The sun was bright, the dirt streets were dense and populated, the smell of fresh grass and manure, those were the things that convinced the young drake to stay in the town. He was looking out the window and watching all of the hard working ponies living their lives with a smile on their face. That smile, a smile of purpose is what spike wanted and he's not sure whether he would ever acquire such a thing. "You don't have to stay, come be a princess's assistant" the words were constantly on repeat in his head. The request he denied, the requesthe couldn't nod off to, it's not something he wanted to change however. As he was re shelving returned books, it gave him time to think and clear his head. People rarely came into the library and it made his job a whole lot easier. His job was basically to look after the library and make sure nothing was out of place or stolen. Running the place was just his idea, twilight just really wanted someone to look over her books. Yes, rows and rows of individual books with different stories, information and more, are all hers. Finally he finished reshelving books and decided to check the kitchen and see if there was anything in there worth making. Just recently he's been trying to incorporate different types of foods besides gems into his diet. Greed is something that comes with overconsumption of gems and the side effects are not fun for him or the people around him. "Maybe… gems, just for today" he said to himself, not really looking forward for the trip to the diamond mines however. "Ehh, i'll just bite the bullet and go, probably a dead location by now" spike said to himself as he headed out the door and onwards to the world.
As he finally reached the location, the mine seemed very dark and hollow from the outside looking in. Gems used to be embedded in the walls, giving the entrance of the cavern a sense of natural lighting. Now the gems were gone from the sides of the wall, leaving only empty dents and a hollow and deep cave to enter. This isn't spike's first time going into to cave since dealing with the diamond dogs, it's not like he just dosen't eat gems anymore. He hates going back and forth from this place just to get something nice to eat, it's not like it's even hard either. Ponies don't really see a worth in gems in this town ever since rarity's boutique stopped operation a couple years ago. Sometimes you see some people come down from time to time using gems for many different things but besides that it's open for the taking. Spike didn't even enter the mine yet, he was on a rocky hill that was overlooking it. From first glance it seemed pretty safe and spike was ready to start searching for gems until he heard hoofsteps. "Ughhhh, I wanted to do this in solitude" spike groaned to himself, still he dropped down and made a pace for the entrance of the cave. "Almost forgot!" he exclaimed, looking for a nearby tree to break a branch off of. As he finally found one, the next thing he heard made him double take "How many stupid walls till i find the color that i want!" the voice exclaimed. The voice seemed familiar enough but he couldn't put a finger on who it belonged to. Luckily, he found a stick near the cave, spike didn't really wanna climb a tree today for just a branch. Spike blew a small and contained bit of fire and lit the top of the stick on fire, making a competent torch. Spike then saw a light purple hue come from the cavern "unicorn magic, i'll keep the stick around just in case i need it" spike said, blowing out the flame and finally entering the cave.
A sense of calm, that's walking through this cave is oddly doing for spike. Doing a meandering task like searching for gems was kind of calming for the young drake. Gives an average drake time to think about things and be grateful about where he is. Got a nice place to stay, all the fellows ponies are nice to him, leading a life that he's in control of. Who wants destiny, destiny is such a frugal thing anyways. It's a one shot deal, ambassador, captain, world leading designer, assistant…. "What am i doing here?" spike asked himself, thinking way to hard again and not noticing that somebody…. "Hey!, could you self reflect somewhere else!" the mare's voice exclaimed. Spike finally turned around and looked at the mare that screamed at him, that mare had a name and spike remembered it clearly. "Trixie!" spike exclaimed in return, she shushed him and replied quietly "quiet dragon, this is still diamond dog territory" spike then nodded in reply but still in shock "what are you doing back here?" spike asked, trixie didn't really treat the dragon with that much regard "why should you know?" she asked, with an attitude backing her answer. Spike actually thought about it and backed down quickly, however, he still wanted some sense of friendliness to come from her. "Found any gems?" spike asked, that was actually something that got the light blue mare to talk "for your information, found at least a couple, you'd be blind not to see them" of course, the theme of the day is insults when it comes to her.
She pointed towards a direction and spike started heading towards the direction she pointed and found a shining pile of gems. "Thanks, i guess" spike replied, trixie only nodded while shining her horn around the cave. "What are you even looking for?" spike asked, trixie gave an audible groan before answering. "A specific color, it goes with my cape, the gem on it was… broken" she reluctantly said. "Come on, it's just a….." before spike could even finish, trixie broke her own rule "NO IT ISN'T!" she yelled, that stopped spike in his tracks. Spike had two choices in his head, leave with the bounty of gems he collected or do what his natural instincts always tell him to do. "Hey" spike called out, trixie sharply turned her head and replied "what now dragon?" she asked him. Spike once again thought about his next response, that something inside him couldn't turn her away. "The color, what is it?" spike asked, trixie gave off an audible groan, but surprisingly….. "Amethyst" she replied and spike nodded and started looking around the cave. Spike had a very special ability as a dragon, gem awareness allows him to easily detect the presence of gems for when he needs to hunt them. He sensed a massive gathering of gems just one path away from where he was. "I think there's a huge pile of gems to look through down here!" spike exclaimed and trixie turned and replied "are you stupid, unless you prepared for a fight with diamond dogs then go ahead, i'm not covering you" this should have been a scream for spike to tell trixie to piss off, but….. "What if they wouldn't even know i'm there" spike said, this phrase gained trixie's attention.
"All we need to do is at least check, if you see the color, i'll grab it" spike said, this much risk for someone who wasn't really nice from beginning. "Ok, i can't believe i'm saying this…. Are you sure you wanna do this?" trixie asked. Something nice, maybe a bit of concern… "don't want your blood on my hands you know, i'm gonna run for the door if things go south" spike now realized how stupid doing this for her was, "can't back down now, don't wanna look like a coward" spike replied, his face one of pure confidence. Something was off about the dragon, it's almost like he took the stupidity of this idea and just kinda ran with it. Trixie started casting the spell she learned for cloaking herself and others. "Hey, how many times have you used this spell?, just checking my death probability" spike asked, trixie replied in stride "are you doubting the great and powerful!..." spike then interjected quickly "ok,ok!" spike looked around the environment and saw what seems like a smaller cavern that lead into the same direction but in a higher elevation. "Hey, could you fit in there?" spike asked, trixie then stopped casting the spell and nodded. "Ok, see if you can find any gems up there, call me if you do" spike said, trixie just nodded again but then looked at how high the smaller cavern is. "Uhhh, you expect me to do that on my own dragon?" she asked, then spike replied "yeah, don't worry, any trouble comes along and i'll be right behind ya" giving her a thumbs up. Trixie scoffed at this sentiment and teleported her way into the smaller cavern.
There's no way back, it's perfectly dark, what if he takes off before anything happens to me?, these were the thoughts that surprisingly plagued the mind of the unicorn. "See anything up there!" she heard spike exclaim, she might of felt insecure in here but nothing could stop her from bullying the poor drake. "Not yet, hold you horses dragon, you better not be down there doing nothing while i'm suffering in her!" she bit back, spike then replied "it's only been two minutes, come on now!" he exclaimed, she's completely surprised that no diamond dog has awoken yet from their slumber. "The minute i see light, i'm out of this dust hole" trixie said to herself while crawling, seeing nothing but darkness. It's been years since she's been in ponyville and an adventure is already starting without her even looking for one. That beating in her heart, the constant racing in her mind, this is what being in the action feels like and she's not sure whether it's something to keep around. The only thing that feeling brings her is… "a light?, i think it's…." she then crawled closer where the light was coming from and it was the other side of the tunnel. She then crawled a little further… "trixie?, do you see anything?!" spike exclaimed, she ignored his call and finally saw the color she was looking for. "I don't need him anymore" she said to herself, now finding out if there were any diamond dogs left to pose a threat. From the corner of her eye, she saw nothing to be worried about. "Trixie!, are you ok up there!?" spike exclaimed, she didn't even give the drake a reply.
"Come on now" spike said to himself, genuinely gaining a sense of worry. "That blood will be on my hands, it was my plan" spike sounded crazy by how much he was talking to himself at this point. Then the worst possible sign was given to him…. "Gahhh!" a loud scream, now he had to go and find where the dogs have her located. But maybe he really didn't need to after he heard trixie say… "i'm not the one who wanted your gems, there is a very hungry dragon in here, let me lead you to him!" spike felt disgusted, she was basically sentencing him to death. Spike wasn't going to run, he was gonna use her excuse to save both of their skins. He was shaking with every step he took toward the direction he heard the voices. A fight is definitely something he's not ready for, "let's hope i can make a peaceful resolution" spike said to himself, continuing forward towards the voices. "Show yourself, drake!" finally, he heard the voice of a diamond dog. Based on how clear the voice sounded, he was almost at their location. The cave started closing in on him, his breath was getting shorter and shorter, his fear was starting to kick in. "come out or the only thing you'll see up here is a puddle of blood!" the dog exclaimed, something is up about this specific diamond dog. Blood hungry isn't a word that spike would describe as the personality of a diamond dog. Maybe bargaining isn't the way out of this situation at all and spike really needs to come up with some alternate plan. All this thinking and he didn't even realize that diamond dog 6 steps in front of him. In one of his arms he held trixie, only inches away from a claw to her throat. "One good lift and she's gone dragon" the dog said, no one really cares that spike even has a name apparently. "Look….. Nothing has to be done here!" spike exclaimed, that only made the dog even more irritated. "You think you have anything that could give you the right to decide that!" he exclaimed, he didn't like it but spike might actually have something that gives him this right. "Hey, what about a huge pile of extra gems i found, that's all you care about, right?" spike asked with confidence or at least faking it enough. "Hmmmm, fine but one other term…. Never come back to this place, one less visitor is good for me" he replied, this screwed over spike so unrealistically much but… "sure, needed less gems in my diet anyway" spike replied with a light chuckle , the diamond dog was in no mood to laugh.
"Finally got some kind of use out of you!" trixie exclaimed, spike was in no mood to listen to her, not even talk about what just happened. All he saw behind him was a dog that was celebrating the bounty that spike just gave him. "Hey….. check this out" trixie whispered and he saw the amethyst gem she collected. He wanted to start ranting but pissing off the diamond dog they just had a successful trade with would be a very bad idea. They were almost out of the cave and something intriguing happened "here" she gave spike an extra gem that she managed to swipe as well. Spike was beyond puzzled by an actual kind action from her. "Uh…. thanks, how were you even able to swipe two extra gems?" spike asked, trixie's face lit up with just the idea of explaining why she was actually able to get away with something this risky. "Easy, put the color i wanted and a random gem on top of the tunnel the dog found me in and cloaked them before he pulled me out" trixie replied, this made the exchange they just had a little odd when looking back at it. He wasn't really focused on her even if he was trying to save her, neither was the diamond dog. "Where could you have…" spike was about to ask but then trixie quickly interjected "i swiped them on the way out of here" all spike could do is nod to how genuinely clever that was to think of at the very last second. They finally reached outside of cave and then trixie said "Hey….. Thanks or whatever, i could have been dead" spike then shook his head and replied "it's just the right thing to do…" spike said with a level of uncertainty. "Be glad, you've saved a flawless mare from being killed by a giant brute!" she replied. This actually made spike let out a small chuckle for the first time in this whole mess. "Just so you know, name is spike not dragon" spike said and then she replied "finally you spoke up, i was waiting for you… spike" the dragon was perplexed by the meaning of that. "Ok, nice to meet your acquaintance… trixie" spike replied, putting a claw out for a handshake. She first looked at the claw with a sense of dismissal but then looking at the gem that he helped her acquire, she at least owed him a handshake. They finally locked claw and hoof and shook on their new comradery. They didn't even share an extra word before splitting up on their separate ways. "Now i need to actually buy sweets from the cakes from now one" spike groaned just remembering what he gave up. Why would he give up something that major for someone he barely knows?
