Chapter 51 – Trust Troubles

Spike hadn't been able to even think much in the last few days, the race and the ruins, thanks to Twilight, had taken up most of his time. But now, he had more than he wanted. Twilight was with Pilit under the track doing an investigation of the newly discovered 'ancient museum' and now all he could think about was the vision he got after touching Image, the news that the Meltackian was being forced to betray the team he had just joined, to betray them. "Ho man." he said to himself as he wandered the halls, "What do I do?

"About what?" he heard a country accent ask.

The little dragon turned quickly, spying Applejack as she moved out from under a flatbed cart she had been using to wheel in a large part she had just harvested. He wondered now when he had made his way to the garage, "Applejack!" he said as he noticed her, "I was just, uh…" he rubbed the back of his head, trying to think of a delicate way to say what was on his mind, "Thinking."

"About what?" she repeated.

"Well, I got this friend who's in trouble, and somepony mean is forcing him to do something he doesn't want to do."

"Spike." she said sternly, "Is there somethin' you ain't tellin' us?"

"No!" he said quickly, "It's about a friend I met…in town?" Not exactly a lie, but not the whole truth either.

Applejack pursed her lips, placed her hoof to her chin, and squinted, staring at him judgingly as she thought and rubbed her chin, "Hmm." she hummed and finished with, "Alright, let's hear it."

"Huh?" he asked in surprise.

"About yer friend, let's hear it." she repeated, "What kinda trouble is this friend in?"

"Wait, you wanna help?" Spike asked.

"If'n I can." the orange earthpony said.

"Well," he began, "I was trying to find a way to help him. You see, his sister is in trouble and to keep her safe, he has to betray his friends. But, if anypony tries to save his sister, things will get…worse." he told her.

Applejack hummed a bit in thought, "Sounds like this town has its fair share of problems." she said, "But I'd try to help them both if I can, get the sister out of trouble and the brother won't need to betray anypony."

"But what if he gets caught?" the baby dragon asked, "She'll be in danger, and then…"

"Whoa there pardner." Applejack said, "I ain't said nothin' about him doin' the rescuin'. Sometimes a pony needs some kinda outside help to get a job done." She then turned to the part that sat there on the hovering flatbed, "Take this here part fer example, it was hangin' precariously by nothin' but a few wires and a strong cable barely hookin' it to another much bigger part. But the other part was hangin' on the other side of the line fer the yard."

"Which means you weren't allowed to touch the other part." Spike surmised.

"It weren't just that." Applejack said, "If'n we clipped our side, the other side might have falln' and hurt somepony from the other team pretty bad. So, Twiggs asked the other team fer help, and together we were able to make sure nopony was hurt. They got their part, and we got ours."

"Wow, how did you know the other team wanted the other part?" he asked.

"They didn't!" she said, "They was just happy we asked, their best scrounger was hangin' out there where we couldn't see her. They was glad we asked in order to keep her safe." Applejack smiled a bit, "Sometimes you just gotta ask fer help, and when you do, more then likely you'll find the help you need." she then grimaced, "Had ta learn that one the hard way."

"You mean with the harvest?" Spike asked with a knowing look.

"Eyup, never woulda gotten done if'n I hadn't tossed ma pride away to asked fer help." she said, "Fear can do the same thing." Spike looked up to her in confusion, "Like ma pride, fear can keep a pony from doin' the right thing. If'n yer friend is the one afraid to do somethin', then maybe one a his friends can help."

"So, you're saying, I should help him get his sister back?" he asked.

"Don't you do nothin reckless!" Applejack said quickly, "Ask one a his other friends, maybe one a them can figure out somethin' that'll be better."

"Hey APPLEJACK!" they all heard from the yard, and Twiggs poked his head into the garage to wave her back out, "They gave us some tools that we can {snort} use to harvest parts faster as a thank you! Come on and {snort} check 'em out!"

"COMEIN'!" she called back to him, and turned back to Spike, "I mean it Spike, don't do nothin' reckless." She then turned to the yard and called out, "They'd better be somethin' easy fer me to use, otherwise yer gonna be the one usin' em!"

As soon as she was gone, Spike, the dragon, sighed deeply, and narrowed his eyes in determination, "She is right about one thing, I have to help Image free his sister, but I can't ask anypony about it, because I'm the only dragon who knows about it." he placed a claw to his chin and scratched a bit in thought, "Well, I guess I'll have to talk to Image first, I don't even know where his sister is. She may even be on another planet!" This realization hit him hard, "Ho man, that would be bad. But maybe it's a nearby planet."

"Do you truly wish to help me?" the voice of Image echoed throughout his mind. This caused Spike to turn around, seeing nothing anywhere around him, "Answer me little dragon."

"My name is Spike, and yes." he said in response "I want to help."

"What can you do to help?" he asked, his voice stern and flat, almost as if something was missing.

"Where are you?" Spike asked.

"That question has no bearing on whether you can help me get my sister back." the voice said.

"I'm not sure what I can do just yet, but I can still help." the little dragon said.

"That is illogical." Image said.

"Illogical? Have you already forgotten your passion?" Spike said with determination, "How are you supposed to spread the image of perfection if you aren't willing to try."

Silence, he was sure that Image had vacated his mind by now, so he was surprised when he got a response, "Thank you Spike." the Meltackian said, "I can meet you in the breakroom after Rarity is finished with her tea."

"Wait, you're having tea with Rarity?" he asked almost angrily.

"NOT important." Image nearly shouted, "And, I must apologize for earlier. I must have fallen into…it's not important. Meet me here in ten minutes. I would like to discuss this little rescue attempt."

Spike sighed a bit, "Ok, fine. But next time I'm drinking tea with Rarity." he said in a huff.

He was true to his word, entering into the empty room that was as dark as could be. With a flick of his clawed hand, the window opened wide, letting in the light, and yet, he could still not see Image. "Huh?" he asked himself, "Am…am I being ambushed?" No sooner had he finished his words than a worn-out and exhausted-looking Meltackian boy floated quickly into the room and placed a single hand to the door frame to steady himself.

"My apologies." he said into Spike's mind, "Rarity just had to have my advice on a particular part of a project she was working on."

"What kind of project?" Spike asked with a jealous query.

"She mentioned that she usually asks you for advice, however, you seemed to be…distant at the moment." Image said.

"Oh." Spike said as he twitched in realization, his jealousy vanishing quickly, "I guess I haven't really been paying much attention lately."

"Which brings me to my question." he heard Image say and then the door slid shut, "How did you know of my sister?"

"I have a better question, what was that 'Illogical' talk about?" Spike shot back, catching Image off guard.

"It…" he began.

"And I can tell when you're going to lie." Spike said with a knowing smile on his face, "Your skin turns yellow with a tinge of black and green every time."

Once again Image froze, 'What do I say now?' he thought to himself.