The familiar, brilliant glow of the morning sun shone through Twilight’s bedroom window, meeting Spike’s eyes. Through his squinting, he could make out a couple of birds out to bask in the cool morning sun He was quite envious of the birds, being free to enjoy the day while he was stuck in the treehouse cleaning up after Twilight's mess of books. After all, it wasn’t his fault that she had been rummaging through everything the night before. Sometimes, it almost felt as if she held him back from doing what he wanted to do.
It’s not that the task was impossible. No, he knew he was the best at what he did, but it didn’t make it any more fun. Day after day, he toiled over whatever the latest mess consisted of.
“Better me than Twilight, I suppose. She works hard enough to learn magic, and who knows when she’ll need it!”
Despite the apparent acceptance of the situation, it still bothered him that he was stuck at home. Twilight never needed to stay in the treehouse before, even if she needed to read. She just got to go whenever she wanted. Maybe if Spike had someone to interact with on a regular basis, he might have a proper excuse to leave when he wants.
A knocking sound coming from the door interrupted his thoughts, alerting him to somepony’s presence.
It was pretty late in the morning, not the time of day somepony would come to grab something to read. Spike walked over to the door, peeking out from the side window to try and get a glimpse of the intruder.
“Spike? Spiiiike!” a mare’s voice called out. “Open this door!”
The familiarity in the voice was almost unmistakable.
"Twilight, is that you?" Spike asked, opening the door cautiously. “If it’s you, then why did you come back? I thought you were busy with your friends!”
On normal days, one would expect to see a happy, smiling expression on Twilight’s face as she’d walk into her home.
With a rustled mess of a mane and an air of annoyance surrounding her, it was apparent that this wasn't one of those days.
“I just got in a little bit of a mess, Spike. Hearts and Hooves day isn’t far away, and Rarity can’t find her white thread to finish my dress! I’ve been looking for some all over Ponyville since early this morning,” Twilight said, sighing. “I couldn’t find anything, and that’s what brought me here.”
“Really? I’ve just been working on the mess you wanted me to clean up. If you need me to help, I’ll just be over by the fiction section,” Spike said, resuming his usual duties.
It wasn't easy to memorize the location of every book in the first place, but with somepony else making all sorts of noise while looking to find thread, it was made impossible. It made matters worse whenever Twilight's occasional cry of excitement came and surprised Spike. It was the last thing Spike wanted while he was working on a ladder, as he usually did during his organizational duties.
"Of course! I can make my own- wait, I can't do that. How would I make thread? Think, Twilight, think! You know better than that," Twilight said to herself.
Gee, Twilight seems more neurotic than usual, Spike thought to himself. Maybe I can help!
"Twilight, if you are stressing over this so much, just let me go! I'm a good finder, and it wouldn't hurt if I tried to find some myself!" Spike suggested.
If Twilight didn’t seem stressed before, she certainly did now.
“Spike, there is none of it anywhere in town! It’s as if somepony just up and took it all!” Twilight said worriedly. “The next shipment of thread from Canterlot is in a week, so I can’t wait that long either! With Hearts and Hooves day coming up, I have to plan the festivities instead of looking for thread all day so that the event goes smoothly, so heading there myself is not an option-”
“Twilight, it won’t hurt for me to look. You can’t possibly have looked everywhere!” Spike interrupted. “I can spend the rest of the day looking around, and when I come back, I’ll finish organizing the books. You can just take a break from your hard work or something. How does that sound?”
Twilight didn’t appear bothered by Spike’s interruption, but it did seem as though she was considering what he had said.
“Alright. Other than the whole white thread issue, I’ve been so busy with my duties for the special day. I could use a little break.”
This was the opportunity Spike had been waiting for.
“And you’ll let me go, right?”
Twilight nodded her head, trotting off to her bed. Within moments of laying down, no sounds or movements came from her.
What about me? Where should I look first for the thread?
Looking outside, one can see all of the intown stores and boutiques, but none of them were what Spike was looking for. Peering out a little closer, he could make out Carousel Boutique past the clock tower. If Twilight couldn’t find any white thread in town, then asking Rarity where to look is probably the best option, even if she doesn’t have any for herself. Taking care to shut the door silently, he dwelled on what this opportunity brought.
Now that I’m free to go see Rarity, I think I’ll go check and see if she wants to- er, I mean, I think I’ll go ask her about the thread. Yep, that’s all I’m out here for.
Shaking the thought from his head, Spike began walking towards the boutique.
Hmm... Hearts and Hooves day, eh? If it’s not far away, I should ask Rarity before it’s too late. Sure, my main goal is to get white thread, but I might as well ask her in the meantime, right? Right. I’m talking to myself now about her. In that case, I guess I really am in love!
The walk there wasn’t particularly long, but it took quite some time before he mustered up enough nerve to decide to enter the boutique. All of the questions in his mind, whether it was about white thread or how he would ask Rarity to be his special somepony for Hearts and Hooves day, kept him outside long enough to see something fly out the upper window of the building. There wasn't really any time to think about it, considering it had hit him square in the head before he could have moved away.
Upon further inspection, the object that hit him turned out to be a small spool of white thread.
Strange... if Rarity needed white thread, and she claimed that she didn’t have any, why would she throw a spool out-
Spike’s thoughts crashed along with the rest of his body to the ground, pinned by somepony with their eyes closed.
“Sweetie Belle?” Spike inquired.
Sweetie Belle opened her eyes, her face one of confusion and doubt when she caught sight of Spike’s eyes.
“Sweetie, what’s the matter? Why were your eyes closed? And why was this thread thrown outside?”
“It’s a little bit of a long story. Just some stuff with my sister," Sweetie replied.
"I have time. Tell me about it."
"Well..."
**********
"Sweetie Belle! It's time to get up!" Rarity called upstairs to her little sister.
This young filly had recently been facing an interesting dilemma not commonly seen with ponies her age, besides being wakened too early for her tastes. She had seen all of the couples around Ponyville and became envious- usually having caused her to beg her older sister for advice. Every time, the answer was-
"And before you ask, I'm not helping you with your quest, search or whatever for a relationship. You're too young and you need to figure out who to have one with on your own. It's becoming dreadfully annoying to hear you being upset about not having one, so I'd suggest you not speak of it anymore. You'll be happier with your friends, off discovering your cutie marks as knights or rather…"
"We're the crusaders, big sis, but let me get out of bed before your yellling blows my ear off!" Sweetie retorted.
Seeing the bright, late morning was enough to wake most ponies, but when Rarity is yelling at you, it’s made impossible to sleep. The only way to avoid it is simply to get up, no matter how tired or cranky you feel.
Climbing out of bed, Sweetie Belle took a quick look outside her window. The usual sight of the clock tower, Twilight’s library and the many couples out enjoying this fine day didn’t surprise her in the least.
Look at all of those happy ponies. Why can’t young fillies like me enjoy the day with somepony special? And only five or so days until Hearts and Hooves day! What does a crusader have to do? Sweetie thought to herself.
“Sweetie!”
“Coming, sis!”
Heading downstairs, Sweetie judged that Rarity would be her best bet at getting somepony to have a relationship with her. If she wasn’t interested in doing that, then she might as well be persuaded to.
“Ah! There you are, Sweetie. Your breakfast is on the table. I have to do some work for Twilight, so I can’t stay long. I trust you’ll go play with your friends or something when I’m gone?” Rarity said, hurrying herself everywhere.
“Yeah, I suppose,” Sweetie replied. “But if you’ve been rushing, then you must not have eaten. I’ll make some breakfast for you!”
Rarity appeared a little flustered by the offer, based on past experiences.
“Well, I don’t really need breakfast, I can just have a big lunch later! Your offer is delightful, but I think I’ll pass for now, Sweetie!”
Getting the opportunity to make her breakfast would be a good way to persuade Rarity, at least that’s what Sweetie had in mind. When her big sister dashed upstairs, it was the perfect time to make the breakfast without her knowing. The young filly pushed the plate of breakfast made for her aside as she fetched the ingredients for-
“Wait, what will I make? Something quick... like a drink! I can make a drink breakfast!” Sweetie exclaimed, taking heaps of different foods from the pantry.
“Let’s see... the blender could blend some eggs, some oranges, maybe even some toast! This’ll be the best breakfast drink ever!” Sweetie said, shoving uncooked, uncracked eggs along with a full orange into the blender.
Turning the toaster setting to max, Sweetie placed the bread into the toaster, setting a timer so that she didn’t forget to grab them in time. In the meantime, she took some apple juice from the pantry, taking care not to spill its contents all over the floor.
“Alright, let’s get some apple juice into this drink! Rarity loves apples!”
Ding! A loud, shrill tone came from the toaster, surprising Sweetie despite her previous knowledge that it would come. The initial shock caused her to drop the apple juice container, spilling it all over the floor as she slipped and slid all over it. With one last slide, she fell down, hoof hitting the start button on the blender without putting on a cover.
Eggs and orange piece flew everywhere in the room, making splashing noises everywhere. It didn’t make matters worse when the toaster, which had been neglected despite the timer finishing, had begun smoking out its exhaust.
“What in the world is... SWEETIE! How did you create this AWFUL mess! It’ll take me forever to clean up! I told you NOT to make me breakfast! Is this your idea of trying to persuade me to do something? Like help you find a special somepony? Because let me tell you now, it certainly did not work!”
Sweetie, still lying on the floor, looked up at her big sister.
“I’m really sorry, sis. I just wanted to help...”
Rarity sighed, stopping the blender and the toaster in the meantime.
“Listen, I know you want to help. But I don’t need help right now, so if you could go play with your friends while I clean up this horrid mess, that would be the biggest thing you could to for me,” Rarity explained. “I had been so happy when I found the box of white thread I had bought from all over town, but it looks like my day isn’t done yet.”
“Wow, a whole box of white thread? The whole town must have been picked dry of it!” Sweetie said.
“Yes, it is a lot of thread. A lot of it I won’t be using... say, Sweetie, are you still looking for a relationship?”
Sweetie nodded her head in earnest, waiting to see if Rarity will appease her wishes.
“Well, one of the spools of thread I have is magical. I just haven’t told you about it because... it was supposed to be my secret. If you close your eyes and throw it as far as you can, then the next person you run into while still closing your eyes is your true love! It never fails!” Rarity explained.
“Really?! Give me it, I want to use it!” Sweetie said excitedly.
Rarity blocked the entryway to the staircase, shaking her head at the young filly.
“No, no. You can’t use it unless you promise to spend the day with the special somepony you meet. I need to work on this mess, and... the magic with the spool only works if you do that!” Rarity told Sweetie.
“Yes, a thousand times yes!” Sweetie trilled.
Once Rarity got out of the way, Sweetie dashed upstairs to get the thread and was at the window in a flash.
“Well, here we go! My true love awaits!” Sweetie yelled, throwing the thread as far as she could throw outside.
If she hadn’t closed her eyes then, she would’ve seen the purple dragon approaching her, then her life would’ve turned out a lot different.
This wasn’t the case.
**********
"…Never mind. It's not really important," Sweetie finished.
Spike, still a little disoriented, looked at Sweetie in total confusion. The way he expectently waited for Sweetie to speak made things more awkward than they had to be, forcing out the first thing on her mind.
"Hey Spike, want to join the Cutie Mark Crusaders?"
Sweetie smiled the most see-through, obviously fake smile she had ever made in attempt to reassure Spike. By his delighted expression, it didn’t seem as though he needed it.
"Sure, I'd love to! What will we do first?" Spike said excitedly. This was his perfect chance to make some good friends, giving him the excuse he needed to enjoy himself.
"Well, there's this awesome place we love to hang out in, I'll show you where it is and introduce you formally to the other crusaders," Sweetie Belle said. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, despite the clear differences between them, might be a good choice. After all, Rarity said the thread never lied, right?
This was her perfect chance at finding someone to have a romantic relationship. This was both of their chances at love. Unfortunately, these drastically different kinds loves don't always work out well for either of them.
Because when you're going in two different directions, a change of direction is nearly impossible.
END OF CHAPTER ONE
It wasn't every day that you got to make some new friends, even if it was under the strangest circumstances. For Spike, it was an especially odd situation as he walked over to 'Cutie Mark Crusader Headquarters' with Sweetie Belle. For one, none of the crusaders were male nor a dragon. It didn't matter to him though, because if Ponyville had taught him anything since he arrived, it's that anypony can be friends, regardless of who they were or what they did.
For Sweetie, it felt a touch awkward for her to attempt to start a relationship with somepony who wasn't really a pony at all. She hadn't even told him yet about the whole situation. But if her life experiences have told her anything, it's that Rarity is always right. But even if she was right, did the thread make the right decision in choosing Spike?
"Wait, I completely forgot!" Spike exclaimed suddenly. "The whole reason why I went to the boutique was to get white thread! I should have grabbed the-"
"Spike, don't worry, Rarity has tons of white thread. You can get some later if you really want. I have to introduce you to the other crusaders first!" Sweetie interrupted. "They have no idea I'm bringing you, so it'll be a nice surprise!"
Coming up to a moderately sized wooden treehouse, Spike felt a pang of familiarity with the structure.
"Hey, I was here before already! This was where the Rainbow Dash fan club met that one time!" Spike said, recalling his memories of the rainbow pony's followers. Chuckling slightly, he walked up the ramp leading up to the treehouse with Sweetie before catching a glimpse of orange and yellow through a window.
"Gee, I hope they'll accept me like you did, Sweetie. I'll need to be briefed though, because frankly, I don't have much of an idea about what you fillies even do. I mean, I know you're looking for cutie marks, but I'm not sure I'd fit in that way. You know, since I don't get cutie marks."
Sweetie turned to Spike with a reassuring smile on her face, but not before knocking on the front door to call out to the other crusaders.
"Don't get too stressed about it, it's more of a friendship than a bunch of fillies with only one purpose. We can be flexible. We'll tell you everything about it in our meeting, don't worry!" Sweetie reassured Spike.
"I sure hope so," Spike replied as the door swung open, revealing Scootaloo and Applebloom's confused expressions. Spike couldn't help but feel nervous, despite the friendly demeanour Sweetie had promised. This was new ground for him; he didn't interact with the crusaders much before today. He was still trying to figure out why Sweetie felt the need to invite him into the crusaders, let alone try and make himself feel like he belonged.
It didn't help him feel like he belonged while Scootaloo was giving him a good, hard stare.
"What's he doing here, Sweetie? This is supposed to be a special meeting, and that means no outsiders allowed!" Scootaloo chided.
"I'll explain once we get the meeting started. He needs to be here for this, though," Sweetie replied.
Applebloom was too busy trying to figure out why Spike was here to argue and be annoyed, but Scootaloo looked noticeably irritated the whole time as the crusaders set up a table and chairs for their meeting. It wasn't anything special, just a space in the middle of the treehouse made for the rickety table the crusaders called their meeting table, even if they only used it to feel official and important. Taking a seat next to Sweetie, he couldn't help but feel out of place in the club, even if he was somewhere around their age.
“So, girls, we have a new member of the cutie mark crusaders!” Sweetie said, to the the dismay and shock of the other crusaders. “Now, hold on a second before you get mad! I picked him for a good reason. He doesn’t have a cutie mark, and he’s a great assistant for Twilight, so I thought he’d be good as our crusader assistant!”
Spike’s nervousness turned to annoyance at Sweetie’s mention of ‘assistant’.
“There is no way I am going to be an assistant for Twilight and an assistant for all three of you! It’s too much work!”
Despite Spike’s clear disapproval of the suggestion, Applebloom seemed convinced already for Spike to join. Scootaloo, however, shared his objection.
“See? Even he doesn’t want to join now. This is our club, that we started together. We bring one outsider in, and a whole bunch of other ponies will start joining! This is supposed to be our journey looking for cutie marks, Sweetie!” Scootaloo argued. Just as Sweetie was about to respond, Applebloom stepped in between two, leaving Spike without words on the other side of Sweetie.
“Although I don’t agree he should be an assistant, I think it would be a great experience to have Spike as a new crusader!” Applebloom cut in. “My big sister always teaches me to accept people despite their differences, and maybe we could learn something along the way! Spike, you can just hang out with us on our journey, it would be nice company! And don’t feel left out because you’re a guy dragon, because you technically don’t have a cutie mark either! Under that logic, I think he should be allowed to join!”
Sweetie nodded her head encouragingly, outvoting Scootaloo, who still wasn’t convinced, to allow Spike to join. He himself seemed happier, since the circumstances were changed to what he wanted his experience to be. Just some ponies to make friends with and have fun.
“Sorry you feel that way, Scootaloo. I’m sure we’ll end up as great friends, we’ve got a lot of stuff to do to make that happen!” Spike added. “And I’m thankful the two of you want me to join, I really hope we can get along well too!”
“So, now that he’s one of us, let’s get this meeting started!” Sweetie and Applebloom said in unison, leaving Scootaloo grumbling as she returned to her seat.
“First on the agenda is something to do with food! I like the sound of this already!” Applebloom said. “We’re doing something at the cafe downtown, so we can be food conas... conasoo-”
“You mean connoisseurs?” Spike interrupted. “Twilight sometimes uses pretty big words when she’s reading, and often she teaches me what some of them mean. I think I heard Rarity saying it once too, so it must be fancy. I guess it helps sometimes to learn, eh?”
“Yeah, that’s what I meant.” Applebloom said, chuckling. “Now, come on crusaders, it’s time to go be food con- whatever they are!”
Everypony nodded their head, eager to start a new experience. Everypony except Spike, that is, who was too busy thinking and reflecting on the situation to follow them outside the treehouse.
Wow, I finally have some friends to hang out with! They’re close to my age I guess, why didn’t I just ask sooner? Spike thought to himself. I can’t really hang out with anypony else since their too busy doing their own thing, like Rarity making dresses, but I can do this kind of stuff no problem!
“Spike, what are you doing?” Sweetie called back. “I got you into the club, the least you could do is come to your party! Oh, don't give me that surprised look, it should have been obvious that I put the food agenda item in at the last minute! It's for you!"
Spike rattled out of his trance, even happier than he had been before. Sweetie was being so kind to him, and it made him feel as though he was already a veteran crusader. Without words, he followed the other crusaders to the cafe downtown, enjoying every second with the fillies.
Upon arrival at the building, Spike looked around the cafe, attempting to find a four seated table for the crusaders. The place was so packed, what with it being lunch hour, that he was only able to find two tables that were separated from each other, bearing only two seats apiece.
"Uh, girls? I see some seats over there, but we'll end up separated if we choose that place. Maybe we can just stand?"
"Spike, it's okay!" Sweetie replied. "It'd be silly to enjoy your first experience standing up, I'll just sit with you!"
Blushing at the thought of being alone with the young filly, Spike sat down on the table across from Sweetie. It seemed as though she was blushing slightly as well, although she was attempting to cover it up with some idle chat.
"I'm a little curious, Spike, what do you want to do now that you're a crusader?"
This question seemed to stump him, since he hasn't been a crusader long enough to really think about stuff like that. But he wanted to seem invaluable as a friend, so he tried to think of any answer that might appease her.
"Well… I really just want to hang out with you fillies and be good friends! I’ve always wanted to be involved with others my age, and even though you fillies aren't dragons, I'm happy regardless."
Sweetie looked a little dismayed at 'friends', wishing to be at least a little more than that.
But I can't go too strong. If I rush things, it'll be all over! Sweetie thought. I know! It won't seem forward to tell him about the white thread, will it?
"Spike, I also wanted you to know-"
A fancy looking colt with a thick moustache and a french cutie mark appeared from behind Spike, interrupting Sweetie by clearing his throat as he began to take their orders.
"Ah, monsieur dragon, what will you be having on 'zis fine day?" the colt said with a thick, french accent.
The fanciness in the colt's voice impressed Spike, even if it was a little difficult to understand some of what he was saying.
"Uh… I'll have a… poutine."
Sweetie leaned in to whisper to Spike, unaware that the waiter could hear every word she said, considering he was standing right next to them.
"You think that was a fancy sounding word? Watch and learn, Rarity teaches me a lot of fancy words!"
Unamused at Sweetie's complete ignorance of his presence, the waiter turned to her.
"Et toi, mademoiselle, what will you be having?"
Sweetie turned from confident to confused in a second, trying to make out what he said.
"Uh, mademoiselle? Was that an insult? Well, you're a baguette with pasta la pizzeria!" Sweetie said in a matter-of-fact fashion.
Looking more and more unimpressed by the second, the waiter wrote down ‘baguette' as he stormed off into the backroom, muttering almost unintelligible mumblings of "Pasta is Italian, not French, you imbecile…"
"Wow Sweetie, you sure showed him off!" Spike said, a little shaken at the outburst. "I thought 'poutine' would be fancy enough! What does 'mademoiselle' mean, anyway?"
Sweetie shrugged, fully aware that everything she said was complete and udder nonsense.
A new waitress came over soon after, holding a baguette and a small dish of poutine, placing them down in front of the two. This came as a surprise to both of them, whom had just ordered a moment before.
“A poutine and a baguette for this table, right?” the waitress asked, prompting Spike and Sweetie to nod their heads. “This was originally for another customer, but he just left. So, here you go! The other waiter wanted you to get your food so you could leave quickly- er, be more satisfied with a quick meal. Enjoy!”
As the waitress left, Spike began to bite into the poutine, grimacing a little at the flavour.
“Ugh, I should have just asked for gems. This isn’t very tasty, but it was the only fancy food word I know. Oh well, at least I’m enjoying it with my friends!”
“Friends...” Sweetie mumbled, ignored by Spike, who was too busy staring outside the window at a pony outside. The pony in question was a mare, wearing her latest fashionable dress and brushing her purple mane into shape.
“Wow, your sister sure is something!” Spike exclaimed, watching Rarity walking outside the cafe. “I think... I think I like her, but I just don’t know what to say! Keep that a secret! Well, I guess I’ll figure what to say some other time. For now, let’s enjoy the rest of the day as crusaders!”
*Sigh* I guess he’s leading on a path of friendship. Sweetie thought. I have to stray him off the path... but how am I going to pull that off so soon? I need him to get comfortable with me first. I need to follow through with that white thread. This could be my chance at meeting a special somepony- even if he isn’t a pony.
But even if he’s in love with my sister, I’m not giving up so soon.
END OF CHAPTER TWO
