The cool children

by therandomone95

8. The next day.

Chapter 8: The next day.

It was finally monday, meaning that it was time for school. Spike was just waking up, and he looked around the room he was in to see how bad the situation was. His school items were scattered around the floor, his backpack was nowhere to be seen and Twilight was nowhere near him.

"Great, so I guess now I'll lose this day too. I might as well just look for a fresh comic book to-" Spike was about to look for his comic book collection but a sharp pain at the back of his head stopped him before he could get a grip of himself outside his bed and he fell hard on his face. "OW!"

"Oh my, this is no way to behave on a school day, is it?" Spike looked up to see the fake Rarity looking at him with disappointment.

'Did you pinch me or something?' Asked Spike, rubbing the back of his head.

"Why, of course I did, we have to get going or you won't make it to class!" Said the fake Rarity, looking at him with determination.

'Wait, you're going to help me at school too?' Asked Spike, which made the fake Rarity roll her eyes.

"Of course! I said I would improve your life, that also includes your academic life. I'm sending the image of your backpack to your eyeballs, just grab it and let's get out of here." Said the fake Rarity, her eyes turning white for a couple of seconds. Then, Spike saw his backpack being thrown at the closet by himself, Spike went over to the closet to see if his backpack to see if it was indeed there, and when he opened the door, he saw that his backpack was in the exact same spot and position he had left it on his vision.

'Wow, how did you do that?' Asked Spike to the fake Rarity as he grabbed his backpack.

"I am inside your brain, so don't be surprised at the fact that I can check your memories, even when you can't remember something yourself. Now let's go! You can make it on foot if you hurry." Said the fake Rarity, walking towards the door.

'But I haven't had breakfast today! I'll starve!' Protested Spike.

"As a dragon, you can re-obtain your energy by eating gems, you can bear not having breakfast today, and you can eat one when you get out of school. Maybe tomorrow you can ask your friend, the true Rarity, to give you the one you ate today as a reward."

'A reward for what?'

"For being helpful, after all, you DO pass a lot of time in there with her, don't you?" Said the fake Rarity, pointing at her heart necklace and batting her eyes at Spike, which made him uncomfortable.

'I used to, because I had a crush on her, now I don't go there so often but I do help her every now and then. But do I really need to go in there? I mean, I can still get something else to...'

"Nonsense!" Interrupted the fake Rarity. "We don't really care about our ways, we just care about the results, right?"

Spike thought about it for a moment, it DID seem like the most logical thing to do. 'I guess so...'

"Good, now let's go! I deduce Twilight Sparkle passed out researching as she has done for the last couple of days, so we don't need to worry about her." Spike rolled his eyes, this is what was annoying about Twilight becoming a princess.

'Okay, let's go.' Said Spike as he ran through the door.

As Spike ran past the library he saw that Twilight was, indeed, sleeping on top of a pile of books, which reinforced his trust on the fake Rarity. And as he crossed the door leading to Ponyville, his thoughts started to go towards his new life. 'Man, now she is even helping me at school? This is great! I still won't be anything special, but maybe things will start to look better for me! I just hope things keep up the way they are.'

--------------------------------------------- Meanwhile, in Button's room ----------------------------------------------

Button was waking up, and he instantly remembered the events of yesterday, and how they would affect his day at school today. Button looked at the clock on the wall and he saw that he was already going to be late.

'Hey! Are you on?' Thought Button Mash, but nothing happened. 'Helloooooooo? Is anyone there?' Button knocked at the side of his skull, but nothing happened. Button looked to his side and he saw his laptop on the desk, and slowly, a devious smile appeared on his face. 'I might as well make the most out of this.'

Button plugged his laptop and he waited for it to load. 'Come on, come ON!' And just as the laptop was about to finish, Button felt a twinge of pain in his brain. "OW!"

"What is this? You're supposed to be getting ready for school!" Button looked back and he saw his dad appearing behind him with an unamused expression on his face.

'Oh, I was just going to...'

"To what?"

'To check my C-mail.'

"No, you weren't."

'No?'

"I am inside your mind, you can't lie to me. I perfectly know what you were about to do."

'You do?' Asked Button with a sheepish expression and an awkward smile.

"Yes, and that's very naughty."

'Is it?'

"I can't believe a colt like you would do things like this."

'Aww'

"I can't believe you were about to get on in Minecraft and go mining when you have to go to school!" Yelled his dad.

'I know! I'm sorry!' Finally said Button with shame.

"Look, let's just forget about this and unplug the laptop." Said his dad, making Button unplug his laptop without getting an opinion.

'HEY! YOU COULD'VE DAMAGED IT!' Protested Button as he regained self-control.

"Your future is more important than some virtual blocks on a screen, now get moving! We will divise a system in which you'll do push-ups everytime you think about minecraft; if this morning is an indicative sample, you'll be like that stallion "Big Macintosh" in no time." Said Button's dad as he pointed towards the door.

Button Mash frantically ate his bowl of cereal and ran out of the door, somehow he felt more energetic than ever before. 'Hey, I feel a lot better today, are you doing that?'

"Of course I am, you need to run with all your capacity to get to school in time, so I modified your brain so that you're not capable of feeling tired until you get to school, now go!" Said his dad, who floated above Button.

'This is awesome! Now I will get there in time! Wow, I hope he still helps me at school today!'

--------------------------------------------- Five minutes later ----------------------------------------------

Spike finally made it to the classroom, and there, he saw Button Mash entering the classroom at the same time. "Hey, dude, how did you get here so fast?"

"Oh, you-know-who helped me, and you?" Replied Button.

"Oh, I guess just like you?" Said Spike, looking over Button's shoulder to see the fake Rarity giving him a wink.

"Let's just get inside, we have a lot to do today." Said Button, Spike nodded and they both sat down on their desks. They both looked over to their side, and they saw Pipsqueak's desk completely empty, they both knew that they weren't exactly seeing what was really there, but they knew that it was best to ignore it and swallow down their guilt.

After three hours of learning, it was finally lunch time, and all the fillies and colts got out of the classroom to enjoy some free time before going back in. Spike and Button Mash sat down on their selected spot and kept silence for a few seconds. They stayed that way for a couple of minutes, but before Spike could break the silence and ask Button how they were going to solve things, they noticed four colts getting closer to them. Spike and Button got up and got a etter look at who they were; turns out that Rumble, Scootaloo, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were approaching.

"Well, you guys seem excited today." Said Rumble as he got closer.

"Cut us a bit of slack, we had a bad day yesterday." Replied Spike.

"Whatever, we need to talk to you two about an idea we had." Said Scootaloo.

"An idea about what?" Asked Button Mash.

"About the talent show, look, Miss Cheerilee said that we should sign up if we want extra credits, right? Buuut she didn't say each one of us has to do something different and by separate." Said Rumble with a big smile.

"Where are you going with this, dude?" Asked Spike.

"What if we did something together?" Said Rumbe

"Dude, there's literally six of us, what could we..."

"Aaaaactually there's ten of us." Pointed out Silver Spoon.

"What?!" Asked Spike and Button in disbelief.

"Yeah, it's me, you two, Silver Spoon, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Rumble, Snips and Snails. I know, it pains me to work with blank flanks but I'm sure it'll be worth it." Replied Diamond Tiara, to which Scootaloo rolled her eyes.

"Really? What could the ten of us do for that show?" Asked Spike.

"We were thinking we could do the first act of that bridleway show about Princess Celestia." Said Rumble.

"You mean the one with rap music?" Asked Button.

"Yeah! It's something we all could enjoy and we would do it together!" Said Scootaloo.

"Alright, I'm in! When is the show?" Asked Spike.

"You won't believe it, the show will be the day after Nightmare Night!" Said Rumble with excitement.

"After Nightmare Night?! That's just one week away!" Remarked Spike.

"It's next Monday, to be precise." Said Scootaloo.

"Are we even going to have enough time to practice?" Asked a very nervous Spike.

"Yes, don't worry, dude, we'll practice everyday after school! I got the script on my backpack already. We got everything under control." Reassured Rumble. "So, Button, are you in too or what?"

"I hate to disappoint you, but I can't do it, I didn't sign up for the show." Said Button Mash sadly.

"What are you talking about?" Asked Rumble.

"I didn't sign up for the show, I can't be on stage."

"Look, the sheet is just there hanging on the wall, just sign up now!" Said Scootaloo.

"Wait, really? Okay, I'll go. Wait for me here!" Said Button as he dashed to the building, to sign up while recess still lasted. When Button was out of earshot, everypony's eyes turned to Spike.

"What?" He said cluelessly. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon gave him a very cold glare before stomping out of the group.

"Dude, Snips caused a stir yesterday, maybe you should check on him and see how he's doing." Said Rumble.

"Yeah, and maybe you could take this chance to be better friends with him." Added Scootaloo with a smile.

Spike nodded and walked away, leaving the two pegasi to kiss each other in private, Spike didn't need to see it since the gross noises confirmed his suspicions. Spike looked around the playground, and he saw Snips on his own, sitting on a bench. Spike hesitated before approaching him.

"Hey..." Said Spike, Snips just looked away with a frown on his face. "Where's Snails? I figured he'd be with you."

"He didn't come today. Something about buckball practice... I don't know, why do you care?" Said Snips with no effort on moving.

"Look, I know you're mad at me for what happened yesterday, but can we please just put this behind us and move on?"

Snips sighed before turning around. "Look, Spike, I know I overreacted, but that was my parents' room! You could've found something you shouldn't have been looking at or you could've broken something very expensive!"

Spike rolled his eyes and sighed, but before he could apologize, the fake Rarity took control over him. "What's the matter, Snips? Why are you ALWAYS looking for some way to make money?" Said Spike, who widened his eyes when he realized what he just said.

Snips looked surprised, but decided to answer the question anyways, to maybe become better friends with Spike. "Well, my parents left me alone at home because they said they needed to go to Canterlot for a week. They left me with some money but I kinda spent it all on candy." Said Snips sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"Oh, I guess that kinda makes se... And what about the other times, though? Why were you trying to make money before they left?" Finished the fake Rarity. Spike wanted to slap himself really badly, but he stopped because then, Snips would think he was crazy.

"Ugh, fine! If you want to know so badly, it's personal, okay?!" Said Snips, hoping nopony heard him. Luckily for him, nopony seemed to have heard him or they just didn't care.

"What?" Asked Spike in surprise.

"Since I was a colt, my family has ALWAYS been poor, so they were always planning on new ways to make money: blackmail, frauds, tricks, lies to rich ponies... So I guess I've been educated that way. Now we live in Ponyville in relative good status, but I don't really see my parents that often anymore... I don't think you'd understand." Said Snips, looking away.

"I understand more than you think." Said Spike in a hushed tone. Snips turned around and saw him with curiosity.

"What?"

"I never had any actual parents, I've always been with Twilight. I know she hatched my egg but I don't know what that makes us: Mother and son, big sister and little brother, two friends, boss and assistant... But I didn't care, she was the pony I spent the most time with my whole life. Now that she is a princess she hardly has any time for me, heck, she spends most of her time with her other friends than me! Now I feel alone, I don't really have any other kind of family..." Said Spike sadly.

"But thanks to me, that won't be a problem in your life anymore, right?" Said the fake Rarity, appearing behind Spike.

"It sucks to be us, doesn't it?" Said Snips, now looking at Spike with a soft smile.

"Yeah, but we could have it worse." Reaffirmed Spike.

"You mean like Featherweight?" Asked Snips, pointing at Spike's back. Spike looked back to see Featherweight all on his own, taking a picture of the sky.

"Featherweight? What's with him?" Asked Spike, the fake Rarity also leaned in, wanting to learn as much as she could.

"Well, since he got in the newspaper business, he pretty much takes it on himself to learn as much information about everypony and maybe use it to make news or have some juicy gossip to spread. But once he shares some secret he just found out with somepony, they ignore him." Said Snips, shrugging.

"How do you know that?" Asked Spike.

"The other day he told me that Rumble and Scootaloo were coltfriend and marefriend, but after that I haven't really talked to him. And I noticed he did the same with Snails and Berry Pinch; they both ignored him afterwards."

'Is he serious?' Asked Spike to the fake Rarity, who was smiling at this new piece of information.

"Yes, yes, that's what I deduced! I'm glad I was right, now I know why that colt was so erratic!" Said the fake Rarity.

'But that's sad, what should I do?'

"You should ignore him."

'What?'

"No one likes a snitch, Spike, and if you get yourself involved with ponies like that, you'll just end up with trouble. Besides, I think we can improve your status with everypony else here."

'I still don't get how you are so good at deducing things like that.'

The fake Rarity smiled and rolled her eyes. "I am not stupid, Spike, I can learn something new from everypony with just an interaction; for example, your buddy Rumble is obsessed with sports and being everypony's friend to overcome his inner fear that deep down, he'll just never be good enough. And your ex's Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon? They are obsessed with status and being the ones in control because deep down they are scared of losing it."

Spike was amazed at her conclusions, and the more he thought about it the more things made sense inside his head. His derail from reality was stopped by Snips, who was getting up from the bench. "But that's life, ain't it, Spike?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah! That's life!" Said Spike sheepishly.

"You know? You might not be such a bad guy after all! I was planning on not inviting you to the next party, but I think you'll be fine!" Said Snips with a smile.

"The next party?" Asked Spike.

"Yeah! Next week is Nightmare Night! And now that my parents aren't home, I have to make the most out of it! It will be at my place again, but do you think I should charge for the party this time?" Asked Snips.

"Uhh... I think you should decide that, how is your situation right now?" Said the fake Rarity in Spike's place.

"Could be better, could be worse, maybe I should just charge for the food or the drinks... Whatever, see ya later, Spike!" Said Snips before walking away.

'Huh, that's amazing! He doesn't hate me anymore!' Thought Spike.

"You're saying it like you're surprised." Said the fake Rarity, looking at him with a proud smile on her face.

'Okay, now what should we do?'

"We need to get ready, recess will end soon and you have a test to make." Said the fake Rarity, pointing at the door leading to the classroom.

'Oh, that's right. Man, I wish I studied more.'

"Are you seriously worried about this math test?" Spike looked to the fake Rarity. "I am magic, I can practically fill the entire test for you!" Said the fake Rarity, which made Spike actually excited for a test.

Spike got closer to the building, and as he passed by the fillies and colts, he felt a very particular wind come across his ears. He knew this "wind" wasn't exactly that, since he could hear a bit of a sound in it, and it sounded like his name, Spike. But Spike knew what this was about, and he knew it was better to not aknowledge it, because if he did, then he would have some leftover guilt for his former friend.

Spike just kept going, and he felt his body move a bit to the right, Spike also knew that the fake Rarity had done that on purpose; it was hard, but Spike took a breath and swallowed down his guilt. Maybe he could live with this after all, maybe avoiding him could be easy.

Spike approached Button Mash, who had just signed his name on the sheet. Button looked at Spike with sadness, and before Spike could ask what was wrong, Button spoke:

"You felt him around too, right?"

Spike looked down, ashamed of himself. "Yeah, I did."

"Spike, are we doing the right thing?" Asked Button with sadness in his voice.

"I don't know, but things are looking better for me, so I guess this is a very small thing to give." Said Spike, denying his guilt.

"Yeah, but he was our only real friend, if he was mad at us before, now he won't forgive us." Said Button Mash, looking into Spike's eyes, that had the exact same reflection of guilt and sadness.

However, Spike remained firm. "Button, I lived my life following my instincts, and they just suck. I got my friends trapped on a comic book, I became a giant greedy monster, I offered myself as Applejack's slave and I ran from home when Twilight got Owilicious. So if my instincts are telling me that this is wrong, then I'm definitely on the right path. I'm going through with this, and I think you should too."

Button was surprised, not only did Spike seem very confident in doing something wrong, but he actually admitted that he was going to keep doing it. But then again, life hasn't been so generous with Button as well, he couldn't recall all the times he was made fun of for something stupid, like tripping on the playground, messing up on a presentation or speaking his mind.

Maybe Spike was right, maybe this IS the way to go, maybe all he needed to do was mute the voice in his head telling him that this was wrong, and move ahead. "Yeah, maybe you're right." Said Button smiling.

Then, the school bell rang, and every filly and colt ran towards the school and get ready for the test. Spike and Button nodded, and ignored that small wind that desperately called their names; it was going to be a very busy week, after all, so they needed to get their priorities checked.

"Come on, let's go." Said Spike, motioning Button to get inside, which he did. Spike smiled, this was going to be the best week ever.

---

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

There has been a certain subject that has quickly taken over my priorities, please hurry and come to Canterlot as fast as you can. It is quite possible that you'll need to stay here until Nightmare Night arrives, so be sure to check every unattended business you think needs attention before coming.
This topic also involves the results of your research, so please bring any information you have. This is a subject of utmost importance, and the fate of Equestria could hang in the balance if this issue is not fixed as fast as possible, so I reiterate, please come as fast as you can with the information and knowledge you have adquired.

Sincerely, Princess Celestia.

At the crystal castle in Ponyville, a certain alicorn princess was reading a note that had been sent to her directly, while also she was pacing around, threatening to leave a circle on the floor. As princess Twilight read the note, her thoughts flew apart. 'Why did the princess send this message to me directly rather than sending them to Spike? I hope she is not mad at me for not sharing some information earlier! But then again, there wasn't much information about this in the first place. Oooh, I hope none of my friends have things they need to check before coming to Canterlot, I hope I'm not interrupting anything important.'

Twilight realized she was starting to ramble, so she stopped herself before actually starting to make a hole on the floor. 'Okay, calm down, I'll just leave Spike a note and some bits for the entire week. I hope he's not mad at me for leaving so suddenly. I'll go to pick up my friends and we'll leave right now!' Said Twilight to herself before writing a vague note to the dragon and leaving him with enough bits for the week. Inmediately afterwards, Twilight flew out of the window, if this is as serious as the princess' note said, then there was no time to slow down.

Time to save Equestria again!

Author's Note:

Alright, so we're almost there!

There should be like four or so chapters left of this story, however, my ACTUAL classes start next Monday, so I'll have considerably less time for me to write, so please have some patience with me, I'm not abandoning this story when I've come this far

Anyways, thanks for reading! Hopefully I'll get (at least) the next chapter out as soon as I can before classes start.

Goodbye!