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Chapter 12,178 words
Chapter 22,065 words
Chapter 32,048 words
Chapter 42,956 words
Chapter 51,559 words
Chapter 62,203 words
Chapter 72,234 words
Chapter 81,874 words
Chapter 92,129 words
Chapter 102,706 words
Chapter 111,965 words
Chapter 124,141 words
Chapter 133,305 words
Chapter 14: My Light5,979 words
Chapter 15: For My Future4,161 words
Chapter 16: What We Learned3,320 words
Chapter 17: The Proposals?8,230 words
Chapter 18: You Do?5,239 words
Chapter 19: Burning Love9,687 words

Chapter 12

Forbidden Fruit

By NocturneD

Spike missed Twilight dearly. A surrogate mother or sister she was to him and now she's gone. Left because of her decision of wanting to quit and go to another school. It's not that she wanted to leave him, an offer was thrown on the table for Spike to live with her and her family but it did not fair well. Not with Shining Armor still staying with them. And how much Spike detested him for taking Rarity's chivalry away from him. Shining Armor can not understand why Spike never wants to talk to him outside the whole crush thing, he tried to reach out to little dragon. Rarity would set up her new shop in Canterlot in the business district. Oh how perfect for the lovely new couple. Shining Armor can just walk in and bend Rarity over the sewing table. How quaint.

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that we can all just move on but to actually know a pony that stole your husband underneath you and knowing that they are using a share of the money they won in the divorce. It really rustles my jimmies. Well, at least from what I heard Shining Armor plans on using the money for his and his sister's schooling, I hope. But knowing him he might actually go out and buy an arcade machine. Rarity, if I can offer some advice... I don't know who came onto who but I don't care. Since you officially tore my marriage apart even further like tissue paper. You better treat Shining Armor right and not be using him for the money he got from me. Because if you are and go through relationships like tissues, then I hope you grow old and fat realizing you could had it all... Home wrecking generous bitch.

But for Twilight. She did not have to quit but in a way. Aunt Celestia was telling her over and over to be quiet. That could be frustrating I admit but you can only take so much. But I knew what she regretted. It was not like Twilight could not visit or write Spike but just how she's going to be spending the next few years attending Canterlot university along with Shining Armor. But with college, she might be too busy to even visit Ponyville. She was allowed to visit whenever she wanted to... But because of me, I wonder if she would ever consider.

Surprised they picked the same thing they were going for, teaching. Somehow fitting for the two of them but knowing Twilight she might be that one teacher that assigns a ridiculous amount of homework while Shining Armor might be the opposite. It just makes me chuckle thinking of the children's faces. But now... I hold a tired angel in my arms. A scaly purple baby that never asked to be brought into such a mind shattering situation like this.

"Shhh..." I rocked the dragon back and forth slowly. "It's going to be alright Spike. Things are going to be okay."

All Spike could ever really do was sniffle and choke on his words. I dried his tear stained face and nuzzled his forehead with my snout. He was so precious, I could actually see why Twilight took care of him for as long as she did. Finally, he stopped crying and quieted down. I slid the basket onto the floor but tucked Spike into the bed with me. He fumbled a bit, I allowed him to curl up beside me as I threw the blanket over us. The dragon closed his eyes finally...

I gave him a kiss good night and whispered, "I'll take care of you from now on... I promise..."

The next few nights were the same. Spike would whimper and I would be there ready. Ready to be the mother or big sister I wanted to be someday. But he would eventually face the idea that Twilight was not always going to be around. One day he was going to be a dragon of enormous size and might not be able to stay in Ponyville, Canterlot... Or even Equestria maybe. I wonder if Twilight dreaded the thought of Spike growing up and leaving. But then again, dragons age slowly. I'm not exactly sure how long it would take Spike to grow to be a full size dragon but I have heard stories of dragons being over a thousand years old... Twilight would be long gone as she would only be one tenth of his life. But... Since I'm here, maybe I could stick around longer. The idea just hurts. Like the song, "Puff the Magic Dragon". It was a song about losing ones innocence and growing up. And not about drugs... And if you think that you're a moron. Finally... Spike stopped trying to hide it and became the thoughtful and playful dragon Twilight would tell me about.

Within the next few weeks the library was in full swing. With the help of the mayor we could finally get computers in, actual computers. Not the ones that middle schools get stuck with. But we were warned that they are meant for educational purposes so I told Spike if he wanted to play games on it he's going to gave to play it on my new one upstairs plus no HoofBook. Hopefully those are not system memory hogs like Shining Armor's games where he had to go out and buy more memory and graphic cards. But back to the library, more books were ordered and the mayor showed me the ropes. But really Spike knew what he was doing, so we just let the mayor explain just to be nice. So after rearranging some stuff around the library floor. We were open for business. Open Tuesday through Saturday, eight am to five pm. That should be fair to the ponies of Ponyville. Everything it set up. Books placed on the shelf where they are supposed to be. The copier is full of paper. The Internet is up and working. Coffee maker ready to dispense. Morning papers stacked at the front desk. Donuts supplied courtesy of Sugar Cube Corner.

Alright Ponyville, maybe Twilight's library was old fashioned. But now Cadence's library will surely bring in ponies wanting to expand their knowledge!

Tuesday...

Nothing... I remained behind the counter. Playing the waiting game. I asked Spike to check the sign if said were we open or not. Surely enough he had it on "OPEN". Still it was early. I watched out the window to see the world outside. Ponies enjoying themselves and doing their business. The clock ticked and tocked. It was like this for several hours. Empty. Spike was playing something called DOOM on one of the computers despite being told not to.

"Ah! Stupid Cyber-demon!" Spike shouted.

I myself was playing solitaire to pass the time. Before I knew it, tt was closing time. What a quiet first day. I guess I was not going to get any business today. Threw out the coffee and stale donuts. Stacked the newspapers away as well, Spike volunteered to take them to the recycling plant while I kept a few for references. What a terrible first day.

Wednesday...

Nothing... Again. Mail came. I went through it. Flier. Flier. Ads. JCpony catalog. Best Buck ad. Just junk. Threw out the old coffee and old donuts. Pinkie told me she will bring more tomorrow morning when she brought them over this morning.

Thursday...

Some pony came in and asked to use the restroom. Other than that... Nothing...

Blea! This coffee tastes terrible!

Friday...

Well I decided to go over the inventory of books again to pass the time. Took a good four hours.

"And it's only... Two thirteen pm." I moaned as he threw my arms over the counter. I was exhausted at this point. Spike was finally taking a nap from helping me reorganize the books.

*Sigh*

Really? Not a single pony came in today besides Pinkie. Even she did not stay long despite her being a very chatty pony. She had a lot of orders to fill.

Saturday...

Today I figured it was going to be another boring day. Just before lunch time I started to get some visitors. A group of little fillies came in. Oh what luck. I cheerily stepped from behind the desk and greeted the fillies. I recognized the three as Scootaloo, Sweetie Bell and Apple Bloom; who still was looking glum.

"Hello." I greeted. "Can I help you three with anything?"

"Hello princess Mi Amori Cadenza." Sweetie Belle squeaked happy to see me then bowed. Despite her being the sister of Rarity, I have nothing against this little gifted pony.

"Sup princess?" Scootaloo tried to act cool and bowed as well.

"Uh... hey princess." Apple Bloom mumbled sadly, she bowed slowly.

"Oh no need to bow girls." I smiled, "Here I'm just Cadence and a regular pony." The three fillies slowly rose up and looked at me. "So what brings you to the library?"

"We need a book about old legends, folklore and tale tales." Scootaloo replied, "And then we need to act it out as a little play in class."

"Oh urban legends." I nodded, "I think I got a few books on those. Do you know what legend you girls are going to do or..."

"We decided ours is going to be on scary legends." Scootaloo smiled wickedly.

"Oh..." I was a little interested. "When is this due?"

"Two weeks from Friday." Sweet Belle answered, then laughed. She was such a cutie pie.

"Well girls just take a seat. I will gather the books for you." I went back behind my desk and quickly checked the computer if we had any. "Oh what luck. We got seven books. Allow me to go fetch them for you." The girls just nodded. I called Spike to my side to help me and in no time he found the books for me. I used my magic to levitate the literature to the three fillies and they got started. Discussing what they found in the index or whatever they found interesting.

"Hmmm... Some of these sound pretty eery." Scootaloo tapped her little chin, "Bunny bridge. Moth pony. Doll curses. Bloody pony. Candy pony. Ghost hoof prints."

I raised an eyebrow while sliding the donuts in between the fillies, "I know I gave you those books research for your report but don't you think miss Cheerilee might find these a bit revolting?"

Scootaloo sighed and closed the book. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom let out a breath of relief. Almost like they did not want to pursue the knowledge of the grim stories. "Maybe I can help." I lifted one book about Asian legends. Probably one of the many books on foreign lands that I actually liked and read three times. It was true a lot of their stories are scary and involved some form of symbolism. "I really like the stories from the far off east as they always have the best ghost stories." I turned and looked at the three again, "Um. How is the play supposed to work again?"

"It's supposed to last anywhere between five to twenty minutes. It has to be presented in front of an audience that night and the winners get a prize." Sweetie Belle explained holding her adorable marshmallow hooves happily.

"That sounds fun." I clapped and laughed. "Maybe I can throw out some for you then, hopefully some stories your school would fine appropriate." I skimmed through the pages, "The ten dinner plates?" I started listing off stories and skipping the possible violent ones as a lot of these scary stories were really just boogy pony type figures to watch out for. I would read some examples but the girls were unsure. Most of the stories I was trying to present to them were tragic love stories that tried to keep a balance between the three's interest.

"Well... here's an interesting one." I pointed, "It was basically already a play many times in the east but there were many versions of it so we can make it somewhat kid friendly. The story is called Yotsuya Kaiden. Or for short Oiwa; the vengeful ghost. It's a story about love, betrayal, vengeful ghosts, an unfaithful husband being haunted and has samurais and swords."

"We're listening." The three smiled.

I read the story to the three fillies as they sat and listened. Waiting for the next plot twist to happen. Apple Bloom had her mouth open in suspense as Sweetie Belle covered hers with her hoofs. Scootaloo just put her hoofs to her cheeks and smiled, wanting to know more. After I told them one of the versions of the story we agreed to fix it up a bit. Two weeks was plenty of time. I told the girls they were allowed to use the library if they needed it and do their homework in. But right now, just writing the script. We needed a background set and Apple Bloom would go ask her brother Big Macintosh since he was really good with painting. Sweetie Belle would ask her sister to make yukatas, it was a gamble because Rarity was now in Canterlot. And Scootaloo just practiced with a cheap plastic ninja sword outside hacking away at the library. I think we found the pony who is going to be playing the samurai. Heh.

Rarity could only spend so much time with Sweetie Belle's request and finished the outfits according to my specifications for the story. Sweetie Belle did not tell Rarity I was helping them which should make the favor easier. I check on Big Macintosh a week later after closing, Spike was with me and it was another day that the fillies were working on their play. So I took Apple Bloom home. To my amazement when Apple Bloom opened the barn door it showed Big Mac making the finishing touches on one of the three very large canvas backgrounds we decided to set the story in. A large open tall grass meadow that blew in the wind during the house of the twilight. It was very enchanting. I was almost speechless.

"Big Macintosh... The background..." I slowly acknowledged his work.

"Oh..." Macintosh dropped the painting tool from his mouth and into the paint tray below him. "Well I tried to make it look majestic... but if it's not to your liking I can always start over." He rubbed the back of his head and blushed.

"Oh no. No." I smiled, "It's perfect. How the colors compliment each other. The stars just gazing down."

"Ah shucks princess." Macintosh chuckled.

"No really Macintosh." I turned my head to him this time. "Seriously you should be an artist."

This time he turned his head away from me to slide the painting trays away. I know when guys blush, they don't want to let any pony else see. But the bigger they are, the cuter.

"I uh... Went over the picture you gave me for the houses and made this one." He pulled the meadow canvas away with ease and showed another piece.

This time, a very sketchy picture of an old fashioned hut. It really fit the scene in mind. I nodded, "Well done Macintosh you're on a role."

Big Macintosh has been described as a big teddy bear at times. But mostly quiet, never saying a lot unless it was from the heart. Like how he tried to bring my spiraling marriage back together. He cared. He honestly did. What made me wonder. Why? Why would he stick his neck out for me? I was a complete stranger to him and a bomb was dropped onto him. And yet, he stuck to his honor. He might have ended up with a bloody lip but he just got back up on his feet and carried on. And here I am, I can't step forward and look around without some pony looking at me funny. Sure time passed, but ponies love gossip and news. The camera ponies died down but I know they are waiting for me to mess up.

"And here..." He moved another canvas. This was the cream of the crop, an eastern village. This was all too good. Big Macintosh reeked of talent and he probably does not even know it.

"It's... gorgeous." I trailed off to look at the painted village. Lanterns lit up. Old masks hanging off the racks. Surely it took the idea of the village having a closing celebration with the villagers ending the ceremony. But it was great as it would look like there were ponies in the back to liven it up.

"You're just being too kind." He put a piece of straw in his mouth and started to chew on it.

"No I'm serious." I smiled.

"Yeah you're too good Big Mac!" Apple Bloom chimed in.

"Could use a dragon in the background though." Spike cupped his own chin as he looked over the painting. We all just laughed.

The night of the play has finally came with the stage already set up outside the school. Sweetie Belle days prior brought the yukatas Rarity made for them and the other children who were taking part. Big Macintosh brought the backgrounds and was to move them on cue since I pretty much knew the script in and out. Spike volunteered to narrate the play, a sweet little guy to help out. I was on the side of the stage incase any of the girls forgot their lines. My how cute they looked in those kimonos. I had to apply their make up before the show to make them look authentic. I looked out into the audience and strange enough it was a full house. Then I noticed Rarity sitting out in the audience... with him no doubt. And sure enough. For some strange reason Shining Armor was sitting next to her. But he looked rather different. Not wearing guard uniform or even Canterlot traditional clothing. Just a regular jacket and wearing glasses. Heh... For once he remembered his reading glasses and he looked rather adorab... Cadence... think what your going to say... He's not with you anymore. You signed the paper, he signed it too. You both were unhappy.

*Sigh*

Just then, I noticed Twilight was sitting next to Shining Armor. Just minding her own business. I guess just to show good relations with her brother's new girlfriend. Or came back to see Spike. The little guy needed a boost.

Spike took the stage and cleared his throat introducing himself and started the story.

"Hello every pony. I'm Spike and I'm going to be narrating tonight's show." The little dragon got into focus with the stage light pouring on him. "Tonight's play is inspired from a story that hails all the way from the eastern lands far away. A story about love, betrayal, guilt and horrifying tragedy of a beautiful female who married a masterless samurai but only not to live up his expectations... Now I present to you all... The legend of Oiwa." Spike finished and walked to the side of the stage and to my side. I gave him a hug for a great job.

The curtain lifts up to show Scootaloo dressed in a male looking yukata bowing before Pip Squeak dressed in an old rob and wore a beard.

Spike then continued, "Taminya Lemon was having an argument with his father in law Yotsuya Samon concerning the future of Oiwa."

"Yo pops. I want to marry Oiwa or... what's her face." Scootaloo tried to remember the line.

"This beard itches..." Pip scratched his beard. "Oh. Oh right." He just realized, "No. I want you two to separate! Because you smell and stuff."

The audience chuckled.

"Rah!" Scootaloo took out her cheap plastic sword and tried to stab Pip Squeak with it. Pip took the sword and stuck it in between his arm pit.

"Ow you killed me." Pip fell over. He flopped around like a fish on stage and kept moaning like he was actually dying. Character wise. After fifteen seconds he finally died.

"And Lemon killed his father in law. But what was he to do next?" Spike asked the audience.

The scene changes to the village setting. Next up were Feather Weight, Dinky and Rumble.

After ten minutes. The play really started to take form as Scootaloo would go on to betray Apple Bloom by giving her a poison that would deform her. She died, but with a snicker on her face. The play was supposed to be serious but it was actually fun. Scootaloo would go on to marry Sweetie Belle because she was much richer and more pretty. On the wedding night before they were about to kiss, Scootaloo started getting haunted by Apple Bloom's character. Scootaloo goes on a mad frenzy and starts killing every pony in the house while screaming even if Scootaloo had bonk a few kids on the head to make them go down. Sweetie Belle's character dies on the floor. Apple Bloom would chase Scootaloo around some more, then it got a little out of hoof where Scootaloo ran into the set and it fell on top of her. Big Mac rushed on stage to pick it up and slide Scootaloo off stage.

Apple Bloom turned to the audience, "I have avenged myself! WOOOOOO!" She pretend to fly away and wail like a ghost.

The audience chuckled again.

Spike then spoke, "And so Lemon met an unfortunate but deserving end of trying to poison and desert his wife for a prettier one and have a life of luxury. Oiwa's ghost has been avenged and now this sad story will be passed down for generations. Thank you all for watching." He bowed.

The audience clopped and some cheered for the rowdiness. The children took to the stage and bowed. And to my surprise Shining Armor walked to the front of the stage and presented Sweetie Belle with bouquet of flowers. He looked at the two fillies and plucked two flowers from the bouquet and gave them to Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. He walked back to his seat. Again the children bowed while the audience clopped and cheered. Some whistled.

Well. There were a few more plays and I decided to watch them all with the children with Big Macintosh sitting next to me and Spike on the other side.

Though I have to say... Snips and Snails rein-acting Scarface isn't going to win them any points. Then again I wonder what Scarface had to do with urban legends.

"Oh you want to play rough? Okay!" Snips pulled out a toy gun, "SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND!" His gun started making zapping sounds, "You think you can take me I'm PONY BUCKING MONTANA!"

They were quickly pulled off stage by Cheerilee after saying "Buck" forty seven times and crudeness. Surely, they were going to be disciplined.

"Aw..." Pinkie moaned from behind me, "I wanted to see how it ended."

Much later after all the plays finished. A winner was announced and... we did not win. To see the disappointment on the girls' face only saddened me. Big Mac reminded them it was for fun and that it only mattered. Besides, the prize was a coupon to Subway.

The snacks and drinks were there for every pony to enjoy. I went to go get another cup of orange drink but only to be met by Rarity as I turned around. And she was not happy. Tapping her hoof demanding something.

"Oh yeah." Rarity brought up, "That little play you made my dear little sister do. Was the whole betrayal thing aimed at me and Shining Armor?" She was not happy. I had to admit there were some coincidences in the story and what happened to us. "I'm sure he's not too happy about it either.

I looked at Shining Armor who looked like he was enjoying himself and was talking to Cheerilee for some reason, who looked like she was having a good time too. Maybe sharing interests in the field of teaching? "Looks like he's having a good time to me." I turned back to Rarity. "It's a play from a long time ago Rarity." I answered, not giving her the satisfaction of looking her in the eye. "I can't help if it has similarities." I muttered and wandered off.

Big Mac approached us and greeted Rarity. She said hello, he nodded. He held out his hoof to me and I took it being escorted back to the fillies. Twilight walked up to Rarity to get some orange drink and was completely oblivious to our conversation.

"Whatever..." Rarity muttered, "Drunken whore."

"Home wrecking skank." I muttered back.

OH IT IS ON LIKE DONKEY KONG!

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