Refusal

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

----

Twilight Sparkle stood, her back against the wall, next to a door and listened.

"I remember how it felt when I was getting worse last time. I'm going to miss just having fevers and migraines." Spike was through that doorway, talking to someone like an old friend.

"So why didn't you tell someone about it? Why didn't you tell me? I could have written Twilight, there might be a magical solution to this." It was a voice she recognized, though only from a few brief encounters. She couldn't quite put a face to it.

"There probably is. Except I can't go through the portal. It won't let me. So whatever spells or elixirs would fix this, I can't get." It was something she already knew, though hearing it put to words felt like a ball of ice was settling in her stomach.

He didn't even sound upset.

"So what? You're just going to turn into a sick, trembling mess again? There has to be something you can do!" Please. Please say there was.

"I'll go back to the doctors. I'll get another immunosuppressant, I'll be alright for a few more months until it happens again." There wasn't any fight left in his voice. All the determination in the world didn't matter when pitted against reality.

"So what are you going to tell her?"

"Twilight?"

"You two are friends, aren't you? She's going to notice."

She hadn't. What did that say about her, that she hadn't noticed?

"I can hold it off for one more day, alright? Twilight might be the smartest girl in Crystal Prep, but she's never practiced any sports stuff. The events are... Dirtbikes and archery and something else?"

"Speed Skating. She's never done any of that stuff?"

"No, never as far as I know. So my school is throwing a novice against hobbyists. My classmates are going to try and tear her apart." He sounded absolutely certain of that.

"Future knowledge?"

"No, last thing I was here for was the whole Siren dealie. But I do know Crystal Prep Academy. Twilight needs someone at her back. She's got too much on her plate as it is, alright? Sunset Shimmer please, don't tell her about... About me. Okay?" He was worried about her?

He was falling apart at the seams! He should be worrying about himself!

"You fall over puking your guts out, I won't have to say a word." The girl, Sunset Shimmer sounded like she was as fond of that idea as Twilight was.

"...Thanks Sunset."

"So what's next on your agenda, Mister Time Traveler?" She was trying be humorous, but both listeners and one eavesdropper knew it fell flat.

"Can you show me where the art classroom is?" Twilight stepped away from the wall, heading towards the entrance as the conversation drifted away, too quiet to be heard.

She... Needed to think.

She needed a plan.

And judging by how much her backpack was rustling, she needed to let Spike out.

----

He was done with time to spare after he'd finished his project.

It wasn't much, just some construction paper he'd drawn on, but it would serve its purpose well enough.

Now he just had to figure out where the auditorium was. Twilight wasn't scheduled to participate in the shop or home ec. tasks of the preliminaries.

Cinch instead had aimed her straight at the academics.

The spelling bee and a mathematical test.

Neither of which Twilight could fail if she paid them so much as half of her attention, he was certain.

He made it to the competition after almost half of the contestants had been eliminated.

Rhombus.

It was the word he came in on and he was... Disappointed.

He didn't recognize the girl who misspelled it but...

It wasn't even a long word! Seven letters!

It wasn't like the girl had been asked to spell parallelogram!

The silent H wasn't even a mean trick.

Spike sat himself down with a huff. He didn't have much by way of school pride, but the little bit he'd had deflated.

Two more girls had been eliminated before Twilight came up for her turn.

Spike lifted his project up overhead.

"Miss Sparkle, your word is 'Isosceles'. You have ten seconds." Principal Celestia said to the girl.

Twilight took a moment to respond, hesitating before breaking her gaze away from where he was sitting.

"Isosceles. I, S, O, S, C, E, L, E, S. Isosceles." She stood waiting for a moment, her head tilted and staring directly at Spike.

"Dude, put that down! We can't see." Spike gleefully ignored the boy behind him.

Pristine Shield couldn't pay him to be considerate.

"That is correct. You may take your seat." Twilight returned to sitting at the edge of her group, almost falling off her seat to keep her distance from her team.

"It would seem that we're tied at an astounding... One for one on the spelling bee. As such, we'll be bringing out a tie-breaker." Luna said from beside her sister.

Mr.Twist, the math teacher here at Canterlot and Miss Vector, of Crystal Prep, wheeled out a pair of chalk boards.

"The first student to correctly solve the problem within the time limit will be the victor. Would the winners of the spelling bee please step up to their respective boards?" Dean Cadence seemed to be more into the showmanship of the events.

A pair of spotlights trailed over both Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer as they stepped up to the boards.

Spike took off his glasses, but he still couldn't make out what was written on them from this distance. If he squinted hard enough, he could make out a triangle and a big X.

He shrugged, put his glasses back on and held the poster up over his head.

"Dude, seriously!" Spike grinned. He may not have been competing, but at least he could make his own fun.