Change of Direction

Spike had a day off, but he was far from being able to relax.

It wasn't that his day off was normally bad or anything- he usually anticipated the day every week. After a week of hard work cleaning or assisting Twilight, it was the one day he could relax and take a breather. But on one of these relaxed days, he found he could only look out his clear window, aching to do something productive.

'Hey, Twilight!' Spike yelled down the stairs. 'Where are you going again?'

Twilight, wearing a brown bag slung over her shoulder, was waiting by the door patiently with an air of excitement.

'I'm going for a girl's day out with my friends. I know you might want to come, but since it is for mares, I'd prefer if you stayed here,' Twilight replied. 'It's your day off anyway, wouldn't you like to relax?'

'But I don't have anyone to hang out with other than you girls!' Spike said in desperation. 'I really just want to do something!'

'Why not work on cleaning up my study? It's not in great shape, and you can move your day off for tomorrow! Maybe you’ll feel more like relaxing then!'

Spike shook his head vigorously, as he thought it would be too pointless to clean on the day he was supposed to relax. It wasn't necessarily that he disliked working like that, since he was so good at it that it was almost second nature to do a perfect job. But after a week's worth, it tended to get monotonous.

'If you want to go around town, you can pick up some white thread for me. Rarity's preparing a Hearth's Warming Day dress for me, but she told me she’s all out. Go figure, eh? A self-proclaimed “master” seamstress not having a spare supply herself.’

‘Can’t she get some herself from the local tailor store?’

‘Well, it would give you something to do, and she’s pretty busy with the rest of the work she has to finish. She’s so busy, she can’t even come out of her house to have some fun with us! Besides, wouldn’t you like to be the one to give her the thread yourself?’ Twilight finished, winking.

‘Now that sounds like a good idea!’ Spike said excitedly.

‘Great! There’s a few bits in my study if you choose to go. It shouldn’t take long, but don’t be out too late!’ A knocking sound came from the door. ‘I think that’s them! See you tonight, Spike!’

Without a moment’s hesitation, Twilight left and closed the library’s door to be with her friends, leaving Spike all alone.

‘Maybe I should just stay and relax. I mean, it is my day off!’

Spike caught a glimpse of Carousel Boutique in the distance through his window and imagined his “true love” Rarity, probably busy toiling away over another of her works.

‘Ah, I might as well! I mean, Rarity would love to see me-’

Spike was interrupted by a deep bellowing from his gut, alerting him of its vast emptiness.

‘It must be around lunchtime if I’m that hungry! Can’t believe I slept in through breakfast... oh well, I can grab a bite to eat on the way!’

Spike soon left the building just as Twilight had done, eager to get started on his quest for Rarity’s heart.

***

Spike looked up at the big sign in front of the building he stood directly in front of, painted with the words “Taler’s Tailor” in red lettering. It wasn’t a huge store, but it was what Spike needed to impress Rarity.

‘Ah, I see you’re fascinated by my wares?’ the stallion said, watching the shocked expression of the young dragon with amusement. ‘It is quite a sight to see these vivid colours in just one place. So welcome to Taler’s Tailors! I’m Mr. Taler, and how can I help you on this fine day?’

‘Wow, Twilight never told me how colourful this place was when she left to buy stuff here...’ Spike said, wandering towards the thread wall.

‘Sorry? I didn’t quite get what you said.’

‘Oh! I was just talking to myself. Do you have any spools of white thread for sale?’

‘I think I can get some for you. If you’re looking for one spool, it’ll be two bits. Just hold on a second,’ Mr. Taler said, walking towards the wall of captivating thread. Spike proceeded to look at his arm, expecting to see the leather pouch of bits he thought he had strapped on earlier that morning.

All he saw was a purple, bare arm looking straight back at him.

‘Where’s the money? I could’ve sworn I left the library with it!’ Spike cried out in frustration.

‘Sorry, but we appear to be all out of white thread. It’s weird though, our whole stock seemed to be taken by a shipment just this morning. Who would want all that thread?’ the bemused shopkeeper said.

‘Yeah, weird,’ Spike replied. ‘I should be going now, got things to do-’

‘Are you sure you wouldn’t like some other thread? I have some silver thread that can look like white on a dress!’

‘Sorry, I only needed white thread-’

‘Or how about a pre-order? I can get you some white thread delivered right to your door!’

‘Thanks, but I needed it today-’

‘We have the best prices you’ll find anywhere! Wait, where are you going?’ the shopkeeper finished, his voice fading away as Spike left the shop in a hurry.

Somepony really wants my service... so where am I going to get the thread? Wait, I can just ask Rarity herself where to find some!

Out in the distance, a faint purple speck was visible leaving Sugarcube Corner on the other side of town. Spike couldn’t make out what it was exactly, but one theory came to mind.

‘What’s Twilight doing at Sugarcube Corner?’

Upon further inspection, he saw four more specks, showing colours of blue, pink, yellow and orange coming out of the bakery in succession. Their facial features weren’t visible from that long of a distance, but Spike knew they didn’t want to see him once the blue speck stopped for a moment, turned its head in his direction and took off flying. The other specks soon after stopped just as the blue speck had done, and just as quickly ran off in several directions.

‘W-was that Rainbow Dash? And Twilight? Why were they all at Sugarcube Corner?’ Spike stopped for a few moments to ponder the situation, attempting to uncover any logical theories he could think of. ‘I’ve got nothing. Oh well, I’ll go ask her about it later. Off to go see Rarity!’

Not a moment after turning towards Carousel Boutique, which was just down the path and a bridge a couple moments away, a white blur was seen charging towards Spike at full speed, eyes closed and horn lowered. Before Spike had time to think about what would possibly be hurtling itself at him, he was knocked down to the ground, winded and dazed.

When he opened his eyes, clutching his stomach to recover, he saw the familiar face of Sweetie Belle staring down at him, with a small spool of white thread clenched tightly in her mouth.

‘Um, Sweetie?’ Spike began hesitantly. ‘Why are you on top of me?’

Sweetie was too busy looking down at Spike with a sense of doubt and disbelief, taking a few moments to look at the thread in her mouth with pleading eyes.

‘Sweetie? Could you please get off of me?’

‘Oh! Sorry Spike, I didn’t mean to run into you,’ Sweetie said, shaking her head back into reality while lifting herself off of Spike. ‘I suppose you want to know why I ran into you.’

Spike got up from the ground soon after, brushing off the dust and dirt he got on his scales with his claws.

‘Yes, please. I also wouldn’t mind knowing how you got that thread, as the shopkeeper in town said there isn’t any in stock at the moment.’

‘Well, if you really must know...’

***

The smell of Ponyville’s finest mossgreens sizzling on Rarity’s oven wafted through her house, eventually reaching the top floor. Mossgreens aren’t widely known as a particularly delicious plant to eat, but a select few have developed a distinct taste for them, possibly due to the aromatic, viscous liquid that seeps from it while it’s being cooked.

One of these select few ponies was upstairs to smell them sizzling downstairs, having developed the taste at a young age.

‘Sweetie Belle! I’m almost finished cooking the mossgreens, I know how much you like them!’ Rarity yelled from the kitchen. ‘It’s quite late in the day, you ought to get up even if you aren’t hungry.’

Sweetie was already getting out of bed and out her bedroom door before her sister had even begun calling out to her. The mossgreens’ smell in the house was unmistakable to her, waking her up every time from even the deepest of sleeps.

Rarity got a little shaken when she saw Sweetie already in front of her, despite having just finished yelling upstairs. Sweetie, however, merely stared at Rarity in anticipation, salivating at the thought of the delicious plant.

‘I’m guessing you’re anxious to start eating! It’ll be finished in a minute or two, would you mind getting it yourself? I need to go and check on my spa appointments for next week, you never know when they’ll just mess everything up!’

With a passing wave of her hoof, Rarity left the kitchen to Sweetie’s control. She was too busy looking outside, however, instead of watching the mossgreens as her sister instructed,  with the sun already dead center in the sky.

‘I seriously slept in that long?’ Sweetie said, yawning obnoxiously in the absence of Rarity. 'It’s got to be afternoon now, or at least close to it—oh! There’s mossgreens, I forgot all about eating them! Oh boy!'

In seconds, Sweetie was over by the frying pan, watching the mossgreens sizzle on the surface. With every crackle of the pan, thick liquid poured out in generous helpings.

'Did she want me to eat them or cook them?' she said, observing the bubbling of the liquid. 'They look like they could use some more cooking!'

Just as Sweetie tiphoofed up awkwardly to reach the spatula on the counter, her balance failed her, bringing the pan of mossgreens with her. The pan flew down to the ground, dropping the sopping greens onto the floor in the process.

Sweetie watched with horror as the liquid inside squirted all over the floor. She rushed to the pantry to grab some paper towel, but as she laid it down to soak up the mess, one came into contact with the hot frying pan and caught fire.

'Sweetie, is something burning there?'

Rarity's voice troubled Sweetie even more as she watched the fire spread along the floor, but not as worrying as she thought of the hoofsteps she heard coming her way.

'What’s all the commo—oh my goodness!' Rarity gasped, grabbing the hose from the sink nozzle and turning the water on. She aimed the ensuing jet stream towards the base of the fire and extinguished it quickly, but the mossgreens and the floor around it was already severely charred and black. Rarity quickly cleaned up the paper and pan into the sink to prevent further burning, sighing a breath of relief soon after.

After a few moments of Sweetie looking at the permanently burnt spot on the floor, she judged it was best to say something meaningful before her sister snapped.

'Big sis, I'm—'

'Sweetie, you know I love you,' Rarity said, sighing deeply. 'But it's really hard to do anything around here when you're starting trouble everywhere!