No laughing matter
Spike had now entered the darkest part of the forest. Little light penetrated the thick canopy. Had it not been for his more keen vision, he would have probably been fumbling around in the dark. The idea of being lost within the forest was a terrifying prospect especially since the winter months had been bad this year. There were a lot of desperate predators out there.
The trees were larger near the steps of the mountains. They reached almost surreal heights. Their bark was as black as ash and felt coarse and uneven to his claws. Occasionally he felt the small prick of a particularly nasty plant when he rested his weight on one of the giant tree trunks.
He needed to catch his breath. Rather than the smooth but admittedly foul smelling air of the outer reaches of the forest, the air deep within was thick and heavy. Spike’s lungs were far larger than that of normal ponies but even he required some semblance of an atmosphere. It was if the process of photosynthesis had been reversed. The forest appeared to steal the very air from him.
He pondered briefly how a normal pony would fair this far in. It was a morbid thought. If the shifting shadows were not enough to put ones nerves on edge, not doubt the thin level of oxygen would no doubt have caused some form hallucination.
He lifted himself off the tree and kept a steady if cautions pace towards his destination. There were worse things than Timberwolves that resided in the dark places of the world. He blew fire briefly through his nose to give a bit more light. The path had seemed to curve slightly to the right. A somewhat eerie glow emanated from the abrupt turn. Spike went down on all fours. He disliked doing so since he had always walked on two legs. He had never questioned his preference before. It was an old habit that he had doubted he'd ever let go of.
This was different though, he felt threatened and if the glow came from an Ursa, he had learned to make himself look as big as possible so the Ursa would not consider him prey. His back legs were raised with his front and forearms pressed near the floor giving the illusion of a charging motion. His wings were raised covering his relatively thin form. Despite his instincts, he resisted the urge to growl. If he had done so he could have given away his position or alerted the possible Ursa. Instead he blew out a controlled stream of fire, preparing to launch it should he be provoked. A nagging thought told him it was a bad idea for some reason.
After a moment of utter silence, the glow had still not move around the bend. No sounds or movements could be distinguished from it. Though Spike swore he heard a soft humming sound. Spike snorted loudly, dislodging a few flames from his snout as he did so. He felt slightly embarrassed of fearing what was not truly there. He was a dragon for divine’s sake. ‘I should fear nothing,’ popped out an arrogant thought from the back of his mind. He regretted his momentary hubris almost immediately.
The trees began to creak and shake. There were deep and primal booming sounds surrounding him like the cracking of bark or the bending of wood. His ears perked up as he swore he heard something equivalent to a voice but was distorted by the groan of the earth. The forest was disturbed by something.
‘Damn, the fire, I can’t breathe fire near the trees!’ Spikes rushed thoughts cobbled together. He quickly covered his snout with his claws and took short breaths while trying to calm his growing desire to fly away. Looking at the canopy it seemed so thick he doubted even as a large dragon, he would struggle to break through it. Even if he could it took him within reach of the branches which seemed less than courteous as they began to curl and twist slightly as if moving of their own accord.
His flashes of fire had somehow roused the trees. Their anger awakened by the foreign agent within their midst. Stories came of a kind of sentient intelligence the forest had devloped and an aggressive stance towards those who threatened its existence. There were stories ranging back hundreds of years.
The old stories didn’t do the place justice. Apparently when the old castle was up and running in the safer part of the forest, Celestia had tried to destroy more of it, so settlers could have new farming lands. When she did, the forest grew back stronger than ever and workers started disappearing along its back roads. She repeated the process again but when it grew back this time it took an entire mining facility near its borders. Apparently two hundred ponies were working there at the time. They had all vanished within one evening, their tools lying where they left them. Celestia never went after the forest again.
Spike shuddered. The forest from what he could garner was not evil but it was definitely not friendly. For a being that basically lived and breathed fire quite literally, this was not a place where he would make friends anytime soon.
He held himself in place, resuming his stance on two legs and kept his distance from the trees on the sides of the path. The groaning began to wind down until eventually the heavy silence returned over the old wood. No animal stirred. Spike relaxed his shoulders.
‘That was close.’ He returned to face the path and with slow trepidation carried on towards the unusual lights. The hum grew louder within his ears. It annoyed him greatly and he scratched his ear in displeasure. It was not the hum of a harmonic song but rather a ringing sound that filled his skull with nausea. During his moment of rest he had failed to notice a rather large Timberwolf regarding him slightly from the tree line.
Spike turned to it upon receiving the familiar scent of rotting leaves and damp wood. It remained still fresh in his memories to this day. Except while at that time he was but a mere baby and could not hope to fight a Timberwolf head on, now the advantage was in Spike’s court. But he was still wary of the trees. Unlike the wolf, Spike doubted his ability to tackle the behemoths even with dragon fire on his side.
The wolf did nothing but continue to stare absently at Spike. Its green eyes glowed with distrust but it knew that Spike was not viable prey. It was far more content to watch the young dragon and see if he would become vunerable.
Spike was unsure of what course of action should be taken. The lone wolf could alert a pack which could have been more trouble for him. But then again he had fire on his side. Also the wolf seemed as hesitant to act around the trees as he was. Spike decided to back away slowly and continue on his way.There was no point in starting a conflict despite his dislike of the wolves. ‘Don’t get any stupid ideas you oversized hedge growth,’ mentally berating the creature.
The wolf continued to examine the drake. It had upset the trees no doubt but the dragon seemed intelligent enough not to act violently around them. But the wolf knew what path the fire breather was taking. He only needed the foolish dragon to make one mistake. Then he would get his mouthful. The trees could have the rest.
Spike ignored the wolf in order to retain his courage on continuing with his quest. He started by retaking the path he had held prior to the encounter. The glowing corner still lay ahead of him. His curiosity overcame his initial fear. Approaching at a tentative pace, he stumbled slightly around the bend as he felt it drop more sharply than expected to some kind sinkhole about three feet deep. It was enough for him to extend his arms out to prevent him from landing on his face.
Nonetheless the sight that greeted him was strange to say the least. A small pale green glow surrounded him. The glow came from an assortment of petite if not striking flowers. Each had large green leaves surrounding the underbelly of the flower but its surface was sticky and felt odd in its consistency. The flower itself had hundreds of glowing petals of varying size curling in towards the stigma slightly.
Spike had landed in a large bed of them. Before he could return to a standing position, each flower began to uncurl. The simultaneous reaction disturbed Spike for some reason. He had heard Fluttershy describe many types of flowers but these were unique. They were reacting to his presence. Each one then gave a ‘pomf’ sound before releasing a small cloud of spores.
Spike was unconcerned at first. Probably something like poison joke. Considering his more powerful immune system, he had assumed that he was immune to its effects. Yet he couldn’t hold back a cough.
‘Stupid flowers,’ he thought yet that could not hold back another cough as he tried to raise himself again. He fell again by accident when one of his legs buckled but pulled himself up. His right arm was trembling violently and his cough was increasing in frequency. ‘Probably just an allergic reaction.’
The dismissive thoughts were growing less clear as the ‘reaction’ got more violent. Spike fell to his knees. His eyes were blurred by a stinging substance. He fell to the floor grasping his throat as he felt his wings flail uselessly. His body was in total lockdown. The strength that he had become accustomed to over the years failed him. Spike couldn’t get up. ‘Something in the flowers, sweet Celestia, I can’t breathe.’
Spikes choking sounds filled the flower bed as the flowers retracted. Spike could only see the edge of his vision that the Timberwolf had retreated to a safe distance. Whether it be through a hallucination caused by the reaction or the desperate panic rocking his mind, he swore he saw it grin wildly before retreating from view and into the shadows.
He was still conscious though, just completely paralyzed. It would be amusing if it weren’t so serious. A dragon felled by a few flowers. He’d be a laughing stock if he lived with amongst his own kind. Yet this was no laughing matter for Spike. He was effectively defenceless for Celestia knows how long in the most dangerous and feral part of the Everfree forest.
He laid there for over thirty seconds before final a part of his body began to register his brains increasingly desperate commands. His left hand currently lying uselessly over the garden bed twitched. His natural resistance to disease and pathological agents was finally kicking in. ‘About damned time, good thing that buzzard ran off, he could have left a nasty bite.’
Spike felt his head lift slightly and then felt his back raise followed by a ‘crack’. Spike paused. ‘Please tell me I just didn’t break something.’ Yet the cracks continued. Spike looked towards the disturbance while waiting to regain control of his legs and wings.
There was massive tree moving towards him at rather heated pace. It lurched forward from its perch into the flower bed. The flowers withered around it. Its roots lunged out slightly pulling at his numbed legs and with unexpected ease and started to drag Spike closer to it.
‘You’ve got to be kidding me. I travel through the most dangerous territory in Equestria and of all the things; a tree tries to kill me. This is certainly a first.’ But Spike had underestimated the rather massive monolith of a tree as the feeling in his legs returned. He felt pain to which he could scarcely describe. His roars echoed across the forest. He didn’t care much for the noise he caused as everything was replaced by severe pain shooting through his legs.
It was crushing him but very slowly to make sure he felt every agonising second of the process. If it weren’t for his tough scales, his legs would be little more than paste at that moment.
He clawed viciously at the roots but his attempts were futile. He was being pulled more quickly as the tree’s rumbling anger became clearer to him. He realised that the flower bed was some sort of trap for those foolish enough to take the path. Spike roared again as it grabbed his midsection. He felt the air escape his lungs as what he could only assume was the weight of a three ton boulder pushed down on his rib cage.
He had managed to cut many of the smaller roots but it had seemed to have only incensed the tree further. Spike looked on as his still numb wing got caught and was twisted into an awkward position while he was being dragged. He definitely heard it rip. Spike cursed loudly.
His attempts to summon his fire were faltering. The green flames cut out before he could manifest them into any more than a short burst which just singed the hard wood which held strength that could break steel and crush rock with ease. He tried again but it was like trying to getting a faltering lighter to work. Twilight had explained to him how it worked many years ago but he fell asleep during the lecture.
‘Come on Spike, you can do this.’ It cut out again and the tree gripped tighter as a lighter root grabbed his neck. He resisted the urge to choke. ‘You can’t die in the mud like this you have to get up you stupid dragon.’ A bigger flame was belched but not enough to stop the tree’s progress. Spike gave a defiant roar pulled back with all of his remain muscles and thoughts about why he was here in the first place, finally managed to give him the push needed to let loose a torrent of inferno onto the unsuspecting tree.
The green flames enveloped it. Its grip lessened and it began to wail furiously as it pulled back from Spike. The pain of fire had overcome its hatred. It shook violently and Spike felt its roots quiver before they fell limply from him. The flames petered out as the tree fled at a slow and miserable pace to its place above the drop. Spike could hear its bubbling misery beneath the groans of anguish and after a few moments it had returned to perfect stillness upon its perch above the flower bed.
“Guess Discord was right when he said this place had a mind of its own,” Spike chuckled weakly under his increasingly ragged breath. Spike hobbled his way out of the death trap. One of his wings was shattered; his legs felt like that had been put in a vice and he felt incredibly winded by the whole affair. While his rage demanded that he turn his fury onto the flower bed which had put him in such a position, he was neither in any condition to act upon his rage nor did he wish to do harm to them. It was Spike’s clumsiness and invasion of their home that resulted in the way they acted. In truth he’d be the same if it was Ponyville.
With home in mind Spike was even more so desperate to finish his journey and return to his life, whether it be the life he desired or the life that he was stuck with was resting on what happened next. ‘Hope he’s medically trained,’ Spike thought as he regarded his wings. He also hoped that this had not been a waste of time and that the faith he had put in this journey would result in his dividend. The path led to a clearing upon which Spike hear the distinct sound of whistling.
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All the awesomeness of being a dragon! Hard to believe Spike has to give up what he is just to be accepted and hopefully loved. If things work out as I suspect, our lesson will be not to.
2965089 People do weird things to be accepted. Even if it means giving up a part of who they are. Plus yeah dragons are awesome.
2965125 I agree fully
Looking forward to more. I don't think I really caught more then one error. Something with the flowers and the tress, but for the life of me can't remember it.
2965203 Thanks, I aim to please.
2965285 Insert sex joke here.
2970318 Damn, Stupid innuendo. In fairness i did walk into that one
2970385 Just a bit.
Nah only kidding.