February 8: I Think of You
“Dude!” Rumble let go of his controller in frustration. “How do you keep beating me?”
Pip looked testily at Rumble. “I told you that we should’ve ganged up on him first, you guys!”
Featherweight threw his controller own on the couch angrily. “He’s cheating! He’s gotta be cheating!”
Setting down his controller and with a wide grin on his face, Spike put his arms behind his head, leaning back against the foot of the sofa and grinning. “You guys are chump change, I swear.” To celebrate his triumph, he reached over and grabbed a Coke, grinning. “You guys just don’t like getting schooled in Super Smash Bros., do you?”
“Oh, shut up, Spike!” Featherweight groaned. “Besides, just because you think you’re hot stuff with Link does not mean that you’re going to keep beating us forever!”
Spike grinned. “Wanna bet? If I win, you guys are going to seriously owe me some favors.”
Pip looked at his friend. “And if you lose?”
“Heh – against you guys? I doubt I’ll lose, but if I do, I’ll owe you all favors.”
Someone knocked on the door to the house. “Hey, Sunny!” Spike shouted. “Your friends are here!”
Sunset poked her head out of the kitchen. “Spike, can you answer the door? Busy cooking in here!”
“I’m not supposed to answer the door, you know that!” Spike shouted back.
In the kitchen, Sunset groaned; he was right that he wasn’t allowed to answer the door after he’d slammed it in one too many people’s faces. At least with the Princess’ Spike, that was never going to be much of a problem for a dog. Heading over to the front door, she opened it, glad to see friendly faces. “Hey, glad you guys could make it!”
Standing at the door was Fluttershy, Applejack, Rainbow, Pinkie and Rarity. “You promised us nachos,” Pinkie chirped, “and we have come in search of nachos!”
“That’s a good way of saying that Pinkie thought Blossomforth was okay enough to work on her own,” Rainbow said skeptically.
“She is trying,” Fluttershy said. “I think she’s still a bit sad that Cloud Kicker moved to Detroit last week. They were close, weren’t they?”
“Very much so,” Rarity said. “But since we’ve introduced her to Minuette and Waterfire, she seems to have taken to them fairly well.”
“Well, enough o’ that,” Applejack said. “Rainbow, let’s get t’ th’ reason yer here.”
“Do we have to?” the rainbow-haired athlete groaned.
“Yes,” five other girls announced at once.
An hour and several batches of nachos later, the six girls still weren’t having an easy time studying.
“Oh, c’mon, you guys! This shit is easy,” Rainbow said, “and I’m the stupid one here!”
“Yeah, but you grew up with Spanish,” Sunset reminded her, as she turned back to her book. “Fuck, this looks vaguely like Burroñeso, but the Princess never taught me that.”
“Burrah-what?” Applejack asked.
“Burroñeso. It’s the native language of the mules and donkeys,” Sunset told her friends. “Never really knew any of them, though.”
“I’m having a hard time wrapping my mind around this, Sunset, dear,” Rarity said. “I mean, we know you’re an alien, but the fact that there are other species out there besides yours? It’s rather…disquieting.”
“It’s okay,” Sunset said. “It took me four years to get used to thi—”
“Hey, Sunny!” Spike shouted from the living room. “Do we have any nachos left?”
“Yeah,” she called back.
“Can you get me and the guys some?”
“Spike, I’m studying!” she retorted. “Get it yourself!”
“Yeah, but this is really important!” the young boy shouted in return.
Sunset facepalmed. “Why me?”
“Why are you watching Spike this weekend, anyway?” Pinkie asked.
The flame-haired girl started ticking the reasons off her fingers. “Because my foster mother’s in Salt Lake City for a social service workers symposium; my foster father is in Houston presenting a physics monograph before some bunch of self-important scientists; Cady and Shiny are too busy planning things for their wedding; Twily’s in Cloudsdale at the Regional Model UN Assembly; Tavi’s with her parents in Seattle this weekend for some parent-child charity performance; and since I didn’t have to work this weekend, guess who got stuck with the runt,” Sunset groaned.
“Sunny!”
Sunset buried her face in the book. “I’m too young to deal with children, I swear….”
“Let me take care of it,” Rarity said sympathetically. “I think we could use the break anyway.”
“Thanks, Rares,” Sunset said, wearily.
“Think nothing of it. I’ve had more than enough…experience…dealing with my sister’s antics from when she was that age.”
“No argument there!” Applejack, Rainbow, and Fluttershy all agreed in empathetic unison. As the other girls chatted, Rarity went over, placed the chips down on a platter, then dumped the copious amounts of condiments on the chips. It looked absolutely hideous, she thought to herself – there was really no way, in her opinion, to make nachos look good – but at least it tasted fair, even if Mexican food was not on her preferred palate.
Bringing out the plate, Rarity placed it on the coffee table. “Here you go, gentlemen: one nacho…er, whatever.” After a second, she caught what was on the screen. “Oh! Smash Bros. – I’m quite proficient from playing that with my sister at home.”
“Can’t be better than him,” Rumble groaned, pointing at Spike as Rumble’s character was kicked off the platform for the final time.
“Oh, I think I could do quite well, young man,” Rarity said, amused at the situation; apparently, young Spike was the videogame equivalent of the pool sharks she read about so often in her romance novels.
“Uh-uh,” Pip snorted, struggling to keep his character in play. “Spike’s just too good at this game.”
“Yeah, and there I go,” Featherweight muttered, as his character and Pip’s were wiped out at the same time.
Spike grinned cockily. “See? Toldja that you just can’t mess with the best.”
“Well, you shouldn’t be so cocky,” Rarity said. “Your defense was open at points, and you left yourself open to a few counterstrikes.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah – only a girl would say something like that,” Spike said, reaching for the nachos.
“Excuse me?” Rarity felt insulted. The kid was half her age and was acting…well, he reminded her a lot of that cretin she encountered last month; thankfully, he was facing criminal charges now. “Care to repeat your words?”
Spike looked at her coolly. “Sorry if I said anything rude; I didn’t mean to. Just that…well, girls really aren’t that good at video games.”
That was it. “Pass me one of your controllers,” she demanded of the other boys as she sat down; once she had said controller in hand, she immediately selected Zero Suit Samus. “I’m going to make you apologize for those words,” Rarity told him.
“Okay, since you insist,” Spike laughed. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you. Best of three?”
She was already staring at the screen, laser-like focus in her eyes. “It. Is. On!”
“Okay, you got lucky. Best of five!”
“No way! I’m just having a bad time. Best of nine!”
Spike stared in shock as he dropped his controller. There, on the screen, read her stats: she hadn’t lost a single bout since she picked up her controller. “But…but how….”
She grinned. “My cousin Techno Treat is a professional videogame player. Won the EVO Street Fighter IV and Super Smash Bros. tournament’s women’s divisions four years straight. When you have an opponent like that, well….” She lifted the controller as if it were a gun and blew on its edge. “It’s talent.”
“Rarity, we’re getting ready again!” Sunset called from the kitchen.
The violet-tressed girl tossed the controller back to Pip. “Well, let that be a lesson to you, young sir: never underestimate a lady.” With that, she got back up and went back into the kitchen.
Meanwhile, Pip, Rumble and Featherweight were laughing at him. “She got you good, Spike!” Rumble crowed.
Spike hadn’t heard his friend as he watched the videogame goddess saunter into the kitchen. His voice was gone, and his heart seemed to skip a beat. “I…wow….” was all he could finally voice.
“Is something wrong with Spike?” Velvet asked the following day as she arrived home from the airport. Her son was currently holding his blue Wii U Pro controller, sighing wistfully as he stared at the title screen of the game currently selected, and doing little else.
At the moment, Sunset was setting the table for a dinner she made for the three of them, as neither Twilight nor Night would be home until later in the evening. “He’s been like that since one of my friends beat him repeatedly at Smash Bros. after something that he said.” Sunset then went on to explain everything that happened, or at least as much as she knew, and by the time she was done, Velvet was doubled over from fits of laughter.
“Well,” the matron said, wiping a tear of mirth from her left eye as she’d been laughing that hard, “normally I would ground him for being so rude, but it sounds as though he learned a pretty valuable lesson the hard way.”
“Most likely,” Sunset agreed as she pulled a lasagna out of the oven. “Anyway, dinner should be ready in a few minutes if you want to put your bag away and get ready.”
“Thanks; I appreciate it.” Velvet grinned at her foster daughter. “You know, I don’t ever recall you being so domestic, Sunny, but you seem to have gotten used to it. Wish I could get Twily or Tavi just as focused.”
“Well, a wise woman once told me that all you need is just to love someone enough to show them there’s a better way,” Sunset said, flashing Velvet a smile, and ended up getting a huge hug out of her quote.
Meanwhile, oblivious to the two women, Spike sighed. She…she beat me. I should really practice more, but…how? She…. He looked at the controller again and blushed. He couldn’t explain at all why his face felt flush, and he—
“Spike?” He looked up to see Sunset staring at him. “Hey, called you for dinner a few minutes ago.”
“Oh, you did?” He blinked. “Sorry.”
“Well, go wash your hands and join us at the table. We’ve been waiting for you.”
“Oh…okay,” he said, reluctantly putting down the controller for some reason before wandering off to the bathroom.
Sunset watched him go, a strange look on her face. I swear, that kid…. She then smiled softly. Kid or not, he was her little brother…of sorts…and she had to wonder what he was up to. Turning off the Wii and the TV, she then went back to the kitchen.
“Rarity, what did you do to Spike?” Sunset asked her friend the next day at school.
“I only beat him at that game of his, why do you ask?”
“Because after you left, he started acting, well, weird,” the flame-haired girl replied. “You didn’t do anything to him, did you?”
“Of course not! He’s just a child – besides, if anything, losing to me should make him appreciate his friends more; it seemed as though to me he was being quite the bully to them because they weren’t as good at the game as he was.”
“Yeah, well, that can be Spike at times – always wants to look good, and he’s got an ego the size of a small planet. Twily told me one time that she was looking for her laptop since she couldn’t remember where she put it and when he found it, he referred to himself for a whole week as her ‘number one assistant.’”
“Well,” Rarity said, resting a delicate finger on her chin in thought, “perhaps he intends to best me once more? I can see it now: He’ll expect this weekend that I’ll come over and challenge him to humiliate him more and he’ll show up, likely dressed like a character from The Matrix or something equally ‘rugged and cool’ and demand a rematch. And then like something out of a bad 90s film, he’ll pull out a last-minute victory and I’ll be left broken and ruing the day when I ever cross….”
Sunset just stared at her friend as though she’d gone insane. “What are you talking about?”
“Oh, dear…I’d forgotten you’re not exactly up to speed on older films.” A thought then came over Rarity’s mind. “You know…why don’t we do a marathon over at your place? I’m sure the girls and I can find a few older films you like.”
“That’d be nice,” Sunset replied. “It would make me feel loads better about having a clue what Star Wars or Star Trek is all about.”
Rarity blinked. “You mean in all this time you’ve never watched either of those series?”
Sunset blushed. “I’d…rather not talk about it.”
“Let me guess: Flash had you over to watch movies and….” Rarity then blushed herself as the inevitable conclusion to her thought processes occurred. “I…see. Well, I assure you that the eight of us will just be watching movies. Maybe order food, that’s about it. Just…don’t be surprised if Pinkie suddenly mentions anything about a slumber party.”
Pinkie seemed to teleport in from nowhere, surprising both girls. “Did someone say ‘slumber party’?” Pinkie’s sudden squee was high-pitched enough to make a few nearby dogs bark, had any been on the school campus.
“Well,” Rarity said, with a wan smile on her face, “at least she wasn’t too loud.”
“Speak for yourself,” Sunset said, rubbing her ears. Note to self: human or not, apparently my hearing is still in the pony range. Owww….
“Am not!”
“Are too!”
“Am not!”
“Are too!”
“Am not!”
“Are too! Are too! Are too, with a thousand times to you!” The girl stuck her tongue at him and ran off.
“Am not!” Spike shouted, shaking his fist angrily as Dinky Doo ran from his part of the playground. In retrospect, maybe it wasn’t the smartest thing in the world to ask her what was going on. Then again, girls were weird.
“Hey, Spike! What’s going on, dude?” Pip came up to him, with Rumble and Featherweight in tow. “You’re missing the most epic Pokémon tradeoff ever! I scored me some really sweet ones!”
“Oh, yeah, sorry,” he said. “Was kinda busy.”
“Busy?” Rumble groaned. “Dude, busy was what we were! You were busy playing kissy-face with Dinky!”
Spike’s eyes narrowed. “What are you talking about?”
“Heh.” Rumble suddenly struck an authoritative pose. “Learned everything on this one from my big bro, Thunderlane!”
Featherweight looked at Rumble oddly. “Didn’t your brother get suspended from school two weeks ago?”
“No, that’s our cousin Thunderclap. And from what ‘Lane said, he totally deserved it, too. Anyway, that’s not the point.” He focused on Spike. “Thing is, Spike, you’ve got that friend of your sister’s on your mind, dontcha?”
“Well, yeah – she beat me! Of course I’m going to think about it! I want to play her again and beat her!”
“Well…” Rumble said, “we’ll make sure that happens. We’re friends, right?” he asked, looking at the other boys.
“Yeah!” Pip agreed. “We’ll make sure she knows not to mess with Spike!”
Featherweight brushed the hair out of his eyes. “Yup! Then after you beat her, Spike, then we’re going to beat you!”
Spike laughed. “Like that’s ever going to happen.”
Rumble placed his hand in the center. “Well, are we doing this or not?”
Spike placed his hand in. “You guys are the best friends ever – let’s do this!”
Pip was next. “Well, we gotta come up with a cool name for our group now!”
Featherweight placed his hand in last. “Well, what about ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders’?” The other three boys looked at him as though he’d gone insane.
“You’ve been reading your sister’s Filly Funtasia books again, haven’t you?” Spike asked him.
“Well, yeah, I had to read something for my last book report!”
Pip rolled his eyes. “That stuff’ll melt your brain, Feather. Anyway, we really gotta come up with a team name!”
Spike had a sudden flash of inspiration. “What about…The Button Mashers?”
“Perfect!” Pip replied.
“GO TEAM BUTTON MASHERS!” the four boys shouted in unison.
“That’s a wonderful idea!” Velvet said over dinner. “Especially since Night and I will be out of town this weekend.”
“You will?” Twilight asked.
“Yes, dear, or d—” Velvet immediately clammed up at her husband’s brief glance; she’d almost said Did you forget it was Valentine’s Weekend? But given all that had recently happened, it had been an unspoken policy in the schools in the area to very much downplay Valentine’s Day this year. And with both Twilight and Octavia seeing counselors for their near-misses, Night and Velvet admitted to themselves that there were some reservations about their weekend getaway to San Francisco, especially with Evening and Ballad also out of town for a pressing engagement they couldn’t get out of themselves. But with Sunset’s suggestion, things were looking up.
Sunset immediately caught was going on and decided to do damage control. “Yeah! The girls are insisting on me seeing a few movies I’ve never seen before, like Star Wars—”
“You’ve never seen Star Wars?” everyone at the table asked, perplexed.
Sunset blushed in embarrassment. “Or Star Trek, either – a lot of films, actually.”
Twilight said, “Well, then it’s settled, Sunny – we have to get you to see some movies!” She then turned to Velvet. “Mom, can w—”
“I was already going to say yes, Twily,” Velvet said, “if your father’s okay with it as well.”
“Are you kidding?” The look on Night’s face was comically sober. “I cannot allow a person in this house to not understand why Empire is the best of the series!” He looked at both teens. “Twily, I simply must insist that she see the Original Trilogy first. You can then show her the prequels if you get around to the bad films.”
“Well, I suppose that’s settled, then,” Sunset said, though she turned to Spike and asked, “I guess you’re going to spend a weekend over a friend’s place?”
“Oh, I’d completely forgotten about that!” Velvet said, her attention previously taken up by Sunset’s admission of a gaping knowledge of cinematic pop culture. “Spike, I can call Pip’s mother and see if you can stay there for the weekend.”
“Naaah,” Spike told her. “Actually, I’m guessing the guys’ll come over for an epic gaming session!”
“Well, as long as they don’t bother us or go into our rooms, I guess it won’t be a problem,” Twilight told her parents.
“I guess we should start making a list of what movies to watch?” Sunset started.
“I’ll call the girls,” Twilight assured her foster sister. “Don’t worry; we’ll make sure that you’ve got plenty of time to watch the best stuff.”
“Okay, so we gotta have her watch all of Star Wars! And then all of Star Trek – think we’ll have time to watch the all the series as well? Oh, and then we have to get her to watch a few Disney films! Then the Matrix trilogy! And there’s gotta be time for the classics – Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, and of course several Monty Pyth—”
Pinkie’s mouth was covered by a very irritated Octavia. “Pinkie, we only have the weekend, not a whole month!”
“Plus, Ah’m guessin’ that sooner er later, we’re gonna wanna get a li’l shuteye now an’ then,” Applejack added, trying not to laugh.
“Still, I can’t get over the fact that Sunny hasn’t seen a lot of the stuff that we have,” Twilight commented. “I mean, I know she’s an orphan, but some of the stuff that she’s missed from the recent past…it’s almost like she’s from another world or something and just caught up on the past four years of pop culture.”
“You don’t say,” Rarity said, the tone of her words somewhat odd, though Twilight didn’t ask what she meant.
“Well,” Fluttershy suggested, “maybe her guardian was really strict about those kinds of things? I know my mother hasn’t been too happy with the violent movies that Angel likes watching. Maybe Sunny’s original guardian was even more, uh, reluctant to let her watch anything?”
“Or maybe they didn’t have TVs over in Ponyland!” Pinkie chirped. She then gasped and realized she’d broken her sacred promise, while the others looked at each other oddly.
Thankfully, Twilight and Octavia misunderstood completely. “Pinkie? I’m pretty sure they have TVs over in Ponyville – I mean, it’s just a hundred miles or so east of here, not Antarctica or anything,” Octavia drawled.
“Actually, I’m guessing they have TVs in Antarctica, too,” Twilight added flippantly. “But did Sunny actually come from Ponyville? I mean, that’s just the next county over – they definitely would’ve found her before four years. I would’ve thought she’d have come from a bigger town, like Cloudsdale or Portland, maybe Seattle, Frisco or LA.”
“You seem awfully curious about her past all of a sudden, Twily,” Rarity inquired.
“She’s family, Rarity – shouldn’t I be worried about her? I mean, there’s what you told us about her, and then there’s….” There was a sudden loud boom and all the girls looked in the direction of Rainbow Dash, who was engrossed at whatever was on her phone screen.
“Rainbow, y’ mind joinin’ us in th’ convo?” Applejack said testily.
“Um…yeah, sorry. Just downloaded the latest ep of an anime I’ve been watching lately,” Rainbow said sheepishly, “and I had to make sure it downloaded correctly.”
At that, Applejack rolled her eyes while Fluttershy just shook her head.
“So, you were saying, Twily?” Rarity asked for the other girl to continue.
“No,” she sighed. “I guess it’s not really important. I just….” She shook her head. “I just want Sunny to have the same kind of life that Tavi and I have had, and I’m sure you’ve had too,” she commented. “My brother and I were talking the other day and he told me he was completely surprised that she’d managed to live four years in the location she had, and that it was objectively impressive, especially given her age. But what I saw – what I still see – is that even though Sunny’s opening up to us, she’s still hiding something back. Was she abused? Or worse?”
“Twily, I think Aunt Velvet would have gotten that out of her by now,” Octavia told her cousin. “You really should let your mom handle that part. She’s the one who does it for a living?”
“I know, but….” The look on Twilight’s face was nearly heartbroken. “I just want to help her.”
“We’re doing that. Uncle Night and Aunt Velvet are doing it in the way only they can, and you and I and the others are doing it in the way only we can!”
“SLUMBER PARTY!” Pinkie cheered happily, using the full power of her cheerleading vocal ability, a near-deafening cry which many of the cheerleaders referred to as the “Royal Canterlot Voice” – Royal being short for “royally eardrum-shattering”.
Six other girls winced in sudden unison before Fluttershy massaged her ringing ears. “Maybe a little quieter, Pinkie?” she asked.
“Heh – so~rry!” Pinkie whispered, her cheeks running rose from embarrassment.
“You really haven’t seen Star Wars?” Blossomforth asked.
Sunset rolled her eyes. “Blossom, what does that have to do with me asking you how your last checkup went?” She was now really beginning to regret having told anyone about the whole thing.
The floral-haired girl blushed. “Well, I’m still feeling queasy now and then and the doctor said I should be showing soon,” she admitted, patting her belly briefly. “I think now that my parents have adjusted to what’s going on, they’re looking forward to it – especially Daddy, since he really wants to spoil the baby.”
“And Flash?” When Blossom turned away, Sunset felt guilty. “Hey, look – you and the baby will be fine without that jerk,” Sunset promised. “It’s probably not going to be easy – just look at Fluttershy’s mom if you want proof – but I guarantee that there will always be someone there for you.”
“Really?”
Sunset nodded. “You’re covered, Blossom. I promise.”
“Good, you get to be the baby’s godmother, then,” Blossomforth insisted.
“Sure,” Sunset replied. A second later, she asked, “Uh, what’s a ‘godmother’?”
“Okay, here’s the answers to the math homework,” Featherweight showed the guys. The four members of Team Button Mashers immediately copied the answers, and then grinned. “And now, for the real homework.”
They were currently at Featherweight’s house. As his father was the station manager for one of the TV stations in town, the house had a particularly incredible setup. And that meant the largest Samsung-built AMOLED TV possible alongside the entertainment systems to go with it.
“You got your gear, Spike?” Rumble asked. Behind him, Pip pulled out his most valued treasure: the most recent and updated copy of The Vector Vixens’ Guide to L337 Komboz, written by none other than Techno Treat herself. Opening to the Super Smash Bros. Wii U pages, the shortest member of the four looked at Spike, determination in his eyes and said, “You will study these moves. You will memorize them better than your own name! And you will win, got that?”
Spike opened up his backpack in response, pulling out a small black case. Opening it, he reached in carefully and pulled out his masterpiece, the indicator that all bets would be off: his custom Wii U Pro controller, imported from Japan and designed to somewhat mimic the shape of the old Super Famicom control pad, a game system he wasn’t familiar with but something that his dad spoke of fondly during gaming sessions with Shining when the latter was Spike’s age. The controller, a Christmas gift from Cadance, only saw action when Spike was determined to win at all costs – it was an artifact of pure power, and Rumble even commented once that when used, the custom controller gave Spike the power of a dragon, or a pirate or…well, something really neat and cool.
Reaching in and attaching the USB cable to both the controller and the console, Spike stretched slightly, then curled his hands around the edges of his controller. His green eyes aflame with eagerness, he selected online play, and then started challenging other players at some of the highest difficulties.
His heart raged with battle hardiness. He would train for the next few days until Saturday, and then when the time came, he would win. Oh yes, he would taste victory and savor its potency.
“So you guys’ll have everything under control, right? You have Shining’s number in case anything goes wrong,” Velvet pointed out.
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Mom, we’ll be fine, we promise.”
“Don’t worry, we have everything under control,” Sunset also assured. “You two go have fun and we’ll try not to burn the house down.” When Velvet gave her an askance glance, the flame-haired girl grinned. “Would I do that?” she said with a huge smile.
“Probably, if it means getting out of homework,” Night jibed in response. When Sunset shook her head in response, the man chuckled softly. “You girls aren’t the only ones with senses of humor,” he told them both before turning to Twilight with, “Why, your mother and I evolved them shortly after we climbed out of the primordial swamp and rode dinosaurs to high school.” Once both teens looked at him with disappointment, he tugged at his shirt collar, muttering, “Tough crowd.”
“Well, I still laugh at your jokes, dear,” Velvet said, mirth in her eyes before she added the finishing blow: “Well, sometimes, anyway.” She then went and hugged her three children goodbye, Spike as usual squirming in embarrassment as his mom kissed him on the cheek. “You have our number if anything goes wrong, right?”
“Don’t worry,” Twilight assured them. Satisfied that everything was going to be fine, the parents went off, and a few seconds later the sounds of Night Light’s car was heard as the parents drove off to the airport. Stepping away from the door, Twilight sighed. “For a moment there, I thought they were going to change their minds.”
“Naah, you know how they are, Twily,” Sunset said with a grin. “They’re just worried about us, is all. And speaking of concerns….” She then looked at Spike. “You still planning to stay over at Pip’s place tonight?”
“Yeah, though I’ll be back tomorrow,” he told them.
“Well, go ahead and get packed and I’ll walk you over there.” Then, turning to Twilight: “I guess everyone should be here soon?”
Twilight nodded. “As far as I know. AJ said she’d pick up everyone and then head over, and Tavi will be here about eight, when her parents drop her off on the way to the airport, but she’ll call before she gets here so we can order the pi—” The violet-haired girl was suddenly interrupted by a knock on the door, a staccato beat that sounded more like a drummer on amphetamines than a newcomer. “I’m guessing that’s Pinkie,” Twilight cracked as she opened the door—
—and was nearly bowled over by Pinkie wearing a backpack which likely served as her clothing bag, and carrying several large, covered trays carrying a plethora of various confections. “Hi, Twily! Hi, Sunny! Hi…uh, whatever your name is again, ‘cause I can never remember it!”
“Spike,” the boy grumbled.
“Heya, Pinks,” Sunset said as looked in amazement at the sheer amount of baked goods Pinkie had brought with her – even with Pinkie’s well-known penchant for an epic sweet tooth, this was way too much. “Need a hand with that?”
“Naaah, I got two hands; don’t need any more!” the cotton-candy-haired tornado chirped. “But you could point me towards the kitchen….”
“Right this way,” Sunset said, as the mountain of pastries followed her.
Meanwhile, Twilight waited as the rest of her friends arrived. “Welcome, all!”
One by one the girls came in. Applejack had brought a couple of cases of the apple soda that Rainbow virtually addicted herself to; Rarity and Rainbow carried in the girls’ sleeping bags; and Fluttershy carted in a bunch of DVDs and Blu-ray discs. “So, where should Ah put these?” Applejack asked.
Twilight pointed. “Sunny and Pinkie are both in the kitchen. Girls, make yourselves at home; you have been here enough times that you know where everything is.”
“Thanks, Twily,” Fluttershy said, setting down the sizable collection. “Oh, I also brought some anime as well, just in case Sunny’s interested.”
“Great, here we go again,” Rainbow grunted. “Honestly, Fluttershy, I really don’t want to read anime, okay?”
“But Rainbow, watching it in the subtitled version lets you get all the nuances that English voice actors can’t explain! It’s only something that only seiyū can project to the audience!”
“Oh, great – because I really need you to go all weeaboo on me, Flutters!”
“Be glad I didn’t bring the raws.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever, Ms. Half-Japanese.”
“Quarter-Japanese,” the chiffon-haired girl corrected. “Only my grandmother is from Japan.”
“I didn’t know you were quarter-Japanese, Fluttershy,” Twilight said.
“Oh, yes. My maternal grandmother Kimono met my grandfather Tradewinds while he worked for a company overseas. They then got married and moved to Hawaii, where my mother was born before moving here to Grandpa’s hometown of Canterlot when Mom was six. Obāsan insisted I learn Japanese and all that goes with it, so it’s nice.” She smiled, then glanced at Rainbow, who was poring through the disc pile. “Besides, Rainbow tends not to complain whenever I’m scanslating something for her, so….” She shrugged.
Rainbow held up a copy of something girly looking; the cover was in Japanese and thus she couldn’t read it. “Do we have to watch this?”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Well…there’s no action and really, the scene where the white-haired girl—”
“Subaru?”
“Yeah, Subbyroo. Anyway, she tells that guy she’s with that she’s going to love him forever? I mean, really?”
Spike at this point had tuned out his sister and her friends. He was going to have enough things on his mind unti—
“Excuse me, Spike?” He heard a familiar voice and he suddenly felt funny. His heart started thumping and he felt tingly all over. He turned and saw the girl who addressed him.
“Oh, Spike? Would you be a dear and help me move some of the furniture in the den so that I can make room for all our sleeping bags?” Rarity asked him.
Part of him wanted to ignore her; she was the enemy, after all. Plus, he had every intent of beating her tomorrow and regaining his title as the gaming champion of the house. But when he looked at her, strangely, nothing seemed to matter. He couldn’t figure out why, but somehow it made sense. Maybe it was that “cooties” stuff that Pip had mentioned; it sounded almost as serious as the flu.
“Spike?” Rarity asked again.
“Oh, yeah, uh, sorry,” Spike said, looking momentarily baffled as to what he was supposed to be doing. Whatever it was, it was probably importan—
“Spike?” He turned to see Sunset standing there, looking at him irritably. “I thought I told you to go pack, so I can walk you over to Pip’s place?”
“But I’m already packed!” he cried. That much was true; the moment he knew he was going to be staying over there, he made sure to have both his clothing and his gaming gear ready to go at a moment’s notice.
“Okay, let’s get you going before you annoy your waifu any further,” Sunset cracked.
“Waifu?” Spike asked, while Rarity facepalmed.
At that point, the jingle of keys could be heard in the door, and a second later, Octavia walked in. “Heya, I’m home.”
“Heya, Tavi,” Sunset said, followed in short order by the rest of the girls. “The girls are already here, as you can see. Twily’s in the kitchen with Pinkie and AJ prepping the snacks, and everyone except me was going to help rearrange the furniture so we can lay down the sleeping bags. And as for me, I was going to take Spike over to Pip’s house, since he’s staying there overnight.”
“Let me handle that,” the raven-haired girl said. “You’re the guest of honor at this little shindig, so you stay here, be lazy and figure out which movies you want to watch first, okay?” She then looked at Spike. “Grab your bags and we’ll head out.”
As the two turned the corner and started walking down Meadowvale Lane, Spike adjusted the straps on his bag, though in truth, he wondered about that word that Sunset had used. What did it mean?
“Hey, Tavi?”
“Yeah, squirt?” she asked as she carried his other bag. He’d insisted on carrying his gaming equipment – “Because it’s almost as important as my comic books!” he told her – and that was fine enough for her.
“I got a question about a word.”
“And you didn’t check a dictionary?” Octavia said, with a hint of disappointment. Like her cousins, she’d been instilled with the values that if she didn’t know what a word meant, she had to look it up. Her uncle, being a scholar, had been adamant about it and her aunt just as much so; the habit had come in handy over the years and it became something she appreciated.
“Well, Sunny mentioned it just before we were leaving, so I didn’t really have time to look it up.”
“Fair enough,” she replied. “What is it?”
“What’s a ‘waifu’? She said it when your friend Rarity was around and I really didn’t get it.”
Spike couldn’t understand why, a second later, his cousin had nearly collapsed onto the sidewalk in a fit of side-splitting laughter.
Sunset’s eyes blinked open at four in the morning. Something had caught her attention, and that thing had been the grayish-white light that was coming from the LED. She saw Fluttershy sitting there, watching a cartoon; it didn’t look like anime, because the style was too weird. As for the other girls, they were all still asleep, sprawled out in a tangled mass of bodies that…. Sunset shuddered; given that everyone was still recovering from the horrors of the past few weeks, best not let her mind go there, even if innocently.
So instead she sidled up to Fluttershy and asked, “What’re you watching?”
“The Last Unicorn,” the chiffon-haired girl replied. “You probably wouldn’t like it because….well, you know.”
“I think I can deal with the fictional treatment of unicorns here on Earth,” Sunset replied quietly.
“Well, if you’re interested, I just started it – I can start from the beginning again if you’d like.” When Sunset nodded, Fluttershy restarted the video. “I used to watch it a lot when I was my brother’s age,” she said, “plus, my Dad used to read me the storybook whenever he got the chance.” Fluttershy was hushed, quiet in a way she wasn’t normally. A second later, she realized what she said, and retracted with, “Oh my – I’m sorry I mentioned parents, Sunny! I didn’t mean—”
“It’s okay,” Sunset replied. “I’m more than aware that I’m an orphan. Believe me, I’m not offended.” She looked at the screen. “Though I am a little offended that they think we unicorns look like that. I mean, that’s gotta be cocaine-thin supermodel stuff.”
“I don’t think the author of the novel had you in mind when he created Almathea,” Fluttershy said with a smile.
“Yeah, but at least she was the last unicorn on Earth. I think it’s fair to say I’m the only unicorn,” Sunset said as she smiled briefly, though it soon disappeared as a recurring thought entered her mind. Though her nightmares had stopped months ago, the fact that she would forever be a marked mare back in her homeworld unsettled her; even with her intent never to return, the fact that Celestia could reach over to hurt her at any time frightened her.
“Does that make you our unicorn?” Fluttershy teased, unaware of her friend’s worries.
“Yeah, I’m the resident hornhead – friend and mascot rolled into one,” she chuckled as the pair watched the movie together, relieved that Fluttershy had changed the subject somewhat. A few more minutes of the pair watching the cartoon passed before Sunset finally voiced, “What made you decide to get up this early, anyway?”
“Just…couldn’t sleep,” she replied. “No particular reason, it just happens sometimes.”
“I don’t think I could eat another bite, Pinkie!” a stuffed Sunset told her friend the following morning. Around the table in the room were the others, all still in their relative sleepwear, which was convenient as they were all equally approaching postprandial, courtesy of Pinkie’s commandeering of the kitchen and the subsequent best stuffed french toast they’d ever had.
“Eyup! Ah’m gunna hafta do some extra hyeongs on Monday jest t’ make up fer this,” a satiated Applejack yawned, barely able to lift a forkful to her lips.
“Oh, dear, I’m going to need a diet after this – but it’s sooooooooo worth it!” squealed a happy Rarity. From the other girls came echoes of their friend’s statements, all of them in agreement that these were the best breakfast confections they’d had in quite some time.
“Oooh, but what am I going to do with all the cookies I brought? Or the cakes, or the doughnuts, or the beignets – say, aren’t beignets actually doughnuts? And then there’s the panini I was going to make us for lunch – except that should be called panino, because panini is singular, as far as I know. And isn’t ‘panino’ a weird word anyway? It’s like something out of a Spellbound book!” She began waving her arms in random directions, while incanting, “Panini, panino, paninu!’” She then looked at Sunset with a wild smile and said, “I guess I did it wrong. How do you do it, Sunny?” She then gasped again and said, “Dammit, I wasn’t supposed to say anything, was I?”
In response, Sunset merely facepalmed while the other girls in the know regarding Sunset’s secret groaned at Pinkie’s latest flub. As for Twilight and Octavia, they merely looked perplexed until Twilight said, “Uh, Pinkie? You do realize that Sunny’s magic tricks were just prestidigitation, right?”
Not wanting this to get further out of control, Sunset muttered, “Let’s just forget about that right now, okay?”
“Okay!” Pinkie said with a hint of gratitude, happy to be off the hook.
“So, what should we watch today?” Rainbow asked. “I’m all for watching something awesome, like Independence Day, or something with lots of guns blazing!” She pantomimed guns with her fingers, shouting, “Bang bang bang, muthafucka!”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, Ms. Gangster Number One,” Octavia drawled. “May I remind you that we’re here for Sunny? She should be the one that chooses!”
“Well, Sunny, what do you feel like watching?” Twilight asked.
Sunset reached for the tablet on the table and looked at the list that Rarity had placed on there. “Well, we watched the Star Wars trilogy, then The Matrix—”
“Yeah, complete with Rainbow’s actin’ like she’s Neo,” Applejack teased, and her friend flipped her off in reply. The former farmgirl ignored that and continued. “But th’ sequels ain’t that great, so Ah s’ggest we skip ‘em.”
“Sure, I can go with that. What about Sta—” She was suddenly interrupted by the surprising opening of the front door; while she knew Spike had his own keys just in case, the fact that it was multiple footsteps sounding clearly that indicated something weird was about to happen.
“Good morning, Spike!” Twilight said, her voice chipper – if only because her little brother hadn’t started twanging her nerves like an electric guitar yet. But Octavia and Sunset recognized something in his eyes and looked at each other, knowing something was about to happen.
“Heya, sis – guys are here with me, because of something important,” he told her, his youthful seriousness etched on his face as he crossed his arms. Behind him, Pip, Rumble and Featherweight all mimicked his pose, the four of them looking like the junior-division of the A-Team. And with his team backing him up, a sly smile broke onto the face of the eight-year-old boy.
Thrusting an accusing finger out at his target, he bellowed, “Rarity…I challenge you to Super Smash Bros. Wii U!”
The room fell silent, briefly broken by a car driving down the street. Finally, a patch of snow fell off a branch on the tree by the front of the house, and that started things up again.
“Excuse me?” Rarity asked him, looking directly at her challenger, raising a single brow and looking straight at him.
The moment she set her eyes on him, however, all sense was lost to the youth. His mind went blank, and the speech he’d spent a whole hour working on had suddenly decided to take the next flight to the moon. He’d expected her to give up, or accept his challenge, but the moment she looked at him, it was like the world suddenly stopped existing, save for he and she. His heart began to accelerate, and he felt that weird tingly sensation again.
“Spike!” he then suddenly felt himself being shaken by Rumble. “Snap out of it! She’s psyching you out!”
“She’s…what?” Spike asked, confused, as he was being pulled from his reverie.
“Waifu?” Octavia asked Sunset, a grin coming onto her face.
“Waifu,” the flame-haired girl replied, one already on hers.
“Ladies, if you’ll excuse me,” Rarity said suddenly, waltzing off towards the direction of the bathroom. She strode past the four boys, three of which stared at her in anger, save for Spike, who stood there, slack-jawed, eyes glazed and clearly – to the older ones in the room – smitten.
“Spike!” Twilight said, somewhat shocked. “We need to—”
“But Twily,” Spike said, already prepared to defend himself, “she embarrassed me in front of my friends!”
“Yes, but from what I understand, you deserved it!”
“Uh, Twily?” Sunset suggested. “Let me handle this, okay?” When her foster sister looked at her curiously, she replied with, “I just have a feeling about this. Trust me, okay?”
“Of course, Sunny,” was the response.
“Thanks. C’mon, Spike – we’re going to go talk in my room. Have your friends wait in your room, okay?”
“Why?”
“Because the girls are still in their pajamas and…you know what? Nevermind. Just do it and meet me in my room in five minutes, got that?”
Twenty minutes later, she descended the stairs, headed back towards the kitchen. She’d thrown on a sweatshirt and yoga pants, though her hair was still a mess from the bedhead. Rarity, not surprisingly, was still in the shower, and all the other girls had thrown clothing as well, though all of them looked equally confused as to what was going on.
“Sunny, what is Spike up to, and do I need to ground him until next month?” Twilight asked as her foster sister entered the room.
Sunset shook her head, an irreverent smile coming to her face. “No, like every little kid that’s ever lived, he suffered a mortal wound at the hands of the fair maiden Rarity and now he seeks revenge – a trial of mortal combat if you will, a duel between to virtual opponents in an electronic field of battle.”
Rainbow blinked. “Someone want to translate that in English or Spanish for me? I don’t speak iTard hipster.”
Applejack bonked her friend on the head. “What Sunny’s sayin’, is that Spike thinks he’s been wronged by Rarity, an’ he wants a chance t’ get his licks in, amAhrite?”
“You could say that, AJ,” Sunset replied.
“Oh, poor guy,” Fluttershy said with some sympathy. “He must feel completely awful about having been embarrassed by Rarity in front of all of his friends. I can understand how he feels – the other day Angel got into another fight at his school because he had a few of his fellow students pick on him.”
“Flutters, I think there’s a bit of a difference between your brother standing up for himself against bullies and Spike not liking getting his comeuppance in front of his friends,” Octavia replied. “Your brother was probably in the right; I wasn’t there, so I don’t know. But Spike, from what Sunset said, got exactly what he deserved and I don’t feel an ounce of sympathy for his situation right now.”
“Regardless, he feels that Rarity wronged him and he’s burning for revenge, he said,” the flame-haired girl informed her friends. “He’s not going to be happy until he completely humiliates Rarity in front of Pip and the others.”
“Well, I guess I’ll just have to accept the challenge,” Rarity said as she wandered into the kitchen. Though she had a towel wrapped around her head to dry her hair, she wore a pearl-gray shirt with a stylized diamond pattern on it and Hello Kitty yoga pants as well.
“Enter the waifu,” Octavia said, a hint of a sniggering smile coming onto her face.
“Someday someone will just have to explain to me what that means,” Rarity stated. “But as to our current dilemma, if young Spike feels that I have wronged him, then I suppose I shall have to accommodate him, though I must admit I haven’t been playing much Super Smash Bros. as of late – homework comes first.”
“Awww, c’mon, Rarity!” Pinkie said. “If anyone can do it, you can! Yay yay go go Rarity go!” Pinkie started bouncing around the room as though she was practicing a new cheerleading routine for her school. “Rarity, Rarity, she’s our…um…. Okay, nevermind that one. I do have others, though!”
“Not necessary, Pinkie,” Twilight told her. “I’ll have a talk with him.”
“No, no, that’s quite all right, Twily dear,” Rarity insisted. “If he wishes his challenge, then a challenge he shall have!”
“Aw, c’mon!” Spike groaned at the top of his lungs. Of all the times for his Wii U to start malfunctioning, it had to be now? He repeatedly jabbed the power button, hoping that somehow that would solve all the issues. Behind him, were the three other boys and eight girls that had been assembled for this battle royale.
“Spike, don’t do that, you’ll just break it further,” Octavia told him. She, like the other girls, had already grown tired of this irritating detour in their plans for Sunset. Only Rarity, controller firmly in hand, looking more bemused than anything else, failed to register the same emotion.
“Arrgh…stupid game! Why, of all times, is this doing it now, you da—” He stopped, mid-word, knowing that if he continued, it would be all over for him; one of his relatives would probably ground him just for that. “—dang game,” he bowdlerized, hoping they wouldn’t catch the pause.
“Well, Ah guess we’re jest gonna hafta postpone th’ grand battle, huh?” Applejack said, glad that this wasn’t going to derail their plans for the weekend.
“Awwww,” a dejected Pinkie intoned. “I was hoping to see Rarity get into the epic battle of epicne—wait, I’ve got an idea!” She suddenly rushed upstairs, and then a second later, carrying what looked to be an hourglass-shaped piece of plastic. “I always carry my Xbox 360 in case of Xbox 360 emergencies!” With that, she went over to the TV, unplugged the Wii U and started to hook up her system.
“Pinkie, when did you bring tha—” Spike started to ask.
“It’s Pinkie,” eight girls said at once without hesitating.
“Here ya go!” Pinkie said to Spike, handing him a controller. It was custom painted a bright shade of blue, and had baby-blue and butter-yellow balloon-shaped appliqués festooned all over it. This matched the butter-yellow controller Pinkie had just passed to Rarity and both tied to the bright pink painted XBox 360.
“Uh, Pinks?” Rainbow pointed out. The XBox is a Microsoft gig – Super Smash Bros. is Nintendo.”
Pinkie giggled. “I know that, silly!”
“Well, unless you’ve got one hell of a mod under that case, I have no idea what you’re up to.”
“Wellllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll….” Pinkie answered, finger firmly on chin and stretching out that last syllable for all it was worth, “We know that Spike’s good enough to beat his friends at Super Smash Bros. and Rarity’s better, so it really wouldn’t be fair for any of us to see if they were good or not, because Spike’s probably practiced and I know Rarity had a heavy week at work, so….” She reached into her pocket, pulling out a small pink stick, then flicked a button on the top. The stick turned out to be a remote control for her XBox, which switched on immediately. Punching a few more responses into the remote control, she brought up XBox Live Arcade and selected the game she wanted.
"Skullgirls?" Spike asked. “Never played it.” However, from the title, he sounded both intrigued and dejected.
“Ooh! I’ve so wanted to try this!” Rarity cooed, her fingers flexing slightly and wrapping around the control in a rhythmic motion.
“Well, get going!” Pinkie shouted joyfully. “Ladies and gentlemen – or is that ladies and gentlemen-to-be-eventually? – we bring you the Finest Fighting Exxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxtravaganza! In the blue corner, weighing…oh, I dunno, maybe sixtyish? pounds or so, we give you…Spike!” At that, the boys started cheering and shouting.
“And over in the yellow corner, weighing about one hu—”
“Pinkie!” Rarity admonished. “It is not polite to discuss a lady’s weight in public!”
“Uh, whatever,” Pinkie continued. “Anyway…Rarity!” The announcer’s grin on still plastered on her face, she briefly borrowed Rarity’s controller, setting it to versus mode. “Okay, combatants, here’s the deal: three-on-three, best out of five takes the trophy, got it?”
“There’s a trophy?” Spike and Rarity asked at the same time, confused.
“Well, duh! I do have a lot of cake and cookies and pastries and éclairs and doughnuts and empanadas and all that other stuff that we still have to eat! Winner gets the big slice of the gateaux that I brought!”
“What’s a—”
“Chocolate cake,” Twilight responded.
“That works for me!” Spike said, his voice showing sudden determination. “I’m going to take the cake and prove I’m the best!” As Pinkie finished the setup, both combatants started selecting their characters. Spike, in particular, was not happy in the roster. “Where’s all the guy characters?”
“Well, Spike,” Rarity said, without removing her eyes from the screen, “there is a reason the game is called Skullgirls, after all.”
After a couple of minutes, the two team rosters were set. Spike had chosen Big Band, Beowulf, and Robo-Fortune; the first two because they were men and the last because she was a robot and robots were definitely cool. Rarity, on the other hand, spent a bit more time going through the other characters, finally deciding on a trio of Parasoul, chosen with the chiffon-pink haircolor and butter-yellow dress, just to tease Fluttershy; Valentine, for the ninja-like look; and Eliza, the last one chosen because Rarity thought there was something interesting about the design.
“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!” Pinkie sang along with the game’s built-in announcer, “IT’S SHOWTIME!”
Both Spike and Rarity let the fingers fly at that point, setting the two combatants against one another. Projectiles and fists flew, rocketing against one another, sending virtual opponents bouncing all over the Jazz Age-like sets. Orange-yellow healthbars began to shrink rapidly as combatants clashed and beat each other silly in a fugue of war.
The room fell silent, the eyes of the other ten bystanders caught by the enchantment of a young woman and a boy throwing down against one another, the battle of sexes come about in a new and digital manner. Blue and green eyes locked onto the screen, refusing to yield as the battle raged back and forth, both combatants learning the moves and continuing the fight while on the fly – since Pinkie explained the gameplay was like Marvel vs. Capcom 2, learning the battle of rhythm had been fairly fast – and neither giving ground.
Round one was a close win by Rarity.
Round two Spike won nearly perfectly.
Rarity retaliated in round three with a perfect.
And the two went back and forth, like a pair in a mad Wimbledon struggle. A variety of eyecolors were glued to the screen as the action continued. Five rounds became seven became nine became eleven became thirteen. The battle went on and on for hours on end, with the two players showing no signs of stopping.
Finally, five hours later, a well-placed dropkick from what Rarity had mentally referred to as “Fluttersoul” slammed Big Band to the ground, drawing the narrow win. As Spike was about to call for another round, his controller started to red-ring and then sputter out as the batteries in the wireless unit finally gave their last.
A collective sigh uttered from the group. Rarity stood, worn, hungry and parched, but victorious. Gently setting down the sweat-glistened controller, she nursed a reddened thumb that looked like it was going to be displaying a blister soon. “It is done,” she said, oddly pleased despite the stinging sensation she felt in the wounded digit.
“Wait! I‘ll get more batteries!” Spike said, frantic. He couldn’t lose. Not like this. Not to her.
How can I prove myself if I lose?
“Spike,” Twilight said, placing a hand on her brother’s shoulder, “I think you’re done. You’ve done nothing but play games for the past few hours, and took up a lot of time you should be spending with your friends. Furthermore, this weekend was for me, Tavi and the girls to show Sunny some movies she hasn’t seen before and now we’re going to have to skip a few.”
“But Twily, I—”
She shook her head. “Spike, you and your friends can head up to your room to game there for the rest of the day. But the rest of us should get back to our plans for the weekend, okay?”
Spike practically felt something in his heart snap. He’d lost face, not only in front of his friends, but in front of Rarity…who continued to make him feel very weird as she turned away from him, while Fluttershy started to bandage her friend’s finger, saying something that seemed so fuzzed out that the young boy couldn’t quite comprehend. He couldn’t comprehend much of anything anymore.
Not when his heart was shattering.
Spike sat in his darkened room. A glance at the clock some time ago told him that it was past eight o’clock, but he didn’t care. His friends departed shortly after the war, and why not? After all, he was a loser.
Maybe I can hide in here forever, he thought. Maybe if I stay here, Mom and Dad will forget about me so they won’t have to worry about me going to school and I can just stay in here for the rest of my life.
Unfortunately, him being forgotten about wasn’t likely to happen, as there was a sudden knock on his door, followed by Sunset’s voice. “Hey, Spike? I brought you some dinner.”
“Go away. I don’t want any,” he said, hoping she’d leave. He was actually starving, and he’d eaten his emergency stash of candy he had in the room already. But he couldn’t face anyone right now…and perhaps never again.
Not asking again, Sunset opened the door, carrying a plate with a couple pieces of pizza and a can of Coke. “Hey, we tried calling you for dinner, but you weren’t answering. Twily wanted to talk to you about toda—”
“No!” he pled.
“—but I thought that I’d be a better person to talk to you,” the flame-haired girl offered, setting the food and drink on his desk. As he did, she turned away from him and she tsked in response. “Spike, talk to me, ‘kay?”
“I really don’t want to,” he said in response, though his tone wasn’t one of brattiness or anger – it was just someone wanting to be left alone.
“Hey, don’t do that to me,” she told him, reaching over gently to muss his hair. “You’re not in trouble or anything, okay?”
“Promise?”
“Squirt, I’m older than Tavi or Twily, so I get a few things they don’t quite grasp,” she told him. Of course, if you actually knew how old I really am, you’d probably freak. “But no, I’m not going to tell anyone.” She reached over and grabbed his food and drink and said, “So why don’t you munchasize while you tell me what’s going on, okay?”
He looked at her as though he was going to skip dinner…until his stomach growled. She laughed, saying, “Okay, Spike, I think we’re done with the pretending not to be hungry. Just eat something, please?” She sat patiently while he practically scarfed down the first slice, grateful for the dish.
Finally, he turned to her and said, “Look…Rarity beat me, okay? And I want to beat her back, to prove that I still got my gaming skills!”
“Spike, you game all the time – she doesn’t. And you held her to a near-standstill for hours on a game neither of you have played before,” she told him while he ate the rest of his dinner. “I don’t know about you, but to me that says awesome game skills, so I’m not sure where you’re going with that.” A soft smile then came onto her face as she added, “Unless there’s something else….”
“Yeah,” he admitted. “Not sure how to explain it, though. It’s just that when I look at her, I feel kinda…funny.”
“Funny?”
“Yeah,” he said, a soft smile on his face. “I know it sounds weird, but it kinda reminds me when Mom and Dad are kissing – blech.”
She reached over and mussed with his hair, laughing at the fact that he didn’t realize what was changing in his life. “Spike, don’t ever change, okay? But anyways, I think you owe everyone an apology.”
“Why?”
“Well, all of them are going to say you owe me an apology for ruining my weekend, but I don’t care about that. But I think you do owe the others an apology for interrupting their plans. After all, I’m guessing your friends helped you plan for this stunt…but the girls had made their plans for our weekend for quite some time now and it’s not fair to them.”
He shook his head in agreement. “Maybe…maybe you’re right.”
“Trust me, I am.” As realization started to sink in, she then added, “And I think you owe your friends an apology as well. They helped you with all this and you let them down. Not because you didn’t win, but because you didn’t accept losing gracefully. Not everyone gets to win all the time. Some people lose, Spike and they lose badly. Trust me on this; I’m an expert at losing really bad.”
“But my friends will hate me, and Rarity—”
“Pip and the others won’t hate you, I guarantee. And if you apologize to Rarity, I know she’ll think better of you for it.”
“You really think so?”
“I know so, Spike.”
He shuffled his feet, but continued to look at the girls as he spoke. “…and I’m sorry for acting like a brat. I hope you can all forgive me.”
“Spike, I’m very proud of you,” Twilight said, beaming. “It takes a lot for someone to admit when they’re wrong, and I’m glad you did that.”
Octavia grinned approval as well. “You did good, squirt,” she told him. Suddenly, the other girls chimed in with their own words of agreement as well.
Sunset placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder as she stood behind him. “See? Toldja everything would work out.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” But then he went up to Rarity and said, “Uh, Rarity? I owe you an apology in pecific—”
“Specific,” Twilight corrected.
“—yeah, that. Anyway, I owe you that because I said you couldn’t play as good as a guy, and that’s not true. I was wrong, and I’m sorry.”
Rarity smiled softly. “Well, that’s very mature of you, young sir. I accept your apology.”
“Well, if that’s that, then I guess I should go to bed,” he said, yawning. “I have to go apologize to my friends tomorrow, if that’s okay, Twily.”
“Sure,” Twilight said. “But I already invited them over tomorrow to watch more movies with us, so you can talk to them when they get here, okay?”
“Really?” Spike asked. When Twilight nodded, his eyes lit up in relief. “That’s great, Twily! Thanks!”
“Don’t thank me,” she told him. “Thank Rarity – it was her idea.”
“Think nothing of it, Spike,” Rarity answered before he could say anything else. “If anything…think of it as my apology to you for embarrassing you in front of your friends. I may be good at games, but I’m older and I should have been the more mature one in this fracas. So I completely apologize for my behavior and hope you can forgive me.”
“Well, okay….”
“Thank you, Spike.” Suddenly, she stood up, walked over to him and, bending down, kissed him on the forehead. “You’ll be a gentleman amongst gentlemen when you reach the proper age, I can tell.”
Twilight, Sunset and Octavia at that point expected him to complain about cooties, try to wipe off his forehead, something/anything. Instead, he sighed, and with a glazed look on his face, practically waltzed upstairs towards his bedroom.
Where she stood, Applejack chuckled. “Looks like y’ got yerself a beau, Rares,” she teased.
Rarity shrugged elegantly. “C'est pas, c'est pas; c'est pas un rêve,” she replied simply.
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Filly...Funtasia?!
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the joys of alternate realities....
I think this is my fav chapter so far, I love how absurd Pinkie is (as always) and I love how Fluttershy and Rainbow are into anime, that's so believable.
The subject of Sunset being an orphan keeps getting brought up, I wonder if it'll lead to anything.
................spike is cute, spike is best everything.......ever
Winning at a fighting game? How about no...
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4531840 ...Does that mean the MLP franchise exists too? Even if its just G1?
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How so?
4534224 Well since Filly Funtasia exists because of the IRL popularity of MLP:FIM, I was wondering if it meant the MLP franchise exists on EQG!Earth or not.
Just spotted this, but it's "Amalthea," not "Almathea."
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Intentional; it's a verbal slip-up.
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While the show obviously is meant to try and compete against MLP:FIM, the actual toyline (real name; "Filly Unicorn", available in blindbags at your local retailer where blindbags are sold) dates back to 2006 and from what I can find is slightly bigger than it would seem (amusingly, it has significantly better "castle" themed playsets compared to the generic ones Hasbro puts out every year or so), but only because it's concentrated in a non-US market over in Europe as the company who makes them is German.
That said, some official products do bear more than a passing resemblance to certain ponies...
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Gamer Rarity...
...
AWESOME!!
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Sorry, that's reserved for only one specific individual (skip to 1:27, embedding to start at that time isn't working)
Seriously, I think I have lost count over the many times this thing has made me laugh.
what does that last line rarity says translate into in english please?
Gonna have to call this one out. Link has 2 moves where he uses his feet: his back air (counts as two kicks 'cause it hits in succession), and his neutral air. Granted, his neutral air is (arguably) stronger than his back air, I doubt it would be reliable in a 3-on-1 match.
5071484 Literally translated, it's "It's not, it's not; this is not a dream.", but the basic meaning is that Rarity doesn't believe Spike likes her because she doesn't think that would happen outside of a dream.
Having just educated myself on some pop culture, it dawns on me that this whole chapter was Spike trying to get Rarity to let him smash.
Spike she is going to wreck your ass.