Nightmare's Eve finally came and Canterlot High School was in full swing with spooky festivities. Usually on holidays, it was fun to be at school for everypony. Teachers may have a test scheduled for students but not much else. This gives students a reason to have classroom parties, which many students participated in. Twilight Sparkle, however, was more interested in other things.

Twilight didn't dress up in costume like the other ponies. She didn't even help setup for the haunted house that was built in the good gym. She tried to withdraw from the spotlight as much as possible. She stopped raising her hoof to answer questions in class and she stopped attending her extracurricular activities. She doesn't talk to Applejack, Rainbow Dash, or Fluttershy anymore. She doesn't talk to anypony. There was only one pony she cared to open up to and that was Sunset Shimmer.

It was during her second period that Twilight was called to Principal Luna's office. Her class was having a Nightmare's Eve party so she wasn't missing anything. She was actually reading a book to pass the time. When she arrived to her office she was startled, yet again, by Luna. This time Twilight was startled by Principal Luna's costume. She was dressed as a very convincing undead version of herself. Luna was upset that her appearance scared Twilight.

"Oh dear," she said. "I do apologize for that. I hear that the kids are into zombies so I thought I'd try to be really scary this year. But perhaps I might've made myself too scary."

"Maybe a little," Twilight said, catching her breath. "You wanted to see me?

"Yes. I came across your request to change your classes. In order for me to approve this I had to take a few things into consideration. A few of your teachers alerted me that your grades were slipping. They thought this was strange considering you were our highest scoring student for the first quarter. Here it is halfway through the semester and suddenly your grades plummeted."

Twilight remained silent and unfazed.

"Not only that but I hear you're not talking to any of the students or the teachers. You even stopped coming to the event planning meetings. I must say Ms. Sparkle, this isn't like you at all. Is everything okay?"

"It's nothing. I've just been really focused lately because the classes are too hard, but I can't seem to get the assignments so I thought I'd see about transferring to different classes."

"I see," Princess Luna said as she sat back in her chair. "Let me ask you this: was this your idea or Sunset Shimmer's?"

Twilight remained silent but shocked. She couldn't believe that she would bring Sunset Shimmer up. Princess Luna knew along what Twilight was planning.

"How did you know?" Twilight asked.

"I noticed that all the classes you requested to transfer to had Ms. Shimmer on the roster. And I already know that you two are close."

"I'm so embarrassed," Twilight said, covering up her face.

"Don't be Twilight," Luna said as she walked up to Twilight. "I did the same thing when I was about your age. I transferred for some pony I thought was cute. He didn't feel the same way about me though. I was stuck in a class that I didn't need. I had to go to summer school to make up that credit if I wanted to graduate on time. It was a complete mess. All I am saying is that maybe Sunset might not feel the same way you feel about her."

"Wait, Ms. Luna, I hope you don't think I'm in love with her. We're just friends. Right now she's the only friend who understands me."

"Of course… that was what I was implying, dear."

"Well, if it means anything, you don't have to worry. The feeling between us is mutual."

"Well, that is good to hear. But I'm afraid now that I understand the entire situation, I will have to deny your request. We just can't let an academic achiever, such as yourself, downgrade her classes just so that they could be closer to their friends. I especially wouldn't let a student who deliberately let her grades slip to transfer their classes either. You should know better."

Twilight didn't know what to say. For her there wasn't anything else to be said. She was upset that her request was denied but even more upset at the fact that the Principal found out what she was doing. She couldn't bring herself to look at Luna. Instead she just left the office without saying a word.

Twilight was disappointed in herself. She didn't see where she was going when she left Luna's office. She happened to bump into another pony that didn't see where she was going. Twilight shook her head and saw that the pony she bumped into was Rarity. Her friend, Pinkie Pie was with her, of course. Rarity was dressed as a sexy spider while Pinkie Pie dressed as nurse in a straitjacket.

"You two really should look ahead sometimes," Pinkie Pie said as she helped Rarity up. "Get it? Look A HEAD? Because your heads collided?"

"Pinkie Pie, do shut up, dear," Rarity said as she brushed the dirt off of her black dress. "Who would dare run into me?" Rarity took one look at the culprit. "Oh, it's you," she said in a snobbish tone. "My apologies, and such. But it may be to our fortune that we… crossed paths, just now. No doubt you've been hearing about my birthday party coming up. It's all the rage."

"No, I haven't," Twilight said.

"Well,... then allow me to personally extend an invitation to you and your friend, Shimmering Sunshit."

"Sunset Shimmer," Twilight said with a curt tone.

"Right, dear. Pinkie. Invitation!"

Pinkie Pie popped up next to Rarity with two party invitations in her mouth as if she fetched them for her like a dog to its owner.

"Here you are," Rarity said. "I hope you accept these as an apology for my rather rude behavior. I had no idea dealing with the likes of… well you get the drift, don't you?"

"Um, thanks?" Twilight said.

"Don't mention it, darling," Rarity said as she began to leave. "Dress to impress. It'll be quite unsupervised."

Rarity and Pinkie continued on their way leaving Twilight alone in the hallway. Pinkie Pie took this time to seek clarity on what just occurred.

"So why are we inviting the ponies that nearly beat us up?" Pinkie asked.

"Well, I don't want to get beat up for not inviting them," Rarity responded. "Curse them for making us feel this way. But it would be all worth it when that night comes. Ponies will be talking about my birthday party well after they graduate. And I'm gonna make us look ravishing!"

"And you leave the partying to me," Pinkie Pie said. "I'm gonna keep it rockin' all night long! Oh yeah!"

The two ponies happily trotted together talking about their plans for the party. For the most part it was a happy day for everypony. Even Spike was having a good day. His mother ungrounded him before school started so that he could go trick-or-treating for Nightmare Night. It would be the first time he would go alone since Twilight didn't want to celebrate Nightmare Night this year. He's going to go trick-or-treating with Babs Seed and the Diamond Dogs. He agreed to go with them after turning down the Cutie Mark Crusaders who were going out, as well. They could tell that Spike was becoming more and more distant from them but they couldn't figure out why.

School let out and Spike couldn't wait to get home. He and Twilight took the bus home. Twilight was feeling miserable after the day she had. Sunset Shimmer had invited her to a party but she decided not to go. She just wanted to sleep the rest of the day away. When they arrived home Twilight immediately went to her room. Spike tried to find a costume to throw together. He spent hours going through different combinations of his past Nightmare Night costumes but they were all too silly. He didn't want to embarrass himself in front of Babs. The two of them have been spending a lot of time together since the fire. They've been helping each other cope after the event.

"Aw man," he said to himself while looking in a mirror of himself dressed as a super hero duckling. "I look like a baby. Babs would never hang out with me again if I showed up wearing this."

"Babs," Spike's mother, Velvet, said. "Who's this Babs?"

"Oh, hey mom. What're you doing here?"

"We tend to close up early for the walkers tonight. Now who is Babs?"

"She's just this girl I've been hanging out with…"

"And?"

"Okay, I kinda like her. She's adopted, too. She's really cool and I don't want to look stupid in front of her."

"Oh, Spikey," his mother picked him up and swung him around. "I'm so proud of my little dragon. He's growing up so fast!"

"C'mon, mom. Quit it!"

"So are you going trick-or-treating with her tonight?"

"Yeah, but I don't have a cool costume to wear."

"Oh, I'm so sorry, baby. I know you've been asking about a costume but I was planning on lifting your punishment tomorrow. I wasn't thinking clearly this morning."

"It's okay, mom," Spike said as he hugged her.

"That's why I swung by the store on the way home and got you this!" Velvet gave Spike a spooky ghost mask that glows in the dark.

"Mom, seriously? You're the coolest!"

"You've been a very good boy. It was the least I could do."

Spike dressed up in a black cloak and the mask. To make his outfit complete he ran to the kitchen to grab a knife. He showed his mother his completed costume but Velvet made one adjustment. Instead of a kitchen knife she let him use a butter knife. Spike tried to convince his mother to use the regular knife as she prepared carrot dogs for dinner.

Velvet called her daughter for dinner. Twilight took her time coming to the dinner table. She didn't even say hello to her mother. Velvet received a call from Principal Luna about their office conversation. She wanted answers for her behavior.

"Hello, young lady," her mother started.

"Hey," Twilight simply responded.

"Mind telling your mother about your day, sweetie?"

"It was stupid."

"I bet it was. I got a call from your school today, you know."

"Ah geez," Twilight winced.

"What's this I hear about you letting your grades slip on purpose just so that you can see your friend more often? I'm not sending you to school for friendship!"

"She's the only friend I have there. Why isn't anypony giving her a chance? You don't even know her!"

"Twilight Sparkle! You watch your tone with me, young lady. I am your mother! Now, you listen here…"

"No, you listen, for once! I didn't ask to move here. CHS sucks, mom. My life sucks. But there is one pony who makes it all worthwhile for me and nopony wants me to be friends with her. When do I get a say, huh? When do I get to live my life?"

Twilight left the table to storm off to her room. Velvet tried calling after her but Twilight only answered by slamming her door. Velvet was devastated. She never seen Twilight lash out the way she did. She was unsure of how to handle the situation. Spike saw this as an opportunity to step up as a member of the family. He told her that he would go talk to her. Velvet hugged her son for trying to help. She let him try and talk to Twilight.

Spike knocked on the door of his sister.

"I'm sleeping," Twilight yelled.

"Oh, c'mon Twilight," Spike said through the door. "It's like 6 o' clock."

"Leave me alone, Spike."

"Twilight, why are you acting like this? You're scaring us."

"Well, get used to it. I'm tired of being pushed around. I'm not gonna take it anymore."

"But we're your family."

"Oh my gosh, Spike. Grow up. You know you're gonna end up like a pushover if you don't stand up for yourself, too."

"Hey, I'll be fine," Spike said.

"Whatever. Take a word of advice, Spike. You only have one life to live. Now, do me a favor and let me sleep through mine."

Spike gave up trying to convince his sister further. His mother came and told him that it was okay and that she would keep trying later. The two went to finish eating their dinner together. Velvet still felt bad about Twilight. She told Spike that she was so very proud of her. She also mentioned that when she decided to leave her husband she was secretly afraid that she couldn't raise her children on her own, especially Twilight. She was afraid that Twilight would think that she would become too smart for her broken family. Spike didn't know what to say. He could see that his mother was hurting. He couldn't see that happening for Twilight. But he wasn't sure. He had never seen Twilight act like that.

It was getting dark and trick-or-treaters were beginning to ring the doorbell of the Sparkle home. Velvet wasn't ready to begin serving candy yet. She rushed to find a large bowl in one of her cupboards for the candy she also bought along with Spike's mask. Spike used this time to get ready to go out. Velvet met her guests who were ponies, a little older than Spike, dressed as ghosts and vampires. By the time she was done passing out the candy Spike was ready to go.

"So where will you be?" Velvet asked.

"The Horseshoe Village subdivision," Spike dutifully responded. "Four blocks from here."

"Okay and when will you be back?"

"Idunno. Two or Three hours?"

"Two hours is plenty. You have school tomorrow."

"Okay," Spike said as he ran out the door.

"And stay outta trouble," Velvet yelled after him.

Spike pretended not to hear what his mother said. He wanted to have fun. He was sure that that'd probably mean he would get into a little trouble, especially if he's going to be with Babs Seed and the Diamond Dogs. Spike was almost counting on it. He ran all the way from his home to the entrance to the subdivision. Babs and the dogs were there already. They were holding full trick-or-treating bags. They were dressed in costume as well. Babs was dressed as a pirate and the dogs were all dressed as Thundercats. When Spike arrived Babs leapt to hug him. She was happy that he made it.

"There's my Spike," she said. "I was afraid you weren't gonna make it."

"Yeah," said Fido. "This big night for all of us."

"What's the big deal?" Spike questioned. "It's just Nightmare Night. This place gives out the best candy or what?"

"Yeah it does," Babs said. "But we were banned from this neighborhood, two years ago. Last year they started passing out king-sized candy bars and stuff. We tried to get back in but they still wouldn't let us. So we're gonna terrorize everypony."

"We brought our bikes," Rover said. "We got eggs, we got toilet paper, we got water guns filled with cherry soda, and we got wagon for Spike to ride."

"Whoa, you guys are hardcore," Spike said.

"I know, right?" Babs said with glee. "The wagon was my idea. We're gonna have you throwing the eggs and stuff from it. I'm gonna ride on Rover's handle bars."

"I'm not sure about this guys," Spike said. "I don't think I'm that hardcore. Plus, I wasn't banned. Maybe I could get us in to trick or treat. I mean would they even recognize you in those costumes? Would they remember you guys at all?"

"What fun is that?" Rover said as he began to mount his bike. "Not very Nightmare."

"This is revenge, Spike," Babs said. "We're not gonna let some grownups tell us what to do. We run our lives."

Spike was reminded of what Twilight said to him. He didn't know what he was doing wrong for ponies to say that to him. He was starting to think that ponies pitied him or thought that he was a weakling. He didn't want ponies to think that he couldn't take care of himself.

"C'mon," Spike said as he got in the wagon. "Let's freakin' get this over with."

Babs Seed led the way. They found a playground with a tall playscape on a hill. It was the perfect place for them to see most of the neighborhood. This was an operation that was going to happen quickly. When Babs was ready the whole gang got into position. And off they went.

"Charge!" she yelled signaling her crew to rush down and raid the neighborhood. Babs held her plastic pirate sword forward in the direction they were riding. Spike was struggling to hold everything together in his turbulent wagon. When they hit the streets Babs ordered her crew to prepare themselves. Spike loaded an egg in one claw. Babs found Spike his first target which were two fillies dressed as princesses. Spike steadied his aim. As the bike armada rode passed the fillies Spike launched the egg at one of the fillies. When it landed Spike quickly reloaded and hit the other trick-or-treater as well. Babs and her crew laughed. Spike couldn't help but smile after making his friends proud of him. He happily reloaded his throwing arm with another egg. The next victim was a pony dressed in an elaborate dragon costume. Spike did not hold back. He was appalled by the pony's costume. He unloaded four eggs on the pony. Each one of them landed the target. Spike felt really good after that.

The gang continued to perform eggbys on trick-or-treaters. When they came to houses that weren't lit up they used the darkness to quickly TP them. They smashed jack-o-lanterns, egged cars, Sprayed trick-or-treaters with the squirt guns, and scared them into dropping their candy, which Spike so swiftly collected on the pass. Spike was having fun. He felt free. He knew he was doing things he could get into trouble for and he did feel bad about it. But he was having too much fun to care. He was feeling the rush and thrill of being young and rebellious. He felt cool.

The group found a place where they could rest and share in the bounty of stolen candy. The Diamond dogs ravaged the candy inhaling anything they could get their paws on. Spike was enjoying a giant chocolate bar. Babs found a sour apple sucker to enjoy. Babs saw that this was a good opportunity to talk to Spike.

"Hey Spike," she started. "I had fun tonight. Did ya have fun?"

"Yeah I did," Spike excitedly said with chocolate over his mouth.

"You're so cute it hurts, Spike," Babs said as she wiped his mouth with her pirate's bandana. Babs held Spike's face in her hoof. Spike gazed into her eyes. Her lips were right in front of his eyes. He decided to take a chance. He leaned forward and kissed her. After a few seconds Babs broke the embrace.

"Hey Spot," Babs looked over and called. "You won the bet. He kissed me first."

"Yes!" Spot said. "Told ya!"

"Yeah, yeah, ya lucky punk. I'll pay ya tomorrow."

"Huh?" Spike said with his arms fallen to his sides.

"Oh, don't worry about that, babes. That was from a prior arrangement. I've always liked ya. I just thought I'd have to make the first move. But Spot believed in you."

"He tough. Spike brave like me," Spot yelled.

"So are we like, boyfriend and girlfriend?" Spike asked.

"Only if you want to be, babes."

"Okay, cool" Spike smiled and said after taking another bite from his chocolate bar. "So now what?"

"Well, since we're an item now, it's time I let ya in on a little operation we're gonna pull."

"We're gonna egg the school?"

"We already did that, before, babes. I'm talking about something big! Something that'll put some money in our pockets."

"Like what?"

"You heard about that senior's birthday party, right?"

"Yeah, a friend invited me to it."

"Good shit, Spike! You're our ticket in. Check it, we're gonna sell drugs at the party."

Spike stopped eating his candy. Spike wasn't sure if this was something he was willing to do. Drugs are a big deal. Spike remembered Shinning Armor warning him about the dangers of narcotics. Spike was sure he didn't want to be a part of it then. But he finally found a place where he is accepted. He wasn't sure if this was something he wanted to let himself get involved with.

"Um, how did you get the drugs?" Spike asked.

"Well, we didn't get em yet. Rover's brother is a drug dealer. He's gonna let us sell some pix and if we do a good job, we can slang some harder stuff."

"What's pix?"

"Pixie Pills, babes. Pills made of Pixie Dust. Ponies get so high of the stuff it makes Earth ponies believe they could fly and Pegasi fly like Earth ponies flying for the first time."

"We could get in really big trouble. Like, REALLY big trouble."

"Eh, first offense, underage, our adorable faces, we'll get a few months juvie at, most. That's a walk in the park! So whaduya say?"

"I can't say no?" Spike nervously shrugged.

"Not unless you want to be the dragon who lost a girlfriend in 2 minutes flat."

"Well, I guess you got me then."

"That's right," Babs said as she hopped on top of him. "You're all mine, now. We're gonna be togetha, foreva."

The spooky night ended and everypony returned home with candy in their bellies. Spike returned home and immediately got in to his bed. He didn't even bother to take off his costume. The next morning, however, Spike woke up in a Hearth's Warming sweater.

"Good morning!" Velvet sang to her sleepy dragon.

"Mom?" Spike said as he rubbed his eyes. "Oh, yeah. Nightmare Night is over."

"And Hearth's Warming begins! Now, c'mon and get outta bed. You're really late!"

The Sparkle family rushed out of the house and into Velvet's minivan. All of them were dressed in Hearth's Warming sweaters. Twilight was still upset from yesterday. Velvet knew that Twilight loved Hearth's Warming. Wearing Hearth's Warming sweaters after Nightmare Night was a family tradition that she started. She wasn't as enthused as she usually is around this time of year.

"Oh, princess, are you still mad about yesterday?" Velvet asked. Twilight replied with a sigh. "Twilight, I'm not sure what you're going through. I wish you would talk to me. I can probably help you. I know you're a smart young mare and you tend to figure out how to solve problems on your own. But just know that you have family that loves you sweetie so don't forget that. And no more of this grade dropping business. You've worked too hard to get those grades. Don't let it go to waste, okay?"

Twilight didn't look at her mother. She appeared as if she was letting her mother's words go in one ear and out of the other. When they arrived at the school Twilight left the van without saying anything to anypony. Before Spike left Velvet asked Spike to find out what was going on with Twilight. He told her that he'll try his best and then he left. But Spike was more worried about what happened last night. Everything happened so quickly from him.

Spike skipped a class to eat lunch with his new girlfriend. Babs hoof-fed cherry tomatoes to Spike. Spike was trying to enjoy his time with her but he felt that he was walking on eggshells with her. He didn't want to mess up what he had.

"Okay, babes, I gotta get back to math," Babs said as got up from the table and kissed Spike. "Later."

Spike normal lunchtime started. He continued sitting at the table by himself. He didn't notice Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo approaching him.

"Hey Spike," Sweetie Belle said, first. "You missed a good haul last night."

"Yup," Applebloom said. "We got tons of candy from trick-or-treatin.' We brought you some."

"Thanks," Spike said.

"So…" Scootaloo said.

"So what?" Spike said as he looked at the fillies.

"I told ya he wouldn't notice," Scootaloo said.

"Notice what?"

"OUR CUTIE MARKS!" the Crusaders said in unison.

"Whatcha think of 'em?" Applebloom asked.

"They're pretty cool, I guess," Spike said to his friends. The Crusaders had confused looks on their faces. "What's the matter?"

"Well, we figured you'd be more excited." Sweetie Belle said. "This is kind of a big deal for us. After working so hard helping others and trying to find out what we're good at we realized that we were good at helping others and we finally got our cutie marks."

"Is it really a big deal?" Spike said. "I mean, there's, like. a bunch of ponies here that already have their cutie mark. It was gonna come for you guys sooner or later, right?"

"Okay, that's it," Scootaloo yelled. "What the hell is your deal, dude? You've been acting funny lately and I think I know why. Word around the halls says that you've been hanging out with that pony with the funny accent."

"Babs Seed?" Spike said.

"That's the one. I heard she's like a thug or something."

"She's my girlfriend," Spike said.

The word girlfriend echoed in Sweetie Belle's head. She was distraught. She had a big crush on Spike but she wasn't sure how to tell him how she felt, yet. She was more concerned about his behavior lately. She didn't want to complicate things for him if he was going through something. But it seems she was too late.

"Ah dude, how could you be so stupid," Scootaloo said as she practically stood on the lunch table. "Y'know something never sat right with me since we met you. But I was nice because Sweetie Belle had…" Scootaloo paused to look at her friend. Sweetie Belle was still shocked frozen. Applebloom tried to snap her out of it but nothing she tried worked. She signaled Scootaloo to not mention the crush in fear that it would kill Sweetie Belle. "Well, that's not important. But we let you in, Spike. And now you're treating us like shit."

Spike was speechless he looked at each one of them. He was cornered. He knew the Crusaders would disapprove of Babs Seed. He never bothered to bring her up because of that. But he was beginning to realize that he couldn't be friends with both the Crusaders and Babs and be happy. He new in order to please the one he would have to disappoint the other. He could try and be a normal student with the Crusaders or he could be an aspiring drug dealer with his super cool girlfriend.

Like his sister he left the table without saying anything. He didn't think about leaving. He just silently left. Spike didn't want to choose. Instead of messing things up further he just kept silent. When he left the lunchroom he picked up his pace and ran to the nearest restroom. He found an empty stall and locked himself in it. He sat on the toilet seat and did his best to not think about what just happened. He tried his hardest but he knew in the back of his mind that his friendship with the Cutie Mark Crusaders might have ended.

Author's Note

Hey everyone. Thanks for reading. We're not even halfway done. I still have about eight more chapters for this story! But I wanted to take a sec to thank the readers for sticking with me. I hate high school stories. They are really predictable. This one is no different but I'm trying my hardest to add in a few twists to make this kind of story more interesting. The characters do most of the work in that regard! lol We'll see where it takes us. But again thanking you for taking the time to check the story out.