Chapter 11: The ones we love.
Spike just got back from his little expedition, happy to see that things were finally starting to look good for him. He had ran all the way back to the crystal castle, in hopes of getting his stuff ready for the play. When Spike found himself in front of the gigantic doors leading to the inside of the castle, the fake Rarity stopped him on his tracks.
"Wait." She simply said, stopping his legs entirely.
'What? What's the matter?'
"Leave the bottle here in the bush." Said the fake Rarity, pointing at the bush next to the stairs leading to the doors.
'What? Why?'
"There's a small posibility that Twilight has returned, you should hide the bottle in case she asks what is the liquid inside it."
Spike saw the fake Rarity's point and quickly placed down the bottle in the bush, where nopony could see it. Once it was done, Spike entered the castle, not hoping to see Twilight. Luckily, Twilight didn't seem to be around; meaning that probably she was still in Canterlot.
Spike went over to his room, and opened the closet to reveal his outfit; he was proud to wear the outfit suited for a general, but he was sad because he had to take it to the theater. 'Aw man, I wish I could wear this since today.'
"Even though I'm not a fashion expert like the pony I represent, I must say that this outfit is gorgeous; but you know the rules, just take it to the theater-"
'So that the outfits can be kept safe and sound. Yeah, I got that the first time.' Spike finished the fake Rarity's sentence with sarcasm.
Spike quickly folded his clothes, he put them in a big briefcase and left his room. He knew the fake Rarity was helping him, because there was no way he could've lifted a briefcase of that size without help. Unfortunately, when Spike was just exiting the thrones' room, he found Twilight standing between him and the exit with a glare.
"Spike." Twilight had a cold voice, meaning that she either knew that he had gone to that party or that she had found out about the bottle.
'CRAP! Now what?!' Asked Spike to the fake Rarity, who didn't seem that nervous.
"Don't worry, keep walking with confidence, and play it off." Said the fake Rarity, walking beside him to help him gain confidence. Spike kept walking, and decided to do just as he was told to do.
"Hi, Twilight." Said Spike, trying to sound casual but serious.
"Hey! Where are you going?" Asked Twilight, showing a little more emotion. Spike did not stop walking.
"Umm... To the theater to leave my stuff?"
"The theater? You're in a play?" Asked Twilight, but she got no response from Spike, who was near the doors. Twilight decided to be more direct. "Did you go to that Nightmare Night party?"
"Wait." The fake Rarity stopped Spike, and he looked back at her.
"Yes, why?"
"Did you see anypony... strange?"
"Respond with soft sarcasm."
"Twilight, it was a Nightmare Night party."
"But you didn't get involved in anything dangerous, did you?" Asked Twilight, now showing concern.
"What are you implying, Twilight? That I burned the house down?"
"Spike, I worry about you. I haven't seen you in a week, and now you... have this different attitude, you went to a party in which only Celestia knows what happened and you're in a play. I just want to know what happened to you."
"Tell her the truth." Said the fake Rarity, intrigued by the results of this event.
"I... Drank a potion with magic in it... And it made a fake Rarity that's talking to me... And now we're about to go and prepare for a musical about Princess Celestia with rap music."
Twilight's heartbeat seemed to stop for a moment, was Spike serious? Did he drink the potion the Princess had warned her and her friends about? Was this what that stallion meant when he mentioned 'a surprise in Ponyville'? Nooooo, Spike couldn't be serious, maybe he is just mad at her and he is being sarcastic or oddly coincidental. That HAD to be it.
"Look, Spike, if you're not gonna take this seriously-" It looked like Twilight was about to lecture Spike, but now Spike had enough, and decided to be brutally honest with her.
"Why should I?"
"Excuse me?"
"Am I really supposed to believe you care? Just look at us! We were so close when we were in Canterlot, when we moved to Ponyville and we lived in the library I was your assistant, but now I'm just the result of an experiment you have to bear with! I mean, you don't ever have time with me! Now I'm supposed to practically live by myself! But that's not true, right? I'm living under the same roof with a crazy unicorn who is so afraid of losing her teacher's love she can't even give me five minutes of her damn time! A unicorn who may be the princess of friendship now, but really was just a loser with luck!"
Twilight was taken back, not only did she not imagine someone would have that opinion of her, but she didn't expect such hurtful words to be said by the dragon she practically raised. Tears were starting to form in her eyes, and Twilight's breath was starting to be cut. She could only say one sentence at the moment:
"I could ground you."
"You know what? I don't think you could." Said Spike before opening the doors. "Good talk... Don't wait up." And with that, Spike closed the doors behind him, leaving Twilight crying like she never did before.
"That was good." Said the fake Rarity, appearing beside him when he was out of the castle.
"Whatever."
"Grab the bottle and go to the theater at once, and you may be considering spending the night there, Twilight might not be so forgiving this night."
"I don't care; she has fought monters before, she can take this." Said Spike, grabbing the bottle and walking to the theater with a slow pace.
Speaking of Twilight, to say she was sad would be a total understatement; she had never been so emotionally destroyed in her life. Tears were flowing out of her eyes, and she was laying on the floor for the lack of strength in her legs to stand up. Spike's words were marked on her head, and they cut down her feelings like a knife piercing through butter.
Was Spike right? No... Twilight always has been a completely good pony to everyone, including him, right? They had re-shelved the library together many times, they had organized her magic books by author countless times, they had tried to count the number of decimal numbers in pi... But Twilight couldn't find an activity they both enjoyed doing.
Not only did Twilight not find an activity they couldn't enjoy together, she also couldn't remember any kind of fun Spike had pretty much since she became a princess. The amounts were slim to none. But that's because being a princess she has to do much more stuff, right? Then again, she didn't have royal duties like princess Celestia, Luna or Cadence. She actually had a lot of free time to spare... But instead of spending some with him, she had spent it with literally anything else.
Spike was also left out in many of their adventures and events. Twilight recalled the time they had their first Winter wrap-up in Ponyville, in which Spike almost died due to the extremely low temperature of the lake he fell on, and nopony gave him a little help. Or that time she moved her birthday to Canterlot because of Rarity, in which Spike wasn't there and she had to tell him when they got back. Or what about the time when she had a picnic with the rest of her friends, and Spike just had to help her organize it instead of being a part of it?
Things didn't get better from there, Twilight had sent him to school because she thought it could be nice to let him socialize with ponies of his age, but she was really doing it to not get worried about him for most part of the day. Twilight couldn't remember since when she had asked him how his day was at school, or even if he needed help with something he didn't understand at school.
These things couldn't be blamed for Twilight's lack of compromise, since it didn't exist. Twilight was always the best student at school, and she had delivered a letter to princess Celestia every week since she came to Ponyville; not to mention the numerous things she had done with her friends and citizens of Ponyville with time to spare.
All things considered, it could be completely plausible that Spike could've resorted to something like the potion to escape his reality, and it was all her fault. So was that just it? Was that the end of their friendship, then?
No.
This wouldn't be the end of their friendship. Twilight could be sure that, whatever it costed her, it wouldn't be the end. Spike had done so much for her in the past; he was one of the first, if not the first one to calm her down when she was overreacting, he had cleaned up after her so many times, and he had been her family for as long as she could remember. Now it's time she did something for him for a change.
With these words on her mind, Twilight sniffed back the few tears that remained on her face and stood up, she was NOT letting their friendship die, not Spike. Spike was going through a tough time in his life, and he had problems that he couldn't see; but to help him, Twilight needed to give him something he may not want, but something he definitely needed: a family. But to make things right, she would have to find somepony else who Spike would listen to, since he wouldn't listen to her straight away.
Twilight regained control of herself, and, with determination on her face, she walked over to the doors and opened them. She would find somepony to confront Spike with, and she would do it fo their friendship, for everything he had done for her, but most importantly, for him.
"Pip, are you sure you're not going too far with this?" Asked Dinky to Pipsqueak, who was burning his links to Spike and Button Mash.
"I'm sure. They are probably doing the same." Said Pip, pulling out another memory of the box he had next to him. "Our first time winning a ticket in that arcade game... Burn it." He said, throwing the ticket into a metal bin from which smoke was coming out; the ticket was devoured by the flames.
"Oh, look! Our first movie! Supermare!... SUPER burn it." Said Pip, burning the ticket.
"Pip, look, I know I've been avoiding my friends to be with you this week, but I've been doing it to help you get better; and I see that this is not helping you at all." Said Dinky, looking at Pip with worry; making him flinch before throwing something else in there.
"It is helping; it's helping me move on." Pipsqueak threw a photo of the three of them, which surprised Dinky.
"Hey! Wasn't that the photo you three took when you met?!" Asked Dinky in horror when she realized how important that photo was.
"Yes. What's your point?" Pipsqueak didn't look thrilled to burn the photo; but he didn't exactly look like he regretted it either.
"Okay, that's it! You're not burning any more stuff!" Said Dinky, taking away the box from Pip.
"Hey! What gives?" Said Pip, trying to reach the box.
"AHA! I got you!" Exclaimed Dinky, which completely confused Pip. "Don't you see? If you really didn't care you wouldn't have tried to get this stuff back!"
"Whatever... I don't need it anyway." Said Pip, crossing his hooves.
"Pip, you spent most of your time with those two, it's natural for you to hang on to these memories." Pip looked down. "Look, if you really want to break your friendship with them then do it slowly; you don't think you'll be able to just make them disappear forever from your life all of a sudden, do you?"
Pip remained silent for a couple of seconds before letting out a small laugh. "This is why I like you."
"I like you too, Pip." Dinky kissed him on the cheek, making him blush.
"I know that, you wouldn't have missed the Nightmare Night party or the show if you didn't."
"Oh, I know, I'm that awesome."
Both of them laughed; Pipsqueak thought that, after all, it had been a nice week for him, since he got to spend it with Dinky. Since the first party at Snips' house, they had shared some interesting conversations about everything, and they shared the majority of opinions the other had about almost any subject. It wasn't long until Pip finally confessed to her in a panic attack; Dinky was more than happy to say that she shared the same feelings for him.
Their laughing stopped when they heard somepony trotting towards them, Pip took a closer look and saw that it was no other than the princess of friendship herself; Twilight Sparkle, who, by the looks of it, had been crying over something.
"OH! Hi, Miss Twilight Sparkle! What are you doing here?" Asked the foals in surprise, wondering what the princess was doing talking to them.
"Pipsqueak, we need to talk about Spike." Even though Twilight's eyes were red from crying, her voice was firm and stable, and her stare was determined.
"Sorry, but Spike and I aren't friends anymore." Pipsqueak looked away with sadness in his eyes, and Dinky hugged him from behind.
"Do you love him?" Asked Twilight, getting some VERY confused looks from the foals.
"W... Wha...?"
"I asked, DO you love him?" Repeated Twilight with a louder tone.
"Bu... I... W... Huh?"
"Look, Spike can be a little piece of crap sometimes with his sarcastic attitude, and we all know that; but that's no excuse for sitting out here burning papers and pretending it's alright."
"Told ya." Said Dinky, hitting Pip with her elbow softly.
"Yeah... I just remembered I gotta go." Said Pipsqueak while trying to get away, but Twilight teleported in front of him, stopping him on his tracks.
"You can't leave! I need you!"
"You need... me?" Asked Pip in disbelief.
"Yes, I know for a fact that you know what's been going on with him recently, and-"
"Actually, it's Spike and Button Mash." Said Pip, making Twilight let out a little gasp.
'Really? Oh boy, I hope it's not what I'm thinking.' Twilight thought to herself. "Anyway, you know better than anypony else what's going on, and I need you because you're close to Spike and Button Mash."
"But princess, I don't think I'm the pony Spike and Button want to see."
"No, you're not. In fact, you're probably their least preffered pony at the moment, and I'm sure they don't want to see you ever again in their lives..."
"Gee, thanks, princess." Said Pipsqueak, rolling his eyes.
"Wait, was that a pep talk?" Asked Dinky from behind.
"But what I'm trying to say is that they need you. I know this will be hard, but we have to help them!"
"Princess Twilight, I already tried to help them, but Spike called me a loser..." Pipsqueak remembered yesterday's party and how horrible his time at the bathroom had been.
"Spike called me a loser too, so what?!" This statement took Pipsqueak and Dinky completely by surprise.
"Wait, he did?!"
"Is that legal?" Asked Dinky, wondering if Spike could get arrested for that.
"The point I'm trying to make is that sometimes, we need to be brave and help the ones we love when they have trouble they can't see, whether they want it or not. Right now, Spike and Button Mash are in trouble and if we don't help them we could lose them forever, and then we would actually be losers."
Pipsqueak and Dinky rolled their eyes at the horrible pun, which made Twilight speak again to avoid the embarassment. "Is that what you two want?"
"No." They said quietly.
"Now say it like you mean it." Demanded Twilight with a stern stare.
"Nooooo." They said louder.
"Say it like you're in the royal guard."
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO... Commander... Whatever." They yelled before looking down in embarassment. Twilight let out a quiet giggle after they finished.
"Well done, soldiers." Said Twilight before waving, like she had seen her brother do in the guard.
"So, wait... You came here because you need soldiers or..."
"No, Pip. I need you to reach out to him! Spike won't listen to me and... Well... I can't blame him. But somepony has to watch his back."
Pipsqueak contemplated what the princess was asking of him, and several moments of awkward silence passed before Pip finally made a final decision. "Look, if I'm gonna try harder to be their friend then you have to try harder to be Spike's family. You are going to go back to your castle, and I don't care how many schedules you have to move or how many events you have to postpone. You're not leaving the castle until you have made some time for Spike, okay?" Said Pip, which surprised Twilight and Dinky.
"Huh, did Spike tell you?"
"Yep, before our friendship went down he told me some things about how he felt."
"Very well, it's a deal, then." Said Twilight smiling, offering Pipsqueak her hoof, which he gladly shook.
"Wow Pip, I never thought I would see anypony making a deal to a princess like that, that was hot." Said Dinky smiling, making Pip blush profusely.
"T-thanks, Dinky."
Twilight laughed softly. 'Kids.' She thought to herself.
"Huh, who would've thought? Since those guys drank that potion my life has been better than ever before!" Said Pip while hugging Dinky.
"Wait... What did you say?"
"I said, Since those guys drank that potion my life-"
"WHAT?!" Asked Twilight up in Pip's face.
"Do you really want me to say it again?" Asked Pip in fear.
"Tell me all about it. NOW. I want details."
------------------------------ At the theater ------------------------------
Spike had just entered the theater with his briefcase, he was surprised there wasn't anypony to guard the theater... But then again, this theater was kinda old and kinda the only thing the school could afford for a talent show. Spike made his way backstage and there, he saw some lockers with names written on them; the whole cast had already packed their stuff, and he was the only one left besides Button.
Spike opened the locker, and coughed when dust poured out; it looked like this theater didn't have a good use in years! Spike brushed it off and put his briefcase on it. Then, Spike closed the door and turned his head to his right; Button Mash was just arriving and he was about to put his stuff in too.
"Button!" Shouted Spike, making echo in the theater and making the structure tremble.
"Spike!" Responded Button, making the whole building tremble.
"Maybe we shouldn't shout." Said Spike whispering, Button nodded.
"What's up, Spike?" Asked Button in a low voice.
"Tell him our plan." The fake Rarity appeared beside him and gave him a wink.
"Oh, nothing... I just found a way to make Apple Bloom like me!" Said Spike with hushed excitement.
"Wait, really? How?" Asked Button while he opened the door of his locker.
Spike opened his locker again and took out the bottle. "With this."
Button stopped for a moment to see the bottle fully. "Wow, that looks like-"
"The stuff we drank? Yeah, it is."
"And you're going to make Apple Bloom drink it?"Said Button, putting his stuff inside the locker and closing the door.
"No, I'm gonna ASK her if she wants to drink it; if she doesn't want to, then I can't force her, right?" Asked Spike with a shrug, which Button gave back.
"Ask him if you could borrow some for Sweetie Belle." Said Button's dad, appearing beside Button.
"Hey... Could I borrow some?" Asked Button with some guilt.
"What? You're gonna try luck with Sweetie Belle?" Button nodded. "Of course! But I don't think you have somewhere to put the bottle, do you...?"
"Oh, don't worry! I can bring my own bottle tomorrow!" Said Button with excitement.
"Great!" Exclaimed Spike.
"Spike."
"Yes?"
"Do you think they'll accept?"
"Of course! But in case they don't, then we'll think of something else!" Assured Spike.
"Oh, okay..."
"After all, what wouldn't we do for the ones we love?" Asked Spike, getting a smile and a nod from Button.
"Well, I gotta go now, thanks, Spike!" Said Button as he left, leaving Spike alone in the theater.
"Bye, Button!"
After having said their goodbyes, Spike looked around the theater, and there, he saw that in the room for authorized ponies there was a big bench for the janitor in which he could sleep on. It was kind of cold but he could bear with it. Spike's mind was filled with visions of what could be tomorrow like; everything he and Button had done was leading up to that point, and Spike was ready for it.
Just one day more...