Of Scales and Feathers

He didn't know when it happened, but Spike woke with a start. After a restless night of nightmares involving getting lost within the forest and being abandoned within it, he was still very tired. Besides that, there was an unfamiliar touch across his chest, like a blanket but unusually smooth.

Just to his left, he heard the quiet breathing of another form in the room and after a brief moment of recollection within his mind, he remembered where he was. Zecora's hut, in the Everfree. Turning towards the window, he saw that the night was still young, the moon was still shining bright over the land, and that it had not been long since he had fallen asleep.

"Good," he mumbled to himself, his voice barely audible even amongst the silence in the room. It meant he had plenty of time to sleep, but moreso even more time to try and rest. That still did not explain the unfamiliar feeling that he had, however, so he began focusing his eyes through the dark.

As a subspecies of dragon, Spike had a natural ability of night-vision, though to an admittedly low extent. It proved to be just enough, however, as he had a clear image as to what it was he was feeling. Gilda, to his left, had unfurled a wing in her sleep and had draped it over him. While he expected the feathers would provide little warmth, they were surprisingly cozy. He could get used to sleeping like this, if it meant waking up warm and comfortable.

After a minute or so along that train of thought, he shook his head of such images. For one, he had only just met Gilda after years of absence. And secondly, he promised her he'd be a gentledrake. Such thoughts were hardly holding up to his promise. Or maybe they were, considering he'd try to do the same?

As he daydreamed, he realized that he had been smiling all the while. Perhaps he had been a bit lonelier than he actually believed himself to be. He hadn't realized just how long he had spent away from Twilight in the Golden Oaks library. And while he didn't see her as someone to woo or court, he would be lying if he said he didn't appreciate the company.

Having someone here, beside him, while he laid sleeping and vulnerable - it was something to be desired, for sure. That it just so happened to be a certain someone that he never even imagined he'd befriend was a bit unusual, but didn't draw much away from the fact that she was here. After all, she was just as vulnerable as he was in her sleep.

Shifting ever so slightly under the embrace of Gilda's wing, Spike turned to face the gryphoness face-to-sleeping-face. Where she was calm and mellow while awake, she seemed almost tranquil and peaceful in her sleep. The harsh features of a life of stress seemed to fade away when her eyes shut, the tired regret giving way to something a bit more serene.

Spike would even say beautiful, though not exactly aloud.

As his thoughts trailed back to their previous dwellings, his mind landed right back to where it was before: pairing Gilda and him together is a fantasy relationship. It was out of sheer boredom or curiosity, but Spike felt as if it was more than interesting enough to focus on.

Had dragons and gryphons ever tried to pair up together? And if so, he had to wonder how long a gryphon's lifespan was on average. Maybe he could ask Gilda in the morning while the two went scouting - of course he couldn't back that question up with context, but he could figure something out to cover him.

"You mumble when you think, you know," Gilda mumbled dreamily, causing Spike's eyes to widen and his nerves to tighten nervously.

"I'm sorry. I just can't sleep and-" Spike began, trying to explain his way out of it. Resigning to the guilt of waking the sleeping gryphoness, he settled for letting out a frustrated sigh and repeated, "Sorry."

"S'alright," was the reply, Gilda's voice still low and groggy. He could hear her shifting and felt her wing twitch ever so slightly. After a few moments, the feathers glided over his chest and the wing curled up to their rightful place at Gilda's side. "Try and get some sleep, Scales. Gonna be a long day tomorrow."

And with that, the conversation was over and she had gone back to sleep. Spike wondered if she would even remember it at all in the morning, but even moreso if he'd ever get an explanation for why she had blanketed him with her own wing. He figured he could just chalk it up to sleep-movements, but still.

As he daydreamed of possibilities and wondered about scenarios, he unwittingly succumbed to a night of sleep himself. Nothing was unusual about his dreams, aside from the obvious placement of Gilda within them. To say it was a nightmare or a fantasy would be too much, and one could only leave it at "a dream".

But then morning hit. And it felt like morning had arrived faster than Rainbow Dash on a mission.

A sharp whistle filled the air and before he knew it, Spike was thrown back into the land of the living. "Wake up, now. It's time to get rollin'!" Gilda announced happily. "Zecora's got some grub downstairs. Gonna go fill up before we head out. You comin'?"

His vision still adjusting to the sunlight trickling through the window and all of the sensory overload around him, Spike took a moment to stretch before replying with a, "Whuh? Oh, yeah.. I'm coming. Gimme a sec'."

Gilda gave a pause and then let out a short laugh before making her way out of the room and into the hallway. She called back, "Don't take too long, now. I'm gonna have to teach you a thing or two about sleeping properly."

"Yeah, yeah," Spike replied, groaning as he stood up and stretched out his arms and legs. He bent backwards and pushed against his lower spine, popping a few kinks out in the process. And as a final measure, he stretched out his long tail and waved it around lazily.

That was when the smells from Zecora's kitchen hit him. Fresh.. Meat? Did Zecora even eat meat? Confused and spurred on by the grumbling his stomach was making, he made his way downstairs to check it out and sure enough, he found a plate of cooked rabbit upon the table. It wasn't an uncommon dish, but it certainly was rare among PonyVille's residents.

"I didn't know you ate meat, Zecora," he said, moving over to the table to get a better look at it. It was grilled to perfection, he had to admit. He'd have a hard time believing this was her first time preparing such a meal.

"I do not, but you do so sit. I have prepared you a meal that gives kings a fit," the zebra said with a sly grin. Something within Spike's mind warned him to be cautious about the food, but not in an "it's poison" way. More of an "it's spiked" way.

Foregoing the warning and giving in to his hunger pangs, the dragon took his place besides Gilda who was cutting into her own meal. She gave him a look that said, "Go on, I dare you," so he had to at least try it.

Taking his first bite, Spike realized that his instincts were right on the money. It wasn't bad at all. Really, it was delicious, and he couldn't find a reaso-

Oh. Uh oh.

It seemed his instincts were correct, because suddenly his tongue felt like it had been dipped in boiling metal. He coughed up a few balls of smoke before finally shooting out a lick of flame towards a nearby coffee mug. Instantaneously, the mug had disappeared and been transported to Celestia-know's-where. Probably to the very princess herself.

After another round of coughing and a bout of laughter coming from Gilda, Spike steeled her nerves and strained out the words, "What's in this? Lava?"

"A special brew, made only for the bold! A potion of Harspud milk and Dragonsfire, it increases skills tenfold," Zecora explained with a wink.

"It's a simple drink, actually. Hard to get ingredients for but pretty common around travelers," Gilda added, a grin still on her face. She downed a piece of meat herself, and gave a short laugh at Spike's confused expression. "You didn't know gryphons ate meat, huh? Not many folks do, so don't worry."

Turning from Gilda to Zecora, the dragon gave another short cough and questioned, "What do you mean it increases skills?"

"I got this one, don't worry," Gilda said, to which Zecora nodded in agreement. "She means it'll make your body a bit more fit for a while. Anything you could do before, you'll be able to do a lot easier now. When I eat it, I fly longer and faster. When you eat it, well.. As far as I know, dragons get a kick to their breath. Looks like that rings true for you, huh Scales?"

He had to admit - where he felt tired and groggy before, he was now wide awake. He had attributed this originally to the sheer spiciness of the food, but what they said did make sense. Zecora was renowned for her brewing capabilities and if what Gilda said was true, something like that would have been child's play to the zebra.

The rest of the meal went over easy, Spike now prepared for the onslaught of heat that was to assault his mouth and belly. They discussed the route they would take once again and Zecora mentioned setting up a few lights along the way to guide them. It was then that Gilda got curious.

"So if you've lived here for so long, Zecora, why haven't you gone into the forest? Seems like you'd know it best," she asked, one eyebrow raised.

"The creatures and I, we're one and the same. I dare not touch them, and they know my name. Through that and caution, we get along well - there has not been a threat that I've had to quell," she explained, which Gilda seemed to wholeheartedly accept.

"Wait. You have an affinity with the creatures in the Everfree? How?" the dragon asked in disbelief. He knew Zecora was mysterious, but this was just strange.

"I've seen it a lot in my travels, actually. There's an old country-side saying that goes 'Live off the land and the land lives with you.' It means that if you stay in one place for a while, all the usual residents will get to know you. When you're not a threat, they don't make themselves a threat," Gilda explained easily, all whilst chewing down her food and drinking a bit of water.

"That's incredible!" Spike said, a smile finding its way to his face. Twilight had tons of books on potions, but the wonder of foreign remedies and concoctions did not elude him.

"Now finish up. We have a long way to go and we gotta get started when there's daylight. Gets darker earlier in the forest, after all," Gilda said, standing up from her plate and heading upstairs. "I'll get my gear."

"Your gear?" Spike said as he took another bite of the meal, turning around to give the gryphoness a questioning look.

"Twilight sent it over for me. You may have scales, but I have fur and feathers. Gotta keep my hide protected," Gilda responded, her voice fading as she went further up the stairs and down the hall.

Minutes later, after Spike had finished his meal and had a bit of small-talk with Zecora, he heard the clanking of what sounded like armor. Sure enough, Gilda came down the steps a bit louder, but no slower than before. "Been a while, but it all checks out," she said as she entered the room, clad in armor.

Affixed to her body was a specially designed suit of armor, much like something ponies might wear. Chainmail draped over the back and hooked to either side across the belly, with slots in the side for a gryphon's wings to fit through. Along her forelegs, the gryphoness wore ordinary leather pads on both knees and shins, with metal tips upon her claws. And for her hind legs, platemail armor adorned her to provide that extra bit of protection she might need.

"You look.." Spike said, his jaw hanging open.

"Awesome, right?" Gilda cut him off to say, a grin appearing along with her new-found confidence. She seemed quite a bit more noble in a suit of armor, and rightly so. She carried herself better than a soldier and lighter than an archer. It was no wonder gryphons were revered for their strength if they could walk so easily in something like that.

"Yeah! Where'd you even get all this?" the dragon asked, amazed at the sheer quality of the metalworking.

"A gift from a friend, you could say. When they retired, I took up their gear. It's saved me from more than a few scraps," Gilda answered, her expression teetering on the edge of cocky.

With Gilda in her gear and Spike energized, the two decided it would be best to head out. Grabbing Spike his bag from the front door, Zecora left them both with a simple warning before they head out onto the trail.

"A warning you should know before you pack up and go: trust your mind, as your eyes do not know. The forest is changing and its residents move, so your strength and your wit you may have to prove," she said, her voice clear and her expression stern. It left Spike with a sense of dread, but he nodded all the same.

"Thank you for everything, Zecora. I'll have Twilight send over a few things you might be interested in," Spike said, bending down to give the zebra a friendly hug around the neck, to which she happily returned.

"Catch you around, Zecora. You'll have to show me those hot springs you like so much when we get back," Gilda said, bowing her head formally to Zecora. The zebra seemed all-too-familiar with the gesture, as she placed her hoof over her heart instantly, as if instinctively. "Maybe we can invite Spike and see if he's up for a good time," she finished a bit less formally, nudging Spike in his ribs playfully.

The term "hot springs" brought more than a few images to Spike's mind that made his mind swirl and turn on itself, and he had to take a moment just to clear out his head before trying to focus. Gilda's flirting seriously threw him off.

"Take care, Zecora," Spike said, rolling his eyes with a smile at Gilda before the two exited the hut and took off for the trail leading further into the Everfree. Sometime down the road, he turned to Gilda and said, "You really like to flirt, you know that?"

The gryphoness gave a hearty laugh and shrugged, saying, "Guilty as charged. You just gotta play along, is all. That's how the real fun begins."

"Somehow I'm getting a few different meanings from you when you say 'fun'. Wonder why," Spike said jokingly, his tone cheery. Another laugh from the gryphoness let him know he hit his mark, and for some reason it made him feel a bit happier than usual. Something was special about making Gilda laugh, to Spike. Maybe it was due to her long history, but it just felt oddly rare.

Whatever the case, the two were finally on the road. With map in-hand and bag-over-shoulder, Spike was ready to face this daunting forest and anything it could throw at him. And with Gilda by his side, who knows?

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.