//------------------------------//
// Twilight Tutor 
// Story: Friendship is Shining: Clash of The Iron Mares 
// by Hopeful_Ink_Hoof 
//------------------------------//

	"Do we have enough of everything?" Twilight asked, pulling out her checklist.  "Paper?  Pens?  Pencils?  What about refreshments?  Do we have plenty of snacks?  What about drinks?  Is there enough lighting?  How's the ventilation in here?"

"Twilight!" Spike snapped, throwing up his arms.  "Would you calm down already?"

"But this is important to me," Twilight whined, ears pulling back.  "This is my first time tutoring and meeting these ponies.  I have to make a good first impression."

"But they already know you," Spike retorted.  "They're in your class, for crying out loud."

"Doesn't mean they know me.  Not like I talk to everypony in my class.  I spend most of my time with Pound and Pumpkin.  This is less a shared social occasion and more a direct social interaction."  She moved toward Spike, eyes wide.  "I need everything to be perfect."

Closing his eyes, Spike took a deep breath and slowly let it out, traces of smoke escaping from his lips in the process.  Taking in another breath, he opened his eyes and looked at the filly.

"Twiley," he said calmly.  "Take a deep breath and relax."  He watched as she did as he told her.  "Good.  Now listen.  You can't control everything that happens."

A gasp escaped Twilight as her eyes went wide.

"You take that back!" She said, pointing a hoof at the dragon.

Spike rolled his eyes and placed a claw over the hoof, pushing it down.

"All you can do," Spike continued, "is your best.  In this case, that means trying to be a good tutor and helping the ponies understand the material.  You'll do fine."

There was a moment as the two of them stood there, looking at each other.  Finally, Twilight let out a sigh and gave a nod.

"You're right," she admitted.  She then looked up at him and raised an eyebrow.  "Now, about those refreshments?"

A sigh escaped Spike as he rolled his eyes and shook his head.  How could a pony that was supposed to be so smart have such a hard time learning something?

"There are plenty," he finally said.  "I made them just like you asked."

"Thank you."  Twilight moved up, giving Spike a hug.  "You're the best help a pony can ask for."  Her ears perked up and as went wide as a thought occurred to her.

"Although..." she said as she broke the hug.  "...Maybe I should taste a couple of them.  Just to be sure?"  She grinned, looking at Spike with wide purple eyes.

"That doesn't work on me," Spike said, looking away from Twilight.  "And you know they're fine.  Besides, the ponies you're tutoring will be here any minute.  You can wait until then before you start snacking."

"Can't blame a filly for trying," Twilight said with a smile.  "And I do mean when I say thanks.  You're a lot of help."

"Hey, I'm practically your big brother too.  Part of my job is to look out for you."  This time he moved to Twilight, giving her a hug.

There was a knock at the door.  Twilight let out a gasp at the sound, her entire body tensing.  Her grip tightened on Spike enough that he felt it even through his scale and muscles.

"Oh, saddle sores!" Twilight cried out.  "That's them!  We're not ready yet.  I'm not ready yet!"  Breaking the hug, she grabbed Spike by the shoulders.  "What do we do Spike?"  The filly began shaking the dragon.  "What do we do?!"

Spike took a hold of Twilight and pulled her grip off him.  Holding onto her shoulders, he held her at arm's length.

"Look at me," he said.  "You... are going to calm down, collect yourself, and get ready to be an amazing tutor."  He then let her go, taking a step back.  "Meanwhile, I'm going to answer the door and show them in."

"Right," Twilight said with a nod.  "Okay.  Right.  I can do that."

As Spike left to get the door, Twilight tried to get in control of herself.  She would be fine.  She would do this.  She could do this.  She will be fine and a good tutor.  Whoever Twilight was tutoring would be in good hooves.  They would get along just great.  Everything would be fine.

"Twiley?" Spike said, in a voice that sounded nervous.  "Are you calm?"

The very fact that he felt the need to ask that made the answer change from yes to no.  Something had Spike nervous, and that was making Twilight nervous again.

You can do this Twiley, she told herself.  Pushing all of her fear and nervousness and deep down as she could, she turned toward Spike and did her best to smile.

"Okay," she said.  "I'm calm."

"Good," Spike said.  "Because your first pony is here for tutoring and..."  He took a deep breath and straightened.  "You just might want to--"

"For crying out loud!" a familiar voice called out.  "Stop being so dramatic.  It's not like I'm here to challenge Twilight to a duel or something."

Trixie?! Twilight thought, her entire body freezing.  Her mind blanked out, some part of it trying to reject the possibility.  She must have been mistaken.  She must have misheard.  That must have been a different filly's voice.

Stepping into the doorway was the pale blue unicorn filly with silvery mane.  The same one that strongly disliked Twilight, blaming her brother for chasing off what Trixie saw as a talented unicorn magician.  What happened while Discord was loose did not really change things between them much.  For her part, Twilight had nothing against Trixie, save for the irritation of some of their past conversations.  Still, the idea of being stuck helping her after school was not appealing.

"Trixie?" Twilight asked.  "You're one of the ponies I'm tutoring?"

"Yes," Trixie said, letting out a snort.  "My grades have dropped a little."  She rolled her eyes.  "Not like it was a big deal or anything.  But Miss Feather Bloom is worried it might get worse or something if I don't get help with it now."  She let out a sigh and sat down.  "I don't see what the big deal is.  I already know what I'm going to do with my life, and I don't need to know history or math to do that."

A part of Twiliight was shocked at the statement.  How could a pony not be interested in learning?  Yes, she had heard of such things, but to actually meet a pony like that?  And math and history?  Those were very important things to learn.  On Twilight's list, math was in third place (after magic and science), and history was fifth (following just behind grammar).

Another part of her was already coming up with an idea.

"Don't need to know math, huh?" Twilight asked, eyes narrowing.

"That's right," Trixie said, sticking her nose in the air.  "I don't need math.  I'm going to be a great stage magician that everypony will love."

"Okay," Twilight said as she gave a small smirk.  "So, let's say you're performing at a theater, for five hundred ponies at twenty bits a seat.  The theater takes twenty-five percent of each seat sold, letting you have the rest."  She took a step closer.  "How much should they pay you according to their deal?"

Trixie stood there, considering the question.  Her face scrunched up and brow furrowed as she tried to do the math in her head.  As she worked, she began to chew her lip.    Then rub her chin.  One of her ears gave a flicker.

"How does five thousand bits sound?" Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes," Trixie replied.  "That sounds good."

"Which means you just got cheated out of two thousand five hundred bits."

"What?!" Trixie cried out, eyes wide.  "Why would you do that to me?"

"I'm just making a point," Twilight stated.  "If you knew the math yourself, you would have known that you should have gotten seven thousand five hundred bits."

"Okay," Trixie conceded, "math can be useful."

Twilight smiled at that statement.

"But what good would history do me?"

And that brought the smile to an end.  More so because she did not have an immediate answer to it.  She could probably come up with something if she had time to think about it.

"Twiley," Spike called out, getting her and Trixie's attention, "your other student is here."

Shortly, the familiar new form of a white and brown colt stepped into the room as well.  His mouth hung open as he stared more at the building itself, eyes wide.

"Wow," he nearly whispered.  "I've never seen anything like this before."

"Pipsqueak?" Twilight asked.  "I'm tutoring you too?"

That got Pipsqueak's attention.  Turning to look at the two fillies, he smiled and walked toward them.

"You must be Twilight then," he said.

"Yes.  I'm Twilight Sparkle, but most just call me Twiley.  And this," she turned to point at Trixie, but stopped.

Trixie seemed to be staring at Pipsqueak.  Her eyes were wide and glassy, and her mouth and ears drooped.  There was also a faint hint of pink to the filly's muzzle.

Twilight moved closer to Trixie.

"This," Twilight said, this time poking the other filly in the ribs, "is Trixie.  She'll be getting tutored with you."

The poke caused Trixie to jump slightly.  The blush on her face grew brighter as she glared at Twilight for a second.  She then turned her attention back to the colt, giving a smile.

"Hello," she said with a slight bow of her head.

"Nice to meet you," Pipsqueak said as he moved closer.  Taking a hold of Trixie's hoof, he brought it to his mouth and placed a kiss on it.

For a moment, Twilight was worried that Trixie was going to faint.

"...yes..." the other filly finally managed to sputter out.

"Well then," she turned to Twilight, "should we get started?  I'm sure Pipsqueak is just as eager to learn as I am."  She then gave a big friendly grin.