Equestria Copes

Spike's claw touched the pavement and he looked around. He didn't see anything going wrong. He looked up the road, then back down, and there was nothing out of the ordinary. The streets were a bit busy, but not dangerously so. Anypony that needed a bit more help with something could reasonably expect it to be taken care of.

He leaned up against a wall, waiting for whatever it was he was supposed to be waiting for. Vesper had told him, "You'll know it when you see it." Well, he didn't know what he was looking for, so, he just kind of... looked. As he looked, he noted that there was a little colt sitting on a bench, reading a comic book. Power Ponies. Not the same issue he'd ended up inside of, just a regular print of pages.

Suddenly, his mind flashed back to that day. More specifically, the morning of that day, when he was trying to help, but the girls had it handled, and he wasn't needed. And now that he'd thought of that, he couldn't help but feel that same sensation wash over him again. He could not shake the feeling that all of the others were off doing important things for the good of Equestria, and he was assigned to stand at this street corner and do nothing, just staying out of the way while his friends did all of the important work.

He took a deep breath. Twilight wouldn't let that happen. He remembered exactly how that comic had ended. He'd proven that he was useful, something Twilight had told him several times that day. Even several hundred other times, she'd reiterated that he was her number-one assistant. He was always there when he was needed, and always ready to help a pony in need.

"Except, there's nopony in need here," he sighed. "Which means I'm not needed, which is why I wasn't given any cool armour, and why I was sent out here..."

He took the circlet off of his head and looked at it. It was very plain, lacking any of the cool flourishes that adorned the others. His outfit reflected in it, just a plain orange tabard that didn't even reach his knees. Everypony else was given armour, but not him. He didn't need it, because he wasn't going to be doing anything important. Because he wasn't important.

He set the circlet down on the ground next to him and looked up at the sky. The weather was nice. The sun was shining, though mostly blocked by clouds to keep it from being too hot. The birds were chirping, flowers were blooming in window boxes, and everypony seemed happy, without a care in the world. At least, without much need to care. Sure, somepony in these buildings might have been having trouble opening a jar of pickled eggs, but that really wasn't an emergency.

Suddenly, there was a loud crack just up the road. A large wagon carrying two very tall boxes had just broken an axle, and it was starting to tip over.

Immediately, Spike ran over, pressing his full weight against the side of the cart, doing everything he could to hold it in place long enough for everypony to clear out of the way. Four pegasi joined in, holding the equipment up for the operator to find something to place under the wagon to add support to it.

Once Spike was sure that the wagon wasn't going to fall over, he let go of it. As he relaxed, he saw some wisps of... something... dissipating from around his claws. He checked to make sure he hadn't left any burn marks on the wagon and, finding none, stepped away.

It was only then that he realised that he'd forgotten why he was here in the first place. He was supposed to be watching out for a disaster.

He ran back to the corner and looked around. The closest thing he could see to a disaster was the cart he'd just saved, and that was hardly a catastrophe. But it had taken a good few minutes, and that meant he might have missed what he'd been called here to do.

Nothing else seemed all that out of the ordinary. He did see, just a few buildings over, a mare watering the plants in her window box. That wouldn't be too big of an issue, except that she kept bumping a terra cotta pot on the sill, which was inching its way out over a busy sidewalk. He just had this feeling that it was going to fall, but he couldn't just leave his post, right?

And then it fell. Rolling off the windowsill, it spiralled toward the ground, where a young stallion was walking. In a dash that would make Rainbow proud, he rushed over and grabbed the stallion's back legs, causing him to trip. As he made a fuss about it, everypony else jumped out of the way, letting him drop to the ground. Seconds later, as he pulled back to pick himself up, the pot hit the pavement, shattering.

"Wow," chuckled a mare nearby. "Lucky that didn't hit you. That would have hurt."

"Yeah," agreed the stallion. "I guess I'm glad I tripped. It felt like something grabbed my leg, though..."

Spike picked himself up, dusting off his clothes. He could have sworn he'd seen more of that wispy substance on his legs. Some kind of dust? It also kind of looked like magic, but there were no unicorns that should be able to see him right now. Very strange, indeed.

As he ran his claw back over his forehead, he noted that his circlet was gone, missing from his head. It was the closest thing he had to armour, and he'd lost it. It was a gift from Vesper, and he'd misplaced it. And he'd left his post twice. It was his first day as a guardian angel, and he was already screwing everything up. It was no wonder he'd been separated from the group. There were seven of them, and only six Elements of Harmony. How could he possibly compete?

Taking a deep breath, he returned to his post. Something was going to go wrong, and he had to be there when it did. He just had to wait. He just had to see it happen, try to minimise how much he screwed up, and then hand in his resignation. He wasn't cut out for this job.