Chapter 18
The next day found Twilight Sparkle arriving late for school. Well not actually late, that would be unthinkable for the genius girl, but she arrived a mere fifteen minutes before the bell was supposed to ring. While she usually tried to avoid spending time in the crowded morning hall, today she was forced to run the gamut of teenage bodies to get to her private sanctuary all while lugging around an extra bag that not only weighed her down but that she had to make sure didn’t get too jostled and bumped on the journey. Entering her lab, the teen scientist closed the door and carefully set her bags down on the cot, and freed their two occupants, before beginning a frantic routine of activating all of her room’s machinery.
While Sunset flopped out as had become her usual method of egress, Spike hopped out of Twilight’s bag reluctantly.
“I have to stay here all day with her?” he whined. “Why can’t I just come to classes with you?”
“You know the rules, Spike. I’m lucky I can get away with having you here at all considering Principal Cinch’s allergies. I don’t want to think what she’d do if she found out you’d been wandering the halls.”
“But why did you have to bring her along. Couldn’t you have just left her at home?” Spike said, shooting the fiery pony a dirty look.
“Spike, Sunset is going to be going over my notes and planning our next move for collecting the energy…”
“Magic,” interrupted the unicorn.
“Fine,” the scientist said though the word leaving a bad taste in her mouth, “magic from the other sources, and I couldn’t risk mom noticing her if she went in the garage. Besides, if she’s here we can collaborate during lunch and study periods.”
“But-“
“No ‘buts’ mister,” you could have stayed home if you wanted,” the teen chided.
“And leave you alone with her? Yeah right,” the dog scoffed. The mare looked like she wanted to retort but held her tongue. Given their initial encounters she understood the pup’s dislike towards her, but it hurt that he hadn’t forgiven her as Twilight had, and the fact that it was the voice of one of her only friends condemning her, made it hurt all the more.”
“Please, Spike, try to get along. For me?”
“Fine,” the puppy huffed.
“Good. Now I need to get going. Sunset, the computer is set up the same as the one at home so you should have no problem finding the files we were working on. I’ll see you both later with lunch.” With a final wave, she closed and locked the door before hurrying off to her first class.
Sunset took this opportunity to fully take in the janitor’s closet turned laboratory. She hadn’t had the chance to check out the room for her first time in it. She had been too preoccupied with escape and then finding answers to appreciate the aesthetics. All things considered, it was a nice setup, and the fact that she had private access made it a nice refuge from the world. It reminded Sunset of her own set up in Princess Twilight’s castle. A bit of worry began to eat at the pony’s stomach, making the rushed breakfast Twilight had managed to grab her sit even worse than it had during the duffle bag ride through the hall.
Hopping up on her rear legs, Sunset tried to examine the seismograph Twilight had set up on one desk. Checking that it hadn’t registered since her arrival, the unicorn began to absently open the desk drawers. This garnered a low growl from the puppy behind her.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“Checking what we have to work with,” the pony said dropping back to all four. Sunset sighed, “Look, Spike, I can understand why you were mad at me and I really am sorry for how I treated you both. But, I apologized to both of you, and Twilight’s accepted it. Why won’t you?”
“Because someone has to look out for Twilight!” Spike yelled causing the unicorn to stare. She had never seen this side out of the dragon Spike, so seeing the ferocity appear on the countenance of the puppy was surprising. Spike took a breath before continuing in a calmer tone though still holding a note of anger though maybe not entirely directed at her. “Twilight has a big heart and right now she’s feeling guilty for bringing you here, but you...you’re just like everyone else.”
“What do you mean 'everyone else'?” asked the pony.
“All of the other girls who have said they wanted to be Twilight’s friend. They got her hopes up only to be crushed when she found out they just wanted her to help with projects, or copy her homework, or worse it was just a way to lead her into some mean prank.”
The unicorn stared wide-mouthed at the revelation of how the human counterpart to the Princess of Friendship was treated. Princess Twilight had said she had been a recluse at a young age and during her time at CSGU but nothing like this abuse. “Maybe you can get away with being a nerdy shut-in if you’re the personal student of the Sun Princess,” Sunset mused.
“Spike, I’m not like-” she began but was quickly cut-off.
“Aren’t you? You show up yell at her and get her to spend all this time on a project for you and then you’ll leave. How is that different exactly? Because you had a sleepover?”
“What am I supposed to do? I can’t stay here. I don’t belong here,” Sunset growled before sighing and then added quietly, “I can’t be her invisible friend forever. Someone will catch on not to mention what the failing magic might do to me.”
Spike flopped down on the bed with a huff. “Yeah,” he conceded, “but what do you think it will do to her? She’s the best person ever and I don’t know why no one else seems to see that. I’m a dog and I could figure that out even before I could talk. I just don’t want to see her sad when she’s left alone again.”
“She won’t be alone. She’ll still have you,” Sunset said with a half-smile.
“Yeah, but I’m just a dog,” Spike began.
“And I’m just a pony. So what?” the unicorn interrupted. “Spike, it doesn’t matter if you’re a dog, a person, or a magical unicorn. You could be a fire-breathing dragon. In the end, the important thing is that you’re there for Twilight. You listen to her, help around the lab, and keep her safe. You’re already her number one assistant. Plus now you can talk so imagine what else you can do to help her.”
“Number one assistant huh,” mused Spike, “I like the way that sounds.” The pup’s smile fell a bit though, “but I’m still just a puppy. I don’t know any of the stuff you and Twilight do. How am I supposed to help her? I don’t know what any of those squiggly things mean in her books.”
“You can learn,” said Sunset with a shrug. “Even the egghead had to learn at some point. I can help you. It seems like whatever magic gave you speech increased your intellect as well. Maybe it’s just a matter of getting you started.”
“So I have to sit through classes?” the pup whined, “The last time I did that was obedience school, and at least they had treats.”
“Maybe we can make it fun,” the pony said poking around in a few more drawers looking for some books and paper to that might help in the endeavor. “We want to get you a crash course on reading, writing, and maybe a start on math.” Opening another drawer, a large grin spread across the unicorn’s face. “And I think I have the perfect method.” Reaching in, the drawer she pulled out a hard covered book whose cover was adorned with heavily armored people battling a large horned monster.
***
Twilight carefully made her way down the hall to her lab, a heavy tray laden with food from the cafeteria precariously balanced on one arm as the nerdy girl fished awkwardly in her backpack with the other. She had managed to get the food out of the packed cafeteria without it being tipped or bumped by another student, a feat she was rather proud of, and she would not allow that achievement to be wasted when her goal was in sight.
As she got nearer, the sounds of a heated argument could be heard emanating from within. Twilight hoped that her four-legged companions had managed to get along today, but that did not appear to be the case. Silently she prayed that their bickering had not been heard by anyone else as they would not be secret for long if they continued to carry on at this volume.
The bookish girl successfully juggled the contents of her arms and managed to find her keys, as the words of the argument finally reached her.
The young scientist heard her Sunset cackle maniacally before speaking in a sinister voice she did not recognize, “You’re all alone now. You will fall before the power I command.”
Struggling to find the lock the Twilight heard her puppy growl darkly, “I’m going to kill you!” the glasses-wearing girl heard the now familiar voice of her puppy shout.
Quickly pushing open the door and surprisingly managing not to upset her tray, Twilight burst into her lab and froze as the scene before her was not her talking dog and unicorn companions about to kill each other. No, it was far stranger.
Spread out on the ground was a battle mat with an elaborate map drawn out across the one-inch grid lines. Small paper figures of some sort of dragon fighter and a wizard character, were trapped in a tower constructed out of books the teen recognized from her shelves. On closer inspection, the wizard, who bore a striking resemblance to Twilight, herself, seemed to be trapped in some sort of cage, while a giant monster was approaching from one side of the map.
“I’ll kill you for what you did to Twilight!” Spike barked, so wrapped up in his fantasy world, he did not notice the teen enter.
Sunset, who was seated behind the GM screen lifted the wizard out of the cage, “Arch Mage Sparkling Star,” she emphasized in her normal voice before return to the sinister one Twilight had heard earlier, “should learn to check for traps before rushing to grab mysterious artifacts left floating in the middle of an unguarded room. Now there’s no one left to stop my return!”
“You’re wrong. I’ll end you and restore the land of Spiketopia,” the puppy said, posing dramatically before breaking character and scanning the sheet in front of him. “Okay, so here’s what I want to do. The pedestal for the Crystal Heart is below us in the middle of the fair right?” Sunset nodded. “Right so I want to run and jump out the window.”
“Uh, gravity is still a thing in this game, Spike,” Sunset started warily.
“I know. That’s why as I’m falling I’m going to activate my boots of flying.”
Sunset groaned, “Ugh, why did I let you have those. Fine.”
“Alright, I swoop down and pick up the princess and carry her and the heart to the pedestal so she can perform the ritual.
Sunset frowned, thinking. “Okay, I’m going to need some rolls. A dex check to grab the princess on the fly and a strength check to carry her one-handed the whole way there.”
“Got it. Right, dex first.” Using his two front paws the puppy rolled the die. “Yes, fifteen!”
“Alright,” Nodded Sunset moving Spike’s fighter piece to reflect his new location. “Let’s see the strength check.”
“No problem, I’m great at strength.” Rolling the die again, the purple pup’s eyes shrank to pinpricks.
The unicorn smirked from her seat of power. “Is that a one? Poor Princes Radiant Heart and with her fell any hope of stopping the Dark King’s rise.”
“Wait,” Spike called, “I still have my inspiration. I get to reroll.” Quickly snagging the die, the little pup gave it a good shake and let it go. Eighteen and with my modifiers that’s twenty-two so there’s no way I’m dropping her.”
Sunset smiled, “Right so you fly through the piercing shadow spikes with the princess secure in your grip. Landing she begins to cast the ancient spell to drive out the darkness while you place the crystal heart back on its pedestal, doing so just as the spell is completed and a wave of warm light rushes out to encompass all of Spiketopia, driving out the darkness and once again banishing the Shadow King to the abyss.”
“Aww yeah!” Spike gloated as he began to do the cutest victory dance Twilight had ever witnessed.
“Princess Radiant Heart then proclaims you to be the hero of the realm, henceforth to be known as Sir Spike the Brave and Glorious,” Sunset proclaims with mock pomp and finishes with a flourished bow to the new hero.
Staring dumbfounded still at the doorway, Twilight blinked before managing to force the obvious question past her lips. “What are you two doing?”
“Oh hi, Twilight,” Spike said running up and greeting his mistress in the normal puppy manner. “I wanted to figure out how I could help you more, so Sunset offered to help me.”
Placing the tray to the side as she joined the pair on the floor, Twilight took up the detailed picture of the dragonborn in armor that had to be Sir Spike. “So you taught my dog O&O?”
“Well I was curious to what extent the magic had increased his intelligence and since he had expressed interest in helping you more, I figured I could gauge his reading, writing, and basic math skills in a manner I had a hunch he would willingly participate in.”
Twilight took a second to take that in before her expression fell to a pout, “So you were conducting experiments without me?” Sunset and Spike just chuckled at the scientific girl’s reaction.
“Don’t worry, Twi,” the unicorn said as her horn lit in a soft red glow which then encompassed the tray and levitated it to the ground. “We have other things to focus on today.”
Taking a salad, the pony assumed was brought with her in mind, Sunset pushed a sheet of paper toward the glasses-wearing teen. Glancing at it, Twilight noted it was a print out from her school’s website detailing the school events scheduled for this week. Highlighted under today’s date showed CPA would be hosting a girls’ soccer match later today against…Canterlot High.
“In a world where magic has begun to fail,” Sunset said, once again adopting her dramatic GM voice, “a small band of warriors stands tall to save a lost unicorn.”
Twilight giggled before lifting her cheeseburger and pulling off a piece for Spike. “You are such a dork.”
“Yeah, you’re one to talk,” said the unicorn taking a bite of salad. “Those were your books after all.”
“Well, as I’ve heard, ‘it takes one to know one,’” the nerdy girl jibed taking a messy bite of her burger. After chewing she continued, “Though I have to say, the important quest item just placed out in the open in a seemingly empty room? What kind of inexperienced adventurer do you think I am to fall for such an obvious trap?”
“That’s what I said,” agreed Spike hoping to earn himself some more burger.
“Like I said it wasn’t you, it was Arch Mage Sparkling Star,” corrected Sunset with an eye roll.
“Uh-huh,” the teen said mockingly before lifting the detailed drawing of the wizard that had been the game miniature. It showed a purple-skinned girl in flowing blue wizard’s robes decorated with stars. Her indigo hair complete with matching magenta streak mirrored the teen’s hair, though this one wore her hair down and seemed to lack the eyewear the scientist sported. Turning the figure around towards the unicorn, Twilight smiled, “And might I enquire the inspiration behind this character?”
“Umm…I plead the 5th,” said Sunset cramming a large bite of salad into her mouth before looking away.
Twilight just laughed, believing she had proven her point and sensing the pony didn’t want to continue this topic, so Twilight opted to let the topic drop though part of her was curious why it seemed to bother the pony so much. “Maybe she just doesn’t like being wrong,” thought the teen a feeling she could understand.
The pair ate in relative silence as Spike chose to regale Twilight with the daring adventures of Sir Spike. Finishing their lunch, Twilight rose to leave for class.
“So I’ll see you two after school and we’ll figure out the plan for the soccer game.”
“Sounds good,” Sunset said offering a weak smile. Even Twilight and her lack of social skills could tell something was bothering the fiery unicorn, but Sunset obviously didn’t want to talk about it, and given Twilight’s past experiences with the pony’s temper, the teen opted to head to class and hope that Sunset felt better before the soccer game.
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A Nice chapter
Sunny bonding with Spike over O&O is just way too wholesome.
Now I want to read more fics about friendship between Sunset and Spike...
Dawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww...!
Glad to see that even in the Equestria Girls universe, Spike will always put Twilight above all others.
Very nice chapter very cute I could fix it all in my head as I was reading it also was interesting to see Spike giving Sunset a real chance to show who she truly is I'm also excited about the idea of the soccer game coming up to see how badly everything has affected rainbow dash considering at the end of the prologue she was one of the most torn up looking forward to the next chapter
Hope we'll find out what's worrying Sunset. My guess it's around her ex friends from chs
Loved it and yes the freaking image of that is to adorable xD.
I can't wait to see more of chs and how it changed. I really can't wait to see the cmc and gildas crew after everything went tits up
10493734
I know. I know just asked if Sunset explained it to Twilight. Maybe she did and I've already forgotten. Sorry if that's the case.
10493782
I thought so but I couldn't find it so it might have just been in my head. I remember there being a lot of edits and thinking it would come up after Twilight came to but it might have gotten lost to the cutting room floor as it were. Tweaked a line so it's definitely in there now.
Nice work; definitely can't wait for more.
Also late to read because uni is a BITCH and I need to study for an exam on the 2nd. Ugh.
Maybe Spike's Intelligence needs some boosting up but his Wisdom is very high. Would love to see their whole O&O adventure.