Spike was looking over Twilight Sparkle's 'shopping list' for at least the three-hundredth time.
"Really, Twi?" he asked in his half sarcastic, half in assistant whine mode. "We can order half of this stuff in town."
"I thought you wanted to get out more," Twilight teased him. "Besides, I need most of these ingredients fresh, and when we order in town, it always comes in dried or.. or just icky."
Spike still frowned, which Twilight saw out of the corner of her eye. In truth, she wanted to give Spike a bit more responsibility around the library, and this was a good and easy task he could do by himself. All the flowers and berries and herbs she wanted him to gather were in the safer parts of the forest and lowlands, and he knew what to look for.
"B-but, that means I'll b-be out in the woods for th-three or four days...." he started.
She turned her patented “I’m being reasonable but I can still make you feel like a hatchling” look toward him. "That didn't seem to bother you when you went off on your little hunt for other dragons and worried us all to death."
Spike's jaw dropped, but then she smiled at him. "Spike, if I thought it was dangerous, of course I wouldn't let you go alone. But this is very easy, and you can show me and Princess Celestia how much you've learned since you've been my assistant."
"Seems like forever, sometimes." He muttered, but in a kidding way to pay back the dragon quest joke.
Twilight chuckled. "You wouldn't be talking like that if somepony else had asked you to do this. Would you, Spikey-Wikey, darling?" She did the last in an exaggerated copy of Rarity, complete with mane flip.
Spike smirked. "Yeah, yeah, real funny," he remarked. "Like a rubber gemstone." He gathered up his rations of gems and dumped them into Twilight's magic picnic basket. It really was a marvel: it could nearly hold a house's worth of stuff and it kept ingredients and food fresh. All you had to do was think about what you wanted that you had stored in it, and you find it right on top. Spike held the basket to his side and stood board-stiff, snapping off an officer's salute.
Twilight laughed. "Oh, good, the Lavender Dawn Patrol in on the job." She rolled her eyes.
Spike tried for a deeper masculine voice and failed horribly. "The possible we do right away, ma'am! The impossible... eh, we just hope that goes away."
She walked him to the door, very much in mother mode now. "Now, remember, no talking to strange creatures, especially if they can talk back."
"Got it."
"And ESPECIALLY especially not talking to those other mean ol' dragons."
"Uh huh."
"And ESPECIALLY ESPECIALLY especially not--"
Spike interrupted. "Not manticores or Dark Ponies or anything made of shadows or three-ring circus clowns or the color magenta." She gave him a look and he laughed. "I'll be fine, Twi. I'm gathering ingredients, not going out like a knight to slay...." he suddenly stopped as the duality of the statement hit him, "Er... something that's not me."
Twilight ran into the next line of reminders at roughly the speed of a hyped-up Rainbow Dash after a sugar cube binge. "Build your fires at night, cover up, stay in the bright parts, watch the foothills, stay out of the rain, be careful picking nightfrost, stay warm, and for Celestia's sake, come back safe!" The last three words came out a little bit slower but a lot louder.
Spike blinked, surprised at the last part. "I-I will, Twi." He hugged her tightly and she put a hoof around him, drawing him close.
"Be careful," she said, and kissed the top of his head for luck.
"I will," he repeated, more sure this time.
And he went off toward the forest, trying to whistle a tune, which was somewhat more difficult for dragons than other creatures.
Twilight sighed. She wanted him to explore, but she missed him already.
"Welllllll...." The dark form growled from its night shaded haven. "It's about time you gave me my instrument for revenge, little Twilight." Its taloned hand stretched long fingers in anticipation of the spells it would soon cast. Moving easily in the darkness, it never truly seemed to gain definition, looking only as if it drew shadows toward itself as it strode the ebony halls toward its own library. It had been patiently awaiting this moment for quite sometime and savored each step as it mulled over the long planned vengeance. It opened a box that contained several spell components and a book wrapped in dark purple velvet.
"And the best part," it tittered as it unwrapped the tome with exquisite slowness, "is that it's going to be your love for that wretched little wyrm that is going to help me destroy you. And your friends. And all of Ponyville as the icing on the cake."
It took a sprig of dried crystalthorn and held it before one baleful eye. A vicious smile spread across its lips. It began to chant a dark passage from the book and the dead sprig began to glow with an unearthly pallor and then crumbled away to dust, and that even disintegrated away to nothingness. The shadow fell on its other components and it began to prepare them. Coolly, calmly, it set about its work, but just dimly in the corridors, one could hear a murmur of satisfied humor rising in its throat.
The first two days took Spike through the outlying woods, much more of a hunt than a travel. Rustic's root was a tough find, as it grew beneath other foliage and away from the sun. At one point Spike had thought Celestia herself would strike him down because of the string of what he considered obscenities pouring from him, though in truth, he'd heard very few curse words in Ponyville and was just using words that just didn't sound 'polite', as Rarity would have said. Finally, he overturned a bush and his eyes widened as he saw the purple-red leaves that were unmistakably the unique shape of the root.
"Oh, thank Celestia!" he nearly shouted, forgetting that just a few minutes ago, he’d feared her vengeful smiting. He actually fell to the ground and hugged the plant, the culmination of nearly ten hours of searching, and even thought of giving it a kiss or two, but reconsidered. After all, anyone could be watching: chipmunks, squirrels, or the dreaded color magenta.
After he picked the root, he decided that had been enough for the day, and the orange tint of the sky bore him out on the idea. The only thing he could really hunt for after dusk was nightfrost, since the edges of its leaves only turned that bright blue that gave its name under Luna's light, but it grew a little deeper into the woods. Besides, he could already see a perfect little camping spot in a clearing just up ahead of him.
He made his camp and carefully concentrated his breath for a simple fire, not a sending fire, though he didn't know whether he could accidentally send a log to the Princess and what kind of message she would take from such a missive. After his little tent fell down twice, he finally got it set to rights, this time hoping Luna wouldn't strike him down for his supposed obscenities and settled in for a dinner of tasty gems. He started with amethysts, then a few sapphires, saving the rubies to the last. As he ate, he also pulled some things from the basket that Twilight didn't know he'd snuck in and looked them over.
It was pictures of all his friends, some posed and some candid. Here was Applejack with a huge mouthful of apple, eyes wide in surprise at being suddenly busted. Rarity, in her best (everything seemed to be her best) cape and sparkling tiara. Twi, hunched over a book and looking studiously at a book by candlelight. He even had one of sweet Derpy, caught perfectly as the nice but ever clumsy silly filly had fallen down, jaw hitting the cobbled street in Ponyville's market. Spike had gone to her immediately after to see if was hurt, but she'd been just fine, the daffily charming smile still on her face. From that day, he suspected that if a meteor fell from the sky and hit her on the head, it probably wouldn't hurt her a bit. There were plenty more, from his closest friends to nodding acquaintances. He missed them, and although he enjoyed the freedom of the outdoors, he couldn't wait to get home and hear AJ's southern twang, Pinkie's lilting laugh, Rarity calling everypony 'darling'.....
He curled up under his blanket, putting the pictures back in the basket, and watched the fire crackle until he drifted off to sleep.
Applejack had stopped in before heading home, knowing she'd have to. Twilight was at her desk, but she'd moved it to be next to the window. She'd read a few minutes, then look out the window, then back to her book again. AJ watched this ritual for a bit, then made Twilight jump when she said. "Ya know, Luna just ain't gonna spit him back out on the doorstep when he gets done."
Twilight tried quickly to regaining her composure and say something easily. "Oh, it-it's nothing like that... I was just uhm- j-just admiring the stars!"
AJ chuffed laughter. "Aw, c'mon! I was born durin' the day, but not yesterday!" When Twilight reddened, the country filly went on. "He'll be fine, you ain't gotta mother hen him even when he ain't here."
Twilight looked mildly offended. "I am NOT--"
AJ interrupted, laughing while she talked. "Yeah, you are! I know it, Flutter knows it... Celestia almighty, even Pinkie knows it and she couldn't tell you half the time what color her mane is!"
Twilight was taken aback. "That's, uhm... that's..."
AJ softened her tone. "You're a tad rough on him sometimes what with that stick in yer craw about your studies. And there's all them little quirks of yours. And those annoyin' little ‘everything's gotta be juuust right...’"
Twilight gave a flat look, her voice just as flat through clenched teeth. "I. Get. The. Point." She emphasized each word.
The other pony gave her a sweetly malicious grin. "AND you make sure he eats, never goes anywhere by himself, he's in by nightfall, he gets the library and himself cleaned, and he's tucked in bed right at your hooves every night. If that ain't a mama hen, I got some books for you to read you musta skipped over."
"Am I really rough on him?" Twilight asked after she let the first part sink in.
AJ gave a little shrug. "Eh, sometimes you are. Some ponies think you're a slavedriver. Mosta The Girls know better. Me, ah think you're tryin' hard NOT to be his mama. You know, that sub-whatchamacallits-ly. Where you don't know you're doin' it?"
"Subconsciously?" Twilight said, mostly to herself, thinking on that.
"Yeah, that's the one."
"I just... I don't know whether it was a good idea, now. To send him out by himself." She looked back out the window.
"Didja think it was a bad idea when you first sent him out?" AJ's eyebrow was cocked.
"Well..... no.... but afterward..." she tried to rationalize it and faltered.
"Well, now you're closin' the barn door after the ponies ran out. It wasn't a bad idea until you made it one. Look, we're all worried about Spike a little bit. Shoot, Rainbow was thinkin' about doin' a flyover to check on him, but she didn't. We all know that little lavender gecko is gonna pop back in here in a few days and the only problem he's gonna have is a few saddle sores from sleepin' on a rock."
Twilight looked at the other pony's confident smile, knowing she was right. "I guess I am worrying to death over nothing." She went over and hugged Applejack. "Thank you. Thank you so much."
She adjusted her cowboy hat and grinned. "Easy there, girl. You get any more sappy on me and we're gonna have plenty of syrup for tomorrow's pancakes."
They both laughed and AJ said goodnight. Twilight went back to her studies, but couldn't help one more peek out the window.
"Good night, Spike."
The next day, Spike gathered a few more small items before he finally started girding himself up for the one item he really dreaded obtaining: it was the crystalthorn berries, and they only grew in one large clump in the deep woods. The berries were surrounded by twisting, viney thorns that he didn't particularly care for. He had a good strong hide that, although it wasn't as tough as an adult dragon's, would probably protect him from any scratches, but it was just a childish fear of the vicious looking points that scared him. He finally found the dreaded bush, nearly twice his own height, and walked around it in a mopey way, not seeing any berries that might have poked through the thorny foliage.He scratched his chin with a sigh, then circled the bush again, then twice more to find the most easily accessible berries.
Finally picking a spot, he eased his arm out and slowly reached through, twisting his hand so as not to touch the dreaded thorns. After what seemed like forever, he grasped the berries and pulled them free, and began reversing his slow progress.
He was almost out when (this seemed so weird, it just had to be his eyes playing tricks on him) one of the thorns... turned, and it poked him right in the arm. He yelped, but didn't drop the berries. He pulled himself free and looked at the wound. It was bleeding slightly and he dabbed it dry after first putting the berries in the basket and retrieving a handkerchief from it. After the pain eased, he sort of chuckle and started in with his deepest soldier's voice again. "I did my best, Commander Twilight, but they got me in the end. Now I must see my best girl Rarity, and show her the wounds I have endured!" He lit up at the thought of Rarity oohing and ahhing over it, maybe even a kiss to make it feel better.
What he didn't notice in all his daydreaming as he wandered toward the foothills was the blood on the thorn being slowly absorbed into the plant and being magically transported to a dark keep, for nefarious things to be done to it.