Youthful Expression Ch.9

Youthful Expression
Written by Closer-To-The-Sun (Joseph Noblit)
Chapter 9: I've Been Trying

Celestia's sun was getting closer to indicating high noon in Ponyville. The purple dragon was about to leave the library for the schoolyard. He was worried of what might happen with Sweetie Belle and Applebloom, due to the incident just the day before. He decided that he should bake cookies for them for at least listening to his plead, and with his small box of cookies ready, he headed out the door to meet with the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

Spike was nervous with every step he took. The fight played repeatedly in his mind. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom shouting at each other, Applebloom's tears, and Sweetie Belle's tone. All of the details plagued him as he started to walk faster to the school.

At the school, the crusaders were there, but anypony could tell they were not as unified as they normally were. On opposite ends of the yard, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom were turned away from each other with their hooves crossed, refusing to even acknowledge the other's existence. Scootaloo was pleading with the two to just relax, but her words fell on deaf hears.

"Come on, girls, can we just play a game already?" Scootaloo spoke out to her two friends.

"Ah don't know, can Sweetie Belle be fair an' not cheat or steal?" Applebloom turned her head and shouted the last part of her statement.

"I'll be more than happy to play Scootaloo, as soon as Applebloom grows up!" Sweetie Belle turned her head and did the same as the earth filly did.

"Ah'm older than you!" Applebloom shouted to the unicorn.

"No you're not!" the white filly objected

"Am too!"

"Are not times infinity!"

The two girls continued arguing, causing Scootaloo to facehoof herself until she saw Spike coming up on the road, 'Oh, thank Celestia, Luna, and Discord!' she thought.

Spike heard the two fighting a while down the road, which made him worry only more.

"H-Hey, girls," the dragon spoke softly and nervously with the box in hand.

Sweetie Belle and Applebloom turned when they heard the familiar voice. While both were happy to see him, they were both still extremely sore from what he had said yesterday.

"What do you want, Spike?" Sweetie Belle gave a glare to accompany her sour tone.

"I came to say some things….and to give you all something if you allow me to…." Spike said as he placed the box down and opened up the box to reveal triple chocolate cookies.

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle quickly trotted to look at the box and gazed at the chocolate cookies. It was obvious that they wouldn't mind enjoying those cookies.

"Well, ah think we can let him talk, what do ya think, Sweetie Belle?" Applebloom asked to the unicorn.

"Agreed," Sweetie Belle agreed and the two sat on their flanks and began eating the treats.

Spike gave a small smile as he saw the two fillies, which were just at ends with one another, share cookies together. "Well, I guess I should just say sorry to the both of you for all the sorrow I caused ya. I honestly didn't mean anything by it, but it seemed like if I picked one of you, I would hurt the other's feelings, and I really did not want to do that. You girls are my best friends, all of you," as Spike spoke, it almost looked like he had a tear in his eye. He quickly moved his claw up to wipe it away, hoping the girls were too busy with the cookies to notice.

Behind the two fillies and the box of cookies, Scootaloo was sitting down and looked at Spike. She gave a reassuring smile and nod, her way of saying that he was doing just fine.

"So…." Applebloom looked up to Spike with bits of chocolate on her face as well as melted chocolate on her hooves, "who are ya choosin'?" Her voice was filled with both hope and distress.

"I have really thought about it, and I am have decided to not pick anypony."

"Huh?" all three fillies had a look of surprise on their face by his choice.

Sweetie Belle spoke first with chocolate stains on her white coat, "Why is that?"

"Well, for starters," Spike began, "you are all my friends. You guys are the only ponies my age, and on top of that, the greatest ponies I have in my life. I love all of you and I really don't want to hurt or lose any of you guys."

What he said caused a few tears to collect into each filly's eyes.

Sweetie Belle tried to not sound like she was about to cry, "E-Even me, after I pushed you up against the wall and….k-kissed you?"

The dragon nodded, "Yup."

A few tears of happiness rolled down Sweetie Belle's cheeks as she smiled.

"Also," Spike continued, "I'm just a baby dragon still. No matter who I look at it, I still have sometime ahead of me to fully be mature and all. A long ways to go and a lot learn to say the very least. And lastly, I was a foal myself for trying to make everypony happy. It was what I've been trying to do, and honestly I was simply dumb to think that I could do that. And even if I could do that, I would not be happy myself and that would lead to everypony ending up the same. I realize that now. I'm very sorry, girls. Can you guys forgive me and my stupidity?"

Spike was staring at the ground when he finished talking. He looked up when he didn't hear a response right away. To his surprise, all three of the crusaders got up and hugged the dragon, which caused him to panic a bit.

"Oh, Spike, we can't hate ya in the least! Ya said it yerself, we're all friends!" Applebloom said happily with a few tears of joy, kissing the dragon on his cheek.

"And we were just as dumb for letting something like that get in the way of what was important: our friendship!" Sweetie Belle clinged on to the dragon, hugging him tightly.

"And besides, this did bring us all closer together!" Scootaloo hugged Spike from behind, also hugging the other two fillies.

"Uh, girls? I'm beginning to lose my balance with all of you hug-!" Spike fell down to the ground and took the ponies with him. The all let go of each other and laughed at what had happened.

"So, are we all good?" Spike asked for anypony to answer.

"Do you want another group hug to prove it?" Sweetie Belle offered.

"I don't know about you ponies, but I'll pass on that mushy stuff. One is enough!" the orange pegasus laughed, "Now can we start having some fun?"

"Sure! But ah think we all need to clean ourselves up after that hug," Applebloom pointed out to the rest of the group, who just noticed they were all coated with chocolate from the cookies. They all laughed and went to clean themselves up before they spent the rest of the day playing.

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Later that evening, Spike walked with all the girls to their respective homes before going back home to the library. As he entered, he saw Twilight Sparkle reading a book and taking notes. As he went up stairs to sit in his bed, he grabbed a quill and some parchment and started writing as he sat down.

Dear Princess Celestia,

This is Spike writing to you, Twilight Sparkle's assistant. I know I normally only send you her letters on friendship, but over the past five days, I have learned a great deal about the topic myself. Not just about friendship and love, but also about the connection between all creatures. I am aware that I am just a baby dragon, and that I have a lot to learn about everything this life has to offer, but I think I learned one of the best lessons I ever will learn. I discovered that I am blessed to know three wonderful fillies who have changed my life forever and that the bond we share as friends is strong enough to last through whatever tough trials we go through together. I do hope to learn more from these three remarkable ponies; Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Applebloom.

Your faithful student's dragon assistant and your servant,
Spike.

END