Spike the Dragon.
A name common around the (normally) docile town of Ponyville, The number one assistant and friend to the now Princess Twilight Sparkle rarely took it upon himself to exploit his superiority over others. Well, in Ponyville, that is.
Some time ago, he saved the long lost Crystal Empire from the despised Shadow Lord, King Sombra, this is where he did eventually exploit his power… heavily.
But despite his fame and many friends in high places, the young dragon remained kind and friendly to all that showed him the same respect. And like many residents of Equestria, he had somepony he adored; that somepony was Rarity Belle.
A snow white unicorn with a luxurious curly purple mane and tail and flawless sapphire eyes that shone brightly, no matter how bright or dark it became. She was an aspiring seamstress and she had a dream to become one of the greatest ever; showing off her many unique designs to many a pony was step one. But her ultimate goal was to become incredibly famous in the fashion world, to see her name up in lights was something she was determined to bring out into reality.
Spike wasn’t a big fashion kinda guy. Not that many boys we're. But he was happy to help the unicorn with whatever job needed to be accomplished. One such job was a personal favourite of Spike’s: Gem hunting. Equestrian dragons loved to eat gemstones and because of this natural love, they were experts in finding them. Rarity shared this specific trait due to her cutie mark, but she found Spike’s natural ability far more effective in finding the rarest stones; she did find some more simplistic ones on her own though. Rarity decided to exploit that power Spike was graced with for her own gain and in turn, it was a win - win situation: Rarity acquired her desired gem type and Spike was occasionally rewarded with a few to snack on for his labour.
Currently, that was in play.
“Spike, darling? Can you find me some more topaz? I’m currently working on an amber themed gown that is just begging for some topaz to complete it.” Rarity pleaded with the purple dragon as he lazily sucked on a shard of aquamarine deep within the cave they mined in.
Finishing the piece of precious stone in his mouth, Spike gave Rarity an unintentional grin. He dusted his claws off from any residual shards that may have fallen from his bizarre meal and replied to the mare, “No sweat Rarity. I’ll find a pocket of topaz in no time.” Spike looked over at a portion of cave wall and scratched his chin. Giving an expert gem tracker’s once-over of the area, he continued. “In fact, that wall should hold some topaz.” the dragon pointed a dexterous digit at the curved wall.
Rarity briefly gave the wall a once over herself and smiled not long after. “Wherever you think is best, Spikey-wikey.” Rarity cooed, giving the dragon one of her trademark eye flutters. The lovesick dragon wasted no time in journeying over to the wall, taking his time to find the quickest way to remove it.
He placed his head against the wall and lightly tapped his claws right next to his ear, looking for weakened rock or any holes that contained the prized gemstone. After several unsuccessful taps, Spike beamed at the sound difference on the most recent section of wall. This small pocket might have the topaz.
Now it was time to open up the -hopefully filled- treasure trove. Spike had many options at his disposal to taking down walls and making holes in them, like he was about to do. But he opted to use a simple yet effective method that was near impossible to mess up; punching it.
To anypony with half a brain, that would seem insane and it was, indeed. Even Rarity next to him found it “brutish” from time to time, but Spike assured her that this curious method was one of the best in making holes. The young dragon discovered information some time ago about his heritage that involved how Dragons were capable of obtaining gemstones from the deepest caverns in very little time, compared to pony miners taking hours or even days to do the exact same. Punching weakened walls was one such way they did it. The reptilian race was known for their natural strength and resistance and they exploited it in any way possible that could benefit them or maintain their survival. Spike found this information useful for such missions he did with Rarity and after testing it during one of their ventures, it became Spikes go-to way to remove obstacles, despite the simplicity of it.
Focusing his eyes on the spot, Spike readied his fist and taking a stance he lunged it forward, slamming squarely on the wall. A loud cracking sound echoed in the cave. Small rock debris fell to the ground around the dragon. Removing his fist from the wall, Spike peered inside the opening he created and assessed the interior. Located inside was not any topaz Spike knew of, but instead a purple stone, about the size of the Fire Ruby he acquired for his birthday, of impeccable beauty rested peacefully and proudly in the pocket. Spike’s first assumption was that this stone was an amethyst, but swiftly pushed aside that thought in a split second when he got a closer look at the perplexing rock. Its polished texture made it feel like a pearl, but the mirror like surface was closer to being that of a rare coloured diamond; it was even possible that it had the same natural resistance. Whatever the stone was, Spike knew that Rarity would want to see it.
Clutching his claws around the stone, he began to tug. Despite Spike’s dragon strength, the stone seemed reluctant to budge. But Spike, however, wasn’t backing down just yet. Holding on to the stone, Spike placed his feet up against the wall and continued to pull on the stone with all his might, not once wavering his grip.
After another 30 seconds of pulling on the stubborn rock, Spike was relieved to hear the sound of the stone loosening from its metaphorical roots and, with a bizarre *pop* sound, the stone was released. The dragon that pulled it out would have cheered, but since the stone held him up on the wall and now resided in his grasp... he ended up falling flat on his back with a grunt.
Rarity was absently checking through her haul of gems when she heard the unmistakeable sound of an adolescent dragon landing on the ground mere metres from her position. Spinning around quickly, she gasped at the sight of Spike laying on his back, moaning in pain.
“Spike! Are you okay?!” Rarity shouted as she examined the dragon for any serious injuries, only sighing when he gave a brief “thumbs up”.
“Y-Yeah, just fell about a half a metre… nothing too bad.” Spike got up and rubbed his back, suddenly remembering the stone that caused him this current pain. “Anyway, forget about that minor detail. I found something even better than topaz.” he beamed.
Rarity gave him a puzzled look. “You mean diamond?” she quizzically asked.
Spike didn’t answer. Instead he revealed the stone to the unicorn and waited for her response.
“Oh my Celestia! It’s… It’s beautiful!” she squealed. “Forget about more topaz! This will make a stunning centerpiece on a gown for the Grand Galloping Gala! And it even matches my mane!” Rarity jumped on the spot, thinking about all the possibilities that this gemstone could provide her with.
Meanwhile, the stone began to react strangely to the unicorn, it appeared to scan Rarity very quickly, too fast for the eye to see, and returned the result back to it’s core, where the energy transferred to the holder of the stone; Spike. It travelled up his arm and spread around his body, slowly dissipating after a few seconds. As a result of the invisible phenomenon, Spike felt a shiver go up his spine.
“What the? Why did I feel cold for a second?” Spike mumbled.
“Did you say something Spike?” Rarity asked.
“Uh, no. Just thinking thoughts, that’s all” Spike returned on reflex.
Spike assumed that the shiver was just from a stray gust of cold air blowing through the cave and hitting him in the back, but he had his doubts and a small theory that it could of possibly originated from the stone.
Rarity gave the dragon an unsure raise of an eyebrow, yet he seemed unfazed. She eventually let it go and pulled a smile “OK. Can you place it with the rest on the cart so we can get going? I’m itching to take a bath and remove all this filth that’s accumulated on my coat since we’ve been down here.” The fashion pony furthered her point by gesturing to the dirt and sweat that had matted her snow white coat, losing it’s typical shine.
Spike gave a little chuckle before acting upon Rarity’s request. He then scavenged up any other equipment the duo took down and dropped them on the top. “Is that all, Spike?” Rarity asked, putting on the harness for the cart. Normally Rarity wouldn’t even dare to go near a cart, let alone attach it to herself, but she felt it was necessary as it would be cruel to make Spike pull it considering is small stature...and because she learned her lesson the last time she made Sweetie Belle pull a ridiculously over-filled cart 20 times the size of the poor filly during a camping trip.
Spike nodded. “Well, let’s get out of here.”
Spike jogged just behind the cart in case any of the contents fell off, scratching the back of his head as he went. Every time he removed his claw, a small (but growing) tuft of purple hair sprouted forth.
Seems like it could get interesting... but we will just see, won't we?
For some reason, I find myself unable to upvote this.
7995894 Sigh, fine I don't care. If you didn't like it you didn't like it, simple as that. You could of at least spared me having to read such a pointless comment.
love the story so far cant wait for more
7996038 Glad you like it. I'm working on the next one
Please, continue.
7995914 No, I mean I tried to upvote this story, but it stayed stuck with zero likes and zero dislikes.
I could have worded that better.
7996895 Oh sorry then
My bad
7996380 Oh I am, I'm working on the next now.
A bit too close to purple prose for me. Hum. I just got this intuition that sometimes adjectives do not necessarily describe. I mean, some flowery passages are nice, but it is easy to be long winded.
I'm not sure, but this sentence does not feel right. One thing for sure, that semicolon really wants to be a colon.
There are other minor things like missed comas. I'd suggest to stick to some convention when using parenthesis or dashes.
This would work best as a dependent clause. There's a typo too.
You see, it's pedantic, but one cannot enjoy purple-ish narrative with this kind of errors.
I might be reading wrong, but the narrator seems pretentious (more prominently in the first paragraphs), as if Spike himself was narrating about himself.
I like the idea, though. Do take this with a grain of salt.
7997599 I'm sorry but I have no idea what half of your comment is trying to say. I'm not an expert writer. It's not something I have a great passion about, I just like to put out my ideas into words and show others, I don't give a damn what you think. I don't really see anything in this chapter that doesn't make sense and I can't believe your questioning how I write the narration. Look, good for you if your an aspiring writer or whatever, just don't aggravate me about minor things like that, I'm just not in the mood.
7997797
Didn't meant to offend you. But it's okay, I guess, I told you should not take it seriously, because nobody knows the reason/intention behind the author's writing. You may go ahead and delete my comment, if you want, but I tell you, if you publish your story be prepared for far worse things than I said from others.
In that aspect I like Wikipedia: there is a policy where you must assume good faith in the first place. Really, I just point out relatively minor problems (in my opinion) which everyone makes (that's why there is editing) but oh well, have a good day.
7998300 Nah I'll leave it. Look I was just not in a good mood earlier, also I have dealt with worth before so I am used to it. At least your comment doesn't come off as bad or just plain there to aggravate. Believe me there is some real bad people out doing stuff like that on purpose
I look forward to more of this story. I used to have a crush on a girl and wonder what it would be like to be her and look out from her eyes and wear her clothes.