"It's ok, Spike. They're friends." Twilight said, slowly nudging him out of the bathroom. It took her a little while to talk him into getting dressed, but thankfully that was the easier bit. Now, though it was a matter of getting him to try and relax enough to sit down.

"Wait a minute...!" Starlight spoke up. "You said he's suffering from gynophobia, right?"

"Yeah. He's had it since before we met." Twilight replied, finally getting Spike to sit on the couch. He still kept her between him and them, though.

"If that's the case, then why wasn't he afraid of you??"

"Star's got a point." Moondancer looked at him.

"I-I...I didn't know she was a g-girl at first..." He replied. "Didn't act or dress like one..."

"Yeah, heh." Twilight blushed. "I kinda went more for comfortable over cute...and my hair was shorter back then. It was almost a year before he saw me in a swimsuit and realized it."

Moondancer looked confused. "But, if he wasn't afraid of you after realizing, then why..." She looked pointedly at Sunset.

"That confused him as well." Sunset chuckled weakly. "We think it's 'cause I'm from Equestria; since I was born a pony, the phobia doesn't register."

"Ok...but when, or how did it even start??"

"Always had it, near as I know." Spike replied. "Though it didn't really show till my first day in kindergarten. I was sitting, watching while the other kids came in until..." He shivered visibly. "Her...her name was Lyra Heartstrings. I don't know why it happened, one moment she was smiling and coming my way; the next, all I could think was terror and my senses screaming 'run!'."

"So, it just reared up? Just like that?" Starlight had flipped her notebook to a fresh page and was already taking notes. "And none of your female relatives made it react?"

Spike shook his head. "No, didn't really run into any girls outside my family until I started school. Lyra was the first time my fear kicked in...and aside from Twilight and Sunset, it hasn't stopped since."

Moondancer looked between Starlight and the notes she was taking herself. "Well, I'm not taking psychology, but it's fairly obvious that this phobia is far from natural."

"It's not?" He asked.

"Definitely not. I mean, fears like that require something to happen to you, like trauma." She gave him a rather concerned look. "For it to just...appear like that, it's not possible. No way."

"So...my...my phobia's fake?" The expression on Spike's face told them he couldn't tell if he should be relieved or worried.

"Well, the phobia itself isn't." Starlight chimed in. "However, how it came to be for you is highly suspect."

"Yeah. You said it never kicked in until you met a non-family female. Also, being around Twilight for so long, even if you weren't consciously aware that she was a girl, should have had an effect on it regarding more than just Sunset. In other words, while it's an actual fear in itself, you gained it in a very unnatural manner."

"So, what's that mean? Can I get rid of it?"

Both girls looked at Twilight. "What do you think, Twi?" Starlight asked. "New project for the club?"

Twilight bit her lip in consideration. "It would be nice to see him be able to walk out and not have to keep looking behind him when a girl's there." She inhaled. "All right, let's do it. Where do we start?"

'Half an hour later'

Spike's voice broke the long silence. "Anything?"

"No..."

"Not here."

"I got nothing."

Sunset let out a groan. "Let's face it, we know next to nothing about why his phobia is doing what it is. Think we're gonna have to hit the books for this."

"That and find out exactly why it seems to be picking and choosing who he's not scared of." Starlight added. "Which means we'll have to run a few tests to try and see what that factor is."

'Why do I get the feeling I'm not gonna be having fun with this?' Spike asked himself as he watched the four girls go over things they had jotted down.

"We can work on that later." Twilight pointed at the clock. "Come on, we better get ready for class."

"C-class?" Spike gulped, before feeling Twilight hug his arm.

"It'll be ok, Spike. I promise."

Once they all got ready, Sunset and Twilight promptly flanked him on either side, providing a buffer of sorts against some of the pushier girls. Moondancer and Starlight scouted ahead; after Twilight warned them about Trixie, they kept a lookout for her.

'Well, h-here goes nothing...' Spike tried to fight his shaking the closer they got the first class of their day and his time as a student there.

Author's Note

yeah, I know this chapter's a little short, trying to work out the talk about his phobia was kinda draining. But, if it helps, I got something planned for the next chapter.