//------------------------------//
// Departure 
// Story: Ol' Buddy Ol' Pal 
// by Cosmonaut 
//------------------------------//


There was only one reliable spot around Ponyville to find gemstones and that was south of town in an old quarry. Initially there was some anxiety about heading there for a free lunch with the Diamond Dogs hanging around about, but with Flarehook coming Spike assured everyone there was nothing to worry about. Even Dash tagged along when she found out Pinkie and Rarity decided to go, but she hung in the back eyeing Flarehook and keeping her mouth shut.
“Diamond Dogs huh?” mused Flarehook. “Never heard of these crackpots, what’s their angle? They just dig around for gems all day?”
Spike nodded his head. “I don’t think they eat them Hook, and they don’t sell them. I didn’t ask last time I was here.”
Rarity spoke up. “I assume they spend their days looking at them, they aren’t particularly bright canines. I should know, I’ve handled them before,” she was trotting next to the orange dragon, happy that he had promised to drag a cartload of gemstones back to her shop in exchange for helping to find them.
“You dealt with those dogs?” he snorted in amusement. “Sounds like they got no spines in ‘em. Shouldn’t be a problem Miss Rarity.”
The heavy iron cart latched to his tail hit a bump in the path and threw up a stray rock, clocking Rainbow Dash right in the face.
“OW! Watch where you’re going with that stupid thing!” she spat rubbing her eye.
“I’m walkin’ straight on the path, maybe you’d like to lead the way huh slick?” he smiled. “Unless you’re worried someones gonna bar b’que your behind.”
“I LOVE barbecues!” piped up Pinkie Pie. “Barbecues are the greatest kind of outdoor parties except for the bugs because then all the cakes get buggy and nopony wants to eat a buggy cake but I pick them out because they’re still good and then it’s just a waste of a cake and HONESTLY who in in their right mind would waste a perfectly good cake like that over some itsy bitys buggys?”
Flarehook cast a worried look to Spike. “Is she okay?”
“Yeah! That’s just Pinkie Pie! She’s always like this,” he giggled. “All she does is party and eat cakes.”
“Cakes huh?” mused Flarehook licking his chops. “I bet you're just the sweetest little pony ever.”
Pinkie laughed, missing the morbid implication entirely, “You’re a funny dragon Hooky!”
“Funny? Most of my time I’m turnin’ awesome levels up to eleven. I was the class clown back during my time in the speedsters and did my coach hate-”
“You were NOT in the speedsters!” interjected Dash flying to his side. “I was in the speedsters and I DON’T recall your big orange butt anywhere on the fields or grad walls.”
“Right on the bits slick, I wasn’t in the pony speedsters. Us dragons would just make it too hard for you ponies to keep up, so we get our own specialized flight schools. You wouldn’t last ten seconds on our courses.”
“Would too! I can handle anything.”
He laughed again. “Ya think so huh? Alright hot shot, how many erupting volcanoes can you fly through in a row?”
“I bet the Wonderbolts could beat your stupid race course...” grumbled Dash.
“Wrong again slick! Go ahead and even try to mention the Draconic Speedway to that group and watch ‘em split! Wonderbolts? More like I wonder where they bolted off to!”
“SHHHHHH!” hushed Twilight as they approached the quarry. “The Diamond Dogs are out.”
Peeking over the small ridge turning into the quarry they spotted the three lead dogs digging around the clearing, precious stones stuffed in their vest pockets. Wide craters dotted the ground around a small pile of glittering jewels sitting in the middle.
“That looks delicious!” drooled Spike. “All those emeralds...I can’t wait to eat some.”
A mischievous smile spread across Flarehooks face. “Hey ponies, hows a dinner and a show sound huh? Get over here, I have an idea...”


***


“RUFF! Need more gems! Stupid pony and her greedy friends,” gruffed Spot, the smallest dog.
“Next time we get earplugs to stop the whining and get more diamonds!” grunted Rover, the leader.
“Yess!” agreed Fido, the largest. “We will get her and...hey! It is the little dragon.”
Spike was nonchalantly strolling through the pack of dogs. He walked right up to the gem pile and took a bite out of the biggest ruby there.
“WHAT!? You little lizard those gemstones are MINE!”
        Spike leapt over one of the dogs that tried pouncing him. “HOOK! GET IN HERE NOW!”
With unexpected grace Flarehook somersaulted over the ridge, landing in the clearing. He roared and shot a bright orange stream of fire into the air.
“AGH! Big dragon here now! Grab gems and lets go!”
The dogs were rushing back down their holes again, but he was ready thanks to an idea from Twilight. He stuck his head down the hole and let loose another searing stream of flame.
“YEOUCH!” Spot yelped, leaping out an opposite hole clutching his singed rear. The stones he held scattered in the air and he fled down another. Distracted by the one dog, Rover took the moment to launch a diamond at the back of Flarehooks head.
“Sneaky little mutt!” yelled Flarehook as he turned his gaze to the offending thrower. In a swift motion he removed the black chain from his neck and threw it after the fleeing dog.
“Gotcha! Hey ponies, come on out! Everythings under control here!” he said reeling in the caught dog, wrapping the chain around his hooked tail as he brought up the leader.
“P-P-Pleeeeeaaaase! Don’t eat meeee! I don’t even taste that good!” pined Rover as he dangled in front of the orange dragon. The silver hook had snagged a hole in the back of his vest and he was helplessly struggling in the air.
“Eatin’ you would probably give me indigestion,” he growled, blowing smoke in the dogs face “however your gemstones would make a pretty good lunch considerin’ your past problems with my good friends here.”
“No! These are MY gems!”
“Either ya go down that hole or this one chump,” Flarehook said gesturing to his mouth. “Cough up those gems? It’s a good deal.”
“NEVER!”
“Goin’ once...”
“Alright...half!”
“Goin’ twice...”
“OKAY OKAY OKAAAAY! You win just pleeeeeaaaase don’t eat me!”
Flarehook cracked a toothy smile. “Glad we could work somethin’ out dog,” he unceremoniously tossed him into the hole. “Now amscray!” 
Spike walked over with a handful of gems he’d picked off the ground. “Let’s eat! C’mon I’m staaarving,” he tossed up a fat ruby to Flarehook, who let it fall back to the ground.
“No can do buddy, we gotta hold up our end of the bargain. This stuff on the ground wouldn’t cover a midnight snack. Hop in,” he motioned to the mining cart. Flarehook looped the black chain through the cart handle and pushed it to the edge of the hole.
“Alright Spike, I’m gonna lower you down in this. As soon as it’s filled to the brim give the chain one tug and I’ll haul ya back up. If any of those dirty mutts start givin’ you the business give it two shakes and I’ll sort things out. Ya got me?”
“You bet!” exclaimed Spike eagerly, hopping into the cart. “Let her rip!”
Flarehook dropped the cart and let it fly down the hole, after losing nearly the entire length of chain it finally went slack. Not content to sit in silence Pinkie Pie attempted to restart a conversation.
“So what’s it like where you’re from anyway Hooky? Spike says he was born in Canterlot which I heard was super duper neat-o but I never saw it and he says it was cool but since you aren’t from there could you tell us about where all you other dragons live together and what it’s like?” chirped Pinkie Pie.
Flarehook turned his head skyward. “It’s a nice place, you get to hatin’ it until ya earn your wings and get stuck with the cruddiest jobs, after ya do that’s when it’s real fun. Lots of updrafts and valleys, big mountains and volcanoes. What a paradise,” he reflected thoughtfully, silver eyes glimmering in the sunlight, “It’s a real tragedy whats goin’ on with Grimlock and Celestia though...”
Twilight cocked her head. “The head dragon is on bad terms with Princess Celestia? This is news to me. I’m pretty sure that the dragons and ponies are still getting along or there would-”
“You would have heard if your teacher didn’t keep stuff like that under wraps. Dragons are bound by honesty, we can hide the truth, avoid it, but we won’t lie when asked a straight up question.”
“So what’s going on?”
“Most of the dragons back where I’m from were none too happy about Celestias sister returning to her side. They think its another 1000 years tacked on to her already longstanding deal, catch me?” the chain went taught as Spike gave it a tug down below. “A lot left Equestria when the treaty went down all those years ago, rubbed their scales the wrong way when you ponies just dropped out of the food chain like that. That’s why we’re pretty rare around here.”
“OOH except for Firespines right right? He’s still here ‘cause he likes it here right?” piped up Pinkie Pie.
“He’s just a lazy old dragon, he doesn’t even care that his reputations practically been dragged though the mud,” he grunted as the mining cart resurfaced from the hole. “Hey Spike there you are! You worked fast!”
Sitting atop a glittering mountain of cut diamonds, brilliant opal and lustrous emerald was Spike wearing an ear-to-ear smile on his face. “After I told them you were up there they started helping me fill the cart. It was the funniest thing ever!”
Rainbow Dash took the opportunity to cut in. “Isn’t this stealing? I know these Diamond Dogs are jerks but you just said dragons are supposed to be honorable and all that junk.”
“That’s right to a point slick, this is theft, from ponynappers according to Miss Rarity here. It’s all for the sake of a good lunch, unless you’d like to take their place.”
“It’s still stealing and they didn’t do anything to you. They probably couldn’t even hurt you if they trie-”
“Ahhh what do you know anyway ya birdbrain. I did all the work here.”
“THAT’S IT!” Dash jumped up angrily. “I am so SICK of you and your attitude. You talk alot yourself, how about you put your money where your mouth is? Let's have a race!”
Flarehook scowled, but his eyes briefly flashed with concern. “Race you? I’d have to slow myself down just to give you a fighting chance. It’s not worth the effort.”
“You’ve been WALKING all day long, talking smack about almost EVERYTHING. You say you’re so fast? RACE ME!”
“I don’t have to prove anything to a Pegasus pony. Get lost, go push some clouds around or something, it’s all you’re good for.
“What? Come up here and say that to my face.”
“No. I’m not racing you.”
“What’s the matter then? You’ve got wings. USE THEM! Unless you’re scared of losing to a pony...”
“That’s real nice, me scared of anything? I ain’t scared.
“Then prove me wrong!”
“I’VE GOT NOTHING TO PROVE TO YOU,” he roared. “SO GET LOST!”
“Hey!” interjected Twilight putting her hoof down. “You can’t talk to her to like that. In fact you’ve been extremely disrespectful to me and our friends the entire day. I don’t want you around us or Spike any longer, he’s my responsibility and I’ve made my decision. Please leave now. You are no longer welcome company.”
        “Hold on a minute he-”
“Good-bye.”
Flarehook wrapped the heavy black chain around his neck, his normally haughty expression replaced by a morose one. Hanging his head he proceeded to shuffle down the mountain, tail noisily dragging over the gravel.
        “Twilight, I need to-”
“Spike listen, I know that dragon is your friend but his actions today are inexcusable. I’m sure you looked up to him at one point and maybe still do but sometimes attitudes and personalities change when you grow up. He’s a bad influence that I don’t want rubbing off on you. That little sleepover plan was something I shouldn’t have said yes to in the first place.”
        “Twilight that’s not impor-”
“Had he improved his attitude towards us, especially towards Rainbow Dash here, I’d allow him to stay the night but I’m sorry I can’t let this happe-
“TWILIGHT PLEASE LISTEN TO ME FOR ONE SECOND!?”
She recoiled at his outburst. “There’s no need to yell Spike, and interrupting is rude.”
Spike crossed his arms. “You never listen to me. This time I kinda want you to.”
“What about?”
“Something I found out earlier, I think it’s important that I told you now.”


***

Earlier

“Hey Spike, can I grab ya for a sec?”
        “Yeah sure, I’ll be right back Twi!”
Spike followed Flarehook outside to the other end of the tree trunk where it was shady, but enough sunlight poked through to cast a mottled pattern on their scales.
“Listen Spike when I got here earlier this morning it wasn’t entirely by accident.”
“What? How did you know I was here then? You said you didn’t know where I was.”
“That’s not a lie. I didn’t know, but I caught a whiff of dragon breath while passing by and changed course. I was hoping it was somebody I knew and I got lucky when I found out it was you!”
Spike rubbed his chin. “I do send a lot of messages...hey you’re talking like you used to!”
“Yeah...I know Spike,” he cleared his throat. “I do it to sound a bit tougher know what I mean?”
“Why would you want to do that? That’s why you’re acting differently too in’t it...”
Flarehook scratched at his head. “I don’t really wanna, but a reputation is all we have when we grow up. If I want any respect from the elders I want to have a tough one and I need to start somewhere.”
“You don’t have to pick on my friends here though, eating one of them would have been pretty extreme.”
“Spike I wasn’t gonna eat her. I was trying to scare her because she started with me when I fell into town and she was acting pretty tough herself. If I was that hungry I would have just thrown her into my mouth and got it over with.”
“Dash is a tough- Wait a second, Pinkie said you flew into town.”
“That’s the other thing I wanted to talk to you about.”
Flarehook gingerly extended his left wing into the air and Spike covered his mouth in shock. Int he middle of his wing was a large tattered hole, congealed blood was caked onto the edges where it had torn open.
“Holy guacamole! How did you do that?”
“That storm I said I dodged earlier, I kinda flew through it to save time. One of the bigger hailstones did this to me. Tore right through. I’ve been trying to keep off it but it’s difficult to get around. When I smelled dragon breath on the wind I coasted down here instead of walking which made it ALOT worse.”
Spike examined the hole, looking at the tattered skin and dried blood. “That looks like it hurts. You should be getting this fixed as soon as possible Hook.”
“Maybe your unicorn friend can help me?” he asked, silver eyes lighting up. “She said her teacher is Celestia so she must be really good at magic...”
“I dunno, that’s pony magic working on dragons. Does magic still affect you like that? I’m pretty sure that our scales start resisting it at some point.”
“These are wings though...nevermind. Will she help me? I’m kinda nervous about asking...I think shes still mad at me about the whole friend eating thing.”
“Probably...although you SHOULD be the one to tell her Hook, she’s a pretty understanding pony. Also if you stopped making fun of her name it would help too.”
“Her name is so silly though Spike. C’mon you know I’ve got million ways to work with Twilight Sparkle. Just let me have that for now.”
“It is kind of funny. You’re lucky you’re not living with her. I would get into so much trouble if I did that stuff.”
A low rumble announced its dissatisfaction from Flarehooks gut. “Heh, still haven’t eaten today. Do you have any rocks on you Spike?”
“Just some stale turquoise and that’s it. There’s a place to get some fresh stuff straight from the ground though! Do you want to get lunch there even though it’s a long walk?”
“Sure doesn’t matter to me,” he said with a grin. “I think I’ll tell her after we eat. Just think of a good excuse for me to stick around long enough okay?”
Spike gave him a high five “Yeah definitely, c’mon, let’s go back inside!”
“Thanks Spike, you’re a pal.”

                                                      ***

        Another snag on the trail. Usually Flarehook kept his tail curled upwards to prevent those problems, but with his current mood dragging himself down his tail dropped with it. The tree root caught this time would not rip out and instead opted on putting up a fight to the death.
        “Get off you stupid thing,” he grumbled tugging on it, it wouldn’t budge so he opted to burn the root, singing his tail in the process.
        “Ow!” he recoiled pulling his tail free. “Damned root”
The branch was the least of his worries right now. He just blew his only chance to fix his wing without having to go to higher authorities on magic. Getting somebody to work on him now would require some paperwork, and paperwork would get around to Grimlock, and if he found out about his misuse of the privilege of flight then he’d be grounded permanently for sure.
It is a an honor to ride the skies Hook, don’t go and ruin it for yourself he repeated in his thoughts as the last words he heard from the mighty dragon bubbled back to his head This is a privilege with no real second chances.
“HOOK!”
He didn’t have to look to recognize the little purple blur dashing towards him. “Go away Spike, I screwed up big time, I can’t be helped. I know what’s wrong with me and I can’t just...I dunno.”
“You know you can fix this right? You don’t have to do this.”
“Been there, failed that. I know when it’s time to face the music.”
“If you don’t want get in trouble with what’s his face then why are you going to see him now?”
“It’s my last resort. Facing the consequences is all I got in me. What more can I do?”
Spike tapped his side. “Apologizing?”
“That’s not going to make anything better.” 
“Hook, if there’s anything I learned from living with Twilight it’s that the best way to fix a mess is with the truth. You’ve been around longer than me, you should know this stuff.”
“How can I tell her and her friends that I’m sorry if they all hate my guts already?
“You just did.”
He finally swung his head back to see that he was being followed by Twilight as well as Spike.
“How long have you been there!? Spike! What gives!?”
“I’m not gonna let you get yourself in more trouble because you're being stubborn. You need help, so I...told her about it...” he said quietly.
“Dude! You promised me. Why’d you break it?”
“Honesty. Besides, if I didn’t ask for help I knew you wouldn’t. Then you’d be the sorry sack of scales around here!
Flarehook smiled at the jab. “I suppose you’re right. So what do you say? Will you help me Miss...Twilight?”
Twilight let out a relieved laugh. “As long as it doesn’t tarnish your reputation.”




***




“So you don’t hate us Pegasus ponies, and you think I’m cool?”
Rainbow Dash was sitting next to Flarehook on the floor of the library along with the rest of her friends. Pinkie and Applejack were baking some food in the small kitchen while Twilight was repeating instructions to Rarity about the magical repairment spell to heal dragons. After coming clean to the other ponies it was much easier to talk than it was from behind his tough facade.
“Nope, not ever. I’ve never seen a brave Pegasus pony like you before today. So I thought if I brought you down a notch I’d look even tougher in comparison.”
“Well ya can’t bring me down Hook, I’ve got awesome to spare. Hey, ya think after you get flying again you wanna race?”
“Naaaah, I have to get out of here, places to go dragons to see. Also I found out from your friend Pinkie that you were the Pegasus who won the Best Young Fliers competition. Wow! Wish I saw that rainboom.”
Dash stretched her wings proudly. “Yeah it was no biggie. I’ve done it before but now I want to really outdo myself. That Draconic Speedway sounds like the perfect challenge.”
“You can come race it with me sometime...if Twilight over there finds a way to make you fireproof.”
Twilight poked her head up from the leather bound book she’d been glued to “Dash I think flying through active volcanoes would be way too dangerous, even for you.”
“You know I’m cool enough to fly through the hottest place on the planet,” she said proudly.
Rarity and Twilight got up from their spot next to the book and walked over to Flarehook “Darling this spell is really complicated, are you entirely sure that it will work. I concede that you’re far better at magic than I so why drag me into it at all?”
“It’s a tough one and that’s exactly why I need you to help me with it. Combining our skills is going to be important since this spell will require all our concentration. Hook, please extend your left wing for me.”
Wincing he carefully stretched out his leathery appendage, dried blood flaking onto the floor as he did. 
“Hold still, the smallest twitch could throw off the healing process. Rarity go ahead and begin.”
On that cue blue magic poured from her horn and filled the tear in Hooks wing, a shimmering blue sheet filling the gap between the tattered leather and vein. She grimaced as she held the spell in place. “Okay dear. Your turn.”
Twilights horn glowed to life for the second part of the spell. Brown skin slowly began filling the hole. He ground his teeth at the pain but held steady as the magic continued to pulse through his wing. With a final shower of sparks the spell ended and the two unicorns dropped to the floor panting.
“Whew...Spike promise me you’ll never rip your wings when you get them,” said Twilight breathlessly.
“Don’t worry about me doing that. It’ll be years before you have to worry about me messing myself up.”
Spike walked over to Flarehook who was flexing his now repaired wing “So Hook hows it feel?”
“Good as new!” he said happily “I can’t thank you enough for helping me out of this mess Spike.
“What are friends for right? So let’s get outside and try them out.”
After some more difficulty getting out the front door Flarehook spread his great wings and took off, doing a series of rapid loops around the tree and shaking loose some leaves in the process.
“Like it never happened,” he said landing next to them and folding his wings back up.
“You’re gonna stick around here for a bit right Hook?”
“No can do. I gotta stick to the skies and keep on schedule. The Griffon Kingdom is something I always wanted to check out, and there’s the great western plains. First things first, I gotta go tell Grimlock what happened.”
A collective gasp came from the group.
“Aren’t you afraid of seeing him?” spoke up Spike cautiously.
“Terrified,” said Flarehook softly looking to the sunset, “but I can’t NOT tell him, it wouldn’t be the honest thing to do. If I tell him that I got help from a unicorn it might also ease some tension between the dragons and ponies you know what I mean? Sure I’ll be in trouble, yeah I’ll be punished, but I can handle it. I’m tough remember?”
“I hope you’re sure about that...” said Spike rubbing his hands “You’ll stop by sometime again right?”
“Heck yeah little dude!” he gave him another high five. “Plus when you get your wings we’ll cruise the skies together. You and me buddy. Two dragons razing this country to the ground!”
Flarehook spread his wings and flapped into the sun knowing full well that, his reputation be damned, he would be staying the course from now on.

The End