//------------------------------// // A Fearful Burrower // Story: Twilight the Great Gray // by Odd_Sarge //------------------------------// Spike wasn’t sure what ticked him off most about the library he called home; the fact that the foyer that he had meticulously cleaned earlier that day was completely trashed, or the fact that Owlowiscious now had two friends flapping by his side. Owlowiscious looked at least a tad bit guilty, while Twilight for the most part simply grinned sheepishly as Spike stepped in through the front door. The duo alighted before Spike, Twilight throwing him a quick wave of his large gray wing. “T,” Spike growled. “What did you do?” “Who.” Spike’s gaze softened as it landed on his friend. “Not now, Owlowiscious, I’ll get to you later.” “Well,” Twilight began, shuffling his wings awkwardly while he stood in place. “We brought Digger here and he sort of… panicked.” “Sort of?” Spike arched an eyebrow, surveying the room, the wooden carving that had served as the centerpiece of the room now lying on the floor, the new carpet sat scuffed in a multitude of places, and many of the books lain haphazardly open on the floor, many of their pages scuffed. Spike quickly filed away a self-reminder to refurbish the books away from the prying eyes of the library’s unicorn; that was just another problem that could be solved later. “Sorry!” Spike jumped backwards, a brown bird now standing at his feet. “Gah!” The brown bird shrank further, though to Spike it seemed an impossible feat as the owl was already half his size. “Jeez,” Spike let out a heavy breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. “Relax, uh… “ “Digger,” the burrowing owl stuttered out, staring up at Spike with a look of fear. Spike snapped his claws. “Right, Digger. Listen, buddy—” “I’m not buddy…” Spike paused, mouth agape. “I…” The drake sighed, took another breath, then crouched down to Digger’s eye level. The smallest bit of curiosity flickered in the eyes of the terrified owl. “You’re not in any trouble.” “I’m not?” Digger ruffled his feathers, and pulled himself up just that little further. Spike nodded, giving the small owl a grin, careful not to show any teeth. “But what about the…” Digger peered around him, shrinking once more. “... mess?” Digger locked eyes with Spike again. “It’s nothing,” Spike gave a dismissive wave as he took a step back, standing back up to his full height. “I was just going to read comics all day, at least this gives me something to do.” In the back of his mind, the dragon was screaming at the fact that he would have to clean the second mess this week as a result of an owl’s antics; though, at least this owl had the integrity to not do so at breakfast. Suddenly, an epiphany hit Spike like a flock of owls slamming into him. “Hey T, not that I don’t enjoy your company or anything… But I thought you flew back on Sunday?” Twilight had arrived on Saturday just after midnight, and Spike had waved him off Sunday morning. So why were there now two more owls in the library? “I mean, I tried...” Owlowiscious suddenly whacked the gray owl with a wing. “Okay, I lied; I slept in the branches on Sunday.” Spike let out a sputter before his sudden shout of reply. “Why?” He ran a claw over his spines in confusion. “If you were going to stay another day, you could’ve just told me and you could’ve slept with Peewee and Owlowiscious!” Spike shuddered, remembering a particular experiment Twilight had performed, sending Spike flying into the branches of the second floor; they weren’t exactly comfortable. “It’s not that, I flew around and over the dark forest below the rising sun—” “The Everfree?” Spike interrupted. Twilight shrugged. “I guess…?” Owlowiscious let out another woo and whacked Twilight, the great gray cringing in response. “Sorry, I forgot you told me.” Twilight took a breath and squeezed his eyes shut. “I told Owlow that I was flying west when I blacked out over the Sea of Hoolemere, so he offered to show me the right thermals to ride over the Everfree. Something about the winds being too strong?” “Who.” Twilight nodded, grinning broadly as his eyes flashed open again. “Yeah, and he was right, because the first thing that happened was I flew into this white cloud that was moving super fast! It even had a rainbow following it as it moved!” He paused and stared off to the side, mumbling as he continued. “But how did I slam into the cloud like it was a wall?” “Okay so then you turned around, yada yada yada, so why is Digger here?” Spike said, gesturing to the burrowing owl who was attempting to smooth out the carpet on the floor, albeit slowly. Twilight looked annoyed for a moment at the inability to finish his story. “Well it was more than just turning around because this absolutely massive orange lizard with three heads—” “Twilight….” “No, hold on! It’s important! We saw the giant lizard trying to bite something on the ground that was running around really quickly. It almost got eaten by one of the heads so I flew in and grabbed it before the lizard had another chance to eat it.” Twilight puffed up, wings extending slightly in pride. “Who.” Twilight shrank, rolling his eyes. “Yeah and Owlow helped too… gave one of the heads a nice long scratch across the side.” Spike looked to Owlowiscious in a mixture of surprise and admiration. “Really?” “Yeah, and—” “But anyway, getting off topic.” Spike waved off Twilight with a cocky grin. “So I assume that was Digger you grabbed?” “Yep! Quite a reunion that was while we were flying back.” “You called me a midget,” Digger mumbled from the shelves as he flapped hard to lift a particularly heavy book. Twilight seemed not to hear his little friend as he continued to frown at Spike. “Just leave it there, I’ll get around to fixing it.” There was a loud thud as the book hit the floor. “So what’s your plan now?” Spike asked, his attention returning to Twilight. “Well, I don’t want to get hit with another book from your purple friend.” “I told you her name is Twilight.” “Whatever!” The great gray sighed. “I’m not all too sure. I don’t know how to get back to the Great Ga’Hoole tree and I doubt Digger does either. All I know as that I was flying west when I disappeared.” Twilight stopped, turning to the nervous burrowing owl behind him. “Actually, how did you get into the forest?” Digger gave a loud, audible gulp.“B-bobcat?” Digger stuttered. Twilight’s eyes widened, and he shuffled over to the small owl. “Bobcat? How did a bobcat get you into the forest?” “I don’t know!” Digger cried, curling up into a ball. “Me and Soren were just stopping to get some crickets and then a bobcat jumped out at me and… and…” Twilight’s gaze softened. “And what, Digger?” “T-that’s the last thing I saw.” Digger wrapped his wings tighter around himself. Twilight wrapped one of his wings around Digger, pulling the little owl close as he began to quietly cry. Spike felt his chest tighten as he took a couple steps towards the pair, eager to help comfort the easily frightened owl. He felt something yank him back him. “Who.” Spike turned to Owlowiscious, the former simply staring at him after having successfully held Spike back with a surprisingly strong wing. It took him a moment to realize what exactly Owlowiscious’ stare meant. He nodded in reply to the silent suggestion. As the pair left the library to leave the other two to their private comfort, Spike made a promise to himself and the misplaced guardians. I’ll figure out how to get you back to your own tree.