Si Lupis Est

Spike slammed the massive branch into the beast, sending its head twirl to one side. He slammed it against the beast again and again, unwittingly loosening the rock out of the beasts paw. It bit onto the branch, tugging it out of Spikes hand, then roared at him.

Spike decided now would be a good time to run and sprinted away, clutching the wound on his shoulder. He stumbled into the pathway, blood dripping down his arm, grimacing at the marks on his shoulder, deciding he should burn it to close it shut.

He was interrupted by a loud howl, not too far behind him, and growled to himself, before looking down the path, seeing a river to the side of the path, a few tress on the other. He decided to scramble down the path, blood trailing behind him.

It wasn't soon after that the creature scrambled onto the path, sniffing the ground. In the sunlight along the path, it was finally seen...a giant, wolf like beast. It stood on two legs, its massive claws scratching out gouges into the dirt, its grey fur dotted with some scars, its shoulder blackened with some burnt flesh instead of hair, and its hand having blood drip out of it. It snarled as it looked around, its blue eyes scanning the path, spotting some blood on the ground. It sniffed the ground and kept following the trail, slowly lowering onto all fours, its nose pressed against the ground.

The beasts fluffy tail whipped to and fro, until the trailed of blood stopped. The beast stood back up, twirling its head around, like a confused puppy, then twirled its large ears around, trying to listen.

Birds. Lizards. A deer in the distance. Breathing.

What the wolf beast did not see was the blood trailing up a tree, and onto a thick branch. Spike sat there, panting a bit, watching the wolf look around. He hissed quietly and grasped his shoulder, trying to slow down his bleeding. He looked down, then gazed in horror as his finger dripped some blood down the branch, then directly onto the beasts head. It stopped its movement, wiping its head, gazing at its own palm at the wet, red streak, then looked directly up at Spike, it lips curling back into a snarl.

Spike pressed up against the tree, seeing it walk over, his mind racing through escape plans. It stabbed its claws into the tree, then started slowly clambering up, snarling up at the dragon blood. Spike decided on one plan, it was insanely dumb, but he could do it.

Once the beast was close enough, he jumped down, smashing his boot into its face. It gave a gargled growl, before Spike jumped again. He grasped onto the beasts back, digging his fingers in, and tugged the beast, catching it off balance, it trying to dig in and save itself.

Spikes shoulder screamed at him in agony, and he came to the conclusion that this plan was horrible. Spike opened his jaws as wide as he could, then suddenly slammed his mouth onto the beasts shoulder, biting down hard, blood spilling into Spikes mouth as the loud snapping of bones filled Spikes ears.

The beast gave an unholy shriek of pain, falling to the ground, slamming Spike into a few branches on the way down, before both fell to the ground. The beast rose, Spike held on, biting even harder, giving a disgusted look as he accidentally drank some of the wicked beasts blood. It finally hit Spike against the tree, dislodging the dragon from it, and walked around him, snarling in hatred and pain.

Spike looked up at him, swallowing some blood (a mixture of the wolfs and Spikes own), then spat out the rest, giving a bloody, fanged grin as he slowly stood up. "So...what now?" He asked, the creature getting up and giving a low, threatening growl. "You're pretty hurt...I am pretty hurt. How about we call it a night and go our separate ways?"

The beast only stood up, flashing its left claws, the right arm hung limp from Spikes bite, its shoulder crushed in, bloody flesh and bone visible from Spikes bite, the dragon blood spewing out some fire to clean his mouth of blood. Spike rolled his shoulder and took a stance, "So...we finish it then."

The beast rushed forward, making Spike blow a concentrated flame at its face, blinding the beast. It roar and swung its arm, catching Spikes chest, leaving four long claw marks across it, the blow sending Spike into the tree, making Spikes world spin. The wolf howled and snarled, rubbing its face in the dirt, leaving a trail of ash in the grass, rubbing and wiping its face with its hands after.

Spike, being dazed, walked a bit, balling his hands into fists. "Gonna take down to the pain train station in train town..." Spike mumbled out, only to slip and fall into the river, the current dragging the barely conscious dragon along.

The beast rubbed its face, clearing its vision, before looking around. It gave a snarl, before deciding to give up the hunt. It was far too wounded to chase after the dragon blood, and needed to heal. It lifted its injured hand up, flexing it, seeing the wound had nearly closed, the burned hair on its shoulder starting to regrow. It rolled its shoulder and started to slink off into the trees, ready to lick its wounds.

Fluttershy walked through the path, her mind muddled as she walked, her flashlight going back and forth. She was extremely worried now, she should have come across Spike by now, it didn't take that long to get to Zecora.

"Maybe Zecora asked Spike to stay the night? She is rather lonely." Fluttershy said to herself, her flashlight scanning across the ground. "Well...I should go back and...and...and..." Her words died in her throat as she she saw something bloody on the ground. He gripped her flashlight, her fear of Spike being injured overriding her self preservation.

She ran over, seeing a familiar purple shirt, long claw marks running through it, dried blood on the shoulder. She lifted her flashlight up and saw a blood trail, leading deeper into the forest and off the path. She gently lifted the shirt, slowly clenching it, before looking back at the blood trail, her eyes tracing over the trail.

Her instincts told her to run. Her instincts told her to turn around and get Twilight, or Rainbow Dash, or someone else...but the vision of an injured Spike flooded through her mind. He heart hardened at the sight, her eyes turning downwards in a glare.

Whoever hurt HER dragon boy was gonna get it, and get it good!

She started off into the forest, following the trail of paw prints and claw marks, the blood trail slowing down as she walked along. Eventually, she came across another trail and gave a gasp, seeing the aftermath of the battle.

There was a tree near the river, blood covering some branches and along its body, with long claw marks trailing up the body. On the ground, there was long claw marks and soot, some ash spread across the ground, as if something was dragged along.

She gave a circular motion, seeing the trail of blood had ended here, but the claw marks continued onto the trees a bit further, as if the beast was upset after the fight. No body. No bones. Plenty of blood but no limbs lost or anything like that, which meant Spike escaped.

Fluttershy held onto the shirt, balling it a bit in her hands. "Don't worry, Spike. I'll grab the others and we'll find you." She promised to the open air. She noticed something on the ground, giving a curios sound. She knelt down, staring at the object. A tuft of fur? This was getting very interesting.