Some time had passed and Spike thought that his kindness in washing and returning Rarity’s scarf would of scored him some points. Rarity still seemed to hardly notice Spike though. As he sat in math class Rarity came in and Spike gave his usual “Good morning” greeting to her. Also like usual Rarity didn’t even glance at him. He wasn’t sure if he was being ignored or if she didn’t notice. Spike sighed to himself as class began. He knew most of what was being taught today so he spent most of the class staring at Rarity with lovey-dovey eyes.
At the end of class Professor Starswirl coughed and cleared his throat. “OK class, we have covered many chapters already, and soon we will be having a test. You will have tomorrow as a study day and in class we will review. The day after that we will have the test. If you are struggling I suggest finding a study buddy. Good luck.” With that the bell rung and class ended.
Lunch time seemed to come fast and Spike went to his usual seat in the library. Snips and Snails liked to eat lunch in the cafeteria though so Spike usually had lunches to himself. The library was visually empty except for the librarian. Although most of the school had tile floors the library was carpeted. There were several bookshelves, all about 4 times the size of Spike, leading to the back of the library where study desks were. The lounge chairs were towards the front and conveniently for Spike located next to the comics. Spike sat down and opened up the latest issue of Shining Knight when he noticed Rarity was sitting at a study desk with her math text book, looking depressed. “Has Rarity ever been in the library before?” Spike wondered. He realized this was almost an insult though and slapped his own hand in punishment.
Rarity let out a whimper then said to herself in a whiny voice, “Oh, I’ll never understand this for the test.” After that she gently slammed her head into the middle of the book, a clear sign she had given up.
Spike felt his natural urge to help (and wanting to save Rarity in distress) and got up. He walked over and jumped up on the chair next to where Rarity was. “Hi Rarity, do you need any help with our math class?” Spike asked in a friendly voice.
Rarity turned her head to look at who was talking to her while still having her forehead buried in the middle of the book. “Who are you again?” she asked.
Spike fell off the chair in surprise. He quickly got back up and yelled at her with a smile, “I’m Spike! I sit next to you in the math class you are worrying about here!” As he finished he heard his words echo inside the quiet library. Dread filled his body as he knew what was coming.
From around a corner the librarian peeked out and a loud “SHHHH!” came from her lips. Spike apologized and sat down. Rarity giggled. “I know I just thought that was funny,” she admitted. “Do you do well in math classes?”
Spike puffed out his chest as he was about to boast. “Well I’ve always gotten an A in math. I’ve never even studied in this class because I know it all already.”
Rarity looked impressed and smiled. “Well how do you do this problem?” Rarity said while pointing at a problem in the first chapter.
Spike quickly had to hide a surprised look. If she didn’t understand the first chapter she had a long ways to go. Spike mimicked rolling up his sleeves and got down to business. “OK, well I think you should show me what you think, and how you try to tackle the problem.” Rarity nodded then started writing on her notebook paper. One step in and Spike could see how she was messing up already. “Hold on, hold on. I see what you are trying to do here but the first step is to isolate the variable. Put all the unknown parts on one side of the equals sign and all the known numbers on the other side.”
Rarity looked confused. “Well how can you just move numbers around? Am I just allowed to just rewrite the problem?” Rarity asked.
Spike shook his head. “No, there are rules. Just remember plus and minus are a pair, and multiply and divide are a pair. If you have a positive number you can subtract it from both sides like this”, as he said this Spike did that part of the equation on her paper. Rarity seemed to be picking up the concepts as she was able to finish 2 problems on her own before the bell rang to end lunch.
Rarity looked worried then turned to Spike. “Spike, you’ve got to teach me more of this. I think in a day you can help me learn everything I need for the test. Meet me back here tomorrow and DON’T TELL ANYONE”, she demanded.
Spike nodded, “Of course, no problem.” He felt happy and proud to be able to help his beloved Rarity. He tried to walk with her to art class but she gave him glares until he walked a different route.
Once inside of class everyone took their seats. The teacher had a small project for the class to do, and they would have to work in pairs. Spike looked at Rarity with the biggest smile on his face. Rarity turned next to her and asked the other pony at the table to be her partner. Spike’s jaw dropped in shock. He then turned to his partner the Goblin with a mean streak and Spike’s jaw turned into the biggest frown.
The project was to paint a picture of a description your partner gives to you. The partner would describe their dreams and emotions as best as possible. This was to see if the painting would turn out at all like what the partner would be imagining. Spike decided to paint first. The Goblin (who Spike found out is named Grim) actually told Spike of a tearful and sweet dream about living in the dark caves with mean brothers, endlessly having to hunt for jewels. Spike painted a dark but colorful scene with ominous shadows. Grim was so moved he gave Spike a hug.
Spike basically described rarity and happy emotions. Grim wasn’t the best at drawing. It was hard to hold a brush and he had to have shaded contacts when he was on the surface world so he couldn’t see well. His drawing was just a smear of purple and some diamond-like shapes scattered. Spike appreciated it and told him it was exactly right even though it hard to even look at.
As soon as Spike got home that day he rushed to his room. Twilight was reading a book on how to do a new magic and became a bit alarmed from the gust of wind behind her. Turning around she didn’t see anypony but saw the time and realized Spike got home. She decided to put in a bookmark and go see what he was doing in his room. She knocked on the door a bit with her front hoof and asked, “Hey Spike, what are you doing in there?”
Spikes answer came back as a monotone and energyless “Studying.”
Twilight smiled and walked off proud that Spike choose to study for once. Spike wanted to make sure he knew the ins and outs before he met with Rarity again tomorrow. He even made notes about how he would teach the lessons to her. With that done he went to sleep and waited for tomorrow.
The next day he just waited and waited for Math class. Spike assumed that since they had the class time to review that they could go over things together in class, but as Professor Starswirl announced free study though Rarity went to a group of popular ponies and chatted over topics outside of math. Spike got annoyed but had an idea. He started to go over the second chapter’s problems out loud. He wasn’t too loud but basically said the same things he would of said to Rarity if she were listening. He secretly hoped she was, even if she was pretending to not care.
After doing a few problems ponies started wondering what Spike was doing. Anypony who listened long enough understood he was going over problems and a few of them started to understand his ways of teaching. A couple of ponies that weren’t doing anything else started to stand around Spike’s desk and ask him some questions about how he solved a problem. This intrigued a few more ponies and soon Spike had a crowd of ponies trying to take notes as he explained the problems. Even a few ponies from Rarity’s group came over but Rarity still being worried about her image stayed away and chatted seemingly without a care.
At the end of the class Spike got a few thanks from some grateful ponies that were not ready for the test at all. Spike was a bit confused but checked to see if Rarity was at the study table in the library during lunch. She did happen to be there and had an expectant look on her face. “Finally you arrive”, she exclaimed. “We need to hurry; I only have this lunch hour to study.”
Spike shrugged and was a bit annoyed but sat down and started going over the same lesson plans he went over in class. Rarity went over everything they could as well as she could. By the end of the lunch hour she had seemed to understand half of what would be on the test. Before going off to Art class she gave a lazy, “Thank you darling”.
In art class everyone had their projects from the day before. Ms. Cheerilee liked to have a gallery viewing of everyone’s art the day after they turned in their projects. Spike noticed as class began that Grim had his chair closer to Spike than usual. Usually Grim was as far on the other side of the table from Spike as possible, and Spike was intimidated enough to also be on the edge of the table. Everypony displayed and explained their art and Ms. Cheerilee gave everyone nice comments. Spike wasn’t sure if she just liked to encourage everyone to do well or if she had the perspective that all art is good if it’s put enough time and thought into. Spike’s painting was by no means the best in the class but Grim gave a round of applause after he finished displaying it, and Ms. Cheerilee gave him an A after seeing the emotion it roused from Grim.
As Spike sat back down he noticed a note in his seat. It said “Do not open until after class” in big letters. As the class left he opened the note and read it. “Dear Spike, I need more time to study for the test. Please be in the library after school.” It was signed Rarity. Spike’s imagination raced as he thought about being alone with Rarity after school in the library. It was almost a fantasy.
After school in the library there weren’t many people, although a few. (And that’s a few more than during lunch) Spike walked into the study section of the library and Rarity was already there. She was looking around a bit nervous to be seen in the library at all, let alone with somepony like Spike. “Well hello beauticorn”, Spike greeted, but Rarity was all business.
“Let’s get started I need to get home and finish a dress design by tonight”, she said coldly.
Spike went through the rest of the sections and finished in just under an hour. Rarity seemed to really understand the concepts with Spikes tips and tricks. Smiling she left after the lesson and so did Spike. That night he laid in bed and dreamt of what could have been with Rarity in the library.
The next morning in math class the tension and nervousness could be felt in the classroom. Spike had no problem breezing through the test and was the first one done. After finishing he watched Rarity. She seemed to be struggling but she was writing down answers. She seemed unsure of her answers but when she turned it in she had every problem done. As she met with her friends in the class she played it off as if she didn’t care what grade she got, but from watching her take the test Spike knew she cared.
It was the next day when everyone got their tests back and Spike could see Rarity got a ‘B’ on her test. Rarity was beaming with a large smile and looked over to Spike and winked. Spike smiled back as a bunch of the ponies in the class came to his desk to tell him thanks for helping. Spike couldn’t help but feel important at least for the moment. He had never been this popular at any time in his life. He wasn’t sure if it would be fleeting like Rarity’s thanks, but for now he could enjoy it.