//------------------------------// // 32 – "Why Couldn't I Have Been Born with Wings?" // Story: Spike Quits His Job and Goes on Numerous Quests // by B_25 //------------------------------// ~32~ "Why Couldn't I Have Been Born with Wings?" The flag bearing the castle’s emblem in its fabric flapped in accordance to the wind, following in whatever direction it chose to blow, while patches of frost grew along its corners. Down the length of the flag post sat one dragon with his eyes clenched in an attempt never to see how far below the ground was. “Why couldn’t I have been born as one of those dragons with wings?” Spike asked himself as his body went limp at even the prospect of flying down from such a high distance. “I wish Twilight or Rarity were here so they could just zap me back home and all of this would be done with.” That comment spurred on another voice inside the dragon that belonged to the aspect of him that desired to run away in the first place. ‘What’s the point of you saying that now? After handing in your letter into Twilight to change your life, then getting closer to Fluttershy’s to enhance life quality, what is the point of saying such a line when you’ve finally got your desire?” “I...I don’t know,” the dragon said to himself as his eyes slid open to the sea eating land before him, where a dive from up here would be the same as plummeting into concrete. “The concept of escaping and finding myself in the world felt great...enough even to get it on with a fishy dude that promised that.” Falcon’s image and the glowing lights of the orange sea were brought to the forefront of the dragon’s mind. “Wait a second. Where did that thing go anyways?” Nothing in the world around him hinted at the existence of the Orange Sea or the Creature that cared for him there, nor did any additional voices speak out from the dragon’s subconscious. “Wake me up in the middle of a good sleep to drop me off at the top of a castle in the middle of no-where, with no way of possibly getting down.” ‘That’s a lie Spike, and you know it.’ “What?” The dragon replied with a huff that stirred him to stand on his feet once more, gesturing to the distant and bizarre world around him. “That I have no possible way of getting down that doesn’t result in death, and even if I do, I have no clue which way to go home?” ‘You’re lying about there being no way to get down, Spike. From the moment you fell you knew that you could use that metal flag pole to get down., but you’re too scared to go through with it because someone will come and save you.’ “Yeah.” Spike eyed the flagpost that stood erect behind him, apparently strong enough to not erode despite the passage of time, and survive each time the currents of wind threw its weight against it. “Because staying up here for the slim chance of hope is better than my claws slipping on my way down because I decided to look down.” ‘You’ve got no to food to eat nor any space to sleep, lest the wind, roll you off in your sleep. But what I don’t understand is this: Isn’t this the thing you’ve been pining for all these years? Lost in the middle of nowhere exploring abandoned castle and tombs for their treasures, while getting into fights and dealing with conflicts, to search for the truth that resolves the jumbled mess that is your soul?’ That aspect of Spike became more active in the space of his mind, as the dragon was forced to resolve the feelings associated with his romantic dreams of grandeur. “This does seem like the start of the adventure I’ve always wanted to go on.” The dragon closed his eyes as the world was bearing too much of a weight upon them, and took a breath that helped steady his nerves. “But I never expected to be this...scary and real.” ‘That’s what happens when you start playing by the rules of reality, and not indulging in the fantasy of illusions. You’re here now Spike, and that long sleep of yours puting most of your fears to rest, so you that indifference to add one more to the list and scale down this castle.’ Hearing the previous sentence served to shudder the dragon’s shoulder as he lost a breath to his still cowardice, but not before clenching his claws in determination and rolling back his shoulders. He approached the flag post to bend a knee before it, thinking with the latches that sealed the metal post into the tower, until they loosen their hold upon it. Standing back up once more, the dragon gripped the cold metal and began to churn it, slowly digging it out from its long resting place, until it finally popped out with another force to make the dragon to take a step back. The flag flapped in the wind once more only because of the dragon’s accord, paying the moment’s respect to a once kingdom he had no idea about, but still paying it the sincerity he believed it deserved. Once the moment was finished, and the flag itself was brought before the dragon’s eyes, trying to decipher was the emblem once was, only catching the details of some dragon carrying something in his upheld claw, while the other flickered with an aurora. Spike shook his head at missing details of the flag lost to the winds and passage of time, as he tore the flag from its post and tossed it to the winds. It rode along the current the began to disappear over the sea. The dragon turned around, rose the metal bar as high as he could, and slammed it downward on his awaiting levied thigh, where it snapped into to. With both claws now filled with a usable climbing material with sharp ends, he hovered the edge where he soon would begin to climb. “I still wish I was one of those dragons born with wings.”