Ellidee let out a small chuckle. “What do you mean ‘why’?”
Spike was still trying to gather his thoughts about how the universe had finally worked something out in his favor. After a few seconds he was finally able to muster up the ability to speak. “Well, um, I guess it’s just surprising and all. I mean, why’d you let me out of jail?”
Ellidee rolled her eyes. “You know, most ponies would just be grateful instead of questioning their fate. But, since you must know, I’m letting you out because my father said I could. Simple enough for you, I hope?”
Spike cocked an eyebrow. “Well, I guess that makes sense. That being said, why would your father let me out after just a ten minute conversation... or however long it was? He didn’t exactly make it a secret that he doesn’t like my kind.”
“He has his reasons, you know…” Ellidee said, a slight softness building in her voice as she trailed off. “Regardless, it wasn’t that hard really. Between the fact that you’re not exactly dangerous looking and the fact that I have my father wrapped around my front hoof, convincing him was easy. There’s nothing to worry about, Spike.”
Spike shrugged. “Alright, fine. I’ll accept it. But that does leave one last question.”
“Oh sweet merciful gods, here we go…” Ellidee shook her head. “Fine. What is it?”
“Why did you in particular even want to let me out in the first place?” Spike rubbed his chin. “I mean, you barely know me at all and your father isn’t exactly wrong about most dragons.”
Ellidee released a sigh. “I figured you might ask that. Look, this might sound a bit, I don’t know, weird… but I do believe you about your mission. Honestly, I just really felt like you didn’t deserve to be locked up. I mean, let’s be real, if you were a real dragon our entire town would’ve been burnt down by now.”
Spike frowned. “Hey, I’m a real dragon! I’ve got wings, sharp teeth, a somewhat obnoxious personality… I’ve got it all!”
“Sure you do,” Ellidee replied with a snicker. “Honestly, compared to the dragons that my dad talks about, you’re like my little sister’s dolls.”
“Psh,” Spike said with a wave of his claw. “Okay, fine. I’ll tell you what, when push comes to shove, I’m a fearless warrior without compare.” Spike crossed his arms and gave her his best fang-y, smug grin. Pretty much all pretenses of confusion at the situation were gone from his mind at the moment. His pride was on the line.
“Yeah, okay,” she said with a final chuckle. “Anyway, do you plan on just standing in that cell all day or are you going to, I don’t know, take a few steps forward and be free again?” She tilted her head to the side with a cocky grin. “Your choice.”
Spike looked around himself for a moment. “Oh yeah, I forgot about that part.” As he was bid, the dragon walked out of the cell until he was standing just a few feet away from Ellidee. “So, I guess I owe you the world’s biggest thank you, don’t I?”
“Heh, that’s a good place to start,” she said. “Thank you’s can wait for another time. Let’s get out of this place first. It smells like mold and disappointment in here. I hate it.”
Spike, in his infinite wisdom, took a moment to sniff his left arm. Yep, he definitely picked up a trace of failure. He was going to need to shower soon.
The two walked out of the town jail with Ellidee leading the way. As soon as she opened the front door, letting the evening sun embrace them both, it felt like Spike was reinvigorated. The sun was pretty far along in the sky at this point, but he enjoyed nonetheless.
He took a couple steps outside and stretched out his arms and wings as far as they could go, letting the sun’s light bathe them in the process. He felt like a new dragon, especially considering not even a few minutes ago he wasn’t sure he’d ever see the light of day again.
It was truly a beautiful feeling to be free.
“Now hold your horses, Spike,” Ellidee said, breaking up his peaceful thought pattern. “You’re not exactly free yet. There are still a few rules that got laid down you’ll have to abide by, okay?”
Spike quickly brought his wings back to his side. “Okay, that’s totally fair. What are they?”
Ellidee nodded. “Well, the first one is probably the most important. You’re not allowed in town. As my father put it, you ‘need to go back to the forest from whence you came’.”
Spike frowned and looked to the edge of town where that forest he was lost in was. “Ugh, fine. I guess that’s fair. What else?”
“Number two, you’re not allowed to, oh how’d he put it… ‘do anything dragon-ish’ on your way out of town.” Ellidee rubbed her chin. “I’m assuming he means not doing anything like eating anyone or burning stuff down our homes and crops. That shouldn’t be a problem for you though since you’re like ten percent dragon at best.”
Spike grimaced, but he didn’t feel like getting back into an argument involving his pride again. So instead, he just sighed. “I guess these rules will prevent me from getting to have any food or supplies on my way out of town, huh?”
Ellidee shook her head. “I’m sorry, but you were asked to essentially leave right away. I tried to make him see a bit of reason there, but it didn’t work out.”
Spike shook his head. “It’s all good. Trust me, I see where he’s coming from.” The dragon let out a small snicker. It wasn’t an ideal situation, but he may as well do what he can to make the best out of it. “So, are there any more rules? I’d say kicking me out of town pretty much covers anything inconveniencing I might do.”
“Well, there is one more, but…” Ellidee looked around at the few ponies that were starting to come outside of their shops and homes. All of them were giving looks that could kill. “I can’t tell you here.”
Spike rolled his eyes. “Fine. Are you just gonna send it with me in a letter or something?”
“No, although I guess that actually makes sense.” Instead of just walking away like any sane pony would, Ellidee moved a tad closer to him. “Hey, I’ll walk you out of town, alright?”
Spike tilted his head. “Huh? I mean, I appreciate the offer but the forest is literally right over there. I know you guys think I’m a stupid dragon, but I’m pretty sure I won’t get lost in the next five minutes it will take me to leave.”
Ellidee stomped a hoof into the ground. “Ugh, why are you males all the same? Stallion or dragon, it apparently doesn’t matter. You’re all as dense as the next one.” She took a few steps in front of Spike. “Just follow me, okay? And act normal so you don’t scare anypony.”
Spike scratched his head. Her and her father had a gift for making him feel personally attacked. “Okay, I guess. Lead the way.”
Ellidee started walking away from him, leaving to it up Spike to get moving to catch up with her. It was mid-afternoon at this point, and thankfully it wasn’t overly hot or humid. Despite the circumstances, Spike found a small smile creeping its way onto his face.
“So, do dragons get sick often?” Ellidee asked Spike, who was now walking at an even pace to her right. “I mean, I’ll admit I haven’t done a ton of research or anything, but I’ve always heard you guys are pretty tough.”
Spike shook his head. “Yeah, illness doesn’t come around very often for us. But when it does, it’s pretty bad, as you can probably tell.”
“Heh,” Ellidee said with a light chuckle. “I feel like all stallions say that when trying to get out of work. But, in all seriousness, it does sound pretty rough. How have you managed to stay healthy?”
Spike paused for a moment. Looks like he was going to have to further defend his lie. “Well, I’m honestly a bit more isolated than the other dragons. I kind of keep to myself quite a bit. Ultimately, I guess you could just say that I was really lucky. There were only a couple of us that didn’t end up among those down with the sickness.”
“Ah, gotcha,’ Ellidee replied. “On that note, how come they chose you for the mission?”
Spike shrugged. “I volunteered. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I do like to think of myself and the easiest to get along with of the dragons. I mean, if I were twenty feet taller and had a bad attitude all the time like my brethren, I doubt you would’ve given me the time of day.”
Ellidee quickly nodded. “Good point. You’re not exactly offensive as far as dragons go.”
“Yeah, I’ll take that as a compliment.” He said with a well-timed eye roll.
They were getting closer to their destination by this point but Spike wasn’t quite done asking a few questions of his own. He’d have to be quick though as once he left town, he most likely would never be coming back.
“So,” Spike said. “I couldn’t help but notice that you and your father have a different accent. He’s a bit on the, oh I don’t know, rough and tumble side and you seem to talk without much of a drawl at all. Did you not always live here?”
Ellidee shook her head. “Nope. I actually spent the first part of my life with… somepony else. That was in a different city and when I was younger. I guess I just never really picked up my father’s accent.”
“Somepony else?” As much as it should have, Spike didn’t quite pick up the hint that she wasn’t in the mood to discuss specifics. “I take it it hasn’t always been just you and your dad.”
Ellidee sighed. “Yeah, but, that’s neither here nor there right now. It was a long time ago.”
“Fair enough,” Spike replied. His mind drifted to his own circumstances, growing up without both parents around. “I know the feel all too well. But, anyway, I do have one final question if it’s alright?”
“What’s that?” Ellidee asked.
“Do you know if there’s another town within any kind of reasonable distance where I might be able to do some kind of shopping or searching for the stuff I need?” Spike smiled a tad. “Hopefully a town that’s not all torches and pitchforks about dragons?”
Ellidee nodded. “Yeah, that was something I needed to discuss with you. The capital city, Sprintdale, is just about a day’s walk from here in that direction.” Ellidee pointed her hoof to the south. “I can’t really speak on how friendly everypony will be to dragons over there as I’ve only gotten to go a couple times, but it’s a really big place. If anypony can help you, they’ll be over in Sprintdale.”
As much as Spike just wanted to fly upward and get a better view, he knew that wasn’t the best idea given the circumstances. There were no guarantees he wouldn’t be shot right out of the sky by an understandably scared hunter or some such. He’d just have to take her word for it.
“Alright, I’ll just head south I guess. Thanks for all your help.”
By this point, they had reached the edge of the woods on the town’s skirt. Spike looked up to the sky and noticed the sun was already starting to set as well. It wouldn’t be long before the night blanketed everything in darkness.
“Well, I should probably get a move on before it gets too late.” Spike released a sigh followed by a slight smile. “If it’s a day’s walk, then I could feasibly get there by tomorrow morning I suppose.”
Ellidee shook her head. “No, trust me, you don’t want to leave until tomorrow. I mean, you must have had an exhausting day. The last thing you want to do is stumble around half-asleep in the dark and get yourself hopelessly lost, right?”
“Nah, I’ll be just—“ The dragon’s sentence was interrupted with a loud yawn. “Huh, I guess you’re right. I am pretty tired. But, it’s not like I have too many options. I guess I could just take a nap first and… what are you doing?” Spike couldn’t help but notice Ellidee looking back and forth frantically, as if she was making sure nopony else was around within hearing distance. “You good?”
Ellidee scooted a step closer to him and began speaking in a hushed tone. “Okay, look, there’s a cave just a mile or so into the woods if you go straight from here. Go there and wait.”
Spike cocked an eyebrow. “Uh, excuse me? Why would I do that?”
The mare rolled her eyes. “Because, if you go there and wait, I can stop by later with some supplies for you. You’re gonna have an awful time without any and I’m not gonna let my father just send you to your possible death because of his stubbornness.”
Spike rose a claw in protest. “I appreciate the thought, but didn’t you say your father doesn’t like you doing stuff like, I don’t know, leaving the town and whatnot by yourself? There’s no way he’d let you help me out like that.”
“That’s why he’s not gonna know about it,” she replied. “I’ll just wait until the sun goes down and sneak out. It’s that simple, you know?”
Spike scratched the back of his head. “Well, no offense, but I feel like I’ve read about plans like this in stories before, and it never works out quite that easily.” He put his claw back to his side and shrugged. “But, that being said, I’m not one to look a gift pony in the mouth, so sure. I’ll wait around for you. But, you know, don’t do anything that’ll get you in trouble. I won’t pretend to know you super well, but I’d still rather not have you get hurt or something on my account, Ellidee.”
“Don’t worry about me,” she said with a shake of her head. “Trust me, I can handle my dad. Besides, remember how I told you there was one more rule about you leaving?”
Spike thought back to earlier in their conversation. “Yeah, I remember.”
“Well, it’s more of a favor than a rule, but regardless, I’m going to collect on that tonight, too, so you better follow my directions and wait for me, okay?” Ellidee gave him a strict stare that would send even the mightiest of dragons into submission. “I’ll be there about an hour or two after the sun goes down, so take a nap or something while you wait.”
Spike had no idea what the favor could be but he didn’t want to question her. “Alright, I’ll hang around. But if you don’t come around by tomorrow morning, I’ll have to leave, alright?”
“Deal.” Ellidee looked back towards town where off in the distance her father was clearly visible. “Anyway, I have to go. Remember, it’s about a mile straight in front of you.”
With that, she took off back towards town, leaving Spike by himself. The dragon watched as she bounded away for a moment before turning his attention back to the forest. A mile straight forward? No problem.
He didn’t see any point in wasting more time with idle thought, so he quickly took the first few steps back into the woods. He had a cave to find.
It had been some time since Spike arrived at the cave. It was more of a hole in the wall than an actual cave, but if nothing else it provided shade from the sun and kept him out of the way of sight of any possible enemies. He had tried to sleep like Ellidee bid him to do, but there was just too much going on his head. Would she actually show up or was he wasting time he didn’t have? Would he actually be able to find good food again? Would this whole mission even work out or was it doomed to fail?
So many questions and no answers to be found.
The sun had pretty much set completely by this point leaving only the moon to provide any kind of light. Light that struggled to exist given the dense foliage ceiling guarding against it. Spike was about to complain about that too before the approaching sound of hoof steps gave him pause.
He looked outside of the cave and could barely make out Ellidee’s figure in the darkness. But, he knew it was her by not only the large sack she was carrying on her back, but by her mane as well, tied up in a ribbon like it had been in town.
“Glad to see you’re still here,” she said with a half smile as she finally reached the cave.
“Of course,” Spike replied. “I told you I’d wait.”
“Nice to know you don’t go back on promises,” she replied. Without another word, she levitated the sack off of her back and plopped it onto the ground next to Spike. “Here you are.”
Spike didn’t need an invitation to start rummaging through. There was quite a bit bread, a couple canteens of water and some fruit. There was actually for more than he’d need for a one day trek…
“Are you sure this is alright?” He asked. “I mean, there’s enough for like two whole ponies in here. I don’t wanna eat your village out of house and home.”
“Hehe,” Ellidee replied with a smile. “You see, about that. Remember that favor?”
Spike simply nodded. “Yeah.”
“Well,” Ellidee said, pushing a stray piece of mane from in front of her eyes. “There’s a very simple reason as to why I packed extra food and water. I’m coming with you.”
Spike paused and once again was left with nothing else to say but…
“Why?”