"He's inside the vault," Sand Briar declared, standing before the door. It was almost five times her size. She snarled a wordless complaint as Cutlass pushed past her. The unicorn's weapon sliced through the air and buried its cutting edge half an inch into the wood. The impact made a subdued thunk, the frame of the door not even twitching. This elicited a wordless, disgruntled curse from Cutlass.
"How did he get the keys?" Cutlass turned on the Storm Guards who were lumbering over. "You idiots are supposed to be carrying them with you at all times." The two guards scratched their heads, looked at one another, and shrugged.
"It doesn't matter." Ardent Bloom joined the group gathered around the vault door. She smirked. "His little prison break failed, and now he's trapped. Either he's going to come out on his own, or he can rot in there. It doesn't matter either way. He's done."
Cutlass beat her hooves against the study door and then backed away. She motioned for the two Storm Guards. "Get that open. Break it down if you have to." Nodding, the Guards hefted their ironshod clubs and started pummeling at the hinges.
Ardent Bloom, keeping to one side to stay out of the way of the violence inflicted on the door, leaned against the stone near the keyhole and spoke into it. "It was a nice try, Spike, but I've foiled far better attempts than this one." Two tubes popped into existence and Bloom took hold of them. One was a simple scroll tied off with a piece of string. The other was a glass vial that held a dancing green flame inside. Spiraling around the tube were glyphs etched into the glass itself. A stopper was fixed snugly into the tube's mouth, a similar string of symbols scored into the stopper.
"Once I send my letter, and word gets back to Equestria that we've got their little friendship princess, we're going to change the world." She closed her eyes. "Imagine it? The power and wealth of an entire nation backing our efforts to rid the world of the scourge of dragons. You and your kind will fall in line, or you'll simply cease to be." She opened her eyes, and the two tubes vanished in a flash of magic.
Ardent Bloom waited, and when she did not hear a reply from within, she guffawed. "No comebacks? Nothing to say. After all the thought you put into this rescue attempt, I'd have imagined you'd be smart enough to avoid getting cornered so easily." She glanced over at the sound of flapping wings as Nimbus touched down nearby.
"I have to wonder, boss," Nimbus said, his wings refusing to settle against his sides fully.
Ardent Bloom sighed. "Must you do so out loud?"
Nimbus ignored the insult and continued. "Why'd he run in there if he knew we'd catch up? He's got to know there's no way out of there, except through us."
The question hung in the air until Cutlass held up a hoof, halting the guard's hammering. "Hey, did anypony else hear that?"
Ardent Bloom, Nimbus, and Sand Briar moved closer to the door. They held their ears close to the wood. Bloom's face scrunched up as she strained to listen. Her eyes widened, and she leaped away from the door as though it had burned her, rapidly backing away. "Clag! Hock! Hurry up and break that down! We have to get in there now." From within, a low, guttural rumbling began to shake the floor, and the vault door rattled on its hinges.
Sand Briar backed away. "Um, boss..."
Cutlass and Nimbus quickly followed her lead with the Storm Guards on their heels. The pegasus took to the air and hovered above his compatriots. "Did he...Oh, feathers. He must have gotten into the growth potions!"
Ardent Bloom's ears flattened, and her mane prickled as a wave of invisible energy spilled from out of the keyhole and seams in the doorframe. She swallowed a growing lump of dread. "Uh, oh."
Something crashed into the other side of the iron-reinforced door. It cracked and buckled outwards. Iron screeched as a pin from the uppermost hinge popped out, bounced off the ground, and rolled to a stop against Bloom's hoof. Again, something rammed into the vault door, and the boom of the impact echoed throughout the cavern, sending a family of bats fleeing for the exit. A tremulous, bellowing roar vibrated the wood, and the hammered metal bracings of the door shuddered as shards of limestone rattled loose from the walls and ceiling.
All the Scales Collectors flinched and shielded their faces when a tremendous crash sent wood and iron splinters flying into their midst. Purple and green flames licked outwards from fractures in the door, and everyone hastily backed away even further. Then, all fell silent.
The ponies and their hired guards stood stiffly, visibly taut with anticipation as they listened intently. The three Abyssinians, netguns still at the ready, slunk closer with Grout close behind, but kept their distance. Their whiskers quivered, and the fur on the nape of their necks stood on end. The dust kicked up by the impacts began to settle.
Then there came a great soughing from inside the vault, like the inhalation of an enraged tornado. A gust of wind kicked up and tugged at manes and hairs, except the air was not moving from the ceiling to the ground as it had been. It was towards the splintered door.
"Look out!" Bloom screamed as she and the other ponies dove away.
With a mighty, rending roar and a burst of flame that showered the area with crushed rock, burnt wood, and twisted metal, an immense claw the size of one of the Storm Guards crashed through the remnants of the vault door. Another quickly followed it, and then a great dragon rammed its head, neck, and body through and into the main cavern. It took a large portion of the threshold with him. Purple flames licked at the edges of his body as green flames dribbled from his mouth and nostrils. This dragon was not the Spike that had been chased into the vault. This Spike was a mountain of muscle and scale. A beast of fangs, talons, and fire. His head scraped against the ceiling of the cave, knocking free a shower of stalactites. After he squeezed out of the vault room, he stood on all fours as a fully-grown dragon. The lavender of his scales had deepened into a royal shade, and his rounded spikes of adolescence had toughened fans with bony speartips jutting from the tips. When he tried to unfurl his wings, their spurs quickly brushed up against the ceiling of the cave. Spike growled a gravelly thrum, like the beginning of an earthquake, and cast an intense gaze down at Scale Collectors before him.
With a deep rumble, he opened his great maw and said, "I am Spike the Dragon, of Equestria. You kidnapped my parents. Prepare to fry."
"That's my number one assistant!" Twilight called out from her cage.
"That's our friend!" the other captured ponies shouted in unison.
"That's our son!" Flint and Scintilla yelled together.
"You idiots!" Ardent Bloom yelled to nopony in particular, picking herself off the floor. "Do something!" She yelped and ducked as Spike's massive tail swung towards her and the other Scale Collectors. The other ponies dove to the ground as the Abyssinians scurried away. The two Storm Guards were not as quick as their compatriots. With a dull thud, the pair of hulking guards was knocked backward and cracked their heads against the cave wall. Groaning, they slid down to the floor and lay in an unconscious heap.
As the remaining Collectors scrambled to regroup in the chaos caused by a colossal dragon suddenly bursting out of their vault, Spike took advantage of their momentary disorder. Striding over to the cages that held his parents, he grasped the bars of enchanted metal, one set in each claw, and squeezed. The bars bent easily, and he peeled them away from their weld points, opening up an entire half of each prison. Flint and Scintilla gingerly stepped out and immediately embraced each other. Then they turned their eyes, filled with adoration and amazement, to their son.
"Help round up my friends and the other dragons," Spike commanded in a powerful voice. His claws scraped across the ground, and a thick ring of keys landed at his father's feet.
"But they're ponies?" Flint declared loudly.
"They're my friends, Dad." There was a heavy pause that passed between the two dragons, but Flint finally nodded.
"Be careful, Spike," his mother pleaded, leaning against her mate for support.
Spike grinned, showing off rows of wickedly sharp teeth. "You stay safe, Mom," he corrected. He turned slowly towards the Collectors. They had used the precious few moments to assemble near their storage area, gathering the tools and weapons of their trade. "I've got this." Then, he charged their line.
"Stay here," Flint urged his mate. He scooped up the keys and, sparing no time, shuffled across the open chamber to the cage which held Twilight and the rest of Spike's pony friends. It took a few tense moments and almost a dozen attempts, but Flint soon had the cage door open.
Twilight was the first to climb out of the cage. She accomplished it with only a few stumbles and offered the dragon a tired, but grateful smile. "Thank you."
"I'm doing this because my son asked me too," the dragon remarked impassively, stepping away towards the dragon cages up on their ledge. "He says you're his friends, but this doesn't make you and me anything."
Twilight nodded. "I understand." She pointed at the keys he held. "But If you'll let us, we can all help."
Flint stopped and looked back at the alicorn. His jaw clenched as he thought for a moment. "Fine," he relented, separating some of the keys from the ring and tossing her half of them.
Twilight caught them with her magic and divided them against her friends. Together, they stumbled over to the other cages. One by one, they helped unlock the doors and offered to assist the dragons out of their prisons. None took their offer, moving away from the ponies as soon as they were free. When all of the captives were free, dragon and pony alike, they separately assembled at a safe distance away from the spectacular sight that was playing out on the other side of the cavern.
It was apparent these particular Scale Collectors had never before dared to tangle with a mature, and very angry, dragon. Sand Briar and Cutlass were throwing every poison dart they had, but none of them were able to pierce Spike's thickened scales. Nimbus was buzzing about, trying to harass and distract the dragon from above but the low ceiling hampered his maneuverability. At the same time, Serval and Scurf loaded a wheeled ballista as The Purrveyor and Ardent Bloom worked together to aim the oversized weapon. A quick swipe of his claws and Spike swatted the pegasus away like a fly. Nimbus landed on the two unconscious Storm Guards and opted to stay there. Now out of darts, Briar and Cutlass ran to help finish loading a massive spear into the ballista as Bloom fine-tuned her aim.
Spike barreled forward, roaring as he charged. The spear locked into place. The Purrveyor leaped aside as Ardent Bloom scowled and pulled the firing mechanism. There was an audible click followed by a twang, and the spear shot forward. The Collectors whooped with praise as the projectile cut through the air, declaring a narrow victory. It flew straight and true, right at Spike's chest. Until Spike, with the spear a moment from impact, twisted his head down and caught the weapon by its shaft in his fangs. He paused to hold it up for all to see and, with a contemptuous chomp, snapped it in half. Spike spat out a haft of wood and surged forward unimpeded. The Scale Collectors scattered as Spike demolished their ballista with one single stomp of his foot. Then he swung his neck around and smashed it those trying to flee. The four Collectors sailed through the air, bounced off the cave wall, and landed next to Nimbus. Spike swung around and leveled the living accommodations, furniture, and gear with several lashes of his tail. Then, except for a few groans, the cave grew silent.
The Storm Guards lay unconscious in a heap on the ground with the rest of the Scale Collectors. Of Scurf and Seraval, the pair having made a quick escape after setting the spear in the ballista, not a hair was seen. That left The Purrveyor and five ponies to cower beneath the heel of Spike's wrath. The dazed Purrveyor, Grout, and Sand Briar huddled together with Nimbus. Cutlass crouched with her back pressed against the stone of the cave walls, saber feebly held at the ready.
Only Ardent Bloom, regaining her hooves, stood up as Spike leaned down, the heat from his maw washing over the ponies.
"You want to squash me, don't you?" she mocked. "The big, brave dragon wants to crush one little pony because he's angry, am I right?" Spike did not answer, but his lips parted in a snarl, revealing fangs that would make a timberwolf quiver in fear.
"Go right ahead." Bloom took a step towards Spike. "Come on, then. Do it. Do it and prove to everyone that I'm right about dragons." She flippantly pushed a strand of her silver mane aside and matched Spike's sneer. "Prove to us that our choice to send you to Equestria was a failed experiment from the beginning."
Spike's snarl vanished, replaced by a quiet look of shock. He took a step away from Bloom. "Experiment? What are you talking about?"
Ardent Bloom sidled up closer. "Oh, you know," she coyly mocked. "The part about your life where we took your egg from your parents and handed it over to Princess Celestia. We wanted to know if a dragon, raised by ponies, would still act like a dragon. Nature versus nurture." "When the bets were called, I came down on the side of nurture." Then her expression changed as she looked Spike up and down to one of dismay and disappointment. "I guess we all lost."
She stopped close enough to him that, had she wished, Bloom could have reached out and touched Spike. "My parents were the ones who took your egg and sent it to Canterlot."
Twilight gasped. "But that can't be true. I was told--"
"Oh, don't give me that act, Princess," Bloom interrupted. "Your precious Celestia never knew about our little test. To her, that egg was just another orphan in need of saving." She turned her attention back to Spike. "Now and then, a Collector would travel to Equestria to check on your progress. At first, we were hopeful. I was hopeful. Your progress was very promising, at first." She turned to regard Twilight and her friends. "It seemed that, under the care of ponies who raised you as one of their own, your baser dragons instincts had been suppressed, if not replaced entirely."
"Monster!" Scintilla clung to her mate as Flint grit his teeth.
"You took our son and used him? Tried to force him into being something he isn't?"
"Of course we did," Ardent Bloom shot back. "You dragons give ponies no regard when it comes to your predatory young and destructive behaviors, so why shouldn't we try to do something about it?" She swept a hoof towards her fellow ponies behind her. "Cutlass was the first mate on a simple merchant ship that was trading between ports on the eastern coast. Then a pair of teenage dragons thought it would be funny to drop fireworks they had stolen onto the deck. Explosives. On a wooden ship. With cloth sails."
"The flames crept, the harder they laughed!" Cutlass yelled. "It was hilarious to them when the whole crew had to swim for shore after our ship sank beneath our hooves. There were sharks!"
"Grout's home was nice," the earth pony stated matter-of-factly. "Was," he emphasized. "Dragon's come. Make nest. Grout's family tried to talk. Dragons smashed home. Grout's family homeless. Have to live in hole."
"You see?" Ardent Bloom asked, her eyes growing wide and her breath quickening. "Nimbus' family lost their cloud home when migrating dragons flew right through it in the middle of the night as they slept, without a single thought to the ponies inside. There were severe injuries and, like Grout, they lost everything." Her voice grew softer. "And then there's Sand Briar."
"Stop it, boss," Briar requested, a grinding noise coming from her teeth.
"She lost more than a homestead or a lifestyle."
"Shut up, Bloom."
But Ardent Bloom paid her no attention. "Dragons were out in the countryside near her home. We never learned if they were looking for a migration route or what, but they made no effort to look out for those that already lived in the area." Sand Briar had shut her eyes tightly but made no further plea for Bloom to stop. So the unicorn continued.
"There was a little filly out playing like she had so many times before. She was a careful filly. She had to be because she knew that there were plants she wasn't ever supposed to touch." The air within the cavern seemed to drop several degrees. "You can imagine what the sight of several dragons would do to a filly. She ran away as fast as she could and wasn't looking where she was going." Bloom made a point of turning to look straight at Twilight. "You're well-read, Princess. Ever heard of a plant called wild licorice? Do you know what can happen if a panicked filly runs through a patch of vines, accidentally swallowing one or two seeds?"
Twilight covered her mouth to stifle whatever she was going to say, and instead nodded gravely.
Sand Briar sank to her knees. "She was only just starting to go to school, and she loved it," she moaned, biting back a sob as Ardent Bloom walked to her side and gave the mare a tender nuzzle.
Bloom whirled toward Spike. "Do you see now? The damage your kind does simply by existing in your way?"
Spike huffed, and a gout of green flame licked at the ceiling overhead. He clawed at the cave floor, tearing shallow furrows into the stone. "Those were accidents," he declared loudly. "All of them. You...you're a criminal, Ardent Bloom. Innocent dragons kidnapped and imprisoned. Treated like scum." His tail thumped against the cave floor.
" You've all tore apart families! I've lived my whole life thinking I was an orphan. You took me from my dragon family, and then you tried to take my pony family away from me too!" He arched his neck and howled, causing those nearby to clap paws and hooves over their ears to stem the volume. Stalactites snapped from the bases and fell to the floor in a rain of rock.
"I'll smash this place!" His thick tail lashed out and pulverized one of the few intact cages. "I don't care what stories you tell me; I'll find every last place you Scale Collectors live. I'll hunt down every one of you and make sure you feel the same pain they've caused for years." Then his blazing eyes locked once more on to the form of Ardent Bloom. The mare seemed to shrink a little beneath the luminous gaze, but there was nowhere to run or hide.
"And you!" he bellowed, fangs snapping shut like a bear trap. "You, and others just like you, are the worst. Thinking that we're lesser creatures simply because our ways are different. I'll...I'll..." Spike clenched his jaws tightly, shut his eyes, and shook his head furiously, as though he were trying to dislodge something from his head. When he opened his eyes, the pupils shrank to tiny dots engulfed in green flame. Spike roared, sending tremors through the floor, and he raised a claw. The talons were fully extended, pearly white and gleaming with deadly sharpness. He swung his arm downward, and all the ponies shut their eyes, except for two.
Twilight popped into existence in a shower of raspberry magic, right in front of a still-defiant Ardent Bloom as the claw descended. "Stop! Spike!" Twilight felt the rush of air as the appendage raced towards her and she flinched away, screwing her eyes shut against the sight of the shredding talons. There was a deafening crashing sound, but there were no screams or cries. The air calmed, and the onlookers opened their eyes.
Spike's outstretched talons were buried in the rock a mere breath away from his friend. "Twilight?" he breathed incredulously. He pulled his claw back. "Get out of the way."
"No." Twilight held her wings outstretched, shielding Ardent Bloom. "This isn't right. You know it isn't."
"Right or wrong, it's doesn't matter," Spike sneered. He blew a thick stream of smoke from his nostrils. "It's fair. It's justice." He leveled an accusatory talon at Bloom. "She deserves it. All like her deserve it or worse."
Twilight took a cautious step towards Spike, and then another. "I know that you're hurt. You're angry. So am I. We all are." She pointed at the dragon prisoners who had gathered together away from the ponies. "They hurt these dragons and many others, I'm sure." Then she pointed to her friends. "And they hurt ponies, too. They did it out of bitterness. They did because they think that they're right and the rest of us are wrong." She turned and narrowed her eyes at Ardent Bloom and her entourage. "But they're the ones who are wrong." From the sidelines, Applejack and Fluttershy trotted over to join Twilight.
"Some dragons might be bad apples, but you're not one of them."
Fluttershy gazed up at Spike with wide, pleading eyes. "Don't become what they think you are."
"The noble hero is a merciful hero, Spike," Rarity added as she and Rainbow Dash took up positions next to the dragon.
"You have to stay true to your feelings, and you know what's right."
Pinkie joined in with a warming grin on her face. "A rescue party is much better when you can smile at the choices you made."
Twilight turned to Spike's parents, who had inched closer to their son but still kept a safe distance from the ponies. "Please," she pleaded to them. "Help us."
Flint and Scintilla hesitated. They looked to one another and then to the Scale Collectors, which Spike's friends were shielding. Flint's eyes darted back to his fellow prisoners, his gaze hardening when they took in the dragons' thin frames and dull eyes. He strode forward, Scintilla in tow, but when he reached the Collectors, he noticed something.
Fear. They were all afraid. Some even looked like they might feel a twinge of regret. Ardent Bloom still looked firm in her stance, but Flint could not help but feel his resolve soften at the pleading expression of Twilight and her friends.
"Spike," Flint began, turning to look up at his son. "I want to see the Collectors hurt as much as you do. I want them to pay." He ground a fist into an open claw. "I want them to feel every injury they caused us all these years." Then he held open his arms. "But not like this."
Scintilla stepped up next to her mate, "This isn't the way, son. I can see it in you. You're a brave dragon, but you have a kind heart. You're better than those who tore us apart. I don't know that I would have that strength if I were in your place. But," she added with a beaming smile, "you're a better dragon than we could ever be."
Flint put an arm around his mate. "You've shown everyone that a real dragon is strong enough to protect himself, his family, and friends. Now prove that a real dragon is also strong enough to be the better creature."
Spike gritted his teeth and snorted more smoke. He looked at his parents and friends for a long minute, and then to the remaining Collectors. "Stand up and face me," he commanded.
Grout, Nimbus, Sand Briar, and The Purrveyor detached themselves from each other. Grout shuffled forward a bit with his head hung low. "Spare Grout. Spare friends. We do anything." He looked around rapidly for support. "Right?"
Ardent Bloom lashed out. "Never!" She gestured grandly at the demolished base. "You think this was all the Scale Collectors had at our disposal? Fool." She gestured grandly. "This was just one of many holding pens for our...less important guests. There are more of us. There will always be more of us. I won't--" Furred paws appeared and clapped itself over Bloom's mouth and horn, stifling any further comment.
"Anything you want," the Abyssinian meowed.
"Yep. Anything at all," Sand Briar added.
Cutlass stood silent but nodded and put her saber back into its sheath.
"There's only one thing I want you to do." Spike leaned forward, over the heads of his parents and friends. "Run, and keep running. Don't stop until you reach the ocean. And tell every Scale Collector you see that the word is spreading about their lies and cruelty."
Twilight turned and, looking past Bloom, leveled her gaze on the other Scale Collectors. "All of us will be watching."
"Tell them to release all of their prisoners now," Spike continued. "Tell them that I am going to be watching for them myself. And if I hear one word about a dragon going missing, I might forget what it means to be the better creature." He reared back. "Now...SCRAM!"
En masse, the Scale Collectors, with Ardent Bloom struggling under the firm arm of The Purrveyor, scrambled out from under the threat of Spike and hastily made for the exit. It was then that the two Storm Guards regained their senses. They looked around and noticed the absence of backup, and the presence of a giant, seething dragon. With panicked howls, the pair dashed for the cave opening, managing to outpace their employers in their rush to escape.
A chorus of subdued whoops and cheers went up from the assembly of ponies and dragons. High-fives, hoofbumps, and celebratory flickers of weak flame went up in jubilant accord. Friends, family, and freed prisoners alike rushed to Spike, offering him congratulations and praise.
Spike grinned toothily. He opened his mouth to speak, but instead of words, an enormous belch blasted forth. Purple flames flickered out of his mouth and nostrils, flowing out and around his head. They coalesced and twisted into a spiraling ribbon of fiery magic, swirling downwards after encircling his neck. The ponies and dragons quickly stepped away from the spectacle as the magic flames wound around Spike's body, encasing it in undulating waves. Then, the flaming cocoon began to shrink. The great dragon's muscular frame and broad wings collapsed in on themselves.
Further and further, the reduction went until Spike was but a pony-sized ball of purple flames that slowly drifted to the floor. With a final flash of magic, the fires scattered in the aether and, in their place, stood Spike in his natural, fun-sized proportions. He teetered on his feet and fell over.
"Son!" Flint ran to his boy's side with Scintilla close behind. He knelt over Spike. "Are you okay?"
"I feel...a little...funny," Spike wheezed. "HicURP!" A tiny breath of purple flame escaped his lips and fled before disappearing. "Woah. That was...different."
"My boy." Scintilla scooped her son up into her arms and held him tightly. They stayed like that for some time as Flint checked on the condition of the other prisoners. The dragons did not speak to Twilight or the other ponies, but they each gave Spike their thanks before filling up a sack up gemstones as provisions and setting out on their own.
When the last of them had departed, Twilight called Spike over. "Will they be able to get back to their homes on their own?"
"Yeah. They're dragons." He flexed his muscles, which were substantially less impressive than they had been just hours ago. "We're a tough bunch."
Twilight chuckled and gave his spikes a good-natured tussle. "You certainly are."
"What about Ardent Bloom?" Pinkie wondered aloud, meandering over to the pair with the rest of the ponies. "She doesn't seem like the kind of pony to leave something unfinished."
Spike pondered for a moment. "There's enough dragons out now that can spread the word about her and the Scale Collectors. They'll keep a lookout." He looked over at the cave exit. "She's got time now to think about what she's done." He shrugged. "Maybe she'll change her mind about dragons one day."
"I certainly hope so," Fluttershy said.
Flint crossed his arms. "I don't agree with just letting them go." Then he looked down at Spike and nodded. "But I trust my boy's judgment."
Applejack tipped her hat to the two older dragons. "That's mighty big of y' all, after all that's happened."
"Now I see where Spike's good judgment comes from," Rarity complimented. "Oh!" she exclaimed as Spike wobbled on his feet. "Are you feeling alright, dear?"
The little dragon, feeling faint, reached out for support. His parents' claws were there to hold him steady. "Just really, really tired. All that growing and shrinking really takes it out of a guy." He looked up at his family. "Can we go home now, Mom and Dad?"
"We sure can, son," his mother answered tenderly. She scooped him up, set him upon her shoulders, and led the way out into the sunlight.