//------------------------------// // Things Were A Lot Easier... // Story: When We Were Friends // by FamousLastWords //------------------------------// It seemed to be another usual morning at the Ponyville castle. Breakfast had just been laid out, courtesy of Twilight, and the three residents were seated around the table. Spike and Twilight sat on one side with Starlight sitting on the other. “Excuse me, Starlight, could you please pass the syrup when you’re finished with it?” Twilight smiled brightly at the unicorn sitting across from her at the table. “That is, of course, if you don’t end up using the whole bottle, yourself.” “Huh?” Starlight looked down at her waffles, now drowning in syrup, and immediately pulled the syrup bottle back. “Oh, sorry, Twi. Here you go.” She levitated it over to Twilight with a small smile. “No need to apologize,” Twilight replied. “There’s plenty more where that came from. Spike brought home more than enough from his trip to Sascoltewan last week. Use all you want.” “Oh yeah,” Spike spoke up for the first time that morning. “There’s a bunch in the pantry.” Starlight felt her hooves tense up at hearing his voice. Her eyes met his for a brief moment and her heart jumped before she had a chance to turn her gaze elsewhere. She took a deep breath as quietly as she could, and turned her focus toward the waffles before her instead of the dragon sitting only a few seats away from her. “I’ll keep that in mind,” Starlight stated, taking a large bite. Her eyes clenched, the sudden burst of sweetness igniting her brain with a flash-flood of bright lights. “Mmm, it’s uh… it’s real good.” “Excellent,” Twilight replied. “Do you want some syrup, Spike?” Twilight turned to the dragon who was staring into his own plate of food. “Oh, sure, thank you.” Spike took the syrup from her and poured some on his own waffles. “I won’t use too much, though. Too much sugar wears the fangs down, or whatever they say.” “Well, I’m glad you’re finally taking my advice on watching what you eat,” Twilight replied, cutting off a sizable piece of her own waffles. “It’s only nineteen years late, but better late than never.” Spike chuckled. “Yeah.” What followed was nothing but silence as the three consumed their breakfast. Every crunch of waffle, every sip of coffee and every napkin crinkle echoed off the walls. The tension had been building from the moment the three of them sat down, lacing the air with a heat as if a wet, hot blanket were thrown over the three of them. Or at least two of them… “So…” Twilight said, looking back and forth between her two friends. “You guys are being awfully quiet this morning. I’ve normally had to solve at least two friendship problems caused by you two by now.” They both casually shrugged in unison, not bothering to look up from their plates. Spike grumbled and shrugged while Starlight let out a sigh and rolled her eyes. Twilight cocked an eyebrow. “Okay,” she said. “What happened last night? Did you guys not get enough sleep or something?” Spike spat his current bit of food back onto the plate and Starlight nearly swallowed her fork, both of them erupting into a fit of coughing. “I, um, I…” Spike cleared his throat, nodding his head. “Yeah, I just didn’t sleep too well. I’m pretty tired, still.” Starlight wiped off the food remnants that splattered her lips from her coughing fit with a napkin and provided her own nod. “Yeah, same here. Just, not enough sleep and… stuff.” Twilight nodded. “I’m sorry to hear that. I know how much you guys value your ten plus hours a night.” She giggled softly. “Maybe you two will eventually be like me and learn to operate on four hours or less every day. Actually, please don’t. You two are cranky enough as-is some days. I’m not sure I’d be able to handle you guys being sleep-deprived every day.” “Yeah,” Spike spoke up. “That’d be a fate worse than death, I’m pretty sure.” “Agreed.” Twilight grinned and scarfed down her current bite of food. “Not to mention it’d be horrible if you guys couldn’t keep up with your dancing lessons together. What would your teacher think if you both fell asleep during the next practice?” A loud clang rang out as Starlight’s fork dropped onto her plate. Spike and Twilight both glanced towards the mare who was staring very intently at the table. “Yeah,” Starlight said, finally looking up at Twilight. “We wouldn’t anything to mess that up, would we? Especially not after all the months of practicing we’ve been putting in.” Spike bit his lower lip, casually glancing at Starlight. “Yeah… that’d suck.” Twilight nodded. “Yeah, especially considering your guys’ first show you have coming up? When is it again?” “Next week, actually,” Spike responded. “We’re just doing a small thing at the Royal Diamonds Ballroom in Canterlot. Once Celestia caught wind that me and Starlight had started learning to dance, she wanted to be the first one to see.” Starlight slowly nodded. “Yeah. It’s going to be a lot of fun. We’ve been working really hard for it... I, um, I hope it turns out well.” “I’m sure it will,” Twilight stated, a bright smile on her lips. “As much as you guys bicker about everything, you actually work amazingly together.” Spike coughed. “Huh?” “W-What do you mean, Twilight?” Starlight followed up, her mouth held slightly ajar. “With dancing and doing work around town,” Twilight replied, darting her eyes back and forth between them. “Do you guys not like working together or something?” Starlight shifted in her chair. “No, it’s not that. I just, I didn’t know what you meant. LIke I said, tired and all that jazz.” Spike bobbed his head. “Yeah, same. I love working with…” He slowly, cautiously turned his head toward the mare across the table. “...Starlight.” This was the first time all morning the two had made eye contact for more than a fraction of a second. This time, they fell to the other end of the spectrum, holding each others’ gazes for much longer. Seconds, hours, weeks. They stayed there, eyes locked on each other until Starlight broke it off, ducking her head down. “Yeah, you’re right,” she said, her face heating up. “I think we make a great team.” Twilight nodded her agreement. “I don’t think there’s another pair out there that can cause as much mischief and give me as much of a headache as you two do, sometimes. Actually, I guess that just goes to show how good of friends you two are, huh?” Twilight punctuated her though with a snicker and another bite of waffle. “Yeah, we definitely do,” Spike said, looking anywhere but at Starlight. “Yeah.” Starlight’s voice was barely above a whisper. “I always thought we were, at least.” Spike immediately turned his attention to Starlight. A single tear rolled down her cheek and onto the table, splashing into her largely ignored breakfast. He drummed his claws against the table, opening his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but shut it immediately afterward. Twilight, for her part, looked even more confused than she was before. “Okay, there’s something going on here.” Twilight turned her head back and forth between the two of them. “Things are way too weird with you guys this morning. Is everything alright?” Silence. “Did you guys get in a fight or something? Do you want to talk about it?” The silence continued. “Well, nevermind then,” Twilight said, letting out a sigh. “Let’s go ahead and call it a morning, then, before things get any more strange. I’ll be in my room going over some new taxation proposals for most of the day, and you two have your own work to do. So, let’s just go ahead and get started on it, okay?” It didn’t take more than a second for Spike and Starlight to get up from the table and head toward the stairs. Twilight looked at the mess of plates and cups they left behind and rolled her eyes. “You guys might try taking a nap before you interact with anypony else,” she called out after them. “Just saying.”