Under the Purple Hood

A bit bewildered, the girls entered the school, all with shocked looks on their faces at what had just happened.

"So this is what he meant by, they won't bother you again" said Applebloom breaking the silence among the group of girls as they headed to their lockers.

"Gotta admit something, that boy when he wants to, even you sis can't beat him in a badass mood." Scootaloo commented.
Dash nodded still stunned at what Spike had done.

The whole group stopped dead in their tracks at the sight of him in his locker grabbing books as if nothing was wrong. People from the high school were skirting them like water in a stream, bumping into some rocks. At that moment, it was just them and Spike. Spike, picking up the robotics books, turned and could see the girls staring at him in absorption. In response, he looked down at the floor and walked to class without a word.

"Rarity, you and I have robotics today don't we?" said Shy to Rarity.

"Yes darling" she replied

"Well come on then, we'll see you girls later" said the pegasus hurriedly grabbing Rarity's hand.

In the corridors of the institute, Spike received the usual hateful looks and whispers.

"There's that nomag again" commented a unicorn.

"Has he the little shame to show up here again?" commented an earthling back to him.

"I heard Professor Iron Will say that he murdered his parents" said a pegasus to her group of friends.

"I wouldn't be surprised" commented one of her earthling friends.

"And they still let him in here? They are putting us in danger" commented an upset unicorn.

A group of pegasus went head on against Spike, shoved him with their shoulders and angrily threw him to the ground.

"Murderer!" one of them shouted at him as they continued on their way.

"Behind bars you should be, you fucking nomag scum" said another.

Spike sighed still on the hallway floor and closed his eyes tightly trying to escape reality. As he tried to pick up the robotics book, Flash appeared with the T-Wings, stepping on the book to stop him from picking it up.

"Well well, look who we found guys" Flash said to his group, all anger in his eyes.

"What do you want Flash?" said to him in his usual monotone Spike.

"WHAT DO I WANT?!" he yelled at him as he grabbed him by the neck and slammed him against the wall under the watchful eyes of the T-Wings and the rest of the students in the hallway. "Don't act like an idiot with me nomag. If it wasn't for Thunder who explicitly told us he'd take care of you, you'd be in a pine box six feet underground, right now."

Spike was running out of air because of how tightly Flash was pressing his hand on him.

"KILL HIM FLASH!" the students shouted at him in chorus.

"NO ONE WANTS HIM HERE!" shouted a unicorn.

"KILL THE KILLER!" shouted a pegasus.

"KILL HIM, KILL HIM, KILL HIM!" they shouted again in chorus, which encouraged Flash to squeeze even harder making Spike's few remaining energies begin to run out and his eyes begin to close from lack of oxygen.

Sunbrust put a hand on Flash's shoulder and tried to relax him.

"You should let him go now Flash, Thunder asked us to leave him alive, for now" the unicorn commented "Besides Principal Discord wouldn't like it if there was a dead body in his hallway, even if it was his, don't you think?"

The chorus of students shouting for him to kill him continued, but Flash closed his eyes, sighed loudly and let go of Spike abruptly causing him to fall to the floor coughing.

"You're only alive, because that's what my friend asked me to do," Flash said squatting down. "But don't tempt fortune."
Flash stood up and started to leave for his classroom under the dispirited looks of the students which made him stop. He looked at his friends, who, with a mean smirk, nodded at him. Without a second thought, Flash turned to Spike who was still on the floor catching his breath and kicked him in the mouth, knocking him back down.

Between victorious laughs, all the students disappeared from the hallway, as the second bell had rung while Spike was lying on the floor spitting blood and coughing.

"It would have been better *cough* if he had killed me directly *cough* *cough*" he thought aloud.

Footsteps could be heard behind him. Thinking the worst he closed his eyes expecting another blow from one of the T-Wings, but instead he felt a glow and tingling in his wounds. When he opened his eyes and turned his face, he saw Fluttershy healing his mouth wounds with her magic and Rarity watching the hallway so no one would see him.

"Hurry up Shy or they will see us" said Rarity worried.

"I'm doing it as fast as I can." She said concentrating. Realizing that Spike was conscious, she smiled warmly at the nomag.
"Don't worry Spike, I'll soon get your mouth back to the way it was."

Spike, perplexed, couldn't even say a word. A short time later, the wound from the kick was healed and as if it had never been there. The nomag touched his mouth and looked at his hand, checking that it wasn't bleeding anymore and that it didn't hurt.

"There you go" she said smiling in her calm tone " Just like new."

Rarity checked once more that there was no one in the hallway and walked over with her pegasus friend to Spike.

"Hey Spike... thanks... about Diamond Tiara and her gang... you saved my little sister." Said Rarity smiling

"You're sunshine little guy...you really are" said Shy.

With a huge blush, the two girls took a breath and gave first Shy and then Rarity a kiss on the forehead.

"See you in class Spike, get up early we're late" said Rarity as she ran with her friend to robotics class leaving Spike still on the floor and completely and utterly puzzled like he had never been in his life.

"WHAT...THE...FUCK...JUST...FUCKING...HAPPENED!" he wondered in shock and motionless.

Rarity and Fluttershy entered the classroom still with a huge blush on their faces and smiling like dummies.
The robotics teacher, luckily, was none other than Discord, who was at his desk, keeping silent and reading a science magazine while the students worked on their robots. He looked up as he saw the two girls, placidly smiled and wordlessly nodded, letting them sit in their seats and go finish their final projects.

"Did we really kiss him?" thought Rarity to Shy.

"I still can't seriously believe it...he looked so sweet and fragile lying on the floor...I just felt like hugging him, taking him home and taking care of him." She thought back with a huge smile.

"Just take care of him?" asked her with a lascivious look Rarity.

"Well... taking care of him and the odd thing or two, but like you don't think about that either." Said the shy girl rotating her eyes playfully along with a poke with her elbow, still both with a smile.

Spike for his part, walked slowly towards the door of the robotics class, not quite sure what had just happened to him.

"Let's see... Let's see... Let's see... LET'S SEE..." he said to himself "What happened? Did they heal my wounds? Did I get a kiss on my forehead? WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING!!!? Now Rarity's being nice to me too... just Applejack and Twilight and a meteorite falling on my head... okay, easy Spike, just pretend it's nothing or you'll get them in trouble at this rate..."

Spike opened the door to the robotics classroom under the gaze of Discord, who, asked him with a glance if he was all right. He nodded and went to his usual spot, all the way back at the desk facing the window. When he got there, he turned his head and saw Shy and Rarity looking at him out of the corner of his eye. He looked away from them abruptly with a huge blush on his face.

"You know Shy?" said Rarity with a mind "Ever since Poker night... I see Spike, all what he did and do... with different eyes... I really wish Applejack knew what she would do."

"Don't worry Rarity, I'm sure everything will be fine." She answered her with a smile.

Behind them, Blueblood was staring at Rarity's ass sticking out of the hollow of her chair with hungry eyes.

"Can you pass me the wrench Albert?" asked Sunbrust to his elegant friend, who was unresponsive and almost drooling. "Albert!"

"What do you want, can't you see I'm busy?" said Blueblood without looking away.

"Focus dude, we have to pass the assignment." Sunbrust told him a bit annoyed.

"Alright" snorted Blueblood discontentedly "Tonight I'm going to bust your ass my beloved Rarity and before that, I'm going to practice with Octavia."

Blueblood said this last thing looking at a black-haired earthling, dressed like a bandleader who was at the next table. She knew he was looking at her and winked at Blueblood, who winked back.

Spike was trying to distract himself by doing his final robotics work, a bionic body with which terminal people can transfer their brains when their body dies. Discord, slowly moved closer to Spike, trying not to attract the attention of the students.

"Psss, psss," Discord called quietly to him as Spike was busy bolting one of the arms to the bionic structure. "Spike, Spike."

"What do you want Discord?" he said trying not to draw anyone's attention with an alarmed tone.

"I wanted to know if you found what you wanted." He said leaning against the back wall, pretending to watch the class.

"Yeah." Spike said squeezing the bridge of his nose "Unfortunately the book is written in the native language of the Kulahaihuea. It will take hours to translate it."

"And... when will it be translated?" asked the principal anxiously.

"Look, if you want to come by the apartment tonight and I'll show you the progress." Spike said finishing screwing the arm.

"Perfect." Said Discord looking at Spike who looked nervous. "Hey... did you have anything to do with the Diamond Tiara thing?"

Spike turned his head slightly to Discord and looked at him for a few seconds before turning it back and continuing with his project.

"Why did you do it?" he asked concerned "Not that I'm telling you that you did wrong. We all knew they were petty criminals... but why take the risk?"

Spike stood still and looked over at Rarity and Fluttershy, who were smiling as they worked on their project.

"Oh" said Discord realizing what's going on "Love makes us do crazy things doesn't it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about" said Spike seriously as under the hood, a blush formed on his face.

"I just want you to be careful Spike...it's a cruel world out there." Discord said as he began to walk back to his desk.

Spike stood watching Discord leave and looked back at the girls, a slight smile forming on his face.

"Tell me something I don't know Discord..." he said to himself sadly.

After robotics class, Shy and Rarity headed to the lockers to meet up with the rest of the Harmonys.

"Really" commented Dash "I can't wait for summer to be here already and for the last time we'll see Ms. Harshwinnie."

"That woman is more bitter than sour candy" said Pinkie with tired eyes "

"I'm pretty sure in another life she was a Harry Pony dementor" laughed Sunset, which caused them all to laugh.

Shy and Rarity came in with huge grins on their faces.

"My, my, some seem very happy," said Applejack closing her locker.

"Well why not be?" said Rarity opening her locker and grabbing the books for her next class. "The robotics project is going well for us, summer is just around the corner, we're graduating this year..."

"And a hooded boy is stealing our hearts isn't he?" said Dash with a teasing smile

"You don't know how much..." said Shy too loudly, which made her blush and try to cover her face with her hair "I mean... uh... yeah..."

The girls laughed lightly except for Twi.

"Girls... we should tread carefully." Commented the alicorn "One wrong step and it could all end very badly."

"Don't worry sugarcube" said Applejack putting her cowboy hat on tightly "Everything will go smoothly."

As they spoke, Spike appeared around the corner of the hallway, receiving cold stares from the students. As he reached his locker, across from the girls' lockers, they stared at him and noticed as he did, that someone on his locker door, had written in red marker, "Die Murderer." Spike sighed and opened his locker, and when he opened it, there was a box with a ribbon inside, which surprised him a lot. He picked it up and noticed that it weighed a bite. The girls kept looking at him and Twi with his magic, saw by way of X-ray, what was inside the box, discovering an alarm clock about to ring that was hooked to a ball full of red paint.

"Get down girls!" he shouted at them, to which they obeyed.

Alarmed Spike turned sharply, just as the alarm clock went off and the box exploded filling Spike full of paint and part of the hallway. From the shockwave, Spike's hair was pulled completely back and his face was completely covered in paint.
All the students started laughing at him and pointing fingers at him.

"What a loser!" said a laughing unicorn.

"Look what a stupid nomag!" commented a pegasus, also laughing.

"Die, you murderous nomag," said an earthling laughing.

Spike threw down the box and ran off to the bathroom, but not before some students tripped him up and made him stumble.

"What a creep that nomag really is" commented a group of pegasus still laughing.

"I hope he dies soon" said one of the group, also laughing.

The girls slowly stood up watching as everyone continued to laugh....

"This is so wrong..." commented Sunset in her mind.

"Poor Spike...God...were we just like them?" said through tears Shy

"I didn't realize until now what he suffers every day...I feel horrible" said Twilight tears forming in her eyes.
Dash turned her head sharply towards the lockers and lowered her head so that no students would see her crying from anger.

"FUCK, WHY COULDN'T HE AWAKEN POWERS?" she screamed in her head "IT WOULD ALL BE SO SIMPLE..."

Sunset approached the pegasus and tried to comfort her by giving her a hug, which, she returned.

"Dash, calm down... I know it hurts... but for now... you have to let it be... just for now..." mentally told her Sunset.

"But... what if it doesn't stop in time?" said Pinkie, who had her hair deflated.

The girls turned at Pinkie's thought.

"What do you mean dear?" asked a worried Rarity.

"What do you think he's doing in the bathroom?" said Pinkie rhetorically as a tear fell from her right eye.

Shy and Dash turned around looking horrified as did the others, only they tried to go to the bathroom to stop Spike from cutting himself. However, they were stopped by the laughter and appearance of Zephry, Snpis and Snail.

"No doubt Zephry, we should have become friends sooner" commented Snails "The whole filling the pump with paint thing was a tip top."

"Thank you, thank you, I teach on Thursdays, I don't charge much." He said bragging and combing his blond hair.
"ZEPHRY!" shouted Fluttershy angrily " YOU DID THIS?!"

"All the credit is not only mine, my new friends Snips and Snails helped me make the bomb to humiliate that nasty nomag." Said the pegasus proudly.

"We've certainly topped what we did to him the other day" said Snips "Locking him inside the sauna was a great idea Zeprhy, but the bomb was... the bomb!"

The three new friends started laughing very loudly.

"Were... you...?" said Rainbow Dash intensifying her rage.

"The sauna thing?" said Zephry approaching the pegasus, oblivious to the anger that was forming "Did you like it? I hope so, I'm just trying to impress you my dear flower and now that it's known that you and Soarin are no longer together, we can unleash our love."

Then Zephry closed her eyes and pressed her lips together waiting for a kiss from Dash.

"May I?" he asked the girls telepathically with fire almost coming out of his eyes.

"Please" they all said in unison.

In the high school, for two seconds, the power went completely out as a rumble went through all the hallways. Zephry, Snips and Snails, were completely scorched and half unconscious as the other students in the hallway whispered.

"Why did she do that?" commented a unicorn.

"Weird, isn't it?" said a pegasus.

"They're a bit odd, the Harmony Girls, don't you think?" said an earthling.

"You don't think they and the nomag..." said a unicorn.

Dash, noticing the commotion, quickly thought of an excuse.

" Uh... fuck, it's just that I almost ended up covered in paint too... they couldn't have put it on his class table, they have to put it in front of me." Dash said to the students.

Everyone immediately calmed down and laughed again.

"Phew... what a bullet we just dodged" thought Applejack to which they all nodded.

The second bell rang and all the students left for class. Dash then, along with the others, ran to the bathroom.

When they got to the door, Twi, opened it just wide enough so that they could all see what was going on inside and Spike wouldn't notice. What they saw, made them all horrified.

Spike was shirtless and sweatshirtless, with his entire torso and back in the air, but the horrifying thing, was that his entire body was full of cuts, whips and self-inflicted wounds. He was washing his clothes in the sink with what little soap there was and scrubbing the paint stains. Suddenly, he stopped scrubbing and put his hands in the sink as he began to cry inconsolably.

"Damn it!" he screamed as tears came to his eyes.

He kicked the door of one of the bathroom cubicles, and punched the mirror, which shattered leaving a crater of glass in it. His fist began to bleed from the cuts he had made on the mirror. He fell to his knees on the floor and covered his face with his hands as he continued to cry. He raised his head slightly and reached, without moving from where he was, for the butterfly knife that was inside his backpack. Taking it, he slowly brought it closer to his chest and lightly began to cut himself on his left chest while closing his eyes. But before he could continue, a firm hand grabbed him by the wrist to stop him from hurting himself any further, this being Applejack.

" WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!" shouted AJ at him.

Spike, unable to hold in his rage, let go of Applejack's hand.

"FUCK YOU CARE WHAT I DO, APPLEJACK!" he said raging and crying. "YOU PUT A BOMB IN MY LOCKER AND NOW YOU CARE ABOUT ME?!"

"WHAT!?" asked AJ startled.

"Don't you and the harmony girls play dumb with me, I caught you looking when I picked up the box and heard Twilight scream, girls on the floor, just before it exploded." Spike accused them crying in rage."First you hate me and beat me up like everyone else, then you're nice to me, you put a bomb in my locker and now you come along, YOU, who just a few days ago hung me by my underpants on the hangers in computer class and now you come and ask me what the hell I'm doing? FUCK YOU CARE WHAT I DO!"

Applejack was speechless as were the Harmony's who were outside the bathroom listening to everything.
AJ began to clench her fist very tightly as she began to cry, she raised her fist into the air and a terrified Spike recoiled with horror in his eyes, shielding himself with his hands from the beating that awaited him. The girls were alarmed to see that Applejack was about to hit Spike, but it didn't happen, instead AJ grabbed him, lifted him up and began to hug him as she cried, surprising them and Spike.

"I'm sorry...*sniff* I'm so very sorry *sniff*, we've...*sniff* hurt you so much for no reason...*sniff* for so long.... *sniff*" apologized Applejack as she turned her head away a little and stood face to face with Spike, who had a completely stunned expression "I'm really *sniff* sorry for everything I've done to you... *sniff* sniff* but it wasn't us this time *sniff* *sniff*, please... don't cut yourself again *sniff* please *sniff* *sniff*

Spike was speechless, he didn't know what to say or do. Applejack just stared into the nomag's eyes. Her heart began to calm and her eyes turned the color of Spike's, causing her to stop crying. Like an unstoppable force, she lunged at Spike's face, but he, quick of reflex, pulled away just before she kissed him. He pulled out of her arms and ran away in fright and bewilderment. Seeing the others outside, he panicked, falling to the ground, staring at them as if they were hungry dogs. Shy tried to approach, but got up quickly and ran out, leaving his clothes in the bathroom.

Applejack stood in the doorframe of the bathroom wordlessly, looking very worried as the others looked at her.

"No doubt Twi" said AJ "The Kara Sevda is very strong...I couldn't help it."

"Don't worry AJ" she answered her, looking as they all did, in the direction Spike had fled.

Twilight walked inside the bathroom seeing Spike's clothes in the sink, completely wet and with some paint stains.

"I guess we know why we never see him in short shirts." She said sadly

Fluttershy went inside the bathroom also sadly and stood looking at Spike's clothes.

" I guess I'd better take it to him." Said Shy picking up the clothes "I don't want to imagine what would happen if someone sees him with his clothes off."

"Wait Shy" Pinkie said holding out her right hand and closing her eyes.

With her magic she began to scoop out all the water and paint residue that was left on the shirt and sweatshirt.

Sunset approached and reaching out both hands, she began to warm the clothes until they were no longer cold from the water.

"Now yes, you can take it to him" Sunset said smiling slightly.

Shy began to walk with the clothes in her arms down the hallway.

"Flutter..." said Applejack "Can you apologize for me? I didn't mean to scare him."

Shy smiled and nodded, disappearing as she crossed to another hallway in search of the nomag.

Twilight came out of the bathroom, grabbing Spike's backpack, putting her hand on AJ's shoulder.

"Don't worry Applejack." Said the alicorn with a comforting smile "I'm sure he'll forgive you."

"And I hope he forgives me too." they all thought at the same time.

"We'd better get back to class girls, we're running pretty late." Sunset said as they started walking to their respective classrooms.

Twilight dropped Spike's backpack that was half open. When she went to pick it up, she saw the "Myths of the Kulahaihuea" book inside. She looked at it curiously and after noticing that no one was looking at her, she opened it and began to read the pages that Spike had underlined and translated.

"The Fire Ruby?" she said quizzically reading the title, translated in red color by a marker pen, of one of the chapters which, in addition, had a drawn image of a red jewel in the shape of a heart.

Fluttershy walked through the empty halls of the high school in search of Spike, holding his clothes in her arms.

"Where could he be?" she wondered, looking from one direction to another.

After a while, she remembered what had happened a few days ago, when he was attacked in the cafeteria.

"The forest" she said in conviction.

She walked out of the building to the forest next to the high school. As she reached the edge of the trees, using her magic, she closed her eyes so that nature would tell her Spike's whereabouts. By way of flashes in her head, she managed to see, not far away, that Spike was sitting at the foot of an apple tree, on a small esplanade inside. Determinedly, she stepped into the huge sea of trees.

Spike was smoking a cigarette, eyes closed and the knife stained from the blood on his forearm from which, a small drop was still trickling down from his elbow and staining the grass of the esplanade.

"I don't understand anything." He said to himself "from one day to the next, all of a sudden, the Harmony's start treating me well, me, no costume, no belt, they treat me like an equal. I don't know if they're playing a big joke on me or if they're... really... appreciating me? For God's sake, Applejack tried to kiss me... I think I'm losing my mind... even more."

On the esplanade, a little fawn came in, wounded in the leg, looking lost and sad, bawling to try to call his mommy. Spike opened his eyes and could see him. It stared at him, as if he were a predator. The nomag slowly stood up. The fawn tried to run away, but stumbled, due to the wound on his leg. Slowly, the normally hooded man approached the wild animal without a word. With every step he took towards it, it shrieked and bellowed even more in agitation, desperately calling for help. When he was just a few meters from it, it stared into his emerald eyes in complete silence. The little wind that blew stirred Spike's green hair. Looking to the right, he saw a bank of assorted bushes. Surprising the fawn, Spike walked over to the bushes, looked at each one and picked up a few leaves and sticks from one that had large, smooth leaves. Picking up some, he slowly walked back to the fawn, who this time, did not screech, however, looked terrified. Spike knelt down beside the fawn, who, lying on the ground, closed his eyes and dropped his head with a muffled cry. A few seconds later, Spike grabbed his wounded paw and began to wrap it with leaves. With some grasses, a bit tougher than the ones used as grass, he tied the leaves tightly around the fawn's leg, who opened its eyes again and, completely disconcerted, stared at Spike as he finished bandaging the wound.

"That' s it, little one," he said, smiling. "It would be best if I moved him to the animal shelter, I could treat him better there, but for now, this should be enough to keep him from getting infected."

The fawn looked behind Spike with wide eyes, something that didn't go unnoticed by Spike, who snorted and lit a new cigarette.

"How long have you been there?" he asked without turning around.

"Long enough to confirm a theory," said the voice of Fluttershy, who stood a few feet away from him, still with his clothes in her arms and a warm smile from seeing what the nomag had done.

Spike took a puff and stood up, confronting Shy.

"What theory?" he said in his monotone.

"The one about, under the purple hood, hides a heart of gold." Shy said staring him straight in the eye.

What she said, made Spike blush and turn his head, back to looking at the fawn.

"The fawn has a fresh wound on his right paw" he said changing the subject "He won't be able to walk for a long time, it's pretty deep. Those leaves will keep it from getting infected, but it won't last long, not if he doesn't get the care he needs. He's on his own apparently. The wound doesn't look like a predator wound, more like a fall, the mother must have fallen too but didn't survive, the only hope is to get him to the animal shelter."

Shy stared at Spike without saying anything, then looked at the fawn, who looked frightened. Using his magic, his pendant began to glow. A huge eagle landed a few feet from them and slowly approached.

"Hello Mr. Eagle" said Shy talking to the bird "could you take Mr. Fawn to the animal shelter? I'll compensate you with some mice."

The eagle nodded happily. He landed on top of the fawn and with his powerful talons, picked him up, delicately by the neck and flew off to the shelter.

"Gotta admit, that's impressive" Spike said to himself as he watched the eagle take off towards town.

Spike again looked at Shy, his serious expression making the pegasus blush.

"Emmm...well...I was coming a...." she said hesitantly as she held out her arms with Spike's clothes towards him. She caught her breath and tried to calm herself. "I was coming to hand you your clothes."

Spike eyed the clothes suspiciously as Shy continued to hold them.

"Don't worry, we didn't do anything to your clothes, we just dried them," she said comfortingly.

Still not entirely trusting, he grabbed his clothes and turned away. He noticed that all the paint stains were gone and the clothes didn't look like they had been tampered with or anything.

Shy couldn't help but notice his back full of lashes, cuts and wounds, which caused a lump to form in her throat.
"Why do you do it?" she asked him, her lip trembling.

"What?" he said again turning back to her, who didn't answer, just looked him up and down pityingly, making him understand what she meant. "It's... the only way for the anger to dissipate... the only workable way I could find."

The sadness in those last words, managed to sink deep into the heart of Fluttershy who, without meaning to, let a tear escape her eyes. Putting his clothes back on and pulling the hood tightly over his head, he turned back to the pegasus. He looked from side to side and told her to crouch down to his level. Both of their hearts racing, Spike with his hand, which in comparison to Shy's entire body, was nothing, gently brushed the tear from her face.

"Don't feel sorry for the dead Shy, they don't feel." He said looking her in the eyes "Don't cry either, for lost causes, it's not worth it."

With that said, he started to walk away from her, heading back into the woods, in the direction of the high school. Before disappearing into the sea of wood and leaves he turned to Shy one last time.

"Thanks" he said smiling "For the clothes. You shouldn't be long in coming back, they'll miss you."

He walked back into the woods, leaving Shy alone on the esplanade, who stood looking in that direction. She stood up and what was a face of sadness, turned into one of hope.

"Don't worry my little fawn." She said to herself "I will take care of you and I will heal your wounds."

After the first few hours of class, the harmony girls were gathered at their usual table, each eating their own plate except for Twilight, who was immersed in Spike's book.

"Aren't you going to eat your burger?" asked Pinkie to Twi.

"What... oh no, don't worry Pinkie, you can eat it." She said without looking up from the book.

Pinkie grabbed the burger, threw it in the air and ate it in one sitting.

"Twilight dear, you've been immersed in that book all morning. What's so interesting about it?" asked Rarity tasting her salad.

"Yes" said Dash "I've never seen you so immersed in reading, you haven't even paid attention in class for reading that book, where did you find it?"

Twilight perched the large blue-covered book on the table, on the page of the Ruby of Fire.

"This is the book Spike was interested in at the store, the one Sunset and I bought for him." Twilight said without looking away from him yet.

"Did you steal it from him?" asked Rarity.

"No, no, I dropped his backpack on my way to class, saw it and well... I started reading a little." Twi replied

"So what's it about?" asked Pinkie munching on some chips "Horror? Drama? Vampires? Romances? VAMPIRE DRAMATIC AND TERRORIFIC ROMANCES?"

"I think someone likes Twilight a little too much," Dash said with a chuckle.

"I LOVE JACOB BLACK" said Pinkie sighing in love making them all laugh.

"No, it's not romance" said Twi smiling and curiously glancing at the book "It's ancient legends of a Ponynesian tribe, the Kulahaihuea."

"Kula who?" they all said at once quizzically.

"Kulahaihuea" said Twilight "A tribe that disappeared long before the discovery of Equerica. As far as I can see, it's a real manuscript from one of the tribe's shamans, here are myths of terrifying creatures, incredible treasures..."

"Precious jewels?" asked Rarity excitedly, her eyes sparkling.

"Yes, jewelry too" said Twilight to her unicorn friend "And from what I see, the nomag is interested in one in paricular."

Twilight pointed to the heart-shaped ruby drawing.

"The Fire Ruby" she said firmly.

"Wow" sighed the girls

"Now that's a stonecone and not what Great Great Grandpa Huffle found in Appeloosa." Said Pinkie Pie

" It' s beautiful" said Rarity

"What does the book say about the jewel?" asked Sunset

"I don't know, it's written in Kulahaihuense" said Twi "But I see the boy has managed to translate some of what it says... I don't know how, because it's a dead language, but he's done it. It says here that the Goddess of Fire, granted an ancient Jackal the heart-shaped ruby after he begged her for help in defending himself from a rival tribe that was about to invade his island. The jewel holds the power of creation, which helped the Kulahaihenses to have food during harsh winters and hot summers... but the jewel also has the ability to destroy, in order to devastate their enemies, this last power of the jewel was so powerful that the ancient chiefs decided to hide forever the Fire Ruby on an island in the archipelago of Mahui, because, in enemy hands, it would be the doom of the ages".

"Mahui Archipelago?" asked Dash "From what little I learned in geography, there is no Maui Archipelago."

"What else has he been able to translate?" asked Sunset.

"Nothing else for now," said Twi closing the book and stuffing it into Spike's backpack.

"Are you going to leave us in suspense?" said Pinkie with teary eyes "There must be something else."

"For now, that's all there is." Said Twi

"Awwwww but I want to know where that jewel is." Said Pinkie pouting

"And me too" said Rarity "It would look great with my dress."

"I think that jewel is not ornament sugarcube" said Applejack, who appeared along with Fluttershy and they had also heard the legend as they approached the table.

Yeah" said Shy in his shy tone "From the looks of it, more than a gift, it looks like a weapon."

"What's eating me up inside is why Spike wants to know about that jewel?" said AJ.

"You don't think he's going to try to get powers with that jewel do you?" said Rarity.

"I wouldn't rule it out really" said Twi "Maybe then people would stop messing with him."

"I don't know, doesn't sound like Spike really" said Sunset.

"That kid is a box of surprises" said Dash "after what he's done with the Rich's, I expect anything."

"Well Shy" said Dash "Did you find him?"

"Yeah...yeah I found him" she said somewhat sadly.
"Did you give him the clothes?" asked Sunset.

"Yes..." she said sighing.

"But..." said Sunset

"Don't tell me he was... you know" said Rarity grabbing her wrist.

"Yes... but that's not what..." she said without finishing the sentence and looking at the girls with sad eyes

"What happened?" asked Dash

All the friends looked at the pegasus curiously.

"Nothing... just that... the fawn is very hurt..." she said.

"Hurt?" asked Twi quizzically.

"Yes... and if we don't heal the wounds soon... I don't know what will happen." Said Shy sadly

"Shy, I know you like nature, but hemp isn't exactly a daisy" said Dash "What the hell are you talking about? What's this about a fawn?"

At that moment, Spike entered the cafeteria, his clothes neatly laid out and dry. The people stood slumped, glaring at him as usual. Looking up from the floor, Spike glanced at the Harmony's, especially Shy, seconds later, he moved towards the food area.

"Got the message Shy," Applejack said.

Spike grabbed a tray and placed a glass of water from the drink machine first. Head on, an earthling, on cue, bumped into him, spilling the water on the sweatshirt drenching him.

"Watch where you're going, asshole," he said as he went on his way.

"And again... soaked clothes." He said to himself.

He headed towards the food stall and there Granny Smith, with a huge smile greeted him.

"Good morning hooded knight" the old lady said to her cheerfully as she served him a plate of macaroni and cheese with spicy sausage.

"Hello Granny Smith" said Spike in his monotone.

"Cheer up boy" she said to Spike winking at him "You know us old ladies have a sixth sense for seeing the future don't you?"

"Well I hope your sense has a flashlight so you can see mine." Spike said with a half smile.

"Don't despair hooded knight, something tells me, today, a surprise will start your life turning around." Said smiling Granny Smith

"If you say so Granny Smith" he said picking up his tray "I just hope the surprise doesn't make me spin too much, because I'm already dizzy."

Spike slowly made his way to the table at the back of the cafeteria, under the usual whispers and stares from the students.
"Seriously can a nomag be more disgusting?" said a unicorn.

"I think that's impossible." A pegasus replied

"Bloody murderer" whispered another unicorn to his companions.

"Parricide and Matricide... he must be behind bars" answered an earthling.

Without haste, but without pause, he walked through the tables, under the looks of hatred and fear of some of his classmates. When he reached the Harmony table, he unconsciously slowed down as they all looked at him with concern. However, he continued without stopping or looking directly at them.

Near their table were the Crusaders, who were also looking at him, almost without tasting the food. Spike stopped a few feet away from them and with his gaze and a nod, he checked to see if they were all right, to which they nodded slightly. The nomag smiled a little and continued on his way, dropping a piece of paper from his pocket, which was picked up by Sweetie Belle, turning out to be a picture of the ones DT took when they were naked in the water. The photo, being taken at sunset, with a huge orange sun that was hiding, the naked bodies could not be seen, but their silhouettes. Scootalo, was jumping out of the water, with her small wings stretched out and raising her arms, with some of her buttocks sticking out above the water, Sweetie Belle, was raising one arm as if she were dancing a ballet and with the other, you could see that she was covering her breasts, and finally Applebloom, was stretching out her arms, revealing the figure of her breasts. The picture was almost movie-like.

The three friends looked at the back of the photo, where Spike had written something.

"Don't ever let some bad vipers, ruin the way you are, you are more amazing than you know."

A blush and a smile came to all three of them, they couldn't help but look at the nomag, who was already sitting at his desk and staring out the window.

"Girls...we owe him our lives." Said Sweetie Belle

"And he's rescued this beautiful picture...not because of who took it but...because of how it's done." Said Applebloom

"I wish there was some way to pay him back, not just for Diamond Tiara but for everything else." Said Scootaloo

"That's true" said Applebloom "Disguise or no disguise, he's always been there, helping us in the shadows."

"Like a true avenger" said Sweetie with a smile without taking her eyes off the nomag like the others.

"Like a hero" commented Scootaloo.

"Like a superhero" complemented Applebloom.

The T-Wings entered the cafeteria with joy and shouting. Flash climbed on top of one of the tables in the diner with a cheerful smile.

"FELLOWS!" he said elatedly "THUNDERLANE WILL BE ON TOMORROW!"

Everyone then, except for the Crusaders, the Harmonys and strangely, the Dazzlings, stood up and began to shout with joy.

" Long live our striker!" said an earthling, a member of the soccer team.

" Hail!" they all shouted in unison.

"Three cheers in his honor!" shouted a unicorn "HIP HIP!"

"Hooray!"

"HIP HIP!

"Hooray!

"HIP HIP!"

"HORAAAAAAAAAY!" shouted everyone the last hurrah amidst hugs and smiles.

" I knew a dull nomag couldn't take him!" shouted a pegasus.

"Hopefully upon his return, we'll be having baked nomag for dinner in the cafeteria! shouted an earthling cheerfully.

"That nomag's hours are numbered!" shouted a pegasus.

The Dazzlings watched the revelry with suspicious eyes. Adagio then averted his gaze to the Harmony.

"Mmmm... How strange," said the mermaid sister.

"The what?" asked Sonata engrossed in her food.

"The Harmony's... aren't celebrating Thunder's return" said Adagio "Not even Shy..."

"They must have found out they're being cheated on and won't be talking to each other for a while" said Aria in her rude tone

"Nah, that lasts them a few minutes until they eat each other's mouths... there's something else going on here." Said Adagio suspiciously

"Maybe the nomag has something to do with all this" said Sonata

"The nomag?" asked Aria and Adagio.

"Let's see" said swallowing "Since a few days ago, I've noticed that they look at him in a... different way and added to what I saw today in the forest while I was taking pictures for my biology work..."

"What did you see?" asked Adagio.

"Well I saw an imperial eagle, two red tailed snakes... oh and an Embothrium coccineum" said Sonata "do you want to see the pictures?"

The two sisters slapped their foreheads in response to the innocence of the third.

"I mean what happened in the forest that has to do with the nomag, Sonata." Said Adagio

" Oh, you should have said that before, look I took pictures and everything" said Sonata handing the camera to her sister.

"From what I saw, were talking Fluttershy and the nomag in a very... tense way, if you know what I mean." Sonata said raising and lowering her eyebrows.

Adagio was passing around the pictures where Spike and Shy were talking, picking up clothes and wiping tears from her face, all of it, Sonata hiding from afar, behind some bushes.

"Interesting..." said Adagio forming a wicked grin on his face "Very interesting..."

"I know, the nomag doesn't look bad shirtless at all" said with a mischievous grin Sonata.

"Seriously Sonata, you are so stupid sometimes" said Aria to her sister.

"You are Aria" she replied her

"You are!"

"You!"

"You!"

" Shut up you two!" ordered Adagio to his sisters, they remained silent and folded their arms. "We're going to follow the green-haired one very closely... I think this is going to get very, very interesting."

The three mermaids started laughing while still celebrating Thunder's recovery, the other students.

The T-Wings among the usual praise watch the Harmony's as none of them are paying any attention to them. Flash calls his guys over and heads over to their girlfriends' table.

"Come on guys, you'll have time for that later" he says to Blueblood and Caramel, who were talking to some pegasus girls charmed by them, they said goodbye by blowing kisses and headed towards the Harmony's table.

"Hey babe" said Flash approaching Twilight, grabbing her head and kissing her passionately as the rest of the T-Wings finished arriving "Was the weekend entertaining?"

Twi, before saying anything, looked down at his pants in search of his belt which, was missing.

"Yeah, it was great...honey" she said a bit sadly.

"Is something the matter babes?" said Flash as he saw they were all down.

"To some of us it's not something wrong but someone" said Dash angrily.

" Aw come on babe, the Dazzlings are just friends, I already told you that" replied Soarin trying to get closer to her, in response, Dash looked at him with anger in her eyes as her arm started to fill with sparks.

"Don't you remember what I told you yesterday?" she replied "I don't want you to talk to me, or touch me, or follow me."

"Come on Dashie... let's fix it, we always fix it and where we do best" Soarin said raising his eyebrows with a smile.

"That's right, there's no better combination than the Harmony Girls and the T-Wings" said Cheese cheerfully.

"You shut up Cheese" said Pinkie angrily.

"You're mad too Pinkie?" said Cheese "Please, how silly you are sometimes, the Dazzlings are just friends, what jealous I see around here."

The T-Wings all laughed, but the girls remained serious.

"By the way, Rarity, baby gal" said Blueblood "When you get out of that filthy lunchroom for social waste today, remember we're in for a good night."

"Ah... yes... about that Albert I..." said Rarity not quite sure what to say.

"No more talk" said Blueblood smiling "I've booked into a very expensive hotel for our night."

"Uuuuhhh" said the T-Wings.

"Someone is going to have a great time tonight" said Sunbrust hugging Sunset from behind who could tell she wasn't very comfortable

"How about we all go out clubbing together tonight to celebrate Thunder's return?" said Caramel.

"Great idea!" said the T-Wings at the same time.

"You guys go" said Applejack as she stood up and approached Caramel with an angry look on her face "Because you and I, tonight, are going to talk, alright."

"But applejack...the beach thing was..." said Caramel.

"No buts, no buts, Caramel," AJ said.

Telepathically, Applejack spoke to Rarity as Caramel tried to apologize.

"What time do you and Patriot leave the lunchroom?" asked AJ.

"Why?" she asked a bit quizzically as they looked at each other sideways.

"You tell me the time quick!" said AJ seeing that Caramel was running out of excuses.

"Well, seeing that today Blueblood is going to be the real Blueblood, we're leaving at 21:30" said Rarity.

"Perfect, thanks Rares" he replied her winking at her unnoticed.

"And of course... since Aria can't reach her hands, I had to put cream on her and..." Caramel kept saying.

"Caramel!" said Applejack "I don't care, today you and I are going to make certain things clear, at 22:00 in the apple field."

"But..." tried to say the earthling, but was stopped by AJ's angry look "22:00 at the apple field... I get it."

The T-Wings gave each other concerned looks at the girls' distant attitude, kissed them all, except for Caramel, Cheese and Soarin, who received a curt indifference and crossed arms and went to their table.

" What the fuck is wrong with them now?" asked Cheese.

" I know, it's not like it's the first time we've been caught cheating on them, I don't know what's wrong with them now, if we're meant to be together." Soarin said.

Caramel was with a frightened expression, staring at nothing.

"Hey... Caramel" said Flash putting his hand on her shoulder "Don't worry, tonight you'll be eating Applejack her juicy apples."

"No dude" said Caramel "From what I know of his temper, the tone the way she' s been talking to me, tonight she dumps me and beats the crap out of me..."

"Unless..." said Flash with a complicit look towards everyone, who immediately looked at Spike, who had finished eating.

"The nomag" smiled Caramel.

Applejack, now, with a smile, began to eat her food.

"What's with the smile AJ?" asked Pinkie.

"Nothing, just, everything is on wheels" she said eating.

"On wheels?" asked Rarity.

The question answered itself when all the T-Wings, at once, stood up and went towards Spike, who wasn't alert enough to brace himself and received a punch from Flash that knocked him out of his chair. Blueblood, threw his tray on top of him under the laughter of the students, the worried looks of the Crusaders and Harmonys and the curious glances of the Dazzlings.

"Let's have a little talk, nomag!" said Flash as Sunbrust lifted him up with his magic.

"I didn't do anything, I swear!" said Spike as he was led out of the cafeteria.

"Beat the crap out of him!" yelled a unicorn at the T-Wings.

"Remind that murderer his place in the world!" shouted an earthling.

" For Thunderlane!" shouted a pegasus.

The T-Wings slammed the door before exiting and the Harmony's looked at AJ.

"That's why you wanted to know the time" said Rarity "You knew Caramel wouldn't dare to go..."

"And he' d send Spike instead" said AJ triumphantly and affirming "Eyup."

"What are you going to do Applejack?" asked Sunset.

"First of all, I want to enjoy a moonlight date, like the one *ahem* "Caramel" *ahem* set me up on our anniversary and then..." explained AJ

"Then what are you going to do?" said Twi looking at her worriedly "Are you going to tell him that there' no need to wear the costume?"

"Well..." AJ hesitated.

"Or are you just going to rip off his belt?" asked Twi again.

"Emmm..." she continued hesitantly.

"Applejack... we need to do this with lead feet, maybe his intentions are good or bad, but one wrong step and all this, will have been for nothing..." said Twi bringing her hands to her head and relaxing them on top of her. "By the way... we should give him back the backpack."

"I volunteer" said Pinkie smiling and holding up her hand.

"And me" said Shy raising her hand as well.

"Me twenty times more" said Dash raising her hand quickly.

"I think you should give it back to him Twilight" said Sunset crossing her arms.

"What!" said Pinkie, Dash and Shy.

"Me!?" said alarmed Twilight "Why me?"

"You found it, you opened it" said Sunset "You give it back".

" She has a point there, darling," said Rarity.

"But what if they see me talking to him!" she said flustered and trying to hide under her wings, only to have Applejack pull her face out.

"Listen sugarcube" said Applejack "Everyone is now eating, the T-Wings will be finishing with him by now, wait until they leave and give him the backpack, it's not too complicated."

"But..." she said worriedly

"Come on please..." said all of them with a lamb-like face

"Alright..." she said taking a breath, grabbing the backpack and getting up "Here I go."

The girls watched her walk towards the door as did many boys and girls lasciviously.

"What a hottie she is." commented a pegasus

"Did you see that bubble butt?" commented an earthling "How lucky Flash is."

"That girl can make any other girl a lesbian" said a unicorn girl to her friend.

"No doubt about it" said the earthling friend back.

Twilight was already used to those comments for which she didn't give them any importance, especially when her head, was doing nothing but spinning, thinking hard about what she was going to do and say.

As she left the cafeteria, the Crusaders approached Harmony.

"Where is she going?" asked Applebloom.

"To meet her destiny little sister" said Applejack with a smile, confusing the three sisters.

The Dazzlings, also watching everything that happened in the cafeteria, looked at each other with sinister smiles and slyly, got up and left the cafeteria unnoticed.

The T-Wings, were in an empty hallway of the high school kicking Spike, who was writhing in pain on the floor.
Flash crouched down to his level, telling the others to stop.

"It's a lot of fun to kick your ass, you know?" he said with a grin.

Spike didn't respond, his face was scrunched up trying not to scream from the hits to his stomach.

"Let's cut to the chase, you've got a new job today," said the pegasus, "Well, actually you've got two."

Flash grabbed him by the hair and threw against some lockers, causing the pain in his stomach to shift to his back.

"Look kid, today, our dear friend and partner Caramel has a booze date at the disco and can't go apologize to Applejack for an incident that happened on the beach" Flash explained "Guess who gets to go in his place wearing a shapeshifter belt?"
Spike looked at Flash with a sad expression.

"Exactly, you" said Flash laughing.

"And I hope on your part, she forgives me, otherwise you know what will happen?"

"My... head... in the toilet?" said Spike faltering as he clutched his back trying to calm the pain.

"Bingo" said the six T-Wings at the same time.

"And another thing scum" said Blueblood "Thunder wants to see you."

"What?" he said as he tried to get up, only to get hit in the shin by Soarin, causing him to fall back down.

"What you heard, so you better go... or else?" said Flash.

"My...head...in the toilet?" said Spike again, grabbing his shin.

"Bingo" they all said at the same time again laughing.

"Well gentlemen, we'd better finish our meal" said Blueblood to the others.

"Let's go then" said Flash

"By the way, Applejack is expecting me at 22:00 in the apple field, don't keep her waiting" said Caramel to Spike as he left with his group and they left him lying on the ground.

In the corner, Twilight, who had heard and seen everything, was holding Spike's backpack, thinking about what to say to him.

For their part, the Dazzlings, were in the empty classroom facing that hallway, who had entered through the other's door, hearing and seeing it all.

"Alright Twilight" she said to herself "You must do it now, there's no one. Come on, you defeated a Chaos god, talking to a boy shouldn't be a problem... even if that boy is Spike, is a nomag and you have a magical love connection... oh my god... here I come, come on Twi."

Twilight slowly approached Spike who couldn't get up from the ground because of the pain in his shin. With a blush on her face she stood a few feet away from him.

"Hi...hi...nom..." she said hesitating like a little girl, but seeing that Spike was in a lot of pain in his leg, she became really worried. "Are you okay Spike?"

Twilight knelt down beside him to look at his shin. Which made Spike jump a little in bewilderment.

"And now Twilight is calling me by my name?!" said Spike to himself "Am I going crazy?!"

Twilight gently grabbed Spike's leg and touched the side of his shin with her hand.

"I think he fractured it..." said Twi worriedly "Don't worry, the pain will stop in no time."

His horn began to glow as she closed her eyes, her hands, glowed with the same purple aura coming from his horn, Spike noticed how the pain was fading. As it stopped glowing, his shin was fully restored.

"There you go" Twilight said smiling "Better than going to the hospital don't you think?"

"Yes... and faster" said Spike as he stretched and bent his leg to check that the pain had stopped completely.

Both he and Twilight broke out in a smile that quickly changed to a blush.

"Shit... I feel so... good..." muttered Twilight to herself " Oh gosh...why is he so handsome...why the fuck is he so handsome!!!!? Fucking Kara Sevda."

"Holy fucking shit... why the fuck do they have to hang out with those motherfuckers? Fucking magic of the nuts..." thought Spike.

"Emmm... well... I was coming to return this to you" said Twilight as she handed her backpack back to Spike "You left it in the bathroom... earlier"

It took Spike a few seconds to react, as both his eyes and hers were fused together.

" Oh...right..." said Spike as he opened the backpack to check that the book was still inside, seeing it, he sighed in delight.

" I...couldn't help but read...that book" Twilight said as she touched her hair with a finger, rolling it up in it "Well...it's just...as you know I love books and reading and studying and well... hehehehe... that kind of thing..."

Twilight had one of the biggest blushes she had ever had, her face was completely red with embarrassment.

"That kind of thing?" thought Twilight " ARE YOU SERIOUSLY TAMARA SPARKLE!? Couldn't you say something else? You're making an idiot out of yourself... but what the fuck am I saying... what the fuck is wrong with me!!!?"

"Well... you couldn't have read much... it's all in Kulahaihuense," Spike said looking at the book and opening it to the Fire Ruby page.

"That chapter... it was translated..." said Twilight moving closer to Spike, becoming unconsciously glued, without even looking at each other, the two absorbed in the book. "But... what is that jewel? Why are you so interested in it?"

"It's an ancient tribal relic... they said it had magical powers but... I don't think that's its point." Spike said looking at the drawing.

"And what do you think it does?" said Twilight.

"Judging by what I manage to translate at a glance in these paragraphs" said Spike as he saw a few small untranslated lines below the drawing "It says that he power of the jewel could create and consume everything with a beam of red light emanating from it."

"Mmmm... interesting... maybe the jewel would explain the abrupt movements of the earth during the 4th century B.C." she said, thinking.

"That's a possible explanation... but magic it's not... I think it's an electromagnetic energy vessel." Spike said holding his hand to his chin.

"Like some sort of natural particle accelerator?" she said also putting her hand to her chin "OF COURSE! If that jewel was formed in the center of the earth..."

"During the Permico-Cretaceous extinction time..."

" The magnetic resonance..."

"And the electrical forces of the planet's core..."

"Coupled with the movements of the earth and the lava from the volcanoes that exploded at the same time..."

"They would create..."

"It is possible that they would create..."

"An electromagnetic vessel with the strength to match the God particle!" they said at the same time joyfully and looking into each other's eyes full of happiness and hugging each other for a few seconds.

However they suddenly separated abruptly and with completely red faces.

"Emm yeah well..." said Spike quickly looking away from Twilight "Thanks for the notebook... the book..."

"Yeah well... you're welcome... for that and for... you know... the lesson... the notion." Twilight said looking away from Spike.

At the same time, they both turned their heads slowly, but when they realized they were looking at each other, they quickly turned their heads again.

"Well I have to go, it's been interesting, bye" Twilight said quickly as she started to leave, walking quickly.

"Yes, thank you Twilight" he said quickly as well.

They both walked hurriedly, each down a hallway in opposite directions.

The Dazzlings, leaving the classroom with a smile, went to the intersection of the two hallways, the one they were in, and the one Spike and Twilight had gone in opposite directions.

"Very interesting," said Adagio.

"Aw... what a cute couple they make" said Sonata with a smile, to which she received a few blank looks from her other sisters "What?"

The hours passed inside the institute as well as the classes, where Twilight, after what happened in the hallway with Spike did not say a word, not even when the teachers addressed her.

The Harmony's were in the parking area, waiting for the alicorn, anxious to know what had happened, since she hadn't said anything to them either.

"I hope nothing serious happened between the two of them" said Shy worriedly.

"I don't know sugarcube" AJ told her "Did you notice she didn't even look at the teachers or us?"

"And she came in redder than a strawberry licorice." Pinkie said eating a red licorice.

"You don't think they've... "said Sunset.

"Please are we talking about Twilight herself?" said Dash kicking a soccer ball. "She didn't dare give Flash a kiss until the six months they were dating, don't talk about Spike."

"I don't know dear," Rarity said as she filed her nails half sitting in her car. "But something's happened to make her act like that."

Before long, Twilight appeared, walking tensely and looking down at the ground.

"Blessed eyes, we thought you were gone," said AJ.

"Oh... no no girls, I was just talking to Mr. Crunky... I didn't get the lesson right today... I was a little distracted..." said Twilight a little red.

"You don't have to swear," said Dash.

"Did something happen with a green-haired boy that we didn't know about?" said Rarity with detective eyes.

"What?" she said alarmed "No, nothing happened Rarity What makes you think that? If something had happened, I'd be noticed, I'd be nervous, I'd say nonsense, I'd drag out the explanations more than I should, but nothing like that is happening! Nothing! I am very calm.

The girls stared at her puzzled, until their facial expressions changed to questioning ones.

"Nothing at all?" said Dash as a mischievous smile escaped her.

"Absolutely nothing," said Twilight flippantly.

From behind the building, Spike appeared in front of the parking area, staring off into nothingness as he lit a cigarette. As he began to smoke, he unconsciously glanced out into the parking area, where he locked eyes with the Harmony's, especially Twilight. After a few seconds, he tapped the back of his sneakers to turn them into rollerblades and swiftly, he sped off down the road, heading towards the center of town.

The girls' gazes shifted to Twilight, who, gawking, stood watching as Spike disappeared between the cars and buildings.
"For nothing to have happened...you're redder than the freshest of my apples," Applejack said comically, putting a huge blush on Twilight's face.

Spike skidded towards the downtown area of Canterlot, the shopping area. Huge skyscrapers loomed as he passed through the overwhelmed streets, lined with offices and fast food stands where executives of every magical sort came and went about their usual business.

In front of the Fancy Tower, emblematic building of the city and property of the cybersecurity and technology company Fancy Pants&W Coorporation was the enormous Canterlot Central Hospital, right in front of the Harmonia Square, where a huge sculpture in the shape of a Tree, commemorated the defeat of Discord against the Harmony Girls. The sculpture was engraved with the symbol of the girls' leather jackets, Twilight's being the largest and most striking on the trunk and the other girls' on each of the six branches. From the Hospital parking lot, Spike stopped for a few moments to look at the sculpture, appreciating the reinforced glass it was made of and how the water falling from the branches, turning it into a fountain, bathed the small rivulets of water that led to small outlets at the end of the circular stone structure surrounding it.

Spike circled the statue, watching it as he waited between two cars for the red light to turn green.

Beside him stood a large car with a family of pegasus. The father driving, looked over to where Spike was standing, catching a glimpse of the boy's face between the hood.

"Look kids" he exclaimed in surprise to his children who were in the back of the car "A nomag!"

"UUUUUUUUUHHHHHH" said the two pegasus, a brother and sister at the sight of Spike.

"Take a good look at him kids" said their mother as with her cell phone she took a picture of him "He may be the only one you will ever see."

The children looked at Spike as he, watched them back in silence.

The traffic light turned green and the car continued on its way. The sister, from the back window, waved goodbye to the boy waving her hand cheerfully. Spike ignored her and continued on his way to the parking lot of the hospital, oblivious to the fact that, riding in a car followed the Dazzlings sisters to the nomag.

"What will Thunderlane want with the nomag?" asked Aria to her sisters without taking her eyes off the hooded man.

"That's just what we're going to find out sister" said Adagio smiling mischievously.

"And how are we going to find out?" asked Sonata from the back seat "It doesn't look like they're going to let the three of us in."

"We're not getting in Sonata" said Adagio as she parked next to the parking lot entrance.

The three saw a unicorn nurse at the emergency exit of the hospital smoking a cigarette, the three looked at each other and smiled confidently.

Spike stood in the hospital parking lot, looking this way and that to make sure no one was nearby. He hid between two cars and from a pocket in his backpack, he pulled out the changeling belt and put it around his waist.

"Come on Spike, easy, I can do it" he said sighing.

He took one last look to the side and turned the small hand towards Patriot's circle. Between green lightning bolts, his body morphed into the blond-haired, green-eyed earthling.

At a brisk pace, he advanced toward the hospital door and entered the building.

"Good afternoon," Patriot said to a nurse with her back turned, who turned around, this being the nurse the Dazzlings had seen, a unicorn with black hair and red eyes. "I was looking for Brutus Thunder's room."

The nurse nodded and motioned for him to follow her without a word.

Spike was puzzled by her attitude, but thought nothing of it. They both walked silently up to the fifth floor and then walked to room 301. There the nurse stopped and waved her arm and motioned for him to come in.

"Thank you," Patriot said with an animated smile as the nurse headed back to the elevator, not realizing that she turned into an empty room.

Patriot grabbed the doorknob and catching his breath stepped inside.

The hospital room was quite large, Thunder slept on the bed, dressed in his hospital gown and surrounded by plush toys, flowers and letters, all with dedications saying phrases like "Get well soon" or "We love you Thunder". The muscular pegasus had bandages on his face, which were gathered in two cotton balls on his nose and chin.

Patriot moved the belt hand and detransformed back into Spike, who removed his hood as he slowly approached Thunder.

"Gifts, flowers... dedications" said Spike looking at the items that had been given to the athlete "I don't know if you'll be listening to this or not Thunder... but look, you and I have never gotten along, you've done unspeakable things to me and you're a... delectable being. You and your friends are the second biggest scum I've ever met in my life... but still, even if you treat me worse than scum, you and this whole damn town, I wouldn't hurt you, ever, we're all living beings and we all deserve the same respect. But you messed with someone who wasn't to blame for anything, you crossed the line, neither Scoots, nor Dash and above all, your girlfriend, didn't deserve you to say a word to them. In your case, you should even ask for thanks for having such a wonderful girl by your side...

Spike walked across the room to the window and stared at the skyline formed by the buildings and the sea.

"But how are you going to know how wonderful she is... or in general, how wonderful they are, if you and your friends are only interested in fucking them, fucking them and fucking them and fucking them over and over again like they're a fucking semen container for your filthy cocks." Spike said rabidly, approaching Thunder sharply, who still had his eyes closed. "There's a lot more to them than meets the eye, but of course, banging a superheroine is a lot more rewarding than wanting to get to know her."

Spike started walking back to the door, intending to leave.

"I'm really sorry for what I've done to you, but if I ever see again, that you're out of line, with people I care about, I assure you, I will kill you." Said the nomag seriously.

With that last sentence, he went to the door and grabbed the doorknob. He didn't make it out, however, when Thunder, began to laugh in a creepy, pained way.

"So...you...have a pair...of balls down there." He said as he slowly opened his eyes from the gurney.

Spike turned slowly, trying to keep his composure until he looked back at Thunder who, with the command of the gurney, was incorporating himself onto it.

"To Caesar *coff* *coff* what's Caesar's" he said slowly getting to his feet and walking over to the huge window in the wall. "You've got them good, boy. I never thought you could even hit a limp fly... and yet here we are."

Thunderlane pulled a cigarette out of his robe, opened the window and began to smoke.

"But we have a problem," he said taking a long drag and standing upright, resting his hand and right wing on the IV pole. "Well...you have a problem."

Spike didn't speak, just glared at him from across the room.

"You beat the crap out of me and that, can't go unpunished." He said smiling Machiavellianly as he exhaled smoke from the gaps between his teeth. "From now on, whenever you're alone, at the least expected moment, in the least appropriate place, watch your back boy, because I'll be there, ready to pay you back for what you've done to me and only one will get out of there alive nomag, I assure you, maybe not today, or tomorrow, or in a week, but I'll kill you Spike... Drake? was that your last name wasn't it? That way we'll confirm that you really are a fucking killer."

"I'm not a killer Thunder and I don't mind you threatening me, I'm used to it and if you don't have anything better to spout out of your mouth, I'm leaving." Spike said seriously as he turned again towards the door with the intention of leaving.

"DON'T YOU DARE GIVE ME THE BACK AFTON!" shouted Thunderlane leaving Spike paralyzed.

Thunder began to laugh again in a grim manner as he watched Spike had become paralyzed.

"It's been a long time since anyone said your real last name hasn't it?" he asked as he flicked the butt of his cigar out the window. "The jolly Afton family, with daddy William, your jerk of an older brother, Michel or 'Garble' as he liked to be called, your poor little sister Elizabeth... what was her nickname... 'Smolder' right and lastly, the fool of the younger brother... Louis was your name?"

Spike turned his head as tears formed in his eyes.

"You...how do you know...?" said Spike stuttering.

"I was there, Louis Afton... crying boy" said Thunder laughing "I saw what you did, you murdering piece of shit."

"It was...an accident" said Spike as tears began to stream down his face.

"Accident?" said Thunder "You know it wasn't...you killed them."

"No...I didn't do anything...I DID NOTHING!" cried the nomag angrily and sadly.

"Scream as much as you want, that won't bring your family back, murderer." He said with a huge grin.

Spike couldn't take it anymore and ran out of the room as Thunder's laughter went deep inside the nomag's head. He ran to the nearest bathroom there was and locked himself inside one of the cubicles. Thunder's laughter in his head began to change to a very deep, dark and slow one, while the agonized scream of a little girl also began to echo in his head. Without a second thought and falling to the ground, Spike took his knife and slowly sliced the skin of his leg. As the blade slit the boy's skin, the laughter and screaming stopped. When the blood emanating from the long slit he had made from his knee to his ankle began to gush like a red waterfall, he breathed easy.

Spike at that moment, still in tears and blood filling the floor of the hospital bathroom, pulled out his wallet and from one of the card holders, took a folded photo. When he unfolded it, he could see three boys posing under the old elm tree in the Park of Light. One of them, the middle one, was the young, smiling Spike. The tallest was dressed in a red T-shirt with a dragon skull drawn on it, orange pants to match his short, tousled hair, and yellow sneakers like his eyes. The smaller one was being held by Spike, who like him, had a prominent smile. Her hair was purple, which matched her cyan eyes, and she was wearing pajamas shaped like an orange dragon with purple scales and spines.

One of Spike's tears fell on the little girl's smiling face and slowly slid down to the edge of the photograph. The tear fell into the pool of blood, creating a tiny gap that was soon stained red again.

"I'm sorry...I'm really sorry" Spike wailed as he clenched his fist and brought it to his heart next to the photo.
Behind the bathroom door, the red-eyed nurse stood motionless until her eyes changed color to gray. Dizzy and bewildered, she put her hand to her head and headed for the elevator, not knowing what she was doing on that floor. From the Dazzlings' car, they hummed a song with their eyes closed that made their red pendants glow until they ceased their singing.

"Interesting..." said Adagio "Very interesting."

"It's not clear to me is his name Spike or Louis?" asked a confused Sonata, causing her two sisters to hold their hands to their foreheads with a sigh of despair.

Some time later, in a soup kitchen in the lower part of town, Rarity is in the kitchen alone, cooking the meal she would be giving that night to the underprivileged. While she was cooking some meat and potatoes, her cell phone began to vibrate. As she got closer she saw it was a call from Applejack.

"Applejack, dear, tell me." She said cheerfully into the hands free.

"Hey Rares, just wanted to know if he's arrived yet." AJ said through the phone.

"No, I'm still here by myself." she said with a somewhat worried tone "It's weird, he's never usually late."

"You don't think something bad happened to him?" Cowboy girl asked

"No... I don't think so... I hope..." said Rarity as she rested her hands on the bar where they serve food. "Applejack..."

"What's wrong sugarcube?" asked AJ.

"Do you think he''ll ever forgive us?" asked Rarity sadly.

"What do you mean?" asked the cowgirl.

"To what...I don't know...this whole Kara Sevda thing...the fact that really our boyfriends are a bunch of pigs...finding out that Patriot and Spike are the same person...it all makes me think that...putting aside the issue of love and our feelings...do you think he could, forgive everything we've done to him over the years? The insults, the beatings?

Applejack went a few seconds without answering, noticing even through the phone, that she had the same worried face as Rarity.

"Maybe he never took it into account" AJ finally said "I mean... even if you pretend to be someone else, when you hold a grudge against someone, it shows and when he yelled at me this morning, what I noticed was more embarrassment than rancor honestly... only time will tell."

Rarity then saw through one of the glass windows of the social lunchroom, a hooded, limping figure was passing by and was going without looking in, to the back of the lunchroom.

"He's already here, I'd better hang up." Said Rarity "Oh and Applejack...please don't make him suffer any more than he already does..."

"Not for a second I won't Rares... enjoy his company" said Applejack waving goodbye.

"I will," said Rarity hanging up the phone.

Behind the social lunchroom, Spike was leaning against the wall as he adjusted bandages on his leg where just a few hours before, he had cut himself at the hospital. He looked at the door through which the kitchen was accessed, took a breath and turned the hand of the changeling belt, transforming into Patriot.

"Okay, here we go," he said as he opened the door.

He found Rarity with her back to him humming as she stirred the stew she had in a large pot. He couldn't help a smile forming on his face. Still cogitating, he slowly approached her and just inches away covered her eyes.

"Guess who I am" he said jokingly.

Another smile formed on Rarity's face.

"Mmmm I think someone who got their sheets stuck to them in the nap, tard." She said also jokingly.

"It's not my fault I have such comfy sheets on my bed." Patriot said taking her hands away from her eyes.

Rarity turned and hugged him tight against her, which made Patriot blush, but he hugged her back.

"How are you dear?" she said in her usual angelic tone.

"Meh, I've had worse days" he said as he went to grab his apron in the back.

Rarity noticed that he was limping badly on his leg and became concerned.

"What happened to you?" she said referring to her leg.

"What?" he said somewhat confused "Oh, nothing, I'm just a clumsy guy who fell down some stairs, nothing serious I assure you."

"Are you really okay?" she asked worriedly.

"Yeah relax, strong as a bull" he said as he pulled muscle with his biceps "Nothing a nice company and a good social act can't cure."

Rarity smiled again at the joy Patriot was giving off, though they both knew that said joy, was only a false facade.
"Well Rares what's left to do?" said Patriot cheerfully.

"All that's left to do is make tonight's broth, chicken and vegetable." She said smiling "My grandmother's recipe."

"Grandmas, how they know how to take care of our stomachs." Patriot said as he began to cut up the vegetables Rarity had in a basket.

"You're telling me," said Rares.

After a few seconds of silence, Rarity looked at Patriot as she chopped and as she wore a smile on her lips.

"It's amazing... to think that this morning a paint bomb exploded in his face, he got beaten up and there he is... smiling, giving to the less favored... you're the strongest person I know..." she thought without taking her eyes off him.

Patriot noticed Rarity looking at him and laughed.

"Do I have something on my face?" said Patriot "If it's something brown near my mouth, don't think weird things, I just ate a candy bar on the way here."

"How silly you really are" laughed Rarity "It's just that..."

Rares was silent thinking about what she was going to say to him.

"Shoot Rarity, you're going to kill me with intrigue." Patriot said throwing the cut vegetables into a pot.

"Nothing, just that, you are here every Tuesday and Thursday, a friend of mine told me that you go on Fridays to children's hospitals to be a clown for the kids and also... you help my sister and her friends with their homework and studies... and I don't think that only with studies you help them... and not only them... Why are you so good?" finally asked Rarity.

Patriot, went to get the chicken broth that was in the fridge and poured it into the pot with vegetables while he thought about what to say to her.

"Well" said the earthling as he cut an onion into julienne strips "I guess it's one way to keep me alive in a cruel world like this... and I guess, that way I burn negative karma right?"

Rarity stared back at him with a smile.

"Your family must be proud of you," she said cheerfully.

"I hope so..." he said with a somewhat sad tone, but without losing his smile, which Rarity noticed.

"Did I say something wrong?" asked Rarity worriedly.

"No nothing it's just that... oh what a shame it always gives me to cut onions" said Patriot laughing.

Rarity with a smile smacked him with a cloth on his butt.

"You fool!" she said laughing "You had me worried."

"I can't help but joke with you Rares" said Patriot "I feel so comfortable when I'm around you."

The unicorn blushed and with a smile, jokingly swatted him again with the washcloth.

"Come on, let's get the food done before we open." She said returning to her post

"Yes my captain!" said Patriot imitating a soldier making them both laugh.

After a while, they finished cooking and wanderers of all magical kinds were arriving for their food ration. Unicorns, pegasus, earthlings, dragons, diamond dogs, griffins....

Rarity and Patriot were handing out the broth and stewed meat as the underprivileged approached with their tray.

"Thank you young man" said an elderly pegasus woman to Patriot as she handed her a bowl of broth "You are very kind."

"You don't have to thank me miss" said Patriot smiling.

"Oh, miss," she said with a laugh, "Please, I'm an old lady now."

"Well it's gleaming if I may say so." Said the boy

"What a nice young man, don't let him get away girl" said the old lady to Rarity, which caused her to blush hugely.
"Don't worry, this one won't get away from here." Rarity said jokingly.

They both continued delivering dishes until the lunchroom doors opened an old man with a blind man's cane walked in. However, upon seeing him enter, many of the underprivileged and homeless, gave him a dirty look. He walked as far as he could to the counter where the meals were served and grabbed a tray. The old man was wearing a hood and glasses that prevented a good view of his face.

"Wow, a new face around here." Patriot said trying to lighten the mood. "Would you like me to bring your food to your table sir?"

"Don't worry boy, I don't want you to try any harder than you have to" said the old blind man to Patriot.

"No trouble at all sir" said Patriot as he picked up the tray with the two plates and walked out from behind the bar.

"I will guide you to a table next to the bathroom, so you don't have to turn around too much if you need to go." He said as he held the tray with one hand and gently grasped the blind man's arm with the other under Rarity's gleeful gaze and the irritable looks of the other underprivileged.

Patriot settled the blind man in one of the chairs next to the toilets, set the tray down in front of him and placed the plastic cutlery in front of him.

" You have the cutlery in front of you, if you feel gently in front of you you will notice them." Said the boy with a smile on his mouth.

"You are a very kind person, my boy." Said the blind man "However, I think I have brought you trouble, even a blind man like me, can tell when an atmosphere has become tense."

"What do you mean?" said Patriot as he turned around and realized what was going on.

The underprivileged looked at Patriot and the blind man with contempt as they muttered under their breath. Rarity, also aware of what was going on, looked at the people quizzically.

"Don't take it as a personal attack kid." The blind man said to her as he pulled his hood away from his face "It's not your fault I'm nomag."

Patriot just stared at him wordlessly.

"I imagine your face of surprise and disgust, I am not surprised, it will be the same face my daughter gave me when she saw that I had neither wings, nor horn, nor horse ears. The best thing is for you to do as she did, go away, save yourself the trouble boy, abandon me, we nomags are used to contempt."

Patriot, without a word, backed away, heading for the kitchen.

"Even so" the blind, elderly nomag told him as he left and put his hood back on "Thank you boy."

The earthling didn't look at him when he said that, just continued on his way to the kitchen, his face completely changed to an expression of absolute sadness. He stood next to Rarity, who couldn't help but notice the grim look on her friend's face.
The line went on for their ration of food, however, the expressions of hatred from the bums still wouldn't go away.

"You better have washed your hands kid." Said one griffin "I may be homeless, but I want to stay healthy. Who knows, what that nasty nomag over there has touched."

"Yes sir" said Patriot dryly.

Rarity, out of the corner of her eye, looked very pitifully at Patriot.

"Poor Spike...I'm so sorry." She thought as she continued to serve dishes.

Hours passed until the last of the lunchroom guests left, leaving Patriot and Rarity, who were cleaning up the place, alone.
Rarity still couldn't take her eyes off Patriot as she cleaned the dishes and he scrubbed the lunchroom floor.

Patriot leaned on the mop stick as he closed his eyes, resting his gaze.

"Rares do you mind if I smoke?" asked Patriot to the unicorn.

"Not at all dear" she said looking at him "Do you mind giving me one?"

Patriot was a little surprised as she pulled out two cigarettes.

"I didn't know a damsel like you smoked." He said jokingly

"I get the concept of damsel you have, it's a little outdated." Said Rarity coming out of the kitchen and taking the cigarette offered to her.

Patriot held out the cigar to Rarity who gracefully took it with her fingers and sat down at one of the tables behind them. Taking the first puff, Rarity began to cough loudly.

"Wasn't the tobacco made for the lady's mouth" kidded Patriot.

"How *cough* funny *cough* *cough* *cough* you are" she said sarcastically "I just hadn't smoked in a long time."

Patriot sat down next to her on top of the table as they both smoked.

"And why did you decide to smoke?" asked Patriot.

"To share a nice moment with one of the most wonderful person I know." She said as she tucked her purple mane behind her ear.

"You're going to make me blush Rares" he said laughing making Rarity smile too.

"Hey Patriot... earlier... when the blind man thing happened..." she said trying to be smooth.

"Well... it's nothing... I just... knew someone like him." Said after a few seconds Patriot looking straight ahead, trying not to cry.

"A nomag?" asked Rarity.

"Yes" said Patriot "But don't think weird things, he wasn't a friend of mine not at all... just... I feel sorry for people who are abandoned by their family, nomag or not... it's sad... you're very lucky to have your parents and your little sister Rares..."

"And your family?" she said

"Uh... yeah, I'm pretty lucky with my family too..." she said looking at the ground sadly

"You never... you never told me about them..." said Rarity moving a little closer to Patriot

" Yeah... well... I had... I have two siblings, one older and one younger..." said Patriot a little sad "We are not siblings, they are step-siblings, my father separated from my mother and met his wife... when... my mother died... I went with my father to live and there I met them... I love them very much."

"What... what happened to your mother?" said Rarity trying to cope with this sensitive subject.

"Cancer" said almost sighing Patriot "Of pancreas..."

"I'm really sorry Patriot... maybe I shouldn't have asked you..." said Rarity sadly

"Oh... it's nothing Rares..." said Patriot taking a breath to avoid crying "Besides... I like to remember her... and I have no problem talking to you about anything... after all... we are friends aren't we?"

"No doubt dear" she said smiling as she looked into his eyes.

Rarity turned her head and saw the output of the speakers and came up with an idea to cheer Patriot up.

She walked towards them without a word and pulled out her cell phone. With her horn, she sprouted from the output of the headphones, a conductive metal connector into the audio output of the speakers.

"What are you doing Rares?" asked Patriot as she finished the incantation.

At that moment, a scene from Rarity's favorite movie, Grease, started playing. And she began to imitate Olivia Maretown Jons, encouraging Patriot, to be John Trotvolta, of course, Patriot, agreed.

They both began to sing and dance the mythical final scene of the movie throughout the lunchroom, while keeping both boys looking and smiling warmly.

At the end of the song, Patriot was holding Rarity by the waist, glued to her body and looking at each other while they were laughing, but the laughter calmed down as their eyes melted into each other and unconsciously, they were getting closer, closing their eyes and opening their mouths, ready and needing to kiss passionately. When they were just millimeters away from each other, abruptly the lunchroom door opened and Blueblood walked in, causing the two to pull apart very quickly.

"What the fuck are you doing Rares?" said Blueblood, who hadn't seen that Patriot and Rarity were in that situation, because he was looking at his cell phone. "I sent you thirty messages that I'm out."

Silence reigned for a few seconds as they both blushed with embarrassment. Albert Blueblood, looked up from his cell phone and looked at both of them.

"What the fuck is wrong with you Rarity?" he said to her "Come on we have the hotel reservation and I want to get there as soon as possible so you can blow me."

Patriot looked with hatred in his eyes at Blueblood, who noticed this.

"You got a problem sucker?" he said raising his head thinking he was superior.

"Blueblood honey" said Rarity to avoid a fight "There's nothing wrong with him, let's go, I'm going to give you a blowjob you're going to fall on your ass."

"I hope so... but don't let me catch you looking at me wrong again." Blueblood said as he grabbed Rarity's arm and sniffed her hair. "Have you been smoking?"

"What?" she said "Oh no, it's just that underprivileged people have this tobacco smell and well... it gets caught in the hair."

"How I hate that you give food to this disgusting scum" said Blueblood "If you want to cook, cook for me, I'm your boyfriend for a reason."

They both walked out of the lunchroom, leaving Patriot alone, who saw Rarity, turn her head to look at him, before getting into Blueblood's car and Blueblood right there, pulled her head down with his hand to his member so that as he drove, she sucked him off.

Patriot, with hatred on his face, slammed a lunchroom table, causing it to crack a little.

"Son of a bitch!" he screamed out of rage.

Some time later, on the other side of the city, in a huge apple field, on a large hill where you could see the whole city, the sea and part of the forest that the island had, was Applejack, biting an apple freshly picked from a large apple tree where it rested, waiting for "Caramel" to appear. She then got a message from Rainbow Dash.

"Cowgirl, everyone is here except Rarity and Blueblood, I hope you're having a good time... Caramel is here too, but hiding in a ridiculous disguise of a trench coat and sunglasses, Flash says he's her cousin the Horsegian, no one can believe it.

"Thanks Dash" replied Applejack "He won't take long to get here then."

"Good luck AJ" replied the pegasus.

"I'll have it" AJ said before turning off his cell phone.

Down the hill, behind the huge Apple family farm, walked Spike with his hood up and a cigarette in his mouth until he arrived in front of the big red barn. His face still reflected the helplessness he had suffered when Blueblood picked up Rarity and all he could think about was how the unicorn was forcing her on all fours against the wall now.

She took a last puff and pulled on his cigarette. He closed his eyes and directed his look to the top of the hill, where he could see a small beam of light, probably coming from some candles, where he distinguished the figure of Applejack waiting. The boy smiled and moved the hand on his belt to the orange circle to transform into Caramel.

Applejack, concentrating, could make out Spike's breathing in the distance and the hand turning. The earthling's heart began to pound.

"There's no turning back now," she said as she got herself properly situated and saw that everything was ready. Four candles lit, a large tablecloth of red and white squares and a nice bowl of nachos. She smiled and waited for him to come upstairs.

Caramel rang the farmhouse doorbell and Granny Smith opened the door for him with a big smile.

"Caramel sonny please come in" Granny Smith said as she invited him in with her hand.

The farmhouse inside was like a huge hunter's cabin, with wooden walls and floors, a huge hall with a staircase leading to the upstairs where the bedrooms were, a living room on the right with a fireplace, a huge rustic American kitchen on the left and a large dining room behind it. All of it, decorated with pictures of the whole family and trophies.

"Hi Granny Smith" said Caramel with a smile "Do you know where Applejack is? We were supposed to meet.

"She's up on the hill waiting for you sonny, she seemed a little pissed off" said Granny Smith as she led him into the kitchen, where there was a door to the outside "Did something happen?"

"Just a little misunderstanding Granny Smith" he said "Nothing to worry about."

Granny Smith smiled somewhat oddly at the earthling before setting about cooking.

"Well, I hope you two work it out, after all...she is your princess and you...her hooded knight." He said without looking at Caramel smiling.

Caramel was somewhat shocked and looked at Granny Smith as she began to hum as she cooked. She decided not to make a big deal out of it and walked out of the house to the apple field.

"Good luck Spike," Granny Smith said softly.

Caramel walked through the apple field in the moonlight as she started up the hill. When she got to the top of it all, she could see Applejack with her back turned gazing out over the town and the picnic she had prepared.

"Hello little apple" said Caramel with a smile.

Applejack turned around and before saying anything, she looked down and checked that he had his belt on. Then she looked up at him and smiled.

"Hi sweetie" she said cheerfully as she walked over to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek, making him blush.

"Listen Applejack... what happened with the mermaids didn't..." said Caramel.

Applejack put a finger to his lips, to tell him to shut up. She smiled and hugged him.

"Let's not talk about it, I didn't bring you here to argue." She said "Do you like it?"

AJ waved her hand at the whole picnic he had set up.

"How could I not like it?" he said with a smile "An exact recreation of our anniversary. The four vanilla candles, the tablecloth and most of all that huge bowl of nacho cheese and buffalo hot sauce that is saying to us, sit down and eat me."

"I love that you still remember," she said laughing and sitting down on the tablecloth.

The earthling patted the floor, in the gap left for Caramel to sit.

Caramel sat down and they both started eating the nachos.

Applejack couldn't help but look at Caramel and in her mind, she could see all the memories lived with him, including the one they were sharing at that moment and unable to help herself, she saw how those memories, Caramel turned into Spike. The day they went to the amusement park, the trip to the mountain cabin, the Apple family tournaments, when he helps her on the farm, all those memories were running through her mind like a runaway locomotive, except that, the one holding her hand, was not Caramel, but, the mysterious hooded nomag.

She blinked rapidly and again she could see the form of Caramel, who was tasting the nachos, looking out into the starry night.

"Caramel," Applejack said to her.

"Yes honey?" he replied kindly.

"Do you remember your life before magic?" she asked her boyfriend looking up at the sky.

Caramel turned his head to look at her.

"Well... not much... but still... who cares about that anymore..." he said a little crestfallen.

"I do..." said Applejack looking at him "And I know you do too..."

Applejack grabbed the earthling's hand.

"I know it will seem like a strange and even crazy question... but I really need to know your own answer... your own" said emphasizing that last sentence the cowgirl. "If you could touch a button... where everything was reset to zero... and none of the magic had happened... would you push it?"

Caramel stood hesitating for a few seconds in silence, not answering, looking at her girl in her beautiful bottle green eyes.

"No" said Caramel, surprising Applejack, who believed another answer "And if you're looking for the why it is... that if it hadn't been for the things that magic has brought, good and bad... I would never have met you Applejack and we wouldn't be you and I here right now... maybe you would be dating a person a thousand times better... while I would be drowning in my own tears for sure. And that person, would be dating one of the most stunning, courageous and incredible girls this world has ever given... and just wish he would take care of you."

The cowgirl, speechless and shocked, began to fill her eyes with tears as a smile formed on her face.

"Likewise... What's with that question applejack?" said Caramel.

As Applejack blinked, as happened before, Caramel's figure faded and she could behold Spike, his hood pulled back, his tousled hair loose, looking at her with his angelic little face, that same one that just a few hours before, had screamed at her in helplessness and rage.

" For nothing sweetie" Applejack said with a huge smile, letting out a tear.

Spike smiled and gripped her hand tightly.

Applejack blinked again and saw Caramel again.

"Hey Applejack by the way" said Caramel "Are we celebrating something special? It's just... the picnic, the candles... the perfect recreation... Is there something we're celebrating?"

"Could be" said the earthling with a mischievous smile "Maybe... a new beginning."

Applejack reached out to the wicker basket she had brought to carry the nachos and some napkins and from it, pulled a bottle of cider from her farm along with two glasses of champagne.

" A new beginning huh?" said Caramel as AJ filled his glass with cider "Are you going to leave me and start dating a new sex symbol?"

"Never say never cowboy" laughed Applejack.

Hours passed up the hill and the bottles of cider began to empty as well as the bowl of nachos. Caramel and Applejack laughed nonstop, recalling quotes and anecdotes. You could tell Applejack was a little spoiled from the alcohol in the cider, however Caramel was like a rose, as if he had just been drinking water.

"Do you remember when *hic* we were Pinkie, you and I *hic* waiting in line for the water slide *hic* that one that was giant *hic* and I almost bit the lifeguard because I didn't want to jump *hic*" laughed Applejack along with Caramel.

"They had to even give the poor guy stitches" laughed Caramel "You were always a thrill seeker but at water parks you just ride the lazy river".

"I like *hic* thrills *hic* strong thrills *hic* but on dry land, not three hundred meters above the sky *hic*" she said taking a sip of cider.

"What an exaggeration, it was only thirty" said Caramel laughing.

"The weird thing is *hic* only you came on that trip, the rest *hic* had things to do" said Applejack smiling a little bit

"Well, they missed it, for me it was a great day" said Caramel

"No doubt" she said as she glared at him.

Then, through Applejack's head, a fleeting idea ran through her brain. Her eyes and mouth, took on a somewhat devilish expression.

"Phew *hic* look at the time it is *hic* we should go to bed already *hic*" she said as she stood up somewhat bewildered.

"Can you take me to the bedroom please?"

"Yeah, I have a feeling it's going to be for the best" she said as she stood up and grabbed his hand.

"Hey *hic*why don't you give me a piggyback ride *hic*?" said Applejack.

"Emmm... it's just... my back hurts a bit little apple... we'd fall off for sure" said Caramel a little nervously

" Yeah yeah..." said the cowgirl smiling and suspiciously.

They both walked down the hill through the apple field while Applejack hugged Caramel's arm cuddlingly.

When they reached the farmhouse, everything was dark as everyone was asleep.

"*Chsssss* *hic* Don't make noise *hic* everyone is asleep" she said still somewhat hurt.

"Come on, you'll be in bed in no time sweetie." Said Caramel

They slowly walked up the stairs and went to Applejack's room.

The room was very simple, a double bed, a large window through which the moonlight came through, a pine wood desk, an aramarium built into the wall and an orange carpet with three red apples drawn on it, everything was full of family photos, with the Harmony's and with "Caramel".

They both crossed the threshold of the door as stealthily as possible. Caramel sat Applejack on the bed while he went to get some pajamas from the closet.

"Where did you keep the pyjamas AJ?" asked Caramel "In the dark it's just that you can't make them out very well."

"In the second drawer from the right" said Applejack recovered as she inadvertently bolted the door to her room. "Although... on these nights, pre-summer... with so much heat, I' d rather sleep... naked."

Applejack began to unbutton her shirt, leaving her breasts not fully uncovered, also revealing that she wasn't wearing a bra.

"Then I'd better get going..." said Caramel turning around though he couldn't finish the sentence as he saw Applejack with her shirt open.

"I guess you're not leaving sugarcube." She said approaching with a hungry face.

She grabbed Caramel by the forearms and forcefully pulled him onto the bed.

"Ehhh... Applejack... I... it's just... it's really late... and tomorrow there's class... and..." said Caramel a bit scared.

"And you want to go right?" she said as she climbed onto the bed and on top of Caramel like a lioness about to grab her prey. "All right, you can go...if you can get me off of you."

She dropped her body on top of Caramel's, who with a blush covering his entire face, tried to free himself from the hot prison of the beautiful girl's body.

"You can't can you?" she said teasingly as she stood upright on top of her boy's member as it began to grow "And you know why you can't?"

"Wh.... Wh... Why...?" asked the terrified boy.

"Because you're not Caramel" she said sticking out her tongue and running it down his earthy neck, licking every inch from shoulder to ear. "And I know you're not because of three things..."

Giggling almost Machiavellianly, the cowgirl, with her hand, covered the earthling's mouth as she began to rub herself up and down with the help of the boy's rock-hard dick.

"The first... is that you treat me as an equal... and not as a servant... the second... because you love me... as if I were a queen... and you don't judge me for my faults... and the third... and most important... is that if you were Caramel, you would have slammed me into a bush as soon as you got up the hill." She said, saying that last sentence climaxing and having an orgasm as she looked into the boy's perplexed eyes.

Applejack began with the other hand she had loose to caress the bulge forming in his pants.

"You know something else honey?" she said, lowering her face to his, coming within inches of his mouth "I know who you really are...the guy who's been dating us for six years now without any of us realizing it...the one who really wants to take care of us and has proven he can, not just the Harmony's but the Crusaders...the one who from the shadows protects us...I wish we'd realized that sooner it's always...it's been you, Spike."

Applejack quickly grabbed the belt and ripped it from his pants, tearing it from the excitement, causing in a split second the costume to disappear and underneath the huge Earthling Amazon was trapped the helpless nomag, who was looking at her terrified and aroused at the same time. At that moment, looking into the boy's eyes, an electric current ran through her spine.

"I never thought... this image... you down here trapped, could get me so hot... I want you Spike!" she cried out to him just before she launched into a kiss and began riding him for hours. However, Spike seeing an opportunity when she pulled her hand away from his mouth, swatted his arm away and quickly, slipped down the shaft, throwing himself off the bed.

"Spike don't run away from me!" yelled Applejack at him.

Spike ran to the door but it was locked. Applejack got out of bed quickly, unbuttoning her pants, revealing her completely naked bottom.

"You can't run away...I'm just left to ask you...are you more of a boob guy? "she said pulling her shirt off her top, revealing her breasts with tiny freckles on top. "Or asses?" she said that last, turning her figure a little, letting the moonlight give a perfect silhouette of her peach-shaped butt.

Spike, panicking, looked quickly to all sides as Applejack slowly approached him. Then he saw the window and didn't think twice.

The nomag, ran towards Applejack and threw himself to the ground, stepping between her legs, jumped up and ran towards the window.

"Spike no!" the earthling shouted to him in fright.

Spike didn't listen and with a mighty leap, covering his face, he flew through the closed window of Applejack's room, falling two floors to the ground as glass was stuck in his face.

AJ ran to the window and saw him lying on the floor, trying to get up, she could see how he had twisted his ankle when he fell and how some of the glass was stuck in his face. He looked up and saw an Applejack in complete shock. He stood up in pain and dropped a hundred bits from his pocket so she could repair the window. Then, limp and terrified, he ran as best he could in the direction of town.

Granny Smith came running into the room along with Applebloom.

"What happened?" said Granny Smith upset.

"Where is he?" asked Applebloom worriedly.

"Granny... Applebloom... I think I screwed up pretty bad." She said perplexed as did the expression on her sister and grandmother's face.