When Twilight hobbled back into her room there was quite the commotion behind the door, hushed whispers and questions being thrown around. She stood on her crutches and opened the door, the girls sitting around and on her bed, Sunset helped her friend onto her own bed. She was curious, so she couldn't stop herself from asking Twilight this, "So we heard you outside talking to someone, who was it?"

Twilight said nothing at first, looking at her friends. "Before I say anything else, I want all of you to listen to me before rushing off."

Everyone stared at Pinkie whom replied with, "What?"

"Sugarcube, whenever there is someone new in town, you always rush off to give them a welcome to Canterlot party. Even when they're obviously uncomfortable with it." Applejack told Pinkie.

"I...didn't know he was agoraphobic." Pinkie tried and failed to defend herself, her hair deflating slightly. "Okay I get your point."

"Back to what I was saying, to answer your question Sunset, yes I was talking to someone. Something recently happened and well, there's going to be a boy living with my parents and I for a bit after my brother moves out to attend Sentinel Military Academy."

"So wait a minute," Rainbow started, "Are you saying that you now have a foster brother?"

Twilight messed with her fingers, "I guess?"

"So what's his name?" Rarity asked her bespectacled friend.

"His name is Spike Draconis." Twilight said, then Fluttershy spoke up.

"His name reminds me of..." The animal caretaker noticed the grimace on her bespectacled companion's face, "....Sorry."

"You're fine Flutters, I just...miss him." Twilight didn't say anything beyond that.

"Changing the subject." Rarity attempting her best to be tactful, and floundering at it. "Does this boy have any interests?"

"He likes comic books, so there's that. I was about to say they weren't real books but I then saw the look on his face, I was about to crush his feelings. I think refraining from doing that was the best course of action." Twilight snapping her attention the fashionista.

"Do you want to try and coax him out?" Sunset asked.

"He looked, skittish." Twilight told the girls, "At least that's the best way to describe it, he has been in and out of a lot of foster homes. Some of them, worse than others."

"How'd ya mean Twi?" Applejack asked.

"He...he said that some of them only took him in for the benefit from the checks distributed by Social Services." Twilight stated nervously.

That caused several audible gasps to emanate from the room. The chatter continued and down the hall in the office of Twilight Velvet, Spike sat on the pull out bed. "The walls aren't as thick as they would think." Spike whispered to himself, he then chastised himself for saying such a thing. You made a promise Draconis, you promised that you would give them a chance. Spike took a deep breath, and stood up. He grabbed his ball compass and slipped it into his pocket. He opened the door, which the hinges on it hadn't been oiled in a while given the loud squeaking noises they were giving off. The chatter soon turned to whispers as Spike held on to that compass like a life preserver for a passenger that went overboard. He took slow steps towards Twilight's bedroom, after he stopped to stare at the periwinkle and white star with five smaller stars surrounding it adorning the well...door. He took a huge deep breath as he slowly raised his fist and knocked. The whispers in the room went dead silent, then started back up again. Spike's heart was hammering away in his prepubescent ribcage, after a long pause the door opened up. Spike's breath hitched as he saw Twilight stood before him again, "Hi." He started.

"Hi." Twilight continued.

"You asked if I wanted to meet your friends?" Spike repeated her question from earlier.

"I hope this means yes?" Twilight asked.

"Just one thing though, could you please not talk about me when I'm not in the room?" He asked. Twilight grew pale, she remembered that the walls can be pretty thin, the whispering behind her soon quieted, "I mean, I don't talk about you when you're not in the room." Spike started to ramble, "Mostly cause I don't know you..." He then took his other hand that wasn't gripping his compass and rubbed the arm attached to the hand that was.

"I'm sorry." Twilight spoke up, "I just wanted to inform my friends of what was happening, and I went a little too far didn't I?" Spike said nothing to reply, "I promise that I won't reveal anything about you that you don't want me to. I wanted to get you comfortable and I'm already screwing up."

"What was that Twilight?" Velvet asked from the kitchen.

"N-Nothing mommy!" Twilight blushed again, then grumbled."I swear that woman has hearing like a bat."

"That's two for the swear jar!" Velvet replied, "One for the swear another for the sass young lady, do not attempt to go for a third!"

"Would you like to come in?" Twilight asked Spike after she received her talking to from her mom.

"Y-Yes please." Spike slowly walked in, looking around he saw the other girls in the room.

"Spike," Twilight started, "This is Sunset Shimmer, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy. Girls, this is Spike." Twilight lay a hand on his shoulder and had him recoil a bit, however he relaxed as soon as he knew it was just her.

"Hi Spike, pleasure to meet you." Sunset held out her hand and he stared at it.

"I'm not a...touching person..." Spike mumbled.

Twilight shot a glance to Pinkie who then nodded. Sunset lowered her hand, "That's alright. No one is telling or asking you to anything you don't want to."

Spike looked around, Fluttershy picked up his behaviors. He was behaving like a cornered animal that didn't want to be touched, "You're looking for an escape route aren't you?" She asked him.

That question caused him to freeze, "F-Force of habit." He mumbled.

Dealing with Spike right now was the equivalent of dealing with a time bomb that had a random countdown timer, it could be at 1 billion or negative 3 and Twilight was actively trying to defuse it with toenail clippers. Needless to say Twilight was nervous, and everyone could tell.

"How about this?" Pinkie Pie suggested, "Since Twilight shared something about you, we all share something about ourselves! Something we don't usually tell others! That way you know something about us and we know something about you?"

"R-Really?" Spike asked.

"I'll go first!" Pinkie said, "As you heard my name is Pinkie Pie, like duh doy!" She gestured at herself, "I work in a bakery and so when I'm all alone and closing up, sometimes I like to cover myself in blueberries and flower and pretend I'm a muffin!"

Spike actually chuckled at that, "Do you throw away the blueberries?" He asked.

"Duh doy! I wouldn't want to jeopardize Sugar Cube Cafe! Though they do ask where they go from time to time." Pinkie smiled while scratching the back of her head.

"I think I shall go next." Rarity said, "I, Rarity Belle. I secretly love to get dirty."

Spike was now confused, "Um, okay..."

"I believe it will take a little more explaining Rarity." Sunset offered.

"Very well. I'm what you would call a socialite, I am doing my best to break into the world of fashion and with that comes a certain set of rules, and one of these rules is to be organized and clean all the time!" Rarity exclaimed, "So, I might sometimes, make things purposely dirty or disorganized so that I can have an outlet of sorts. This includes myself, hence why I like the mud baths at the spa so much."

"I guess that makes sense." Spike mumbled.

"Trust me sugarcube, once you get to know her a little bit more. It will." Applejack informed Spike, "And with that, I suppose I should spill my guts a bit too." She took off her hat, "As much as I hate to admit this, I actually have 3 siblings. If ya decide to stick around Spike, you'll meet two of them, their names are Big Macintosh; my older brother and Apple Bloom; my little sis. However, I also have a little brother and when he was born as it turned out he was born with autism. The reason why no one ever sees him, is because he was sent to a special boarding school that helps him understand himself better."

"Wow." Spike said, "I- dunno what to say."

"You don't have to say nuthin' sugarcube." Applejack assured, "Everyone knew 'cept you."

Fluttershy decided that it was her turn to say something, "I help my friend grow weed." She squeaked out, "It's all medicinal!"

Spike's jaw dropped, out of all the things her heard tonight this was the most shocking. "Uh..."

"My friend Tree Hugger is...very into the 60's lifestyle." Fluttershy emphasized, "So she grows her own medicinal marijuana. I only help her with watering, which is why I keep a spare set of clothes on me in a vacuum sealed bag, I was pulled over by the cops once and was given a warning for the smell."

"Can't believe you went with that one Shy." Rainbow Dash commented, "I guess I'm up, I'm Rainbow Dash and I'm an alcoholic." She then received a smack on the arm from Applejack, "Alright, jeez." She took a deep breath, "Truth is I'm an athlete, and during my time off after school and sometimes on the weekends, I like to go to garage sales and look for Teenie Babies."

"Huh." Spike said, "You do know that they're virtually worthless right?"

"Yeah I do, but they're everywhere and they're so adorable that I can't help but pick one up at a bargain every time I come across one." She said, "And if this gets out I swear-"

"Rainbow! Less violence, more valentine." Twilight warned whilst waving the end of one of her crutches at her.

"Well I guess it's me now." Sunset said, "I'm actually an interdimensional traveler, I originally take the form of a pony, there's pony counterparts for almost everyone at Canterlot High which I'm guessing is where you'll be attending with us soon enough." She put bluntly. Spike was so silent, in fact so was everyone in the room. "What?"

Author's Note

Apologies for the delay, job hunting is a bitch.

Originally I had Applejack confess that she was bisexual as well but I thought that revealing that she had a younger brother, that of which I take NO CREDIT in conceiving, would be a better secret.

And yeah Flutter butter does partake...occasionally.