From the moment the words had reached her ears, Twilight had charged out of the Golden Oak. Anypony who saw the young unicorn rush past them would have been worried for her, knowing that things were usually pretty serious whenever Twilight Sparkle was like this. But it was no great disaster or magical anomaly that Celestia's student was rushing to, but instead the town's local school. All of the kids had gone of course, since it was a Saturday, yet there was one youngster still there, and it was one she now looked to with obvious concern. It was Spike, sitting on the front step of the school, and behind him was none other than Cheerilee, Ponyville's lone teacher, who waved Twilight over as soon as she saw her. As Twilight made her way closer, she spoke up at last. "I got your message. What happened?"
Looking down to Spike briefly, Cheerilee sighed. "Well, it seems your ward here got himself into a small bit of trouble earlier, and I felt you should know about it."
Twilight immediately looked to Spike. "What does she mean, Spike? Are you okay?"
Spike held himself, looking away in that way children did when something was definitely on their minds. "I...um...I got into a fight earlier."
Instantly, Twilight's eyes widened with shock, and she noticed too the slight scuffs that Spike had on his arms. Rushing to his side, Twilight got to her knees, looking him over. "What happened? Who were you fighting?"
Here, it was Cheerilee who answered. "It was Snips and Snails."
Twilight frowned to that. She recognised the names, but only just. They were a couple of colts who attended this school, though she didn't think Spike had any association with them. Looking back to her young charge, Twilight drew herself closer to him. "How did...did they attack you?"
Spike shook his head, but he said nothing, as if ashamed, thus leaving it open for Cheerilee to answer in his stead. "It was out in the town square, and he was among one of the other children. Scootaloo specifically. The other girls had to go home for various reasons, but the filly and Spike stayed together and kept on talking." She sighed. "Then Snips and Snails showed up and...well...words were exchanged." She glanced down to Spike. "From what I gather, they were fairly hurtful words. Enough to provoke Spike here into throwing the first punch."
Twilight, horrified by that story, looked again to Spike. "Spike?"
Again, Spike said nothing, and Cheerilee was left to speak in his place. "It was fortunate that I was passing by doing my grocery shopping at the time. I saw the fight and decided to intervene. Had I not been there, I'm certain things might have gotten worse."
Taking a deep breath, Twilight stood up again, giving a single nod to the teacher. "Thank you for telling me this, Miss Cheerilee. And thank you for looking after Spike while I got here."
Cheerilee nodded back to her. "It's no problem." She looked down to Spike, patting him on the shoulder briefly. "Talk to her about it, okay?"
Spike gave her a silent nod, but otherwise there was no interaction between the two. Twilight gave the teacher a thankful nod for looking after Spike while she got there, and she watched as Cheerilee finally started to walk off, no doubt to head on home. And speaking of which, that was exactly what Twilight herself now intended to do, with Spike close behind her of course. The walk back was at a slower pace than usual for the two of them, given that they had something on their minds right now, and after a long while of just not saying anything to each other, Twilight finally broke that silence. "So...you wanna tell me what happened?"
Spike grimaced. "I...shouldn't have done that. It was stupid."
Twilight frowned. "I'll be the judge of that. Now tell me...how did this play out?"
Another pause, and then Spike sighed. "Like Miss Cheerilee said, I was talking with Scootaloo about stuff, then Snips and Snails came long. They weren't even going there to talk to us, they were just passing by."
Twilight arched an eyebrow. "Then how did it get to the point of them provoking you?"
Spike nervously poked the ends of his claws together. "Well...Scootaloo was talking about her parents and how great it is that they're out there doing what they do, and I said it must be nice having them in her life." He turned to look up at Twilight. "Then she said to me it's also great that I have you looking after me." Twilight smiled down to him, clearly agreeing with that sentiment the filly had uttered. But her smile faded when Spike looked away from her again. "Then, Snips and Snails passed by, just as I was agreeing with her. Snips laughed, saying that...that..."
Twilight could see him hesitate here, and whatever had been said was clearly upsetting to him. "It's okay...take your time."
Taking a deep breath, Spike nodded. "He said...you didn't really count as my parent since...you were a pony and I'm a dragon." He clenched his fists tightly as they continued walking. "When I heard that, I...I just snapped. I didn't want him or anypony else talking about you like that, so I ran at him, and..."
Sighing, Twilight looked ahead to the path they were on. "And then you fought him."
Spike, with shame all over his face, nodded. "I did. It was a short fight though, since Scootaloo and Snails tried pulling us apart, and like Miss Cheerilee said she was there too to step in and stop us. But...yeah, I started the fight. I threw the first punch." Shame grew in him. "I should've been better than that, and instead I acted like an idiot."
Twilight could see his unhappiness right now, and reached over to pat him on the shoulder. "Sounds like nopony got seriously hurt, right? We should be happy about that."
Spike's head darted up to her, and confusion was plastered all over his face. "You're...you're not mad?"
Twilight's face was hard to read, but her voice was relatively calm and collected when she spoke. "I didn't say that. Getting into fights isn't something you should be doing if you can help it, Spike. You're my responsibility, and I don't want to see you getting yourself hurt. Snips might not be the most capable colt around, but he might have done some real damage to you if things got too bad."
Spike again looked to the ground. "I just...didn't want him talking about you like that."
His carer glanced down to him again. "I understand. Were someone to say something about those I cared about in a way I didn't like...well...I might not have done what you did, but I'd certainly feel the temptation."
Spike's fists clenched. "It's not right, what I did. It's like they always say. Sticks and stones may break my bones...but words should never hurt me." He exhaled deeply. "I'm sorry, Twilight. I disappointed you. I let myself go too far over something I should have just ignored."
"No, you didn't," Twilight's voice said back to him. Surprised, Spike looked back up top her, just in time for her to look down to him, right in the eye, and continue speaking. "What you just said? The old 'sticks and stones' line? That's not right, Spike. It never has been."
For a brief moment, Spike was unsure. "But...but people always say..."
But Twilight cut him off here, carrying on with her own words. "I know what people always say, but that doesn't make it right. The line is that words can't hurt. But that is not true, either now or back when people first started saying it. Words can hurt, they do hurt, and they will likely continue to hurt long into the future. They can get to us just as much as physical harm can do, and in many cases they can lead to just as much devastation. For people to dismiss the harm that words can inflict, especially upon the young, has been nothing short of irresponsible."
Spike didn't know what to say, only that he had been near-entranced with what his guardian had to say on the matter. Did he agree with her? Well, his personal experience today certainly didn't seem to suggest she was incorrect. But at the same time, the shame of his past actions continued to make him feel like the one in the wrong, as shown when he finally spoke up again. "But I still shouldn't have done it."
Twilight looked down to him, looking like she was thinking hard on what to say. After a time, she settled on a small smile, and placed her hoof on his shoulder once more. "...Maybe not, Spike. Maybe you did go too far by attacking him. But like I said, it didn't go too bad. And besides...you did what you did in defence of me." She paused, but only briefly. "You attacked Snips...because you felt offended on my behalf. You didn't do it out of maliciousness towards him." Her frown returned. "However, do not take all this understanding as either acceptance or approval of what happened today."
Spike hung his head, poking the ends of his claws together. "I...I know."
Twilight kept her eyes on him. "You may have been right to feel what you felt when he said those things, but to go out of your way to throw that first punch...that was a step too far, Spike."
"I know," Spike repeated. Slowly, he looked back up to her. "So...what do we do now?"
Twilight thought on that, then answered him. "Well, I'd recommend making an arrangement with his mother. We can all get together and clear the air around each other. He can apologise for saying something that upset you, and then you can apologise for having attacked him over it."
Spike hesitated. "Do...do you think it'll work out as well as that?"
Twilight gave a quick shrug. "We can try to speak to them over the matter, and really that's all we can do. Hope it'll come together like we want it to." She took on a more serious look. "But I want you to know, Spike, that there will be consequences for this."
Spike sighed. "Yeah...I know."
Twilight pointed to him. "I've heard that Miss Cheerilee has a lot of work at the school that she only just has enough time in the day to deal with. So...I'd like you to volunteer to help her with that work, as a thank you for her stepping in and stopping things when she did."
Spike nodded in agreement. "I will. And..." He paused here, looking worried. "Do you think...things between me and Snips will be bad forever?"
Twilight, upon hearing that, smiled. "Don't worry about that, Spike. Moments like this can be bad, but you'd be surprised how quickly children can bounce back from them. I'm confident that, once you and he have a talk, we can do what we can to get things back on track between you."
Spike smiled. "I'm glad. I don't like the idea of me being enemies with somepony for the rest of my life."
Twilight giggled. "Then consider yourself wiser than most adults, Spike." Her expression softened. "I'm happy to hear you say that. Closing off a friendship permanently is a terrible thing, and whatever difficulties we have we should at least try to mend what's been damaged."
Spike looked back o her. "Should...should I write to Princess Celestia about that?"
Though Twilight was a little bit surprised at the suggestion, largely because only she was known around here for writing to their beloved diarch, she soon developed a small smile, giving Spike another pat on the shoulder. "I think that would be a wonderful idea, Spike." Looking up, she saw that the two of them had finally reached the library, leading to a contented sigh on her part. "Now come on, let's get those scuffs looked at."
Author's Note
The line "words can't hurt" has never sat right with me, especially as time has gone on. I understand the idea behind it, but the notion that words can't be a terrible and damaging thing, especially to the young, is probably a really bad mindset to be operating on, particularly since we who frequent the internet know all too well just how tragic it can be when someone is pushed just a little too far by the wrong words 
