Sometimes, no matter how much we may want something, it is simply not meant to be. I know you must feel it terribly unkind of me to wait so long before saying this, but I don’t feel as though cruelty, selfishness, or even pity are what caused me to hold out so long. It was hope. I was waiting for something to change. In you, in me; it didn’t matter which. I told myself, “once he’s older, I’ll appreciate him.” Or, “once he’s grown, I’ll see something more.” But now you’ve grown. The change I was waiting for came, but it only came for you. My feelings remain the same.
You are a truly precious friend. You are endlessly charming, an invaluable help in times of need, and unquestionably faithful. Nothing could ever make me abandon our friendship, assuming I’m not causing it irrevocable damage at this very moment. But the time has come for me to admit the truth, as pretending otherwise any longer would be unfair and unhealthy for us both. I’m sorry, but… I just don’t find myself attracted to you romantically, Spike, and I don’t believe I ever will.
It began with an argument.
Considering the two of them, it really couldn’t have started any other way.
“I am not sulking,” Spike said, sitting at the end of his bed, arms crossed.
“You are so sulking,” Rainbow Dash replied, hovering at his window with her front hooves on the sil. “You are King Sulkra of the Sulkal Empire right now. Come on, Spike, you are cooler than this.”
“Apparently not,” he muttered.
Dash groaned. “Are you seriously going to be like that?” Floating into the room, she landed in front of him, making a dramatic gesture or looking around. “Where are you hiding the notebook of self-pity poetry?”
Spike cringed slightly and glanced towards his bookshelf for a moment, a motion that Dash caught.
“Really?” she asked flatly, giving him a level gaze. “Should I just go get you some ice cream and a copy of A Trot to Remember?”
Spike rolled his eyes. “Just the ice cream, since you’re offering.”
Dash gave him a light rap on the head with her hoof. “Pft. I’m not buying you anything. I’m here to get you out of this.”
Spike winced at the hit. “My room?”
“Your room, this pity party, town for a bit.” She pulled a flyer from under her wing and tossed it to him. “It’ll help.”
Spike picked up the flyer from where it landed on his chest, glanced at it, and tossed it aside. “The Unity Challenge? Nope. Not interested.”
“Spike, come on! You’ve got to go out and do something instead of just sitting here and moping forever. Besides, I need a partner.”
“Ask Applejack.”
“She’s busy, and besides, I want to do it with you.”
Spike froze for a moment, and then snorted.
“What? I just…” Realization came to Rainbow Dash, and she rolled her eyes before smacking his head again. “I didn’t mean like that. I meant the race.”
“Yeah, I know, but you’re the one who said it that way.” He rubbed his head. “Thanks for the laugh, but I’m still not interested. There’s nothing you can do that would get me out there.”
The next day, Spike and Rainbow Dash stood in line together, the former slouching with his arms crossed, awaiting their turn at the registration desk that had been set up in front of Twilight’s castle.
“I still can’t believe you can do the same pouty-face that Fluttershy does,” he muttered.
“I still can’t believe that’s all it takes.” Dash grinned at him, then returned a wave to Lyra, who was further back in the line with Bon-Bon, another pair of the hooffull of Ponyville residents joining the challenge. “Come on, we’re up next.”
“Rainbow Dash of Ponyville and Spike the Dragon of Ponyville, looking to sign up,” she announced to the earth pony stallion behind the desk.
The clerk nodded absently at her name, but started and looked up at the word ‘dragon’, staring at Spike's chest for a moment, before tilting his head further back to look the dragon in the face. Spike's growth spurt the past two years had left him a bit taller than Luna when he was on two legs—which remained his usual preference.
The clerk blinked at Spike. “I, uh… I don’t know if he can. Wouldn’t it be an unfair advantage?”
Spike sighed. “And I was starting to like this idea, too.”
Dash snorted and pushed past him, addressing the clerk. “And? Don’t pegasi have an advantage ‘cause we can fly? Earth ponies because they’re strong? Unicorns because they have magic? Griffons because they have claws and fly? Isn’t that the whole flippin’ point?”
The clerk squirmed uncomfortably in his seat. “Well, I mean—”
“And this guy?” She nodded her head back towards Spike. “He’s like family to two of the princesses, and has saved the Crystal Empire twice, never mind all the times he’s helped protect the rest of Equestria. You really want to turn him down?”
The clerk kept staring at Spike for a bit, then turned his attention back to the papers on his desk rather than look at the angry pegasus. “I guess… there’s not really a rule against it, or anything.”
“See?” Dash said, suddenly cheerful. “I knew we could work it out. Hey Spike, grab us an entry package.”
He nodded and took one, then followed as she made her way to join the rest of the contestants in a crowd in front of the castle. Soon enough, a blonde-maned mare stepped up to the podium that had been placed at the top of the castle stairs, cleared her throat, and, with the aid of a voice-amplification spell from Twilight, addressed the crowd.
“Greetings, Ponyville,” she began, “and contestants from all corners of Equestria!”
Dash and Spike started at the familiar voice and looked up as one from the contestant package they’d been digging through.
“Harshwhinny?” they both asked one another.
“As you may know, the Equestrian Unity Challenge began many years ago, much like the Equestria Games, as an effort at bridging any remaining divides between the three races after our land was founded through their cooperation. Thus this competition’s unique rule—the partners in a two-pony team may not be of the same kind. It is only through cooperation between the different tribes that success may be found—the very lesson this land was built upon.
“Of course, over time, Equestria has grown and found among its citizens not just ponies, but all manner of creatures. The Unity Challenge has grown in much the same way, having seen griffons, zebra, and minotaurs in years past. Though no changeling has yet publicly entered as a contestant, I have been told that this year, a dragon has joined the ranks. Presumably, he or she will be joining us soon enough.”
There was a murmur of excitement through the crowd as ponies all round Rainbow Dash and Spike starting looked around for the rumored dragon, and more and more of their eyes finally settled on Spike, who, despite being a young dragon, still stood about half again the height of the ponies around him. Spike’s face went red as he tried to sink down behind Dash, but she stepped away with a grin, leaving him exposed to the crowd.
“Whatever happened to Loyalty?” he said to her.
“I’m still here for you. I’m just not gonna protect a fire-breathing dragon from the horrors of being looked at.” She rolled her eyes at that, but was still smiling. "As if you could really hide behind me, anyway."
“I thought dragons were supposed to be bigger,” a voice in the crowd said.
That got Spike to his feet, a finger pointed at the speaker in indignation. “Hey, I’m still growing!”
Up on the podium, Ms. Harshwhinny was approaching the end of her opening speech. “And without further ado, allow me to introduce our contestants! Beginning with the one that has caused the biggest stir, Spike the Dragon of Ponyville and Rainbow Dash of Ponyville.” Ms. Harshwhinny seemed to digest what she had just said, and then sighed as her face fell. “Oh. It’s those two. Well, I’m far less enthused about a dragon joining, now.”
Spike groaned at the comment. “And that’s why I didn’t want to be the center of attention.”
“Don’t worry, Spike, I’m here for ya!” Dash put a wing over his shoulders. “Even when you’re kind of being a dork about things.”
Spike rolled his eyes. “If you’re just going to make fun of me, too, I’m going home.”
He took a step back towards the castle, but Dash leapt in front of him. In the background, Harshwhinny continued reading off the list of contestants, though Spike and Dash tuned out all of it aside from the occasional name they recognized from around Ponyville, such and Lyra and Bon-Bon, or Time Turner and Ditzy Doo.
“Spike, come on. I’m not teasing you.” She blocked his path with a spread wing. “You’re awesome. The dorkiness just, you know… adds a bit of fun to it, that’s all.”
“Uh-huh.” He took a step to the side to get past her. “Doesn’t seem like it, lately. Thanks for trying to cheer me up, but if you want an awesome partner, you can do better than me.”
"Hey, I chose you because I wanted you. If it was just about cheering you up, I'd have pawned you off to Pinkie or something. She's better at that stuff than me." She put a hoof on his chest and pushed him back towards where they'd been standing. "And seriously, look at you. You're literally a fire-breathing dragon. You've got claws and stuff, you're stronger than anypony except, like, Macintosh, and you're crazy tough. Never mind what I said to the guy at the desk—you're an unfair advantage."
"You mean it?" Spike relaxed and stood a bit taller, then frowned. "How about the dorkiness, then?"
Dash snorted. "Come on, you're just like Twilight on that one. Sure, she can go hoof to hoof with monsters like Tirek, laser-blast mountains apart, and teleport all over the place, but then she goes off on egghead rants about books or skips around like a little filly when she's happy. It's part of what makes her great."
“Yeah, I guess you’re—”
“Lightning Dust of Cloudsdale and—ugh—‘The Great and Powerful’ Trixie of Mustangia.”
“Wait, what?” Dash and Spike spoke as one, and looked up at Harshwhinny’s latest announcement.
“What’s she doing here?” Spike asked.
“Dust or Trixie?”
“Yes,” Spike said. “But mostly Trixie.”
“I was thinking about Lightning Dust,” Dash said. “But yeah, I’m wondering about both of them.”
“I'd say we were here for the challenge,” came a voice from behind, “but it's not like anypony here is going to be keeping up with me.”
“Don’t you mean ‘keeping up with us’?” came a second.
Dash and Spike turned with a mutual groan to find Lightning Dust and Trixie behind them, both with smug grins—though the former’s seemed directed at her partner more than the two in front of them.
“Oh, please,” Lightning said to her. “As if your little sideshow routine is on my level. Face it, mustang, I just needed a partner, and you needed somepony’s coattails to ride.”
Trixie turned and glared at Lightning. “If Trixie didn’t need you for this competition—”
Lightning rolled her eyes and turned back to Rainbow Dash. “By the way, Dash? They don’t give charity points, so I don’t know why you’re handicapping yourself by taking a baby dragon as a partner.”
“Juvenile dragon,” Spike objected. “There’s a huge difference.”
“Juvenile, huh?” Lightning snorted. “Nevermind, maybe you two are perfect for each other, after all.”
Lightning turned and walked away from them, making her way forward to where the other contestants were lining up for the start. Trixie gave the back of Lightning’s head another glare, but took a moment to turn back and sneer at Dash and Spike before hurrying to follow her partner.
Spike sighed. “Well, this is off to a great start.”
“You know what?” Dash started towards the line of contestants, pausing to make sure Spike was following. “I wanted to win this thing on principle. But now I want to win just to make sure those two don’t.”
"Find it yet?" Dash called from the lakeside.
Spike pulled his head up and began treading water. "If I had, would I still be swimming around down there?"
Dash groaned and rolled her eyes. "I get that, but come on! Status report! We're falling behind!"
"Our status is that I still haven't seen it, and I'm still the only one looking." He shot her a glare and dove back under with a splash.
"You agreed you'd be better at it!" she called back, but he was already gone. She stuck her tongue out at the ripples he left in the water, then dropped down to lie on the sand.
He had agreed to do the underwater search. Spike could see better down there than her, could hold his breath way longer, was a better swimmer, and his scales would dry much sooner than her coat. It seemed to her that being reptilian was a pretty sweet gig sometimes, even before you looked at the fire-breathing and stuff.
So what if her idea on the first set of challenges had cost them some time? They'd just have to pick up the pace to make up for it.
She still thought it was a good idea. She'd fly around and grab the early flags that were meant to break up the herd, while Spike went on to the lake where they’d meet up again. Unfortunately, they only had the one map, and Spike got a bit disoriented somewhere.
But hey, she found him, and even if they didn't really score any extra flags with her plan, they just needed to get a move on to make up for the lost time, and it'd be all good.
So, Spike needed to hurry up.
It wasn't long before her demands were met, as Spike reemerged from the lake with a splash and began swimming to show, holding a flag above the water.
"Finally spotted them!" he called to her.
"Alright, Spike!" Dash jumped up as he pulled himself from the water.
He tossed her the flag as he wiped the water from his eyes, and she could it from midair with a triumphant grin—which fell once she had a good look at it.
"Spike, what's this?" she asked.
"Um." Spike finished rubbing his eyes and looked at her. "The flag."
"Look closer." She held the flag up, and instead of being a solid color with a number and symbol marking where it had come from, the flag was two tones of blue, with a lightning bolt on one side and a magic wand on the other.
Spike blinked. "Why is it Trixie and Lightning's cutie marks?"
"I dunno, Spike. You're the one who found it."
“But I found where the map said they would be! That had to be the right place, unless…” He groaned. “Unless Trixie and Lightning got here first and swapped them out for fakes.”
“What? Aren’t there supposed to be ponies watching over all the actual challenge locations? Wouldn’t they see them cheating and stop it?”
Spike shook his head. “They’re supposed to, but I don’t know. Maybe the observer was distracted, or maybe they did it in a way that couldn’t be seen from wherever they watch from…” He paused and rubbed his chin. “Actually, that might be it… Hang on, I’m going to go check this out!”
Spike ran back down the beach and back into the water, getting a short way from the shore before diving back in with another large splash and vanishing under the surface.
Dash stared after him, and then looked to the flag she still held. She gave it a glare that was entirely unsatisfactory, as it wasn’t aimed directly at Trixie or Lightning, and threw it down to the sand, then dropped back down herself. However, right in front of her, the flag had managed to enter the sand stick-first, and stood, improbably, perfectly upright. In the face of such blatant mockery from the unknowable forces of the universe (she often suspected they were Discord, but as far as she knew, he wasn’t around at the moment), she could really only respond in one way.
And so, to pass the time until Spike’s return, she started pounding the stick into the sand while muttering vague threats against Lightning Dust, Trixie, and ponies she disliked in general—even those who hadn’t actually had anything to do with the day’s events. She also idly wished she’d told Spike to torch the flag, first, as that seemed like it would be a much more cathartic way of dealing with the trickery in play here, but that was secondary to hating everypony right now.
Those musings on the general hostility and unfairness of life—and the joy of burning things that belonged to people you didn’t like—were interrupted by another series of splashes as Spike reemerged from the lake, another flag clutched in his claws.
“I was right!” he called out as he began his swim back to shore. A few moments passed before he pulled himself out of the water and shook most of it off, then tossed Dash a new flag, which she allowed to land in the sand in front of her. This one, however, was a solid blue with a water symbol and some numbers on it. “They just scattered the real flags and put their own in place down there. It was all underwater, so the watchers didn’t see a thing.”
Dash jumped to her hooves and snatched up the flag. “Awesome! Now we can get moving and get another flag in before before dark! Come on, Spike, to the castle!”
She flew off, leaving an irritated Spike to follow behind on foot.
“You could at least have said thanks,” he muttered. “Oh well. The castle has to be better than this, at least.”
The sun was setting as Spike finally crossed the old bridge and approached the ancient castle, to find Rainbow Dash pacing back and forth in front of the main entrance. She spun to face him at the noise of his approach.
“Finally!” she said. “What took you so long?”
Spike gave her a level stare. “I had to walk. Through the Everfree Forest. And you took the map again. You’re lucky I remember the way to the castle thanks to coming out here with Twilight or Luna so often.”
Dash paused. “Oh. Right. Sorry about that.” She rubbed the back of her head. “But you’re here now, so let’s get going and get another flag!”
Spike shook his head. “Alright, alright. I’d be concerned about the dark, but with how well I know this place, we should be fine.”
As they made their way into the castle, Spike reached up and took an old torch from a spot on the wall and lit it with a quick puff of fire breath. They made their way further into the castle, the sky outside growing ever darker, until, by the time they reached the central hall, his torch was the only source of light.
Glancing around at the shifting shadows cast by Spike’s flickering torch, Dash took an unconscious step towards him. “You’re sure you know this place that well?”
“Of course,” Spike said, one hand on his hip and head held high. “Between Twilight’s research, Luna’s restoration project, and… Well, I practically live here half the time. Trust me, I know every trick this old place has.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, there was a loud click from a tile under Spike’s foot. Dash barely had time to glare at him before a hatch on the ceiling opened up and released gallon upon gallon of water over their heads, putting out the torch and thoroughly soaking them both.
After a few moments of nothing but the sound of dripping water in the pitch-dark room, Dash cleared her throat.
“Practically lived here, huh?”
Spike sighed. “I’ll go get a new torch.”
Soon enough, they were back on track and making their way deeper into the castle, though not without a few hiccups, mostly in the form of traps that Spike had either forgotten about, or never been aware of. For her part, Rainbow Dash didn’t know where any of these traps were, as her experiences with the castle had been much less frequent than his, as well as generally frantic in nature, and so the was forced to follow his lead.
It wasn’t exactly working.
“You’re sure this is the right one this time, Spike?” Rainbow Dash hovered near the ceiling, her hoof held just shy of touching a sconce on the wall.
“Yeah, I’m sure,” Spike said from the ground below. “Last time we… Look, I told you, it’s based on the Fiboneighci sequence.”
“I don’t know what that is, and the last three times it was wrong.” Dash gingerly placed her hoof on the sconce.
Spike rubbed his chin and continued explaining to nopony in particular. “Actually, since the castle is over 1,000 years old, and Fiboneighci lived just 700 years ago, it suggests the sequence was already known, and its name is a misnomer. I’d have to ask Twilight.”
“I’m gonna push it.”
“Huh. Or maybe I could be wrong about that. Maybe it was based on primes.” Spike snapped his claws and turned back to Rainbow Dash. “Hey, don’t push that one, I think it was based on—”
But he was interrupted by a loud click as Dash pushed the sconce down, and then a yelp as that section of wall spun and swept her into whatever manner of trap lay behind it. That the noises continued with several thumps, grunts, and incidents of language inappropriate for fillies, concluding with a splash, suggested the answer to that particular mystery.
“Primes.” Spike sighed. “Okay, back to the garden pool again.”
By the time Spike followed the noises and sound of running water back to the outlet he’d found Dash, himself, or both of them, in after most of the recent traps, she was already dragging herself out of the pond, soaking wet with bit of algae stuck to her coat.
“You think maybe we should just give up for the night?” Spike asked.
Dash shook her head. “No, we’re not giving up. Not even for the night. I’m not going to rest until I get my hooves on the next flag. And what’s up with you, anyway? You could find everything in Twilight’s library, and then you were the one who had to tell her how to find her way around her own castle. Now you’re missing, like, everything here. What gives?”
Spike shrugged and looked away. “Guess I’m just distracted, is all.”
“Well get your head in the game, alright? I’m not trying to put this competition above our friendship or anything, but I’m getting a little tired of getting hurt.” She shivered. “Or wet. Most of the things you’ve done have ended with me soaking wet. Seriously.”
“Sorry.” Spike rubbed the back of his neck. “So, we’re going to keep going?”
“Duh. We’re not getting held up over this.” Dash shook herself off again, flicking a hoof a few times in an attempt to get the last of the algae off. “But are you going to be able to lead on, or should I just guess my way through it?”
“No, I got it.” Spike took a deep breath, and turned to the other side of the garden. “I think it’s easier to go this way.”
Spike lay in his sleeping bag, watching the night sky, while Dash sat between her own and the fire that Spike had made for them, spreading her wings and turning back and forth to give her coat even exposure to the heat.
“Man, I flew through a bunch of clouds and I still didn’t get all that green gunk off.” She sighed and flopped back onto her sleeping bag. “At least I’m dry now, though, right?”
“Huh?” Spike started and glanced over to her. “Oh. Yeah.”
Dash rolled over to look at him. “Seriously, Spike. What’s been eating you this whole time?”
Spike was quiet for a few minutes, but just before Dash could ask something again, he finally broke the silence. “Remember I said I came here a lot with Twilight and Luna? Well, I did, but they aren’t the ones I was usually here with. It was Rarity.”
“Oh.” Dash dropped back onto her sleeping bag again. “Sorry.”
Spike shook his head. “It’s fine. I mean, I have to get over it eventually, right? It’s just kind of hammering it home, being out here again.”
“Yeah, I can see that,” Dash said, joining him in watching the sky. “You deserved better.”
“No, I didn’t,” Spike said, and then held up a hand when he saw Dash open her mouth to object. “No, really. I said something like that to AJ right after it happened. She chewed me out pretty good for it.” He cleared his throat, and then continued in an exaggerated country accent. “Ah know yer real sore ‘bout this, Spike, but she had ta work out her feelin’s, an’ she don’t owe ya nothin’ for not feelin’ how ya’d rather she feel. It ain’t right fer ya to go an’ act like ya got a bigger say in her feelin’s than she does, jus’ cause ya spent a lotta time on her.”
Dash snorted. “Oh wow, that is the worst take on her accent, ever.”
“Yeah, I know,” Spike said with a slight smirk. “I didn’t say giddyup or yeehaw even once. I probably left out a few darn tootins, too.”
And that sent Dash into a fit of giggles. “I’m gonna have to share this with her later. You know that, right?”
“Yeah.” Spike stretched. “She did have a point, though.” He was silent for a moment, then sighed. “Maybe things just can’t work between a pony and a non-pony.”
“Don’t say that,” Dash said. “Hay, I’ve done it.”
“Wait, seriously?” Spike rolled over to look at her. “Who with?”
Dash groaned. “Can we just pretend I didn’t bring that up? I don’t like talking about it. There’s reasons I haven’t dated in years.”
“Oh. Okay sure.” Spike rolled over and a silence fell over the pair again for a time. Then he glanced over to her again. “Gilda?”
Dash rolled onto her stomach, pulled the sleeping bag over her head, and growled at him.
Spike grinned. “Yeah, it was Gilda.”
“You want to sleep under a personal thunderstorm?”
Spike snorted again, and a silence fell over their camp as they settled in for the night.
“Wow,” Spike said, pointing at the gap in the cliff face ahead of them. “What is that?”
A few days had passed since their misadventures in the ancient castle, and the strain it put on their partnership was now mostly forgotten in the wake of several successful flag captures. However, their next challenge loomed just ahead.
Mist poured out of the opening in the cliff, flowing across, and eventually over, the land until it rejoined the normal cloud system over Equestria. Even as far away as they were from the cliffs, it was impossible not to notice the wind blowing constantly from their direction.
“Howling Canyon,” Dash said. “We’re near the other side of the Everfree, now. There’s a weird combination of pressure systems around the canyon that make it act like someone pulled the drain plug on the sky. Wind blasts through there and pulls clouds out of the Everfree sky, then eventually dumps them into the skies over the rest of Equestria. This is where a lot of the stray clouds that weather crews clean up come from.”
“And there’s a flag in there?”
Dash nodded. “That’s what the map says. On the far end, too.”
“Can we just go around and get it from that end, then?”
She shook her head. “No, for two reasons. One, it’ll take the whole day to go around the long way. Two, there’s a steep path on the far end that the wind blows almost straight down. Climbing up is hard. Climbing down gets you killed.”
“Wow,” he repeated. “How do you know so much about this place, anyway?”
“Beyond weather team stuff?” Dash grinned. “Come on. A dangerous, possibly lethal, challenge that only the strongest flyers could possibly tackle? I tried to fly the thing, duh.”
“Seriously?” Spike turned to stare at her. “That must have been intense! What was it like?”
Dash laughed. “Like breaking two legs, five ribs, and a wing in three places. And getting a concussion. I was like thirteen, and even stupider than most ponies that age. Nopony can fly down Howling Canyon.”
Spike stared at her, then turned to the canyon. “And now we’re going to try it again anyway?”
“Fly it? No way.” Dash stepped behind Spike and nudged him forward. “We’re going to walk up it, and I’m going to be hanging onto you for dear life.”
“That’s our plan?” Spike’s face fell. “You ride me the whole way?”
“What?” Dash hopped up and hung onto Spike’s back from his shoulders. “I like this plan.”
“You would.” Spike rolled his eyes, but started toward the canyon.
As they drew closer to the canyon, the wind became ever stronger. Multiple times, a small shift caught Spike off-guard and he was forced to stop and steady himself. But it wasn’t until they reached the canyon entrance itself that the wind’s strength made itself fully known. At that point, Spike was forced to lean forward into the wind and dig the claws on his feet in with each step. Even with his strength and claws, it was slow going against the wind, particularly when the thick mist was virtually blinding them both, almost making it feel like they were walking vertically up a waterfall.
Neither could be certain how far they’d come, how long they’d been in the canyon, or even how late the day had become, beyond night having not yet fallen. Even conversation was out of the question, for the roaring of the wind drowned out everything else, nor was there any shelter to take a break and converse—the fierce winds had long ago worn the entire canyon smooth.
However, they soon came across something unexpected—a dark shape on the path ahead, barely visible through the mists. As they drew closer, it resolved itself, though the revelation was no less perplexing—a unicorn mare lay across the unmistakable shape of a changeling, her magic forming a half-shield around them to guard from the wind, but the flickering light of her horn a clear indication that she wouldn’t hold out much longer.
Dash tapped Spike on the shoulder and pointed at the pair with one hoof, clinging that much tighter with the other. Despite that, she still slipped slightly and had to fight to regain her position.
Spike nodded and began making his way toward the unicorn, bending down and putting a hand on her shoulder. The unicorn started at the unexpected touch, but Rainbow Dash leaned over his shoulder and tried her best to convey that they were there to help with frantic hoof-waving. Fortunately, her message seemed to get across, and the unicorn relaxed slightly. However, when Spike went to pick her up, she refused to let go of the changeling.
Dash once again tried to communicate through gestures, but didn’t seem to be making any headway. Finally, the unicorn shut her eyes, gritted her teeth, and flared her horn, extending her shield and thickening it further against the winds.
“I know what he is! Just help! Please!” she screamed over the noise of the wind.
The effort was too much for her, though, and her horn went out as she collapsed. She was caught by the wind, but before it could sweep her away, Spike lunged for her and just barely caught her in one hand. The movement jostled Dash from her position, and she had to scramble to regain a grip, but did manage to cling on. Holding the changeling down with one leg, Spike kept the four of them in an awkward pose while Dash pulled herself up and repositioned herself hanging onto his front. A few more moments of shuffling, and Spike had the unicorn and changeling under his arms. With a glance to Dash, he slowly resumed his walk up the canyon.
They had apparently not been far from the end, as, despite the load, it didn’t seem long at all before they reached the far end of the canyon and discovered the flags stuck to the wall. The unicorn recovered enough to take one for each team in her magic, and some shuffling indicated the changeling was at least conscious once again, as well.
However, up the cliff face, the situation was much more dire. Beneath the flowing mist, it was clear that part of the narrow path that was the only safe route out of the canyon had collapsed. Spike looked at it, then to his claws, then his companions. The suggestion was clear to the other—he could climb, but what about them?
Something passed between the unicorn and the changeling—no words were said, but their expressions suggested conversation. After a moment, they began repositioning themselves, hanging onto each other and Spike’s shoulders. The changeling lit his horn, and the green cement-like goo they produced suddenly appeared on their joined hooves, rapidly solidifying. Spike jumped at its appearance, but the reason became clear soon enough—with their hooves joined together and them hanging from him, his arms were free for the climb.
Spike nodded to them, only to see the changeling was out again. He grimaced, and then began the slow climb up the cliff face.
After what felt like hours of struggle, he rolled onto the flat ground at the top of the cliff, dumping his passengers onto the ground as well. The four of them lay there for a moment, Spike panting for breath, while Dash and the unicorn just seemed dazed by the whole incident. The changeling was still unconscious. Fortunately, though, the stuff he’d locked their hooves together with had started to crumble and fall away just as they reached the top, and now it was an easy matter to brush any remaining away.
Eventually, Dash pushed herself up. “That was insane. Seriously, we should just rename that, like, The Cliff of Insanity in honor of how nuts it was that you pulled that off.”
Spike could only nod and grin.
Dash turned to the unicorn. “So, what’s you guys’ story, anyway?”
Just as the unicorn opened her mouth to answer, she was interrupted by a series of howls from the nearby forest.
Dash spun to face them. “Seriously? Timeberwolves? After what we just went through?”
Spike rolled over and pushed himself up to his feet. “They shouldn’t even be anywhere near the competition in the first place,” he said, still breathing hard.
A glance down showed the changeling was still out, and he doubted the unicorn was in any shape to defend herself, either. When Rainbow Dash stepped towards the sounds, it settled the matter—he stepped up as well.
The timberwolves crashed through the treeline, heading for the ponies and dragon. Dash took off, not quite as quickly as her usual, but still fast enough to stay out of reach of their teeth. She circled above them, keeping their attention on her as Spike moved in as well. He still wasn’t fully recovered, so he’d have to be careful, but he had a good idea of how to handle this.
“Dash! Try and bring them my way one by one!” He stopped in a clear area and readied himself upon seeing her nod in reply.
She did as she was asked, and lead a timberwolf in his direction. By the time it realized there was something else in front of it, it was too late for the wooden creature, and fire breath capable of melting iron made quick work of it’s flammable body. However, the other wolves were wary of him upon seeing one of their number put down permanently.
Dash switched up her tactics, moving from just serving as bait to harassing the wolves with swoops and kicks. Those she couldn’t bait towards Spike, she did her best to drive towards him. For his part, Spike kept steadily advancing towards the wolves as well, keeping pressure on them as he took out two more.
One wolf fled into the forest, leaving Dash to focus on the one, though it seemed reluctant to go anywhere near the young dragon. Just as Spike was considering just charging the last one, there was a growl from behind him, and a timberwolf—apparently the very one that had vanished into the trees earlier—leapt out at his back.
He spun to face the wolf, but there was no way he’d draw in enough breath for a flame before it caught him. He braced himself for the incoming injury, only for a bolt of green magic to strike the timeberwolf and fling it aside. A glance back to the others showed the changeling struggling to its feet, a faint glow still around its horn.
Spike grinned and turned back to the wolf he’d been dealing with before. It had allowed itself to come far too close, expecting its ally to distract their foe, and there was no escaping Spike’s flames at this point. With the final timberwolf down, Spike groaned and dropped to the ground.
“You know what?” he said. “I think I’m just going to lie down right here and not move for a few hours.
“…And so a friend sent me a picture of my dear husband in Manehattan just like he was meant to be—and also in the arms of another mare. I confronted the stallion who’d been in my home the past few weeks, and he confessed and revealed himself for what he was. He begged me to let him go in peace, that he was just trying to live without causing anypony too much harm, but… I thought about it, and Springtail had been a better husband to me than my actual husband ever was, and that’s not even considering the cheating. So I got a divorce, Springtail invented a new persona to adopt, and we married soon after.”
Fine Line smiled as she finished her story, stroking the mane of the changeling sleeping beside her.
“Seriously?” Spike asked from the other side of the campfire. “You accepted a changeling, just like that?”
Fine shrugged. “Well, it wasn’t without precedent. This was after Ladybird in Canterlot and Dartwing in the Crystal Empire had publicly revealed themselves, after all. So the idea of a ‘good’ changeling was already out there. When I found out he was one of the Hiveless, I considered how he’d treated me and his behavior in general, and gave him a chance. I haven’t regretted it.”
“Huh. Glad it worked out for you guys, though.” Spike smiled at her and laid down on the ground beside the fire.
“Are you sure about letting us take the sleeping bag? I’d have to leave you uncomfortable after all you did for us.”
“I’m fine. Besides, both of you totally exhausted your magic. You need to recover.”
“If you insist,” she said, lying down with her husband. “Good night, Spike, and thank you for everything.”
The next morning, Rainbow Dash awoke feeling oddly warm. It took her a moment to realize that was because, at some point during the night, Spike had rolled over and put his arms around her. She blushed at how he was spooned up against her, but there was another thought in the back of her mind—she missed this. Sure, Dash might have been one of the biggest tomcolts out there, but it wasn’t like she didn’t want companionship or anything. And who says physical intimacy is just for fillies?
Dash closed her eyes and tried to relax and steer her thoughts away from the direction they’d been headed.
The former was much easier, given her surprisingly comfortable position, than the latter. But nevertheless, she refused to engage in introspection before breakfast, and the idea that she might be developing an interest in Spike was something that demanded some personal analysis.
There was a soft chuckle from the other side of the camp, and she glanced up to see Springtail awake and idly brushing a leg over his wife’s barrel. Something that likely would have been a bit uncomfortable for the mare had Springtail not returned to the earth pony form that Fine Line told them he used.
“Another thing I ought to thank you two for,” he said quietly, as to not wake Fine. “I’ve recovered surprisingly quickly thanks to how much love I could draw in around here.”
“Hey,” Dash shot back in the sort of strained whisper that being cautious while indignant tended to produce. “We’re not like that.”
Springtail laughed quietly again. “There are many kind of love,” he said cryptically.
“Yeah, well, not that kind. Not with me. I don’t do that.”
He just smiled at her and turned to nuzzle his wife awake. Behind Dash, Spike stirred as well.
“Huh? Did I oversleep?” he muttered, pulling away to rub his eyes, seemingly totally unaware of the position he’d just been in.
Dash shivered and told herself it was the loss of his body heat and absolutely nothing else.
“Nah,” she said, standing up by not looking him in the face. “We’re probably right on schedule.”
Spike nodded and wandered off to the tree line, mumbling about morning chores.
Fine yawned and stretched, joining the other three in wakefulness, but in her case it was immediately followed by dropping into Springtail’s embrace and giving him an long kiss.
Dash flushed again at the display, and groaned mentally. This was precisely why she didn’t do relationship stuff. It made her mushy and dumb. It was only a matter of time before she was reading trashy romance novels if this kept up, she was sure of it.
“So, what are your plans, now?” Springtail asked her once he escaped his wife’s attention.
“Huh?” Dash blinked, then shook her head. “Oh, right. Well, there’s supposed to be one last major challenge—in a grove of trees up on the mountaintop if you go Northwest of here. We figured we’d take that one on, then see if we can pick up any of the other little ones as we head back.”
Springtail nodded. “Good luck with that. We decided this was all a bit too much for us, so we’re just going to go ahead and start back on one of the easier trails.”
“You two take care, then,” Dash said. “It’d be great to do this next year and see you guys again.”
Fine smiled. “We’ll be looking forward to it.”
Dash had gathered up their gear—now lighter by one sleeping bag—and they set off again as soon as Spike was back.
Unlike the previous days of the challenge, the trip was proving to be a quiet one. Certainly, they’d had days where they didn’t speak one another early on, but in those cases, the silence was loud in its own way. The rest of the time, the two of them were prone to chattering about whatever came to mind. Their friends. The challenge. Daring Do. Power Ponies. Could the Power Ponies beat Ahuitolz? Could Daring beat Mane-iac?
Those last two always turned into friendly debates that never seemed to reach any actual conclusions.
This time, though, Spike seemed lost in thought, while Dash had plenty on her mind—most of it about Spike.
She might not be as bad as Pinkie or Twilight on the matter, but her mind was prone to running away from her, too. And between questions of whether she liked Spike in that way, there were also thought about them as a possible couple. Those ranged from casual ‘well, we have a lot of similar interests’ thoughts, to the kind of daydreams one didn’t repeat aloud in the presence of foals, senior citizens, or the subjects of said daydreams.
She wasn’t sure what she’d say if they did start talking, but she could only imagine she’d embarrass herself.
“Hey, Dash,” Spike suddenly said in a hushed voice. “Is that who I think it is?”
Dash blinked and shook her head, trying to push her thoughts aside, and then caught sight of what had Spike’s attention. Not far ahead were Lightning Dust and Trixie, and from the looks of things, not all was well between them.
Spike and Dash glanced at each other and nodded, then began creeping up to their foes along the treeline, hoping to overhear what they were up to.
“—the fake flags and other pranks were one thing, but Trixie has her limits!”
“Look, you want to win, you have to cooperate with me,” Lightning said. “If what we did bothers you, fine. Put it aside, win the race, and make a stink about it later if you have to.”
“Trixie will not put this aside! Nor will she be cooperating! We drove timberwolves into the course! Ponies could be killed!”
Lightning groaned and rolled her eyes. “Why is this a big deal now? You were fine with the idea when we did it.”
“Perhaps Trixie has had time to consider her actions,” Trixie said, turning away from Lightning. “And perhaps Trixie has had time to reconsider her choice of partner.”
“Hey, you wanted fame. We both did. And we can both get it if you quit being a stupid loser about this.” Lighting stepped forward and forcibly turned Trixie to face her. “Winning is what matters. I am not going to be a loser here.”
“You will unhand Trixie!” the unicorn shouted, knocking Lightning’s hoof away with one of her own. “This conversation is over! As is this partnership!”
With that, Trixie lit her horn and suddenly vanished. Lightning Dust looked around the immediate area, then growled and took off into the sky. A few moments later, Trixie reappeared under the trees on the far side of the road from Spike and Dash, her invisibility spell falling away. She began making her way back down the trail, apparently distracted enough by the argument that she overlooked the other two entirely.
“Wow,” Spike muttered. “There goes our top competition.”
“Yeah,” Dash said. “And they’ve been sabotaging the event. I might have to make sure Twilight hears about Lightning’s part in this.”
“What about Trixie?”
Dash shrugged. “She’d reformed before. I mostly want to know what made her backslide like that. But either way, she regretted it and quit while she was ahead, so I can’t blame her too much.”
“Yeah, I guess,” Spike said, then looked up. “Hey, we’re here, too! They were arguing right in front of the entrance to the grove the flag is at!”
That got Dash to her hooves. “Alright! Let’s get in there and win this thing!”
“Who the hay designed this place?” Dash pushed another hanging log aside.
“Gonna bet a minotaur, with the whole maze thing.” Spike turned and watched as a set of vines served as ropes in a pulley system, and conveyed the movement of the hanging log across the grove to some device that was beyond his sight. “And an earth pony with a plant cutie mark. And at least one of them is an insane genius.”
“We’ve been at this for hours. Can’t you just burn your way through it?”
“I could, but that would be a pretty crude answer, and I’d like to think we’re better than that. Plus we’d probably get in trouble for cheating if we did.” Spike pulled the log back the other way, and watched as that somehow pulled an entirely different set of vines. “And seriously, this place is neat. I don’t want to tear it up.”
“Okay, yeah, it is kind of cool. I just wish I could fly over it or something, instead of having to wait for us to come across clear spots.” She stuck her tongue out and blew a raspberry. “It’s like ‘hey, all those swinging vines and stuff make this impossible to fly in, let’s throw the pegasi a bone here’. I just feel like it’s condescending somehow.”
Spike looked back over his shoulder and smirked. “You’re afraid the trees are looking down on you?”
“What? No. I’m saying the maze is dumb.” She glared at him when he snickered at that. “Now you’re just being a jerk.”
Spike rolled his eyes, but was still smiling. “Hey, fly up there and push that one.”
“Up where?” Dash leaned back to study the canopy.
Spike pointed. “Over there, where the sunlight comes down in a shaft. I think there’s a tunnel through the branches there. It looks like it leads to the log above us.”
Dash shook her head. “How are you even keeping track of all of this?”
“You’d be amazed the kind of problem-solving skills you pick up from years of trying to make Twilight’s daily schedules fit into actual 24-hour periods.”
Dash rolled her eyes and took off towards the gap in the branches. It took all of her focus to dodge the vines, pulleys, and branches that hung across her path, but unlike the majority of the maze grove, there was enough room to fly the path here. Soon enough, she saw her target—a heavy log suspended by multiple vines, hanging right above the ledge where she’d just been with Spike a few minutes before.
“Which way?” she called down through the vines and branches that had blocked the direct route here.
Spike shrugged. “I dunno. It’s too complicated. Just try pushing it down.”
Seeing no reason to try anything else, Dash got above the log, folded her wings, and dropped onto the log with a hard stomp. It started lowering surprisingly slowly, but rather than lose speed and return to its starting position, the log kept accelerating. Dash frantically looked to the side to see whether she would be crashing into another branch, but saw something entirely unexpected. The vines were pulling all the branches in her way back, the complex mechanism opening up a tunnel for her.
She only slowed to a gradual halt when the log came to a gentle stop beside the ledge, it’s top perfectly aligned with the ground level there.
Spike turned to her with eyes wide. “I told you this place is awesome.”
He pointed down and, judging from the gradually-deepening sunlight in that direction, towards the west. Where he pointed, a long tunnel had been opened by branched pulling back in the same way Dash’s path had opened. As the last few branched and vines pulled away, another wide log swung over towards them, coming to rest just in front of them, and just as perfectly aligned with the ground as the previous one.
“I think that’s an invitation,” Dash said, stepping across the logs.
“Yeah… huh…” Spike paused and studied a nearby branch. “The vine here was hanging loose before. It’s taut now.”
“And just within reach from this platform,” Dash noted. “Get on here and hit it.” Spike grinned and nodded, jumping aboard the hanging platform and slapping the branch as he did.
Immediately, the log started drifting away from the ledge, like a boat cut free of its moorings, but it quickly began to gather speed. Soon the branches and vines around them were nothing but blurs, and the two of them couldn’t help but scream in excitement the whole way down like foals on a roller coaster, though Dash found herself clinging to Spike once again—arguably due to the speed they were moving at.
Soon enough, the ride was over, and they stepped off onto another grassy ledge. Behind them, the log was pulled back by the vine pulleys, and the branches began closing behind it.
“Best maze puzzle thing ever,” Dash said.
Spike nodded, and then pointed ahead to a wooden display in the middle of the area with several flags hanging from it. “And look! The flags!”
Dash cheered, kissed Spike on the cheek, and zipped over to snatch one of the flags. “Alright! Awesome ride and what’s got to be the highest-scoring flag of the bunch.” She glanced back to Spike, who was still standing there frozen. “Hey, you okay?”
Spike just stared straight ahead. “You… uh…”
Dash cocked her head to the side. “What?”
“Kiss.”
“What are you…” Dash froze, herself. “Wait, did I actually… oh, horseapples.” She dropped to the ground and covered her face with both front hooves.
At that, Spike shook his head and cautiously approached her. “Uh, is it that bad if you did?”
“Yes! No. I mean…” Dash sighed and looked up at him. “I don’t date or do romance or anything. I tried it before and it always blew up in my face eventually, so I gave up on it. I figured I didn’t need anything like that since I was all about my flying career, anyway. But last night, when you fell asleep next to me… It just made me think of how much I missed having somepony like that. And then I started thinking about how tough and awesome you are, and how you’re fun to hang out with, and… I kinda started to want to have a special somepony again. And, you know, I had somepony in mind.”
Spike’s face fell. “Really? Who?”
Dash stared at him a moment. “There’s no way you’re that dense.”
“What? I was just asking—” He was interrupted by Dash giving him another peck on the cheek.
“Come on. I can tell we’re going to have one heck of a view up here. We might as well use it.”
Dash made her way down the grassy flat to the cliff top at the end of the grove. She indicated for Spike to sit, and did did so mutely, still apparently a bit stunned by recent events. It helped nothing when Rainbow Dash sat down in his lap and firmly pulled his arms over her shoulders. Once held to her satisfaction, Dash relaxed and joined Spike in watching the sunset.
Eventually, Spike spoke up. “You know, we ought to hurry back down soon. Night’s going to be freezing up here.”
“It’ll be fine. We can share again.”
Spike frowned. “Are you sure? It’ll be a bit of a tight fit.”
Dash shook her head. “I don’t mind sleeping with you.”
Spike paused for a moment, then started snickering.
Dash groaned and rolled her eyes. “Next to each other, you jerk.”
“If that’s where it’s going to go, maybe we ought to find more excuses to share a single sleeping bag.”
Dash’s face went completely red. “Seriously, you are such a jerk right now.”
Spike shrugged and grinned. “Maybe take it easy on the trip back, since the hardest parts are over.”
Dash opened her mouth to object again, but then shrugged. “Actually, that doesn’t sound too bad. “
“Wait, really?” Spike asked.
“Yeah. We’ve got to have the points lead with all of the big challenges we did, and I’d bet anything we’ll be the first ones back, too.” She looked up at him and grinned. “So sure. We can take it easy on the way back.”
Spike smiled back down at her, and the two of them found themselves drifting into a longer, warmer kiss than the quick ones she’d given him already. Both knew they had a pleasant trip back ahead of them.
And Spike had a feeling it was all going to work out for the best.
Author's Note
Upon returning to Ponyville, they discovered they had lost first place to Lyra and Bon Bon by a single point.
Notes in the blog.
