//------------------------------// // A happy Frown [Revised] // Story: A Spike of Remorse // by TheGildedHeroPrice //------------------------------// By the time Spike had dragged his feet to his mother’s white BMW four-door, his mood was already soured. He slowly grabbed the front door handle, threw his lime-green backpack onto the floorboard, and jumped in himself. Twilight and Shining Armor had already left for Canterlot High School in the latter’s mustang GT. The beautiful beast of a sports car was fast with its white with blue pinstripes, a gift from Night Light when Shining got his license after his second go around on the DMV road test. The first test ended with a missing hubcap and a very unhappy test administrator. Shining often took both Twilight and Spike on car rides, just to enjoy the sights, or have some quality sibling bonding time. They went to movies, out to the park, or trips to the store to buy junk food when Night and Velvet went out and left Shiny in charge. Of course when Spike thought about it, it was never really his big brother’s idea to do anything. Neither the young boy or older one could ever tell Twilight no to anything she wanted to do, and being that she always had a good idea, neither Spike nor Shiny cared that much. “Spike, darling? Is everything alright?” Twilight Velvet stepped into the car, her hand reaching for the start engine button. Spike looked up at his foster mother, a bitter smile resting on his face as he nodded. “Yeah mom, I’m alright. Just thinking.” “You keep thinking that hard I’m going to have to roll down the windows to let the smoke out.” Spike’s lips fought off a larger smile, ultimately failing as a laugh broke through. “You’re almost as bad as dad.” “I try my best.” The car was silent for a few moments, Spike just looked around the garage before looking back at his mother. “Uh mom? Are we going?” He blinked a few times as he watched her look over at him with a smirk, her hand leaving the steering wheel to snap the seat belt against her chest. “Oh, duh. Sorry” He quickly snapped his seatbelt in place before tossing a thumbs up at his mom. With a chuckle, Velvet shook her head before backing out of the garage and taking them on their way. The radio played low in the background as Spike watched the scenery pass by. Identical houses littered the neighborhood they drove through, the only differences that could be seen was the paint jobs and the lawn ornaments that sat in the neatly trimmed yards. Twilight Velvet hummed quietly with the song, her fingers tapping along the steering wheel as she drove. The ride would only take about twenty minutes but any time she got to spend with her children was time well spent. She often said that if she only got but a moment with them it would still be the best moment of her entire life. Spike watched his foster mother hum, sometimes she would mutter a soft lyric along with the old tune that quietly drifted from the car’s sound system. He closed his eyes, content to listen to her soft voice. It reminding him of when Twilight used to sing gently to him before bed. The soft timbre of his sister’s voice always managed to soothe him, taking away his worry; much like Velvet’s voice was doing for him now. A sigh of contentment left the young boy’s mouth as he settled back into his seat, his legs shifted to match the beat of the well-loved song. Eventually his head bobbed until he opened his eyes and joined his mother in singing the chorus, twin smiles broke out across their faces as they sang the song together. The rest of the car ride went much the same, songs and smiles being shared until they pulled up to the parent drop-off area of Cantercity Middle School. Spike watched as children dressed much like himself piled out of cars, littering the front courtyard of the school. The car pulled forward a bit as the parade of other vehicles dropped off their students and left to continue on with their day until it was time for the afternoon pickup. Spike’s own ride would not be attending with the return trip, for he would be walking home on his own today. They had of course offered to give him a ride, but Spike wanted to walk, he said he was mature enough to make his way home on his own, even on his first day. Shining had made a joke about Spike hoping to get a girlfriend to walk home with. Something they all laughed at, even if it was at the expense of his little brother. After the young boy denied it adamantly, Night Light had then encouraged him to make some friends who walked the same direction as he did being that both Shining and Twilight might not be able to come get him everyday. Finally it was Spike’s turn to get out of the car, his hand clenched the handle as he stared out the window. “Are you ready, Spike? There’s nothing to be scared or nervous about. Just do your best and keep your chin up.” Velvet ran her fingers through her youngest son’s hair, turning him to face her. “You’re going to be fine.” She pulled him closer to her and kissed his forehead before releasing him. “Now go on. We’ll all be waiting to hear all about your day when you get home.” Spike smiled softly at his foster mom, with one last thumbs up he reached down and grabbed his backpack. He faced the door again before wrapping his right hand around the handle and opening it. As he went to step out a strong force kept him in his seat. One glance down and a playful chuckle from his mother told him that he forgot something very important when getting out of a vehicle. Unbuckling his seatbelt. Rolling his eyes and tossing a goofy smile at his mom, he unbuckled his belt and jumped out of the open door. A deep breath later, he waved at his mom before closing the door and backing away from the car, far enough to get out of the way of the next car in line. He watched her drive away, his hands swinging his backpack on to his back. “Well, here goes nothing.” He mumbled as he went to turn away but stopped as his eyes locked onto the next car that pulled up. A boy a few inches taller than Spike stepped out confidently, his hand slammed the door behind him. His pale blue eyes searched over the crowd of students until they eventually locked on Spike. The dark-blue sports car drove off without a second glance from the taller boy, who now was making his way towards Spike. Spike could see that the boy had two-toned spiky hair, white and dark-blue colors fighting for dominance. “Yo Strife! What’s up man? Been a long summer!” A voice called out, gaining the taller boy’s attention, a smirk spread onto his face. The pale blue eyes switched back and forth from somewhere behind Spike to the fearful green-eyed boy, Without a word “Strife” brushed past Spike, almost knocking the smaller boy over. A laugh echoed out from behind Spike but he was too scared to move, his hands clenched tightly to the straps of his bag. Cars proceeded to drop students off and leave, most students simply passed the young boy without a second glance. Still Spike couldn’t move, he was ready to go home now never to come back, and the day hadn’t even started yet. *** By the time Spike had convinced himself to go inside the school the courtyard had emptied out. He had made it across the long concrete slab, up the sixteen step staircase—he counted—and was soon standing in front of the glass paned door, staring at his reflection. In his own eyes he saw fear, fear he thought was long extinguished by the small hand and kind voice of Twilight Sparkle. “I can do this. I don’t need Twilight to protect me anymore,” he whispered as his hand grabbed the cold metal handle. Looking beyond his reflection, he could see students shuffling around the school, making their way to their lockers, or just chatting amongst one another. His eyes locked onto bobbing spiked white and dark-blue hair. Girls had swarmed around the two-tone headed boy, he was chatting amongst them, flashing crooked smiles as the girls swooned. His companions, a burnt-orange shaggy-headed boy, and a short black-haired boy chatted easily along as well.     Spike roughly swallowed a knot in his throat, he shook his head and backed away from the door. “I can’t do this! I’ll just ask mom if I can be home schooled.” “SPIIIIKKKKKKKEEEEEE” Three voices screeched loudly, almost causing the young boy to jump out of his skin. He spun around before he was sandwiched between three young girls. “C-ca-can’t…” Spike did his best to suck in a small breath. “Breathe.” “Haha, sorry, Spike. We’re just—” Scootaloo started as she was first to let go. “Sooooooooo—” Sweetie Belle was next, her hands dropping to clasp behind her as she smiled brightly at the young boy. “Glad to see ya!” Apple Bloom finished, as her right hand coming up to give him a thumbs up, her left hand rested on her hip. She winked once and then all three of them fell into giggles as Spike just blinked, confused. All three were wearing the bright white dress uniform Twilight had wore when she attended the school. “Bwuh,” was all Spike managed to say. “Well aren’t ya glad ta see us, Spike?” Apple Bloom asked. “Yeah, I mean it’s totally awesome that we’re all going to the same school now!” Scootaloo said before the green-haired boy could answer. “Mhmm!” Sweetie Belle added. Spike’s eyes locked onto Sweetie Belle, the perfume she wore smelled a lot like Rarity’s. And that was something that always caught his attention. “Of… of course I’m glad to see you.” Spike blinked, “All of you!” He smiled sheepishly, his hands clenching his backpack’s straps again as he backed up a step to look at all three of his friends. “Uh… are you gonna go inside?” “Scootaloo! He’s probably just as scared as we are!” “Ah ain’t scared! Mah big sis said just to make a face scarier than what’s scaring you! Then you’ll scare it off before it gets ya’.” Spike watched as the three girls took it in turn to make the scariest face. Apple Bloom went first. She extended her jaw and spread her lips, showing off as much teeth as she could. Scootaloo laughed at that and—using her hands—spread her cheeks as wide as she could apart while bulging her eyes and sticking out her tongue. Sweetie Belle gave off what could only be described as a very girlish giggle as she placed her fingertips on the tip of her nose while pulling it up. “Sweetie, scary! Not a piggy,” Apple Bloom said with a chuckle. Spike laughed and joined in. The boy placed the tips of his fingers above and below his eyes and spread them apart, causing his eyeballs to bulge much further than Scootaloo could ever hope. “Ahh, Spike don’t do that!” Sweetie said with a laugh, something that was quickly picked up by the other two present. Suddenly a bell rang out, signalling the time for students to start heading to class. The four sixth graders exchanged glances before stumbling over one another to get the door open. Spike eventually used his bag to push the other three back and just grabbed the metal handle, opening it. He held it open for them, and, with a bow, gestured with his free hand for them to go inside. They giggled girlishly at him as they walked by, Sweetie even gave him a small kiss on the cheek before she sped up to walk alongside Apple Bloom. Spike sighed dreamily before he straightened up and puffed out his chest. I can do this. With a deep breath, he stepped into the building, and… Nothing happened. Not one eye focused on him, everyone was too busy with their own concerns. Spike quickly followed after his friends, catching the end of their conversation about locker numbers. “Aw, that’s too bad, Sweetie. Scoots and Ah got lockers close to each other.” Apple Bloom was waving her information sheet in the air, a pout on her face. “Yeah, that’s totally not awesome at all. Bummer.” Scootaloo was trying to balance a pencil on her nose as they walked along. “It’s not that far away from you guys,” Sweetie said with a pout, her eyes scanning her own information sheet. “Um, Sweetie Belle?” Spike tapped her softly on the shoulder. “What locker number did you get?” Her pale-green eyes shifted to look at him, a sad smile on her lips. “One-thirty-three” The solemn tone of her voice almost broke the young boy’s heart. He quickly reached around to his backpack, pulling his own information sheet out. On it held his Student I.D. number, his classroom schedule, lunch period, and his locker number. “Well I got number one-thirty-four” He turned the paper around for all three girls to observe. “Well Ah’ll be! That’s great Spike, Sweetie Belle and ya’ can be locker buddies!” Apple Bloom jumped excitedly, her hands clasped around Sweetie’s upper arm, causing the now blushing girl to bounce with her. “Alright! That means you won’t be all by yourself between classes!” Scootaloo’s fists shot up into the air in a ‘goal’ pose as she grinned at her best friends. “Mhmm,” Sweetie Belle was still blushing softly, the rosy color of her blush blending in beautifully with her pale skin. “This… is great. I hope you don’t mind, Spike.” Spike smiled, shaking his head. “It’s not a bother at all, Sweets.” Her blush grew brighter as he referred to her by her nickname. Apple bloom and Scootaloo laughed before pulling Sweetie Belle off down the hall to the left, against her will. Spike was left standing where he was, a goofy smile left on his face. A warning bell rang, startling the young boy. It was then that he noticed all the other students were making their way to class. He quickly pulled his sheet back up to his face and scanned for his first classroom number. Advanced Physics One-oh-one, classroom Two-forty-eight. Spike’s head shot up, his eyes glancing down the hallway his friends went down before looking the opposite way. Classroom Two-oh-three, alright so it’s got to be that way. He quickly took the left hallway, eyes catching the door numbers while he avoided other students walking the same way. The issue with avoiding them was that Spike quickly found this hallway led to most of the upperclassmen’s classrooms.This meant the short little sixth grader had to dodge and duck under those much taller, more confident, scary, bigger, meaner, and ‘smarter’ than him. By the time he found his classroom, he was out of breath, and on the verge of a mental breakdown. Sweet Celestia, please just let this day just end!