“Don’t you speak a word to me about love, boy. I had a good woman, a great woman. A woman I’d fight through seven hells to see once more. Someone like you couldn’t understand. By what right does the dragon pass judgment on the stag?!”
The words permeated throughout the dark cave. By the light of the fire, the dragon and the man ate and attempted to tolerate each other for the time being. “I’m… not sure I know exactly what you’re referring to.” Spike said.
The man rose from the log he was sitting on, the flames illuminating him from below. The wall of the cave was painted with his silhouette, a brawny man, a hammer at his back, and topped with a helmet adorned with two large antlers. “A m- A boy, wearing a sigil of a dragon on his breastplate. He took Lyanna from me. The Targaryan prince just couldn’t accept that something wasn’t his.” Robert of House Baratheon began to choke on his own words. “He took her from me, and I was to marry some blonde half-wit.” The armored lord let out a chuckle.
“I’m sorry, I guess.” Spike looked down, scuffing his feet on the floor of the cave.
“You guess? Is that how you solve solve a friendship problem? By guessing?!” Robert yelled, mocking the young dragon.
Spike reeled back, partly frightened, and partly worried that his mission may now be in jeopardy.
“I swear. You stupid things and your friendship, your maps. I know friendship. I lived with Eddard Stark and Jon Arryn, the two best men in the seven kingdoms, so don’t presume to teach me about friendship.”
“Well… where are they now?”
“Careful, boy.” Robert leaned in, glaring at Spike.
“I’m just saying- You’re here now, in Equestria. Why not try to make the most of it? Why not try to make friends?” Spike raised his arms, hoping his words would penetrate Robert’s thick skull.
Robert grunted. “What could this map possibly have for you and I to do? I’m getting old out here. I was to be crowned King, now, by some punishment, the gods decide to send me here? To work out friendship problems with you? How are we to solve them if I don’t even think of you as a friend?”
Spike stared blankly, before smacking his own forehead. “Ugh. I think I get it now.”
“You think? Be more certain, so we can go home. Your winged friend promised I’d finally get to eat some meat after this. Even if it is dead fish, meat is meat.”
“I think the problem is… us.”
“Us? You and I?” Robert laughed. “That’s ridiculous.”
“Think about it. The map sent us to this remote area, with nopony around. We’re stuck in a cave, forced to deal with each other. Doesn’t that seem like the perfect way for us to get over our differences?”
“I wish you’d stop talking already.” Robert looked out the cave, cold, rainy, dark. He gave a menacing side-eye to his dragon companion.
“Why? Am I starting to make sense?” Spike said, crossing his arms.
Grunting, Robert glared at Spike. The dragon gave an anxious look, as if something was about to hit him.
“Okay. Right. Sorry. So… why do you hate dragons?”
Robert sat back down, gazing into the fire. “On that day. On the Trident, I met him in combat.”
“Who, exactly?”
“Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, heir to the throne, at the time.” Robert took in a deep breath, and exhaled the air after a few seconds. “The man who took my Lyanna away from me. They called him the dragon prince. After knowing what he did to her… I couldn’t stop myself. I abandoned my horse, and chased him on foot. My armour was heavy, my hammer heavier, but it didn’t matter. I met the prince in battle. The boy thought he’d kill me and end the rebellion.” Robert chuckled, before his face returned to an emotionless state. “After blocking his sword a few times, I buried my hammer into his chest. The rubies from his armour has shattered and spilled into the river. The prince I had heard so much about, the one I had been waiting to have my way with, died just like that. I wanted a fight, but my fury ended him without even enough time for him to scream.”
“That is certainly so-”
“The whole point of my rebellion was to end Rhaegar and the Mad King, to put a stop to their madness, and bring justice to the 7 kingdoms. Now I’m here. Now I have nothing.”
Spike sighed, trying to take in all the information being thrown at him. “Well, what does all that have to do with me?”
“Everything, you twat! You’re a dragon! Even your breath burns the same colour as that-” Robert stammered, failing to finish his own sentence.
Spike looked at the man, eyes growing. “You’re afraid.”
Robert leapt from his seat. “Of what, boy?! Of you?!”
“Well, I think so, yeah.”
Robert regained a portion of his composure, sitting back down on the log. “The Mad King would sometimes… burn his subjects. “Wildfire” they called it. Sickening substance. Green flames roasted people alive, and all the water on Ship-Breaker Bay couldn’t put it out.”
“And I remind you of that fire?”
Robert stayed silent for a while.
“Uh, Robert?”
“Aye. You do.” Robert shut his eyes tight, ashamed to admit something so cowardly.
“You know that I wouldn’t do anything like that, right?”
“I don’t know you. I’ve been here for months and I don’t know any of you. Hells, I didn’t know most of my own family. I was a soldier. A damned good one, but just a soldier. I could swing a hammer harder than anyone else, and that won me the iron throne. I don’t even know what I know.”
Spike got up from his seat, walked over to Robert, and placed an arm on his back.
“What are yo-” Robert stopped, seeing the concerned look in Spike’s eyes.
“Why not try to find out what you know? Equestria has a royal guard, and even a military, for when it’s needed. Even if you don’t want to do that, you don’t need to just be a soldier. You could do anything.”
“Hmm. I always did like hunting. Gods, I was good with a spear when I was a boy. The boars couldn’t evade my wrath.” The Baratheon scratched his beard.
“Um, we don’t usually do that kind of hunting around here. It’s more of a… catch and release type of thing.” Spike smiled, tapping his claws together.
“Hrmph, it’ll have to do for now.”
