Being the number one assistant of Twilight Sparkle isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Sure, I have a great life. I love Ponyville and all of its inhabitants, and I really do love the library. I’ve cleaned that dusty old tree so many times I could probably point out where every crack in the wall is, what book goes on what shelf, and why it’s absolutely unacceptable to put Star Swirl the Bearded’s Guide to Brews, Stews, and Flus next to Star Swirl the Bearded’s Guide to Spells, Shells, and Wells, but I won’t bother. It’ll use up too much paper anyways.
But a lot of ponies seem to think I’m constantly floating on that figurative cloud in the sky. Cloud 9, or whatever. I’m sidekick to the Princess, the Element of Magic herself! Great, right? Wrong.
I guess the first thing is that she’s got me cleaning constantly, and if it’s not cleaning, it’s doing a chore of some sort or another. Run errands down to Sofas and Quills, pick up a batch of cupcakes from Sugarcube Corner, deliver a message to Applejack; you name it, I’ve done it. I don’t really mind all that much, though. It’s helping Twilight, and she’s my best friend, right? I love her like an older sister. She’s been with me since the day I hatched, and she knows me better than anypony. She never gets overwhelming, and she always lets me take a break when I need it – she’s got this crazy sense of intuition that tells her when I’m tired, even before I know I’m tired. Then we’ll sit down together and play a game or read comic books and laugh. It reminds me of when she was a filly, before she moved to Ponyville, back when Shining and Cadence and I were her only friends. It was a lot of fun then, and it’s still a lot of fun now.
So if all the cleaning isn’t the letdown, then what is?
Twilight is the Element of Magic. She embodies Harmony itself. She’s a Princess now, for Pete’s sake! She has wings! With feathers and everything! And she and her friends are always off on some crazy adventure – saving the town from being overthrown by the Everfree Forest, battling the Lord of Chaos, even just doing regular things like shooing away pesky fruit bats can turn into a wild time.
She and her friends will come home laughing and smiling and talking about all the new experiences they’ve had, that they’ve bonded over together. Experiences I haven’t been a part of. But I’m not a whiny baby, so I’ll come and I’ll help them out and eat food and try to catch up on what’s happened. Half the time I don’t even know what I’m listening too – I’m still confused about what went down at the Crystal Empire, with Ms. Harshwhinny.
Sometimes I’ll be with them, at the start of a crazy adventure, and I get so excited, because finally I’m going to do something! Spike the Dragon will no longer live a boring life, but instead accompany his magical and majestic friends, the Elements of Harmony, as they traverse dangerous plains! Fear not, Lady Rarity and company! For Spike shall save thee from the dreaded Chimer-
Guess I got a little carried away there. Too bad this is Twilight’s last pot of ink, or else I would cross it out. Hey, anyone who happens to read this, just ignore the last few sentences up there, alright?
Yeah, like I was saying. Anytime I try to do anything with them, I mainly just screw things up. When the Breezies came to town, and I jumped on the branch and knocked a whole bunch of them clear out of the sky? I felt so awful. It was all my fault! And that’s not the first time that’s happened, either. It seems like anytime I actually could do something, everything just goes wrong because of me.
So I stay in the library, and while all my friends are out there battling monsters and going on journeys, I’m just at home. Nothing happens. I read a book. Nothing happens. I draw a comic (they’re pretty good, if I do say so myself). Guess what? Nothing happens.
That’s how I learned that sometimes, the worst thing that can happen is nothing at all.
They’re out doing something again right now, I don’t even know what. Hanging at Sugarcube Corner, maybe? Without me? Honestly, at this point, I wouldn’t put it past them. I still love them and all, but it can really get under my scales. That’s when I found their journal, just lying out on Twilight’s table. I skimmed through it, read a few entries, and decided I was going to write an entry of my own.
This is my entry.
Twi, when you read this, I’m sorry. I hope this doesn’t hurt you, because I know you, and you get really easily hurt by stuff like this. I still love you, alright? I’ll always love you, from now until the end of eternity. I just needed to get this out. You call it vent, right? Well, then, consider it vent.
-Spike the Dragon
Twilight lifted her eyes from the paper, violet glazed over with unshed tears. The words determinedly scrawled out by the baby dragon had scrawled themselves into her brain, the pointed end of the quill tracing the words, and she read them over and over again, trying to make sense of it, trying to figure out what to do, for she had to do something. There was no way she could ignore a message that powerful. No way.
Spike was sleeping now; he had been sleeping when she had snuck in, still tasting the delicious remains of her treat from Sugarcube Corner. The previously delicious cupcake now burned like acid in her stomach, with pain, with upset, but most of all, with an overwhelming amount of guilt. Her wings opened and closed, fluttering against her side.
What to do, what to do, what to do…
And then it hit her. Spike had mentioned the days when she, Shining, and him were inseparable – practically joined at the hip. Most of the games they had played back then had been adventure games of one sort or another. Had they been childish? Yes. Had they cared? Absolutely not.
Her friends would never be any different.
Heart racing with excitement, Twilight zipped out the door, hoping her friends hadn’t gone to bed yet, hoping that it wasn’t too late.
The six friends stayed up long into the night, whispering, watching, and waiting.
-
Spike opened his eyes and screamed as he found himself staring into the face of a terrified looking Twilight. “Whoa! Twi, what’s going on?”
“Spike, Pinkie Pie is missing!”
It was her damsel-in-distress voice, her little filly voice, the voice he hadn't heard out of her since the old days. Spike hadn't heard that voice in quite a while, not since they had played games like 'Find Shining Armor.' But hey, any chance to hold onto the past, right? He activated his best worried civilian voice and decided to play along. “That’s terrible, Twilight! Are you and the others going to go find her?”
Twilight gave him an odd look before shaking her head slowly from side to side, voice turning from melodramatic filly to serious princess. “Of course not, Spike.”
The dragon stared blankly at her. “I don’t get it.”
Twilight smiled, and spoke the next words more slowly, as if explaining them to a small child; however, it also sounded as if she was trying to hold back a grin. “Me, the others, and you are going to go find her.”
Spike stared at her, green eyes going wide as the realization sunk in. Slowly he began to tremble with excitement, a wide grin covering his face. “Me too?”
The alicorn nodded, using her magic to levitate him out of his bed and onto her back, where he dug his claws into her silky mane and squeezed tight. “Yeah, Spike, you too.”
Twilight’s wings spread majestically as she headed out the door, making one final remark – “Ready to go do something?” – before it slammed shut behind her.
Author's Note
I really do like the ending a lot. I hope the reaction of you lovely readers is the same.
Another round of thanks to Titanium Dragon for giving me the fantastic prompt that inspired this little one-shot!
