“Hello, dragon.”
Spike, the young purple drake who was hanging upside down at the edge of the Everfee Forrest, was terrified. Of course, he had been scared before. The time his beloved Rarity had been kidnapped by Diamond Dogs and the time he was free falling towards King Sombra had filled him with fear. However, Spike was feeling the type of fear that was accompanied by helplessness. Arguably, this was the worse type of fear, for no matter how much you worried or how scared you were, there was nothing you could do about it.
Yes, this is how Spike felt as he hung upside down, listening to the sounds of potential predators all around him. And it seemed that one of those predators had just made itself visible to him. Whatever creature the was that had just addressed Spike by his species, the whelp knew it couldn’t be too friendly if it came out of the shadows near the Everfree. Surprisingly, not much time went by until Spike was proven wrong. Much to his confusion and shock, the figure finally stepped into the light and was revealed to be a pony. A pink earth pony with a bouncy mane and bright smile.
“Pinkie!? W...What!? Why!?”
“Hiya, Spike!” Pinkie greeted, bouncing closer to the tree that currently trapped the purple dragon. “What’s hanging?”
“Me.” Spike, as confused, scared, and angry as he was, could not pass up the opportunity of such a perfect joke. “But what in Celestia’s name is going on!?”
“Oh, Spike.” Pinkie chuckled, partly due to his confused and demeanor and partly because of the hanging joke. “Did you honestly think we would just leave you here?”
“Well...I mean, uh....sort of.”
“Come on, Spikey. Dashie and I know better than that. We were just messing with you again.”
Hearing Pinkie’s explanation, Spike immediately calmed down and cracked a small smile.
“Okay, Pinkie. You got me. I have to admit, I was pretty scared, but that was pretty good. But seriously, I think you’ve pranked me enough for one day.”
“Ya, we may have went a little too far. I’ll get you down and I’ll buy you some cupcakes free of charge!”
Hearing Pinkie Pie’s offer of food, Spike remembered once again that he still hadn’t eaten anything that day. In response, Spike’s stomach rumbled loudly, causing him and Pinkie to tense up slightly.
“O...okay, Pinks. That sounds great. Just let me down quick because I think that may have just attracted some predators.”
“Okie Dokie!”
Pinkie Pie quickly zipped to the pile of tree roots where Rainbow Dash had tied the rope down to. Using her teeth, the pink mare untied the knot and let the rope fall to the ground. Before she realized her mistake, the rope holding Spike up went limp and the young dragon plummeted to the ground. With Pinkie looking on guiltily, Spike crashed onto the forrest floor with a loud thud.
“Ouch.”
“Whoops. Sorry, Spike. I forgot to hang onto the rope.”
“It’s fine, Pinkie.” Spike said, getting up off the ground and rubbing his sore head. “But we probably should get out of here. If any animals didn’t hear my stomach, I’m pretty sure they heard that.”
“If you say so.”
Spike quickly used his claws to cut the knotted rope around his ankles and free himself. Shaking out his feet, the purple dragon could feel the soreness in the joints.
“You okay, Spike?”
“Eh, my ankles are a little sore, but I’ll live. Anyways, where’d Dash run off to?”
“Ya, I actually did forget to get Granny Smith on board. She really is returning her purse.”
“Oh, okay.”
Pinkie and Spike began to walk out of the clearing that marked the entrance to the Everfree. However, as they were doing so, Pinkie stopped and looked over at Spike questioningly.
“Hey, Spike?”
“Yes, Pinkie?”
“Couldn’t you have just used your fire breath to burn the rope and get yourself down?”
“I...uh.....wow.”