The very next morning at the Sparkle house, Twilight and the Sparkle's were up, but were still concerned about Spike. While Velvet and Night Light were disappointed in Twilight for not realizing Spike wasn't with her and the girls at the after party, their real disappointment was in the idiocy of Sapphire Shores' guard. Knowing Spike was pissed about last night decided not to disturb him and let him come out of his room when he was comfortable or when he needed to.

When the doorbell rang, Twilight spoke up, “I'll get it!” she went to the front door and opened it to see the girls, “Girls, what're you doing here?”

“We came to check on Spike.” Rainbow answered.

“How is he?” Applejack asked curiously.

“I don't know. He hasn't come out of his room yet. And after what happened last night I'm afraid he won't.” Twilight said dismally.

“Oh, Spike.” Fluttershy said sadly, as Pinkie hugged her.

“Well, I have a way to brighten his day.” Rarity spoke up.

“And how?” Twilight inquired.

The girls looked to the side as Twilight looked in the same direction seeing Sapphire Shores, her backup dancers, and even Lockdown approaching from the limo parked out in front.

“Sa-Sapphire Shores?!” Twilight gasped.

“Good morning, Ms. Twilight.” Sapphire greeted.

“Wh-what brings you to my home this morning?” Twilight asked in surprise.

“Twilight, did you say Sapphire Shores?” Came Night Light's voice, as he and Velvet walked over and looked, “Honey, it is Sapphire Shores!”

“Oh, my gosh, a celebrity at our house! What an honor!” Velvet cheered in excitement, before her eyes fell on Lockdown and anger grew on her face, “YOU! You're the one who kept my son from attending the after party!” She furiously yelled, as she tried to launch herself at Lockdown only for Night Light to hold her back.

“Velvet, calm down, you're making a scene!” Night Light tried to ease her, before shooting Lockdown a glare of his own, “But she's right. You have some nerve showing up here after what you did to my boy!”

“Which is precisely why we're all here!” Sapphire spoke up putting the parents at ease.

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked her.

“After I got back to my hotel and gave Lockdown a severe talking to for his disgraceful behavior on the job, I talked to Rarity last night, and we all came up with an idea to make it up to your brother Spike.”

“And how?” the smart girl wondered.

“First off, Lockdown here is going to deliver a personal apology to Spike for how he treated him last night.” Sapphire motioned to Lockdown who hung his head.

“She hovered over me all night as I wrote it up making sure I was being sincere in it. And she's cut my salary in half until I get back into her good graces.” he explained.

“If you asked me he should've just been flat out fired.” Rainbow said, only for Applejack to nudge her to be quiet.

Sapphire continued, “And after that, my girls and I are going to give Spike a personal concert, before taking him out for the day.”

“It's the least we can all do since he was denied entrance to the after party.” Blue Cutie spoke up.

“That's wonderful!” Twilight gasped, “Rarity, Spike will love this!”

“I know he will.” Rarity smiled.

“Thank you so much, Ms. Shores. Our son really needs this.” Velvet thanked her.

“No problem at all, ma'am.”

“Come on, let's go up and tell Spike!” Pinkie beamed, as they entered the house and went upstairs.

As they reached Spike's room, Twilight knocked on it, “Spike, you up?” when she heard no response, she knocked again, “Spike, there's someone special here who wants to see you!”

Twilight looked back at everyone who were confused, “And I thought I was a heavy sleeper.” Pinkie noted.

“And me.” Rainbow added.

“Let me try,” Velvet said, as she approached and knocked on the door, “Spike? Sweetie, it's mom. I know you're still upset about last night, but Sapphire Shores is here and wants to apologize and make it up to you.”

When they once again heard no word from Spike on the other side of the door, they started to get worried.

“Girls, I'm scared.” Fluttershy said.

Twilight sighed, “I should never have to do this, especially not to my brother. But desperate times. Spike, forgive me for what I'm about to do.” Twilight used her magic to unlock Spike's door from the outside allowing her to open it.

When she entered Spike's room, she looked seeing the place was vacant and devoid of a single person, “Spike?” she looked around.

The others entered and saw no sign of him, “He's not here.” Fluttershy gasped.

“Maybe he's hiding in his closet?” Pinkie suggested, as she opened the closet door and looked in seeing no one, “Nope. Not in here.”

“I think it's safe to say, Spike ain't here at all.” Applejack said.

“What's this?” Magenta asked, as she noticed something on the floor and picked it up.

They looked over and saw it was the shattered frame and the picture of Twilight and Spike when they were younger.

“This is Spike's copy of a picture of us as kids,” Twilight recognized, “How did it get broken over here?”

“You two look so close.” Sapphire noticed from the picture.

“Yeah,” Twilight agreed while remembering how they used to be before sighing, “How did I let us drift apart?”

“Looks like Spike's hoverboard is gone.” Night Light noticed.

“And his bag.” Velvet noticed fearing the worse.

Foxxy Trot saw a message on Spike's desk, before turning to Twilight, “Hey, you might wanna take a look at this.”

Twilight looked and saw Foxxy hand the note to her. Twilight looked at it and suddenly gasped, “Oh, no.”

“What's it say, Twilight?” Applejack asked.

“Everyone, Spike's gone!” Twilight announced in worry.

“What?!” everyone asked in shock.

“What does the note say, Twilight?” Night Light asked.

Twilight sighed, and read the note out loud.

To whomever in the house finds this, by the time you read this I will already be out of the city and far from here. I've put up with a lot of things in the last couple of years since I was adopted into this family. Ignored, rejected, humiliated, patronized, pitied, need I say more? And with the more recent events I've realized living in this city is nothing but a curse to me. Nobody gives a damn about me or even tries to get to know me all because I can't do what anyone else can do and act like it's better if I don't even exist in their eyes! And if the city doesn't want me, then I don't wanna live in it. Knowing none of you would want to move since you all have something worth staying for here I decided only I should go. And so I did. And I don't regret it.

To mom and dad, regardless of what I've done, I will always love and respect you for adopting me and giving me a home. But there's only so much you can do for me I'm afraid there's nothing left you can do. And to spare you the trouble I'm renouncing the Sparkle name. So I am no longer your son regardless of what you say. Give my regards to the rest of the family, if they even remember me at all or even care. But at least I know Shining Armor, Cadence, and Flurry will care.

To Twilight, when mom and dad first adopted me and brought me to live with you all, I was ecstatic to have a sister. I always wanted one. At first the time we spent was beautiful. I really felt I had someone I could lean on, to talk to good times or bad. But as we got older you started paying less attention to me. You got real friends, you got a special position by your mentor, everyone wanted to be your friend and praise you for all you're capable of. While I drifted away into a memory. When I tried to make friends of my own, they only wanted to be your friends and just hung around me to get closer to you. And you got to do so much stuff and have fun others could only dream of. Stuff apparently I was never allowed to be a part of, even if the opportunity presented itself you'd always find a way to keep me out of it. You always thought of me as a nuisance! A weakling who always needed to be saved! Even when I tried to prove I could be more than what you gave me credit for you still always acted like it was never enough to prove to you I'm not some weak pitiful child!

If your friends are there reading this, well, girls, you're just as guilty as Twilight. I thought maybe I could've also been your friend, but I guess you never felt the same way at all. Even when you acted like I was I never felt like it. Just like Twilight, you ignored me when I wanted to be included with all of you. You all either used me for your own benefit, made fun of me at my expense, even patronized me like all the other assholes in this city and not even care about my feelings! And what's worse, I actually loved you girls in my own ways. I thought maybe I could've had a chance with either one of you if given the chance. But no, none of you ever gave me the time or day to get to know me at all, and yet I know more about you than you know each other.

Well, now it's all over. Even though you all tried your best to try to make it up to me it only ended in failure for one reason or another. And I just can't take that pain anymore. So I did the only thing I felt was best for me and everyone. I left. If I can't make it anywhere in Canterlot City, then I'll find my way elsewhere hopefully will be more welcoming to an irregular unlike everyone in the city. I'll show you all just because I lack the abilities like everyone else has does not make me helpless. And I would advise you to not come looking for me, because it won't matter. Nothing any of you can say or do to change how I feel. Have fun with your easy special lives.

Your former son and brother, Spike.

When Twilight finished reading it, sadness grew on her face as it did her parents and friends, “Spike really left.” Rainbow gasped.

“Spikey-Wikey.” Rarity gasped, as tears formed in her eyes.

“And it's our fault.” Applejack said, as she covered her face in shame with her hat.

“Wait a minute can't we just track his phone so we can find out where he is?” Pinkie asked.

“We can't,” Twilight responded, as she picked up Spike's phone, “He left it here.”

“He's going off the grid.” Rainbow said in surprise.

“Spike.” Twilight trembled in sadness.

Later on, Twilight, her parents, her friends had went to see Celestia and Luna, with Shining Armor, Cadence, and Flurry Heart there as well. When they decided to talk to Celestia and Luna, Night Light and Velvet sent a message to Shining and Cadence and they immediately came right over.

Celestia was inspecting the note left by Spike, as everyone looked at her curiously, “Well, what do you think?” Twilight asked.

“Based off what's written here, it is plain to see Spike does not want to be found.” Celestia explained.

“Yeah, we got that,” Rainbow replied, “All I wanna know is when do we begin looking?”

“We don't.” Luna spoke up.

“Huh?” the girls asked.

“We don't?” Pinkie asked in confusion.

“That's right.” Celestia confirmed.

“With all do respect Principal Celestia, but my brother just ran away from home and you're saying not to do anything about it?!” Twilight panicked.

“Spike made it clear in this note he doesn't want anyone to look for him.”

“But it's a scary big place out there! Especially for him!” Twilight panicked more, “I mean unlike everyone else he can't-” Twilight immediately stopped when all eyes fell on her knowing what she was going to say and thus proving Spike's point. She dropped the argument and hung her head down, “I pushed him away too hard and wasn't there for him when he needed me the most. Even though I tried to make it up to him something just ended up making it worse for him. Now he's gone.”

Shining sighed, “Even I tried to tell you this several times before, Twily. I listened to Spike when he needed someone to talk to. When was the last time you took the time to actually listen to him?”

“I-I don't even remember.” Twilight admitted in guilt.

“Even I could see Spike's unhappiness several times,” Cadence admitted, “I myself have tried talking to him to help him see the bright side of things. But not even I could help him completely.”

“Uncle Spike gone.” Flurry whimpered.

“But still even if he says he doesn't wanna be found I want to find him!” Twilight said determined.

“We all do.” Rarity agreed.

“I'm afraid I cannot let you do that.” Celestia denied them.

“Why not?” Applejack asked in confusion.

“As Spike said he doesn't want to be found. And if we just go looking for him we're only proving him right, that no one believes he can make it out there on his own.” the eldest of the two sisters reminded them.

“Even so, regardless of Spike's pride I just can't let my brother go loose out there on his own!”

“You seem awfully concerned for someone who had recently barely acknowledged Spike and now suddenly you're worried?” Luna challenged her.

“Of course I am worried!” Twilight snapped, “I may not have paid as much attention to Spike, but I never wanted this to happen!”

“And yet it did,” Luna argued, “It is as they say, you don't really appreciate what you have until it's gone.”

Twilight was even more in despair, “So that's it? We do nothing?”

“I'm afraid so,” Celestia admitted, “Sometimes you have to live with failures as much as you do successes. Mr. and Mrs. Sparkle, I am so sorry for this.”

Night Light and Velvet looked down in guilt, “Even we could've been there for him more, but it wasn't enough.” Night Light sighed.

“And now he's renounced our family name.” Velvet added sadly.

“But if this really is what Spike wants, then we will let him go.” Night Light said, as he and his wife tried to stay strong.

“So will we.” Applejack said, deciding it's best to let Spike make his own decisions no matter how painful it was for them.

The rest of the girls nodded, as all eyes fell on Twilight. With a heavy heart, she spoke, “I will too.” Twilight started to cry, as her friends and family gathered around her to be sad as well.

Celestia and Luna looked just as sad, as Luna spoke to her sister, “It looks like Spike and Twilight weren't as lucky as we were.”

“Indeed not.” Celestia admitted in sorrow.

That night all the girls were in their respective rooms at their homes. Each of them was mourning over Spike running away and that it was because of their negligence and refusal to include Spike in anything he wanted to be a part of with them. But none was more dismal than Twilight. She sat on her bed in the dark with only the light from outside her window shining in.

Twilight had been looking at her own copy of the picture Spike had before tossing it to the floor breaking the frame. She looked back remembering how happy they used to be together.

(Memories)

She smiled remembering how much fun she enjoyed being with Spike ever since her parents adopted him. But soon she started remembering and realizing things changed when she started hanging out with Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and the other girls, and soon became friends with others. And Spike ended up getting left in the dust and rejected by her and she was too blind by her new friendships to realize it. And as the years passed she realized Spike was right about her. She always got to do more fun stuff and go places Spike always wanted to see while he was left at home. Then then recalled the worst memory that truly set Spike on the path of resenting her.

“Why don't you ever let me help out like I do at home?!”

“Because you have no way of protecting yourself unlike all of us because you lack what we all have! You'd just be a nuisance always needing saving and just jeopardizing the mission!”

She remembered the hurt look on Spike's face that day after she said that to him and her friends agreeing with her. She could've had the chance to talk to Spike to explain she didn't mean it but she instead chose to just leave for the mission. Even when she got back her apology to him still sounded more like condescending to Spike. She knew she failed Spike and now she's paid the price by having him run away. He always cared about her, but she barely showed the same level to him as he did for her.

Twilight looked out the window of her bedroom looking out into the city knowing Spike was long gone from it, “Spike, wherever you are. I pray you'll be safe.” tears started leaking from her eyes as she curled up and cried in her knees.

Meanwhile, Spike far from the city was standing out by a cliff side seeing Canterlot City in the distance knowing there was no turning back now if he really wanted to. With his mind made up he spoke to himself.

“I'll show them all I am just as capable as all of them powers or not.” he got back on his hoverboard and went off for parts unknown, and unaware of what the future held for him.

Author's Note

And so Spike has left to strike out on his own. But his path with the girls will cross again, and he won't be alone the next time they see him.