Chapter 5

Honestly, the place looked a lot better than I expected, it looked as if there wasn't total hell outside. It's hard to explain, but when you live in a world were having a clean home doesn't matter, I haven't stepped in a place like this in a long time.

"Welcome to the library" Spike said smiling, obviously he hasn't had guest in a while.

"I have to admit it, it looks very nice" I told him.

"Does that mean you'll stay?" Sweetie asked, she gripping to my hoof.

"I didn't say that" I responded, she gripped harder in response.

"So I'll whip us up a nice meal, since it's probably the last one we will eat here" Spike said, running up the stairs. If I could've, I would've yelled 'don't leave me alone with her!'

"See? A nice meal. You don't want to leave this place." Sweetie tried again. I sighed.

"Look, I could only stay here if I know it's absolutely safe" I told her.

"It is! Nopony comes to ponyville anymore!" She responded.

"You don't know that. Also Canterlot is very close, that place is… well you don't need me to tell you." I said.

"Then at least let me come with you!" She asked.

"You'll be safer here." I told her.

"I'll be safer with you!" She yelled back. Nopony has said that to me in a long time. "I know I only met you a few days ago, but you're the only normal pony I've met in a long time, you and Spike are the only people I can trust now. Please let me go too." She whispered. Why was this so difficult? I could leave her here and crush her heart, or I could take her with my and put her in danger. I must be going soft.

"Alright, you can come with me" I sighed in defeat. She responded by pouncing me in a hug.


"Calm down Twilight" I laughed, she was jumping up and down so excitingly the moment she saw the book. My best friend and Lucy were laughing their heads off at how excited Twilight was and Jake was barely holding in his laughter.

"I can't believe you all found it!" She yelled, picking up the book and hugging it.

"You mean 'we all found it', you helped us too" Jake added with a smile.

"Do you all know what this means?" Lucy asked, wiping the tears in her eyes.

"We will be able to retire early?" I joked.

"Don't you remember the rumor? It also mentioned another book. This means the other book is real too!" Lucy announced. My heart skipped a beat at the mention of the second book.

"Maybe we should leave that book alone" I said.

"Aww c'mon, we should totally find it" my best friend said.

"I agree, we found the first one so we can find the second one too" Jake said.

"Plus we could learn a lot from it" Lucy said.

"I don't know, the rumor said it corrupts people around it" I said, looking at the book Twilight was holding.

"I agree, maybe we should just stick with the first book only" Twilight agreed, looking at the book she was holding. She must be dying to open it but she knew the rule we all established, we would all open the first page together. No particular reason why, we just wanted to experience it together.

"We'll discuss it later, right now we should look at the first book" I said. Twilight smiled and nodded her head excitingly. Lucy laughed.

"Alright, everyone huddle around Twilight, I think she should be the one to actually open it" Jake said.

"Thank you thank you thank you!" Twilight shouted. We all huddled around Twilight, my best friend was practicly pressing his cheek to my cheek.

"Do you have to be so close to me?" I asked.

"I'll be safer with you" he cleverly responded. Man did he say that a lot.

"Everypony ready?" Twilight asked. We all nodded our heads and she slowly opened the first page.


"Man I haven't eaten this much in a long time!" Sweetie cheered.

"When they… disappeared… I went to the farm and gathered as many apples as I could and hid them here" Spike said to Sweetie Belle, I think I heard that name before but I didn't want to ask because I felt it would bring back bad memories.

"How did you know to stock up on food?" Sweetie asked. Spike looked down.

"Twilight gave me instructions on what to do if she… didn't come back…" Spike said quietly. Did he say Twilight?

"Oh" Sweetie Belle said, taking a bite of her apple pie.

"And where did you get the other ingredients, and how did you power the stove?" I asked, hoping to take his mind off her. I missed her too, maybe I'll ask what his relationship with her is, when he is in a better mood.

"The everfree forest is full of chickens and I know a place nearby that has stockpiled ingredients for baking, plus I'm a dragon I can just heat it up with my dragon fire" Spike clarified.

"Why are there Chickens in a forest?" I asked.

"There used to be a cottage full of animals nearby" he said quietly.

"So you never run out of food?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Well I might run out of apples soon, but I bet the trees on the farm are full by now" Spike said.

"Is it safe to go check?" I asked.

"Probably, I haven't been there in a while" he admitted.

"I'll go check if you want" I said.

"You sure? I could go with you." Spike offered.

"No, you two stay here in case I run into trouble" I said.

"Alright" Spike said, looking unsure.

"Come back soon please" Sweetie Belle said.

"Don't worry, I'll come back" I lied.


I didn't like what I was doing, I was betraying her trust, I was lying to her, I was leaving, I was being a coward, I was just being pessimistic. Although I knew it was for the best, for her at least. I was walking down the woods back to our campsite, good thing I left everything there otherwise they'd question why I was taking everything. I forced myself to keep walking, I wanted to turn back I honestly do but I knew I'd be putting them in danger. They didn't need anything I brought them, they didn't need me.

"Going somewhere?" I heard somepony say behind me. I didn't want to turn, I didn't want to see who it was. Was it Sweetie Belle, was it Spike, or was it him? "Look buddy, I think we got off on the wrong foot last time" the voice said. Ok, I didn't recognize this voice so I was good. I turned around.

"Oh, it's you" I said, it was one of the thieves from earlier.

"'you' has a name" she said, she was wearing a hood so I didn't get a good view of her face.

"Well I probably wouldn't want to hear it anyway" I harshly said, I wasn't in the mood to deal with them right now.

"Alright listen, I'm going to be honest with you. I'm an orphan, my parents are dead, most of my friends are probably dead or insane, I'm starving, and I'm utterly hopeless" she said, I didn't hear any signs of sadness in her voice so she was probably saying this to get my sympathy.

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked.

"I'm asking you, can you please spare me food?" She asked, again sounding like this was easy for her to say. I looked at her eyes and silently placed the spell on my eyes. It was an eye-reading spell, it would tell me if they were lying or not.

"Have you ever hurt anypony?" I asked.

"Of course not" she said. That was a lie.

"Don't bother lying to me, you won't get anything from me if you lie" I told her straight out. She looked mad.

"Why did you decide to come looking for me?" I asked.

"I wasn't looking for you, I just ran into you and my stomach told me to swallow my pride" she said. She wasn't lying that time.

"Do you think you deserve food from me?" I asked.

"Yeah, otherwise I wouldn't've talked to you" she said. She was lying. I turned around and began walking. "Wait!" She yelled.

"I told you, lying is useless around me" I told her. She sighed.

"Alright, I don't deserve anything for you, but my friend does, please help us she was sick when we tried to rob you and now her fever got worse, I- I don't want to lose her" she said. I didn't need the spell to know she wasn't lying. I just now remembered she was just a filly.

"If I help you two now, you promise to not hurt anypony?" I asked, it was a lot to ask for especially in this time in Equestria.

"I promise" she said. She wasn't lying.

"Alright look, I know a place where there is plenty of food and it's safe, your friend can rest there until she recovers" I told her, her ears perked up so fast that her hood went off her head and I got a good view of her head now.

"Really?" She quickly asked.

"Yeah, you two can stay so long as you don't cause trouble" I said.

"We won't! I promise!" She quickly said, smiling very brightly. She wasn't lying again.

"Alright, I can lead you too-" I started.

"No Applebloom wait!" she yelled right as I felt something hit the back of my head, I felt dizzy and I fell with a loud thud.


Aha! I'm finally getting somewhere with this story! :D