Revenge
Spike sat quietly in Ponyville park with his prized ruby dragon sculpture in one hand, and a small filer in the other, concentrating humorlessly on the details of the dragon's fangs he was making. It was a warmer day in small town, with naught but the warm rays of the rising sun and stray, early bird ponies making their ways to work to keep him company.
However, the dragon's hands were on auto-pilot, his mind was elsewhere. Somewhere he never liked to go, but always found himself being regardless. Those days where one just thought about all the stupid things they had done? The times they'd wished they could take back or done something different?
Yea, it was one of those days.
It was typically depressing at first, remembering the disappointment he'd felt in himself for his mistakes. Like: when he had become competitive with Owlicious out of an irrational fear of the avian replacing him as her assistant, or when he'd offered to watch all six of the girls' pets for gems as payment, only to unload them onto the Cutie Mark Crusaders so he could do what he really wanted. Or worse, the time he'd become greedy and grown to a brainless drake who almost destroyed the whole town.
Bad decisions weren't the only things his memories cursed him with when he practiced his craft. The teeth gritting instances where he was unable to do anything were also previlant, Like when his friends went to face off against foes like Discord and Nightmare Moon, while banishing him to stay behind for his own safety. Or Mac saving him from that wild and crazy mountain goat... or was it a sheep?
But the depression always gave way to anger when the moments of humiliation hit. Twilight continually telling him what to do, the girls laughing at him for wearing a pink apron. Him forgetting to clean Pee Wee's cage for a day and being reminded, in unnecessarily gross detail, how the phoenix's living conditions could deteriorate if continually neglected.
But by far the worst was the Diamond Dog incident. Any time he thought about those gruff and ill manner canines it made his blood boil. Not because of their ill toned mannerisms or even the fact they had taken Rarity, but how easily they had dismissed his attempts to protect her.
Oh sure, he had managed to do some degree of delay, stepping on their tails and grabbing one of their legs to hold them in place. But that was because they weren't taking him seriously... Just like everypony else. Even when the greatest object of his affection was in danger, he could only hold her attackers back due to the dogs own arrogance, and even that didn't last long.
His claw tightened around the chisels, the pressure on the sculptures mouth becoming dangerously close to breaking its jaw.
Useless, weak, dismissible. That's what he saw in himself back then. His intellect counted for little and his bravery even less. Hay, even his attempt to join the dragon migration reminded him of how puny he was.
That was the second worst incident.
He came back to his senses when he noticed just how much pressure he was putting into his craft. The symmetry between the sculptures bottom and top teeth was permanently ruined due to his emotionally filled butchery. But, he didn't care, he was just glad that was the worst he'd done. Gem carving always let his mind wonder to places he'd rather not go to, and many a projects had suffered as a result. At least this one was salvage-able.
Deciding to handle a more broad section, the untouched tail spines he sighed and turned his attention. Still, his mind wondered to a darker place, a place he was conflicted about, but still one he relatively enjoyed going to.
His body wasn't the chubby cheeked, baby bellied hatchling he used to be. Now he was stronger. Able to hold his own with Mac in a hoof wrestling match. bigger, almost able to look Princess Celestia herself in the eye, and endured. Walking the plains, running the valleys, climbing the hills and descending the canyons had strengthened his body, sharpened his mind and reflexes, and best of all, desensitized him to show little fear.
That day he'd fought and beaten the minotaur youngling, something in him came to life. A fire, the end of being pushed around. Leaving Ponyville had liberated him, but that fight had awakened him.
He was bigger and stronger, and he wanted revenge.
The dragons were likely gone from the Lava Pools, the migration had taken them there a while ago, no telling where they went back to. But he'd see them again the next century at the latest.
However, the Diamond Dogs weren't that far away...
Spike's mouth drew to a small smile.
He remembered they owed him an apology for that little incident. Oh they may have apologized to Rarity for ponynapping her, but not to him for the humiliation he'd endured. And now, since he had nothing better to do, and no where to go, why not take care of business? Sin may have taught him the ways of non-aggression, but what the stallion (and mares in town) didn't know, wouldn't hurt them.
His smile grew to a grin as he thought about what he was going to do to those mutts. The humours ways he was going to push them around, how he'd have them begging for forgiveness before he was through. It would finally leave his shame at peace and restore the masculinity he'd lost that day.
"Hey Spike!" A scratchy voice in front of him called, breaking the dragon from his trance. He looked up to see one Rainbow Dash looking down at him with concern. "You alright, dude?"
"Fine." He replied, his voice a bit darker than intended. "Uh sorry. I'm fine, what's going on?"
Rainbow cleared her throat. "You had that look on your face, what's going on?"
"Just thinkin'." He replied nonchalantly.
"About Twilight?"
"Hmmm?"
"Well," the mare rubbed the back of her neck. "I stopped by Applejack's this morning. She was telling me about what happened after the party, you know about how Mac left and how you seemed rather-" She paused for the right word. "frustrated."
"Frustrated huh." Yea, that was a good word for it.
"Wanna talk about it? I mean, I'm not really good with the emotional stuff, but talking can help."
"Talk to you?" Spike quirked a brow.
"I'm not Twilight, Spike. I'm not gonna judge you or anything like that." She shrugged.
Maybe talking to her would help? But he had a question first. "You know it's only about seven in the morning right? Since when do you wake up so early?"
"Who said I went to sleep?" Her eyes gave a mischievous gleam before she noticed the sculpture. "Woah, that's pretty cool." She complimented. Spike observed the near complete ruby dragon for a moment than offered it to the pegasus. Who inspected the thing with wondrous eyes.
The purple dragon did have to take pride in it, most of his other projects had ended with him giving cracks or the gem just not "doing what he wanted". But this one, this one was going to be the first he'd ever completed. Add to that the fact that never once had he seen anypony attempt to make a jewel into such an advanced sculpture, curtisy of most his free time spent practicing, and not only would it be beautiful, but one of a kind.
The pony handed the trinket back with a low whistle. "Man, I've never seen anything like that before. How long did it take you to make it?"
Spike pressed his lips trying to remember. "I think it was... three weeks ago?"
"NO WAY!" Rainbow interjected, "Three weeks?! How can you even concentrate for that long?" She gave a groan at just the thought of the arduous task. To be fair, the actual hard part was making a hole in the gem while not shattering or cracking it. His earliest projects were full of those failures, but at least the gems intrisic value wasn't lost upon his stomach and taste buds.
Though the differences between the two were clear: He liked the calmer and more and more mentally challenging activities, while she was a dare devil with a thrill for ariel acrobatics. Apples and oranges really.
"Sorry." Cyan mare blushed before digressing to the original topic.
"Yea, frustrated." The drake repeated. "I just want to be allowed to grow up a bit. Get a job, get my own place, have a freaking bed for Celestia's sake." He drew a claw past his forehead. "Is that too much to ask?"
"Tired of being treated like a kid, huh?"
"Yea, a bit. I know the whole caring and love thing, Luna knows I've heard it every day, but that's not good enough." Wait a minute, what was he thinking about before? It was something that made him feel really excited, and he was about to go do it. Crap.
Dash placed a comforting hoof on Spike's shoulder. "I know it can be hard to change, and have people accept you after it..." 'Oh yay, here we go with this speech.'
Rainbow continued to talk, but he didn't listen. He was concentrating on what he was thinking about before she'd interrupted him. C'mon Spike think, what was it? Oh yea, those diamond dogs. Where were they again? Out by the old mines right? Yea, yea they're there. Now, how am I going to get back at them?
For some reason, his mind was blank in terms of an actual plan. He just wanted to hurt them, he just wanted to make them feel the shame and humiliation that he had. How didn't matter, only the act. Why was he still here? This was a waste of time.
"Hey Rainbow." Spike interjected, silencing the pegasus. "I don't mean to be rude, but I have some stuff I need to take care of."
"Stuff?"
"Yea." The dragon pushed himself from the bench and cracked his neck. "I'll be back later." And with that, Spike placed his carving into the bag under his cloak and began walking in the direction of the old mines outside of town, determination in his eyes.
"Hey woah there big guy." Apparently the speedster wasn't done with him yet. "You just got back. what exactly do you need to do?"
Spike looked down at her with blank eyes than gently pushed past. "Just need to pay a visit to some old friends." He said with an involuntary menacing smirk.
Rainbow didn't reply, but he didn't care. The frustration in him told him that she could wait, now he was on a mission.
The walk through the town was quiet enough. Most residence were too busy setting up shops or carts to pay him any mind, and he made it to the outskirts of town with no real incident. Now, it was just a matter of finding the holes.
After a good half hour of searching, he finally found the area where Rarity had been taken all that time ago.
The scene played over and over in Spikes head. How the dogs had picked her up and dragged her down into their den, himself stuck on a tree branch by the spines on his head, and the frightful look on her face as she begged and pleaded for him to save her.
His claws drew into fists and his eyes narrowed. He was going to enjoy this far more than he should.
As the dragon approached the first hole a sudden pang of doubt hit him from the sight of how big it was.
Deliberately, he drew his crossbow from his bag and studied it for a moment.
No.
He shook his head and replaced it. He wouldn't kill them, he was no murderer. But who knows? He might need it. What if he still wasn't strong enough to take them all on? What if they ganged up on him? This weapons was supposed to be the great equalizer between a group and an individual.
He pulled the bow out and strung the main string, along with the quick load and placed to bolts in the proper positions. Sin's voice echoed in the dragons head, advising him against the practice of having the bow loaded and not using proper safety handling, but this was a chance worth taking. It could save his life.
With a steeling breath, Spike looked down the darkened hole. There was a chance he could get lost, or that the dogs had abandoned the mine a while ago. Well, he could probably sit here all day and think of reasons not to go down there, but he jumped in anyway.
No turning back now.
He didn't fall long before his feet made contact with the cold earth at a downward incline. Once nothing had attacked him, he grabbed a torch from his sack and blew a flame to give illumination.
Aside from it being cold, it was just how he remembered. Just a dark tunnel made up dirt and stone. So he began walking, if he was right, he'd come to a hollowed out cavern where he would climb into the lowest tunnel and find the primary den.
Cautiously, he began his decent. Making constant note of how far the entrance was. As he walked, he came across various forks that only served to annoy him and wast time. Grudgingly, he needed a way to make which way he'd come in from, and sacrificed some pieces of parchment to serve as his guide.
After walking for what felt like hours, he finally came to the open cavern. His heartbeat accelerated in both anticipation and angst as he he heard annoying and scratchy voices arguing from within. He killed fire and slowly crept to the sound. After a winding turn, a dim glow of green illuminated his path forward.
Spike's breath became shallow as he slowly crept onward, finally, he looked on and saw two of the three dogs he was looking for. The smaller runt, and the bigger pug. But not their mid sized leader...
"We already looks there!" The shorter of the two barked, his associated shrinking away in fright.
"Um, okay, well we could digs over there?"
The smaller canine slammed his oversize paw to his face. "Fido, I is gonna... There are no's gems that way!"
Fido flinched away again. Spike almost felt an ounce of sympathy for the dog. Yet, at the same time, disgust. He was bigger than his friend, why was he shying away?
Irrelevant. He wasn't here to listen to them bicker.
"Hey!"
"Wha?"
"What?"
Fido looked down at the other dog confused. "What is it, Spot?"
"Spot no say anything."
"Hey!" The two looked to find Spike with his arms folded and an unamused expression. The two canim gave an incredulous and unsure look. "Remember me?"
"What? We do not know you." Spot said said furrowing his brow, trying to get a better gimps of the intruders features.
Spike smirked and placed his arms to his sides, blowing a small puff of green smoke, giving light to his sadistic smirk "Well then, allow me to remind you..."