The Quest for Pancakes
Following his uncanny scent, Spike and Fluttershy managed to make it to the cafeteria in about five minutes. Skidding to a halt, the stallion caught his breath while his partner managed to catch up to him. Panting, he looked up to see the shy mare giggling at him. Realizing how stupid he looked, he stood back up and collected himself.
"Uh, sorry about that. I..really like pancakes," Spike grinned sheepishly. Turning around, he faced the double doors that led into the mess hall. Grabbing the handle, he opened the door and held it out for Fluttershy, to be a gentleman. Thanking him, she went into the louder room, with him following behind her.
As soon as he got in, Spike noticed how many ponies were all there. Hundreds of students sat around tables scattered in the hall, either eating, talking to others, or messing with thier phones. The ones who weren't sitting were standing in lunch lines, grabbing breakfast. Realizing that his jaw was hanging open, he closed it in the hopes nobody noticed. Following Fluttershy to one of the lines, they waited their turns. After grabbing a tray, the Stallion inched over to the cook, who's back was turned to them.
"Excuse me, could I get some pancakes, please?" Spike asked, holding up his tray. The cook turned around, where Spike got a better look at her. She was pretty tall, having a few sizable inches over Spike's wiry, thin frame. She also seemed built, with some noticiable muscles on her forearms, which held out tongs for the food. The mare wore pretty simple clothing: an dull orange shirt, which reminded Spike of dirt, and a pair of denim jeans, much like his. Looking at her face, her hair was the color of straw, with short bangs and drawn up into a ponytail in the back with a red string. Strangely enough, this mare wore a Stetson, making her look like the cowponies that fillies and colts dressed up like on Nightmare Night. There were no more in real life, Spike recalled. Ever since the new technology age, farming has become much more effecient.
"Well, sure, little guy." she chuckled with a smooth country accent. She handed him a few of the fluffy bits of joy, immediately making Spike snap back into reality. Before he could mumble thanks, Fluttershy managed to speak up.
"Hey, Applejack. This is our new roommate, Spike." she said, sounding louder than she did when the stallion first met her. Applejack perked up at this, then turned to look at Spike, who was already eating a few of the pancakes. Noticing they were staring,Spike chuckled akwardly. A.J. then began to laugh loudly, making a few other ponies turn around, in annoyance.
"Heh, I like this feller already! Nice to meet ya, Spike. The name's Applejack, but I reckon you can call me A.J.!" she said, offering her hand to shake. Before they could do so, a stallion yelled from beside them.
"Hey! Hurry it up, we wanna eat too!" as a bunch of other angry ponies agreed with them. A.J. grinned sheepishly, then went back to cooking.
"Sorry 'bout that, Spike. I reckon we'll catch up later t'night. See ya later, Fluttershy. Don't get TOO crazy with that stallion," she smirked as the duo went off. Looking for a table to sit at, Spike looked at the shy mare beside him.
"Well, she seems real nice," he said, to break the silence.
"Oh,yes. A.J.'s one of the greatest mares I know. She's really strong and hardworking. Not to mention, she's not afraid to say what she believes in. I wish I was that strong." said Fluttershy, looking a little down-trodden at that last line. Spike noticed this, and frowned.
"Well, for what it's worth, I think you are one of the coolest mares I've ever met." Spike said, with a genuine smile. She perked up, and looked at his face, holding a grateful smile.That made Spike's heart flutter. Before she could say anything else, a familiar voice called from across the hall.
"Spike! Sit over here!" Looking over to where the voice was, he saw Twilight, Pinkie, and Rarity waving him over. Having found no where else to sit, the two decided to trudge over there, Spike already feeling slightly embarrased. Sitting down, Spike sat in front of Twilight and Rarity, while he was between Fluttershy and Pinkie. While he tried to eat, Twi already began to talk, nervously, he noticed.
"Hey there, Spike. It's seems like it's been so long since we've last seen you." she smiled.
"Uh, Twi? It hasn't even been an hour yet," the stallion deadpanned.
"To me, it's been like, a month since we last saw each other! I had to twiddle my thumbs while the writer's computer broke, and he took his sweet time!" Pinkie said, much to everyone's confusion.
"Um, sure, Pinkie..." Rarity said.
"So, who's your new friend, Spike?" Twilight asked, taking note of Fluttershy. The shy mare already had her head bent, hiding her face slightly.
"Why don't I introduce you two? Fluttershy, this is Twilight, my older sister. And Twi, this is Fluttershy, one of my roommates." Twilight smiled and shook hands with the now less-shy mare.
"It's nice to meet you, Fluttershy. I hope my brother hasn't been rude to you or anything," she chuckled.
"Oh, no! He's been really nice to me. I think he's really cu- I mean, nice," she blushed. Spike didn't notice this, as he was too focused on eating his pancakes again, unlike Twilight, who began to smirk, but said nothing. Fluttershy turned to both Pinkie and Rarity. "I haven't seen you girls in a while, how have you been?" Rarity looked up from her cereal, and Pinkie stopped eating her pancakes.
"Why, thank you for asking, darling! I've been doing quite well on my studies." Rarity smiled.
"Oh, I'm doing great, 'Shy! I had this awesome music battle against a dragon dude with sunglasses, then I turned into a evil monster and blew both of us up!" she grinned. Flutteshy opened her mouth to question it, but then decided to just nod her head and continue to eat. After a few moments of small talk among the tables, the group soon found out who was going in what classes, and the proffesors.
"So, me, Pinkie, Spike, and Fluttershy here all have the same Proff." Twilight said, looking at her list again. "Speaking of which, does anypony have the time till class starts?" she asked. Pinkie pulled out a giant watch held by a golden chain, then looked at it.
"I think we have about ten minutes until class starts," she chirpped, putting the watch back into who knows where. Out of nowhere, a mare walking by with crossed eyes and muffins on her tray was tripped by a stallion with red fur and orange, spiky hair. He began to laugh, as two other stallions laughed beside him. The mare shook her head, then watched as the jerky stallion who pushed her take her muffins and crumbled them in front of her. She began to whimper, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. Spike had enough of this, and got up, looking angry.
"What the hell, man?! Why'd you push her down?" Spike yelled at him. The other stallion turned around, and looked down at him, glaring.
"Well, well, well. It looks like we got a tough little shrimp here, fellas." he smirked, as the two other boys circled around Spike. "You must be new; I would've reckognized that ugly face if I'd seen it before."
"Wow, real original there, big red. Think of that one yourself?" he growled. A few ponies who gathered around the four laughed, but were quickly silenced by the two lackeys. Twilight chewed her nails, wishing her brother wouldn't do anything stupid.
"Yep, you're definitely new, shrimp. You must've not heard about me. Allow me to fix that," the stallion laughed, as he picked Spike up by his shirt collar with one hand. Bringing him closer to his face, he spoke only loud enough that the closest around them could hear. "The name's Garble, shrimp. And I'm the one leading this academy. What I say, goes. Got a problem with it?" Garble grinned maliciously. He then threw Spike down hard, causing a few to gasp, especially all of Spike's new friends. Fluttershy and Twilght ran up to where Spike layed, clearly pissed off.
"S-Spike! are you alright?" Fluttershy cried out, helping him up.
"Yeah, thanks, 'Shy." Spike groaned, eyes full of venom towards Garble. He slowly stepped up toward the jerk who threw hi, and then decided to answer his question.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't hear anything over your disgusting breath," he said. making the entire cafeteria go quiet. Garble's eyes narrowed, then, looked off to the side, where Fluttershy stood. He then began to smirk, and curled one of his fists, launching it towards the mare. Spike noticed this, and quickly moved in front of her, blocking the punch. It managed to connect with his face, making it twist back. Everyone gasped, seeing how Garble went for a cheap shot like that. All he did was laugh, with the other cronies.
"Live and learn, little Spike. Don't be a hero, or an idiot. You only managed to protect the barely existing amount of beauty on your girlfriends little face. There wouldn't be much I could do to hurt it!" Garble didn't notice Spike quickly turn around, face bruised, and gather all of his anger, then put it into one single uppercut, which knocked the older stallion down on his rear, a big bruise forming. The other two slowly backed away and the crowd cheered.
Garble, enraged, got up, and into Spike's face, met with an equally stong glare.
"Alright, shrimp. You just got yourself a deathwish. Better watch your back, Spike. Wouldn't want to end up six feet under..." he yelled, then quickly stormed off. Spike looked over to his friends, who were equally shocked, mouths agape.
"Wow, Spike... How did you do that?" Twilight asked. Before he could answer, the crossed eyed mare walked up to him, a big smile on her face.
"Um, Spike, is it? I just wanna thank you for standing up at Garble like that. That was really cool of you," said the mare, who quickly gave him a muffin. Then, she scuttled off, giving Spike a clear few of her Peg wings.
"T-thanks, Spike. For standing up for me, too." Fluttershy squeaked, cheeks burning red. Spike just sighed, the adrenaline going down now. He know noticed the excutiating pain on his face. He cringed, just as a bell rang loudly.
"Oh, shoot! That's the bell that means five minutes till class!" Pinkie yelled. "We better get to Prof. Speedy, real speedy!" Twi, Spike, Shy, and Pinkie quickly wave goodbye to Rarity, then rush to the first day.