//------------------------------// // Arc 1: 9 - Why Did I Do That? // Story: I'm Getting Underpaid For This // by Warmaisach //------------------------------// Seriously, why am I even doing this? Yes, it was my fault for destroying his broom. Yes, it was wrong of me. Yes, I should not have slept during work. But why does that condescending zebra need to act so… well… condescending? Honestly, just for the way he talked to me, I should just stop searching for those things, and be on my way. I walked through the Everfree Forest, surprise surprise. Where else would I be walking? Where else but the incredibly dull, but dangerous Everfree Forest? Using a stupid voice, I talked to myself. “Hey Spike, what are you doing?” Changing my voice quickly into my normal one I playfully replied to myself. “Nothing much. Just walkin’ through the Everfree Forest.” “The Everfree Forest? Isn’t that dangerous?” I smirked at this. “Oh no, not at all. I do this all the time. No big deal.” “Wooow Spike, you are so brave.” I suddenly stopped walking, and my left eye began to twitch slightly. What am I doing? I asked myself without waiting for an answer. After a short while, I let out a frustrated sigh. I think I just went fully crazy. Twilight always said to never go fully crazy. Suddenly, I felt a strange feeling in my gut. “Twilight…” I uttered silently to myself while letting my gaze drift downwards. Why do I miss her? She treated me like a slave and a fool. She does not deserve me. I paused for a short while and blinked multiple times. Wow, that sounded more arrogant than planned. Well, back to the topic. Twilight used me as her personal flank-for-everything and she thoroughly deserved what came to her. I lifted an eyebrow. Wait a minute. Deserved what? The only unfortunate thing that happened to her was that her personal slave escaped. Did I just honestly think that there would be even a remotely possible way that she missed me? Then, I imagined a crying Twilight. “Spike, do not leave me! I need you! How can I reach the highest shelves in the library without using magic now? You are my life!” The imaginative Twilight cried while watching as the imposing dragon walked away. She wore some kind of really old dress and a handkerchief was currently held under her tearing right eye. The location they were currently at, was hit by a hard storm, and the wind blew through her mane. The imposing muscular purple dragon, which wore some kind of detective coat by the way, turned slowly his head to his left so he could see the crying unicorn through his shades. “I’m sorry Twilight, but a dragon needs to do what a dragon needs to do. Farewell,” the dragon stated with a slow, but deep voice. Slowly, he walked into the metallic carriage that got pulled by multiple Woody Wolves. “Spike, come back! SSSPPPIIIKKEEE!” The lavender unicorn shouted while the carriage drove away. … What the buck, brain! What was that? Sadly, my brain was either too busy laughing, or it did not have the ability to speak to my consciousness. I suspected both. With another sigh, I continued walking. Well, disregarding the thing my brain just did, I think that Twilight had it coming. Also, I doubt she misses me. On top of that, there is no turning back now. Even if, I wanted to follow my delusions, and go back to Ponyville, it would take me forever. Heck, I don’t even know where I am. Suddenly, I stopped walking again. Wait…where am I? Looking around the area, I saw the most unexpected thing I could possibly imagine. Trees? Here? How come? What is this nonsense? I thought there were boiling lava mountains with diamond shields and spears in forests, not trees. Slowly, I began to grind my teeth. Ignoring every ounce of sarcasm, seriously. Where the heck am I?! Trees here, trees there. Everywhere I look there are stupid trees. I run two days away from Woody Wolves, manticores, ursas and dragons? Trees! I meet more strange Woodies? Trees! I run from the strange woodies? Trees! I wake up in a shed and look out of the window? Trees! I walk for an undefined amount of time in one direction? Trees! I do the same thing again? Where ever the buck I look, I see the same bucking trees! With rage taking hold of me again, I began to clench my claws into fists and continue grinding my teeth. My breathing began to speed up again, but I quickly stopped it. Keep calm Spike. Getting angry now, would not help anypony. Wait, I’m no pony. I quickly shook my head. Not relevant now. But hey! Another example of ponies not liking anything but other ponies in their society. Heck, the buck, yes! On a side note, I need to stop swearing. Ponies will think I wasn’t properly educated. I blinked two times again. And that is right. I lived with some kind of “mother” that only wanted me for my help and my inability to refuse any order she gave me. I wasn’t properly educated at all. Heck, I didn’t even go to school. No, Twilight needed me just that much. “Oh Spike, could you be a dear and stop eating for the rest of your life, just so you can be one second faster when bringing me a book? The instances when I need a book while you are eating are just that frequent that it is of utmost importance that you stop doing this.” I was exceptionally well versed in the high art of the hyperbole. Instantly, I began to shake my head violently. Stop it! Focus on your task; you are getting side-tracked again! I let out another sigh. Now, what do you need? I lifted a claw to my jaw and put a thinking expression on my face. Your goal is to create a broom. In order to make this broom, you need to first gather the materials. Yet, you first need to know how to create it in order to gather the materials. Now, how do you create the broom? After a short while of thinking up a way to create a functioning broom, I thought I finally had the idea. Of course! You get a long stick, which you already have by the way, get some long hay or grass, and bind it to the stick. I shrugged once. Sounds easy enough. Turning my eyes around the familiar -- unfamiliar area, I searched for anything I could use for the bottom part of the broom or as some kind of thread. Nothing around here I could use. Hmm, well if there is nothing I could use, then maybe I should create something? I mean, how hard can it be to burn some grass just to that degree that it does not catch on fire, but stays dry? I think if I recall that one book about camping correctly, grass, or in the better case something thin growing, needs to dry for multiple days inside a dry and warm area. Ain’t nopony got time for that. Looking around again, I searched for some long weed to burn. Of course, I also needed to be careful to not burn that kind of weed that poisons the mind via smoke. Burning the wrong one could bring me into a state where I would suffer delusions and concentration problems. Nopony should willingly poison themselves with this. After a short while, I found some kind of long grass. It was around 50 centimeter high and looked a little… reedy. What do we have here? I walked over to the reed and grabbed it with one of my claws. Feeling the hard texture, I decided to break it off, so the now broken piece was around 30 centimeter long. I looked it over in my claw. Hmm, could I clean with this thing? I bent it a little to see how flexible it was. The plant actually was a little reedy, but the stem itself wasn’t thick enough to act like a stick. It was small enough to bend multiple times in some strange angles. I think it would be possible to use these. I just need a heckload of the stuff. Looking back to the field of reed, I sighed once. Time to work. … Well that took long enough, but hey, I finally got all the reed I need. Suddenly, I snickered. Reed I need. Spike, you silly! Then another thought came to mind. I am so happy to finally being able to say, or in this case to think, the word silly without sounding like a little girl that tries to persuade the big grown stallion to buy her some ice cream. I shook my head. Apparently, I got sidetracked, again. With another sigh, I recounted what I had. Alright, so I have the stick, which is currently in possession of Abdarul, and the lower part of the broom, whatever it is called. Good! The last thing I need, is something to bind the both parts together with. I looked around the forest. Now, where do I find something that I can bend this much that I could create a knot with it? Seeing nothing that could be possible to use, I started walking into, you guessed correctly, a random direction again. The mystifying ways of Spike the Dragon are impossible to comprehend. Well nonetheless, I walked for quite a while. I might skip the things I thought at that time since you probably already know enough of my brain to imagine what happened there. After an undefined amount of time, I stopped and looked around the area. There has to be something I can use. Come on, how hard can it be to find a plant that resembles a thread? I cursed under my breath when I didn’t find anything again. Just when I wanted to continue on my way, my eyes spotted some kind of hanging liana. Holy ratified collection of ponies dancing on a pole! I found it! My expression instantly changed into a smile, and I ran towards the tree the liana was hanging down from. Seeing the tree, I stopped before climbing. What is this? I’ve never seen a tree quite like this. The tree had a darker color than all the other ones and the stump looked quite strange. Multiple roots were coming out of it, and they seemed to end in a sharp point. It didn’t even look like it was planted into the ground. Like the tree was just standing there. Again, I shook my head. Forget about the strange tree. Just climb and get the liana. Following this thought, I climbed the tree. It seemed to shift slightly whenever I put my claws into the bark, but I didn’t mind. The only thing that was essential was to get that liana as fast as possible, and mostly unharmed. When I was halfway up the branchless tree, I stopped and looked for a way to get to the liana. It seemed to have hung solely from the top of the tree. Now that I think about it, the tree truly has a strange form. It seemed to be bigger in width in the higher parts than the lower. Also, the main body of the tree, which is at a considerable height, touches the ground with four stumps. If I wouldn’t have been hanging from a neck breaking height, I would have shrugged. I saw stranger stuff than just some crazy tree. Looking at the sole liana, I realized that it probably was impossible for me to jump this far. Even if, I would ignore the multiple other problems I would face in this scenario like “How do I get down?”, it would still not be worth to dare the jump. Looking up again, I decided to climb higher. I just need to find the spot where the liana is connected to the tree. When I am there, I need to cut it and climb down again. Sounds easy enough. With that thought in mind, I began to climb higher. In no time at all, I was at the height where the normal trees meet and create one gigantic body of wood. Strangely enough, there were no real branches and no leaves. My arms were arching a little, but I only had some more meters to go. With a last act of strength, I climbed on top of the tree and pulled myself up. After calming my breath and arms a little, I looked around. “Whoa…” I could see the whole forest. This strange symbiosis of four trees was higher than I expected. From up there, the forest looked totally different. It looked somewhat peaceful. Everywhere I looked was trees. Trees without end; it was a gigantic sea of green. I was awestruck. I knew that the forest was vast, but I didn’t anticipate this size. Trees on every side. They go over the horizon. I sat down and just felt awestruck by this sight. Did I actually travel this far? While I sat there, the wind picked up, and it gently flowed over my scales. It had just the perfectly refreshing temperature that it was noticeable, but not uncomfortable. The tree I was atop of was rustling gently in the breeze. The light slightly shifted as the sun began its descend over the horizon to the west. I watched the sunset unfold and couldn’t take my eyes away from it. I watched as the blue sky, slowly made place for the darker sky, on which the stars shone brightly. The sheer beauty of this display woke feelings in me that I didn’t know exist. I never thought something like this existed. Watching the sunset from Canterlot was beautiful, but it did not have this awe inspiring touch. Will I ever see something like this again? What is out there in the world? There are so many things to find; so many things to see; so many things to live for. What also hit me was a feeling of deep sadness, to which I sighed. If only Twilight could be here. Yes, she made lots of mistakes, but somehow… I can’t stop loving her. She hatched me and also looked over me while I grew up. Well, I am still growing, but that is not the point now. I looked down at my feet with a sad gaze. She was my mother. When did she change? Where was the point where her happy playful altitude towards me changed to the strict and cold one? Should I have never left Ponyville? Should I have just stayed there? Was there a different way? All these questions, yet no answer in sight. I sit here, on the seemingly top of the world, yet there is nothing I have found up here. The animals do not climb up here. The birds are more comfortable with their nests in the normal trees. The sky does not reach down here. This place is solitude. Loneliness in its purest form. I looked up at the sky towards the rising moon. Was this how Princess Luna felt while she was on the moon? I can always return to the earth, yet she was bound to the sky. How hard it must have been. I let out another deep sigh and smiled somewhat sadly. What am I doing? I am sitting on a tree, Celestia knows where, and philosophizing about solitude and the moon. Seriously, what’s wrong with me? I think I seriously need to read fewer books. I watched the moon again, and while the cool breeze went over my body, I somehow began to dream of distant pasts. The time where I lived with Twilight. The time when I was happily playing in the library. All these memories of distant happiness that I could not feel right now pained me deeply. The dreams made way to thoughts, and the thoughts vanished in a flurry of chaos. I simply watched the moon, but could not discern what I was thinking, yet I knew that I thought. I knew that I was thinking something, even if I did not know what. Even if I did not know what I was thinking, I could still feel the effect. And the effect was longing and sadness. Longing for a past that I could not go back to. Sadness for the outlook of the future. While I was looking at the moon, I questioned multiple things. Things I now know that were just brought out by the feel of the moment. Questions like “will I ever find someone again?” and “Is there a point in continuing my journey?”. To be honest, it took me quite a while to somewhat calm down again, but after several minutes, the flurry of thoughts calmed down and I let out one last sigh. No point in thinking this stuff over. Heck, what reason is there to contemplate all this? I won’t get an answer for this, and I should just simply forget this ever happened. Really, what a wimp am I? With a deep inhale, I stood up and let some of my joints crack. Shouldn’t have been sitting here for so long. Seriously, it’s not terribly comfortable. Thank you brain, for showing me all those damn emotions I do not need. Now I can’t ignore them anymore. Of course, my brain did not answer me. It reached its goal and was probably already swimming in its sea of sedating hormones my body was receiving from my liver. Yes, we dragons get our hormones from our livers, strange isn’t it? Even though it is even stranger that I know this, yet I am not that old. Well, a life in a library. What can I say? After stretching my muscles and cracking my joints, I began to think about what I should do next. Alright so, why am I up here again? Hmm, oh right. I wanted to get that liana for the broom. Now, where was it? Searching around the tree, I finally found the liana. It was growing out of the side of the main body of the tree(s). Seriously, I am not sure if I could call this thing one tree or multiple trees. Nonetheless, I walked over to the liana. Seeing that it began pretty deep down, I rammed my claws into the tree and began to climb downwards. It did not take me long until I was in grabbing range of the liana. Not sure how resilient it was, I put my claw around it and pulled on it. It did not get damaged, and it still grew out of the tree without any cracks or tears. Pulling another time, but this time stronger, it still did not show any signs of tearing. This should be hard enough, I thought with a smirk on my face. I gulped when I got another idea. No seriously do not do this! Let it be! Don’t touch it! Just say no! Too late. The absurdity of this idea forced me to do this. Oh my Celestia, what did I think at that time? With an unsure gulp, I took ahold of the liana and climbed to the side, where some kind of sole branch grew out of the tree. The tree was not completely branchless. It did not take me long, but I reached it. Moving carefully, I began to stand on the sole branch, both claws clawed around the liana. Oh Celestia. I don’t believe I am actually doing this. Just don’t look down and everything should be fine. You tested the liana. It is hard enough. There is no way it would tear. Ignoring my own advice, I looked down. That was one hell of a fall. Yes, I will say hell because there is no other way to describe this seemingly endless way to the ground. Seeing this, I began to get dizzy. Maybe I should just not do it. I still plan to live some couple of centuries. I slowly turned back to the tree, liana still in one claw when it happened. I stepped on my own tail. It was the stupidest thing I have ever done in my entire life. I mean, how can you step on your own tail? And not only this, but also on top of a branch in life threatening height? Well nonetheless, I screamed ouch, lost my footing, fell down to the ground, and died. … That was just a joke. Don’t look at me like that. Well, what actually happened was that I still had the liana in one claw, and quickly grabbed it with the second one too. Like I thought, the liana held up, and I actually was flying through the sky. Of course, my original plan was screaming out something like “OOOHOHOOOOHOHOHOOOOOO”, but the situation forced me to change this into a manly screech in an octave that was probably higher than Canterlot Mountain. If the forest were made out of glass, I would have been known as the individual that destroyed the most glass. Putting exaggerations to the side, I have to say that this was not one of my proudest moments. But the positive aspect was that the liana held up and stopped swinging after some seconds. My screaming also stopped… an undefined time later. After I calmed down and opened my eyes, I firstly looked down to the ground. Two meters. I only was two meters from the ground away. Apparently, I slid down the liana until I only was two meters from the ground away, and I screamed because of that. Stop looking at me; I said it was not one of my proudest moments. But well, I was calm again and I remembered what I needed the liana for. So I simply put my right claw around the liana and cut it, effectively taking one meter of liana with me. I knew that I was still hanging onto it, and I also knew that I would fall, but come on. Two meters? How much could that hurt? I fell from higher heights in the Canterlot Library. Well, what I did not think about was the fact that my center of gravity was slightly displaced, due to me only hanging on the liana with my left arm. Thus, it was quite a shock for me when my body suddenly shifted. Neither my feet, nor my bottom hit the floor first. It was my back. Cut the liana, they said. The fall will not hurt, they said. Well, the fall did hurt a lot! I didn’t even have time to scream. Falling two meters does not really take a long time, but man did that hurt. After my whole life flashed before my eyes for the second time that day, I laid rigid with my back on the ground, only taking shallow breaths. I did not dare to move. I did not dare to think. I just laid there and looked with open eyes towards the sky. To be a little more specific. This is exactly what I thought at that moment: “…………” It took me quite a while to finally get a hold of my being again, and the first thing I did was checking my body for injuries. Alright so, putting everything that happened behind us, let’s make a check of limbs shall we? Head? I began to concentrate on my head and tried to move my neck a little. There was a little pain but not much. Check. Arms? I moved my fingers a little and wiggled my arms. Check. Legs? I slowly let me legs tumble to the right and to the left. Check. Then I let out a deep sigh. Seems like I am not hurt. So I’ve got some luck after all. With a smirk, I sat up. “AAAAHHHH!” I screamed on top of my lungs. Just when I began to bend my back a little, I felt the most tormenting pain in my life. I instantly let my body slump down on my back again, but the pain was still existent. Oh Celestia did that hurt. I was quite sure that I had no fracture or break in my back since I could still move all my appendages, but I think my back muscles were not as lucky. Lying on my back, I took deep and slow breaths while moving as little as possible. I don’t know how long I lay there, but after some time, the pain began to recede, but sadly not completely. I continued to lay there for quite some time until I decided that I needed to do something about this. I couldn’t stay on the floor in the middle of the Everfree Forest. Slowly, I tried to turn so I could lie on my belly. This may help. With a lot of pain, I turned over to my belly and felt the pain come back. It was not as strong as last time, but it was permanent. It was the kind of pain that you just wish to punch a hole through. I inhaled through my closed teeth and exhaled through an open mouth, letting out a moan every time I exhaled. It was the same kind of breathing you do when you hit your little toe on a table. I clawed with both my claws on the earth to deal with the pain. While I was in the middle of doing this, I heard something from my left. Turning my head, I didn’t believe what I saw. Woodies. Three of them. Looking at me with hungry eyes. Drool coming from their mouths, and the worst part. They were not wearing doctor coats. “NOW?!” I screamed. This was just too perfect. I am hurt beyond comparison, lay on the grass, and can’t even stand up. Yep, it was over. That’s it. No more living several centuries. No more adventuring. Nothing. There was no way for me to escape this time. The wolves slowly walked closer to me, and I felt so afraid that I couldn’t feel the fear anymore. It is strange to describe it like this, but that’s what happened. I looked at them as they slowly encircled me. Yep. No way out of that one. Well I am quite surprised to still be alive at this point. Thinking back at what I did the last few days, I think I actually was quite lucky. Then we suddenly all of us heard some kind of tribal shout. All of us turned our heads to the direction the shout was coming from, and after a while, a zebra could be seen walking to us. My eyes widened. “Abdarul?” I slowly uttered to myself. Yes, it was Abdarul. What was he doing here? There were wooden wolves all around me. He should be running away, not walking to us, shouting some kind of ancient chant. Well whatever he did, he managed to get the attention of the wolves. I also watched him. After a short while, he stopped and looked at the group of four of us from about a ten meter distance. Nothing was moving. After several seconds in calmness, he slowly started moving towards a tree to his right. I raised an eyebrow. What was he planning? The wolves followed his movement, just like me. All of us were confused by the actions of the zebra. When he reached the tree, he slowly and calmly walked behind it. His head and his upper body vanished behind it, and only his hind legs could be seen. He still continued walking, and also his hind legs vanished behind the tree. Instantly after his hind legs vanished, something heavy dropped on top of the right wolf with a ferocity that I have never seen before. It rammed straight through it and exploded into the floor beneath it. The wooden wolf exploded into every direction in a flurry of twigs and leaves. I covered my eyes, due to the dirt and dust that was created by it. I coughed a little, but I calmed down quickly. I needed to know what happened. Opening my eyes again, I looked towards the spot where the wolf was before and my eyes widened when I saw him. It was Abdarul. Standing at the old spot of the wolf with a fiercely burning staff in his hooves. There even was a small crater where he stood. How is that possible? He just went behind that tree! There wasn’t even half a second between him vanishing and smashing the wolf to pieces! That’s impossible! Yet, there he stood. The other wolves quickly jumped back and growled at him. Abdarul only drew a circle on the ground with his staff. When he was finished drawing, he rammed the tip of the staff into the middle of it. Suddenly, massive spikes came out of the earth, destroying the Woodies and throwing their twigs into every direction of the forest. I only lay there, and couldn’t believe what I had seen. What did Abdarul do? Before I could even begin to think about this, he already began talking. “I can’t even send you to make a broom without you getting into mortal danger.” He put a hoof on his jaw in a thinking expression, but I just couldn’t answer. I was just too awestruck by what just happened. After a while where none of us said anything, he stomped on the ground. “Alright! I have decided that you will live with me until you can stand on your own two legs!” He simply stated, and I looked at him in an unbelieving expression. “Eh… what?” I asked. “You will live with me for the next time. I can’t have some greenhorn like you running around the forest!” He told me, and I lifted my eyebrow even higher. “Now get up and get to work. I want my broom!” He ordered me and punched me on the back with his staff. Directly after this, he put the tip of the staff beneath me and lifted me up on my legs. Before I even realized it, I was standing on my legs again without pain. Well, I decided that it was probably better to do what he says for now, but let me cut this short. I then proceeded in trying to create the broom, in which I failed for multiple days. After a week or two, I finally managed it. Abdarul showed me some stuff, and well, I am still living with him to this day. By the way, this day is around two months after I met him. That’s my story so far. ________________________________________ Spike lay on top of a wooden couch in the clearing of the woods. He was talking for several hours now to someone else. The other one made notes while Spike was talking and scratched on the note board with motivation. “Well doc, what do you think?” Spike asked with an enquiring voice while sitting up from his couch. The Timberwolf with a doctor coat simply shook his head at his story and growled something he couldn’t understand.