„So then I stumbled through those bushes, and you know what I saw? I saw three timberwolves in white coats operating on another timberwolf right in a clearing,” Spike explained with a laugh.
Purple Edge joined in with laughing. “No, really?”
“Yeah, it’s true. I just stood there, watching them operate and thought …what the fuck?” Spike and Edge both laughed at this point.
“And then? What happened then?”
After a short giggle, Spike continued. “Well, after they were finished, they saw me, and one of the wolves walked over to me and put his paw over my shoulder. He grumbled something that sounded like he was reassuring me of something. Funny enough, after that another wolf came to us and told the other wolf something. Then he roared at me, and I ran away,” Spike finished, and they both roared in laughter again.
“How did you survive?” Edge wanted to know while swishing a tear away from his right eye. They were walking for several hours now towards the west at a decently paced speed. Edge was walking at a comfortable pace, and Spike moved a little faster than him in relation. But his short legs practically made him walk in the same speed as Edge.
“Well-” Spike began, “I ran away from them for quite a while until I came out of the forest.” At this point, he made a short pause to stifle a laugh. “Or to be more specific, I ran right into a ravine with a river at the bottom. I fell down, got washed away, and awoke inside Abdarul’s shed.”
“Oh, so that’s how you two met? Kinda similar to how we met,” Edge remarked.
“Yeah, except for the fact that he didn’t attack me,” Spike remarked with a cocky smirk and the pegasus cringed a little.
“Oh come on. I told you why I did this. I had a bad run in with a dragon. If you were fighting with a monster that punched you unconscious, you would react the same way. I mean, imagine how you would feel if you were waking up in a room you didn’t know while a youngling of said monster were in front of you. I think you wouldn’t react any better.”
Spike grinned at that. “I know, I know. I’m just fucking with you.”
Purple Edge then raised an eyebrow. “You know, I asked myself this question for the past hours. Why are you swearing that much?”
“I dunno. That’s how I always talked. I don’t give a damn about trivial matters, and I also kinda like talking like that,” he explained while putting his two arms comfortably behind his head.
The curious expression of Edge didn’t vanish. “Well okay, but you should seriously cut down the swearing when we are around other ponies. Many of them take offense to that,” Edge berated.
Spike huffed once. “Ponies take offense to everything. What’s the point in trying not to offend them?” He asked with a smirk, thinking that he had pinned him down.
“The point is that if you offend them, very well knowing that they will be offended, you are acting like an aggressive flankhole, and they will also talk offensive back to you. You offend them, they offend you. If you don’t offend them, they let you be in peace and may even be friendly to you. A life in harmony is better than a life in war,” Purple Edge recited.
Spike’s expression changed to a sour one. “Harmony, pah,” he spat. “Where is the harmony in keeping a dragon his whole life inside a library? Where is the harmony in letting him live a slave life? Ponies are all the same hypocrites. They are only acting like they care, but in reality they don’t give a shit.”
Purple Edge frowned at this. “Listen Spike, only because you met some rather bad individuals of my species doesn’t mean that everypony is bad. You don’t see me constantly offending you even though a dragon nearly killed me, do you?”
Spike thought about this for a while. “… You’re right.” He sighed. “You know, feelings and logic are strange because they can’t work together. I know that not everybra is the same, but my feelings tell me they are. I simply can’t forgive Twilight for what she did.”
Edge’s expression changed to compassion. “Maybe she hasn’t done this on purpose. You told me that she was pretty young when she got you. Maybe she simply made a mistake. Do you honestly think it was a good idea to run away from her instead of giving her a chance? You know, there is a famous quote for this. You only know how much you need something, when you lost it.”
Spike was a little taken aback by the wise tone of Purple Edge. Earlier, when he wagged with his tail, he seemed more like an immature foal. Why is he suddenly acting all knowing? But it was kind of logical. Purple Edge was at least 30 years old and practically traveled his whole life. He probably talked with more ponies and beings than Spike ever saw.
Spike shook his head. “It doesn’t matter now. I made my decision, and I will go through with it. I can’t change what happened, so might as well forget it.”
“You know, it’s not good to bottle that stuff up. You should find a release for those emotions.”
Spike looked away with an uncomfortable expression. “It’s not important. Let’s just change the topic alright?”
Edge looked at Spike a little longer but then only sighed. “Alright, but this will probably not be the last time we talk about this.” Instead of answering, Spike continued to avert his gaze from the pegasus.
Some minutes later, they arrived at a small clearing. It wasn’t large enough for the thick tree-tops to part, but there were some single spots where they were able to look at the now dark blue sky. “It’s later than I thought. I think we walked enough for today,” Edge told Spike and looked closer at the clearing. “I think we should sleep here for tonight.”
Spike looked around the clearing. “In what? Do you have any tents?”
Purple Edge chuckled a little bit. “I never sleep in tents. Normally, I simply sleep on top of a cloud. They don’t disappear that easily, and if they disappear anyway, I can simply catch myself and fly away before I hit the ground.” He let out a sigh. “Sadly, I can’t do that anymore.”
Spike raised an eyebrow at this. “Why? It’s not like I am going to die down here when you aren’t constantly around.”
Edge mustered Spike with a skeptical expression, but that quickly changed to realization. “Oh no no no, I mean I am not able to do it.”
“Please elaborate.”
“Abdarul said that my inner magic was badly damaged. We pegasi use our inner magic to keep us in the air, in case you didn’t know. Nonetheless, he said that my inner magic was badly damaged and that it is not sure if I’ll ever be able to fly again.” He sighed. “Seems like I have to learn how to life as a weak earth pony with two additional appendages.”
Damaged inner magic? I never heard of that before. As far as I know, there isn’t really a common way to damage it. Spike looked at Edge’s wings and also remembered the time where he tried to fly, but failed. Yet, he can’t use it. This is strange. Putting a hand on his jaw, Spike thought further. Maybe we will find some kind of medicine to cure this on the journey? I mean, we are going to places nobra has gone before.
Purple Edge looked at him. “What are you thinking about?”
Spike perked up and looked over to the pegasus. “Oh eh, nothing. Simply thinking about the journey.” Then Spike looked around the clearing and saw a thick branch on one of the trees. “I think we can sleep up there. This one should be thick enough.”
Spike began to walk over to the tree, but Purple Edge stepped in his way. “Wait a minute, who said we are going to sleep right now?” He asked with a cocky grin.
“We’re not?”
Purple Edge shook his head. “No, we’re not. I am first teaching you some fighting. I am your teacher now, remember?”
Spike raised an eyebrow. “Eh, I nearly beat you yesterday, remember?”
The pegasus chuckled at that. “Oh yes, you’re right. Congratulations, you nearly beat a pegasus, whose legs were shaking off exhaustion. Additionally, he was fighting without a weapon; he was dizzy; he was nauseous; he had a nasty headache; his wings did not work; he couldn’t think clearly due to shock, and he had a lot of troublesome emotions flowing through him.”
Spike had the purest look of disbelief ever. “Are you honestly saying that you fought me in that state? It shouldn’t even be possible to stand like this.”
Purple Edge smirked in the cockiest way. “How about you find out yourself?”
Spike simply shrugged, thinking that this won’t be hard. “Well alright, but don’t complain if I hurt you.” Spike took out his useless wooden sword. He didn’t want to make it too easy for himself.
Purple Edge simply continued staying there in a relaxed position. They both looked at each other for a while. “You know, you can attack me,” Purple Edge remarked. “You don’t need to be afraid. I won’t hurt you… too badly.”
Spike huffed. “I’ll show you who will be hurt after this!” Spike shouted and ran at the pegasus. He gripped the sword with both hands and prepared himself to make a humongous swing from the right. When Purple Edge saw this, he had to roll his eyes.
Spike made his gigantic swing but never touched anything but air. The pegasus was gone. “Do you always attack in such an obvious way?” Spike heard from his left and quickly jerked his head to said direction. Purple Edge stood beside him and looked disappointed at Spike. “We have to work a lot on that.” He gestured towards Spike’s sword.
Spike felt anger well up inside him. I hate condescending pricks! He swung his sword with all his power at the new position of the pegasus, but Edge simply took one step back and evaded the sword strike easily.
“And we also need to work on your speed and power.” Spike made another swing, this time an overhead swing, which his opponent easily side stepped. “Your swings need more speed, precision, strength, and technique.”
Spike grit his teeth and swung horizontally at the pegasus, who ducked easily beneath it. Instead of doing nothing, Purple Edge kicked with one of his hooves at the left arm of Spike. Crying out in slight shock, Spike retracted his left arm from the sword.
“This sword is not big enough to use with two hands. You should use only one,” he explained, but Spike quickly grabbed the sword again with his second hand.
Purple Edge saw this and frowned, and Spike swung at him again. Purple Edge didn’t evade this time, but kicked the left hand that griped the down-swinging sword. Spike’s hand felt like the bones in it got broken and quickly retracted it. Through the kick, the swing of the sword got pushed to the side, and it missed the pegasus.
“Want me to kick your left hand again? Then put it on the sword,” Purple Edge threatened and Spike growled at him. He wanted to show that he won’t get belittled by that pegasus and wanted to put his hand back on the sword, but was too afraid to do it. Instead, he swung with all his power horizontally at the pegasus.
Purple Edge stepped back and evaded the swing. Spike swung too strongly and lost his balance. His right foot left the ground, but he could still save himself from falling. His anger towards the pegasus rose higher, and he stepped forward and made another strong swing. The same situation repeated itself, but this time Purple Edge lightly hit the foot of Spike.
With Spike's wobbly stance, it was no surprise that he fell flat on his belly. “You know, you shouldn’t swing with such power and without control at a small and nimble target like me.”
Spike grumbled and jumped up, missing another swing at the pegasus. “Think logically, I am small, and I don’t have as many muscles as an earth pony.” Purple Edge easily sidestepped another swing. “Your power far exceeds my own.” Another missed swing. “Even with a small amount of power-“ another sidestep “- you could damage me pretty seriously.”
Spike roared in anger and frustration, but at the next swing, he got tripped again. “Do you even listen to me?” Purple Edge asked, and now Spike had enough.
He threw his weapon away and quickly jumped at the pegasus. Purple Edge frowned, turned around, and bucked Spike directly in the face. Spike felt the two hoofs collide with his snout. While the kick wasn’t strong enough to break it, his attack still got stopped effectively, and he felt his vision blur for a moment.
“Never throw away your weapon.” Spike opened his eyes and looked at the angry pegasus. “While your claws and teeth are stronger than your weapon right now, it is understandable that you would rather fight with them. Nonetheless, you need to get the feel that your weapon is your primary means to overwhelm your opponent. A common iron sword is more useful than your claws and your teeth, and you won’t always use a wooden sword.”
Spike simply glared at the pegasus, while rubbing his snout. “Dragons use their inner magic to crack jewels. Your teeth aren’t exceptionally strong, and the power in your jaw can only bring you so far. Of course, this would be different if you were some decades older, but you aren’t.” Purple Edge pointed at the wooden sword that lay a little bit away. “Now get your weapon! We are not done yet!”
Spike continued glaring at him, but complied. He didn’t like this one bit, but he knew that if he wouldn’t take it, he would get another buck from his opponent. Grabbing the sword from the floor, he walked over to his old position and put both his hands back at the sword, but quickly retracted his left one when he saw Edge raising one of his eyebrows.
Don’t blindly charge at him. Spike slowly walked towards the pegasus. Just be very careful. When he got closer, he suddenly jumped forward and swung at the pegasus. Purple Edge tripped him again.
From the floor, Spike looked up. “That’s better, but you still lost your balance,” Purple Edge explained.
Spike quickly jumped up and slashed downwards. He took an enormous step forward while doing this and put all of his weight on the front foot, so the pegasus wouldn’t be able to trip him again. Sadly, Purple Edge saw what Spike did and quickly sidestepped the swing and kicked the leg at the back this time, effectively tripping Spike again.
“This time, you put all your weight on your left leg. That’s not better than the other way around. For the beginning, you should stay in a well balanced position, and not change your weight distribution much.”
Spike slowly stood up and glared at the pegasus. “And how am I able to injure you then?” He asked with an annoyed voice.
Purple Edge felt relieved that Spike finally talked again. This meant that he was calming down. “You shouldn’t go for the big goal. Try going for a smaller one. Just try to hit me once. All of your strength is worthless if you don’t hit me,” Purple Edge explained.
Spike didn’t want to accept it, but he was right. What use was his strength if he weren’t able to hit him? Deciding to try it out, he carefully stepped forward and made a quick flick with his sword at the pegasus.
Purple Edge anticipated such an action and simply swatted the sword away with a strong swish of his hoof. The sword flew out of the easy grip of the dragon and landed somewhere beside him. “Never lose the grip of your weapon. You have hands! Those are better at gripping swords than mouths. Use them!” Purple Edge berated.
Spike grumbled something Purple Edge couldn’t understand and walked over to his weapon and picked it up again. Slowly, he started to feel the stress and burden of the sparring match. His right hand ached a little and his feet felt sore from all the walking he did earlier. His breathing was pretty fast and hectic to top it off.
Why the fuck do I have to do this shit now? The fucking day was shitty enough as it is, and now he needs to teach me how to use a fucking wooden sword? What’s his damn problem? Spike felt pretty annoyed right now and that also showed in his way of thinking and speaking. With a grunt, he walked over to the pegasus and readied himself again.
He gripped the sword strongly with his right hand and tried to hit Edge with a quick jab. This time, the pegasus evaded and hit the sword from the side. The sword got shot to the side, but Spike didn’t lose his grip.
Purple Edge let out a long whistle. “Wow, not bad. You didn’t lose your sword. Seems like we are making progress.”
Spike told himself that he didn’t care about the praise, but deep down he felt somewhat relieved and happy. He quickly slashed another time at the pegasus, and he evaded easily again. Thus, the sparring match continued.
30 minutes later
Spike’s hand ached horribly, and it didn’t want to grip the sword anymore. Purple Edge stopped giving hints to Spike some while ago and simply evaded every slash from Spike. On top of that, he also occasionally tried to trip him or kick the sword. Sometimes, when Spike wasn’t careful enough, he succeeded in it.
Spike’s whole body was in pain. His body from all the times he fell down; his throat from all the breathing through his mouth; his arm from holding the sword up all the time; his knees from getting up all the time; his feet from all the wandering and the sparring; his snout from that one strong buck he received earlier.
Yet, he didn’t particularly feel angry. He didn’t have the power anymore to feel angry. He only wanted it to end. His body screamed at him to stop with the torture and lay down, but the cruel pegasus wouldn’t let him.
With a wide swing, he swung at the pegasus again, but lost his footing completely and fell forward, but never hit the floor. Purple Edge moved in front of him and caught him with one of his hooves. “I think this is enough for tonight. Can you stand?” He asked with a caring voice.
Spike, who was breathing heavily, slowly stood up and swished with his right arm over his head in relief. “Yeah, I think so,” he stated.
Purple Edge smiled at this. “You aren’t angry at me, are you?” He asked with laid down ears and sad eyes.
Spike saw this and suddenly burst out laughing, and Purple Edge continued looking at him, unsure what exactly that meant. He couldn’t hold himself anymore. This was simply too hilarious.
After around 30 seconds, he calmed down. “Oh Celestia, I don’t get you. First you act like some kind of rough assassin, then like an empathic puppy, then like a wise stallion, then like some drill officer and then like a sad puppy again.”
Purple Edge sighed in relief because Spike didn’t sound particularly mad at him and let out a small chuckle. “Yes, I know. I heard that multiple times already. Ponies say I act rather strangely.” Purple Edge rubbed his neck in embarrassment. “I can’t help it. I don’t want to anger anypony, but when I spar or fight it would feel wrong if I wouldn’t take my opponent seriously. In this case, I simply wanted to teach you the art of the sword as effectively as possible, but I wasn’t sure if you still liked me. I mean, you did seem rather mad at the beginning of the session.”
Spike also chuckled a little. “To be honest, yeah I was kinda mad at the beginning. I thought you only got lucky and that you only wanted to embarrass me. After a couple of fails, I realized that you actually were as good as you stated and that you only wanted to teach me fighting.”
Purple Edge nodded. “Glad to hear that.” He looked up at the sky and saw that it was in the middle of the night now. “I think this is a good time to get some sleep now, don’t you think?” The answer he received was a yawn from the dragon.
“Yeah, I think you’re right,” Spike stated tiredly while walking over to the tree with the thick branch he spotted earlier, but stopped in front of it. “Where do you plan to sleep?” He asked curiously.
Purple Edge pointed towards a tree with a low hanging thick branch on the other side of the clearing. “Up there.”
Spike raised an eyebrow, and the pegasus walked over to the tree. “And how do you plan on-“
With a sudden jump, Edge hit the side of the tree-trunk and pushed himself off again, jumping up at the branch. “Like this,” Purple Edge stated with a cocky grin.
Spike’s mouth hang open, but he quickly closed it and shook his head with a smile. “You are full of surprises, you know that?” The pegasus didn’t answer him, but rather laid himself down on the branch. Spike followed his example and climbed his own tree, feeling the pain in his whole body with every step and grip.
When he was on top of the branch, he slumped on his tummy and closed his eyes.
“Good night!” Purple Edge shouted from the other side of the clearing. A loud snore was the only answer he got, and he smiled at this. With a satisfied grin, he laid his own head down on his hooves.