Of Scales and Feathers

The Everfree, despite all of its mystery and all of the rumors surrounding it, was actually immensely beautiful. Its ever-unknown radius and inner workings served to add to its equally entrancing charm and allure. Spike could see why adventurers, scouts, and even tha casually curious creature might wander into this place.

What he also noticed was how many threats they had come across just in the beginning. On more than one occasion, the dragon found himself pressing a palm to the gryphoness only moments before she may have wandered into a deceivingly deep hole, or felt the pull of a clawed hand saving him from wandering into a nearly invisible web of thorns, their colors camouflaged into the wood itself of the surrounding trees.

"We've got to be careful," Gilda kept warning him, but maybe also telling herself that just as much as she was reminding him. He might become annoyed with her if she wasn't the only thing keeping him sane in this dark, solitary place. The two would swap small chat every now and again, with Spike exchanging his stories for hers along the way.

It was that rare moment when it all went near-silent that Spike realized something unusual. Besides the crackling of leaves, twigs, and plants left in Gilda and Spike's wake, it was as if there were no other sounds within the forest. Keeping track of time, Spike realized it couldn't have been more than a few hours since the two had left Zecora's hut, and yet this section of forest seemed almost devoid of life. There wasn't a bird, squirrel, wolf, or even spider to be found.

"You noticing what I'm noticing," Spike asked quietly, directing his words towards Gilda as his eyes darted around in a search for wildlife.

"We're alone," Gilda confirmed, but her tone sounded a bit more worried than accepting. "Keep your guard up," she added, her armor shifting ever so slightly as she stepped over a fallen branch.

He understood why he should keep his guard up, but the way she said that made Spike's anxiety level raise just a tad bit. "What do you mean?" he asked, trying not to let fear get the best of him. Twilight had once told him that fear was the mind-killer. If you lose against fear, you're setting yourself up for failure.

Walking here in a dark forest surrounded by an eerie silence and only one friend to guard him however, fear was something that was ready to be released through the young drake's mind. Fortunately, Gilda was quick to fill the silence with an explanation, though he didn't quite know if it would help in the long run.

"It could be nothing, but it could be bad," she began. "Usually when you find a forest empty, it was just hunted in. Either by ponies, gryphons, dragons, or even the local wildlife. It's only the latter if that creature was the apex predator, however. It means that something is on the prowl here, and we're not 'in-the-know' about it."

She finished the statement with a playful swat of her tail against Spike's leg, making him gasp for air and jump. The gryphoness released a bout of laughter that echoed through the trees, and Spike swore he heard the fluttering of wings off in the distance. "Hey, look at that. It's nothing to worry about, and I got a good scare out of you."

Spike tossed an annoyed glare down at the gryphon, but couldn't hold it for very long when he saw just how delighted she looked at the fact. He had to admit that it was a small victory, and that the day was filled with such victories with the two travelling beside one another.

Another thing that put his mind at-ease wasn't just how casual the gryphoness looked, but the exact opposite. She looked a little shaken up, maybe even slightly scared. If someone as experienced and well-traveled as Gilda could show a bit of fear, Spike could only rationalize that what he was feeling wasn't cowardice, but rather a natural reaction.

Something about that whole notion just made the whole forest seem a bit brighter in his eyes. Tossing another glance towards Gilda, he noticed she was looking away, over at some peculiar flowers off in the distance. Spike made a note of the flower-patch on the map he was crudely etching out, but then directed his attention back to Gilda.

There was something aesthetically pleasing about gryphons that Spike had never actually noticed. Maybe it was their naturally confident stance or the way they held themselves when speaking, but he found himself examining Gilda closer than he had before. With the armor on, she looked as if she belonged to a royal guard. Maybe she could even pass for royalty herself, had she not had such a rough past to back up her words.

But past all of her troubles and shortcomings, he saw that Gilda, in all of her brashness and misunderstandings, was actually rather kind. Even now, she had tried to reassure him of their safety by explaining away his worries. Sure she also pranked him and nearly caused his scales to jump off his skin, but he could feel that she meant well. A bit of playfulness kind of seemed as if it was in Gilda's nature, and he found himself becoming quite fond of it.

"Something on your mind, Scales?" Gilda asked as she stopped looking off into the distance, bringing the dragon back to his senses and caused him to stammer out a simple "What?" in reply. "You seem lost in thought. Feels like you're thinking pretty hard about something," she stated, tossing him a casual look of concern mixed with curiosity.

"Oh, yeah. I was just thinking, uh.. Nevermind, actually. That sounds kinda weird in my head," Spike said with a nervous laugh, backing out of her questioning as gently as he could. But with the silence all around them and the long trip ahead, there wasn't exactly a conversation-piece he could draw her attention to and she quickly pushed forward.

"Oh, now I have to hear it. Weird statements make for the best conversation," she claimed with a sly smirk, only to quickly add, "Watch yourself." Bringing his mind into focus, Spike noticed a branch was about to meet his face quite squarely, and had a kneejerk reaction to pull his head back and swing under it.

"Thanks. That's kind of exactly the thing I was getting at," he said, minding his surroundings a bit more carefully as he continued along with the conversation. "Has anyone ever told you how.. Nice you are?" He didn't know if nice was the correct word to use here, considering his past with her, but he couldn't quite find any other to describe what he was feeling about the gryphoness.

"Laying it on thick here, huh? If you wanted to flirt you just had to say something!" she responded with a wide grin and a lighter bounce in her step. "Though, I guess ya just did, huh?" she added with a shrug and a tilt of her head.

"Not like that. Or maybe a bit like that? I don't know - words tend to fail me when I try to compliment others," he said, giving in to the awkwardness that were his conversation skills. Rubbing the back of his head, he gave a pause before continuing and found himself using his hands to gesture a bit more, "I mean, Rainbow Dash probably would've let me walk head-on into that branch just for a laugh. Because she knows me and my scales could take it, and it would be a harmless prank. But you immediately recognized it and called it out. You've been doing that all day.

"Huh. I guess it's just reflexes, really," Gilda rationalized. "I've had a lot of clumsy squad mates in the past - some even clumsier than you!" she jested, her backhanded-compliment hitting Spike softly. He gave a quick laugh along with her, and she continued, "I dunno. I just want to make sure you and I get out safe, really. Oh and to answer your question: no. Not many folks call me 'nice'."

She said that last bit with a bit of a smile, and Spike could tell she meant no malice by it. But still, Spike felt like she deserved a bit more than what she got. He'd have to make a note to improve upon that, should he and Gilda remain friendly after all of this was over.

"When we get out of this, I'm gonna make sure the others know how nice you are. You deserve that much, at least," he said in a sudden moment of determination. He didn't have much in terms of wealth or experience, but he knew he could make his friends happy. Counting Gilda amongst those friends would be wonderful, in his opinion.

"You're so cheesy," she answered with a quick laugh and a last smile, shaking her head slightly. He expected some other form of argument, or maybe some flirting to accompany that, but nothing ever came. Or rather, no words came; it was very small, and Spike almost missed it, but he found Gilda walking just a little bit closer to him.

It was true that he was cheesy, and he wouldn't even try to deny it. "Guilty as charged," he said with a shrug. "But all the ladies love the cheesy types."

"Do they now? I guess you'll have to introduce me to these lady-friends of yours so I can show them a thing or two," Gilda said, joining on on the fun as quickly as she left it. Never one to leave someone hanging, it seemed.

Tilting his head back, Spike's smile slowly lessened until it was transformed into a confused frown. "Hey," he said, rubbing his eyes to clarify that he was seeing this correctly.

"Yeah?" Gilda said, her expression matching his as she looked up into the trees and stopped in her tracks, Spike soon following suit. "Wait, what?"

"You're seeing this too, right?" Spike asked, his voice now just above a mumble as he gave the treeline a good look. Darkness was settling. It wasn't even a full morning since setting out, and yet the night was settling in. Sunlight had begun to fade and the cold was already seeping through Spike's scales.

"Whatever the case, it doesn't matter. We've got to find wood for a fire - and fast. From what I hear, dragon's aren't exactly the most adaptable to the cold," Gilda commented, gripping  few twigs in a claw and scouting out a place to camp. "There," she said, pointing the clenched fist towards a slightly open patch of land. It wasn't suspiciously open, but it would suffice.

As they moved towards it, Spike realized that Gilda pointed out something rather astute about his kind. "How'd you know that?" he asked out of curiosity as he bent down to pick up a good-sized branch for fire. "Most people assume dragon's have their fire to keep themselves warm all the time."

Gilda gave another one of her shrugs and said, "I read a few books before taking up the contract. I figured I would need to know a few things about you if I was gonna keep us both alive. Looks like it came in handy."

She gave Spike a genuine smile that made his heart skip a beat when she said that last part, and it took him a second to find the right words to say.  "I guess it did. Anything I should know about gryphons?"

"Well, you already know one thing. Our feathers are extra-warm. So you and I are probably gonna have to do a repeat of last night if you're gonna stay warm out here," she said as she reached out for the branches in Spike's hand.

Watching as she masterfully went to work crafting a campfire, Spike's mind settled on one thought. So she did remember. But that just raised even more questions in his mind. There had to be some rhyme or reason as to why she did it, but it felt like now wasn't the time to question Gilda.

"So about your fire breath," Gilda began, looking from the fire up to him. "You think you could try and help me out here?"

"I could try," Spike explained, "but you might have noticed earlier with the mug. My fire breath has magical properties. Some have fire breath, some have ice breath. My breath teleports things."

"Can it teleport living things?" she asked, curiosity sparking in her eyes. "That might be pretty useful in a bind, if so."

"I don't think so. I tried it once one a bird and.. Well, let's just say that didn't work out so well," Spike said, rubbing the back of his neck and frowning at the memory. Not one of his proudest days.

"Ouch. Sounds like a bad time. Guess we'll have to keep that tucked away for later. But for now," she said as a faint spark of light appeared under the fire. She blew a soft wind under the sticks until suddenly.. "There we go."

The embers spread slowly across the wood and soon enough, flames had engulfed it entirely. "Glorious," Gilda announced proudly, clapping her clawed hands and laughing. "Quick. Go get some more wood nearby so we can keep this baby going for a while."

Doing as he was told, it gave Spike a precious few seconds to think to himself, and he used it to assess all that was happening around him. He absentmindedly picked up sticks and wondered just what this forest was up to. He felt he had a pretty good grasp on time, and this sudden twist from day to night was more than a little worrying. It was downright strange.

He got the sinking feeling that whatever was the cause of it, it was only just beginning. The silence, the time, and even the sinking feeling that the two were lost - even if they had no true destination - was beginning to feel more and more like a plan, rather than coincidence.

"Yo, Spike! You okay?" came Gilda's voice nearby. He had stayed within viewing distance, but it was nice of her to make sure he was fine. It was touching, really. It made him feel a lot better about the situation.

Because he knew that, no matter how crazy this all got, she would have his back. And he had to make sure he had hers. "Yeah, I'm coming!" he called back, carrying the small bundle of firewood cradled in his arms.

"Wow. What'd you do, cut down a forest?" Gilda said, impressed by the haul Spike had brought in.

He set it down nearby, taking a seat beside the gryphon and letting out a sigh. A sudden thought rushed back to him how he and Twilight would have campfires like this rather often, and how Twilight would lean against him and read to the fire's light. He had to wonder at what it would be like for Gilda to do the same, and smiled at the thought.

"Kinda crazy, this place," Gilda said, staring into the fire calmly. "You know I've spent so many nights by a campfire that I never thought it'd be special for me again. But sitting here in the Everfree, in unexplored territory, with a new friend by my side.. It's nice."

Spike didn't quite know how to respond, but he learned forward and poked at the fire with his hands, adjusting a log with being burned due to his scales, and smiled. "Twilight and I used to spend a lot of nights near a campfire. Every time was nice, but this feels a little.. Different. You know? It feels better."

"Yeah, you say you're bad with words. But you have a silver tongue," Gilda said, a smile creeping its way onto her beak. She stood up and moved a bit closer to Spike, laying down casually to learn her torso against his leg and cross her forelegs. "But that's alright. I know exactly what you mean."

For a while, the two simply sat like this, enjoying the company they provided to one another without the need for words. Eventually, Spike decided to break the silence and go for broke with his complimenting. What would he have to lose?

"Why don't you get some sleep, Gilda? You got up earliest, and you've been walking around in armor. Gotta be a little tired, right?" he suggested, the gryphoness turning her attention to him and smiling in earnest. Even her eyes looked tired underneath all of that determination.

She seemed to squirm a little bit, but eventually asked, "Are you sure?"

Three words was all it took, and Spike's heart gave out a pang of mixed feelings. Her voice stirred up a mixture of sadness, happiness, and determination that pushed his voice to the back of his throat and when he spoke, all that would come out was a whisper. "Definitely," was his response, a pure smile taking its place upon his expression.

Gilda gave a soft, tired laugh before adjusting her posture so that she was leaning against Spike with her head resting upon her forelegs. Her final words before drifting off to sleep were a mumbled "Thanks, Spike." that made the young dragon let out a breathy hiss of a laugh, careful not to wake her so soon.

"No problem, Gilda. Good night," he replied, getting ready for what felt like a long wait of silence by the fire. The fact that she used his actual name, rather than his nickname, seemed like a rather good indication that the gryphoness actually had gotten tired after the confusingly short-but-at-the-same-time-long day that the two had had.

He gave one final look down at his sleeping companion and realized one simple truth about her. She was a lot better than she gave herself credit for. All of that stress and all of that sadness bearing down onto her, and she still found herself trying time and time again. To Spike, she was incredible.

And he had to show her. Either for himself or for her, but he just knew he had to. It felt beyond right in his mind, and even in his heart. He had only known her this way for two days and he knew that. Somehow, someway, he would show her.

"I promise," he said out loud, turning his attention back to the fire and settling in until she woke.