//------------------------------// // Friendship // Story: Equestria Girls Spikebelle // by Chaos04 //------------------------------// The sun was starting to peek out from the horizon, as the beginning of a new day dawned. On the beach a young boy slowly roused from sleep. He yawned widely, and stretched as far as his arms could go. “Still here. Crap. So, it wasn’t all just a dream,” Spike thought to himself. Still, if it had been a dream, the end of it was likely the one part he hoped to be true. Looking to his side, he found his new friend, Sweetie Belle sleeping peacefully next to him. He found himself staring at her, thinking that even if he had lost so much, he had gained her friendship, and hopefully her forgiveness. “Sweetie Belle, wake up,” Spike whispered, as he gently jostled her. Sweetie’s eyes slowly opened, and she looked around, as if she didn’t know where she was at first. “Spike, let’s not sleep on the beach again. I got all this sand in my hair. And I think I got a fish down my back,” Sweetie Belle said. “You couldn’t have gotten a fish down your back. We didn’t sleep anywhere near the tide,” Spike said. He took Sweetie Belle’s hand, and helped her up. “Come on. I’ll walk you home.” “Alright. But, don’t let my sister see you with me. She’ll probably think you kidnapped me, or something.” Spike knew that Rarity and the others were mad at him, and was still discovering the depths that mistrust went. “Alright. Let’s get going, before your sister comes looking for you,” Spike said. The children left the beach together, with Sweetie Belle leading the way to her home. On the way, Spike looked down each of the alleyways between the buildings he and Sweetie passed. Through each one, he saw flashes of him attacking Sweetie Belle and her friends. To his side, he felt Sweetie Belle clutch his hand, and the feelings of apprehension slowly drifted away from him. He slowly turned his head, and looked forward, past any of the alleys that came up. It was not a neighborhood they came to, but somewhere in Canterlot’s business district. There, they came to a shop that Spike had passed by many times with his mum, but never went inside. “Well, this is my stop. I’d better get inside and let my parents yell at me for staying out all night,” Sweetie Belle said. “Alright. So...see you at school?” Spike said. Sweetie barely smiled and nodded, before she quickly ran into the boutique. ____________________________________________ Twilight had been out all night looking for Spike. It was barely hours before sunrise that Twilight went home at all. Her heart was torn from all that was happening. Between her concern for Spike and her resentment toward him, she didn’t even know what to do when she found him. But, thinking about it would do no good. She hadn’t even changed into her pajamas before she went to bed last night, and didn’t even bother changing her clothes before she went downstairs for breakfast. One toast with jam later, and she was on her way to school. ____________________________________________ Discord had not even returned home for the night. He knew his parents wouldn’t care whether or not he was home. They probably hadn’t even noticed he was gone. All night, he had been looking for Spike. Even though they had just met, Discord knew that something had to be done to help him. Nobody changed so drastically as Spike had in the course of hours. His search led him around a corner, where he met a group of boys around his age. “Hey!” Discord called to them, “Did you see a kid with green hair about this tall running around? Has a tendency to bump into people.” “Not since yesterday,” answered the boy in a red jacket. “Great. It’s like he just disappeared,” Discord thought to himself. “Well, thanks anyway,” he thanked the boys, before running off. The boy in the red jacket watched Discord leave, and recalled when he met the green-haired boy yesterday. How he felt sympathetic and somehow disturbed by the boy’s face. For reasons he could not comprehend, he decided that he had better keep his eye out for the boy again. ____________________________________________ With nowhere else to go, Spike went directly to Canterlot Elementary. It would be many minutes before classes started, and there were very few other children present at that time. There was nothing for Spike to do at that time. He had no friends, and his classes would not start for a long time. Simply, he sat down on the steps and started guessing the shapes in the clouds. Among the clouds, he saw faces. Twilight. Discord. Sweetie Belle. Lastly, he saw his mum, and started to recall the days with her. The memories of her turned his face away from the clouds, and toward the ground. “Hey,” said a soft voice next to him. “Hi, Sweetie Belle,” Spike answered, recognizing the voice. Sweetie sat on the steps next to him, and nudged him with her elbow. “You aren’t still thinking about...that, are you?” she asked. Spike looked over again, and saw the scar he inflicted on her staring him in the face again. Looking at it, he quickly looked away back to the ground. “No. It’s…” Spike felt apprehensive at divulging such information to others, but with nobody else in his life, he felt he could. “It’s my mum…” “Why? Is something wrong with her?” Sweetie Belle wondered. Spike glanced up, but said nothing. “Oh…” Sweetie said, realizing that something truly terrible had happened. “Are you staying with someone else?” “I was staying with a new friend I made. But, she found out about what kinds of things I did before, and kicked me out,” Spike sighed. “I guess that’s just another way of paying for my mistakes.” “Like getting beat up by my friends? Spike, I don’t know what other kinds of things you did, but what you’re doing to yourself is going to get you killed. And, if you’re going to be my friend, I can’t let you do that,” Sweetie said. Spike picked his head up, and looked directly at Sweetie Belle, in spite of her scar facing him. “We’re friends?” Spike asked. “Sure,” Sweetie Belle answered. For all the strangest reasons, in all the strangest ways, Spike and Sweetie Belle had become friends. And, for just one moment, Spike thought that maybe he hadn’t lost quite everything. “Hey! What’re ya doin’ with our pal!!” shouted the red-haired girl who attacked him yesterday. She and the short-haired girl both ran over and pulled Sweetie Belle away to safety. “Wait! It’s not what you think!” Sweetie said. Her friends didn’t listen, as the red-haired girl confronted Spike. “Looks like ya didn’t get the message yesterday! Stay away from our friend,” Apple Bloom said, pushing Spike backward. “Scootaloo: yer ready fer another curb-stompin’!” Both girls were stopped by Sweetie Belle forcibly grabbing their shoulders. “Stop it, Apple Bloom! We were just talking!” Sweetie Belle said. “Talking? After what he did to your arm, you really want to talk to him!?” Scootaloo said “Yes! He happens to be a friend of mine!” There was a moment of silence, as both of Sweetie’s friends processed what they heard. Apple Bloom grabbed Sweetie Belle’s arm, and showed her her own scar. “Friend’s, huh? Does this look like somethin’ friends do?” she asked. “No!...But, he did. And...It’s complicated,” Sweetie Belle said. She pushed past her friends, and stood protectively beside Spike. “Look, I know what he did was wrong. But, he’s not like that anymore. Didn’t you think it was weird how he let you two kick him senseless, and do absolutely nothing about it? He doesn’t want any more violence in his life. And, he’s going to need help to get past it all. I don’t care if you don’t want to help him. I can’t call myself his friend if I don’t.” The other girls were silent again, processing what they heard. “Alright. But, if you make one wrong move,” Apple Bloom said, before snapping a pencil in half in front of Spike’s face. The bell rang, signalling for class to begin. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo left without a word. “Well, I guess we’d better get to class,” Sweetie Belle said, as she led Spike to the classroom. On his way through the halls, Spike noticed a familiar face among the hallways. Smolder was standing by one of the classroom doorways, as though she were waiting for somebody. “Hey. Garble was asking about you last night. He was asking when you’d accept his offer,” she said. “Tell him forget it,” Spike said, not even looking at Smolder, and walking to his classroom.