Unusable Story Husk

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