//------------------------------// // One Book Too Many // Story: Twilight's Library // by Late_To_The_Party //------------------------------// I opened my eyes. I was in my bed in the library. I yawned and stretched. “I hope I never have a dream like that again,” I muttered before I got up, rubbing my eyes. I looked outside to see that the sun was up, but it was still fairly early morning. It was quiet outside; a peaceful day. That sounded great to me after the night I’d just had. I looked over at Twilight’s bed, but it was empty and neatly made. She must have gotten up early. Looking around the room, I found a note she’d left for me. Spike, I have some errands to run this morning, so I’ll see you when I get back. There are a few books downstairs I need you to shelve while I’m out. Twilight “Of course there are,” I said sarcastically to myself. “First, breakfast.” I left the bedroom to go to the kitchen. Halfway down the stairs, I looked out into the main room of the library, lost my footing, and fell down the rest of the steps. Removing my face from the floor, I gave the room a second look. “A few books? More like all the books!” There were so many books piled on the floor that it looked like re-shelving day. I looked away from the pile and walked to the kitchen, intent on getting some breakfast before tackling the enormous task before me. While I was eating, I had a disturbing thought. What if it wasn’t a dream? I chuckled a little at myself. That couldn’t be true; if it wasn’t a dream, then all those books would be- I dropped my breakfast and ran back into the next room. The floor was piled with enough books to fill the shelves, but the shelves themselves were still full. All the books on the floor had to be new. Trembling, I walked to the pile and picked one up. The cover was very light aquamarine, and instead of a title, the book had a picture of a lyre. I started hyperventilating when I realized that not only had I not dreamed the events of the past few days, but there were a lot more books than Dash, Pinkie, Applejack and Fluttershy. I wondered if there were any ponies left in Ponyville at all. As I was examining the pile I found another note. Spike, Take the older books to the basement to make room for the new ones. Twilight With no idea what else to do, I started taking the books off the shelves. I stacked them all near the basement door; I would take them down there later. I don’t know how long it took, but eventually there was only one shelf left with any books on it; the one with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. I looked at the pile and swallowed hard. Taking a deep breath, I picked up a book and put it on a shelf. Then another, and another. One by one, I placed dozens of ponies on the shelves of the library. I didn’t do much by way of sorting. Close friends went on the shelf with Dash and Pinkie. Other ponies I knew went in that section of shelves, and the rest of the room was for the rest that I didn’t really know. While I was working, I heard the door open. I turned away from my work and was as surprised to see Cheerilee as she was to see me. “Uh, hi, Cheerilee,” I said. I glanced down and realized I was holding one of her students. I quickly put the book on a shelf. “Spike, thank Celestia I found you. Have you seen anypony else? Where’s Twilight?” I looked around at the books and felt tears well up as the reality of the situation finally started to sink in. Cheerilee hurried over to me, clearly concerned. “What’s going on?” she asked. I couldn’t speak, I just gestured at the books I still had to sort. She picked one of them up. “I don’t understand, why does this book have no title? It’s just a picture of a green apple half.” She gave a small chuckle. “Actually, it looks just like Big Mac’s cutie mark. And the cover is the same color as his coat...” She opened the book. After flipping through a few pages, she closed it again and looked at me. “Spike, why do you have an autobiography by Big Mac?” I shook my head. “It’s not by Big Mac?” She asked. I sniffled. “I-It’s Twilight,” was all I managed to say. “Twilight wrote this?” Cheerilee asked, clearly confused. I shook my head again. “It is Big Mac,” I told her. She grimaced. “You aren’t making any sense, Spike. Come on, take a few breaths and tell me what’s going on.” Once I got my breathing under control, I told her what happened. I told her everything, from when Twilight came home with Rainbow to the moment Cheerilee came to the door. A look of horror was frozen on her face by the end. When I finished, she took a deep breath to steady herself. “So, if I understand you correctly, these books,” she said, gesturing to the shelves and floor, “They are not books, so much as they are our friends and neighbors.” I nodded. “I see.” She paused. I could see her transition into teacher mode. “There’s an important lesson here, Spike.” “What lesson?” I asked. “It’s good that you wanted to keep your promise to Twilight, but when keeping a secret would hurt somepony, it’s not a secret that should be kept. I think you should tell Princess Celestia.” “But I promised! Twilight can still find a way to fix everything! She just needs to not be interrupted all the time! When she can study in peace and quiet she’ll find the answer for sure.” “Okay, okay. How about this. We’ll finish picking these books up and putting them on the shelves, and then we’ll talk to Twilight about this when she gets back.” I almost dropped the book I had just picked up. “No! You can’t be here when she gets back! You’ve got to get out of here! She’ll turn you into a book too!” She looked at me with an expectant expression. “I... No. I can’t break my promise. She’ll still find a way to fix it. Just get out of here before she gets back.” The sadness in Cheerilee’s eyes was almost painful to look at. “I hope so, Spike,” she said. She walked to the door, which opened before she got to it. “There you are!” I gasped when I heard Twilight’s voice. There was a flash of magic, and Cheerilee was a book. Twilight stepped inside and set a large stack of books on the floor. She opened a scroll from her saddlebags and made a checkmark. She put the list back and smiled at me. There were bags under her eyes. “Hi Spike! I’m glad to see you’re feeling better. Yesterday was just too much excitement for you, I think.” I couldn’t answer at first. She was acting like everything was normal, when everything was as far from normal as it could be. “You look tired,” I managed to say. “I am! I’ve been up all night! I just couldn’t stand the thought of anypony getting hurt. I had to make sure they were all safe.” She looked around the room and nodded approvingly. “You’re doing a good job in here. I-” She yawned. “I’m going to go to bed now. I’ll get back to it later on.” She walked past me to the stairs. “Get back to it?” I asked, my voice breaking. “You mean finding a way to turn them back, right?” She stopped halfway upstairs and gave me a strange look. “And undo all my hard work? Don’t be silly, Spike.” She laughed and went to her room, leaving me alone with almost everypony I knew. I refused to believe what I had just heard. “She’ll fix it. She always fixes it,” I told myself as I continued to shelve the books. I couldn’t quite convince myself. I started to think that maybe Cheerilee was right. I placed her on the shelf above my close friends. Having made it through the pile, I started on the stack Twilight had just brought in. A few ponies I didn’t know went on the shelves. Derpy went next to Cheerilee. Time Turner went next to Derpy. A couple more ponies I didn’t know went on the shelves. Rarity- My breath caught in my throat. The moment I had hoped for for so long had finally come, and it was the worst possible thing. I had Rarity in my arms, and she was a book. Deep down, I knew that I would find her in the books somewhere, but that didn’t make it any easier. I felt detached from the scene, like I was watching someone else holding a book with three diamonds on the cover. I was almost surprised to find that there were no tears. I calmly walked over to the close friends shelf and put her on it. I walked over to a desk and got out some ink, paper, and a quill. After a few false starts, and with many words marked out, I wrote a letter. Dear Princess Celestia, You remember that book you sent to Twilight? Well, long story short, she accidentally cast one of the spells and turned Rainbow Dash into a book. I told her right then that she needed to get help from you, but she was afraid of being punished since you told her not to cast any of the spells. She made me promise not to tell you, and since she was trying to figure out how to undo it herself I figured it could wait. But she isn’t even trying anymore, and what’s worse, she thinks it’s a good thing for ponies to be turned into books. She thinks they’re safer that way. She was up all night turning ponies into books. I don’t think there are any ponies left in Ponyville at all now. I’m scared. Please help. Spike I took a deep breath and then watched as the letter was engulfed in flame.