//------------------------------// // Episode 36: Diamondback Investigates // Story: The Drake Six // by JNKing //------------------------------// Spike was so depressed he didn’t even have it in him to eat fire rubies.  Twilight had offered him one as a way to cheer him up, but how could he have any cheer? Thanks to him, Night Fire and a guard had been put in danger, a tavern had been blown up, and he still wasn’t any closer to finding out how Starlight was going to take revenge.  All he could do was look after Twilight, and even that was losing its charm fast. The most exciting thing they had done so far was help Princess Luna, and that had all been in dreams.  It was becoming more and more clear that Twilight had nothing to fear from Ponyville itself. The main threat lay with Starlight Glimmer; wherever the heck she was. “Spikey,” a voice sang, snapping Spike out of his thoughts. For a split second, he thought it was Rarity. However, he quickly realized it was Diamondback; the size and scales an obvious giveaway.  “Oh, hey, DB,” Spike said, offering her the fire ruby he had been mulling over. “You want it? I’m not exactly hungry.”  Diamondback gently lowered his offering hand. “I’ve got something much better,” she said, before raising another talon to his eyelids. “Close your eyes.”  Spike did as he was told, unsure what she was going for. A ruffle of cloth reached his ears, before… “Okay, open them.”  Spike did so, but had to blink again.  Diamondback was garbed in a large leather duster tied together with purple ribbons. A similar purple scarf adorned her neck, and she wore a black fedora with a purple wraparound, adorned with a white rose.  She did a small twirl and tipped the hat. “Rarity had it specially designed just for me,” she said happily. “Of course, she was making a new Femme Mystique Chic line of gowns, but only the finest seamstress in Equestria can get something that magnificent in my size.”  Spike’s face struggled not to deflate in disappointment. “Oh… kay? And this is important… why?”  “Well,” Diamondback said, struggling to hide her own disappointment. “She based this line off her favorite character, Shadow Spade. Do you know what Shadow Spade did, darling?”  Spike gazed blankly at her, trying not to look irritated. “No.”  “Neither do I,” Diamondback admitted, “But from what I can gather, she’s some sort of detective. And being in these garments is making me feel… investigative.”  Spike tilted his head. “Huh?”  Diamondback sighed, and grabbed him. “Just come along, darling.”  “Wait, what about…?” he almost said, ‘Twilight,’ but then remembered how the most threatening thing that had come near her was Moon Dancer, a pony that was mainly sad Twilight had forgotten about her.  Diamondback sweetened the pot even further with a snap of her talons. “Darius, dear!”  One of her diamond dogs sprang out of the ground with a salute. “Ma’am, yes, ma’am.”  “Be a darling and keep an eye on Princess Twilight for me and Spike, will you,” Diamondback said. “We have a meeting with another powerful unicorn mare to keep.”  “Right away, ma’am,” Darius responded, taking Spike’s place guarding Twilight’s room.  Spike followed Diamondback with uncertainty. “Another powerful unicorn mare. You don’t mean…” “But of course I do, darling,” Diamondback insisted. “The outskirts are outside Equestrian jurisdiction, which means it’s up to us to see where Starlight went, and what she’s planning to do.”  Spike’s eyes widened, and he eagerly followed after Diamondback. ## Spike’s hopes started to crumble as they reached the ruins of the tavern. “How are we supposed to find anything here?” Spike asked as he nudged aside burnt pieces of wood and overturned tables. “Anything of value was probably lifted by looters the second the Princesses left.”  Diamondback merely smirked as she traveled down a secret passageway - no doubt the same one the griffons had led Night Fire down. “Not all treasure is in silver and gold, darling. I thought you learned that lesson with me a long time ago.”  “Well, yeah, but…” Spike was cut off as Diamondback lifted a talon, hushing him.  Watching in intrigue, Spike saw Diamondback pick out a burnt feather. Probably from one of the griffon mercenaries. To his surprise, she ran the feather under her chin, sniffed at it, and even licked it.  Not exactly the behavior he expected from such a prim and proper dragoness. “Sparrow heritage,” Diamondback declared, “With a hint of lion fur. This griffon was part sparrow and part lion.” She hummed. “Interesting combination.”  “Okay, but what does that have to do with Starlight?” Spike asked.  Diamondback smirked. “Not much, but lions are the only felines that live in groups, which means they are also one of the few to recognize family as potential treasures.” She held up the feather. “We find a family of griffons with this type of plumage… we can draw their parent to us.” Spike’s eyes widened. “And if that parent is still with Starlight… he can tell us where she’s at.”  Diamondback’s grin widened. “Precisely.”  ## It still took an agonizingly long time to find the right match. Though Griffonstone was still heavily populated with griffons, Spike feared there were plenty more that would be impossible to trace.  Luckily, Diamondback was gifted in more than just fire. Returning to her dragon’s horde, she rifled through the various treasures that she had, before producing a strange pool of reflecting water. Placing the feather into the pool revealed an image of easily the roughest looking sparrow Spike had ever seen.  After another search that felt like it went on for far too long, the two were eventually rewarded with the sight of a nest that had a young sparrow-lion griffon testing his wings, as a concerned looking mother hen griffon watched on.  Her look of concern only grew as Diamondback and Spike touched down outside her nest.  “Good evening, madam,” Diamondback said cheerily, “We were hoping for a meeting with your mate.”  “He ain’t here,” was her curt and blunt reply. Spike seethed at her rudeness, but Diamondback merely smiled. “We’re happy to wait until he returns.”  “This ain’t no inn,” the griffon hissed, pulling her chick behind her. “I ain’t paying my bits to feed some lizard freeloaders.”  Spike stepped forward, but Diamondback put a hand in front of him. A silent ‘wait.’ “Then your mate better return fast.” Her voice got dangerously quiet, and she removed her hand.  Spike got her meaning. Already he could see fear entering the griffon’s eyes. Her wings starting to spread.  Spike shot forward before she could take flight. With his larger weight, he tackled her to the ground, wrenching her wings back in a sort of arm bar.  “MOMMY!” the chick wailed, before Diamondback similarly caught the little guy by the head.  “None of that, young one,” Diamondback said, her voice more of a lion’s purr. She turned to the mother hen, whom Spike had thoroughly subdued. “Send a message to your mate.”  The hen snapped at Spike, but his scales held up. “He’s not here. He’ll never come back! Griffons don’t care about anything but bits!”  “Let’s test that theory,” Diamondback replied, pulling out the feather in the reflecting pool again. She held it up to the young one’s face. “Say hello to Daddy, sweet one.”  The chick quivered in Diamondback’s grip. “H-Hello to Daddy… s-sweet one.”  “Excellent,” Diamondback praised. “Tell him you miss him and want him home.”  “I-I miss you,” the chick said. “A-And… want you home.”  “Very good.” Diamondback sat down.  “What now?” Spike asked, struggling to keep the griffon hen under control.  “Now we wait,” Diamondback replied. “If that reflecting pool works the way I was told it did, it will have sent a message to our mercenary friend. And if he works the way his heritage commands him to, he’ll be back to tend to his treasures soon enough.”  “Never,” the hen hissed. “He’d never fall for such a trick.”  Diamondback’s grin didn’t fade. “We’ll see.”  ## For too long, they waited. Spike was half convinced that the hen was right. Griffons didn’t care about families. They were nothing but greedy birds.  The thought made him angry. Made him want to twist the wings of the hen. See how long they lasted before… Spike paused. “Whoa, where did that come from?”  After all, it wasn’t the griffon’s fault. They were just pawns in this whole scheme. It was Starlight; that lousy stuck up horn head. Stealing the cutie mark off Twilight? His Twilight?  She is gonna pay when I find her, Spike found himself vowing. She’ll learn never to go after my treasures again! Diamondback shifted, and for a moment, Spike thought she might have been reading his thoughts. But her gaze was on something behind him. “Just as I thought.”  Spike turned and saw a griffon with the sparrow’s plumage soaring down towards them. Anger had twisted his eyes, and he was cawing in outrage at the two dragons on his property.  Diamondback matched his gaze with a grin… and let the chick go. As the chick flew for its father, the mercenary slowed up, reaching for his chick.  But in his moment of distraction, Diamondback nodded to Spike. And Spike leaped off the mother hen and tackled the father griffon to the ground.  The hen reared up with another squawk, but Diamondback was faster, snatching her right back up, while one of her diamond dogs burst out of the ground and held the chick back. With the family out of the way, Spike was able to wrestle the griffon mercenary to the ground. “There we go,” Diamondback said, striding up to the griffon. “Now, I hate to be a barbarian here, but we need some information.”  “Go to Tartarus,” the griffon spat. “You think I’ll help you, after you attacked my fa…” He paused. “M-My… my treasures?!”  “Your boss is attacking our family,” Spike snarled back. “Our treasures. We know you accepted the deal from Starlight Glimmer.”  The griffon twisted to glare at Spike. “That stupid horse? She has a job she needed doing, and she’ll pay us after.”  “And what is that job?” Diamondback asked, stroking the head of the griffon’s mate in a very ominous fashion.  To his credit, the griffon resisted. “No! No, I ain’t… I ain’t telling you jack!”  “Name’s not Jack,” the Diamond Dog noted.  But Spike was in no mood for jokes. His grip on the griffon’s head tightened. “Tell us what she’s planning, or we’ll clip your chick’s wings.”  Diamondback blinked up at Spike - to his credit, even he was shocked at what he said. But it did make the griffons freeze up.  “You wouldn’t dare!” the hen hissed.  “Diamondback?” the diamond dog asked.  Diamondback stared at Spike for a long time. She looked very uncertain. But as the griffon started to smirk - sensing weakness - Diamondback growled, and nodded to the diamond dog.  Reluctantly, the canine gripped the chick’s wings.  “Daddy?” the chick stammered as the diamond dog reluctantly started to twist.  “NO-NO-NO!” the griffon yelled. “Don’t…” The diamond dog stopped. But Spike couldn’t let them show weakness.  “Tell us what Starlight Glimmer is planning,” he growled. “NOW!”  The griffon gave a tortured look to his child, and then to his mate, who squirmed pitifully in Diamondback’s grip. He hung his head.  “Starlight’s planning to rob some kind of storage facility,” he said. “It houses a bunch of magic items. Unicorn made artifacts.” Spike’s eyes narrowed. He and Twilight knew of such a place. “Starswirl the Bearded’s personal collection of artifacts.”  The griffon nodded. “We help her out, we get access to some of those artifacts.” He glared at Diamondback. “You of all creatures should know how valuable treasures like that are.”  Diamondback wasn’t smiling for once. “Indeed,” she said. “It would be… a very hard offer to pass up.”  The griffon looked down. “And now, she’ll probably cut me out of the deal for blabbing.”  Spike nodded to the diamond dog, who released the chick. “Instead of focusing on what you could get,” Spike said, stepping off the griffon so he could embrace his child. “Focus instead on what you already have.”  The griffon didn’t respond, shielding his chick from them with his wings. Diamondback similarly released his mate, and together, the two dragons and their diamond dog helper left the griffons in peace.  “I…” Diamondback mumbled. “I had hoped that would be more of a triumph.” She shuddered. “I didn’t think holding a child hostage would be that… barbaric.”  Part of Spike wanted to agree with her. That whole interrogation had made him feel… wrong. Disgusting. No better than Tirek or Sombra.  But the other half was roaring in triumph. They knew Starlight’s next move. They could prepare against her.  And when she came in, hoping to use Starswirl’s genius to get revenge… she’d find Spike waiting for her.  And he’d show her what revenge was really all about.