Across the street from the Ponyville Library, a pair of amber eyes trained themselves on the tree-like building before her.
Apple Bloom sat at the outdoor cafe. Her lips wrapped around a straw as she slowly drank her strawberry milkshake.
As she watched the front door of the library, part of her hoped to earn a cutie mark in spying. But her main priority was her best friend.
Eventually, the door cracked open, and a young white unicorn trotted out. Apple Bloom quickly ducked behind the table, and hoped Sweetie Belle hadn't spotted her. Then she remembered something. Looking up, she quickly reached a hoof over her head, and brushed back her giant pink bow.
The young filly continued to train her eyes on the unicorn as she pranced away from the building. A smile of abject joy was on Sweetie Belle's face, and it caused her best friend's heart to develop a hairline crack.
Once the filly was out of sight, Apple Bloom chugged the rest of her beverage and ran across the street.
Spike closed the door behind his girlfriend, and quickly walked back to the centre of the room, as Pinkie Pie hopped in from the kitchen, enthusiastic and joyful.
"So...Pinkie," Spike said. "Now that Sweetie Belle's gone, can tell me what you really think?"
The pink pony blinked several times before she replied, "Oh, um...I don't know."
Just then, the door slammed open and a young yellow filly stood in the doorway.
"Uh...hi Apple Bloom," the dragon responded.
She walked right up to Spike and pointed a hoof right in his face. "If you hurt my best friend, or her sister, I'll make sure you hurt just as much." She held her position for several seconds, before finally continuing. "Got it!?"
He smiled and nodded vigorously.
"So Apple Bloom, how's Rarity!?" Pinkie Pie said, desperately trying to change the subject.
"She's fine...and she loves him...a lot, and she wanted him to know it." She turned back to Spike. "But she's worried you don't love her back."
"Why!?" Pinkie asked.
"Last night, Rarity invited him into her home, and...he said 'no.'"
Spike interjected, "You think I should have said 'yes'?"
"Of course not!" she exclaimed. "Actually, I think it's noble. Applejack told me what most boys are like. I'm happy at least one isn't."
"Thanks," he said. "I just couldn't do that to Sweetie Belle."
Pinkie hopped over, "So you just want to be with Sweetie Belle!? Things are going so well, maybe you should be with Sweetie Belle!!!"
"What!? NO-I mean-"
Apple Bloom interjected, "So you want to be with Rarity?"
"No-I mean...yes-but...no..."
Pinkie turned to the filly, "we should stop confusing him."
Spike started walking away, "You don't want me to hurt either of them?"
"You'd better not!"
"...and...how am I going to avoid that?"
"Honesty," she said, closing her eyes and raising her chin. "If you tell them the truth, I'm sure they'd understand. We did."
"It's different Apple Bloom."
"You tell them, they'd appreciate your honesty, and will certainly forgive you-"
"-and ask me to choose right then and there," Spike exclaimed. "...and I can't."
A voice came across the room. "Well, then, we can try my idea!"
They both turned to the baker.
"What idea?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Well, you can date both of them!" She declared, spreading her hooves wide.
They stared at the mare for several seconds before Spike responded.
"How is that a solution?" he asked.
"You keep dating both of them at the same time! I mean, it's not like bigamy's illegal or anything!"
The front door slammed open again, grabbing the attention of all three occupants.
"Well, I'm never going to model for Rarity ever again!"
"Oh, Twilight, it couldn't have been that bad!" Pinkie exclaimed.
"Well, it wasn't bad, it was just boring," the unicorn explained. "I should have brought something to read."
She trotted toward the stairs but stopped inches from the first step, finally noticing exactly who was present.
"What are you three doing here anyway?"
Spike's eyelids lowered. "I live here Twilight."
"Right, but..."
"OOO!!! OOO!!!" Pinkie started hopping with enthusiasm. "We're helping Spike choose which unicorn he wants to dump-I mean date-I mean-"
Twilight held up a hoof. "I get it. So you know about this too Pinkie?"
"Yep, this little guy needs help and Pinkie Pie is always willing to help!!!"
"So, this could finally get resolved?" Twilight asked joyously.
"Yep! Spike should just tell them everything, and start a three-way relationship!"
Her eyes went buggered. "Um...Pinkie Pie," she said, recovering from the shock. "I don't think that'd work."
"Oh...why not?"
"Yeah," Spike replied. "I don't think that's a good idea, it just...doesn't feel right."
Pinkie Pie got confused, as Apple Bloom responded, "Well, he's probably right. I don't think Sweetie Belle would agree to that."
"Well, you don't know if you don't try!" explained the party pony.
"I don't want to be with both of them, I want to be with one of them. I just don't know who!"
Pinkie scratched her head. "Um...what!?"
The young dragon bowed his head and said, "It's hard to explain." As a claw came to his head, he cringed. "I need some fresh air," Spike exclaimed as he walked toward the front door.
Once everypony watched the dragon slip outside, Pinkie turned to her best friend. "What was that about?" she asked.
"Well, I'm not sure, but I think dragons are naturally monogamous."
"Really!?" Apple Bloom responded skeptically. "Because that's the last thing I would think."
"He doesn't want to be with both of them, he's just conflicted," Twilight explained.
"So he should just pick one and get it over with!"
"And somepony would get their heartbroken, and probably hate Spike forever!"
"Oh, they're not going to hate him!"
"Well, try telling him that."
"Well maybe I will!" Apple Bloom explained, quickly trotting toward the door.
As the young filly left, Pinkie turned to her friend. "Twilight," she asked. "Is there something you're not telling us?"
The young mare hung her head in despair. "Spike needs to figure this out on his own. If he just follows my advice, he'll blame me if it doesn't work out, and...he'll live his life completely in doubt."
Pinkie tilted her head. "Huh?"
"I know who he's going to pick, I've known Spike long enough to figure that out. But I can't tell him, if I do, he might not believe me. He needs to figure this out on his own."
"How is he gonna do that!?" The normally joyous mare asked, incensed.
"I don't know."
Damn this looks to be a promising read, just have to wait till it's finished now will be watching though.
Contrived...
Bummer, was such a promising thing too.
And now we wait.
<--- She knows all.
Oooooh nice plot twist, Ten golden dragons says he chooses sweetie bell
1598764
I'm not surprised someone would say that. Do you mind elaborating though?
1598946
Having dragons be monogamous by nature just feels like such a cop out.
He's already being an ass, have him make the decision himself rather than it being some biological thing that he can't control.
1598956
Think about it for a second. It's already established that Dragons get extremely greedy. Which, when it comes to mating, can equate to extreme aggression and jealousy. And evolutionary counteraction could be the instinctual desire for monogamy. In fact, in this story, the thought makes him a bit sick, and it gets worse as time goes on.
I don't think it's contrived, though the way I introduced it might be.
Ugh. Just decide already, you can only drag the damn thing out for so long Spike...
"Naturally Monogamous?" The fuck? That can't just be his opinion or stance on the matter?
1598998
To each their own.
An evolutionary counteraction though? much more likely that he hoards mates aswell (pretty much every any animal ever works that way) special rules apply for made up characters, but for me this just feels cheap.
1599006
Well, in Twilight's case, she only knows one dragon, so she might just be making a generalization. It could just be how only Spike sees things, but Twilight's making some severe assumptions.
1599017
He would horde mates, and his mates would horde mates, and his mate's mates would horde mates. Basically in your proposal, Dragons have regular orgies.
1599030
Take a look at real horses, one male to every.... 30 odd ? females. gender specific. works the same with wolves, lions, cows...
1599036
I thought we were talking about Dragons here.
1599048
we are, I'm just trying to explain a point using real life evidence, greed doesn't have to (and most likely wouldn't) result in a counteractive point when it comes to mating, even if that were the case, romance isn't governed by those same biological ideals and if he does feel for both of them there would not be any biological reason (or should not anyway) which is why it's contrived.
664273
OH MY GOSH HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO DO THAT?
1599065
Well, obviously we see things very differently, and I appreciate your point of view, but I don't see how that's contrived.
1599108
And that's fair enough, good luck with the rest of your story, though I do not think I'll be following it any more.
1599120
Why not?
1599124
Because for me this (the forced choice aspect) has made it so that it's no longer enjoyable for me.
1599134
I'm confused, the idea that Spike has to make a decision isn't a new element I'm introducing now, it's the entire basis of the plot.
1599139
What you're basically telling the reader is 'he HAS to choose between them because I say so'
There's no 'He can choose, but doesn't have to, maybe he could try having a relationship with both' (as you have the other characters mention repeatedly)
It's not so much his decision anymore, as it is one you've forced upon him.
And for me that breaks the character, and thus the story.
1599163
Okay, here's a question: If instead of making it an instinctual biological imperative, I just made it so he simply felt guilty, or he just didn't like the idea of being with both, would that change anything?
1599176
It would, that turns it into his decision, rather than yours. (ofcourse that comes with it's own problems, namely that you have to find a good reasoning for him to actually feel so guilty that he wouldn't want to make both of them happy.)
1599190
You know, you make an excellent point. I think I might revise my plans for the next chapter.
Notice that Twilight was just making a guess.
1599213
That's another problem really, Twilight is nothing if not well read on all things she considered important.
And seeing as Spike was practically raised by her, she'd know just about everything there is to know about Dragon life styles, mating patterns and whatnot (doubly true after he had it greed growth spurt, she would have done even more research after that)
Hmm, interesting. I do hope he chooses one, instead of choosing neither.
1599231
Hmmm...interesting. Except there aren't many books on dragons, that's been established.
1599311
With practically limitless access everywhere, as well as a very real threat she's witnessed, I don't think Twilight would stop at anything to recover a book like that, short of going to tartarus.
1599321
Who said that book existed?
1599341
No idea if it does, maybe that's just part of my headcanon, even then it's something you'll have to address.
Funzies, an update.
489002 Don't get your hopes up. Look at the rating.
1599020HAR! the sly bugger would do would he not?
489025
But both of those are female! How could it be a brohoof?
spike has so mutch swag here are pics to explaine
chzbronies.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-brony-the-side-effects-of-being-spike.jpg
rainbowdash.net/file/purplephish20-20120422T181629-espgss9.png
I'm curious to see how this plays out.
Even though im a fan of Spike/Rarity, i would like to see him end up with sweetie belle
I read this story from beginning to this chapter in one sitting, its that good. I didn't notice anything bad grammar/sentence structure wise, though some wording got repetitive in the first few chapters. As a guy who has been in a similar situation, the emotions that you're putting on Spike are spot on. It sucks. My guess is that he'll pick Sweetie Belle, they seem to click a lot more and Rarity also seems to want a lot more. Please update soon, I can't wait to see the conclusion.
To put this in simple terms: feelings are annoying
The Crystal Savior need to figure it out on his own and choose who to be with and who to break up with, but if he doesn't decide now not only will he break both their hearts but also be hated forever and he cannot let that happened.
Oh, man. This just keeps getting more and more interesting with each chapter.
i189.photobucket.com/albums/z273/sporker05/gif/popcorn.gif
It's just going around in circles now.
Poor Spike. He just doesn't know what to do.
Oh god, my head. It's like trying to solve a freakin rubix cube. All and all, An excellent story so far. Please keep up the good work.
1602651
i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/295/499/77d.png
1599341
Crystal Kingdom Library, perhaps?
1603195
Actually she does have an accent, it's just, I'm not a racist prick who feels the need to write southern accents phonetically.
"Actually, I don't have an accent, I'm English. This is just how words sound when they're pronounced properly." - Jimmy Carr
1602847
What Crystal Library? You mean the one from the episode that aired after I first published this?
1603957
Yes, that Crystal Library.
Also, nothing about that makes anyone a racist prick. It is a stylistic choice, nothing more. It only makes you sound more like a prick to insinuate that that makes you in any way better than anyone else. I'm a southerner, and mixed race. I think I have a right to speak on both parts of that. All he did was point something out. You don't need to respond like that.
1604606
I disagree, I think it was perfectly appropriate. Insisting I write one accent phonetically and not the other, is pretty damn racist. Noh won wohd rite lyke amahrakins tahk.
1604645
Then keep the opinion to yourself. He was never insisting such a thing. Southerner is not a race. Not in the slightest. It is more of an identity. He makes a point. All you need to do is politely answer.
Right now, you are violating rule number three of comments. I highly suggest you think before you respond to this.