//------------------------------// // Buck This Dragon in Particular // Story: Journey of a Cat // by Lack of Tact //------------------------------// "Erm... Twilight?" At the confused calling of her name, the purple unicorn mare with a tattoo on her rear, turned away from her desk. She wasn't too fixated on the book she was reading, having read it several times before. Now, looking at her young number 1 dragon assistant, even though he was the only dragon assistant she's ever had, she rose a brow in curiosity. "Yes Spike, something the matter?" Spike's eyes and head were turned away from her she noticed, instead they were focused on a window. And a scratching sound. "Um, do we let it in?" He pointed to said window and what was creating the scratching noise. A black and white cat, one eye opened; which was staring intently at the dragon, was pawing at the glass pane from the other side, claws extended. To be honest, it was annoying. The mare pursed her lips in thought as she too now stared at the feline, a sense of unfamiliarity washed over her as she'd never seen this cat around Ponyville before. What was it doing at the Library's window, and how did it get up there in the first place? They were on the second floor. With a shrug, she simply turned back to her book, calling over her shoulder. "Sure Spike, just make sure to clean up after it." And with a dismissive wave of her hoof, she was back in the realm of book. --- Taking a bit to finally get the ladder set up, Spike was now outside of the Golden Oak Library. He'd leaned a 12 foot ladder against the tree's thick bark, hoping to sturdy it enough to climb. He did that, so, now it was just time to get up there and grab the cat. Hopefully, without any injury as most cats disliked him for some reason. "Here kitty, kitty." He called up the ladder, the black/white feline lazily looking down from the window's ledge back at him. It'd stopped scratching at the glass as it solely wanted the attention of the dragon. For whatever reason. "Meeow." Its soft mew made Spike's heart swell a little and he had to repress a smile as he began to make his way up the ladder. The cat still only had one eye open, half lidded as it still stared downward, following Spike's body with interest. Being short, Spike was only halfway up the ladder. "How'd you find yourself up here anyway? Did you climb?" The purple and green dragon knew he wasn't going to get a response, but nonetheless, he just wanted to let the cat know he meant no harm. Which, by itself, was a good thing yes, but still. The cat didn't understand him. Finally, Spike now had a closer look at it, failing to hold back his smile any longer. The cat had two fluffed-at-the-tip ears, its chest was white while the rest of its body was a dark grey. White adorned its right paw and a little spotted his nose, its curious eye was looking at him intently. "Hey there little guy, wanna come down with me?" Again, Spike knew he wasn't going to get an answer, so- "No, I'm fine." Spike blinked silently for several seconds. "Ahhhhh!" Screamed, and fell backwards, his grip now gone from the ladder he'd climbed (This word sounded like it was spelled wrong for the longest time to me). At the sound of a plop, a pained groan coming from below, the cat only smirked. --- "Spike, that cat did not speak to you and you know it. You're only imagining things... yeah, like I imagined the pain from falling from that ladder... owwww." Currently, Spike was at the base of the ladder he'd kept against the tree, he was now in thought as he continued to stare back at the cat above him. There was no possible way it'd spoken to him, surely he'd only thought he heard the cat speak. Cat's don't speak, they're not sapient. Right? Oh who is he kidding, cats are dumb just like dogs. And with that, Spike began to make his way up the ladder again. "Yeah, there's no way... come on kitty! Don't you wanna get down from there?" He called back up again, nearing his destination quicker this time around. The cat only blinked the one open eye as its response and let out a low purr. Spike's heart swelled yet again, the cat was adorable! "I'd prefer to see you fall, thank you." Or so he thought. "Ahhh!" This time, the dragon's scream was shorter as he fell. Though, the plop was still satisfying. Interesting development. --- Spike walked out of the door to the library, a hoofball helmet Rainbow had gifted him earlier now sat atop his head. Feeling inclined to not shut the door, instead go straight up after the cat, Spike glared upwards. "Okay, I thought you were cute, you still are, but now that I know you can talk, you're coming down from there this instant!" The feline did not respond as he'd hoped, instead tried to wave away the dragon in a shoo-ing manner. It rested its head upon its other, free paw and blinked in silence. "Challenge accepted, cat." Spike hastily made his way up the ladder, not bothering to look upwards as the helmet weighed his head down. The cat was coming inside whether it liked it or not! Now, reaching the top, Spike had to shout in victory as he was not going to be taken by surprise by the cat's voice this time! The helmet still covered the top of his eyes however, so it was kind of a difficulty to see. "Aha! Gotcha!" Spike threw his arms forward only to grab thin air, luckily his tail was wrapped around a step or he'd have fallen again. Blinking, he used one of his claws to lift the helmet upwards a little, and when he did so... he saw nothing. "What?" "Meow~" Spike looked downward for where that mew came from and was immediately taken by surprise. The cat had somehow made its way down without Spike noticing and was now staring upwards at him with a snide grin. "It was fun, but I'd rather be inside now. Ta ta~" Just like that, the cat walked to the open door, its rear swinging back and forth in a taunting manner. Color drained from Spike's body as the door slammed shut behind the cat and a 'click' sounded soon after. Then, Spike blinked again. "How di-how did he just lock the door?" He blinked once more. "Oh no, I'm locked out! Twilight!" And now it was Spike's turn to claw helplessly against the glass.