Spike didn’t really have a lot of energy that morning. Usually just being outside was interesting for him, especially with all the tastes and smells in the air. But that morning, something felt off on his tongue. Where normally he’d get vibrant tastes and images of the world around him, now all he got was a cottony texture with no real flavour to it. Being in the maple tree orchard near Cottontail Forest should have given him something to taste, at least, but nothing registered. Not the honey, not the pollen, not the leaves, nothing of his environment. He could only assume it was because of something he ate.

He could still vaguely make the out the Cutie Mark Crusaders, though: Scootaloo always had a bit of saltiness and an aura of chemicals on her -- no doubt because she used the same soap as Thunderlane, for reasons nopony ever seemed to question -- while Apple Bloom had a tasty aroma of apples around her, but less of the cinnamony warmth Applejack had and more of a bitter sawdust mixed in. Sweetie Belle, finally, tended to smell and taste of peaches or oranges, depending on whether she’d gotten her hooves on Rarity’s perfume that morning or her mother’s.

Ponies still came in okay, but all in all, today the world just smelled and tasted bland. It almost made him wonder why he'd bothered getting out of bed, or what was keeping him out of bed right now. There was no way for him to back out of the honey harvest now, though, not when he’d promised Rarity. Spike groaned, just barely loud enough to overpower the sound of the buzzing bees. “Remind me why I’m here again?”

“Rarity asked,” Sweetie Belle replied. “She wanted someone with dragon breath around so we’d be safe, and, you know…”

Spike rolled his eyes. “Oh yeah, only dragon in town.”

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, meanwhile, were positioned on a ladder right underneath a beehive, with Spike and Sweetie Belle holding the ladder steady. Even though they were all in beekeeper hats and protective clothing, the ominous buzzing was enough to unsettle them just a bit. Spike idly flicked his tongue at the net of his hat. Even getting his tongue out in the open air, something he never had to do normally, didn’t yield anything interesting. He’d just have to suck it up.

“So how are we supposed to do this?” Scootaloo asked.

Apple Bloom reached up for the hive and grabbed it gently, unhooking it from the branch. “Pinkie Pie said we just tip the hive like this and then-”

Two things dawned on Apple Bloom at that moment. Firstly, while hooves are convenient for a great many purposes, such as galloping, kicking and punching, they are not that well-suited for holding beehives laden with honey slushing within. Secondly, she realised that ponies had domesticated bees towards not only building hives for easy honey access, but also towards increased honey production, meaning one hive contained just enough to make a right mess if one were to tip it.

These lessons were not lost on her, but they were truly taken to heart by Spike, who suddenly found himself covered in honey after a minor slip-up on the ladder.

Apple Bloom held up a hoof to her mouth in apology. “Oops. Sorry.”

Scootaloo rolled her eyes and hooked the beehive back to its branch. “Well, that sure didn’t get you a cutie mark.”

Spike growled. “Ya think?”

Spike flicked his hands up and down to get the sticky stuff off, but it didn’t work. His suit was soaked, and the honey was seeping through the fabric and onto his scales. He threw off the beekeeper hat and quickly wriggled out of the sticky suit, growling and muttering all the way.

Sweetie Belle winced. “Are you okay, Spike? You’re not supposed to take off your suit.”

Spike angrily kicked the mess of fabric and honey away. “I’ll be fine. I don’t really need to be that careful around bees, anyway. Your sister’s used me as a pincushion, I think I can take a little bee sting or two.”

Scootaloo quirked an eyebrow from behind that protective hat as she descended from the ladder. “I guess, but are you sure it wouldn’t hurt if a lot of them stung you?”

Spike growled and folded his arms in front of his chest. He snorted, letting out a tiny green flame from his nostrils. “Trust me, the first bee that stings me gets torched. That’s the only reason I’m here in the first place, right?”

The girls shrugged and moved the ladder to the next tree, this time letting Sweetie Belle take her turn at emptying a beehive into a bucket. She was more careful, but that was mainly due to the grumpy dragon down below. She whispered to Scootaloo. “Does Spike seem a little angry to you?”

“Can you blame him? You know what happened at the market.”

“Sure, but still… maybe we shouldn’t ask him around anymore. I mean, he is a boy, maybe he’d rather hang out with other boys.”

“What other boys?” Spike called out. “The only guys I can hang out with around here are Snips and Snails, and they don’t exactly do much. And by the way, if you don’t want me to hear it, don't bother whispering and just don’t talk about it around me.”

Apple Bloom’s ears perked. She looked up at her surprised friends, then back to Spike. “You’ve got pretty good hearing, Spike. Is that a dragon thing?”

He kept his arms folded in front of his chest, his lips just barely forming an angry pout. “No, that’s a Canterlot thing. You gotta know when ponies are talking about you behind your back.”

Sweetie Belle set the hive back down and descended from the ladder, Scootaloo just hopped down. Even behind the netting of the hat, Sweetie tried to look apologetic. “Sorry, Spike, I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just that you look like you’re angry over something. Did we do something wrong?”

Spike scowled and threw his hands up in the air. “Why is it everypony thinks something’s wrong with me? Can’t a guy go one day without having to smile and sing all the time?”

Apple Bloom took a step back. “Sheesh, lighten up. We were just asking.”

“Well, you don’t need to ask me anymore, okay?! I’m fine!” Spike shouted right in Apple Bloom’s face.

Apple Bloom gulped. “You know what, Spike? So are we. We’re sorry you got dragged along for this. You don’t have to hang out with silly fillies like us if you won’t want to, and we’ll make sure the grownups don’t ask you again, either. You can go now, if you like. We’ll be careful around the bees, right, girls?”

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle nodded.

Spike sighed and looked away. “Trust me, I’d have left already if I hadn’t promised Rarity to stick around.”

Sweetie Belle shook her head. “That’s okay, Spike. I’ll let her know you did what you promised.”

Spike looked from the fillies to the beehives they still had to harvest. He clenched and unclenched a fist, and the prospect of getting a full honey coating over his scales tipped the scales. “Fine. I’m gonna go find something better to do.”

Just as he turned to leave, a pink filly came walking towards him. Spike glared at the new arrival. Diamond Tiara again? What is with this girl? “What do you want?”

Diamond nearly jumped at the dragon’s tone. “Uh, w-well, I’m…”

Spike held up a claw to silence her. “Wait, don’t tell me. You’re wrangling up more workers for some job your daddy needs to get done, right?”

The pink filly took half a step back. “N-no, I…”

Spike marched towards her, his voice dripping with frustration and utter contempt. “You want me to do another interview to make Twilight look bad, now that she’s a princess?”

Flabbergasted, Diamond Tiara shook her head and backed off again. “What? No, I don’t… I just…”

“You what? Spit it out already!”

The shout startled her so much she ended up tripping and dropping on her rump. “Well, I’m just here to… you know…”

Spike rolled his eyes at her. “Forget it, I don’t have time to deal with you. The Cutie Mark Crusaders are all yours. Just call’em blank flanks already and call it a day, I don’t care.”

Diamond Tiara just sat there, shivering.

Spike didn’t look back. He just marched off with his fists and teeth clenched. Why do I keep wasting my time like this?

Spike was still fuming over Diamond Tiara and her second attempt to rope him into work. The nerve of that girl. How does she keep getting away with all that? At least I told her.

He walked across the street to get to the park, and hopefully find a bench to sleep on. He jumped up when a thunderbolt startled him out of his train of thought.

Rainbow Dash rolled over on her raincloud, gleefully kicking her hooves into the air. “Hahaha! Still letting your guard down, huh, Spike?”

Spike’s jaw clenched again. He panted and hissed, one hand on his chest to check his pounding heart.

Rainbow frowned and flew down. “You okay, Spike?”

“Am I okay? Am I okay?! What do you think, Rainbow Dash? You nearly gave me a heart attack!” Spike leaned in close to Rainbow’s face, teeth bared.

Rainbow Dash backed away. “Whoa, chillax, Spike, I didn’t think you were having a bad day. If you need cheering up, I can take you for a ride if you like.”

“Sure, so you can nearly kill me when you do your dumb stunts? No thanks, I’ll keep my feet on the ground. And stop trying to ambush me, okay? It’s not funny.”

Rainbow Dash perked her ears, confused. “What’s gotten into you? You’ve never minded a little prank before.”

“Little prank? You call scaring the living daylights out of me a prank? How about I burn up your tail, huh? Would you laugh at that?”

“Spike, has somepony been bugging you over that market thing? ‘Coz you’re not really acting like yourself right now.”

“Oh, so now you’re gonna tell me how I’m supposed to act? That’s a laugh, coming from a Flight School flunkie. How about you listen to your own advice, huh? Or are you only gonna listen if I beat you at something? Why don’t you just leave me alone and mind your own business? Or maybe you just need ponies to dress up like superheroes before you learn your lesson?” Spike smirked maliciously.

Rainbow Dash caught herself staring. She barely remembered to close her mouth after that little rant. She wanted to shout, but something had gotten stuck in her throat. She didn’t dare try to retort and have it come out as a squeak, so she decided to just suck it up and keep her voice down. “Okay, tough guy. You wanna be alone, you can be alone.”

“What? Big, tough Rainbow Dash doesn’t have an answer?”

Rainbow flew up and shook her head. “Sure I do. But you’re my friend, Spike, and friends don’t hurt friends when they can help it.”

Spike snickered. “Yeah, right. You keep telling yourself that.”

Rainbow considered putting Spike in his place. She could have yelled, she could have talked, she could have picked him up and dunked him in the fountain in the park to cool him down. And yet, none of those things really seemed like a good idea. “You’re not worth yelling at, Spike. See you around.”

Rainbow Dash landed on the balcony of the library to find Twilight reading books in the sun. “Twilight, have you noticed anything weird about Spike?”

Twilight looked up from her book. “Weird? Well, he’s been a little less active lately, but nothing too unusual.”

“Really? Because I just talked to him, and he was angry. Like, really angry. Are you sure there’s nothing wrong with him?”

The alicorn shrugged, her wings ruffled against her sides. “It might be the pills, I suppose.”

Rainbow took a step closer. “What pills?”

“Spike’s taking medication to stop himself from stealing. The doctor said it might affect his personality a little, so I’m trying to keep him as active as I can.”

Rainbow Dash went wide-eyed. “He’s what?! And you let that happen? No wonder he’s upset! You can’t just try to ‘fix’ a little kid with pills!”

Twilight closed her book and rose up, annoyed. “Well, I didn’t have much of a choice, Rainbow Dash. His greed was acting up again, he could have gone on another rampage.”

“That doesn’t make it okay, Twilight. He said some downright nasty stuff to me, he’s not acting like himself at all.”

“Calm down, Rainbow Dash, it can't be that bad. I didn’t know he was angry, okay? He was fine this morning. I’ll have him skip the pills tonight, maybe just one a day is enough.”

“It's not that simple, Twilight. This isn't just about skipping his pills for a day. Do you have any idea what you’re putting Spike through by doing this?”

“No, do you?”

“Well, I…” Rainbow Dash looked away bashfully, idly kicking the ground.

Twilight sighed. “Oh, right. I think I see where this is going. You think I’m doing to Spike what I did to you with Mare Do Well, don’t you?”

Rainbow groaned. "Ugh, you're gonna bring that up now? You're missing the point, Twilight."

"No, I'm not, I get it now. I understand why you did what you did and why it was wrong for me to... you know. I wouldn't do that again, you have to believe that."

Rainbow chuckled nervously. “You’ve got it all wrong, Twilight. It’s no big deal. It happens, I got over it. It hurt, but I know you didn’t mean to, you just do that sort of thing sometimes. And… to tell you the truth, you weren’t the first pony to try adjust my attitude.”

The alicorn felt her heart sink. “O-oh, I’m sorry, I had no idea. What happened?”

“That’s personal, but, um, let’s just say that after I got my cutie mark, I wasn’t exactly a model student. My grades slipped, stuff happened, and they put me on this thing called Cogitin. So yeah, I do know what that's like.”

Twilight bit her lip. “That’s the same drug Spike is taking.”

“I kinda figured. So you think he’s sick, huh?” Rainbow asked with a small smile.

“What? No.”

“Does Spike know that? If you don't think he's sick, then why are you giving him pills to make him better? They’re not vitamins, Twilight, or candy, they’re just pills. And pills are for when you’re sick. It’s that simple, especially for a little kid,” Rainbow Dash argued.

“So, um, are you still on them?”

Rainbow averted her eyes. “No. I had to quit taking that stuff. My mom and dad didn't like my grades slipping, but they liked it even less when the pills started working. Like I said, stuff happened.”

“Um, what kind of stuff, exactly?”

Rainbow shot Twilight a firm glare. “Really bad stuff. Cogitin silences a pony’s talent, it’s probably worse for a dragon. That stuff is for emergencies, the ones who really need it, not just for any little kid who can't control himself.”

Twilight sighed. “Then what am I supposed to do here? I can't just keep Spike on a leash or lock him up, he doesn't deserve that. If he stops taking the medication, then he’ll steal again, and he’ll have to leave Ponyville. He might have to go to jail, or exile, over something that’s not his fault. Does that sound fair to you?”

“No. And you don’t have to listen to me, Twilight; I’m not a doctor. I’m sure there are kids who need to quiet down their talents, otherwise we wouldn’t have that medicine in the first place. I’m not saying you shouldn’t do anything, or that those pills are bad, it’s just that it doesn’t sound like you’re using them right. Right now, you’re basically telling Spike that he’s sick just for being the way he is. That hurts. That hurts a lot.” Rainbow winced in sympathy.

“You still didn’t answer my question. What am I supposed to do about it?”

Rainbow shrugged. “I don’t know. What’s the plan?”

“What do you mean?”

“In the long run, what’s Spike gonna do?”

Twilight weighed it in her mind. “Have a normal childhood, live in Ponyville, be happy.”

“Which means taking pills all his life.”

“I don’t think he has a choice,” Twilight argued.

“So you’re saying Spike is sick, and he’s never gonna get better. That’s all there is to it.”

Twilight looked down at the floor. “I guess. I don’t want him to be, but what else can I do? I haven’t found any spell that might work, not without invading his mind, and that’d be worse than what he has right now. Those pills are the only thing that works. It’s the only way he gets to have a choice, I can’t take that away from him. He wants to be good, and he should get the chance to do that.”

“So maybe you should do what you said? Try taking him off the pills for a few days, see if that clears anything up? I mean, most ponies who take that stuff don't take it all their lives. It just helps you while you grow up, and if you do need it when you're grown up, at least then you're old enough to decide for yourself. Maybe Spike doesn't know what it's doing to him yet, maybe he needs to get back to normal to see for himself.”

“And if he starts stealing once he’s off, what then?”

“You have to ask?”

It took a moment to register what Rainbow Dash was suggesting, but once the penny dropped, Twilight sighed. “Okay, I see your point. I shouldn’t have rushed into it like I did. Not for Spike, and not for you. Mare Do Well was my fault.”

Rainbow Dash smiled. “Don’t apologise, Twilight. I never hold a grudge against my friends, I’m bigger than that. But Spike’s not. Whether you like it or not, he’s too young to handle that kind of thing and he’s gonna hurt somepony if he keeps this up.”

Twilight chuckled. “Oh, really, Rainbow Dash, now you’re just exaggerating. This is Spike we’re talking about here. He’s only a baby dragon.”

“I don't know, Twilight. A baby dragon is still a dragon.”

Spike was lazing about on a bench after getting his lunch. He contemplated going back to the library, but he didn’t look forward to hearing another one of Princess Twilight’s lectures just for catching up on sleep. He sat up and instantly regretted it, for once again, a pink filly with a white and purple mane walked up to him to disturb his peace. Spike grunted when he spotted Diamond Tiara. “What do you want now?”

Diamond didn’t waste any time getting into arguing range. “Listen, dragonbreath, you can’t just go around insulting me and expect me to take it just like that.”

Spike grinned. “Why not? That’s what you always do, it’s what you deserve. Just because your daddy doesn’t care about how rotten you are doesn’t mean I have to take anything from you. You’re just mad because you didn’t get a chance to talk me into doing your dirty work.”

Diamond gasped. “That is so unfair! You don’t know what I was gonna say.”

“Sure I do. You were gonna say the same thing you always say: ‘Ooh, like, I’m so much better than you blank flanks.’” Spike fluttered his eyelashes for effect. “Everypony in town knows it’s true. I’ve barely even talked to you and I know it’s true. Maybe if you weren’t so stuck up you might actually realise nopony likes you.”

Diamond Tiara pouted. “That’s not true. Ponies do like me.”

“Oh yeah?” Spike smirked and folded his arms in front of his chest. “Then where’s Silver Spoon right now?”

The filly’s eyes started watering over. “You know what? Forget it. I don’t need to be nice to a dumb, smelly lizard like you.”

Spike’s eyes narrowed at that. He felt his jaw clench, his head throb, and his right hand rise up. “I am not a lizard, I am a dragon!”

He took a swipe at the girl, but all he caught was air.

Diamond’s eyes watered over more as she carefully backed away. She didn’t make a sound, not even a whimper, she just stared at him in terror. Eventually, she realised she’d backed away far enough. She turned and ran from the dragon, crying.

Spike snorted, breathing out a small green flame. “Serves you right.”

Spike sighed and walked back to the library. He’d managed to spend most of the afternoon on that park bench without anypony noticing, so he figured he could afford to conclude his nap in the library.

Spike entered without much fanfare, just depositing the bits and gems he’d earned on his pile in the corner. Twilight came down the stairs to greet him.

“Hi, Spike. Did you do anything fun today?”

“Eh, the usual. Nothing important.” He strode past her up the stairs.

“I’ve got some spare time, if you want to make that gem cake today. We could go looking for some smokey quartz.”

“Nah, that’s okay. I don’t feel like it.”

A knock on the door interrupted what she was going to say.

Spike didn’t bother stopping to see who it was. He just crawled into bed, laid his head on the pillow, and put his blanket over himself. He didn’t sleep, per se, but he just stayed still. There was a murmur in the main room down below, followed by the sound of the front door closing and Twilight forgetting she had wings again as she trotted up the stairs and interrupted the very important nothing Spike was busy doing.

“Spike? Did you talk to Diamond Tiara?”

Spike turned away from the alicorn and closed his eyes. “Yeah, she was trying to rope me into something again, but I showed her.”

“Show me your hands, Spike.”

With a grunt, Spike kicked his sheets off, sat up and presented his hands. He looked up at Twilight, not really bothering to check what she was so insistent on seeing.

Twilight gulped and lowered her voice. “Spike, that was Filthy Rich at the door. Did you hear what he said?”

Spike grinned. “He’s not happy about me telling his daughter the truth?”

Twilight’s jaw clenched. She shivered with anger, but she kept her voice calm and even with a force of will. “What you said to that girl is the least of your concerns. Look at your claws.”

Spike cocked an eyebrow, confused. He did as she asked and checked his claws.

The dragon shivered. He felt a sudden headrush coming up as all the blood drained from his face. He barely caught his breath. “T-that’s…”

“Blood, Spike. You took a swipe at a little girl's throat, and you drew blood.”

Author's Notes:

And now everything goes wrong at the same time.

I prefer to think that when characters act like jerks for no discernable reason, they'll get the benefit of the doubt, so that's why Rainbow doesn't yell at Spike. If she knew he was being jealous or greedy, as in knowing he's in the wrong, she would yell, I think, as similar situations already happened (Canterlot Wedding and the like).

I'll be honest, I don't like using 'Rainbow Dash had an unfortunate chilhood experience' as a trope, it's just that most of the time, the story requires it. I think everyone has at least one such defining experience, it's just that Rainbow is typically the one to end up talking about it, I suppose. Fanfic clichés creep in everywhere. And Mare Do Well? I actually like that episode, but that's only because my perspective on it is different from most. My DA account has a review on it, poorly written but it gets the message across, I think. I don't like having to revisit the episode so often, but it's too much of an elephant in the room not to address it. So I do, albeit briefly. I've added/edited Rainbow's part to be more on a positive note, though, I don't want people thinking she had abusive or controlling parents.

I'm not sure if this is a thing or not, but I've heard a lot of talk about people with ADHD or ADD or whatever who grew up to be athletes, on the side or professionally. I like that line of reasoning: you can't dedicate yourself to this one thing, but there are other things you can work towards and you can earn your success by other means. This is the same reasoning I like to have when magic is involved, not just 'You lost X, you get Y to compensate and that makes you even better than people with X'. But that as an aside.

It's subtle how Spike repeats the words 'Trust me' now, isn't it? Almost like he's trying to remind himself he can be trusted with things. Or the medication gave him a new habit. Or it's bad writing, that's also a possibility ^^