> Too Much To Take > by Vitaixe > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prologue > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was an early morning in Ponyville, and the autumn breeze freshened the air. I was sleeping peacefully in my bed. The dream was suddenly interrupted when a shout came from downstairs. "SPIKE!" Twilight screamed. I opened my eyes and noticed I have come back to the cruel world. When my eyes got used to the sunlight, I got up from my bed looking around the room. The room was painted blue, and aside from a couple pieces of furniture, the room was empty. With a quick glance to my nightstand, I saw one of the the most valuable treasures I've ever had: a picture of me and Rarity. My daydreaming was suddenly interrupted when the door slammed open. It was Twilight, and she looked rather furious. Okay, more than rather... "Spike! Why's there a mess downstairs?" Twilight said and continued "Didn't I tell you to clean up the library before going to bed?" Twilight tried to say calmly, but judging by the sound of her voice she was enraged. She always wanted the library to be in top condition. "Hey! I was here the whole day working, when you were out having fun with your friends! I can't handle all the chores alone," I answered a little irritated. "It's not a big job to clean up the downstairs! You were just slacking!" Twilight grunted. "You're grounded for the rest of the week! And no buts, mister!" She said before leaving the room. "Great, only tuesday and I will be inside for the rest of the week." I muttered to myself. Not that I mind staying inside, since I've spent a lot of time inside during the last months. On summer holiday, I can't think of anything to do. The Cutie Mark Crusaders haven't needed my help with any of their tricks lately, or Rarity with her dresses. Sometimes I feel like they're evading me, but I try to get those thoughts out of my mind. The other thing I hate is that Twilight is acting like I was a baby. I'm 16 now, and my wings are already starting to grow. I'm maybe a baby in dragon years, but I've learned so much living in the library that I'm couple years ahead of everyone in my school! "I guess I can start cleaning up right away, because I don't have anything else to do." I convinced myself. In reality, when I clean up the library 7 days a week, I would do anything than cleaning up. I started walking downstairs to start my chores. There was a note on the kitchen table. The note listed all the chores I have to do before Twilight comes back. "Lets see, clean up, make dinner, organize bookshelves, iron the curtains, wash the bedsheets..." I read shocked. "How am I supposed to do this all!?" I grunted. I decided to start with the bookshelf organizing. After this slog I probably can't move a muscle, but what can you do? My workload had increased a lot when Twilight became a princess. She's more rarely home and even more rarely sleeps here. Because of this, I need to take care of the library by myself. Organizing the books wasn't easy. Twilight had once again read the whole night and dozens of books had been lain on the floor. Luckily the shelves is in alphabetical order, otherwise finding the right place for the books could take hours! Every once in a while somebody asks why the library looks so small on the outside, but has so much room inside. I sometimes think about it myself, but hey. This is Equestria. Magic is a common everyday thing. It took me about two hours, but I finally got my chores done. After a day like this I've deserved a minute to rest, right? Nope, not a chance. When I was about to fall asleep, the front door of the library was opened. "Hello, is anypony here?" a filly shouted. I would know that voice anywhere anytime. It was Applebloom. I tried to stay as calm as possible when I walked down the stairs. "Hey Applebloom, you in need of something?" I asked. "Hey Spike, Applejack send me here to borrow some cooking books to try something new!" Applebloom answered cheerfully. "That's great! Come here, the section for cooking books is this way," I told her trying to sound normal when in reality I was really tired and irritated. If I get this out of the way as quickly as possible, I can go back to sleep. It didn't take too long to find some cooking books to give to Applebloom. "Thanks, Spike! You really were a big help. I have to go, Applejack is probably concerned about what's taking so long!" Applebloom stated before she was running at full gallop towards Sweet Apple Acres. I sighed to myself. Five more days between four walls. Can it get any worse? That was the only thing in my mind when I was walking up the stairs. Finally I reached my room and immediately I laid down on my bed. It was only few minutes before I fell to my restless sleep. I woke up in the middle of the night from sounds in the library. According to the clock it was 2:30 AM, and I was starting to get angry about all the interruptions to my sleep. It was probably just Twilight, these late night homecomings happened a lot these days. I think she's just stressed out about her new career as a princess. At least she could try to stay quiet when she gets back home. Not long after that, everything went quiet. Maybe even too quiet... I shrugged it off: finally I could drift back to sleep and that's just what I did. I can just hope everything will turn alright. Maybe this was just one of those bad days, right? Right...? > Chapter 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning came quickly and I woke up to a strange voice, Twilight isn't normally up this early. I forced myself up from the bed and started to walk towards the door. I opened it as silently as possible and exited to the corridor. It was unsophisticated with the exception of couple paintings. The noise was certainly coming from upstairs and I started to sneak towards Twilights room. When I was getting close to the door, I heard the voice even clearer. Now I was absolutely sure that the noise is from Twilights room. I slowly creeped to her door and started to turn the door handle. It was not locked, and I silently pushed the door open. The things that I saw froze me to the place. I saw Twilight, my ex-best friend and slaver with Rarity, the love of my life together in bed. The sheets I had washed were completely wet from the sweat and there was a scent of something in the air. I stood there in the doorway a while silently. A couple moments later my blood started to boil more than ever in my life, and because anger has a habit to erupt, it did. "What the actual fuck?!" I roared still in shock. Only then they noticed me. "S-Spike?" Twilight whispered completely terrified. Rarity stayed quiet. After a short, oppressive silence I continued. "How long has this been going on?" I asked as calmly as possible. Again silent. "How long has this been going on?!" I repeated clearly more aggressive than before. "F-Five months..." came the reply. It was Rarity. Then it immediately came to me. All the evading, always busy with her work, never wanting to go on a date with me. She just used my affection to reduce her workload. Oh how stupid I was! I should have seen through those lies, but I was too in love with her that I didn't even think she would do something like that. I don't know how to feel about this. I've felt bad before, but this was just way too much. Enough is enough. I started running. I ran down the stairs to the outside world. Tears were rapidly falling down my cheeks when I sprinted through Ponyville. It seems nopony cared, nopony looked at me, nopony was concerned about me. I got to get out of here, but where? Then it came to me. There was only one place where they wouldn't dare to come looking for me and it was the Everfree Forest. I trotted to the edge of the forest and gave it a final thought before entering. It was pretty early at morning, but because of the thick treelines the forest is still very dark. I just hoped I wouldn't run into any dangerous creatures, such as manticores or hydras. Twilight and Rarity just stood still as Spike ran. They didn't try to stop him, they didn't try to talk to him. They just sat there in awkward silence until Rarity spoke. "Twilight Sparkle. You said and Pinkie Promised me that Spike is over his little childhood crush, but I don't think that's the case. It seems that his love for me has only grown stronger over the years, and now he is out there, heartbroken and miserable because I trusted you." she finished. For a while, Twilight just sit there completely silent before she started sobbing. Rarity continued, "Like Pinkie always says, the fastest way to lose a friend is to lose a friends trust." With that said, Rarity slowly walked out of the library slamming the door behind her, leaving Twilight alone in her misery. While walking around the forest I started noticing something. The Everfree forest is very quiet and peaceful, not dangerous and full of crazy stuff that everypony talks about. Must be the town telltale Bon Bon who was making a big deal about bunnies or something. I try to think something else, anything, but the big hole in my heart won't repair in a very long time. I just hope I will never see another pony in my lifetime! As I was wandering thinking about things, I came to a familiar hut near the center of the forest. It was Zecoras place. She, if anyone, will know how I'm feeling. After all, the towns people were scared of her before Twilight set things straight. Again I was thinking Twilight. Somehow my mind just couldn't let it go, so I just gave up. I thought about the happy moments in Canterlot to our moving to Ponyville, and then everything I had been through, like saving the Crystal Empire, my quest to find out about dragons and of course the time my greed got the better of me. It was one of the happiest days in my life. I really thought that fire ruby ment something between me and Rarity, but I was very, VERY wrong. Finally I noticed where I was, and I decided to give it a try. Maybe Zecora had a potion so I can forget about all this or a way to deal with my emotions. That's the only thing that comes in my mind now, which is a relief. After knocking on the door, it took couple seconds before I heard the door handle turning. "Hello young Spike, what is that you seek? Coming for another gem stash peek?" Zecora asked with her accent. "Uh, not this time. Could I come in? And can you speak normally for a while?" I answered. "Of course you can come in, make yourself comfortable. As for my speech, it's impossible" Zecora said with a smirk. The inside of Zecoras hut was decorated with old-looking masks and other tribe relics probably brought from her home land. There were shelves full of potions, herbs and other stuff that I didn't even dare to touch. On the center of the hut I saw a large cauldron bubbling with some kind of weird liquid, and let me tell you, that stuff smelled very bad. It was like someone threw sweaty socks in a trash bin and let it rot for a century. Snapping out of my thoughts, I saw Zecora brewing some tea. I guess I needed to calm down before we could talk about what had happened. Trotting towards me, she gave me a cup of said tea which I gladly took. Sipping it a little, I noticed it was burning hot and almost burned my tongue! The cup slipped from my grasp and fell on the floor. Sheepishly I looked at Zecora who was not so amused about what just happened. She went to get some cleaning tools and used them to magically vanish the stain from the carpet. After we finally sat down on her couch, the conversation started. "You shall begin your story now, otherwise nothing I can know." Zecora stated with a deadpan expression on her face. And then, I told her everything that has happened to me, more importantly during the last few days. Pinkie woke up on a rather unusual way. Something was definitely wrong. Her Pinkie Sense was tingling the same way it did when they were visiting Appleloosa for the first time. "Is something about to fall? Nope, that can't be.... Is a door going to be opened? No, that's not it either..." Pinkie mumbled. And then she got it. Immediately she was ignited in bright orange flames and her demeanor changed. "NOPONY BREAKS A PINKIE PROMISE" was the last thing the Cakes heard Pinkie scream before she was out the door, almost flying towards her destination.