)Between Spikes and Thorns(

by TheGrownSpike

Chapter 1

 
 
The dark clouds in the sky slowly approaching and making the threat of the second day of constant rain covered up the Sun once more, making the dark cave even darker than what it already was. I know I should have asked Twilight for a a lantern, or maybe even a light spell that would make this place look less gloomy than it is. Good thing that my eyes could get used to the darkness faster than others could, something about my species that I had learned as I grew up upon reading it from one of many of Twilight's heavy and dusty books.
Dragon Curiosities and You, the fifth volume of a wonderful collection written by some mare I never knew, but whose face I had to look at all the time whenever I closed the dark red book, since the picture filled more than half of the back cover.
It's not like she was ugly or anything, but one gets a bit tired of constantly looking at the same half-smiling face, which, in my humble opinion, seemed to segregate how boastful she looked when the picture was taken, with freckles that her blue mane seemed to try to hide, which by the way, was obviously not her natural mane color. But it's just wrong to judge someone from a picture, especially if that picture was only of her head, probably because putting the full picture of her body wouldn't fill the book.
 
Only a few sentences and fragments of said sentences of the hard cover book stayed in my mind, probably because I didn't really need to use them on a daily basis until a few weeks ago. I would be more specific about the time, but sadly, I seemed to have lost track of it, as a prisoner would do on a cell. Then again, I have no excuse, since I could see the Sun moving across the sky if I just walk outside, or the moon, for that matter, if only the weather allowed it. But I can't really blame the weather when I just have been lazy lately.
 
Before I lost every bit of light, however, I managed to find a comfortable place to lay down, curling my large tail by the side of my body, which reached my neck in lenght with ease. Looking down along it, I noticed I still needed to find a way to trim the green scales that trailed down the tail, escalating until they reached my head, which fashioned some kind of “mane” per say. I always liked trimming them, mostly because a certain mare constantly crammed my head during my teenage years full of notions about how I should always look my best to attract females back to my cave... Hu. “My cave”. Saying that still sounds weird, now that I think about it.
 
This place needs some sprucing up, maybe I'll be able to move a few rocks here and there, and if I could blast a bit of the wall right there by the formation of stalactites I would have more light in this place. Good thing this cave isn't too deep, at least for me.
No bats as neighbors, I could get used to the floor and the annoying rocks here and there which made moving around hard sometimes, and who knows, maybe I'll be able to find a place to put my loot! Every dragon needs a loot pile, no matter how little it is. Hoarding gems and jewels may be dangerous when you are little, but to adult dragons, it's more or less like a way to show how powerful a dragon is; in other words, the bigger the hoard pile, the more respect the dragon will have. Thanks you for being on my side today, memory, I almost forgot that part of the book.
 
This position was being painful, so I turned around to now lay on my back, which ended being more painful than before! Blasted pebbles were not only annoying, they jabbed in the back as well! The thick purple scales managed to protect my body, but it still felt uncomfortable. No problem though, if I use my tail as a broom, I think I'll be able to get rid of most of them.
 
My annoyed grunts would have to wait, though, since I noticed something approaching the entrance of the cave. By now, the rain was already pouring down and clashing against the rocky floor, resonating along the walls of the empty cave; well, empty plus one dragon. While the rain would make it even harder to distinguish something in the dark, what brought my attention to it was a glowing light that the shadow brought with it. I decided to get up on all fours, since standing on my rear legs was somewhat impossible because of the low ceiling; have you ever hit with your head on a rock ceiling? It hurts a lot, as you might have guessed.
It obviously couldn't be a dragon, not with a weather like this, at least, and it's not like I had made any friends around these parts yet. As the shadow got closer, I was able to recognize who it was. And her presence couldn't have made me any happier.
-”Spike? Are you there?” Her voice was still beautiful as always, melodic and joyful at times, but strong and assertive when needed. It was hard to not feel a special bond between her and me; after all, she was my hatcher.
-”Twilight! What are you doing out here with this weather?” I asked with a smile that shouldn't be there, since it disguised the worry in my voice. But I couldn't contain my happiness, I hadn't seen her in a long time. It was a couple of weeks, sure, but when you live by yourself in a cave like this one tends to feel... well, lonesome.

-”I thought that maybe you could use some company, is all. Here, I brought some gems for you. Courtesy of Rarity.” The purple mare smiled, uncovering a basket she carried with her and revealing several rubies that glistened thanks to the light provided by her horn.
-”Uhm, you know, maybe you could... spruce this place up a bit. Or is this the way dragons decorate nowadays? I guess I should have read some books about dragon fashion or something.”

-”Oh, sorry, I've been meaning to decorate it a bit. I was just thinking in maybe adding another opening to make more light come in.” I replied, feeling somewhat embarrassed that she had to see that cave as bare as it was.

-”I guess that could work. So... how are you holding up?” Twilight didn't sigh. But her eyes sure seem to reflect how badly she wanted to.
 
-”The cave isn't that bad, I got used to it. I'm just glad it's this close to Ponyville, at least. But I still think it was a bad idea for you to come here by your own. What if you got attacked on your way here?” She walked closer, nudging my side gently with a heartwarming... dare I say, motherly smile. It had brought me comfort ever since I was little and began living with Twilight by my side. It was the kind of smile that would make me stop crying when I was little, and it probably would still work if I cried.
 
-”You worry too much. When I left the library it wasn't raining, but the weather team insisted that Ponyville needed some more water, and it's not like I could ask them to stop while I was on my way. A little rain never hurt anyone. Oh, I also brought you this!” She put her right hoof down to the basket's bottom, taking from there a round shaped, pink candle, decorated with a wavy, rainbow color pattern by the middle of it.
 
-”I'm going to guess it's from Pinkie and Rainbow Dash, right?” I chuckled, since it wasn't very hard to tell it from the colors.
 
-”Kinda. I had the idea of the candle, but they decided what colors to use. Pinkie was a bit insistent that we should use a confetti pattern, while Rainbow Dash wanted the candle to look cooler. We decided to use a mixture of them in the end, I hope it doesn't look too silly.” It was far from it. If anything, it brought some joy to the cave, some color. And I was sure it would smell wonderfully as well. Twilight walked over to a rock with a flat surface and put the candle there, making sure it was centered on top of it.
 
-”Do you want to do the honors?”
 
-”Sure, I would be glad to! Thanks for the present, Twi.” I wanted my next words to be “I miss you and the others so much”, but that would destroy the mood that her cheerful present brought to me. After inhaling, I blew up the dark green flames, careful that it was only the amount of fire required to light it and not enough to make it melt. Once the candle was lit, an aroma only compared to strawberries and peaches filled the cavern air and made me close my eyes and inhale it with glee, another smile growing in my face.
 
-”Wow, that smells really good. Why the scented candle though? I mean, I like it, but it kinda seems like an odd present, ya know.” Twilight giggled and arched a brow at me, the mare forced to lean her head back to look me in the eyes.
 
-”Spike, you have terrible breath after you spit fire.” That was something that made me blush really hard from embarrassment, but I had to wonder if my cheeks would turn crimson like it could happen to other ponies. I could probably think of something to tell her, sure, but it proved futile since... it was true. The smell of sulfur didn't even made other dragons flinch, but it certainly did to others.
 
-”Hehe, don't worry about it, I understand it is a perfectly normal thing for dragons to do, and don't take it wrong, this present isn't meant to offend you. I just thought it would look nice.”

-”Oh, haha, very funny. I can't help it, you know?” My tongue stuck out at her in a playful manner, making her stick out hers as well, with both of us now laughing at how silly we both looked at that moment. The laughter ended with her nudging over the basket with rubies next to me.

-”You're not hungry?”

-”I'll eat them later, thanks. Say hi to the others for me when you return, will ya?”

-”Oh! Speaking about the others, I also brought good news!” Twilight said joyfully, in a way that it seemed like her memory needed a push to deliver this good news.
-”I almost forgot about something really important. Do you remember when I said that Pinkie's boyfriend would propose to her any day when she least expected it? Well, guess who's going to get married!”