For the second time in his life, Spike woke up to find Sweetie Belle lying on top of him. This time however, they were both…well…completely naked. They hadn't even been together for a month, but already it just felt right to Spike to wake up like this, feeling her warmth through his scales, breathing in the scent of lilacs and something else that followed her everywhere. He grimaced as he looked at her; she still looked achingly beautiful to him, but her blackened eye and the bruises covering her body made him grit his teeth in anger as the memories of the day before came back to him. He had no idea why he hadn't beaten or burned those damned mares within inches of their lives. They would have deserved every bit of it. But as Sweetie Belle sighed in her sleep and nuzzled his chest, he forgot about all of that. Today, he was happy to be alive.
His peaceful reflection was rudely interrupted by a pounding on the door.
"SWEETIE BELLE! You come out of there this instant, young lady!"
Spike groaned and smacked himself on the forehead; he would have recognized that prim, refined tone anywhere. Rarity. She must be really ticked off to act in such an unladylike manner. Surprisingly, Sweetie Belle didn't even stir at the noise; it was a testament to just how hard yesterday had been for her. Spike gently shifted her off of him, then grabbed some pants and headed for the door. As much as his opinion of the fashion-obsessed unicorn had fallen of late, he still didn't think it would be a good idea to answer the door in the nude.
"DO YOU HEAR ME, SWEETIE BELLE?!! I know you're in there with that reprobate, now come out! You have no idea how much trouble you've caused m-"
Rarity stopped mid-sentence in shock as the door swung open. Her face slowly turned brick-red as she struggled for words, flustered by the sight of him half-naked. Spike would have laughed at her expression if he were in the mood, but at the moment he was just pissed off.
"Oh, so I'm a 'reprobate' now, is that it? I don't think so. This 'reprobate' is the same guy who stuck up for your sister yesterday after she'd been put through hell. This 'reprobate' is the same guy who was there for your sister when she needed someone. Can you say the same for yourself, Rarity?"
Rarity's expression went from shock to righteous indignation in a heartbeat as she fixed Spike with a withering glare.
"Where is she, Spike?! I know you're hiding her in there!"
Rarity moved to push past Spike into the house, but he shifted to block her way. She glared at him with pure hatred.
"How DARE you?! That's my sister that you're keeping in there, I demand that you stand aside! It's high time that she came home!"
"How dare I? I know that this place isn't as fancy as you're used to, but it's my house and you've got no right to just force your way in here without my permission. So why don't you get lost, Rarity?"
"Spike?...What's going on?..."
Both Spike and Rarity stared in shock as Sweetie Belle appeared in the doorway behind Spike. While Spike had had the forethought to throw on some kind of clothes, Sweetie Belle was apparently still too tired to worry about such things. For a moment, Spike and Rarity were both thunderstruck. Then Rarity's face became an even deeper shade of red as she looked from Spike to Sweetie Belle and back again, fury building in her eyes.
"Why you…you...you PHILANDERER! How DARE you violate my sister?!"
Rarity's eyes flared as she turned on Spike, then she smacked him across the face with a neatly-manicured forehoof. It hurt, but Spike had felt much worse before. His patience for this farce was nearly at an end, but before he could do or say anything, Sweetie Belle thrust herself between him and her sister.
"Rarity, I swear to Celestia, if you ever touch Spike again you are as good as dead to me."
As happy as he was to hear Sweetie Belle say that, Spike was a little more worried about her standing stark-naked in the street in broad daylight.
"Uh…Sweetie Belle, you might want to put on some clothes-"
Both Sweetie Belle and Rarity turned on him with fire in their eyes.
"STAY OUT OF THIS, SPIKE!"
He was so startled by the rage coming off of both of them that he actually took a step back.
"Um…okay, I'll uh,…just go back inside and make some coffee…"
"THANK YOU!"
-----
Ten minutes later, Sweetie Belle and Spike were fully dressed, Rarity was sitting uncomfortably on the floor facing them, and they were all glaring at each other over their coffee. It almost reminded Spike of his talk with Twilight, but this time, there was none of the regret or desire to make things right. The only thing here was a feeling of anger and resentment so thick that it was almost tangible. After a few more minutes of agonizing silence, Rarity cleared her throat in a refined, ladylike fashion and spoke up.
"Sweetie Belle, I must say that I'm worried by your recent behavior. Dressing up in rags, sneaking off to that...bar, associating with that 'band'…and now this! You start seeing him-"
Rarity pointed an accusing hoof at Spike without even giving him the courtesy of a look.
"-behind my back, even though you surely knew that it would cause problems for the both of us! And just look where it's taken you! Just look at yourself! I would never have thought you to be somepony to get into fights, Sweetie Belle. Do you have any idea how embarrassing it is to have to admit to my clients that you're my sister, after all of your recent uncouth behavior?"
She kept talking, but she had shifted her gaze to Spike. He suddenly felt like a bug under a magnifying glass, with nowhere to run or hide. Then Rarity turned back to Sweetie Belle and resumed her rant with full force.
"And now you've decided to become involved with this, this hooligan? Really, Sweetie Belle! I was concerned about you when you started sneaking out to that disgusting place, but I went against my better judgement and put it down to youthful recklessness. But this…this is too much! I would have been irritated if you had just been seeing a stallion behind my back, but I never thought you would take leave of your senses enough to shack up with a dragon! Do you have any idea what a scandal you've caused?! What do you have to say for yourself?"
Rarity seemed to actually expect an answer to her question, but for a moment, Sweetie Belle gave none. She just sat on the mattress next to Spike, eyes watering and jaw clenched. Then something seemed to snap inside of her. She rose to her hooves and fixed Rarity with a burning look of unadulterated rage, then began to speak.
"What do I have to say for myself? What about you, Rarity? What do you have to say for yourself?!"
Rarity seemed taken aback by the anger of Sweetie Belle's reply, but Sweetie Belle rolled right over her before she could say anything.
"If anypony here should be ashamed of themselves, it's YOU! How can you just stand there and lecture me like you're my mother, when you haven't even been a sister to me for years?! Ever since you got famous, you've turned into a pompous, self-absorbed JERK who only cares about herself!"
Rarity bristled at Sweetie Belle's exclamation and rose to her hooves to deliver a scathing reply.
"Self-absorbed?! Pompous?! I would watch my words if I were you, Sweetie Belle! I let you live in my house, I paid for your education - and it wasn't cheap, by the way! - and THIS is how you repay me? THIS is how you speak to your sister? How dare you be so ungrateful?!"
Sweetie Belle was staring at the floor, silently shaking with rage. She began to speak again, but this time she didn't even look at Rarity. It was as if the sight of her older sister would make her lose control.
"What exactly should I be grateful for? Should I be grateful for getting to live in a house that might as well be deserted for all the time that you spend on the bucking phone or locked in your designing room? Should I be grateful for being sent to a school where everypony mocked me even before I started seeing Spike? Should I be GRATEFUL for having a sister who doesn't even give a buck when I get beat up at school, who's more worried about whether I'm causing a scandal than whether or not I'm happy? What the BUCK do I have to be grateful for, Rarity?!"
As Sweetie Belle finished, she looked her sister dead in eye with an accusing glare. If looks could kill, Rarity would have been nothing but a pile of butchered meat. Rarity actually took a step back, astonished by the white-hot resentment spilling from Sweetie Belle's eyes. She fumbled for words, but she couldn't seem to find any. Before Rarity had a chance to speak, Sweetie Belle spoke in a voice dripping with such intense anger that Spike shivered just to hear it.
"Get out of here, Rarity. Get out of this house, get out of my business, get out of my LIFE! Just GET OUT!!!"
Rarity's naturally white face had somehow become even paler, to the point that she almost looked like a ghost. With a look of astonishment and horror, she turned and ran from the house. As the front door slammed shut behind her older sister, all the energy seemed to drain out of Sweetie Belle. She slumped down to the floor, head bowed down. But surprisingly, she didn't shed a single tear.
Spike felt like he had just watched the climax of a very, very depressing movie. Through the whole argument, neither Sweetie Belle nor Rarity had paid the slightest attention to him, even though he had been less than four feet from either of them the entire time. He was shocked by what he had just witnessed; he never would have guessed that Rarity could be so cold and selfish, or that Sweetie Belle possessed such unrelenting fury. He had no idea what he should say or do; should he go comfort Sweetie Belle? Should he just leave her alone and let her work this out by herself? Before he could decide, Sweetie Belle took a deep breath, rubbed something out of her eye, and stood up.
"I'm sorry that you had to see that, Spike. It couldn't have been pleasant to watch."
Now Spike did get up and hold her. For a moment he worried that she would shy away from him, wanting to be by herself, but then she wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his chest. He smiled and stroked her mane as he spoke to her.
"Yeah, it was kind of scary…But you know what? It just made me that much more proud of you, Sweetie Belle. You stood up for yourself…and I know better than you'd think how much courage that takes."
"Thanks, Spike…"
For a while they just stood there in each others' embrace. Then Sweetie Belle pulled away from him and let out a long, exasperated sigh.
"Well, now I'm officially homeless…But anything's better than having to live in that bucking house for one more minute."
"Sweetie Belle…If you need a place to stay…I mean, I know this place isn't very big, but you're welcome to stay here if you want to…"
She smiled at Spike and then shook her head.
"Thanks for the offer, Spike. But I think I'll find my own place. I'm not broke, you know. With all the shows that the band and I have been putting on, I think I've got enough money to get by for a while."
She took his hand and looked up into his face.
"You know…I had a chemistry exam today, but I think I'll skip it. I'm not feeling like being a good student right now, not after the last couple of days I've had…how about you, Spike? Wanna take the day off?"
-----
In the apartment next-door, a beer-bellied earth pony was lazily flipping through channels on the television. That prig of a unicorn that he'd seen go into his neighbor's apartment had finally left, and now it was nice and quiet. No damned crazy mares fighting, no irritating screams coming through these damned paper-thin walls-
His train of thought was interrupted by a scream coming through the damned paper-thin wall. This time though, it was a scream of ecstasy and passion, not a scream of rage. He threw down the remote in disgust. Why wouldn't his bucking neighbors just let him get some quiet time with his TV?! He muttered under his breath.
"Damned teenagers."