Hùndùn

by LoZLttP13

I-XII. Sweetie Belle

"Go on, let's try again."

"But... I can't do it!"

"You can. I believe in you."

"It's just too hard!"

"Please try. Now, what's the atomic number of cobalt?"

"Um... uh, twenty... three?"

"Close. It's twenty-seven."

"Ugh! I'll never get this!"

"Coral...."

"Uh... E-Emerald...?"

"If you can memorize this, I'll give you a kiss."

"Sweetie Belle!"

Eyes widening with panic, Sweetie hurriedly closed her volume of Sea Breeze and shoved it under her pillow. She heard her sister's voice again, closer this time, "Sweetie! Are you in your room?"

"Y-yeah!" Sweetie called back, sweating with anxiety.

Rarity opened the door to Sweetie's room, finding her little sister casually sitting on her bed. "Ah, there you are," Rarity said, smiling softly. "Sweetie Belle, do you think you could get some cabbages at the market?"

Sweetie Belle nodded. "S-sure! No problem, Sis!" she replied, still smiling broadly.

Rarity nodded. "Thank you. I have to go with Pinkie to a wedding rehearsal. The money's on the table. I'll be back soon!"

"Alright! See you later, Rarity!" Sweetie replied.

With another kind smile, Rarity exited the room. Sweetie sighed, then pulled her manga volume back out from under her pillow.

Sea Breeze was a shoujo manga. On the cover of this particular volume was a handsome teen Elf boy in an unbuttoned shirt that showed off his muscular physique who was affectionately caressing the cheek of a younger blushing Elf girl who was looking up into his eyes in enraptured infatuation. Sea Breeze was one of Sweetie's favorite series of her favorite genre: apprentice/mentor romance.

It was a popular fantasy among Elvish girls to have a handsome, brilliant male mentor who would not only sweep them off of their feet in a thrilling, secret romance, but would also push them to great heights academically. Naturally, this meant that apprentice/mentor romances were by far the most popular genre of fiction among preteen Elf girls.

For no one was this fantasy more intense than Sweetie Belle, who greatly struggled with her education, her magical ability, and talking to boys. She secretly nursed a powerful jealousy towards her older sister, as Rarity had never received anything lower than ninety percent on any of her assignments and never had any trouble getting any boy she wanted. Hell, even Spike had an obvious crush on Rarity.

Spike. Sweetie smiled and a faint blush grew in her cheeks. Ever since Spike came to Avalon with Twilight at the beginning of the summer, Sweetie had slowly developed an infatuation with him, fed by her fascination of how perfectly he fit how she'd always imagined her mentor and sweetheart would be.

Was Spike handsome and brilliant? Oh, yes. But though he was perhaps as intelligent as Twilight was, he was still quite easygoing and laid-back. And even though he was small, it didn't make him any less good-looking; his large eyes, cute face, and warm smile caused Sweetie to speculate at what a gorgeous bishonen heartbreaker he'd be when he was fully grown. Even though he looked like he was Sweetie's age, Sweetie noticed that even Rarity and her friends would occasionally admire him.

Sweetie would have liked nothing more than to have Spike as her mentor and lover once she had completed her primary education, but she knew it would almost certainly never happen; it was very, very difficult to be allowed a mentor of the opposite gender, and even if you did get one you weren't allowed to have any kind of romantic relationship with them. Sweetie quickly understood why Twilight had been allowed to take Spike on as her apprentice; Twilight was stringently rule-abiding, and would likely refuse a romantic relationship to Spike even if he begged for it. Sweetie didn't imagine that Spike would do the same if the positions were reversed, however; she noticed that Spike seemed to have more than platonic feelings towards his mentor.

Of course, Sweetie could have just tried talking to Spike, but the idea made her so anxious and nervous that she never even entertained it. Sweetie had always had trouble talking to cute boys; that was why her only best friends were other girls. Sweetie desperately wished that she wasn't so shy, or that she was as pretty as her sister so that Spike would approach her, but she had decided that such courage and beauty were assets that were simply unavailable to her. Therefore, she concluded, her only chance at a romance with Spike was to become his apprentice; surely, if they lived together, Sweetie would gradually gain the comfortability and courage necessary to woo him, and then they could share a secret courtship together.

The idea was unutterably appealing to Sweetie Belle, and so she would often imagine Spike and herself in place of the heroes and heroines of her manga. Sweetie opened her volume of Sea Breeze back to the page she'd been on when Rarity interrupted her, then read through the rest of the chapter, all the while imagining Spike touching and holding her the same way Emerald caressed and held Coral.

Once Sweetie had finished the chapter, she sighed sadly. She climbed off of her bed, pulled a cardboard box out from under it, then hid the volume inside, laying it alongside the rest of her manga collection. Scootaloo had taught her how to hide books and magazines from her caregivers, though Sweetie often wondered what Scootaloo was hiding under her own bed; after all, Scootaloo didn't care what anyone thought, so she had no reason to hide a "geeky" manga collection from anyone.

Sliding her guilty pleasures back under her bed, Sweetie stood back up and walked out of her room. After going down the hall, down the stairs, and into Rarity's boutique, Sweetie picked up a pouch of silver pieces from the table, exited the shop, and locked the door behind her with the house key Rarity had given her.

Sweetie went to the market, where she bought several cabbages. Once she had paid the shopkeeper some silver and received some copper pieces in change, she remembered that it was Friday; that meant that her magazine had come today.

Grinning, Sweetie walked to the post office. When she entered, she found Rainbow sorting letters with Ditzy at one of the counters. "Hi, Rainbow!" Sweetie called.

Rainbow looked up at Sweetie, then smiled at her. "Hey, Sweetie! What's up?" she said.

"I think I got a package in the mail," Sweetie replied.

"Alright, Sweetie. What's your PO box number?"

"Three hundred fourteen."

Rainbow grinned. "Comin' right up!" she said, moving to the PO box room in the back. She soon reemerged with a large, thick package, which she handed to Sweetie.

"Thanks!" Sweetie said, then she waved and ran back out. She ran back home, where she excitedly opened the package and pulled its contents out.

The first and largest object Sweetie pulled from the parcel was a thick issue of a weekly shoujo manga anthology magazine called Schoolgirl. Along with the magazine were several small, plastic figurines of some of the characters from the magazine's more popular publications. Squealing delightedly, Sweetie picked up an Orange Maton figurine she found among them; Orange was one of her favorite characters from Clockmoon, a Steam magical girl manga that was one of the magazine's more popular series. Orange was a cyborg antiheroine who had quickly become a fan favorite among readers for being incredibly likable, fascinating, and romantic, despite having committed many terrible crimes.

After Sweetie had admired her new figurines for a while and read the latest chapters of her favorite series, she sadly placed them back in the parcel and slid them under her bed, along with her other boxes of manga and related merchandise.

Looking under her bed at her boxes, Sweetie decided that she'd have to take some more of them to her rental storage unit soon. She then stood up, exited into the hall, and looked up at the clock. Fourteen to one. She'd have to get going to Sweet Apple Acres soon if she was going to meet the other Crusaders and Spike.

Though Sweetie began to flush again at the thought of seeing Spike, she softly said to herself, "Your friends will be there, too. Your friends will be there, too...." before taking a deep breath and exiting the boutique.

Sweetie's ten-minute walk to Sweet Apple Acres felt like ten hours. She spent the entire trip worrying about how she'd behave around Spike; after all, the stupider she looked, the even more astronomically small chance she would have of becoming his apprentice. After what seemed to be an eternity, she reached the gates to the farm. Steeling her resolve, Sweetie took another breath, unlatched the gate, then walked towards the barn.

Sweetie opened the barn's front door, letting a bast of air smelling of straw and animal manure escape. She saw the other Crusaders standing next to Spike, who was holding a tin bucket of nails and screws while leaning against their high stack of oak lumber.

"Hey, Sweetie!" Scootaloo shouted at her.

Seizing the opportunity to not meet Spike's eyes, Sweetie called back, "Hey, Scootaloo!"

"We're about ready to begin," Spike said. He produced his sketch of the planned clubhouse from his pocket and held it out to Sweetie. "Here, can you hold this?" he asked.

Swallowing, Sweetie nodded and walked forward. As she took the parchment from him, she felt their hands briefly brush together, sending a jolt of panic through her body.

Spike turned to the other Crusaders and said, "We're going to need two of these to start," while patting a stack of some of the longer boards. "Can you two carry them there?"

"Aye-aye, Captain!" Apple Bloom replied, saluting him.

Apple Bloom giggled, and Spike grinned. "Great! Alright, let's bring all this there, then."

Spike picked up the tin bucket while the Crusaders picked up two of the long oak planks, then they went into the orchard. Once they reached the designated tree, Spike reached into the bucket and pulled out a brown glass bottle and a cheap brush. "Alright," he muttered, removing the lid of the bottle. "I'm gonna need two of you girls to help me."

"Is that glue?" Scootaloo asked.

"Close, but not quite," Spike replied. "It's resin. It'll hold better than glue. We need to hold these boards in position while I nail them in place. So, which of you are gonna help me?"

"I will," Scootaloo immediately replied.

"Me too," Apple Bloom said.

Spike grinned. "Alright," he said, pouring a small amount of resin onto the board. After brushing the small glob evenly across a few centimeters of the board's face, he said, "Alright, now you two hold the ends...."

Spike, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom lifted the board up, then Spike placed it against the trunk. The girls continued holding the board as Spike pulled a level from his pocket, placed it on top of the board, then adjusted the board until he was satisfied that it was positioned perfectly.

"Alright, now hold absolutely still for a few seconds...." Spike muttered, and Scootaloo and Apple Bloom obeyed him. After about half a minute, Spike said, "Alright, you can let go now."

The girls released the board, and found that it remained in position against the trunk of the tree. "Alright," Spike said, reaching back down into the bucket. "Now to nail it in place," he said, pulling out a hammer and three nails.

With a few good, solid whacks, Spike quickly drove all three nails into the wood. He then conjured up a bit of carbon and marked three more points on the board, then said to Sweetie, "Do you know how to drive screws in?"

"I... I think so," Sweetie replied quietly.

Spike blinked. "You sure?" he inquired.

"I... um, I might need to refresh my memory...." Sweetie muttered.

Spike nodded. "Alright, watch me," he said, reaching back into the bucket. He produced a screw and a steel rachet from it, then showed Sweetie how to position the screw, place the ratchet over its head, and screw it into the wood. "There, you got it?" he said upon completing the task.

Sweetie nodded. "Yes."

"Alright, show me," Spike said, holding the ratchet and another screw out to her.

After taking them, Sweetie followed Spike's example in positioning and twisting another screw into the board. Satisfied, Spike said, "Alright, can you finish up on the last one while we nail up the other board?"

Sweetie nodded. "Yes, Spike."

Spike grinned. "Great!" he said, then he knelt down to paint some resin on the other board.

Sweetie had just finished ratcheting the last screw into the tree when Spike finished nailing up the second board. After marking the designated points for the screws to enter it, he said, "Alright, screw this one to the tree while we get more boards, alright, Sweetie?"

Sweetie nodded, picked up the bucket, and walked around to the other board's side.

Sweetie had finished putting three screws into the second board by the time the other girls and Spike returned with four more boards (Spike was carrying two over his shoulder). Once they set the boards down, Spike said, "Apple Bloom, can you get a ladder for me, please?"

"Right away, Spike!" Apple Bloom said, running off. While she was retrieving a ladder, Spike resined two more boards and positioned them against the tree trunk on top the first two boards, so they were crossed over them. He then nailed them in place, marked them, and allowed Sweetie to screw them to the trunk. Once Apple Bloom returned with the ladder, Spike climbed up onto the four positioned boards and sat at them as he continued building the treehouse's foundation.

Spike asked Sweetie to levitate more screws and nails up to him, and he asked the other Crusaders to continue bringing them boards from the barn.

Once Sweetie's friends had left, Spike called down to her, "So, you and Rarity are Athenian, right?"

Sweetie nodded, but didn't look up at him as she passed up some more nails to him. "Yeah."

"Why did you two come to Avalon?" Spike asked.

"Rarity came to get a shop. I came to live with her," Sweetie replied.

"How did that happen?"

"Well, when my sister chose her mentor, she knew that her Special Talent was creating beautiful things. She wanted to be a dressmaker, so she looked for a mentor who could teach her how to be a seamstress. While she was at her apprenticeship gathering, she met a brilliant young fashion designer named Grand Finale. They clicked right away, and Rarity chose him to be her mentor."

"Wait- Grand Finale was a guy?" Spike asked, surprised.

"Yeah," Sweetie answered.

"How was Rarity allowed to become his apprentice?"

"He's gay."

Spike blinked. "Oh. Well... alright. Go on."

Sweetie continued, "So anyway, Rarity became Finale's apprentice. They lived together in Athens until Rarity graduated, then Rarity went looking for a cheap building to start a boutique in. Finale pointed her in the direction of Avalon, since it's an inexpensive and trendy town, so she saved up until she had enough to come here and open her boutique."

"Alright. So how did you come here?" Spike asked.

Sweetie looked away ashamedly. "I'm studying remedially," she muttered.

"Why?" Spike said.

Sweetie sighed. "Well... I've always been pretty shy, so I didn't have many friends growing up. I was alone most of the time, so I spent most of my time reading. As I got older, I wasn't able to do Magic as well as the other kids. They started to pick on me, and call me stupid. I only got more and more alone- especially when all the other kids got their Marks, but I never got mine."

Sweetie swallowed. "It got pretty unbearable. But then one day, I read a manga volume from one of my classrooms- and then I was hooked! I fell right in love with them, and I started to buy and collect them, but when the other kids saw me reading them all the time they started calling me a 'freak,' 'otaku,' 'loser,' things like that.

"I had a really hard time. I never got my Mark, I failed all my classes, and I didn't have any friends. Eventually, my parents told me that the government said that I had to take a remedial apprenticeship. I wouldn't, even though they told me over and over again that I had to.

"When Rarity graduated from her apprenticeship and she heard that I needed a remedial mentor, she offered to do it. My parents convinced me to do it by saying that since Rarity is my sister I wouldn't need to worry about living with some stranger or anything. So I moved to Avalon to live with Rarity."

Spike gazed at Sweetie for a few moments. "Are you doing better now?" he asked.

Sweetie shook her head. "Not really. I mean... I'm passing my classes now, but my grades are still awful. And I still don't have my Mark, and other kids still pick on me."

After a few moments of silence, Spike said, "I'm sorry, Sweetie."

"It's alright," Sweetie mumbled. Spike wasn't fooled.

"Well... aren't the other Crusaders your friends?" Spike asked.

For the first time during their conversation, Sweetie smiled. "Well... yeah," she replied.

"And I'm willing to be your friend," Spike added.

Sweetie looked surprisedly up at Spike. She saw by his kindly smiling eyes that his words were genuine. "You... will?" she said softly.

"Of course," Spike replied. "It's stupid that kids make fun of you for reading manga. I read manga, too."

"Yeah, but... you're a boy," Sweetie said.

"So? Just because you're a girl that means you shouldn't?"

"Girls aren't supposed to read manga."

"Says who?"

Sweetie made as if to reply, but said nothing; she slowly realized that nobody but other kids had forbidden her from her favorite hobby.

"See?" Spike said, grinning. "It's just a stupid, arbitrary rule that other kids made up."

"Well... why did they make it up?"

"Because girls scare the boys."

Sweetie gave a stunned look to Spike. "They're... scared of us?"

"Yeah," Spike said. "Boys are scared to talk to girls, and so they won't let girls join them in their hobbies. Honestly, girls reading manga or playing Steam is really threatening to them."

Sweetie gazed astonishedly at Spike. "And you aren't scared?"

"It's kind of hard to be when your best friends have been girls."

"What do you mean?"

"My best friend was my older sister, Sunset Shimmer. We grew up in the Olympus Orphanage together, and she was gorgeous and brilliant and talented, so lots of families wanted to adopt her. But she refused, because she wanted to stay with me. And my mentor is Twilight, who is also gorgeous, brilliant, and talented." Here he grinned. "It's kind of hard to be scared of girls when you live with one as hot as Twilight."

Sweetie giggled, blushing slightly.

"And anyway," Spike continued, "nothing's more attractive to girls than being nice to them. If you're a gentleman and treat them like human beings, you're already way ahead of the curve. All the guys who think that macho, emotionless bad boys are the sexiest dudes around are idiots; nothing will have girls falling at your feet like being sweet, sensitive, and kind."

Sweetie narrowed her eyes and smirked. "Do you speak from experience?"

Spike shrugged and smiled coyly.

Sweetie laughed again. After a few moments of silence, she then asked, "So... guys picked on me because they... liked me?"

"Yeah," Spike replied. "And that scared them, so they didn't want to talk to you. So when you started reading manga, that was unacceptable to them, because that means you have a common interest with them, which means they don't have an excuse to not talk to you anymore. You're only allowed to like girly things, because that way they don't have to man up and face their fears."

Sweetie grinned. Never before had she imagined that boys had been so stupid to her because they were just as scared of her as she was of them. However, a thought caused her to ask another question: "But... why did the girls pick on me, too?"

"For the same reason," Spike replied. "You're threatening to make it so that they'll have to talk to boys, too. So both are scared of each other. We're all more alike in that way than they think."

Sweetie was beaming. Some of her anxiety had been lifted; she now knew that she wasn't alone in her fear; that boys felt the same way towards her as she did towards them. And knowing that Spike was willing to be her friend, and talk to her, gave her a confidence that she didn't know she had the potential to have before.

Spike nailed another board in place as the other Crusaders returned with more boards. "Hey, Sweetie," Spike said as Scootaloo and Apple Bloom started back toward the barn to get more boards, "can you pass one of those planks up to me?"

"Sure, Spike!" Sweetie replied, picking up one of the boards and (with some strained grunting) passing it up to him.

As Spike was pounding this board in place, Sweetie said, "Uh... have you read Clockmoon, Spike?"

Spike smiled surprisedly and nodded. "Yeah! It's one of my favorite series!"

Sweetie gasped. "Really?! It's one of mine, too!"

"It's published in Schoolgirl, isn't it? Do you have a subscription to it?"

"Yeah!"

"Could I borrow them so I can read the latest chapters sometime?"

"Of course! You can read them whenever you like, Spike!"

"You know who I like? Orange Maton. I wish that more girls would get harems in manga...."

"I know, right? I mean, it's not like guys are the only ones who can have lots of girls that want him. Just look at Rarity!"

"Yeah," Spike agreed, laughing. "Orange is so cool, too! The way she can turn even the most hopeless situations around to her advantage, and how you never know whose side she's gonna be on..."

"But you know that she'll always, always be there for her friends, no matter what!"

And so Spike and Sweetie continued enthusiastically discussing their favorite manga series, as well as trading recommendations for ones they hadn't yet read. Sweetie had never been so ecstatic before; she'd never had someone to talk to about these things who shared her fascination with them.

Spike and Sweetie conversed together until the sun was beginning to set, by which point Spike had completed the treehouse's foundation, floor, and half of its wall. Spike then wiped some sweat from his forehead and hopped to the ground, expertly and safely landing.

Spike stretched and said, "I haven't gotten that much of a workout in a long time." He then dropped his hammer in his tin bucket, tossed the resin and brush back in as well, then said to Sweetie, "Let's go back to the barn," as he picked the tin bucket up.

Sweetie wordlessly walked beside Spike through the orchard until they encountered Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, who were carrying two more boards in the direction of the treehouse. They were sweating and panting as hard as Spike was.

"We're done for the day," Spike said, smiling at them. "Let's all head home."

"Alright!" Scootaloo replied, then she and Apple Bloom carried the boards back into the barn.

When all the Crusaders had gathered back together with Spike, Spike said, "Thanks for your help, girls. I'm gonna go hit the sack now. Have a good night, everyone!"

The Crusaders all cried back, "Good night, Spike!" then laughed as they turned and began walking toward their own homes.

Sweetie was grinning her entire trip back to the Carousel Boutique. Not only did Spike talk to her, but he had also offered to become her friend. A faint blush grew on Sweetie's cheeks as she took a deep, satisfied breath.

Upon opening the boutique's front door, Rarity called, "Welcome home, Sweetie Belle!"

"Hi, Rarity," Sweetie said.

"How did it go?"

"It was great. Spike finished the foundation and half of the wall."

"You were helping him though, weren't you?"

Sweetie giggled. "Oh, yeah. I passed nails and screws to him while the other Crusaders brought us new boards."

Rarity smiled. "I'm glad it went well. Come; it's time for dinner."

"What is it?" Sweetie asked, walking into the kitchen, where Rarity was standing at a boiling pot.

"Spaghetti and garlic bread," Rarity replied.

Sweetie grinned. "Great!"

As Sweetie waited for dinner to be completed and then sat with Rarity to eat it, she was perpetually softly smiling. Spike was her friend now. Even if he didn't become her mentor, she still had someone to talk about manga with now. She also had three years until they both graduated. She had plenty of time to win his heart by then.

Comments

[ElCazadorDeHistorias]

Awww, adorable Sweetie is deepening her relationship with Spike! Cute.

[He23t]

The Fluffyness is real!

[LoZLttP13]

7532459 The world of MLP is set in an alternate universe to MLP:FiM. The universe of MLP obeys our own laws of physics. That means that the sun doesn't actually rise; instead, the earth spins and orbits around it, making the sun seem to rise. Nightmare couldn't stop it from being day somewhere unless she destroyed the sun, which is not within her power. Besides, even if she could, she wouldn't want to; she wants to rule the world, not freeze it.

[ShadowLDrago]

All the guys who think that macho, emotionless bad boys are the sexiest dudes around are idiots; nothing will have girls falling at your feet like being sweet, sensitive, and kind."

Romance is not my forte, but I'm inclined to agree since actual empathy is a trait that is key to a relationship.