Exposure Therapy

For the first time in a good while, Twilight Sparkle's train of thought sputtered and stalled. For a moment she though this was one of the headmistress' weird jokes, but a quick glance at the bags left little doubt that this was the real deal.

There was even less doubt that the young man who's arms she was in was the same one she'd been friends with for years, well before her parents enrolled her to the academy: Spike Drake.

"S-Spike? A-as great as it is to see you..." She sent a silent thank you to anyone listening that he wasn't able to see her blush, "Could...could you put me down, please?" Though neither could see it, her feet emphasized this by wiggling helplessly a good seven inches off the ground.

"They enrolled me here, Twi! " Spike whimpered, his voice muffled a little in her shoulder before he set her down, though it was a little quicker than she expected, "My parents enrolled me into a g-girl's school!"

"Spike, it's ok. Just try and relax." She replied, setting a hand on his shoulder in the hopes it would reassure him some. As she did, she subconsciously took note of the person she hadn't seen since the sixth grade. The most obvious thing was he now stood a good head and shoulders above her, shoulders which proved to be surprisingly broad underneath the baggy grey jacket he had on. A mop of spiky purple hair with green bangs lay draped on his head, almost concealing his slitted jade eyes and the pointed ears that jutted out slightly. Coupled with a set of alarmingly sharp teeth and the inch-long clawlike nails he sported, that were a fairly common trait among Dragonbloods, he would've been considered legitimately intimidating.

That is, if it wasn't for the fact he was currently a quivering wreck.

It took a second for the request to work through Spike's haze of fear, but once it reached him, he was able to take stock of the scene and realized he had unintentionally picked Twilight up off the ground.

Plus he felt something...soft, pressing into his chest. While she was the only one who didn't frighten him, he was no fool as to what girls were, which encouraged him respect her request far faster than he thought he could.

'Why?' That word repeated itself almost in time with his still shaking nerves as his situation slowly made itself known again; somehow, his parents had enrolled him here...what in the HELL possessed them to do this!? For that matter, how'd they even manage it?? He should've known something was boding ill for him when they were suddenly so cheerful!

"How?? Twi, my parents have somehow managed to get me enrolled in an all. Girl. School!" He replied after hearing her suggest that, "If it wasn't for the facts that you're here, I haven't seen you in years, I can't bring myself to run off on you, and I can't remember the route back home, I would already be screaming out that gate...!"

"Then we should be glad that's not what you're doing so far" Another voice spoke up, not too far away. Spike's pupils shrank when he saw a lightly tanned woman in a business suit walk up. Her knee-length hair was a mix of light green, blue and pink. At least, it looked knee-length; it and her tail seemed to constantly move like they were underwater. She was also almost as tall as he was; taller if you added the foot-long snow white horn on her forehead, and two large white wings on her back, both traits identifing her as an Alicornblood.

"Oh, Headmistress. It's...you?" Twilight responded while Spike suddenly tried to duck down behind her, which probably would've looked hilarious were it not for the look of unmitigated panic on his face. "Spike, it's ok! This is Headmistress Celestia Solaris."

"Head....headmistress?" Spike peered out from over Twilight's shoulder, "Th-that mean you run this place, right!?"

"Co-Headmistress to be exact, along with my sister Luna."

"Then how the heck did my mom and dad talk you into letting them enroll me HERE??" His voice came out almost pleadingly, "I feel like this whole place is ready to eat me alive!"

Celestia frowned, "Wow, Nicole wasn't kidding about your situation. Aside from Twilight, you really ARE frightened of the opposite sex."

"It-it's not something I'm proud of...." He started, before something clicked: Celes'tia'... and she knew his mom by name? "Ho-hold on, you...you're 'Tia', and 'Lu'... you're the two sisters my mom gets on the phone with sometimes, aren't you??" He pointed at her.

"Right in one, big fella!" Celestia chirped, "As for how you got in; wasn't easy, especially since Canterlot Academy's been a single-gender school since its inception. Took us a few days to get all the paperwork through. Luckily the academy is mostly funded privately, so we didn't have too much trouble. The why; well, you don't think we wouldn't step in to help our old roomie and her baby boy out, do you? Besides, from what she's told us, you seem too nice a kid to need that hanging over you." She clapped her hands and a light gold glow covered her horn before enveloping his bags, making them vanish with a light 'pop', "Don't worry." She said, hearing the strained noises of panic Spike started to make, "I've just teleported your stuff to your room."

"O...oh." He immediately felt a little stupid for freaking out about his bags, forgetting Alicorn and Unicornbloods both had access to magic spells.

"Now, Twilight, how about you show our first male student to his quarters and then you can give him the grand tour. It's on the same hallway as yours, just look for the glow on the doorknob." With that, she headed back in with almost a bit of a strut in her walk.

"Well...I guess we better get going." Twilight shot him a small smile that slowly widened, "She said it's the same hall, so we'll be close at least."

At first he felt himself succumbing to the situation with resigned dread. But, she was right about that...he'd have someone to protect him here, as odd as that notion sounded given. The fact he felt a bit of that dread melt away with that smile of hers didn't hurt either. "All right, Twi. Lead the way."

A quick look let him see how much she'd grown since then; her petite frame made her look a lot younger than the nineteen-year-old she was. A curtain of dark indigo waist-length hair, streaked with pink and purple, draped over her back with her own pointed ears peeking out. Under it swung an equally long tail the same color and style. Her current attire was what he guessed the school uniform was: a white long-sleeve shirt with scarlet-colored bowtie, button up corset and mid-thigh-length skirt the same color, with white stockings. Coupled with how the somewhat thick rimmed glasses she had on managed to make her violet eyes stand out...he had to admit to himself in spite of his fear, she was cute as hell.

She started to take a step, but before he could even begin to follow, Twilight wheeled around and jumped at him, wrapping her arms around his neck, "It's great to see you again, Spike!" She squeaked happily.

"Same here, Twilight." He chuckled, returning the hug once the surprise of her pounce wore off, "Same here."