Epilogue — Twilight

The rest of the week was awesome.

Applejack and Apple Bloom gladly accepted Spike's help with the Zap Apple harvest the following morning. Then he assisted with the jam-making and once the deal with Filthy Rich had gone through he was even able to help them patch up the barn roof, a job which left him oddly satisfied. They talked and joked and laughed the whole day, and when he eventually remembered to ask, Applejack told him that her favourite song was a tuneful but haunting folk melody called, The River Wild. He didn't recognise it, but Applejack gave him a quick, heartfelt rendition, and it was beautiful.

Afterwards, Apple Bloom and the others had apparently had the brilliant idea that what they wanted most of all for a cutie-mark, was a dragon. So he got roped into helping the Crusaders with all manner of activities that, in the end, were just an excuse to spend an evening having fun with friends in good company. And when the day was over and none of the three had a picture of Spike on their hip to show for it, he made a self-deprecating comment about it being for the best that they not have to look at his ugly face forever and they all shared a good, honest laugh.

He finally got the misunderstanding about his story cleared up with Pinkie Pie. Then she absolutely insisted on hearing every single detail as though he were telling it for the first time back at the party. And when he'd finally finished telling her, she squee'd and proclaimed it the Best Story Ever. She especially liked the part where he gave Twilight the telescope at the party; partly because it was a happy ending, and partly because Pinkie herself made a brief cameo appearance, jumping out of Twilight's cake—and right through the fourth wall, as Spike had Story-Pinkie say hi to Audience-Pinkie, to much delight.

He still felt a little guilty for Fluttershy. When she invited him for a critter tea party to make up for the thing he kept insisting she hadn't done wrong, he accepted only because it would make her feel better. He had to admit it wasn't the usual thing he went in for, but they were far more ease with each other, and a pleasant afternoon in the sunshine trading light, easy banter with a good friend accompanied by tea, cake, and chirping animals was—notwithstanding the huge hungry-looking grizzly bear—a wonderful, relaxing way to spend time. When, at Fluttershy's beseeching insistence, Spike told her honestly why he'd been so bummed out at her cottage, Fluttershy nodded quietly and said she understood. She'd been a bit surprised, she explained. Ponies—even those she was friends with—didn't often stop by for no reason other than to 'hang out' with her, and she admitted she might have fallen back too hard on her instinct to make him feel welcome. She accepted that she might need to rein it in in future, but she promised that she didn't think of him as anything less than a true friend. He'd smiled at that and told her he knew. Fluttershy thought of everyone as her true friend, and it didn't matter how many arms or legs they had.

Rarity wanted to make up for her blunder by taking him first to lunch and then to—where else?—the spa. And in spite of his insistence that it was an unnecessary gesture, she simply wouldn't take no for an answer. He was pampered and massaged to his heart's content, and Rarity ensured that for the whole time there, he was the centre of attention for once. It might have been a little much, but while his aching muscles screamed in ungrateful protest, he had to admit his scales had never shone so brightly by the end of that long afternoon.

The same evening, Rainbow Dash invited him and the rest of the gang to watch her practice her aerobatics over Sweet Apple Acres. She'd got a discount on a consignment of surplus thunderbolts from the Weather Factory, and with them she set four storm clouds in a staggered pattern in the dusky sky over the rolling orchards. Then she performed her Cloudburst on all of them at once, ricocheting from one cloud to the next, lighting up the sky with spectacular electric explosions in every colour imaginable, to a chorus of cheering and a party atmosphere. Afterwards, she insisted on flying Spike home on her back, giving him a lengthy and peaceful aerial tour of midnight Ponyville—a sight he'd never seen before. The village by night from the air was breathtaking, especially with the castle catching and reflecting the moonlight just so. When they'd alighted he hadn't been able to thank her enough, but she'd just responded with a warm smile, a quick wink, and an, 'Any time, Spike.'

And when, the next morning, he received a letter sent from Princess Celestia advising him that Twilight was on the next train home a day earlier than expected, he was right at the station to greet her.

"Whew! What a week!" she said happily, disembarking from the train, her saddlebags in tow. "But I did it. I found a copy of every last book! Most of them are on order, but Celestia's agreed to store them for me as they come in until the Mayor and I can agree on a plan for a new library. So, what'd I miss?" she asked as they slowly made their way from the station.

"Oh, not much. Usual Ponyville stuff." said Spike with his typical, relaxed smile.

"It can't have been that usual," Twilight chuckled. "The town's still in one piece, for one!"

They left the station and made their way into Ponyville, heading towards the castle at the edge of the village. As they continued to chat, Twilight glanced down at him with a peculiar, curious expression and he realised he'd been staring.

"Something wrong?" she asked.

"No," he said, still smiling. "It's just... I missed you."

"Oh, Spike," Twilight chuckled happily and gave him a soft, playful nuzzle. "I missed you, too." They carried on walking. "So? Did any of our friends come by while I was gone?"

Spike stopped a moment and blinked, automatic reply dying in his throat. He looked up at Twilight. "Yeah," he said. "They all did."

"What, all at once? It wasn't anything serious was it?"

"Uh... nah. Nothing that talking to a friend couldn't fix." He smiled again. "Come on. I'll tell you all about it when we get home."

* * *

Author's Note

Edit -- 2nd Edition:
Because I am fickle, susceptible to peer pressure and have no artistic integrity, the final chapter and the epilogue have been edited to better recognise the contributions of our diminutive trio of heros, and the epilogue has been further edited to try and give more closure to Fluttershy's segment.

For this reason, I have republished those two chapters. I'll wait and see if I did the right thing.

Hi, folks.

Thanks for reading as always. This end piece is a little long and self-indulgent, so feel free to stop here if you'd rather not read the ramblings of a mediocre penman with too much time on his hands..

In keeping with my tradition of writing about subjects that have been done before and far better elsewhere, this is my Spike story.

I will admit that the execution may have let me down a bit on this one, but I liked the idea so I tried to muddle through anyhow. It may not be apparent, but when I'm editing I sometimes spend hours stressing over the phrasing of a particular paragraph or dialogue. And this is the best I could do.

But enough about me: let's talk Spike for a second, because he's an awesome, fascinating character who gets too little love, and a few of the comments from you guys gave me pause for thought. Bear in mind that this is all personal preference and your actual mileage will vary.

First off, Spike's age. I thought it was interesting that several folks pointed towards the difference between Spike's age and that of our heros as justification of sorts for their misunderstandings. Specifically, that Spike was a kid wanting to hang out with older ponies rather than ponies 'his own age.' Now... as far as I know, aside from a few dribs and drabs here and there, (Fluttershy is older than Pinkie; Sweetie Belle is over five) we don't know how old any of our characters are, and it seems logical to assume that different species would mature at different rates. So lets take physical age off the table and talk maturity. When you think about it, Spike is fairly autonomous. He cooks, he cleans, he goes to Canterlot on Royal Business by himself. So while he's specifically a baby dragon, he's really nowhere near a baby. I've always figured his 'age' to be somewhere between our foals and our grown ponies. He could be comfortable with either group, and it has been shown that he is. It's supposed to be Spike's increasing insecurity and the belief that he's different in some way that drives him downwards, and yes, he looks to the age difference to try and explain it. But really, as far as the main cast are concerned, it's just not an issue.

Second, a few people said that Spike's friendship with Rarity had a stronger canon basis than his friendship with the others. This surprised me because, Spike's infatuated with Rarity, sure. But to my mind, the pony that he actually has the strongest reciprocal friendship with, is Applejack, and has done since The Ticket Master. There are more 'little moments' that he has with her than with all of the others, right up to and beyond, Spike At Your Service - which brings me to the point at which I lose all credibility. I love that episode. It's got real heart and it does more to further Spike's relationship with ANY of our other characters than all of the previous two and a half seasons combined. And yet, because he's having the mother-of-all off-days trying to impress her, it's almost universally derided. It's not really until Inspiration Manifestation that Rarity's relationship with him gets the same sort of treatment and, to be honest, that episode left me cold.

Finally, I was surprised at how many people thought I was actually doing the, 'Mane Six really aren't Spike's friends' story. Really? C'mon guys, you know me better than that. Sunshine and Rainbows all the way. I'm actually surprised that no-one has called me out yet. All I do is write pretty much the same story over and over with different characters! If you want shocking plot twists and diabolical schemes, I may not be your best bet. As for the characters' various reactions, I do think I stretched credibility to near breaking point. The idea was that Spike is, and always has been, their good friend. But none of them realised just how much he needed to hear that today - they just assumed he knew. I had originally intended for each pony to have a roughly equal level of culpability for their misunderstandings but... well, Fluttershy can do no wrong, I can't blame Pinkie for what was genuinely an accident, Rarity and Applejack are kind of a draw, and Dash really had no excuse. But they all end up blaming themselves, and Spike ends up not blaming them for anything, so hopefully the narrative still works. I was also surprised by how many folks wanted an exploration of Spike making friends outside the main cast. While that's an awesome idea, that was never the intent for this piece. Spike could go and make new friends, sure. But what he desperately wants is to be friends with the ponies he really cares about.

And he is.

Anyway, story's over. I hope you found something to enjoy in it. As always, bonus points for spotting the references. A couple of them were subtle but you might have seen, Hot Fuzz; 2001 (or 2010); Monty Python; and Hitch-Hiker's Guide.

And I apologise profusely for the Drayton Manor pun.

Until next time, stay safe and have fun!

--The Author.