Four and a half months had passed and mom decided to let me off punishment early, much to the displeasure of my stepfather.
The day I was let off, I went to Twilight's Castle after school. Since I wasn't grounded anymore, I thought it'd be nice to learn some new spells.
I found my way through the castle, having let myself in. I finally made my way to the throne room where Twilight was. She was alone and, from the look of it, was deep in a book.
"Princess Twilight?"
"Oh, Astral. I wasn't expecting you back." she said. I didn't notice at the time, but she had the look of apprehension on her face.
"Yeah, mom decided I've been grounded enough. Anyway, I was hoping we could continue with the lessons. I've been practicing what you taught me last time. I made some real progress and..."
"So I've heard. In particular, I've heard about your use with the telekinesis spell I taught you." Uh oh.
"Twilight, I don't know what you heard, but I was only defending myself. I promise."
"Using your magic to toss another Pony around like a rag doll doesn't sound very much like defending yourself." Twilight said, raising an eyebrow.
"What?! All I did was hold him. My grip wasn't even that strong! He would've kept attacking me if..."
"And what did you do to provoke him?"
"Wha... Nothing!"
"Ponies don't attack one another for no reason. You must have done something to upset him."
"Twilight, you've known Astral longer than you've known Varsity. Does he really seem like the kind of guy who would just do that for no reason?"
I looked over at the far side of the room to see Spike sitting at a corner table. Spike was a rather tall, buff dragon. In fact, he was almost as tall as Twilight, who towered over most ponies herself.
I look back at Twilight, who had a look of surprise on her face. Apparently neither one of us knew that he was even in the room. Twilight then turn back to me with a look of melancholy.
"I thought I knew him. But he's obviously not the good colt I thought he was. He's become jealous of his brother."
"Just like you were jealous of Princess Cadence, right? Or how Pinkie was jealous of Gilda?" Spike asked matter-of-factly.
We both looked at Spike. I was elated that someone was standing up for me. Unfortunately, Twilight didn't seem to take too kindly to it, especially with Spike bringing up what I assumed were some sore memories.
"Well, you don't get a say in this, Mister! Astral, I don't feel it would be responsible to continue giving you lessons in magic. As such, I'm also going to ban you from this Castle so as to deny you access to any of the knowledge of my library." I didn't argue with her. What was the point? I would only be digging myself deeper into the whole I was already in.
"So you're going to punish him for doing what's natural?" Asked Spike.
"I think you've been hanging around Smolder and Ember for too long. Besides, it's like I said, I don't think Varsity would have just attacked him for no reason. He DID something! He had to have!" Declared Twilight.
"You're talking out of both sides of your mouth, Twilight."
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Twilight asked, now offended.
"I mean you're contradicting yourself. On one hand, you're denying Astral's right to defend himself. On the other, your acknowledging, albeit indirectly, Varsity's right to do the same. How can you claim one and deny the other? You're making no sense!" Spikes said in frustration.
"Enough! Spike, I have made my position quite clear! Astral is no longer permitted on Castle grounds! That's final!"
"Please, Twilight. Please don't. This is all I have left." I begged. Unfortunately, Twilight never relented.
"I'm sorry, Astral. You brought this on yourself." Said Twilight. Spike left the room in disgust. After a couple of minutes of staring at the floor, I left in disappointment and despair.
I was making my way through Ponyville when I was doused with freezing water. After a rather embarrassing, high-pitched Yelp, I look up to see varsity with a bucket of water, laughing his flank off.
"What are you doing!" I shouted, dripping wet.
"What does it look like?" He asked, still laughing. Would you believe that this isn't the first time he's pulled a stunt like this?
"You jerk! How about I blast you in the face again!?" I shouted. Lucky for me, there wasn't anypony around to hear my outburst.
"Careful, wouldn't want to get grounded again... Wouldn't want to get beaten again." He said in the most spiteful way possible.
"Well, how would you feel about getting burned?" We both turned to see Spike staring him down.
"Oh, it's just you. Like I'm scared of Twilight's pet. Go home, freak."
With a smirk, Spike opened his mouth, and from it spewed green flames. They missed him, but just barely. It was certainly enough to singe his mane a little.
"Go home, kid... And If you tell anypony or back talk me, I'll do it again." This was enough to send Varsity flying away. As I watched him dash off into the sky, I used a spell to dry myself off. I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to look at him and noticed in his other hand a few books.
"What are those?" I asked.
"Take a look." I gripped the books with my magic and look through the titles. They were all books on Magic. Not just any magic, the advanced stuff.
"Want 'em? They're yours." He said.
"Spike... Thank you... But won't Twilight get mad that you stole her books?"
"Who said they were hers? They're mine."
"Yours?" Now I was curious.
"Yeah, I've been getting books from Twilight every birthday and Hearths Warming Eve for years now. Of course I don't really have a use for the magic books. But I'm sure you will, though." Spike said as he winked at me.
"Spike, I..."
"Kid, I don't know much of what's going on, it seems to me that you're getting a raw deal right now. Speaking of which, I'd like to ask you a question."
"Shoot." I was too busy admiring my new haul.
"What did he mean by 'beaten agian', Astral?" He asked, now deadly serious. Now there was a question I really didn't want to answer.
"Uh... he was talking about... the playground." I said, nervously.
"The playground?" Spike asked with a raised eyebrow.
"When we had our fight. That's what he was talking about." Spike was skeptical, but let it go with that.
"Just remember, Astral, you can talk to me about anything. And if anyone it's hurting you, you tell me. You tell me, understand?" I responded by nodding my head.
"Alright, take it easy, kid. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."
I ran off to wait for Mom while still fawning over Spike's gift. Perhaps today was alright after all.