Noble Efforts
“Well then,” Lyvia sighed and turned away from him, “You better tell Sweetiebelle that you just doomed your relationship.”
Spike gulped and looked down, he didn’t know whether or not he had done the right thing but Lyvia was right, he had just doomed their relationship and if he hadn’t, then he doomed their academic success. Spike felt horrible for doing something like this because if he had just said yes and at least tried to help Lyvia he wouldn’t be risking something like this. Never the less, he chose what he chose and there was no going back on it now; he had doomed himself and his loved one.
“Wow! What a bitch!” Lil’ Dew pouted and stuck her tongue out as Lyvia walked away.
“You can say that again.” he replied and he tried to mask his concern with bleakness.
“Okay... Wow! What a bitch!” she repeated, giggling as she did.
Spike could see they childish characteristics in her. She seemed fun loving and cheerful but also oblivious to the problems of the world. She may seem like a normal teenager, but her attitudes of being herself overwhelmed any kind of peer pressure forced upon her. She seemed like an interesting person to have now intruded onto Spike’s life.
“So are you and Sweetiebelle going to be alright?” she asked, now seeming concerned. This was another feature that Spike admired about her.
He nodded. “Yeah, we’ll be fine.” he said merely and quietly.
To be honest, he didn’t even know what was going to happen, he assumed that Lyvia was about to betray them and expose their forbidden relationship, but she was one who was shrouded in complete mystery and secrecy; she was unpredictable in her methods. She would most likely just beat the shit out of him, that’s how she usually dealt with problem.
“I can try to get in her way if you want?” she offered, sounding innocent and she glared an all too precious smile at him.
“Are you sure?” Spike asked. He wondered if she actually knew the dangers of what she would be doing. Getting in the way of Lyvia could be a death wish and only a courageous fool would even try such a thing.
Lil’ Dew nodded.
“Of course. She won’t hurt me, we’re like, besties!” She replied excitingly, “I can’t wait to start!”
Spike admired her enthusiasm and couldn’t possibly deny of her of such a pleasure.
“Okay, you can help. Just... Don’t get hurt,” he warned cautiously. “If it gets too dangerous then leave her alone. Got it?” he was worried for her. He wouldn’t be able to stand someone as innocent and precious as her fall pray to Lyvia’s cruelty.
“As I said, she won’t hurt me!” Lil’ Dew replied confidently and she began to skip off and away from Spike to rejoin some of her other friends, one of them being Lyvia.
The rest of the lesson just included of Master Bataille explaining how this class can be dangerous at times at that his students would have to master movement as well as combat to succeed. However, the class itself was very boring at it was an hour of his life that he just spent worrying about what Lyvia would do and how Lil’ Dew would stop her. It really did stress his mind and he just needed a little time to unwind. Luckily, when class ended it was lunchtime and he rushed outside an went on his way to the courtyard to meet Sweetiebelle.
The hallways that he travelled through contained more shadows than light as the Celestia’s sun was higher up in the sky and it’s light found it difficult to illuminate the dark hallways. The passages that Spike moved through were empty as most people were in the loud and crowded food hall filling up their large and empty stomachs. Spike though, was not hungry; he had only been stressing his brain and not his body.
He reached outside and stopped in the grand Celestial Courtyard that himself and Sweetiebelle had met the previous night. He noticed a wide, stone, bench and sat down on it as he waited for Sweetiebelle to arrive.
Spike took this time of peace to admire the full beauty of where he was. Stunning, snowy mountains along the horizon divided the Skyline and the Ground and the clouds in the blue sky were white and fluffy and stuck in small groups as the floated through the sky. The stones and woods of the piazza were soft colour of grey that allowed it to greatly reflect the light of the sun to keep the area bright, warm and happy.
“Spike!” sounded, a sweet and adorable voice, which belonged to ever so beautiful Sweetiebelle.
Spike looked up and smiled as he saw his gorgeous girlfriend that came running up to him and gave him a warm, caring hug.
“Hey Sweetiebelle. How ya been?” he asked, hugged tightly back.
“I hate my teacher’s they’re horrible and strict. They have no sense in fashion either!” she began to complain, not liking her day.
“Well that sucks, maybe your other teachers will be better.” he pulled away from the hug and held her closely. Her soft, white, fur felt heavenly against his hard, green, scales and she was wearing a sleeveless, lime-green dress with a golden hemline. “You look beautiful though Sweetie. I love you.”
Sweetiebelle giggled and nuzzled him cutely. “Aww that’s so sweet Spike. I love you too.”
The two embraced each other for the next passing moments and they held their gazes; staring deep into one another’s dreamy eyes.
“OI DRAGON!!! Remember me!” shouted and obnoxious and annoyingly keen voice. “We have some unfinished business!”
Spike let go of Sweetiebelle and turned around only to see the senior that he had encountered on the train. He towered Spike and he was so much stronger. The senior smashed his firsts together and laughed a little.
“Go away or I’ll burn you again!” Spike threatened, breathing out a little fire to show that he was serious.
“Hey, leave Spiky alone!” Sweetiebelle’s horn flared, as she was ready to completely annihilate the senior who had interrupted a special moment of theirs. “Or I will pop you!”
The senior pause for a moment, as he was trying to process how a small, weak unicorn could possible harm him. Then he realized that it was a death threat and he finally snapped. he began to charge at Sweetiebelle with all of his might.
“YOU LITTLE SHIT!!!” he yelled aloud, his wings spread and his fist was out in front of him as he prepared to beat the living shit of her.
Adrenaline poured into Spike and without even thinking he charged for the senior, hoping to stop him before he harmed Sweetie. He tackled the large senior to the ground but was soon overwhelmed and thrown off and he landed in his back, which ended up winding him.
The senior stood up and walked over to the winded dragon.
“You’ll pay for that. I’mma gonna beat ya both!” he roared and he pinned Spike to the ground raising his fist for a final, devastating blow.
Spike spat in his face; he still had a lot of fight left in him but the sheer size and strength of the senior was just too much and Spike couldn’t even hope of getting free. He had failed in defending himself against the senior twice now and that was just humiliating for a dragon.
The senior wiped away the spit and growled at him, “Okay that’s it! You’re dead now!”
Spike closed his eyes and hoped that Sweetiebelle had turned away as he waited for the final blow that could end him forever. Everything seemed to be going in slow motion now and the few moments of waiting seemed like an eternal nightmare. He just wished that the senior would put him out quickly, and hoped to Celestia that Sweetiebelle wouldn’t be harmed. However, the punch never came, in fact all that had happened in the past few moments was the mortifyingly chilling scream of pain that derived from the senior.
Spike opened his eyes to see that Lil’ Dew was standing over the senior and that the senior was clutching his neck tightly as an expression of pure pain and fear was fixed upon his red face. Spike came to full focus and noticed that Lil’ Dew was holding something into his neck, a sharp, metal, object with a wooden handle. It was knife.
This shocked him; she had just plunged a knife into the senior’s neck and blood began to drip out. He looked at Sweetiebelle who was shaken by what she had seen and she didn’t speak, all she had was an expression of pure confusion and fear.
“Don’t you dare... hurt my FRIENDS!!!” Lil’ Dew yelled in rage as she ripped away the knife, causing drops of blood to fly everywhere and littering the ground with a onslaught of red.
The lifeless body of the senior hit the ground and Spike was released. he stood up and glared a the deceased senior; blood was still oozing out of the wound, creating a pool of blood underneath him.
He was dead. The senior was dead... Forever. He was never going to come back, he would never be able to graduate school, never be able to get a job, or to start a family. He would never be able to atone for everything he did wrong, never be able to set his life straight. His family and friends would be disheartened for months on end all because the luxury of life was snatched away from him.
“Lil’ Dew?” Sweetiebelle asked in shock and horror of what had just happened.
Lil’ Dew was also in shock, only just now coming to the realization of what she had just done; this cute, innocent, young, soul had just stolen a life from someone.
“I... I killed someone... I... I... I...” she was speechless and she slowly began to back away from the body, staring at her small hands that were stained red with all the blood. “I killed someone...!”
She eventually tripped over herself and fell over, landing on her back and she curled up into a ball; shaking tremendously. “He’s dead... I... I killed... him!”
Sweetiebelle and Spike looked at each other, they couldn’t let their friend be like this. Lil’ Dew had helped them and possibly saved their lives, they needed to help her.
The two of them approached the crying and stressing girl, kneeled beside her and comforted her. Spike stroked her soft hair while Sweetiebelle began to whisper soothing and hopeful things to her such as; ‘It’ll be okay’ or ‘We’ll help you through this, just as you helped us.”
“Hey, it’s okay. You won’t get into trouble..” Sweetiebelle began; she had a plan all ready for her.
Lil’ Dew glared up at her in disbelief, “I killed someone, Sweetiebelle! I... KILLED... SOMEONE!!!”
“I know, but I have a plan.” Sweetiebelle continued saying, hoping that she could calm her friend down, “You won’t get in trouble because you won’t get caught. All you have to do is hide and I suggest you go and hide out in the forest.”
Lil’ Dew was in panic and anything seemed like a good idea at the moment, so she just nodded her head, eye vision was smudged by all the tears that she was producing.
Spike smiled a little and picked her up, holding her with both arms.
“Sweetiebelle, you hide the body an I’ll take Dew to the forest so she can hide.” he said urgently, taking charge and he looked at the dead senior’s body; blood was still spilling out.
Lil’ Dew didn’t do anything, she just sat in his grip, allowing him to do all the work with the shock and trauma slowly crept up on her. She had known that killing someone was hard but she never guessed that it would be this daunting.
“Okay Spike.” Sweetiebelle replied and nodded, her horn flaring again with magic.
Spike smiled and her and kissed her cheek. He then proceeded to carry the extremely light and fragile Lil’ Dew towards to large and enchanting forest that was no doubt filled with perfect hiding spots. She would be able to hunt and survive for weeks on end in there while avoiding detections at the same time.
Spike got closer and closer, leaving the courtyard and crossing the ovals, passing through the flower fields and reaching the unguarded walls. Just beyond the tall and crumbled walls of the school was the Everfree Forest, a place of danger and serenity. It was a place of peace and war, it was unpredictable yet still somewhere safe if you didn’t venture too deep.
He reached the forest with a crying Lil’ Dew still in his arms. He set her down and he looked at her; concerned. She was shaking dramatically and she was barely able to stand, tears were streaming from her eyes and her lips were trembling. The trauma and shock had finally caught up with her.
“Hey, hey, it’s alright. You saved us, you did a brave thing Lil’ Dew and I have to say, I probably would have died if you didn’t come to save me.” he smiled and brushed her hair out of her face, “You did the right thing by helping us, so we’re going to do the right thing by helping you.”
Lil’ Dew was only able to nod again. Spike felt so sorry for her, the pain and suffering she would be going through right now would be extremely confronting and confusing. For her entire life she was told that murder was bad, but now she was being thanked for committed such a foul deed.
“Now, we have to go back to class but we will come back tonight. Will you be alright?” Spike asked, he had a clear concern for her. Murder was a traumatic thing to endure and Lil’ Dew was not the bravest nor most cold hearted person so this was going to be especially hard for her.
The senior was not a kind nor intelligent person and he doubted that anyone would miss him so Lil’ Dew did a good thing by doing what she did. She not only rid the world of him, but she also saved Spike from certain death. It was either him or the senior and he was glad that it was the senior. Lil’ Dew had done the ultimate kindness in saving his life and Spike would not hesitate to repay her in anyway that he could.
After all, she was going through a tough time and he would be there for her. Killing someone meant that they were dead, they were gone from this world, they ceased to be. That was not something that anyone could go through; Lyvia no doubt would have a hard time coping with murder.
As Spike walked away from Lil’ Dew who had slowly wandered into the forest whether she would be okay or not; the Everfree Forest could be a harsh and cruel place for those who didn’t know what they were doing. He muttered to himself words that he wished she had told her.
“Thank you, Lil’ Dew.”