Just Another Love Story

by Stormy Charge

Chapter 7 - The Lullaby

Ivory ran down the steep slope with Spike on his back, using every last ounce of energy he had left. He could still hear the dragon behind him, growing more and more tired. But Ivory was losing his vitality as well.

The slope bared no place to hide or turn; it was just flat land as far as the eye could see.

“Come back here with my gems!” The dragon roared from behind them. He took a deep breath in and Ivory panicked, looking behind him.

Much to his horror, the beast was about to unleash a breath of fire across the barren landscape. And with no cover, Ivory was forced to make a hard left turn.

The flames barely singed his body, burning everything else in the line of fire. His hooves began to hurt even more and his stomach felt no better. He felt like he was going to be sick, barely able to keep his balance as he kept himself running away from the massive monster.

“Ivory, are you ok?!” Spike could help but ask.

Ivory didn’t answer though. He kept his focus on running. Suddenly, it came within view. The one thing that they needed at this moment in time: a hole in the ground. How deep and how dark, he didn’t know. But it was the only thing keeping him going.

The dragon took a deep breath for another flaming attack, just as the hole became more visible. Ivory took a leap of faith, jumping directly into the hole narrowly avoiding the raging flames of the dragon. Spike screamed as they fell, but Ivory remained silent, just waiting for the impact. Trying to prepare himself mentally for the pain.

But nothing could prepare him for the amount of pain he felt when he landed. His stomach felt ready to burst open. He wanted to cry out in suffering, but did his best to keep it lowered to a slight whimper. If the dragon heard him, it would all be over. And Ivory wasn’t willing to slap death in the face any more than he already had.

The sound of flames overhead died out, but the stomping continued. The two worried for a minute about the cave collapsing on them. But soon enough, the dragon stopped wandering aimlessly around looking for them and flew off. Where did he go? They didn’t care. They were just glad they had survived such a trial.

The victory was short lived, as Ivory’s eyes began to fail him. He thought he heard Spike say something, but he couldn’t make it out. All he could feel was his body failing him.

Ivory closed his eyes, laying his head on the hard, jagged rocks. He wondered why he was on this perilous journey in the first place. He wondered, what’s so important. What’s worth living for?

Ivory awoke to a small crackling noise echoing throughout the cave. His eyes opened after a peaceful, and much needed sleep. Spike had gathered as many sticks that he could find and set them on fire to give them some light and warmth.

The pony tried to get to his feet, but winced and laid back down. His stomach had taken more of a beating than he thought. And his hooves were in no better condition. Just lifting one hoof to his face, he saw it was bruised and bloodied.

The journey had already taken its toll on Ivory, and they hadn’t even made it to the Gryphon Kingdom. There was not even a guarantee that Rarity would be there, but they had to press on.

Ignoring the pain as much as he could, Ivory stood and walked over to his friend sitting by the fire.

Hearing the footsteps, Spike turned around quickly, then smiled to see Ivory Moon awake.

“Ivory! I’m so glad you’re awake!”

“Yeah. You and me both.” He said in his usual sarcastic tone. Not even a near death experience could stop his personality. “Come on. Let’s get moving.”

“What?”

“We have to get to the Gryphon Kingdom before the day ends.”

“But…” Spike looked at his obviously injured hooves.

“I’ll be fine. We have to get to Rarity.”

“No, Ivory. You’re in no condition to travel yet.”

“I don’t care.”

“Well I do.” Spike stood and approached the white pony. “I know you want to save Rarity, but you can’t do that if you’re dead.”

“Then I won’t die.”

“You’re pushing your body too hard!”

“My body can handle it!”

“No, it can’t! We will save Rarity, but you can’t keep thinking your body is invincible.”

Ivory looked up to the hole where he had jumped in. The sun had obviously just risen. It would be a crime to put the entire day to waste. “I know my body isn’t invincible.” He uttered, still staring at the sunlight. “But…”

“I’ve already lost three loves of my life. I won’t lose another.”

Spike walked over to his friend, placing his hand on his shoulder. “You’re right, Ivory.” He started, soft and soothingly. “You won’t lose another. Because you’re staying here until you’re strong again.”

Ivory pulled away from his companion, questioning whether or not he should have brought him along. “That’s a great idea!” He shouted, his sarcasm almost tangible. “Let’s just let those mangy mutts get even further ahead! In fact, why don’t we spend the rest of our lives in this damn cave!?”

“Ivory, I’m only trying to help.”

“Yeah, some help you are! So far the only thing you’ve contributed to this journey is getting us chased by a dragon and getting me injured! Which in turn, has slowed us… me, down even more!”

“I didn’t know you could be so selfish Ivory!”

“I’m the one who’s selfish?! I’M THE ONE WHO’S SELFISH!? I’VE DONE NOTHING BUT SACRIFICE FOR EVERYPONY! THEY’RE THE ONES WHO TOOK MY FAMILY AWAY FROM ME IN THE FIRST PLACE! SO WHY SHOULD I CARE ABOUT THEM?!”

“Because they’ve done everything they can to give back to you! It’s not their fault that you can’t see that!”

“…” Ivory immediately silenced. His anger still rang fresh in his ears. He hadn’t been this furious in years. All those years of pent-up hatred and resentment, in a millisecond, had been fired at Spike. He hated himself. He hated every part of his being now more than ever. Every good deed he had ever done seemed to evaporate in his mind. His heart just felt… empty.

He looked about ready to reply to his friend, who bared a strong yet frightened face. But he couldn’t bring himself to do anything. He couldn’t yell, apologize, or even sigh. He just turned around and walked to the back of the cave as far as it went.

Spike sat by the warmth of the fire as the day passed. Ivory still sat in the back of the cave silent as a mouse. It hurt Spike to know that Ivory was angry with him, but what he did, he did to keep his friend alive. By the next morning, Ivory would be recovered enough and they could continue on their journey.

But even with that, Spike couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. He knew what Ivory was going through and wanted to help him succeed, but it was like dealing with a time bomb. The pony could be set off by anything at any time. And the fact that he had lost another love of his life only made the situation worse.

He didn’t wonder what he had gotten himself into; he knew what kind of danger he was putting himself in. But at this moment, if Ivory had gone alone, he would probably be dead. It was Spike’s duty to make sure Ivory didn’t do anything rash or over his head.

Spike stood, stretching his muscles a bit and yawning. He looked up at the hole in the ceiling and sighed. It was almost the evening already. And Ivory still had not budged.

He walked over to his friend and sat down next to him. Ivory knew he was there but didn’t turn to him.

“Ivory…”

There was no response.

“Ivory, please talk to me.”

“… I’m sorry Spike.”

“Sorry? For what?”

“What I said back there…”

Spike looked around, and then smiled a small smile. “Hey, no worries. You were under a lot of stress.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t have come here…”

“What are you saying? You wish you hadn’t come to rescue Rarity?”

“I don’t know…”

“That’s crazy talk Ivory.”

“Come on Spike. Do you honestly think we have a shot? A pony and a dragon with a bag of useless items.”

“No Ivory. I don’t think we’ll make it.”

Ivory stopped and gave a confused look to his friend.

“I know we’ll make it.”

The earth pony just rolled his eyes and sighed, obviously not in the mood for Spike’s optimism.

“You scaled a mountain! You escaped a dragon! And you would do it all over again!”

“No, I don’t think I would.”

“I know you would. For Rarity.”

Spike stood up, dusting himself off. He walked back to the small dying fire. The day was almost over, though it felt like it lasted an eternity.

Suddenly, a rumbling sound emanated from Spike’s stomach. Ivory heard this and turned to his hungry friend. Unfortunately, there were no gems in this cave. But then, Ivory remembered that he had food after all.

“Come over here Spike.” He said, reaching into his saddlepack and pulling out the apple pie. “Dinner is served.”

Spike smiled and ran to Ivory’s side again, sitting and admiring the delicious looking pastry. It was cold and battered from all that it had been though, but food was still food.

Just as Ivory was about to dig into the dinner, something clicked in Spike’s head. “Wait, hold up Ivory.” He said, grabbing the pie before his teeth touched it.

The small dragon ran it over to his nearly dead fire and held it just overhead. He then breathed flames unto the wood making the fire grow again. After a minute, the pie became warm again and he ran it back over to his hungry companion.

“Good idea Spike.” He said, giving a slight smile. “Looks like bringing you along was a good idea after all.”

The two laughed at his witty comment, each taking a mouthful of pie, enjoying the incredible flavor.

“Applejack has done it again.” Ivory said, reaching for another piece of his dinner. “She has a real knack for this kind of stuff.”

“She’s good, but Pinkie Pie makes better pastries.”

“I disagree. Pinkie’s pastries are good, but nothing hits the spot like AJ’s incredible caramel apples.”

“You got me there.” The two laughed over the half eaten pie. “I wonder how our friends are doing.”

“Hmm…” Ivory looked up thoughtfully. “By now they must’ve noticed that we aren’t around.”

“I bet Twilight is worried sick about me.”

“You mean you didn’t tell her that you were coming with me?”

“No. She’d never let me go.”

“Well, you are rather pathetic.”

“I know it’s dangerous, but I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t try.”

“Like you said, you’re just about as stubborn as me.”

“Yeah, but I’m not as stupid as you are.”

“Oh, so now I’m stupid?”

“Well you did take on a dragon.”

“To save you.”

“And you also wanted to continue without recovering first.”

“Ok… that was pretty stupid. But in that line of thinking, this whole adventure is pretty stupid.”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t get me wrong, I’d do anything for Rarity. But I am kind of an idiot for going alone.”

“Yeah, you kind of are.”

“Hey, you’re at fault as much as I am.”

The two laughed, bantering back and forth until late evening fell over Equestria. They decided to save some of the pie for later on, considering Spike could reheat it at any time. While Spike was well fed having eaten this morning as well as just now, this was the first meal Ivory had eaten since they had started this trek.

“Are you sure you don’t want any more?” Spike said, looking at the quarter slice of pie left in the pan.

“It’s fine Spike.” He replied, stretching and yawning. “Besides, we’ll still need more food later on.”

“Well, if you say so.” Spike yawned as well. The two were obviously tired, though they had not made much of any progress all day.

“We’d better get some shut eye. We’ve got a lot of catching up to do tomorrow.” Ivory said, pulling the map out of his pack. Spike leaned over to see what Ivory was doing.

“We should reach the Gryphon Kingdom tomorrow. That’ll give us a chance to restock on food and then we can continue.”

“By the way, Ivory. How are we gonna find Rarity?”

“I’m not sure. We may be able to ask around the kingdom. But don’t you worry. We’ll find her.”

The two laid down near the fire, bidding the day farewell.

“Ivory.” Spike whispered, almost inaudibly.

“Yeah?”

“I’m sorry about your family.”

“… Thanks.”

Ivory looked up at the hole in the ceiling and wondered, were they proud of him? Were they proud of who he was, who he had become, and what he was doing?

If only they could see me now.