The Hard Way

by Ekhidna

Rating: everyone
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Spike, Starlight Glimmer, Slice of Life
Length: 1223

Starlight and Spike have a heart to heart talk.

Starlight has been wanting to ask Spike something for months. Now, with the two of them alone in the castle, she's gathered the courage to ask him once and for all.

*Short One-shot I wrote in spanish months ago and forgot about it. Found it and decided to translate it and expand it a little bit. Enjoy*

Published 2016-11-22 21:00:02 UTC
Last updated 2016-11-22 21:00:02 UTC

The Only Chapter

“Spike?” Starlight asked from her seat watching Spike as he cleaned up the dirty dishes from breakfast. Twilight was already out of the castle with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, mostly to help them sort out an incident caused by one of their pranks gone wrong. That meant that the two of them had the castle to themselves.

“Yeah?” Spike replied while placing a dripping wet plate to his left side and reaching for another dirty one to his right.

“We’re friends, right?” Starlight asked with a hopeful tone.

“Of course we are!” Spike answered with a cheery tone. “Why do you ask?”

Starlight scratched the back of her head. “W-well, there’s this one thing I’ve been meaning to ask you for a while…” She stopped to watch Spike continuing his work without pause.

“Yeah…?” Spike droned.

Starlight sighed before taking on a serious expression. “Why have you been so hard on me?” She asked. Her tone firm but not mean.

Spike paused for a moment. “What do you mean by that?” He asked before going back to scrub the dirty plate.

Starlight frowned a little. “I think you know what I’m talking about, Spike.”

Spike didn’t reply as he finished up the plate and moved on to grab a coffee stained cup. “Yeah, I do.”

Starlight’s frown deepened. “Then why must you remind me over and over of my mistakes? Haven’t I proven that I’m sorry for what I did?”

“Give me a moment, please.” Spike said. Starlight didn’t reply while he continued to clean the remaining dishes. It took him a good couple of minutes to finish. Once he was done, he turned around taking off his apron and the gloves he was using. He walked up to the small table from where Starlight was watching him, he grabbed the other free seat in front of Starlight and sat down.

“Thanks for waiting. Now, to answer your second question. Yes, you have proven you’re sorry for what you did. And to answer your first question, I do it because you need it.”

Starlight scoffed. “Yeah right, I soooo need to be reminded at every chance you get of what a horrible pony I was.”

“Yes, you do.” Spike replied.

Starlight stared at Spike with wide eyes and a frown for several seconds.

Spike sighed. “Look, Starlight. I know you’re sorry. I know you’ve done a lot to prove you’ve changed for the better. Tartarus, you even saved us and Equestria from Chrysalis!” Spike offered a sad smile. “But you still haven’t learned your lesson.”

“Haven’t I!?” Starlight yelled with a start. “What makes you think I haven’t, huh!? I think saving Equestria proves I did learn my lesson!” Starlight said angrily while she sneered down the little dragon.

Spike shook his head. “Starlight, that only proves you’ve overcome your fear of being in charge of anything again. You overcame your trauma. But that doesn’t mean you’ve learned your lesson.” Spike said looking directly at Starlight’s eyes. Watching her expression change from anger to realization. “Tell me, have you done the friendship assignments Twilight left for you or did you throw them to the trash again?”

Starlight blushed. “I...uhhh…”

“Or have you helped anypony around town aside from our friends lately?”

“Of course I have-”

“Without using magic to solve every little problem?” Spike asked crossing his arms.

Starlight closed her mouth and looked down at the table.

“Look, Starlight, you’re a wonderful mare and an excellent magician. I know your heart is, most of the time, in the right place. You brag and boast about your magical ability, and that’s okay, because that’s true. But Twilight was ten times more powerful than you before turning into an alicorn.”

“Bu-but I...I stood my ground against her-”

“Because she didn’t want to harm you!” Spike revealed. “She fought Tirek to a standstill with the power of four alicorns while he had the magic of ALL of Equestria, including yours and Discord’s. Tirek was forced to cheat to win.” Spike smiled. “Twilight rarely used her magic to fix everything around her, unless the situation forced her to. And after becoming an alicorn, she mostly uses her magic to further increase her studies.”

“But...but I….”

“And Tirek only wanted to destroy Equestria, there was no way he could be reformed. You, on the other claw, only needed a little help to see a better way. Twilight knew this, that’s why she didn’t fight you seriously.” Spike took a hold of Starlight’s left hoof. “Starlight, you’re brilliant and creative when it comes to magic and casting spells. But you depend so much on magic, that it makes you weak.”

“...” Starlight didn’t reply. She just watched the tiny claws of her friend wrapped around her hoof softly.

“I’ve done bad things, Starlight. But I’ve learned from those mistakes, but only after I admitted them. My two biggest were turning into a greedy monster and the second was betraying Twilight during Shining’s wedding. I turned my back on her when she begged us to listen to her. And I wasn’t under some sort of mind control spell.” Spike smiled at her. “Tell me, Starlight, what are you refusing to admit? What do you refuse to see even though it’s right in front of you?”

Starlight’s mind raced at his question for several moments of silence. “I...I don’t know.” She stammered.

Spike gripped her hoof tighter. “Yes you do, Star. Come on, I know you can do it.”

Starlight went silent again, tracing her memories to try and find whatever Spike was talking about. Eventually, her eyes widened in realization. “I...I want ...I seek control.”

“Exactly.” Spike grinned. “You want to control everything around you so that things go your way. Being in charge gives you that control, but it frightens you. Or at least, it did. You use magic-”

“To make everything go how I want.” Starlight finished the sentence. “I...oh my gosh...I didn’t hesitate to use magic to control our friends to solve my friendship lessons faster.” Starlight felt her eyes moisten with tears. “H-how come I didn’t notice it before?”

“Take it from me. You took the easy way out when you had to learn it the hard way.”

“Then...what am I supposed to do?” Starlight asked staring at the young dragon.

Spike shrugged. “I don’t know, Star. We all have to deal with our errors in our own way. Take me for example. I have my Noble Dragon Code to help me stay, well, noble and good so that I never give into my greed again, while I try to be the best assistant I can be!” Spike chuckled. “All I can do for you is help you however I can, and remind you what you were like before wanting to change for the better.” Spike smiled while caressing her hoof.

“I...thank you, Spike.” She smiled at him wiping away a rebellious tear with her free hoof. “You’re a good friend.”

“Well, I try!” They shared a short laugh. “Now, wanna help me dust the library?”

“Lead the way.”

End.

Author's Note

Special thanks to everyone that read this!

Special thanks to Ebony Stallion and Author of MADness for proofreading!

*Silly little thing, I know. But I wanted to share it with you all. Hope you enjoy it!*