Chapter 2 - In Which It Is Taught To Never Take A Librarian Lightly
"Peewee?!"
Apple Bloom gaped at the young phoenix. She remembered him from the time when he was Spike's pet. Despite Spike being the one to seperate him from his family in the first place (though he did eventually return Peewee to his parents), the chick became incredibly attached to the dragon and vice versa. They may not have spent that much time together, but their parting no less difficult. She also knew that Spike had been more affected by it than he had let on.
But now, Spike was laughing; though whether it was out of relief about being rescued or elation from seeing his friend again after a long time, she wasn't sure.
The phoenix had changed very little from when Apple Bloom had last seen him. From what she knew - which was basically whatever Spike had told her - phoenixes were virtually immortal, so they physically aged at the same rate as dragons (present company excluded) and stopped only when they were fully grown.
Even after a couple of years, Peewee wasn't that different, but he was clearly starting to grow into the majestic firebird he will eventually become. As a fledgeling, he had finally developed properly-sized wings and tailfeathers for his age, as well as become more proportionate in his head-to-body ratio.
"Thanks for the save Peewee!" whooped Spike. "That was an impressive fireball! I see you've learned a few new moves since we last saw each other, huh?"
Peewee chirped happily before flying over and perching on Spike's head. He even gave Apple Bloom a quick wave, though she could've sworn that he was looking a bit smug ('Can birds even look smug?') from the praise he was getting.
The Timberwolves growled, reminding her of the danger at hoof. She had been so distracted by the reunion between the former master and pet that she had almost forgotten about them.
Apparently they did not take well to being ignored.
Several of them made to lunge, but Peewee intercepted them before they could get far.
"Go Peewee! Use a wide flaming charge to stop them in their tracks!" yelled Spike.
The phoenix swiftly flew to the side and cloaked his entire body with searing flames before sweeping past the entire front line of wolves. They howled in pain as their bodies were ignited and ran back into the forest. Then, even faster than he had attacked, Peewee returned to his perch on Spike's head.
Seeing one of their own being incinerated and several others badly burned despite supposedly being fireproof seemed to have scare off quite a few of them. Seeing that their former prey was more than ready to fight back caused even more to run away. After all that, there were only three left, but they were bigger and badder compared to the ones that fled.
The one standing at the rear stood out in particular. It was larger and more warped compared to the others, in addition to having some shrubbery growing from the back of its head down to its tail. Not to mention, its fangs and claws looked wickedly sharp...
When it growled, Apple Bloom jumped a bit to the side, though it paid her no heed. It seemed to be directing all of its focus to Spike. The other two Timberwolves took a step forward, but another growl halted their advance. A single glare from the presumed leader caused them to scurry back.
"It seems that the big one had designated me as its prey," Spike duly noted, though he did not seem particularly worried. "Which means that the others are probably going to go after you AB."
"Let 'em! I'll teach these varmints that gangin' up on somepony fifty-to-two ain't the same as a fair fight!" Apple Bloom looked raring to go now that they could finally fight back.
"Then I guess I'll take the hedge dog over there. Peewee, watch Apple Bloom's back, okay? And be careful AB."
Peewee chirped in agreement. Apple Bloom nodded.
"On three then. THREE!"
Spike jumped far to the right and ran into the woods as Peewee took to the air while Apple Bloom stood her ground. The Timberwolves divided and chased after their respective targets.
Without "Hedge Dog" around, the other Timberwolves almost seemed relieved, though they were no less viscious as they prowled towards the young mare. She did not waver in the slightest. In fact, she actually smirked.
Peewee ignited his wings and created a small fiery cyclone from his wingbeats. It flew towards the two Timberwolves and separated them with a wall of fire. He flew to one side to face one of them. The remaining one immediately leapt away from the flames and turned to face the Apple Bloom.
She almost felt sorry for the Timberwolf that was now stuck with her.
Almost.
The urge to throttle them after being chased for a couple hours through a stinking forest overwhelmed any sort of pity she might've felt.
...
Spike weaved between the trees as he ran. Since they had gotten a longer respite thanks to Peewee arriving, he was feeling somewhat recharged. Barely enough for what he had in mind. Before that though, he had managed to think about a few of his observations and come up with a few theories.
Time to test them out.
He glanced back. Hedge Dog wasn't as far away than he had hoped, but it was still acceptable.
When another tree appeared in his path, rather than run around, Spike jumped and kicked off the bark to reverse direction. Before he had even landed, he belched a torrent of emerald fire at the wolf.
It did not falter in the slightest as it ran through the flames and emerged completely unscathed, only to discover that its mark had disappeared. Cautiously creeping forward - instinctively wary of its surrounding enviroment - it was completely unaware of the presence above it.
Spike was watching from within the low canopy. One thing he noticed after a while was that ponies, along with several other species, seldom look up while searching for something. He wasn't entirely sure why, but odds are, unless their attention was already directed in that direction, they will forget to look above themselves. It was a useful piece of information which he had made use of on several occassions.
He had his reasons why he took so long in building up that much fire despite knowing full well that it would be ineffective against the creature. It's actual purposes were to:
(1) create a diversion that would allow him to escape from sight even if only for a few short seconds and, (2) confirm certain suspicions of his.
Just as he had thought, it had to do with that strange mist they were emitting. Right before it had run through the flames, the mist actually shielded its body from the fire before dispersing less than a second after the threat was gone.
Looks like his theory was correct. And whatever that stuff was, it was definitely unnatural.
That mist seemed to be able to recognize the extreme temperatures and react accordingly at a blinding speed. His fire wasn't enough to pierce through the shield (might have to do with his firebreath's magical properties), but Peewee's flames were strong enough to burn it away entirely. Still, they did seem to possess an enhanced resistance to fire even without the mist, so that might warrant some further investigation later.
But for now, the second test.
As soon as Hedge Dog was directly underneath his position, Spike dived head first and skull bashed its back before leaping off. It let out a howl of pain and immediately distanced itself, confirming his second theory.
Despite being fire-resistant, the twisted Timberwolves were susceptible to melee and direct attacks, proven after Apple Bloom had caused one to stagger after kicking it and just now.
Unfortunately, Spike wasn't as good as her when it came to hoof-to-hoof/claw-to-claw combat and his fire wasn't as potent as Peewee's, so neither was really an option for him. And if his soon-to-be raging headache was any indication, this thing's wooden hide was also close to par with his scales. In other words, he couldn't count on outlasting it like he would normally have done.
Not that he planned to in the first place.
One does not simply live surrounded by knowledge without learning a few tricks. Even without an the advantage of using his flames directly, there were still a few things he could exploit.
Like his location, for example.
"Did you know that a particular species of tree indigenous to the Everfree Forest is famous for its highly volatile sap?" Spike remarked. Hedge Dog appeared baffled at the seemingly random fact. "Though that's only the case when it's in a concentrated and liquid form. Once it hardens, it loses a lot of its volatility, but it still retains a fair amount of kick.
"The tree takes several years to naturally concentrate enough sap for a single milliliter, and there's only ever a small quantity that can be stored within the tree at any given time. But even with that amount, it would still be enough to cause an explosion that could decimate a small town. Fortunately, the sap instantaneously hardens if it is exposed to even the tiniest trace of oxygen once outside of the tree.
"The name of this tree is the arbore fluctum, or 'Blast Tree'. The pony who discovered it would've chosen a fancier name, but they didn't have enough time to and escape from the blast zone. Still, it's rather fitting, don't you think?"
At this, Spike smirked in a way that unsettled Hedge Dog.
"Were you also aware that your pack just so happened to chase us through a small grove of these trees? I'm glad I expended that extra energy to claw at them as we ran past, as well as taking a trail that would lead us back there. You should already know where I'm going with this."
The Timberwolf snarled in defiance, though there was a hint of fear present in its features.
"Never underestimate a librarian."
Immediately after saying that, Spike shot a narrow jet of fire at a particular spot on a tree near Hedge Dog. It hastily recoiled in terror, but looked in confusion as the emerald fire died out before it even reached the bark. There was some sort of movement from the purple dragon in its perephial vision, and that's when the wooden wolf felt its automatic flame-defense barrier activate before realizing its mistake too late.
...
BOOM!
Apple Bloom looked up from the beating she was delivering at the sudden explosion. It had originated from the direction they had run from, and now there was a lot of smoke coming from there. She had no way of knowing for sure, but she knew it was Spike.
And he called her destructive.
That idiot better be alright, she growled before delivering a devastating buck to the Timberwolf that had thought to try and attack her while she wasn't paying attention.
It flew back a few meters before giving a pitiful howl and collapsing into a pile of sticks that melted into purple mist. A similar sound from the other side of the fire wall confirmed that Peewee had taken care of the other one. When the mist cleared, Apple Bloom stared at what was left in confusion.
"What in the hay?"
...
The former grove was now gone, with a small crater taking its place. Several of the surrounding trees, despite somehow remaining rooted, had been blown back. Just outside the blast area, a soot-covered Spike hobbled forward.
He had miscalculated how much kickback the explosion would generate and he had been painfully slammed backwards against a tree at a very high speed. Thankfully he avoided breaking anything, but he was heavily bruised and more than a little sore.
He was only half-surprised to find out that Hedge Dog was still in one piece and lying in a heap at the center of the crater. The moment Spike neared, it had struggled to rise, only to fall a second later. By the time Spike had arrived, its eyes had dimmed and the light had vanished. Its body started sinking into the ground and in seconds it had vanished completely.
A single blade of grass sprouted from where it once was. Then, another two sprouted next to it. And then more. Then even more sprouted until the whole blast area was once again covered with a carpet of green, which seemed much lusher and healthier than the surrounding area. Buds and stems with buds shot up from the ground, eagerly awaiting for the time when they would bloom and the world would marvel in their beauty.
Finally, much to Spike's amazement, a cluster of red gems gushed from the center of the future-flowery basin.
Spike was rather wary of them at first, but the way they glimmered in the light was extremely tempting. Eventually, his stomach won out and he decided to try one. He hasn't yet heard of a gem that was harmful to dragons, and he was already in a ridiculous amount of pain anyway. It's not like a single rock would make much of a difference at this point.
The gem was compact and snack-sized, but Spike was somewhat disappointed when it literally crumbled between his teeth and dissolved without leaving behind a trace, let alone a taste.
It wasn't terrible, but all and all highly unsatisfying. Although, for some reason, his injuries weren't hurting as much as before. So he tried another one. Again, bland and tasteless, but he felt better. Not by much, but he could feel a tiny difference. Spike ate the rest of the gems and, as he had expected, he was almost fine.
Still covered in soot and kind of sore, but he was sort of used to that already for obvious reasons.
Spike made a mental note to find a few more of those things for a rainy day. Or in other words - knowing how hectic his normal day-to-day life was - tomorrow.
Speaking of which, he should probably be getting back to Apple Bloom to check if everything's alright.
Not that he'd ever doubt her capabilities (he was more worried about the Timberwolf), but she's his friend - possibly his best friend ever since Twilight left.
He would never have expected that he'd grow that close to Apple Bloom of all ponies, but he wouldn't have it any other way. At least he was never bored around her. And she was really nice...
Spike stopped abruptly. He had a little time. It wasn't like the Dragon Temple was going anywhere. Besides, he needed something to distract him from whatever it was he was thinking.
...
"Spike!"
When Spike made his way back to the clearing, it took longer than he remembered. Then again, he wasn't running for his life this time. Plus, he made a little detour.
Even so, he could honestly say that he wasn't expecting a flying tackle for a greeting the instant he set claw in the clearing. He never even saw her coming, and the force she had slammed into him with had knocked him down and aggravated his remaining injuries. From the corner of his eye, he could see Peewee perched in a nearby tree and watching curiously, but he made no move to help him out.
"What took you so long?! It's been close to an hour since we heard that boom and I-err, we were worried that you were really hurt! And...!"
Spike could do nothing but listen to the young mare on top of him vent. He awkwardly pat her back, unsure of what he should be doing. No matter what kinds of books he read, nothing could ever prepare him for dealing with mares.
Ever.
Unless you counted the romance novels, but weren't most of those kind of overly dramatized or something? And pretty much inapplicable to his situation?
Apple Bloom was his friend, maybe a bit more than that, but he hasn't been interested in anypony ever since he got over his crush on Rarity after she made it clear that his affections were not mutual. He might be a little obsessed with Twilight, but that's only because she's his oldest and closest friend, even if she didn't always act like it.
"Erm, I'm sorry?"
"Sorry? I've been driving myself sick with worry for an hour over you and all you can say is that you're sorry?"
"I'm really sorry?"
"Spike!"
"I'm really, really sorry?"
"... Okay."
"Can you get off me now? This is a little bit more uncomfortable than when you were stepping on my tail."
"Eh?"
Apple Bloom took one look at their (highly cliché) position before... snuggling closer?
"I don't wanna. This is your punishment for making me worry like that. And you're comfier than I thought."
"... You've actually thought about this? Should I be flattered or something?"
"Not about this exactly, but I've always wondered how your scales felt."
"Do me a favor and just ask next time. I'll answer anything you want."
"Really?"
"Sure, why not?" As long as you don't pester me to do your homework for you again.
"I'll hold you to that."
"Can I please get up now? My wings are falling asleep."
"That depends. Have you been punished enough?"
"Yeah, yeah. It's been absolutely horrendous having the Spectacular and Wonderful Apple Bloom using me as a bed for the past five minutes. I do not even know how I am still sane after this long of having your warm and lean body being pressed up against mine. Oh please, have mercy on this dragon who is unworthy to even gaze upon your marvelous visage," Spike retorted dryly.
"You didn't have to put it like that, but fine." Apple Bloom puffed out her cheeks into a pout. If it was anypony else, she's be too embarrassed to respond. Since it was Spike and she had gotten too used to his constant sarcasm, she had no problem whatsoever.
That didn't stop a hint of color from making its way to her face.
She got to her hooves and offered one to Spike, who took it gratefully. Peewee flew to his former owner and took a perch on his head. Spike reached one claw out to pet him and he chirped contently.
"What took you so long anyway?" Apple Bloom asked.
"It wasn't because I was hurt like you thought," technically I was, but she doesn't need to know that, "I just went back for our packs," Spike explained. He pointed to his backpack and her saddlebags, which had been flung off when she tackled him. "We ditched them so the weight wouldn't slow us down, and I had a bit of a hard time finding them. But there's something in mine that I really couldn't lose."
He dug around in his and pulled out a rolled up sheet of paper. Good, it wasn't damaged.
"Is that a map?"
"Yeah, it's supposed to lead... I almost forgot, you still owe me an explanation as to why you followed me." Spike turned towards her at a speed that made her cringe. She had banked on him forgetting, but clearly that didn't work.
"Would you believe that I followed you just 'cause I was curious?"
"And how would you explain the supplies you packed?"
"You looked through my stuff?"
"Don't try to, ugh. Never mind. We're already too far to go back. Might as well tag along if you want," Spike shrugged.
"Besides, I know you can handle yourself."
"You better believe I can!"
Spike chuckled. "Alright then. Peewee, can you help me out with something?"
Peewee chirped while flapping his wings. Spike took that as a yes. "I want you to fire at that wall when I do, okay?" The little bird nodded. "Ready?"
"But Spike, Peewee already tried that earlier and it didn't work."
"Trust me on this AB. If Stargazer's notes were right, then this time it should."
What notes? And who the buck is Stargazer? Oh, I hope this isn't like that magical, cutie mark mystery thing Twilight caused and cured before becomin' a princess. Not like Apple Bloom could do much else aside from wait and see at this point.
Spike deeply inhaled and gathered his inner flame, imagining a roaring inferno building up deep within his gut, before expelling a great stream of... air? He tried again, with the same result.
Don't tell me I already used up my fire already! Spike thought before groaning.
"What's wrong, Spike?" asked Apple Bloom.
Spike sighed. "Not a lot of ponies know this, but there's a limited amount of fire dragons can spew at one time. Should they ever reach that limit, it could take a couple of hours before they can produce so much as a spark. It's irritating."
"What if you ate some gems?"
"That helps a bit, but-"
"Here!" Apple Bloom threw four green gems at him, three of which he caught in his claws. The last one he caught between his teeth and promptly crunched.
"Thanks, but... huh?" Spike's eyes widened when he felt a familiar sensation. "Where did you say these gems come from?"
"Those Timberwolves we beat dropped them. Are they bad or somethin'?"
Spike shook his head and quickly chomped into the remaining three gems. He still felt sore, but he was feeling hot. "Just the opposite, actually! Thanks AB! Now stand back." He took a deep breath.
This time, Spike managed to let loose a jet of green fire towards the wooden wall. Peewee used that spinning fire thing with his wings to add a gust of orange flames to the stream, fusing both fires into one big blast that completely torched the wall. Both fire-users halted their flames to prevent setting the entire forest ablaze.
Behind the blockade was the entrance to some sort of cave, which Spike took immediate interest in. The forest and sky behind it slowly faded - dissolving, actually - to reveal a small, flat-topped mountain. Four massive stone pillars jut out from the top, each one facing a different direction.
Like a compass, Spike idly noted.
Apple Bloom and Peewee shouted/warbled something incomprehensible out of shock. Spike felt his spines tingle with both anxiety and excitement.
"What the...?" was all Apple Bloom could manage to get out.
"Magic. Strangely not as old as I thought, but still really strong and really old magic. Definitely not of pony origin." Spike murmured just loudly enough for her to hear. "Suspicious and extremely convenient location... possible trap? Highly likely. Unnatural formations... hmm..."
"Spike? Hello? Equestria to Spike?"
"According to the position of the sun, the points correspond to the four cardinal directions. Far too unlikely to be a coincedence at this point. Wait, four...? Could it be related to that?"
"'Spike, this is Twilight Sparkle. I need to tell you that Pinkie Pie has somehow created a rift between dimensions and now a hoarde of Rainbow Dashes have raided Sugarcube Corner and made it rain assorted pastries of doom every time Rarity steps outside.'"
"This is so troublesome..."
"SPIKE!"
"... huh? You say something AB?"
"Mind explainin' what's on your mind? And why do you keep mutterin' that stuff?"
"Sorry 'bout that, just thinking out loud," Spike scratched the back of his head sheepishly. He showed her the map, along with some notes written in the familiar scrawl that was his clawwriting. "I was in a bit of a rush when I wrote this, so I apologize if some parts are illegible. I checked and the area matches up with the info I gathered. The coughformercough blast tree grove, the barricade, this clearing... it's all listed on the map. Coupled with the fact that only mine and Peewee's combined fire was the only way we could proceed, that can only mean that we are almost there."
"Where is there?"
Spike motioned towards the mountain. "The ruins of what could have been the Dragon Temple."
As he said that, both dragon and pony felt a shiver run down their backs. Even Peewee was fluttering nervously, but he still stayed with them.
"I'm getting a bad feelin' 'bout this place."
"Same here," he gulped. "But 'nothing ventured, nothing gained', right?"
Side-by-side, dragon and pony with phoenix in tow plunged into the darkness.
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This is going to be good.
Burning Desire's kiss.
i hope it ends up as a spilight
Okay. I am hooked. I can't wait for more. I especially like your take on Spike. He's intelligent, snarky, and exactly how I would imagine him to grow up. I really want more. Please provide?
I'm liking this. Really.
Just... You DO NOT EXCLAIM "!!!". Just... NO.
Put there a "Whoa!" or "What in Tartarus!" or even a "Mickey mouse is best pony!" if you want, but you do not exclame... punctuation!
Have I already told you I'm liking this?