Chapter Four
“Holding On”
Dragon snores were all she heard. They reached Twilight’s ears with taunting reverberation. She opened her dark purple eyes. She pulled a pillow over her head in a desperate attempt to drown out the noise from downstairs. It was all in vain. At last, her horn glowed a bright magenta. She sat up, yawned wearily, and gazed with disgust at her alarm clock. The cruel number 3:34 stared back at her. She groaned and blinked back the annoying afterimages clouding her eyes. She pulled herself out of bed and staggered to the door of her bedroom, pushing it open with her hoof. Her hooves clopped on the creaking steps as she went downstairs.
Immediately, she saw the little purple dragon sleeping in his tiny bed, the small blue blanket wrapped around his leg. His arm hung on one side of the small bed. A pool of drool trickled from his gaping mouth. He inhaled, snoring loudly. Twilight, grumpy and exhausted nudged him with her hoof and leaned down near him. Spike reached up and grabbed her nose.
“Oh…Rarity…” he mumbled in his sleep, puckering his lips out at her. Twilight rolled her eyes.
“Spike!” she said shaking her nose and waking him up. Spike opened his green eyes to look at her and just about had a heart attack when he realized he was two inches away from her mouth, about to kiss her. He jumped about a mile high and fell down on the floor.
“TWILIGHT!” he shouted. “What the heck are you doing?!” Because of his rude awakening, he seemed to be looking around the room for Rarity.
“I was trying to sleep…” she replied annoyed. “But you were snoring so loud, I came down here to wake you up so you’d stop!”
“I can’t help it…” moped Spike curling back up into bed.
“Well I can’t sleep when you snore like that!” Twilight growled.
“What do you expect me to do?!” asked Spike throwing his hands up. Twilight didn’t answer.
“It’s not just the snoring…there are other things you do too,” replied Twilight annoyed.
“Like what?!” asked Spike grumpily getting out of bed and stomping toward the kitchen. He opened the fridge and pulled out a ruby. He began to suck on it loudly.
“Like that,” the purple unicorn replied gruffly walking over to him. “You eat very loudly too. Everything you do just annoys me to no end! You’re forgetful and messy and don’t do your job half the time!”
“Okay…now the truth comes out,” said Spike pulling the gem out of his mouth. “But you know what, Twilight…I do work hard. I work my tail off for you…you just don’t ever take the time to notice.” The little dragon was obviously hurt and angered at what she accused him of. “You know what else…I can’t understand you half the time you talk to me…but I think I understand perfectly right now. You’ve been wanting me to go away to school so bad. I think you actually want me to leave and never come back. Then, you won’t have to put up with me anymore.” Twilight looked back stunned. She looked deep into the little dragon’s wet green eyes. All she could see was hurt and pain. She never saw him looked so sad before. He was almost crying.
“Spike…you know that’s not true. I want you to succeed. I…”
“You won’t have to put up with me for much longer though,” said Spike as he stormed back into the library and he curled back into bed.
“Spike…” said Twilight following him. She leaned over him and gently put her hoof on him, caressing him.
“Leave me alone!” Spike snapped at her. “You can’t deny it!”
“Yes I can!” she shouted back. “That’s not what I…”
“Just…shut up, Twilight!” Spike was livid. He turned to face her. His eyes were overflowing with tears. “I’ll bet you won’t even miss me!”
“Now you’re not even making any sense,” shouted Twilight. “You know what? I don’t care what you said before…you won’t miss me either! I know you won’t. Because apparently I’m the villain here in this house. Maybe…it is best you leave…”
“I was thinking the same thing…” said Spike. He looked down and sighed. My Orientation Day is the day after tomorrow. I’ve sent a letter to the Princess asking for a carriage to come by to take me to the train station, then…I’ll get a hotel room in the city and stay there until the semester starts.”
“Good…” Twilight replied. “Maybe this way you’ll grow up a little.” The words were like poison, but she felt like she had to say them. She bit her lip and held back tears. She walked away, hurt beyond words. It was too horrible of a situation. She bit her lip, and felt the boiling anger burn to her flesh. At last, she let one more nasty comment roll off her tongue and she stabbed him with it as if it were a knife.
“Fine! You can just leave and never come back. I never thought you could be so immature! You do need to do some growing up and this is a great start for you! We’ll do fine without each other….now…I have no doubt.” Before she left the room, she heard Spike yell out,
“Yeah? Well I don’t care what you think… ‘cause you know something?! You’ll never know what you had until I’m gone, Twilight Sparkle!”
Twilight slammed the door to her bedroom and buried herself in the blankets. Downstairs, Spike pulled the blanket over his head and questioned silently if Twilight actually loved him. He felt almost as horrible when he ran away from home because of Owlowiscious. That was the last time he thought Twilight didn’t love him anymore. It was the worst feeling in the world. Both knew they had arguments in the past, but never a fight like this. They almost felt like their friendship was crumbling around them.
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Daylight seeped through the window into Twilight’s bedroom. As she awoke, her eyelids fluttered, attempting to adjust to the morning light. She blinked, a little blinded at first by the bright sun. She wearily sat up in bed and sighed. She slid down onto the wooden floor and walked over to the mirror. She activated her horn and lifted the brush to her messy hair and brushed it. Looking at her reflection, she could see dark circles under her eyes as a result of virtually a sleepless night. She remembered clearly every word of dialogue spoken between her and Spike the night before. She replayed the scene over in her mind, thinking about all the things she should have said. She wondered if he’d forgive her for saying such mean things to him. She never really intended to hurt him…
However, it was a new day. Perhaps she could get things straightened out with him. She sighed and lifted her head high. She walked downstairs. She immediately saw Spike putting books on the shelves. She couldn’t help but smile at the little dragon. He was diligent after all. Most of the time, she hardly noticed. Now, she realized she was wrong about everything she said about him. Perhaps she only said the things she said to avoid her true feelings about him leaving. Perhaps she was trying to convince herself to want him to leave. It was so hard being torn apart like this. It was taking over Twilight’s mind and ripping her heart in half. She had to cope…she had to…for Spike.
The little dragon turned around and noticed her staring at him from the bottom of the stairs. He sighed a little.
“Hey, Twi…” he muttered wearily. He looked like he hadn’t got much sleep either.
“Spike! I’m so sorry!” Twilight immediately rushed over to him and spoke so rapidly, that Spike could barely make out what she said. “Last night…I said some things I didn’t mean. It was purely undeniably immature of me to lash out at you like I did. I mean…I…I’ve ushered myself to the brink of intellectual madness, as you’ve seen. My sleep patterns are disrupted, I have been forgetting to take nutritional supplements on a daily basis, and my assignments have been piling…and the thoughts of your departure to Fillydelphia has consumed my thoughts and emotions and….!”
“Woah…woah…WOAH, Miss Brain Waves! Chill for a sec! Please…just speak in English!” Spike couldn’t help but chuckle at her. Twilight sighed, closed her eyes and spoke slower this time.
“What I’m trying to say is…I apologize for the way I’ve been acting. I think the past couple of days have stressed me out so much, I’ve been losing my mind, and I’ve been taking it out on you too much.” Spike looked down.
“You don’t hate me?” he said.
“I never said that…” said Twilight calmly. “But no I definitely don’t hate you. In fact, everything I accused you of is false. I don’t know why I was picking you apart like that. I’m very sorry.” Spike nodded and then smiled.
“I understand,” he said. “It’s okay. Just don’t worry about it anymore. Forget about it now. I’m sorry I thought you hated me.”
“Oh…that’s okay. But…but…how can you forgive me so quickly?!” asked Twilight stunned.
“Because you’re my best friend in the whole wide world, that’s why,” Spike smiled at her. “So forget about it now, okay?”
“But…” said Twilight, trying to take it all in.
“Twilight!” said Spike chuckling. “Just forget it!” He laughed at her.
“Okay…” said Twilight. Her eyes glistened with gratitude and she smiled.
Spike then turned and walked over to a small purple suitcase that was lying in the middle of the floor.
“So, what are you up to?” asked Twilight in her cheerful voice.
“Well…I cleaned the library because apparently somepony was throwing books at a certain number one assistant in their insane outburst!” He grinned at her. Twilight looked down sheepishly and blushed. “But now I’m just packing for the trip tomorrow. I’m not sure how much stuff I’ll need.”
“Oh….leave the organizing all to me, Spike,” said Twilight grinning.
“You’re going to make a checklist aren’t you?” said Spike crossing his arms.
“Of course I am!” said Twilight rushing over to her desk to get a clean sheet of note paper. “Let’s see…the first thing I think you’ll need is a nice little outfit.”
“An outfit?” said Spike incredulously. “Why?”
“Because…” said Twilight rolling her eyes around. “You need to be prim and proper and look like a student. You want to make a good first impression. The Princess may have already provided your tuition and has assured you’ll be accepted in, but if you want to impress the superintendant and the head master and the teachers and staff and students, a fresh clean look is the best place to start.”
“Impress…inschmess…” muttered Spike huffing at her. “They’ll have to take me as I am! Why do I need some fanchy schmancy outfit to impress them when I walk into the building?!”
“It shows you’re dedicated and clean and well mannered and well dressed. Everything city folk look for is in a studious outfit! Or at least…that’s what the book says…” Twilight grinned sheepishly closing the book she was sneak reading while she talked.
“Give me that!” said Spike grabbing it from her. He blew dust off the front cover. “A Success in City Life: Everything you Need to Know about Surviving in the City.”
“It’s very self explanatory. It’s quite helpful,” remarked Twilight.
“Twilight,” said Spike glaring at her. “This book is over fifty years old!”
“So?”
“SO?! I don’t need an ancient book telling me to be ‘studious’,” said Spike crossing his arms. Twilight pinned her ears behind her head in annoyance. Then she smirked.
“Oh…I don’t know, Spike…didn’t Rarity say you’d look nice in a studious outfit?” Spike jerked his head around.
“Uh..uh…yeah…she did…” he smiled and blushed.
“Maybe….if we drop by Carousel Boutique…she’d make an outfit for you…” said Twilight, bribing him with his own infatuation.
“Uh….YES! We should head there immediately!” Spike was practically already out the door with a trail of smoke behind him in his blurry escape from the house. Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes.
“An excuse to visit Rarity…works every time…” she giggled to herself in her victory.
She had to embrace this change now. She was holding on to the hope that things would get better…holding on to their unbreakable bond…their, dare she say it, magical friendship.
TO BE CONTINUED...