Spike was a young dragon, happily living in the village of Ponyville. He had a good life, always doing his best to attend to his duties, as bestowed upon him by his carer, the Princess of Friendship herself. He always did it to the best of his abilities, never straying from those tasks, never refusing to comply with what his pony elder wanted of him. He was content. He was responsible. And he never, ever strayed from what he was doing or how he was doing it. Life was good. I repeat, life was good.
But, one day, Spike woke up in his bed to discover that something strange was happening, though he couldn't figure out what it was.
"Er...yes I can! There's a creepy voice in my head telling me what's going on! That's what's strange around here!"
Then it hit him. Twilight hadn't come along to tell him what he needed to do today. In fact, he hadn't seen hide nor hair of his lifelong friend since he woke up this morning, and was, in fact, starting to feel somewhat worried about it all.
"Wait...Twilight's not here?"
He rushed out of his bedroom, making his way down the stairs to the main chamber of the friendship palace. No matter where he went, he couldn't see his friend, or any other ponies for that matter.
"Hello! Is anypony here?!"
Finally, he made it to the main room of the palace, and there, as ever, he saw that there was nopony here for him to talk to. Nopony to tell him what to do. Needless to say, he was quite disturbed by all this.
"Not as disturbed as the fact that I still have a creepy voice in my head!"
Then, he looked ahead and knew he would have to make a choice on what to do next. So, heading for the front of the chamber, Spike decided to take the door on his left.
"Wait...I thought we only had one front door. Where did this other one come from?"
He may have been somewhat dazed and confused by this starling lack of routine he'd be faced with, but nevertheless, Spike still chose to go through the door on his left.
"Look! If you're gonna keep talking, can you at least tell me where Twilight is?"
As ever, Spike simply wasted time talking to nobody in particular, but thankfully for all concerned, he shook himself out of this and then went through the door on his left.
"Nobo...I'm talking to you! You know what? Fine! If you want me to go to the left so badly, I guess that means I should go to the right! So HA!"
Spike went through the door on his right, which was not the correct way to go, and he knew that perfectly well. Maybe he was feeling so shocked by the sudden changes to his life that he was driven mad, and thus was compelled to do things differently to how he knew he should do them?
"Or I just don't like you, have you ever thought of that?"
No, the real reason had to be that he wanted to head on down to the employee office that this hallway led to.
"Wait...hallway? I thought...didn’t that door lead outside?"
The poor young dragon was confused, as well he should be. This much choice would be a stressful situation for anybody, and the youngster had clearly made a poor decision in coming this way. Naturally, the correct thing to do right now would be to go back and go through the door on his left.
"Maybe I should, but...no! Oh no! You're not tricking me that easily! I chose right and I'm sticking to it!"
Spike marched ever onwards, heading deeper and deeper through the hallways that he knew full-well by now was the wrong choice. Eventually, he happened upon the destination; the employee lounge.
"I have no idea where I am at this point."
Having strayed from the immaculately thought-out path that had been made for him, Spike gazed upon the room he'd entered by his own choice. Yes indeed, this lounge did indeed seem like a well-kept and tidy place, perfect for just standing around in while he stayed away from the place he was supposed to be.
"Oh, there's a door!"
Moving ever onwards, Spike continued to spur common sense and instead carry on in this ill-advised journey he'd put himself on. Eventually, after much walking down the clean hallways, he came upon a large room, almost factory-like in its appearance.
"Okay, I know Ponyville never had anywhere like this in it."
Naturally, having made such a poor decision Spike came to the understanding that his own instincts were hardly worth listening to. After all, going his own way had led to nothing more than a complete waste of time for both him and everybody else involved in this endeavour. Surely, he was feeling quite upset with himself over this.
"Oh yeah? Well maybe I'll just carry on going this way then!"
Look, Spike, can I be candid with you for a moment? I think the two of us may have gotten off on the wrong foot here.
"Oh, you think?"
But I want you to know that I am not your enemy here. We've clearly had our disagreements about how your path should be today, but I hope you can understand that I only have your best interests at heart. This story, if you're willing to follow it, will surely enrich your life in a way you cannot even fathom. Trust me on this, little dragon, if you just follow my instructions to the letter, I guarantee that you won't regret it.
"Yeah...not buying it. I think I'll just keep moving thanks."
Clearly, you seem adamant in ignoring me. Putting aside how unbelievably rude that is, it'll also prove detrimental to you. I mean, what do you hope to accomplish here? You move forward for an hour or so, and then what? You think you'll get a happy ending just from stanchly refusing to listen to me? Well, I've got some bad news for you. Life doesn't work out that way. You'll be much happier just following the path I laid out for you. In fact, to show just what a good sport I am about all this, why don't I just give you another door to your left right now? There, see? A door leading right back to the friendship palace. Isn't that nice?
"Doors popping out of nowhere? Do you think I'm an idiot or something? No thanks."
Oh well, you can't say I didn't warn him. And so he travels onwards, ignoring the sound advice given to him by the helpful voice above. On and on he walks, until finally, he reaches the end of the warehouse, wherein hew finds a set of stairs. Realising that his best bet is to go up the stairs, he does just that.
"Up, eh? Then I guess it's down for me."
You know what, Spike? I think you're doing this on purpose. You know full well that this is the wrong way to go and you're doing it anyway just to spite me. That's it, isn’t it? You don't like me and you want me to feel hurt from this constant barrage of bad choices. Have you no regard for others? Don't you care even a tiny bit for all the hard work other people have put into making such a beautiful story for you?
"Not when it annoys me I don't."
Well fine then. If you want to upset me so badly, then I guess there's only one option left. If you really want out of this that much, then I have no choice but to let you out. There, a door right in front of you at the bottom of the stairs. Taking that door will send you to Twilight.
"What...seriously?"
I mean what I say, Spike. Take that door and this whole enterprise will end for you. No more doors. No more me.
"Well...it's about time."
There you go, walking right up to the door, raising his hand to grip onto it, trying to turn it and...wait...oh my, it appears that the door won't open.
"What...no! You are not doing this to me!"
I say, that is most embarrassing. I was sure that I got all the bugs checked in this situation. Hold on, let me see if I can fix it. I’ll just be a moment.
"What are you...hello? Weird voice guy? You there? ...Hello?"
Ah, there we go! It should open now. Go on. Give it a try.
"Um...okay."
There we are, just open it and...oh dear. It seems that it's just led you right back to your bedroom. That's no good at all, is it?
"You...you're doing this to mess with me! That's the whole point of this, isn't it?! You want to make me insane?!"
Spike was clearly becoming distressed with the circular nature of his predicament. No matter where he went, he always seemed to be further from where he wanted to be. Tragic really, though you can't say it wasn't partly his own fault. After all, making all those wild decisions himself, it was bound to end badly for him sooner or later. He must be feeling pretty upset with himself right now.
"AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!"
"Spike! Wake up!"
The young dragon woke to find the worried face of his carer, Twilight, looking down on him. A rush of emotion ran through him as he immediately leapt up from his bed and embraced her.
"Twilight! I had this terrible nightmare! There was this weird voice and...and...and I couldn't find you and..."
"Shhh! It's alright! I'm here now. And I'm not leaving you."
"You...you promise?" Spike asked tearfully.
"I promise," Twilight replied with a smile.
And together, the two stayed in each other's company, enjoying the warm embrace, and providing quite an emotional moment for the audience, if there ever was one. Yes, it's all very touching. But, you know what? I think I know what can make this moment even better.
"Um...Spike?" Twilight asked.
"Yes?" he replied.
“Do…do you hear a voice too?"
“Eyup.”
"Is...is that the...?"
"Yeah, that's him."
"Hey! Why have you been bothering Spike?"
The young princess seemed distressed, but thankfully, the perfect remedy to her situation was just on the other side of the room.
"What do you...what?!" Twilight called.
"No...oh no! Not again!" Spike shouted.
The two youngsters looked upon a wondrous sight, as two doors appeared before them. They knew the choice. They knew the clever and responsible thing to do. And all they had to do to make everything better...was take the door on the left.
