"Can't believe I'm doing this."
At the front doorstep of the Golden Oaks Library, a teenage dragon with locks of fair hair covering up his face like a shaggy bush simply stood there, obviously wondering whether he should knock on the front door or just leave it be. If he did knock on it, he would be either greeted by the one that he wish to spoke with or whoever else might be there, like say a namby-pamby pony that has some magical mojo that could be more than just teleporting ponies away. He could vaguely remember how that particular magic happened for him and his pals when they tried to gang up on a group of ponies, because of their precious rookie dragon betrayed them all from smashing that phoenix egg, but ultimately failed over them vanishing before their very eyes. That was humiliating to a certain degree, but not so much as humiliating at being in a town full of nothing more but ponies and even more ponies. He felt both awkward and embarrassed at the same time over being here, for he seemed so out of place in such a sickingly sweet environment that got no desolate area or mounds of gems and hot dragonesses in sights, even if it's indeed night out, but he has to do this, for Garble's sake.
Their leader wasn't acting himself lately and it was slowly, yet surely, affecting them all over they didn't like this side of him, where he just hardly seemed active for any fun, looking like he was lost in his own thoughts, and hardly holding a look that said he was awesome. He just kept himself shut in his cave, with his parents, at all times, whenever he doesn't have to be out and about, though he made sure of it that none of them should be close by with just moving away from them. He ate gems alone, not playing any of the games they all play, like tail wrestling and King of the Hoard, not even belching and lava dipping was on the menu of excitement. He was never the same ever since those couple of days after the botched egg raid.
Whatever is troubling him has to be stopped, and somehow he and the others figured out it must have been over Spike's betrayal. Even if it was their sudden first option on the matter that may or may not be the right one, that was the only thing they could have think of that was the problem and they strongly believed that must have been the dilemma.
Honestly enough, even to how he got to this point was endearingly bad enough, he had to threaten some random pony that he could find out at this hour of the night to tell him where Spike lives. That was somehow both good and bad on his account, for it was positively good on him feeling like the beast that he is and it was negatively bad over now he might have busted trust issues...if that overly buff stallion was a friend of Spike's.
But back down to business, there was no other choice left.
Spear sucked up from his nostrils a mouthful of air in, only to heave it all out just the second later from his mouth with contemplating about his actions. "Man, c'mon Spear, you've done stupider junk than this before," He tensed himself up, bawling his right claws into a tight fist even, and bearing his fangs together that they would be throbbing against each other over the momentum of it all. "This is for getting Garble back!"
And with one swift motion, he brought his right arm up over to the wooden door and rapped his knuckles against the surface! The knocking vibrated out for any side to likely hear, no one might miss out on how loud that he was smacking it to grab their undivided attention.
A female voice rang from the other side, pretty much sounding like the one that he and his pals have encountered before, but hardly sounding all too pleased about this sudden guest when she yelled. "Spike, somepony's at the door! Can you get that for me please?!"
"Alright, coming!" That voice was rather familiar as well, with tiny footsteps slapping from the other end and getting louder with each movement done. There was some clattering noises, thuds, a doorknob turning, and then the door itself being swung lethargically open to steadily reveal a reptilian face. "Yeah? Can I help-" His face quickly squinted into one of pure surprise over seeing who it was; obviously remembering who this lanky individual was that soon flashed an awkward smile down for him. "You?"
"Heya, uhm...Spike, was it?" That was everything that the teen could let escape out of his beaked maw uncomfortably right then. His pearly white fangs stretched upward for a grin to cement some obvious emotions away from the backdoor of his brain, though some rounded edges appeared to clearly say it wasn't entirely true to whatever heart this dragon harbored.
There was just now silence between the two; no one broke any eye contact from the other as they stared on to see who would crack first, all the while the seconds ticked by.
The older reptile was the first to break that silence to likely start up a connection between them.
"I dunno if you remember me, but it's-"
THUD! The door that was nearly centimeters away from his face was slammed shut from the supposed whelp, with an expression that suddenly shown fear even, that caused him to stumble back from how unexpected that was. He heard a distinct sound of something colliding up with the knob; some shaking was seen from the tiniest of movement over whatever knocked against the gold handle.
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From the other side, of course, Spike had used a chair to prep up the front door. His grimace full of terror was there, but his body was clamped against the shifted piece of furniture while his stomach rapidly moved up and down from his lungs nearly about to collapse in each other. He nearly had his life flashed before his eyes when seeing that guy in front of him! The memories of those taunts, jeers, and other not so nice things, from those teenaged dragons were anything but perfectly pleasant.
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The dragon gawked at the entire event that played forth, not even daring to believe that actually happened. The gears in his head turned on a whim, clearly stimulating in the process of what just happened and his shocked features began to slowly fade away with each word that questioned out this clear action.
"That's it? A door to the face? That's it?!" With some puffs of dark smoke pumping out of the seams of his clenched teeth, he started to growl out of the dumbfoundedness over being locked away like that for a feeling of pure resentment from not having his say in this at all. "You wanna make things hard on ya, Spike? Fine! You wanna play hard to get, Spike? Fine! You want no diplomacy like your namby-pamby pony friends do, Spike?! FINE! Negotiations are off! I'm comin' in!"
And without as much common decency on the matter, he began ramming his left shoulder against the wooden barricade with as much force as he can muster to knock it down!
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The young dragon felt his back jostling back and forth from time to time, sometimes feeling far more stronger pulses go than other times before, like the teen put most of his efforts into most of his shoves that he thought were the best of all. He knew his barricade of one furniture piece was going to not work, if he ever decides to move out of the way and not keep up with his tiny might against the wooden seat for his survival! It was really getting out of claw now, especially with no source of magical assistance around to help him out in his time of need!
"Twi-Twi-Twilight!" His shout sputtered out of his windpipe, tone totally locked on dread and worry with eyes suddenly collapsed shut against one another, as he hurriedly unleashed the very next pair of words for the pony of the hour to aid him in his problem! "HEEELP ME!"
Meanwhile, Twilight Sparkle, holder of the Element of Magic and Princess Celestia's most faithful student, and now the seeker of guidance, was not too far away from the front door's location and the struggle that ensued between the two sides either. She was on the floor, front hoofs crossed with each other. She was stumped into a theoretical fight of her own, involving a crossword puzzle and one ten letter word that is said to be plainly similar to recognition being a real brainteaser to her that only spelt disaster. Her brain was trying to find the right word to fit in the ten squares with coffee and lamp being done on the horizontal paths connecting with this one going down. She tried to get that word that hazily floated in her mind, but these distractions were nothing but easy on her mental case that raspberry energy began to fizzle from her horn.
"Oh," With a couple of seconds of more noises and pleas of help, she let her irritation that was swelling up all out! "ENOUGH ALREADY!"
With the unicorn's intrepid shriek escaping her maw, thrusting her head upright for the ceiling above with it as well, causing the glow on her member to just then flash outward like a spiraling bolt of uncultivated magic! Like a launched rocket, the glowing spiral actually zigzagged erratically across the atmosphere with ease, basically heading off for the single most important part of this library from the start of this threatening scene. Just as the magical energy hit the tip of the seat's backrest, it incased it in a sparkling raspberry aura of light that practically made the light mulberry drake slip down for the wooden floor below, with his head resting on the timber then, when it levitated up rather harshly!
"Oomph!" He could burst out, having his head and limbs positioned all out in a rigid manner, only to groggily open his big emerald eyes from after his wooziness of the fall and glance over at his friend's location. "Thanks, Twi."
His smile was gentle, though his voice felt hardly up to being upbeat, and all should know what will obviously happen next. From no more barricading action, the front door was suddenly swung open to let a certain ramming teenager in, only to have him lose his momentum when crashing into the levitating chair that sent it flying for the right and him beginning to spin forward!
"Whoa man!"
He was rolling, like a stagecoach's loose wheel going out of control, in one particular path, which was obviously held up with racks of wooden shelves with a lot of books on. Right as he got there with his current swift speed, his back and wings slammed hard against the center that it would seem impossible to not get hurt of! WHACK! That sound alone, and his grunts too, said it was pretty much painful, with several of those tomes full of ancient wisdom, or average delights that may be jammed in there, to one's peepers dropping down on his upturned scaly form! It just cemented the likable agony that he received over how fast they fell on top of him though.
The pale mulberry pony looked on at the unexpected scene with an irritated glare, with her little friend arriving right next to her momentarily, as they scoped out the obviously dazed teen that just stayed there in his mangled state. No one said anything when hearing him groan softly all the way long, not even a single peep escaped the two's orifices over the matter and the lingering silence hung like a dead pony's grave, right until...
"If he doesn't wake up in the next few minutes, I'm not going to clean up his mess," Spike suddenly spoke up on the matter to say his say for her. The Element of Magic quickly looked down at him while regarding his every word with inquisitive suspicion. There was just something about it to just feel curious for, to try and find out what he was trying to say for this particular encounter was a plausible reaction in a whole.
Relentless to be done, she was eager to know and her question for him was reliably so. "On what mess exactly? Him wrecking up this side of the library or his b-"
"The former, Twilight," He quickly interrupted her before she could finish that, flashing a innocent smile even to divert this even more from going to that part. He wasn't up for getting squeamish with a hypothesis of his bookworm friend going to the very dark side of life. "Just the former."
Of course, her gaze lowering down a notch with a dull look that said she was hardly amused was anything to go by that she wasn't grateful over the response being given. She found nothing good about it, because not only was she cut off from her own question, but it was how he treated her question in its own entirety to the akin of her wanting to speak of that forbidden word. Even if she was really gonna say that word, she wasn't going to speak of it in a literal sense of agreeing on something that hasn't been seen by mortal eyes first.
In any way she sliced it, that one particular word won't spark any mass conclusions of the bereavement chain of events.
There was no sign of any blood spill even.
Several minutes later of wondering what their unexpected guest would do, which they hospitably enough sat the lanky dragon down on the nearest couch, chained up from his arms and body firmly with both ropes and chains, to make sure he won't cause a scene.
He did enough on his own already on this night.
Spear started to groan; slowly his mind began to click himself back into a conscious state, along with his body moving around a bit. His movements weren't very noticeable though, granted on how he was shifting himself now in several bindings that chained his body in place, which he doesn't seem to take notice of. He didn't know of his situation yet, but soon enough as his noises got a little more louder than before would he be aware of his links that tied him up without any freedom. He then rose his head up just a notch, disorientated words and head swaying around over lightheadedness, only for several seconds later has him shaking his noggin to rid himself of these status effects to let him uncover his plight.
"What the slag?" He whispered harshly over his body's new state of attire, wriggling in the ropes and chains to get himself free but to no avail. He was locked up, nothing else could be done to get him out of this mess, just sit back and relax on what he can on this soft couch with these binds on.
"So, had fun trying to break down our library?" The otherwise rookie dragon asked him with a sly look on his face, smirking up at his now captive state with hidden relief over not likely going to get hurt, though there still was that dragon breath of his.
Surprisingly enough, the older reptile didn't hold up with blowing flames out to those around him, but with answering back his question. "I wouldn't have, man, if you didn't slam the door in my face!" He just glowered at his innocently smirking face with controlled anger that might pop at any moment's worth. "Dude, that was so not cool."
"Well, what did you suspect? Me? Opening up the front door to let a complete and utter jerk like you in?!" With that tirade of his that gotten otherwise louder and sharper with anger that blossomed with dear might, he snapped his right hand's index claw at the bigger youth in front of him in an accusing manner that sent his head reeling back over that untouchable jab! The drake's words stung like his rear end was set on fire by millions of tiny hornets penetrating his thick hide! But he wasn't done yet, not by a long shot, not without saying one last thing to him then. "You made fun of me back there, because of my size and being raised by ponies, and then you and your friends tried to kill me, after proving my worth, over going against with smashing that egg like you guys wanted to!"
He had to say that. He just had to. But to be honest, he had every right to blow out his frustration and hatred over what he has been through to one of those that given him such torment before, with his lungs wheezing heavily in his chest from that slew of rage.
"We weren't gonna kill ya, little man," The dragon replied to him steadily over his fit of rage still being present, somehow feeling a pang of guilt jabbing hard into the lump where his heart would be found. But his jaws, obviously enough, had to flap open and close at that point with some wrong choice of words at the matter to try and explain anyway. "Just educate ya with not defying Garble's demands and junk, with our fists, dude, and maybe our firebre-OKAY, MAYBE WE PROBABLY WOULD HAVE DONE SOMETHIN' QUITE PAINFUL TO YA, BUT IT WON'T BE SOMETHING LIFE-THREATENINGLY PAINFUL OVER GARBLE DOESN'T GO THAT WAY!" He quickly plowed that out with a high enough volume, obviously knowing what he just went out and spilled the gems with that painful truth that wasn't legitimately real, for Garble wouldn't blow that way and yet he obviously didn't think before he spoke.
"Garble doesn't go that way?" He cringed when Spike asked that in an acidic dark tone. His actions on not thinking through with the obvious consequences now easily catch up to him quite fast. "Ha!" He let a quick laugh escape him over his head already swimming around with those very words that came out of two mouths, probably reeling in on how ludicrously insane that must sound to his otherwise peacefully nice brain. "That's a real laugh, nothing more but a big lying hoot, especially this all coming from a creep like you!" He jabbed his right hand's index claw at him once more with much tenacity, while the magical equine with him looked on with worry over how he was going to go too far with this and then she has to stop it. "You're just as bad as Garble! And Garble can't go for another way, for there is only one way and that's being a jerk! You and the rest of your gang won't mind hurting me if Garb-"
"SHUT UP!" The mop-haired teen suddenly bellowed out for his direction, obviously having enough of the little guy's rant to just crumble him in a time of need. He felt like actually crying, which is highly uncommon for a dragon to do, and yet he held it back but there was a bit of sadness leaking out of his snap. "JUST SHUT UP!"
"Spike, that's enough!" Twilight Sparkle just then hissed lowly at her faithful assistant, finally starting to make her voice be known over all of this is now getting out of hoof for all of them, whether they like it or not. "I think you're obviously hurting him."
The drake whipped back with a shocked expression on his face, obviously meeting her sympathetic gaze then, and he couldn't help to voice his confusion out. "Hurting him?!" His shock suddenly shifted to resentment, obviously feeling a black splat of hurt stain his heart from hearing her say that. "This guy doesn't care if I do make fun of him, Twi!" He jabbed his right hand's index claw once again at the hour at that guy's chained body. "Same goes for Garble!"
"STOP TALKING ABOUT HIM LIKE THAT!" The purple dragon roared over for him with as much force to actually bring him to find himself shifting off of the couch! "Woah, oomph!" And then remarkably find his trapped state on the wooden ground beneath with his head positioned enough, to face the two that oh so much decided to be his only humble guests of the hour. He dejectedly sighed and just accepted his defeat, with some reasoning thrown in. "C'mon, man, just leave the dude out of this, he has it rough already, and it's obviously all your fault."
His hidden glare aimed at the rookie dragon personally, like getting the last part of his somber monologue to a point. That made the pony and her very good friend jolt upright with astonishment over that accusation of his own, which stem down to the head of his little gang of obvious troublemakers of all beings though.
"What? My fault?" He questioned out to him with a now baffled look set on his features. The young one only got a nod on being correct instead, which just divulged him to take his expression to one of disgust offense. There was no way that this could be his fault, and he would boldly wish to know why this is all his fault in the first place. "How is this all my fault?!"
Spear just responded back a bit more frisky with him with. "I would have told ya why, man, if you didn't throw that door in my face!"
"He has a point there," The unicorn strangely enough agreed with his response like he had struck up every single right reason there may be. This just made her friend, and helper, just whirl around to stare up at her with a shocked look on his face that also incased betrayal within.
"W-what? You're agreeing with him, Twi?" He asked her perplexed without raising his voice at all, just seeing the Element of Magic simply nod for a yes on his question, but that only made him gain a small glare to her direction over tiny embers of fury bubbling up in his gut. "Why?"
"Look," She glared back down at him with much as authority on the matter as the leader of the Mane Six has. Her horn just then lit up in raspberry light, along with the ropes and chains, that allowed the bindings on their guest to fluidly unwrap from his form to give him back his right of movement. "Let's not beat around the hay with this...not until we find out what is really going on here that concerns with Garble, alright then?" She tried to flash an awkward smile for him when he was now just pouting with arms folded, though she hardly received a reply in return from him, just having the young dragon helper to then stamp his rump down on the floorboards.
He was not going to like this one bit.
He heard noises behind him, peering back a glare at the now standing teenager, who just grinned awkwardly down at him to look all too innocent on the matter, while having his hands behind his back and kicking his right foot back and forth from time to time. He just glared for his presence there in his sights, only to let a small huff out and looked back ahead, for now targeting the floor instead of his good friend, with that same old expression of his never faltering at the second.
Twilight Sparkle, coincidentally enough, slapped her right hoof against her face in defeat. "Ugh, for Faust's sake, I wonder if you're acting as worse as they are," She dragged her hoof down slowly with her face just reeling in with disgust. Once her hoof clopped to the surface, it took a moment for her to warp her emotion from what it was once to a new one that was plainly hospitable. "Well, make yourself at home, we'll talk about this thing with Garble in the morning," She gave a modest glare for him then in warning, for any pony would know what a reckless youth may do when left with no rules spoke of, especially a dragon teenager more less. "But don't break, or touch, anything without my permission, Buster. Unless you want to stay outside for the night, understood?"
With a big gulp of nervousness going down his throat, the lanky teen nodded his head pretty much vigorously as he responded for her with. "Gotcha, loud and clear, namby-pamby lady."
This only received him a light groan and an eye roll from her in return. She just turned tail, strutting off to continue on with what she previously did, before ever thinking of going to sleep for the night. Turns out, she can see what Spike was obviously going for when he was ranting about this jerk's presence, but maybe it won't likely end off on a sour note of wanted mayhem that would ruin her mentality...
Right?