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// Chapter 5 - 2/2: The Duo Rejoins 
// Story: To Love a Pet 
// by Creative Charmer 
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	Sweetie Belle trotted hurriedly as she made her way through town to Apple Bloom's farm. "I can't wait to see Lester! I He's sure to be really glad to see me again!" She ran up the path next to Sweet Apple Acres, rounding the entrance into to the farm. She ran past the dozens of apple trees until she finally caught sight of the clubhouse. "I'm almost there, Lester!" she reached the clubhouse, ran up the walkway, and excitedly opened the door to an unexpected surprise.
Scootaloo and Apple Bloom both turned their heads back towards Sweetie Belle upon hearing the door swing open. They looked surprised to see her, but not as surprised as she was to see them.
However, before anypony could say a word, Lester, who was in front of Scootaloo, and therefore was being blocked by her, moved his head to the side and saw Sweetie Belle had at last returned to him, causing the porcupine to instantly burst into unrequited excitement. Without a second thought, Lester ran past Scootaloo and Apple Bloom at top speed and leapt up onto Sweetie Belle, knocking her over and down onto her back. The filly began to laugh uncontrollably as Lester nuzzled and licked her face over and over, his affection causing a ticklish sensation in Sweetie Belle.
"Ha ha! I'm really glad to see you, too, Lester!" After she felt enough of his adoration had been given, Sweetie Belle picked up Lester and placed him on the ground. She then got up on all fours again, now facing her friends, trying to shake off some of the laughter she was still feeling. "Looks like I was right about Lester being happy to see me," she chuckled.
"You got that right," Scootaloo also chuckled a bit.
"He he, yeah. Oh! I almost forgot to ask: what are you both doing here?"
"Well, I was really eager to see our mascot again, so I came here earlier and bumped into Apple Bloom."
"She told me what she was doin', and ah came with her cause ah wanted tuh see him, too!"
"Yeah. But then, something weird happened."
"Really, what?" Sweetie inquired.
"Well, when we came to the clubhouse and opened the door, Lester was lying on the floor, asleep. He then woke up and looked at us, and then he bounced up in the air, looking really happy and excited!"
"Is that what was so weird?"
"Actually, it sorta was, but that's not the weird part. The weird part is that after he looked at us while looking happy, he suddenly got all sad and stuff."
"Really?" 
"Yeah," Apple Bloom added. "First he was as happy as pig in a mud puddle, but then he got as sad as a..."
"...pig not in a mud puddle?" Scootaloo said, finishing Apple Bloom's statement.
"Yeah!"
"Well, at least he's happy now!" Sweetie looked down at the still happy porcupine as he hugged her leg and nuzzled against it. "...hey, you know what: I think the reason Lester acted that way when you two first showed up is because he thought it was me!"
"What?"
"I mean that he must have wanted to see me so bad that when he saw you two, he got excited because he hoped I was the one who came in! Isn't that right Lester?" she asked, to which Lester nodded brightly.
"Yeah! That makes sense!"
"Yeah, that doesn't sound so weird now."
"Well, I've been excited to see you again since yesterday, so I know how you feel," Sweetie and Lester both looked hope in their mutual feelings, but this sharing of emotions was short-lived, due to Sweetie Belle's remembrance of the difficult decision she had chosen to follow the previous evening. She now looked upon Lester not with a face of joy, but with a face of gloominess. Lester was surprised and confused by her sudden display of despondency. "...although, one thing I kept doing while trying to fall asleep was thinking about how I had to make you stay here after I went home, and how sad it made you feel. It made me feel so bad that I had to separate us. I really wished that we could have slept in the same room together, like real pets and pet owners do, but I knew it would have been even worse if my parents knew about you and made me send you back to the forest, because then I would never have been able to see you again," tears began to well up in her eyes as she sat down, looking dejected. "I really wish you could understand why I did what I did, Lester."
Lester appeared quite troubled to see his friend so saddened. He felt bad for seeing her like this, and because he believed that he was responsible for making her feel so dismal, it made him feel even worse. Lester truly cared for Sweetie Belle more than anyone else he had ever known, and he wanted to do whatever he could to make her smile, like a regular pet would. This would mean Lester would need to do what Sweetie Belle thought was best, no matter how much it pained him to be separated from her. But it would be worth it to keep their relationship intact, and that's what Lester knew to be what was most important.
With these thoughts now present in his mind, Lester wanted to let Sweetie belle know he understood her actions so she would no longer be sad. Lester walked up to Sweetie Belle, standing on his hind legs and putting his front paws on her leg to hold him up. Sweetie turned her head and looked at him, wondering what he was doing. Her question was soon answered as Lester licked her nose, holding a pleasant smile afterwards. Sweetie looked back at Lester with a hint of astonishment.
"It looks like he's pretty okay with it," Scootaloo said.
"Yeah, he seems pretty happy!"
Sweetie Belle looked at her friends, then back at Lester, whom was still showing his smiling face to her, and in turn, Sweetie Belle smiled herself. Now feeling joy rather than despair, Sweetie Belle bent down to hug her porcupine pet, but this tender moment lasted for only an instant. "Ouch!" Sweetie yelped as she sprang back up, having poked herself on Lester's many needles. "I need to remember not to do that."
As Sweetie Belle sat nursing her slight injuries, Apple Bloom projected the next idea for the trio.
"Well, now that that's all been taken care of, what do y'all wanna do?"
"Oh! I know! How about we do something with our new mascot?"
"Yeah! But what?" Apple Bloom inquired and began to ponder the suggestion, as did Scootaloo.
"...I know! We can go and show him to everyone to let them know we have a mascot!"
"Hey, now that's a pretty good idea!"
"Yeah!"
"Wait!" Sweetie Belle suddenly shouted in a panic, interrupting her friends' banter. "We can't show Lester to anypony! I don't want to risk my parents finding out through my sister or anypony else!"
Apple Bloom quickly took this into account. "...oh, right. Ah hadn't thought about that. Ah guess we shouldn't do it, then."
Sweetie Belle looked pleased with Apple Bloom's verdict, but not so much with Scootaloo's.
"Awww, what' the point of having a mascot if nopony knows about it?" Scootaloo carped.
"He's not just some mascot! He's still my pet and friend! And I won't let him be taken away from me!"
"Okay! Okay!" Apple Bloom said as she went between the two to reassure Sweetie Belle. "We won't show him to anypony!"
"Do you promise?"
"Yeah, yeah," Scootaloo replied with reluctant agreement.
"Do you crusader promise?"
Scootaloo sighed an uptight sigh, and walked over to Sweetie Belle along with Apple Bloom so they could all do the crusader promise.
First, the girls sat on the floor, forming a triangular shape with all three facing towards the center point of their formation. They then all clapped their hooves thrice at the same time. Next, they all simultaneously and swiftly tilted their heads to the right, then to the left, then straight upright again. After that, they criss-crossed their front legs to touch the knees of their hind legs, then switched the positions of how their front legs overlapped each other. Next, Sweetie Belle downwards slapped the hooves of Apple Bloom with her own hooves, then Apple Bloom did the same with Scootaloo, who did the same back to Sweetie Belle. Lastly, the girls, though reluctantly, reared their heads back at the same time, and swung them forward, klonking all their heads together at once, after which they all fell backwards onto the ground, feeling quite dazed from the collision of their noggins.
"We've gotta think of a different promise routine," Apple Bloom stated as her eyes spun around from the dizziness, with the others agreeing through their dazed tones. Apple Bloom then shook off her wooziness, and was now able to talk more clearly. "Well, now that that's all settled, what do y'all wanna do, then?" Scootaloo tried to think of another idea, but before she could make a suggestion, Sweetie Belle intervened with one of her own.
"Well, actually; what I really want to do today is spend the day with Lester: just me and him," Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were perplexed by this suggestion. "It's just that I want to give Lester they kind of day he wants now that I'm his owner, and I want to get started right away. Would that be all right?" she asked, making her eyes look as big and sad as possible.
Scootaloo and Apple Bloom looked at each other, then back at Sweetie Belle. "Sure, that would be fine," Apple Bloom answered.
"Really??"
"Yeah, but it's not because of that thing you can do with your eyes," Scootaloo responded.
"Well, ah thought it sorta was, but mostly it's because you're our friend, and we don't wanna keep you from doin' what you wanna do."
"Yay!" Sweetie Belle cheered as she beamed with delightedness. "Thanks, you guys!" she quickly hopped over and hugged both of her friends tightly, and after a bit of initial immobilization, both hugged Sweetie back.
"Well, we hope you have a good time with Lester, Sweetie Belle," Apple Bloom said after the hugging was finished.
"Thanks!" she replied with glee. "So, what are you both going to do while I'm gone?"
"Oh, just the usual stuff."
"Yeah, we'll just look for ways to earn our cutie marks by ourselves."
"It'll have to be something that can be done with two ponies."
"How about kickboxing?"
"Yeah! That sounds fun!"
"Okay, then! You guys have fun, too!" Sweetie said, and then she turned towards Lester. "Come on, Lester! Let's go have our own fun!"
Lester leapt with excitement at Sweetie's enthusiasm, and immediately after the filly and the porcupine both dashed out the clubhouse door, as eager as ever to spend their first whole day together as friends.