send it straight to the boss alright?” the cherry stallion added a smile as he finished for good measure.

Propeté looked at Double Serving for a few seconds, then smiled at him warmly. “Zank you” she said planting a small kiss just above his nose.

Ignoring the brighter shade of red the stallion turned into as Propeté finished the letter and tied it up, she rose from her seat and pushed off towards the door. Double Serving still stood where she last left him slightly dazed.

“Ahem” she said loudly, the earth pony jumped and looked around.

“Wha- huh?”

“Are you coming or not?” Propeté asked with a small grin to boot.

Double Serving blinked once, twice, then a third time. “Yeah, yeah let’s hurry.” He glanced at the clock behind him before going after Propeté. “We’ll need to run the post office closes at 11:45.”

“What time is zit now?” she asked as he closed the door behind him.

“11:36.”

Trottingham; Little Meadows.

Time: 2:45p.m.

Another day, another chance to get all that paperwork completed. Lavish Dish sat in his office at Little Meadows near Breezy street working hard to get rid of all the paperwork he needed to get done. Running multiple businesses meant he had to keep up on the costs and expenses that went into his restaurants. The one doing especially well so far was Serve & Dine.

A wide grin crossed Lavish’s muzzle. Back when he had been visiting his business to see how things were going after Sweet Tart left he hadn’t expected to hire a baby dragon. But back then those two months ago he hadn’t expected to find such a whelp so vigorous with the desire to prove his worth.

It made him smile, sent him back on a memory trip to the days of his youth as a colt when he had been testing himself to achieve his own goals of becoming a proud restaurant owner.

And proud he was.

Here he was managing several businesses across Equestria. One being a cake store in Canterlot that he had heard Princess Celestia, one of the rulers of their faire nation, attended quite a lot. It filled the unicorn with pride knowing that his efforts had gotten him so far and he hoped Spike did well with the position he had given.

The smirk on Lavish’s face grew as he looked through the numbers. “I love that dragon.”

“Sir” said a stallion. Lavish Dish looked up from his papers and stared at a sky blue pegasus standing in front of his doorway. “There’s some mail here for you.”

Lavish Dish nodded and adjusted his necktie, running a hoof through his mane he gestured for his secretary to come inside with the mail.

“Thank you Quickline, please don’t hesitate to let me know if anything else requires my attention.” The pegasus nodded after handing his superior the mail before leaving the office and heading back to his position, silently closing the door.

Once alone Lavish Dish opened up the parchment he had received and began reading the letter.

The signature grin Lavish Dish wore slowly faded as he continued to read the letter from Propeté a mare who’s father was paying him a hefty sum to make sure his daughter was well attended to. Of course though all the bits Lavish received went straight to Propeté.

If there was one thing Lavish wouldn’t ever be for as long as he lived, it was a sellout.

Continuing to read the letter to the end Lavish reread it one more time to make sure what he was reading was true.

Everything was on here. How Spike had practically been chased out by Rainbow Dash, the Element of Loyalty, and was either on his way to Manehattan or the Crystal Empire. Propeté in her letter had given him everything. The details of the chase to the end. Now she was suggesting he make Bon Appétit was his Chef de Parté. Basically a chef in charge of a different section of the kitchen. Assigning him the position as Sous Chef wouldn’t be hard but he’d need to talk to the stallion first and reassign somepony to his position.

The thing that bothered him was Spike. Lavish’s brows furrowed as he read the last bit in the message he had missed.

P.S.

“Although Spike is gone Monsieur, I ‘ave a suggestion. Or I suppose more of a request zen a suggestion. Since you now know one of either two locations Spike may be heading to I would appreciate it greatly if you could talk to one of your connections to see zat Spike is well looked after.

You know as well as I zat I do not like using my status often or at all. Ponies tend to treat you differently when they find out you come from a rich a wealthy family. But if you do not I will ‘ave no choice but to go through my own connections to see to it zat my friend is looked after.

Zank you for reading Monsieur. I mean no insult to your knowledge as a business man. But as my mama once told my father before their separation, “It is only business dear.”
Sincerely Yours,

Etat de Propeté. Heir to Squeaky Clean Corps.”

Lavish Dish felt a slight flicker of fury spike within him at the letter, but he calmed down rather quickly after taking everything into account Propeté’s position on the matter.

A loud sigh escaped his lips. “Great. The dragon that was making me more dough than Princess Celestia on her birthday is gone.” Lavish lifted a toe to his temple and rubbed it in a circular motion.

“Just when today was getting good.” A second later, the table shook as Lavish’s business phone rang.

Phones were rare in Equestria. Rarely any had them, only a few very well established businesses used them, and even then they were only ever used for making orders or reservations and that was it. Most messaging was still the same; a quill and paper.

Leaning towards the phone Lavish Dish’s horn glowed and lifted the device towards his ear. He had expecting this call all day. And now was not the best time.

“Hello?” he said trying to sound anything but irritated.

“Lavish Dish. How are you?”

“I’m fine” he replied.

“You don’t sound fine” the speaker said gently.

Lavish sighed, easing out some of his frustration with his breath. “You’re right I- Apologies. It’s just...everything was going well and then I got a letter that slightly upset me.”

The pony on the other line remained silent. A few seconds of silence passed before the speaker spoke again in a softer tone. “What happened?”

Lavish Dish bit his lip. “I don’t think-”

“Lavish Dish, what happened?” the speaker repeated, the tone was still soft but a bit firmer now and the change of tone made his ear twitch. He winced internally as he took in another breath to speak.

“It’s about Spike. It seems he’s left my business, I’m sorry I was going to check on him and the others yesterday but...I got sidetracked with work and other matters I needed to attend to I-”

“It’s alright Lavish” the voice cooed. “I understand. Don’t worry, I’m not upset. Just tell me what happened.”

Feeling a bit better. Actually a lot better, Lavish Dish sighed heavily once more like a heavy weight had been taken off his chest. It was there he explained what happened based off what Propeté had told him in the letter on his desk. When he finally finished explaining the situation and what had happened, Lavish waited patiently for the other pony on the line to speak.

But they did not.

Silence went on for quite some time. Milliseconds to seconds and those to minutes. Each time the clock ticked, Lavish Dish felt a bit uncomfortable about this and felt like he should end the conversation now.

Finally when Lavish was about to put an end to it all the pony on other line spoke. “I see. Rainbow Dash chased him all the way to the train station huh?”

Lavish shuffled in his seat. “Yes, that is er correct.”

The voice sighed. “I suppose it was only a matter of time. What of his position? I hope it will not affect your business in anyway since I was the one who asked you to do this for me to begin with and give him that position anyway.”

Sitting up straight and shaking his head Lavish Dish protested. “No, no, no. Don’t worry about it. I was wary of moving Spike to the position of a sous chef myself but after the comments my customers gave on his cooking I decided to comply with your wishes. I wouldn’t have done it if it would affect my business so don’t worry about that. Everything will be fine in regards to Spike’s position. I’ll have one of his co-workers take his place in the meantime.”

A satisfied exhale came from the other line. “Good, I’m glad to hear that. And what of Spike, any news from the daughter of Nice n’ Tidy?”

“You mean Propeté? She has informed me in her letter that Spike might be heading off to the Crystal Empire or Manehattan. She has suggested or rather heavily implied I make sure he is taken care of.” He paused for a brief second before continuing. “I suppose you would like me to do so as well?”

“Honestly, yes. But I know you have your own duties to attend to. I will not ask more if you do not have the time to spend or the necessary resources to do it.”

To this Lavish laughed. “I assure you, I am well capable of helping one of my best chefs in my line of business. I’ll see what I can do” he said with a smile.

“Thank you” the voice said. Lavish Dish could practically feel her smile through the receiver. “I appreciate everything you’ve done so far Lavish Dish. I’ll inform Princess Cadence and let her know to keep an eye out for my baby dragon.”

Lavish Dish smiled warmly. “It isn’t a problem. Anything to help you out Princess.”

The Princess smiled on the other end of her receiver as she looked out over her town, her city. “Your services are greatly appreciated, keep up the good work Dish.”

A small chuckle came from the princess’ receiver. “Thank you Your Majesty. I’ll get to work and see if any my connections can do anything for Spike. Goodbye, Your Highness.”

“Goodbye.” The line was cut and the Princess placed the line on its hook mechanism. A sigh escaped her lips as she levitated a quill and ink bottle to begin her letter to Cadence.

“I hope you’re doing well out there Spike. You have all of us worried about you” the princess said silently as she began scribbling away.

Ch.7

View Online

"Hello...Spike"

A lone baby dragon lay curled up in a ball, his bag on the seat across from him.

If Spike had to say anything at the moment, he surely wasn’t willing to say it. About four hours had passed since he had gotten on this train, and honestly he didn’t have a clue where he was going.

More importantly it was best to say the young drake didn’t really care at the moment. What he did care about though was what happened back at the train station port back in Baltimare.

Right now more than anything Spike wished he hadn’t spoken to Dash like that. He knew she was just trying to help but....nrgh! She just made him so mad at her for not having the decency to trust him like Twilight and the others did!

I mean seriously is it so hard to believe I can handle myself for a couple of months without being dragonsit? For crying out loud I was (for a short time) the emperor of all dragons!

“Yeah for only five seconds” his subconscious lectured, and to this the dragon merely snorted his disapproval.

“Be quiet” he muttered to himself.

“Sir?” a caretaker said with confusion within its voice. And judging from the sound, pitch and tune, Spike knew that this caretaker, was a mare.

Spike frowned deeply, if anything he didn’t want to be interrupted right now as he was sulking, but regardless the young dragon sat up, threw away his look of dejection and gave a fake smile as best he could.

“Yes?” Spike said, the corner of his upper lip slightly twitched as he tried to fight back the frown he’d had since the train had pulled out of Baltimare and left Dash and all the others in its wake.

The caretaker standing before Spike was none other than a mare, just as the young drake himself had assumed, wearing the mandatory uniform for the workers of the Equestrian Express; navy blue buttoned up shirt, with a complementary navy blue cap.

The mare that had addressed Spike, seemed to relax a bit having seen his fraud smile, obviously not seeing through it for what it truly was.

“Oh thank goodness” she said with the faint sound of an accent. “Ticketmaster informed me that a young passenger had refused all the food and other services we offered him in the last four hours and told me to check up on them. I didn’t think it would be a baby dragon.”

“Oh...yeah...sorry bout that. I’m not causing any trouble for you or the staff am I?” Spike asked unable to keep up the charade any longer his smile faltered and the frown revealed.

The caretaker ever quick to respond though, immediately beginning her attempts to quell Spike’s concerns.

“Oh of course not” she said with a dismissive wave of her hoof. “If anything, you’ve made our jobs easier. The staff has to attend to at least 200 other passengers throughout these train carts and it’s not easy if you know what I mean” she said with a warm smile.

Spike only managed to return a small one before his frown returned once again. Was Dash really just making sure I was alright then? Like this one’s checking up on me, would she have been happy with just knowing I was alright?

“Sir?” a voice called to Spike, but the young drake was already being consumed by his own thoughts.

Did I just over-react and completely ignore Dash’s feelings?...Come to think of it...I was a bit selfish back there wasn’t I? Spike thought, unknowingly tightening his grip on the cushions he sat on the young drake’s face began to get filled with doubt as he began questioning his previous actions.

What if I just left one of the coolest jobs I had only to find out I didn’t really need to leave to begin with? A-And...what if I talked to Dash like that because a few months of being on my own got to my head? What if-

“Sir!” a hoof quickly shook Spike out of his doubts and concerns and immediately Spike turned his head with a start in the direction of the caretaker before him.

“Sir, are you alright?” the mare asked with concern.

Spike didn’t fully register what he was being asked. It took a minute, and then a extra few seconds as his brain that had been so overloaded with his own doubts on what he had done hours ago began to empty all the past concerns and take in the question he had just been asked.

Then it clicked.

“You looked like you were about to cry” the mare said with a sympathetic smile. Igniting her horn, the caretaker pulled out a handkerchief and wiped away a tear that threatened to fall off of Spike’s eye.

When the deed was done, Spike sniffed. A small frown made its way to his face yet again. “Great now my nose is stuffy” he said in a barely audible voice, wiping away the other tear that blurred his vision.

A small nudge made him turn his attention back to the unicorn before him who was still standing there, waiting for him to calm down. She smiled gently and then lifted the cloth that had been used to dry one tear towards him.

“Here” she said gently. “You need this more than I do.”

Hesitantly Spike looked at the handkerchief, before looking back up to the mare. This was the first time any of the train workers of Equestrian Express had ever given him any mind, let alone anypony else really. Most of the time they just walked around, then every once in frankly a blue moon they would check on their guests, had he taken a different train with a different type of crew?

Shaking those thoughts aside Spike took the yellow-green aura covered cloth gratefully, before sniffing once more and smiling at the mare before him. “T-....Thank you. I really appreciate it.”

“It’s not a problem dear. Do you mind if I sit with you for a bit? I’m on break for a while and well you kind of look like you could use some company” she offered.

Spike once again hesitated. He knew in the eyes of this mare he was just a child but he was- is a big boy. Sure he didn’t have his big boy pants on but Spike knew for a fact he didn’t need to be treated like a child now.

But before he could even get a response out, the maroon unicorn with a forest green mane and yellow highlights took the seat just next to his bag before smiling at him once more.

“Sorry, you were taking too long to reply” she said with a small childish smile.

Spike snorted, though it sounded a lot more congested than it should have. A faint blush appeared on his cheeks as he tried to excuse his nasally action by hopping off his seat and excusing himself to the little dragon’s room before returning to meet his guest.

The caretaker merely smiled at him as the young drake made his way to the bathroom for a tissue and some loud nose honking.

“So what’s a small baby dragon such as yourself doing out here?”

Spike pouted for, frowning at the adult mare. "I'm not so small. I mean I'm short but I'm mature and would appreciate it if I wasn't talked to like a foal."

The unicorn stalled before replying. Spike's response had thrown her off but she had to give him credit where it was due, she knew a smart kid when she saw one. "Alright then what's a grown dragon such as yourself doing out here?" she asked with another childish smile.

Spike nodded his approval before replying, “I’m actually just on a small journey, trying to do a bit of self-discovery. I thought it would help me but...recently I got into a fight with a friend who was worried for me and now I’m starting to wonder if I’m just being selfish in all of this.” Spike said morosely.

The caretaker sitting across from Spike also shared his frown. A few seconds of silence were split between the two before the mare dainty cleared her throat and said “Where are my manners? Names Tender Touch, but my co-workers around here call me T-T, nice to meet you” she said offering a hoof.

Spike smiled a bit at the moment of kindness and reached out to T-T’s hoof, shaking it. “I’m Spike, Spike the Dragon.”

After this statement Spike was quite surprised to see window sized eyes staring at him before a look of doubt began forming on T-T’s face.

“Wait, hold on a second. You’re, Spike?” she asked with a hoof jabbed in his direction. “Spike the dragon?”

Confused Spike nodded slowly, only for a thought to pop in his head. Oh no! Did the others put a bounty on my head?! I know Pinkie would but Twilight-

“Hold on there kiddo” the mare said noticing his look of alarm. “Don’t worry you’re not in trouble or anything. I’m just surprised is all. I didn’t think someone closely affiliated with the Princess of Friendship and Elemental bearers would leave them to go on a journey on his own. What made you want to leave all that behind anyway?” T-T said with a bit of a chuckle.

At first Spike didn’t say anything.

It wasn’t as though he didn’t know what to say or that he doubted his decision in leaving, it was just...he just realized how much he missed the others now.

Sure back in Baltimare he hadn’t had much time to write them a letter even though there were a few moments where he could have done so but didn’t due to being tired from work or something else from stopping him but now that T-T brought it up the young drake realized just how much he missed having the others around.

Come to think of it...no wonder Dash had been so desperate to see me. I’m sure her and the others were just as worried if not more about my well being. Spike sighed, “I guess I just wanted some space to see what I could do on my own but...I do miss them.” He said glancing over at his bag.

T-T, taking notice of Spike’s mood, went silent for a brief second, her ears drooping at the possibility of her worsening Spike’s already gloomy mood. Trying to think of something to say to change the subject both dragon and unicorn’s ears perked up at the sound of the
Instructor’s magically amplified voice.

“Attention passengers! We will be arriving at Vanhoover very soon, please get your luggage and any other material you brought with you ready and we hope you enjoyed your trip here at Equestrian Express.”

The voice left a faint echo as Ticketmaster, an older unicorn with a mane and moustache as white as snow soon passed and began checking each cart to make sure every passenger was gathering their luggage.

Vanhoover huh? Well it’s not exactly where I planned on going but it’ll have to do for now Spike thought with a bit of a shrug.

A soft touch on Spike’s shoulder and the young drake looked up to see T-T smiling at him warmly. “You’ll be getting off there right?” Spike merely nodded in response.

T-T nodded in return trying to think of a topic that would lift Spike’s spirits up in the few minutes they had left, then she remembered something one of her friends had told her about there being a new chef in Baltimare that had done quite a good job in serving various foods.

Looking up at Spike T-T smiled. “Hey Spike, I heard down at Baltimare there was this really talented chef that made all kinds of foods and really turned around business while he was there. And well, rumors go around this train now and then and I was just wondering, you mind telling me a little something about this renowned cook I've heard so much about?” flashing him an extra grin with a bonus of toothy smile.

Slowly the drake looked at the unicorn, donning a look of confusion. It wasn’t until T-T’s mischievous smile emerged did Spike realize what the unicorn was trying to do. With the faint appearance of a smile on his own face Spike shuffled in his seat before replying in a meek tone “Sure...and thanks.”

T-T’s smile only widened in response before she waved the appreciation aside, “Now now go on and tell me about this cook” she said gently prodding him with her fetlock.

And so Spike did just that.

The rest of the ride to Vanhoover Spike spent his time talking about all the experiences he’d been through and gained while at Baltimare. And as Spike talked, he began to realize just how much he’d missed having someone to talk to.

Yes, he had friends at work, but most of the time Spike only ever saw them at work. Just like everypony else all Spike’s co-workers back at Serve & Dine had their own lives to attend to outside of work. Some were part-timers, others were working there as a kickstarter for higher, better places in their culinary and cooking careers.

So half the time the only ponies Spike really got to see more than a few times outside of work, would be Propeté herself and Double Serving.

Regardless to say, as Spike talked and T-T listened with the occasional bits of laughter whenever Spike mentioned something silly or hilarious that had happened due to one of his co-workers or himself, the young drake had to admit. Just sitting down and talking had been something he didn't realize he had missed so much.

Maybe that was one of the reasons why he never really got to writing a letter? A part of him thought as both he and T-T continued their conversation.

Perhaps a part of him believed that if he actually sat down and wrote one of those letters to anyone of his friends, he would become too attached to wanting to have a conversation with them again and completely lose track of his new job and along with it, his new responsibilities.

The thought was something that made Spike wonder and question if that was really the case or if he really had been just too busy to get the time to actually write to them, but as time passed on the train and the passengers grew closer and closer to their destination Spike’s conversation with T-T eventually took away many of his thoughts and concerns and made him once again feel very grateful to the unicorn for spending her time to talk with him.

The two were so engaged in conversation that neither even noticed the train’s sudden lack of emotion or the rumbles that came as the wheels rushed through its tracks and gradually came to a steady stop.

“Ahem” a voice said gaining unicorn and dragon’s attention, putting a halt to all conversation and moments of laughter.

T-T froze when she saw her superior standing in front of the coach that both her and Spike now occupied.

Glancing outside the mare cringed when she noticed they had come to a stop, and then cringed even more when she realized that her break had ended ten minutes ago and she never reported back to the superior now standing in front of them.

The earth pony that stood tapping his forehoof gently on the carpet floor of the train cart gave his underling a look that conveyed the message “What are you doing?” with just his eyes, the frown spoke words that Spike wasn’t even sure he wanted to understand at this moment just judging on how this pony was looking at T-T.

Always On Time was about to open his mouth to speak until Spike hopped off the cushioned seats and gave the somewhat large stallion an apologetic look. “Sorry about the inconvenience but please don’t be mad at Tender Touch. She was just making sure I was alright since I hadn’t eaten much since boarding the train. She stayed to make sure I was comfortable and we got talking so I guess we just lost track of time.

I am sorry though if I ruined your staff’s work ethic though sir” Spike stated with a slight drop of his ears.

O.T. as he was referred to on the train looked at Spike, taking a second to recognize him the stallion's eyes widened briefly before his frown slowly faded into a thin lined prim expression. He gave one look up at T-T with that slowly raised eyebrow that could only remind the young dragon of Applejack. It was only after O.T. saw T-T's sheepish smile and wave before he sighed.

“Fine. I understand, I appreciate your apology sir, but T-T knows her break ended 10 minutes ago. She’ll be working extra for this” The stallion stated moving aside as he spoke to give passengers leaving the opportunity to move by him.

Both T-T and Spike sighed a breath of relief, only making O.T. roll his eyes. “T-T, back to work once the train’s moving again and Sir Spike, if you plan on leaving I suggest you leave before Ticketmaster makes his last call.” O.T. stated before trotting down the train cart and going back to his own duties.

Nodding Spike turned to get his bag only for it to be levitated towards him by the caretaker.

T-T smiled at him after handing him his bag before hoping off her own seat. “Well Spike this is your stop right?”

“LAST CALL FOR VAAAANHOOVER!” Ticketmaster’s voice shouted from outside the train.

With a small smile Spike nodded. “Yeah, I guess this is” he said as he worked the large backpack onto his back.

“Hey” T-T said nudging him gently. “Don’t make that look. It’s better if you smile alright. I know you’ve had it tough but things are bound to change here, and besides even with the story you told me it sounds like a lot of people care about you. Don’t forget that okay?”

Spike nodded. T-T was right, things had been a bit tough. Leaving Baltimare wasn’t easy but here in Vanhoover he could make a difference again. Yeah it’d take time but... he’d just need to work through it, show the others he was worthy of the space they were giving him.

“Yeah...you’re right” Spike said. Ticketmaster’s voice called out one more time that the train would be departing soon and Spike glanced outside the cart to see the older unicorn was starting to head back.

“Thanks for staying with me and talking” the drake said as he began backing towards his exit. And once again T-T merely gave him that smile she’d been giving him since their conversation had begun.

“Your welcome, take care of yourself Spike.”

Feeling a lot better now Spike turned to face Ticketmaster who stood in Spike’s path towards the exit. The unicorn stared at Spike for a good few seconds before smiling at him and moving out of his way. “Have a safe journey out there sir.”

Spike nodded a thank you before exiting the train.

Now within the station Spike made his way through the gates towards the exit that would lead him to Vanhoover itself.

Opening the doors and walking through, ponies and more ponies passed Spike by. There were so many that Spike began finding it difficult to see where he was even going.

Eventually it got to the point where he ended up bumping into somepony a feat that would obviously be inevitable.

Curse my short stature, “Oh sorry” Spike said sheepishly. “It’s a bit crowded here and-”

Freezing on cue, something had caught Spike's eye about this particular pony. Perfectly trimmed white coat, black bow tie, golden locks, blue eyes shining white tee-

Oh no.

Oh yes.

As if on cue the unicorn Spike bumped into turned around and looked at the young drake for a few seconds with one of slight disinterest but not the same one he had held at the Gala. No less than a second later the voice replied, “Hello...Spike, when Auntie told me there was a chance you’d be coming here I must admit I had my doubts but then again I wouldn’t pass up the chance to help my beloved aunts if I had the chance. Looks like she was right and I was lucky to just be on my way.” Said a familiarly refined voice that made Spike quite visibly look up with pain at the stallion’s face.

“Prince Blueblood” Spike spoke with a mixture of slight fear and a jumble of other emotions he couldn’t sort out right now. “What are you doing here?”

The prince flashed that brilliant smile of his Spike had only seen once during the Gala, and for some reason it kind of annoyed him to see it now.

“I’m glad you asked Spike, you see I came here for business. Being a part of royalty myself I don’t just sit around in my home and visit the spa all day, I have duties I must attend to that my aunts and well, cousin Cadence cannot attend. Due to their busy schedules I step in for them.

“So you’ll be pleased to know that I did not follow you here to bring you back to Ponyville. I was here on business.” He stated placing a polished hoof to his chest.

Wow, Spike thought, feeling a bit more at ease. “Wow” he said voicing his own thoughts. “Business? What kind of business?” he asked, just now taking notice of the few gold armor covered pegasus that now joined the drake and unicorn’s side.

“There have been a few issues between here and the Neigherlands. Some issues between trading goods and manufacturing timely business deals have occurred here and there also, and Auntie Celestia asked me to check up on here and see if I could do anything to fix it.” Blueblood stated.

“Wow” Spike said again. Maybe you aren’t such high and mighty colt after all.

“Yes well, wow as much as you like but since Auntie Celestia asked me to do something if I found/saw you I intend to do just that.” Blueblood said with a flick of his head so that he may part a bit of his mane that had been slightly blocking his vision.

Spike’s calm nature dropped almost instantly.

“Whoa! Wait wait wait” he said quickly backing up. “You’re not taking me back home are you?” he asked, glancing back at the station he began wondering how much distance he could put between himself, these guards and Blueblood before the chase began all over. Maybe if he threw some dirt in Blueblood's coat the stallion would freak out and the guards were scatter to get him something to clean off the mess so Spike could escape.

“Of course not” Blueblood’s voice cut in disrupting Spike’s thoughts.

“C’mon you can’t...wait...” the perplexed drake paused thoughtfully pressing a claw against his lips as he returned his gaze to the prince, having registered what had been said.

“You’re...not taking me back to Ponyville?” Spike asked a slight waver in his voice as though he were dreaming, asleep on the train perhaps and still miles away from his destination.

“Absolutely not.” Blueblood replied, in the process pushing a strand of his hair out of the way and neatly smoothing his mane back into place. “Now guards” Blueblood stated glancing over at the five pegasi royal guard members that had stood silently throughout the conversation, all now stood erect upon call.

“Sir?” One of them asked.

“Gather my guest here and let’s hurry and catch the next train. I’m heading to Stalliongrad next and Spike is coming with me.” Blueblood stated leaving a confused Spike to get scooped up by one of the pegasus guards.

“...What?” Spike asked the guard as she lifted him up on her back, only to be left even more confused as the other guard carried his backpack and the two took off after the prince.

For a good few seconds Spike said nothing merely in a daze by everything that just happened.

He wasn’t going back home, but Princess Celestia had told him to do something when he was found, and Prince Blueblood wasn’t acting like Prince Blueblood so...what....what was going on?

It wasn’t until a train had already pulled in that Spike managed to only half snap out of his daze and stare at the train with a reserved seat for the prince and his guards that Spike finally had to ask.

“Wa...so I’m? You- You’re not? I.....what?”

Ch.8

View Online

Operation G.A.I.N

Clip-Clop, Clip-Clop, Clip-Clop “....”

A pause went throughout the castle. Then again Clip-Clop came the sound of hoofs on crystallized tiles.

Starlight Glimmer slowly made her way through the castle in silence. In all honesty the mare had to admit this place was a bit more lonely without a certain dragon being here, but if anything at all the mare hadn’t decided to come out of her room today to reminisce on old times.

Today Starlight was out and about for a reason. She was on a mission.

And that was to talk to Twilight about what had happened.

About what had happened between her and Rainbow Dash. It was time to reach out and address the matter at hand or in this case hoof. Especially since neither of the two mares were willing to talk to each other since almost two weeks had passed since the events.

Fluttershy had told her everything herself when Starlight had gotten back from her time away while at the Crystal Empire aiding Sunburst with some of his work and helping him come up with some ideas in taking care of the new princess of the empire.

The mare had gotten back just yesterday, and upon noticing Twilight was present while Rainbow Dash wasn’t the unicorn had inquired where their athletic friend was, and upon further notice, wondered where Spike was also.

The silence the mare was met with was, nothing but daunting. Starlight could still recall the crestfallen image her friends all shared when she’d asked where Rainbow Dash was. Well, almost all of them. All except for Twilight who had let out a rather loud huff of air, that blew her bangs up and out of her line of sight.

At the time it was only natural for her to be a bit confused on what was going on having been away at the Crystal Empire helping Sunburst with some of his other duties as a Crystaller, and working together to aid Sunburst to further bring fruition to some of the ideas the stallion had on helping Flurry Heart have a bit better control of her...moments.

It’d been a hectic few months for Starlight but she had just been glad Twilight had let her go at the time and was even more glad to help Sunburst also with his newly found duties.

But looking back at it now Starlight thought with a frown as she trotted through a vast majority of different doors, searching for the right one that held a library, it probably wasn’t worth all the costs.

In all honesty as Starlight trotted through the castle and tried to figure out which door held the room Twilight was most likely to be in, it wasn’t really a major surprise to the mare that Spike had left. In fact Starlight Glimmer, had expected Spike to leave at some point but...certainly not the way Fluttershy had described.

There had been a few moments after her....reformation where the two had had a bit of time to, talk. And some of the concerns Spike had held at the time were never lost on the unicorn during their little discussion moments.

“I mean....I knew he felt he could do a bit more outside Twilight’s vastly spread light, but leaving the way he did...I just thought he’d tell her he was leaving instead of using a letter to do it for him” she soliloquy stated.

“Starlight?” a voice to Starlight’s left called.

The mare stopped moving so abruptly that she almost tripped over herself. “Yes?” she called after she’d regained the balance she’d nearly lost.

“Are you alright?” Twilight’s voice called from somewhere.

Starlight raised a confused brow at the question referred to her. “I’m fine” she called back, her left ear perking up a bit to get a better track on where the voice was coming from. “Why do you ask?”

“Oh uh, nothing. I just kind of heard you mumbling to yourself and was wondering if you were okay” Twilight’s voice called in return.

The slight quiver of Starlight’s ear as she locked on to Twilight’s voice made the mare smile contently to herself as she followed the sound and moved towards one of the larger doors.

A slight spark emanated from her horn before a light turquoise glow surrounded the large oak doors in front of were gently pushed open.

“Twilight I’m perfectly...fine...so.....don’t worry.....” Starlight trailed off the more she took a look at the room that was once considered a library but now was a large assortment of stacked books that felt more like a labyrinth if anything else.

And somewhere in the center of its labyrinth, was Twilight.

Starlight stared in utter confusion. When she snapped out of it at last the mare took a deep breath in, after her brain had finally been able to process the giant mess before her.

The next step she took was exhale all the air into a loud sigh that made her lips flop aimlessly and smack together creating a failed attempt as a starting leaf blower sound.

Finally the mare raised the tip of her hoof and gently began going in circles around her temple as she realized trying to find Twilight in this mess was going to be a much bigger problem than she thought.

“Starlight?” Twilight’s voice called from somewhere in this labyrinth. “Are you in here?”

The very question for some reason made Starlight inadvertently wince, which only delayed her reply.

“Starlight?” Twilight’s voice asked again with uncertainty that made it quite clear that she was very unlikely able to see over the stack of books, let alone see any where within the many directions around her at all.

A page turned that made Starlight’s right ear twitch and for some reason yet again she winced as a small headache began to form just at the base of her forehead.

Finally the mare spoke, though it was in a much more tired tone than one would expect from somepony who had slept in so late into the morning. “Yes, Twilight....I’m here.”

“Oh good” Twilight said with some cheerfulness in her voice. Cheerfulness that made Starlight wonder if she was trying to mask it out of her concern for Rainbow Dash or if there was something else behind all of this absurdity she’d walked into.

“Um, Twilight” Starlight began as she felt her headache slowly begin to fade the more she rubbed her temple with a hoof. “What are you doing with all these books stacked like this?”

“Research” the mare replied simply. Saying nothing more and nothing less.

Starlight’s eyes merely narrowed at the statement. She took a wise moment to wait a bit before attempting to speak again. “So, where are you exactly in all of um” she waved a hoof around at everything she was looking at. “...this?”

“Somewhere in the middle, why did you need something?” Twilight’s voice asked, slightly muffled by the plop of another book being dropped onto the ground beside her.

There was no reply.

“Starlight?”

Still no reply.

“...Starlight? Are you there?”

A weary sigh came from the other end of Twilight’s wall of books. “Yeah, give me a minute I’ll be over there soon.”

“Should we really be doing this?”

“Why not it’s been two weeks since we’ve seen her!”

“Ah know what you mean but shouldn’t we leave this to, well ya know- Rarity and the others to work out on their own?”

“What?! NO- I mean, yes but, would it really be that bad to check on her?”

"I know you’re worried about Rainbow Dash, but Scootaloo what can we do? Nopony will tell us anything and we can’t just demand information” Sweetie Belle stated.

“Then what am I supposed to do? I mean-- UGH! This is driving me crazy! I just want to help Twilight and Rainbow Dash out but I can’t do that when I don’t even know what’s going on!” The filly shouted with several stomps of frustration.

“Ah know what you mean Scootaloo but we can’t really do that much if our sisters won’t really tell us anything about what happened when they went off after Spike now can we?”

“We can’t just sit around here and do nothing Applebloom!” the frustrated filly retorted. “I mean we finally got our cutie marks because we were able to help ponies that were having trouble understanding their own destinies but-” the pegasus wings twitched abruptly as she bit her lip and kicked a pebble on the floorboards before her.

“I mean, I didn’t think Spike out of anypo- anyone in this town would have a few issues understanding where he, well you know” she said gesturing lightly with her hoof as she searched for the right word.

“Stood with the others?” Sweetie Bell proposed.

Scootaloo nodded, “Exactly. Stood with the others. He just always seemed so content with the idea of being Twilight’s number one assistant so I guess it just never occurred to me that he might have had....other plans in mind aside from being Twilight’s go-to advisor.

"Or maybe he didn't realize it himself till recently? I don't know it just...I don't know."

Hearing this made both Sweetie Belle and Applebloom frown. “Well when ya put it that way” Applebloom sullenly said with lowering ears.

A few seconds of silence went around between the three friends as they sat inside their hideout just outside of Sweet Apple Acres. None of the three spoke for a good while after Scootaloo’s statement.

It was a bit confusing to them in more ways than one about Spike’s abrupt leaving. Scootaloo being the filly she is, had been steamed for an entire month about the whole issue and Sweetie Belle had almost cried when Rarity told her the news.

Applebloom more or less tried to avoid the topic when Scootaloo, her and Sweetie Belle hung out, for one thing it would get the pegasus riled up, and the other Sweetie Belle would get really emotional about the whole thing. In general the whole concept of Spike’s sudden departure just made the earth filly really uncomfortable in conclusion, to think about what Spike was going through. But after about a month or so had passed Pinkie Pie came bounding in about two months later, just a few days before her sister, Rarity, and the others had hastily left for Manehattan, the party planner had gleefully filled them in on how Spike was doing.

It was great to know that Spike was doing well, wonderful in fact that he had somehow managed to pull off as a chef in a restaurant after him leaving Ponyville for only two and a half months, but it was even better to know that he was generally alright and not struggling.

Applebloom glanced over at her friends as the three of them sat together staring at one of Scootaloo’s newest plans that had been laid out in map format for them to see earlier this morning when they came in.

Scootaloo had called it “OPERATION B.I.R.H” when Sweetie Belle had asked what the B-I-R-H stood individually for. The filly had explained it was an abbreviation for “Break Into Rainbow Dash’s House.”

A slight smile formed on Applebloom’s lips as she recalled how she had pointed out the abbreviation needed a “D” in it if they wanted to use Dash’s full name. Other wise it was just “Break Into Rainbow’s House.”

The thought made the filly chuckle, which in turn broke the spell of silence that had been cast on her and her friends, causing them to look over at their earth pony friend.

“What’s so funny about our current situation?” Scootaloo asked with a hint of indignance. Her wings flapped again, messing a few feathers here and there.

“Nothing, it’s just. Ah was thinking back to your whole plan earlier today.” Applebloom said with a small smile.

Scootaloo stared at her with a look of confusion on her face. It took a second for it to click what exactly her friend was referring to. She let out a loud huff in response, her nostrils flaring as she crossed her forelegs together. “Hey I told you it still had some mistakes here and there.”

It was Sweetie Belle’s turn to join in. “Yeah” she said with a light laugh. “A few.”

Scootaloo rolled her eyes at the statement. “So what are we going to do about this?”

“What can we do?” Sweetie Belle asked. “We don’t know anything.”

“Hmm” the three hummed in unison.

Trying to think of a way to get information from their sisters, Applejack and Rarity, without them actually knowing what they were up to. It would be difficult, but maybe. Just maybe they could pull something together out of that magic box called ideas they were so fond of forming.

“We could...” Sweetie Belle began as an idea began forming.

“Yeaaaahhhh?” Her friends responded.

“We coulllld....OH! We could sneak into Rarity’s room late at night while she’s asleep and ask her questions!”

Scootaloo and Applebloom looked at each other, then looked at their friend. Then looked at each other with an incredulous look.

Then gave Sweetie Belle the same look.

Then- “Okay! Sheesh, you don’t need to look at me like I just made the worst discovery ever.” She said sounding a bit hurt and annoyed by their looks.

“Sorry Sweetie Belle but, Ah’m just trying to understand. What exactly could we gain by asking your sister questions while she’s asleep?”

Sweetie Belle smiled profoundly at this question. Getting up and moving to the podium she cleared her throat and spoke. “As we all know my sister Rarity likes to get her beauty sleep.”

“I’ll say” Scootaloo muttered, only to yelp a “OW!” when Applebloom nudged her hard in the ribs.

“Continue” Applebloom said with a smile whilst ignoring Scootaloo’s glare.

Sweetie Belle smiled and did as such. “Well it doesn’t happen often. But every now and then when I feel really thirsty somewhere at night and need to get a drink of water, or go use the little filly’s room, I’ll hear Rarity mumbling in her sleep. And well” a slight blush formed on Sweetie Belle’s cheeks.

“There have been a few times when I go into her room and check if she’s alright, and she tends to say some really weird stuff that I don’t understand most of the time. But anyway” she said starting to turn a bit more red from her friends eyes focusing on her, “I decided to test it out one night and asked Rarity if I could model in one of her dresses, and usually she’d say no because there wouldn’t be one that well you know, fit me because of my height. But she said yes that time!” Sweetie Belle said hopping in place with glee.

But from the raised eyebrows her friends were giving her, the unicorn noticed she’d need to elaborate a bit more.

“I asked her one time about what happened at the Grand Galloping Gala the one time she came back home covered in cake, and she said she refused to speak about it. She told me. Said Prince Blueblood used her as a shield to protect his, wondrous coat” Sweetie Belle stated.

This got their friends attention.

“Wait, really?” Scootaloo asked in surprise. “I asked Dash about that because Rarity wouldn’t tell us and she said that Rarity said she would never talk about it ever to anyone. But I mean, if she said it in her sleep, then hmmmm. Yeah, maybe, just maybe this could work.” The filly said thoughtfully tapping her hoof against her chin.

“Ah don’t know you guys. Ah mean what if Rarity wakes up, isn’t she kind of a light sleeper?” Applebloom interjected.

“Not really. It’s kind of hard to wake her up when she’s up really late at night doing work or pulls an all nighter then sleeps the following day.” Sweetie Bell assured.

“Does she talk in her sleep often? Do you know?” Scootaloo asked, now starting to like this idea.

“Not often, it’s more of a random moment. It just kind of,” she shrugged, “happens? If you know what I mean.”

“So how would we know when to sneak in and ask? And Ah mean, it would be kind of hard for me to sneak out again, you remember what happened last time you two helped me out with that right?” Applebloom reminded.

“Hehe, yeah...sorry” Scootaloo said rubbing a hoof behind her head.

“We could tell Rarity we’d like to have a sleepover at my place?” Sweetie Belle offered.

“That’s not a bad idea. Hey, wait ta go Sweetie Belle you’re on a roll today” Scootaloo said offering a hoof up to her friend.

Sweetie Belle in return hoof bumped the hoof offered to her.

Applebloom on the other hand was still having her doubts. “Hmm, I don’t know you two. I’m still having doubts.”

“Oh c’mon Applebloom! It’d be easier to just do this instead of trying to come up with a new plan entirely. And as you so gently pointed out, my plan’s got a lot of holes in it. With Sweetie Belle’s we can just go in there without any suspicion or danger, and ask our questions. Once we have the know to, we can move on to the go to.” Scootaloo said with a nod and a quick ruffle of her wings in excitement.

“Did you just rhyme at the end of that?” Applebloom asked.

“What--? Yeah? So? Maybe I did, who cares! C’mon Applebloom pleaseeee” Scootaloo said grabbing her friends forehoof. “Please????” she said again, using the signature move of all signature moves.

The puppy dog eyes. “Please Applebloom. Pwetty please?”

Ugh “C’mon Ah was just saying that maybe we should-”

“Pleaseeee” Sweetie Belle said joining in with Scootaloo for back up, grabbing Applebloom’s other foreleg and also using: The. Puppy...Dog (wait for it)...

Eyes! (With extended lip action for super effect).

It was then Applebloom began to cringe under the weight of her friends eyes. Sweet Celestia was this what Ah did Ahen Ah was younger to get what I want?

Doing the best she could to ignore her friends ever increase, crushing weight of annoying yet admittedly well manipulative adorableness, Applebloom crumbled when they continued to use the face of ultimate undoing, and admitted defeat.

With a loud sigh she agreed.

“Alright, Alright.” She said moving her hoofs away from her friends and placing them back on the ground. “Ah understand we’ll do you’re plan.”

“YES!” Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle shouted in unison instantly dropping their act.

Applebloom simply rolled her eyes.

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about anything?” Starlight asked Twilight gently as she read a book about arcane magic runes just across her alicorn friend.

“I’m positive” Twilight said with a smile before returning to the book she was reading.

Starlight inhaled deeply and then exhaled extensively from her nose, I guess I’ll have to try approaching this differently tomorrow.

“So what are we gonna do if this plan doesn’t work?” Appleboom asked as her and her friends began heading towards Rarity’s to ask permission.

Having been close enough to Apple Acres it didn’t take long for them to go and ask Applejack if they could have a sleepover at Rarity’s.

At first the mare had been a bit resilient about the idea, but when Big Mac came up on the scene the three friends had used the very same eyes used on Applebloom to get him to back him up.

It took one look from the big brother and a small smile on his part that was accompanied with a nod to get Applejack to submit.

“I don’t know” Scootaloo said honestly. “I didn’t even know we were making plans, I thought we were just throwing ideas around and picking up the ones that worked.”

Applebloom shook her head.

“If that’s the case then Ah have an suggestion to make in case this all goes wrong. That way we have plan B.”

“You were keeping track?” Scootaloo asked.

“You weren’t?” Sweetie Belle joined.

Applebloom sighed. “Alrighty then, we’ll come up with Plan B later, than. That sound fair enough to the two of ya?”

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle stopped behind their earth filly friend, and nodded to each other.

“Sounds good to me.” Scootaloo replied.

“Me too.” Sweetie Belle stated.

Applebloom nodded as her and the others continued down the street towards the Carousel Boutique.

“So what are we going to call this?” Scootaloo asked.

“What do you mean?” Sweetie Belle inquired.

“Well we’ve gotta have a name for it, don’t we? This is an important task.”

“What did you plan on calling it” Appleboom asked.

The pegasus shrugged. “I don’t know. Operation Get in--Get out?”

Applebloom snorted. “No way, are we calling it that.”

“Sounds kind of...I don’t know it feels a bit wrong if you ask me” Sweetie Belle said with an awkward smile.

"Operation Don't Let The Door Hit You On The Way Out?" Scootaloo tried again.

The obvious lack of desire on her friends faces showed they didn't agree with that mouthful.

“Well what would you two call it then?” Scootaloo asked, stopping dead in the middle of the pathway.

“Ummm....Sleepover Investigation?” Sweetie Belle suggested.

“Operation Gain?” Applebloom offered.

“Why Gain? Sleepover Investigation I get, but Gain?” Scootaloo asked.

“Cause we’re going in to get information on something we don’t know. We gain something, so Operation Gain.” Applebloom explained.

“Hmm...” Scootaloo said with a thoughtful hoof rubbing her chin.

Applebloom rolled her eyes. “Look, ya dragged me into this. The least you can let me do is name the mission.” she said poking her friend gently in the side.

Scootaloo shivered at the poke before glancing over at Sweetie Belle who shrugged.

“Yeah alright” she said after a few seconds of silence. “That works.”

“Good then!” Applebloom stated with a smile. “Now let’s go to Rarity’s.”

“Aye Aye sir!” Scootaloo called as her and Sweetie Belle followed behind.

Applebloom turned her head and raised a brow at her pegasus friend. “Please don’t call me that.”

Ch.9

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It's a Matter of Perspective

The loud hiss of a train echoed throughout the station and within a few minutes four guards were out of the train, waiting for a certain prince and baby dragon to exit.

“Spike.” Came a voice. It was modish, full of poise, yet had a certain something to it Spike couldn’t place his claw on. Regardless it was not welcomed in his sleep.

“Spike.”

Spike batted the voice away with a wave of his hand. He wasn’t in the mood for a rude awakening after previous events. Spending most of the ride trying to keep his distance from Blueblood since the young dragon frankly had no reason to show any form of trust towards the stallion, ended up draining him of more energy than he thought.

Eventually sleep did take over him. But that had only been about an hour ago.

“Spike.” The voice issued again, this time the dragon felt himself being shaken.

Spike groaned in frustration. “What?” he asked with closed eyes, his head buried into his backpack that’d served as his pillow.

“Get up. We’re here.” Blueblood’s voice stated. The brisk sound of hooves touching the ground was what followed based off what the young drake could hear but not see with his eyes still shut.

Spike sighed. Great. He thought. “I’m coming.” he grumbled, rubbing his eyes and allowing them to adjust to the light as he opened them. Grabbing his backpack and soon following the Prince, outside.

The four guards that had been waiting, only started moving once Blueblood nodded at them to continue. Spike lazily followed behind Blueblood, unsure of where exactly they were going, but not really caring too much as long as he was able to hop right back into bed after what he’d been through the day before.

Sadly today was going to be full of surprises for the young drake.

Sleep would be the last thing on his mind today.

Upon exiting the station, Spike was much more surprised than he’d imagined he’d be, but Blueblood didn’t look phased at all by the sight before them.

Gathered in a large collaboration of fillies, stallions, mares and colts, were the citizens of Stalliongard, banded together in a form of a welcoming committee. If Pinkie lived here Spike would have reasoned that she was the cause of such a greeting but the truth of the matter was, these ponies weren’t here for him.

They were here for Prince Blueblood.

The fact only proven by the large banner that stated in bright colors “Welcome Prince!”

In all honesty this was the second time Blueblood had rather caught Spike off guard like this. The first was meeting him, but the second was seeing this many ponies actually being happy to see him. They hadn’t even been fully out of the station yet, but he could clearly see the large banner that was waiting to greet this surprisingly beloved duke.

In fact the moment they exited the station’s quarters, after receiving a few bows here and there, Spike had found it somewhat strange they were acting with such reverance but then again Prince Blueblood was a prince, so it made sense right? He thought they were just being respectful till he heard a voice shout out loud, “It’s him!”

“It’s Blueblood!”

“Hooray!”

“Thank you for all your help, your majesty!”

And it continued. The cheers grew louder and louder until it was just a cacophonous bunch of shouts, cheers, and screams from the welcoming committee, by the time the group had exited the station.

Spike was astounded, shocked, and greatly confused. Ponies actually like him? B-But he’s a jerk! Spike reasoned. It wasn’t so much the fact that ponies liked Blueblood that surprised Spike. It was the fact that ponies tolerated him. Even at the Gala, out of many that had had the chance to mingle with the young prince, not all of them had good things to say about him.

So what makes him so different to these ponies? Spike wondered.

However his thoughts were soon dissolved when he felt a force wrap around him, and carry him onto the armored back of one of the guards. A unicorn guard Spike recognized who went by the name, Blurry.

The ganter through the heavily crowded streets was done at a slow place. Rows of officers, acted as a barrier between Blueblood and the ecstatic ponies on either side, while Blurry and three other guards covered Blueblood’s blind spots as he waved and smiled at as many cheering ponies as he could.

While all this was going on, Spike was still having trouble digesting all of this. The Blueblood he’d met at the Gala two years ago, was definitely not the one he was seeing now. Smiling, waving, not being snooty or upstanding. Was this the same Blueblood he’d briefly met two years ago back at the first Gala? The dragon wondered. Or was this some kind of act he was putting up because Princess Celestia would be displeased with her nephew if he misbehaved around the dragon she practically considered her own.

“There’s no way” Spike whispered, still full of doubt. He’s probably just putting up an act because it's part of his job. Yeah that’s it. Spike reasoned. Blueblood couldn’t be this good of a pony. Not from what Rarity and AJ had told him upon meeting him.

But despite Spike’s doubts all these cheers proved otherwise. It made him skeptical. What did Blueblood do here to earn a town full of fans? He was no hero that was for sure. Especially not from the few things Twilight had to say about him on the few times she went to Canterlot to aid Princess Luna or Celestia.

Nor was he a saint, Spike considered when he thought long and hard about what Rarity had briefly said and since then never desired to speak about again.

It bugged Spike quite a bit. But worrying about it as much as he’d been on the train wouldn’t help him in a crowd of cheering fans, so he simply pushed the curiosity away for a later time.

The farther the group moved up ahead, down the street the more cheering they heard, it went on like this for quite sometime, with the crowd even moving to follow after this beloved prince of theirs. Finally after almost five minutes of walking down the road, they came upon a podium, where a rather bulky looking cinnabar colored pegasus with a acid green mane, wearing a light blue tie stood waiting for them.

To Spike’s surprise, Blueblood actually picked up the pace a bit, moving away from the safety of his guards to approach this stallion.

The guards and Blurry picked up the pace to catch up with the prince’s quick gait, while the rest of the crowd that surrounded them gathered behind the officers that cut them off the prince and this new pony.

This pegasus, and Blueblood met each other just in front of the podium, smiled at each other and once again to Spike’s surprise, Blueblood didn’t hesitate to shake the hoof the stallion offered. And what’s more he didn’t look the least bit whiny or even bothered to ask if his hooves were clean.

“How have you been old friend?” the pegasus asked the prince.

Blueblood merely tossed his head to the side with a confident smile. “Wonderful as usual. How are you and the rest of the citizens fairing?”

“Quite well. But we wouldn’t have been able to do it without your help of course.” The pegasus said with a grin. Both him and the prince now made their way towards the podium, that was directly in front of the city no more than a couple yards away.

Spike gaped in confusion. “What is going on here?!” he exclaimed. Though the question was more meant to be a thought then actually spoken.

Blueblood and this new pegasus being already up the podium and possibly unable to hear because of the hints of cheering here and there, didn’t answer. Blurry however did.

“Oh. Right, I guess you wouldn’t have heard.” Blurry said, glancing back at Spike, who still sat on his back.

“Heard about what? Why is everypony so happy to see him? What’s with the fanclub and who’s that pegasus?” Spike asked.

“Easy.” Blurry said gently to Spike, the young dragon was starting to work up a sweat, and he wasn’t even doing any of the carrying. “I’ll explain in a minute just take it easy.”

Spike’s muddled expression, slowly shifted as he tried to relax. He took a deep breath like Twilight had taught him, placed a claw on his chest and-

“Ponies of Stalliongard!” The voice of the pegasus boomed.

Spike wheezed as he choked on the air he was about to exhale that had somehow managed to mix with his spit. Blurry spent the next few seconds trying to put the dragon at ease while the pegasus beside Blueblood continued, completely unaware of the small heart attack he nearly gave Spike.

“Today, we welcome a good friend of ours. Prince Blueblood! Let’s hear it for the princesses’ nephew!”

The sound of woots, and cheers. Stomping and one or two ponies passing out, filled Spike’s ears, as he managed to wince in a breath of air thanks to Blurry’s help.

“Settle down now, settle down.” The pegasus amplified voice soothed after a few seconds.

“I know we’re all excited to welcome back the unicorn that got us all out of our darkest time, but he’s here due to my invitation and I’m sure the prince has a few words to say for himself. Don’t you, Blueblood?” the pegasus said, flashing a grin at the unicorn, who merely nodded with a calm smile on his face.

The kind of smile that had most likely been practiced for years for these kinds of situations. And that smile alone seemed to get some of the mares screaming.

Spike however winced, because one of them happened to be an officer. When two of the royal guards glanced in her direction though, she immediately tried to recuperate what little authoritative image she had intact.

The pegasus waited a few more seconds. Giving the crowd the chance to get it out of their system before he spoke again. Once they were done, the stallion continued with what little left he had to say. “Well then. I see you’re all very eager. Then without further ado I give you, Prince BLUEBLOOD!”

Spike braced himself for the pain he’d be feeling in his ears, but to his surprise he didn’t hear a thing. He looked around, saw ponies looked like they were cheering. But none of them were making sounds.

He did manage to catch one sound though. Blurry’s voice. It spoke to him, but when Spike looked at him, the stallion’s lips weren’t moving. He was speaking to Spike telepathically.

“Better?” the unicorn asked with a small smile.

Spike nodded slowly, turning his attention to the cheering fillies and colts that were around his age, seeing the grown up stallions slamming their hooves into the ground in applause, and watching the mares whistle away in joy.

Was Blueblood loved this much? But why? What did he do to get all this attention? These ponies they. They-

“They adore him.” Blurry finished for Spike. Practically reading his mind, but it was more of a coincidence or lucky guess than anything else..

Spike, turned his attention to Blurry’s gaze and saw him staring at Prince Blueblood who had now taken the podium and was waving at the group citizens now. They couldn’t hear him speak because of the noise cancellation spell Blurry had cast around them. But the guards who were with them, seemed to be paying close attention to what was going on, as the crowd seemed to quiet down and Blueblood began speaking.

“Why do they care so much? I mean. Twilight and our friends, we’ve saved Equestria so many times before but we’ve never had a welcoming committee held out for us.”

Spike glanced back at the now silent crowd that was holding on to almost every word that Blueblood was speaking. Words they couldn’t hear.

Blurry chuckled. “Well. I suppose, they admire him for how hard he worked to fix the issues the former mayor got them in.”

“Former mayor?” Spike repeated in confusion. Blurry merely nodded.

“See that pegasus up there, beside the prince.” Spike nodded, he’d been wondering who that was the entire time.

“That’s the new mayor of Stalliongard. The previous one was impeached for misusing the town’s salary and trying to cover up her actions which ended up doing a lot more harm than good. A lot of ponies here suffered since their whole system was getting torn apart, and quite a few ponies here left because jobs started dropping.” Blurry explained. “That stallion over there is, Mayor Fold, he’s been taking over since the last mayor got kicked out.”

Spike remained silent after Blurry explained the situation. But one question was still bugging him. “What about Blueblood. What’d he do in all of this?”

The unicorn merely shrugged. “I don’t really know. They said he played a big part, but I wasn’t a part of the team that escorted Blueblood here back when things were falling apart. I only know from what I read in the papers, and from what a few of the senior guards were willing to tell us. I was skeptical at first also but, after travelling with Blueblood for the past couple of months since being transferred as one of his bodyguards, I can kinda see why some ponies get the wrong idea of him.”

“Wrong idea? What do you mean?”

Blurry was about to respond, but stopped when he noticed that Prince Blueblood was done talking, and the crowd had begun to cheer again. “Sorry, you’ll have to ask him when you get the chance.” Before Spike could get another say in though, sound once more began to fill his ears, as sound barrier fell and Mayor Fold moved to speak once more.

“Well, I’m sure everypony greatly appreciates your kind words, Prince Blueblood. Now then, we’ve prepared a little celebratory party in your honor. Ah, and I hear the Princess of Friendship’s assistant is here as well.” Fold said drawing everypony’s attention to Spike.

Spike suddenly felt himself feeling under a whole new wave of pressure as almost every eye turned in his direction.

He let out a weak cough, that echoed in the deathly silence that filled the area. Working up the nerve to offer a smile the baby dragon offered a somewhat confident, yet weakly voiced, “Hi” which in turn was responded with a “Welcome to Stalliongard.”

“Alright everypony!” Mayor Fold’s voice called to attention. “Let’s head on into the town square and get this feast rolling!”

The feast was a hit.

Never before had Spike seen such an arrangement of delicious food before, and never before had he found himself so hungry.

Being on the road and having concerns to deal with along with other heavy things that needed factoring in like how he could get food since losing his job, seemed to do a lot to one’s digestive system.

The good news was Fold had told him it was an all you could eat buffet.

In fact there were two really good things that happened Spike considered a bonus. One the food was delicious and he didn’t have to worry about looking bad as he pigged out from almost an entire day of hunger. Two, he was able to get acquainted with most of the ponies that were in on the feast.

A lot of ponies came up to him and asked him a lot of questions. Many about Blueblood, some about what it was like living with the Princess of Magic, and few relating to how he felt about being a savior of the Crystal Empire.

Needless to say Spike, made quite a bit of friends as the hours passed. The ponies here were nice, not too picky if he didn’t want to answer a question, nor too nosy to ask why he was traveling with Blueblood.

It was perfect. Everyone was having a good time. The guards were all together, with the officers in another section of the town square heading off to a bar to have some relaxation time. While most of the townsfolk talked with each other or even tried talking with Blueblood if they weren’t too interested in Spike.

Time went on. The high celestial body that brought light down onto the town, began to recede and make room for darker skies to take over. The hours flew by and before Spike even realized, after he’d eaten his fill, it was getting late.

Fold closed up the whole feast when he realized this, and thanked everyone, Blueblood and Spike himself, especially for coming out here today.

After the party was closed ponies began heading back to their own homes with day coming to an end. Many said their goodbyes to Blueblood and Spike and the mayor who stayed behind, as they left, and in all honesty it was great. Well except for the few parts where Blueblood would turn down the requests of some of the guests inviting him to their place to give them the "honor" of being the host/hostess to a prince.

Those got kind of awkward.

Regardless Spike had to admit it’d been awhile since he’d enjoyed a party like this that wasn’t hosted by Pinkie.

When most of the residents were virtually gone and the guards had returned, Fold decided to show them the way to their hotel.

It wasn’t a far walk. Took about ten minutes to get there, but Spike didn’t really mind since Blurry offered to give him a ride there.

Once they arrived at Hotel Trump, Fold pulled Blueblood aside to have a quick word with him. Blueblood had the guards go on ahead with Spike and he would be in shortly.

Blurry and the rest of the guard did as they were told, but as they were leaving, Spike caught a glance of Blueblood’s face as they entered the in.

That bright smile he’d been holding virtually all day. Faded quickly. Spike had to admit, he’d never seen a pony switch moods just as quick as Pinkie before. And in all honesty...it bothered him.

“Here we are” Blurry said with a smile, stopping right in front of Spike’s room door.

Spike hopped off Blurry’s back, and began absentmindedly walking towards his door.

“Not even a tip?” Blurry’s voice asked with the hint of a joke, just barely managing to catch Spike’s attention.

Spike smiled at his unicorn friend, thought it was rather weak. “Sorry, I guess I just got a bit distracted.” Spike said before turning his attention to the door knob that was too far away for him to reach.

“Um...do you mind?” he asked gesturing with his eyes.

Blurry stared at the drake in confusion, but when he followed Spike’s gaze it clicked. “Oh! Right, yeah sorry.”

A dark blue glow surrounded the door knob and a click later the door was swung open. Blurry whistled, Royalty class was way better than the standard rooms him and the other guards were sleeping in.

Spike however didn’t really seem to care much about the room, its size, the adornings added to it, or the fact that there was a chocolate fountain where a lamp should be. The young drake’s mind was preoccupied elsewhere and Blurry had taken notice.

“Hey. What’s wrong?” The guard asked, a bit of concern expressed on his face.

Spike didn’t reply immediately. He hopped onto the bed first, removed his bag and just stared at the floor for a few seconds before replying.

Blurry’s muzzle scrunched up a bit. He moved a bit closer towards Spike and sat right in front of him so they were on equal level.

“Spike?”

The drake twiddled his thumbs around in circles. “I’m...confused.”

Blurry raised a brow. “About?”

“In the past few months I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. How much I’ve been able to grow as I first started this journey, the ponies I met and what they were able to teach me. And even now I’m still learning a lot of things that....that when this journey ends, I plan on going back and using as an experience and lesson so I can be on equal footing with Twilight and the others.”

Blurry nodded slowly, not sure where this was going, but remaining silent because he could tell that’s what this situation called for.

“I...I think I still have a lot more growing up to do. I mean, before I thought I was mature enough to do a lot of things but, the past few days I’ve went through have shown me I’m not as prepared as I thought I was when I left Manehattan. And even now I’m starting to see that I still kind of have a childish outlook on things, but-”

A gentle pressure touched Spike’s shoulder. He looked up and stared at Blurry’s confused expression.

“Spike. What are you trying to say here?”

Spike bit his lip and fiddled with his claws. “It’s about Blueblood. I, I guess there’s a lot more than meets the eye. I never had any real interactions with him, except for the Gala so I kind of just wrote him off as a jerk based off of other opinions. I didn’t really consider anything else about him, but since we’ve got here I’ve been seeing different sides to him.

“He’s not as snobby as Rarity briefly described, or from what Pinkie told me. And he’s not as well...bratty?” he tried, trying to think of the right word was hard. “As I thought. I kind of just assumed he was just this spoilt colt trapped in a stallion’s body, but coming here I haven’t seen much of that. He kind of reminds me of Princess Celestia, back when I was really young. She had her sweet sides that I always saw but...she also had a scolding side to her that I never saw much of, but was always wary of.

“I guess what I’m trying to say is, I kind of overlooked a lot of things about him and maybe even other things in the past before coming here. It, I don’t know makes me feel a little, stupid I guess? For not realizing it till now.”

It took a minute. Probably less than that, but Blurry stayed silent for awhile before speaking up again.

“Hey Spike?”

The baby dragon morosely looked up.

“Let’s go see what the prince is up to.”

Stalliongard seemed to have two different features. In the day it looked like the friendliest place on the planet.

At night, friendly was the last thing you’d think went on around here. Then again it kind of made sense since Hotel Trump also acted as a casino of sorts at various times on certain nights.

Blurry and Spike exited the hotel and its large arrangement of guests that they hadn’t seen at the large feast earlier today. The two merely guessed that not everypony was willing to stop what they were doing to meet an important guest like the one they were searching for.

Regardless the two stepped out into the slightly chilly streets of Click-Clack road, and looked around the various buildings that surrounded Hotel Trump in search of two particular stallions.

There was no one. Well no one aside from a few staying at certain diners just across the street, Blueblood and Fold were no where to be found.

That is till Spike heard a voice, coming from somewhere down the street.

Not wasting a second, the drake took off after it, his unicorn compadre following in suit. The voices grew closer and louder, softer and harsher, till eventually the two came towards a closed diner that seemed to serve only donuts and milkshake.

Blurry looked around, but didn’t seem to be able to hear what Spike’s sensitive ears were picking up. So he asked: “Spike, what are we doing? I know I said we should look for Blueblood, but-”

“Shhh!” Spike hushed. He moved closer towards another hotel inn. Just above them on the third floor was an open window.

Spike looked up at it, and for a brief second he was sure he caught wind of Blueblood’s voice.

“Can you get us closer?” he asked Blurry.

Blurry didn’t respond.

He smirked.

“So. What was so necessary that you decided to drag me into this hogwash of an inn, just so we could talk?” Blueblood’s voice asked. It was cold. Very cold indeed, practically devoid of all warmth or friendliness the stallion had so graciously offered earlier in the day's setting.

Fold pulled at his tie, feeling sweat begin to make its way through his pelt.

“Don’t tell me you called me here to vouch for her, Fold.” Blueblood’s hoof tapped impatiently, at the drinks they had been served.

“Blueblood please if you would just-”

DINK

The glass Blueblood had been drinking from hit the table hard as the unicorn's magic released it onto the table. “Fold. How long have we known each other?”

The pegasus wings tensed at the question and seemed to nestle closer to his body. His ears dropped, but rose slightly when he offered a smile at Blueblood’s calm expression and spoke: “A year now.”

“Excellent. You and I worked together to fix this place up didn’t we. It was through my efforts and your hard work that you were able to get selected as the next mayor was it not?”

“Yes but-”

“Then explain to me, my compatriot. “ The prince said rather bluntly, his tone stating there would be no room for interruptions.

“Why should I care about that plebeian, you call a sister?”

Silence filled the room.

Fold swallowed.

“I...I-” Fold coughed. He placed a hoof to his barrel, than took a large gulp of water. “Look Blueblood, I know my sister tried to throw a scandal on you when she was in office, and because of her this town did get into a lot of trouble, but she needs help. I haven’t contacted her 6 months now, and the last time we talked she said she was having trouble finding a stable place to stay. She wouldn’t accept my help but maybe she would-”

“Mine?” Blueblood finished. Fold swallowed again, but he nodded.

Silence fell once more.

"You want me to help your sister, who drove this town into the dirt and had the audacity to try and frame you her adviser, after she was caught?" Blueblood asked.

Fold didn't respond, but from what Spike and Blurry could guess from the lack of vision they had in their hiding spot, the pegasus nodded.

A chuckle escaped Blueblood’s throat, that sounded friendly, but in reality was full of contemptible mirth. Blueblood “We are done here. I will be off tomorrow, and the next time you call me here I suggest it be of diplomatic or political matters.”

“Wait, wait!” Fold begged, his voice practically straining.

The sound of movement ceased, then continued once more. Blurry and Spike looked at each other with concern till they heard the prince’s voice speak again.

“What makes you think she’d accept my help, when she couldn’t even accept her own brother’s? I’m the one that got her kicked out of office, and practically run out of this town. Besides, I won't waste my time on that commoner. And neither should. you”

“Now if you’ll excuse me” Blueblood’s voice said with finality. “I have a spa waiting for me in my room.”

A gentle click from the door came, as Prince Blueblood made his exit. His hooves still carrying that graceful step that could only be fashioned after years of practice and presence with the high and mighty.

Both Blurry and Spike, pressed their ears up against the wall of the room they were opposite in, only to hear the pegasus slump into his seat and sigh sullenly.

Seconds later, Spike and Blurry watched Blueblood cross the street back to the hotel, before they finally made their own departure minutes later.

Both had regretted leaving the hotel that very night.

A Long Journey Ahead

by Black Hailstorm

Ch.1

Ch.2

Ch.3

Ch. 4

Ch.5

Ch.6

Ch.7

Ch.8

Ch.9