Techorse Short Stories

by Spirals95

#6 - Robbery at Canterlot

Robbery at Canterlot

Techorse series: #6

By Spirals95

---

The gigantic cavern in the side of the mountain didn't seem as ugly or dark as the others in the surrounding area. This was partially because a very intelligent dragon and his closest companions lived inside this cave. Unlike the other dragons in the area, they could care less about hording treasure and using it as a mattress. No, these dragons preferred to go after much larger and valuable things. They were willing to do what it took to get the special treasures they needed for their collections, and they were absolutely sure these treasures they stole would give them top status amongst the others living in the area. These four dragons lived together in the largest cavern system they could find. Rather than leaving it plain and dank, they carved out rooms and passageways, using what talent they had to build furniture and other things that most dragons didn't tend to appreciate. In particular, three of them built a very large table and chair for their leader, who helped his friends by organizing their trips to go find the valuables they so desired. He was a wise leader and unusually kind to his underlings, but was cruel and heartless towards anyone else.

This dragon was 40 feet tall, had a ninety foot wingspan, and had very well kept claws on his hands. His scales were a solid gray color, which was indicative of the sheer number of diamonds he consumed to improve the hardness of his natural armor. The dragon's chest and stomach armor was a typical gold color, because it was much harder for a dragon to increase the toughness of his underbelly no matter how many gemstones he took in. His two closest friends were light blue and green in color. The light blue one had larger horns then any of the others present in the cave, while the green one had retractable spikes in his tail to use against opponents.

The leader sat in his gigantic red-painted wooden chair, drumming his clawed fingers on the table gently. His two companions stood at his sides and looked around the cavern, bored. After a few moments, the fourth dragon appeared in the cave system. He was a black-scaled one with a silver chest and heavy claws. This one carried in his left hand a huge platter covered with a metal lid. The dragon carried the metal container and placed it on the table in front of the leader.

"Lunch is served, boss." He said as he stepped back from the table.

The leader looked back and forth at his friends, who motioned for him to take the lid off of the platter. Stowing his wings behind his back, the leader complied and reached down with his claw. He gently grasped the handle on the top of the lid and lifted it off of the container. Inside was a bed of greens, on top of which laid a cyan Pegasus pony bound in ropes. Rainbow Dash was on the plate, tied up and silenced with a piece of tape over her mouth, still struggling as she tried to escape from the mound of lettuce she was on. Alas, the ropes had her wings tied firmly to her sides and her legs as well. Looking up, she saw the leader staring at her and squirmed around, hoping to at least get off the table before it was too late. But to her surprise, the dragon started laughing. After calming down, the leader addressed his comrades.

"Gents." He said in a Brooklyn accent, "This is no way to treat a lady."

"But boss." replied the white dragon, "You said she was spyin' on us and to bring her to you. We thought you wanted to eat her."

"Not this time, Wyrm." said the leader as he put a hand on his buddy's shoulder, "not this time."

The gray dragon reached down and removed the gag from Rainbow's mouth. Then, using his claws, he cut the ropes from her legs so she could stand. But to make sure she didn't simply fly away, he left the ropes on her wings intact.

"Thanks." She said nervously. Rainbow knew that if she played her cards right and acted nicely, they would let her go. If not, she was dragon chow.

"No problem." said the gray one, reclining back a bit on his chair.

"You know, I really appreciate you taking off that thing." Said Rainbow, "But if you could just untie my wings too, I could fly up and thank you a little more personally."

"Sorry girl, can't untie your wings just yet." He replied, "You're in for a little lecture."

It seemed she was willing to listen to him to avoid a terrible fate, so she walked off the platter and sat down on the gigantic table.

"You got a name?" he asked.

"Rainbow Dash."

The leader brought his head down to her level and told her, "Rainbow Dash, you spy on me on the day of my daughter's wedding."

"But boss, you don't have a daughter!" said the light blue dragon.

"Shut up!" shouted the gray dragon, slapping the foolish crony.

"Anyways, where was I?"

"You were about to let me go!" lied Rainbow Dash, hoping to avoid any berating for her recent actions.

"Now I remember, you were eavesdroppin' on our little meeting here in the cave." He said, nodding his head.

"I was just out for some exercise!" she protested, raising a front leg at him.

The dragon argued, "Yeah, but you took a break a little too close to our humble home. I can't have every pony out there listenin' in on our private conversations. It's really bad for business."

"Business, I didn't hear about any business." Said Rainbow with obvious fear as her eyes darted back and forth.

"Now don't get too upset about watcha heard." The dragon assured, "none of you ponies are gonna get hurt in the next week, I promise."

---

Rainbow Dash had been flying outside minutes ago, and when she had stopped to rest outside of the cave, she had heard the dragons talking about their plan to steal the world's largest diamond from a traveling museum exhibit. It would be in Canterlot the next Tuesday, and many ponies were going to be there to see it. Out of curiosity, Rainbow Dash had overheard the plans about stealing the gemstone, which was the size of a minivan at least. Any dragon that ate that gem would most likely become nearly invincible in terms of scale armor. But one of them had spotted her outside the cave and nabbed her, it was simply assumed by the minions that when their boss wanted his captive brought to him, that she was to be restrained in such a manner.

"So, to make a long story short..." Finished the dragon, "next Tuesday me and the guys take that little rock and leave. Nobody gets hurt, just taking what we want and going."

"Now can you untie me?" asked Rainbow, looking back at the ropes constraining the wings she loved so much.

"I don't know, I think you know a little too much to leave." said the leader with a sinister tone of voice as he reached for her with vile intentions.

Rainbow Dash fell flat on the table and put her front legs in a praying pose. "Please, I won't tell anyone about the raid! Just let me go!"

The leader smirked and removed his hand from the shaker, then said to her, "By the way, the name's Don. You don't speak about Don, or about his plans, and he lets you go, got it?"

"Yes sir!" answered Rainbow; glad she was still alive at this point in the conversation. Don looked down upon her and said, "Good, because there's only one thing less fun than being spied on, and that's dozens of sharp teeth in your hide."

Rainbow Dash swallowed hard and brushed her hair out of her face.

Don laughed and cut the ropes from her wings with his claws.

"Remember, one little peep about this meetin' or our plan, and you've bought yourself a ticket to bein' a source of fiber."

Rainbow shook herself off of lettuce bits and spread her wings to take off in the air.

"Before you go." said Don as he picked up a large ruby, "Don't think we won't be able to tell if you tattle on our little secret. We've hired a pony spy in your town to make sure nobody talks." Don threw the ruby in his mouth and continued, "And if you do, just remember how easy we can get rid of you."

He then bit down on the gemstone hard, making a sickening crunch. Rainbow winced, but flew out of the cave without any further problems from the team of dragons.

"I have to tell someone about this!" she thought to herself as she flew back to town, "but if I do, I'm going to be a snack for that guy!"

The Pegasus pony shook her head and tried to concentrate on her flight back to Ponyville.

"Hey, maybe they will just take the gemstone and leave." She said aloud with a positive attitude, "no one gets hurt, including me!"

But she somehow knew the gang of dragons would end up hurting a lot of others in the struggle to steal the block of diamond. This knowledge made her determined to somehow warn her friends about the impending attack and at the same time preserve herself. There was no witness protection program in Equestria because it wasn't really needed due to the lack of crime amongst ponies, but these dragons could really cause some harm when they wanted to. She kept this in mind as she landed back in the square of her home town.

---

Rainbow Dash found herself right next to Sugarcube Corner, a great place to start in Ponyville if your objective was shopping. The colonial styled buildings featured the mom and pop stores that dominated the economy of the planet. Rainbow Dash knew she could tell one pony about what was going to happen, only because this friend would be able to spread the word quickly and efficiently without tipping off the others that the information came from her. She would be safe and would have successfully warned about the attack.

Rainbow folded her wings gently to her sides and entered the building in front of her, a large bakery. Behind her, a sea green unicorn mare with deep blue eyes watched from behind a newspaper. With a small flash of magical energy, the mare folded her newspaper and entered the bakery behind Rainbow Dash. The inside of the bakery featured a counter with a glass display. Well decorated and stocked with the best baked goods available in town, the store sold desserts mostly, but always had customers from opening to closing time. Rainbow Dash walked up to the counter and rang the service bell gently. Instantly, with a blur of cartoony speed and style, Pinkie Pie appeared at the counter and slung her front legs over the top.

"Hi Rainbow, good to see ya!" she said in her usual cheery mood.

"Yeah, you too." replied Rainbow with a touch of desperation.

"So, what are you going to order?" asked Pinkie eagerly, "A cake? Some brownies maybe?"

"Actually, I need to tell you something important." She whispered, looking around for the spy Don talked about.

"Well, if you're not gonna order something, I have to help the pony behind you first!" said Pinkie, "What can I get you?"

Rainbow Dash turned around and looked at the mare who had entered behind her.

"I want a gingerbread pony." She said smoothly, "With the frost-it-yourself special."

The frost-it-yourself special was a business idea Pinkie Pie invented to impress her employer and the owner of the bakery, Mr. Cake. If you bought a cookie without icing of any kind, you could decorate it yourself at a table set up in the corner.

Pinkie Pie darted away and returned with the innocent looking treat on a plastic tray. "Here you go, have fun!" she encouraged as she handed the tray over. The unicorn tossed Pinkie the money for the dessert and used telekinetic magic to carry the tray over to the frosting table. She dropped the cookie on the table, took a look at Rainbow Dash, and picked up the cyan colored vanilla icing.

"So, Rainbow Dash, what were you going to tell me?" asked Pinkie Pie as she returned to her friend.

"Do you know about that big diamond block coming to Canterlot this week?" she asked, making sure she had her easily distracted friend's attention.

"Yeah I do! The museum is going to throw the best gemstone party ever!" she shouted, slamming her front hooves onto the counter to make some noise.

"Trouble is, the gemstone's going to be stolen." said Rainbow Dash.

Pinkie Pie gasped and asked, "By who? Tell me!"

Rainbow Dash breathed in and tried to ruin the evil plot, but her sentence was interrupted by a cough. She turned her head and saw who had coughed. It was the sea green mare. The gingerbread pony had been frosted light blue, and the mare had chosen a very colorful selection of sugar granules to give the cookie a rainbow tail and hair. Using her magic, she moved the cookie towards her head, and then while looking straight at Rainbow Dash, bit the confection's head off violently. This caused Rainbow to have a surge of panic, and she looked back at Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie noticed her friend starting to sweat and asked again, "Who's going to take the diamond?"

"No one." Replied Rainbow rapidly, "I was kidding to see how you'd react. It was a joke."

"Oh." said Pinkie plainly.

She then started laughing after a moment of silence, "You had me going there for a while, Rainbow! Good one."

"I did!" grimaced Rainbow as she backed out of the bakery, making sure to keep eye contact with the mare.

"That's the spy!" she thought as she galloped away.

---

After making sure the spy was out of sight, she took a break and began to think about what to do. "If I can't tell anypony about the plan, maybe I can stop it!" she said to herself.

Since it was too dangerous to tell another to spread the word of the plan, Rainbow Dash decided that the best thing to do was to prepare for the robbery.

Rainbow lifted a hoof to her chin and asked herself, "How can I stop four dragons from hurting us and taking the gemstone? They probably won't listen to anyone, so the only other option is force. But what could I use to force them to go away?"

An idea came to her mind, and she took off into the air to enact her plan. Techorse was the inventor of the town, but also the only one with any knowledge of powerful weaponry. In Rainbow's mind, he could provide her with something to put a quick end to the gang's plot. She spotted the stone castle and dove ninety degrees down, gliding on her wings to make a quick landing in front of the residence. A quick knock on the door caused a television monitor outside to turn on.

"Hello miss Dash!" said PAL from the television screen, "how can I help you?"

"Open up, I need to see Tech." she ordered.

"You got it." replied the robot with a mechanical wink. The wooden doors of the castle opened up for Rainbow Dash with a steady humming noise. Apparently, the motors tasked with opening the doors had been well lubricated recently. She walked into the castle and made a straight line for the laboratory where she knew she'd find her brilliant friend.

"Hey Techie, you got a minute?" she asked aloud, hoping to pick up on his voice. The laboratory door opened and the green pony walked out, oddly enough not wearing the mechanical saddle he used to do almost everything.

"Sure, Rainbow." He said, "What is it?"

"I'd like to buy a weapon."

Tech looked at PAL, who shrugged. Looking back at Rainbow, he asked cautiously, "Why the sudden interest in weapons, Rainbow?"

"I need to defend myself." She lied.

Techorse laughed, "That's funny. You can take care of yourself without a weapon, I know you."

"That's just it." She replied, "I sort of can't defend myself from this guy without more than just my hooves."

"Who's 'this guy'?" he asked.

"That's for me to know and you to not ask about. Now will you help me or not?" She replied sternly.

"Ok, just calm down and follow me."

---

They walked deep into the laboratory and entered a metal doorway which descended down into a large warehouse-like room.

"This is where I store my weapons." He said, "I don't have lots of them, believe it or not I prefer inventing peaceful things. But sometimes you just need a decent weapon to go up against the monsters out there."

"Exactly." Agreed Rainbow, "Now show me what you have."

"Ok, first up," he replied, "is a copy of my saddle's laser cannons. Trouble is, they'd interfere with your wings so you couldn't fly while wearing it."

"I might need something a little bigger." said Rainbow, remembering the massive size of the dragons.

"PAL, get her something bigger." ordered Tech.

PAL gave a little sarcastic salute before he disappeared behind a large metal container. He returned with a 6-barreled minigun in hand, loaded with topaz crystals.

"This is a laser minigun." explained Techorse, pointing with his front leg, "5000 beams a minute."

"A bit bigger than that." She said.

PAL put down the minigun and picked up a solid white bazooka with a guidance scope.

"Bigger."

The robot took out a remote control and used it to drive a set of tank treads over to Rainbow. The treads had on it a launching rack which sported a big cruise missile, about 6 feet long and one foot wide, with four fins on the end for steering.

"Bigger!"

PAL pushed another button on the remote. The cruise missile opened up, and two smaller missiles stuck out from the sides of the main one.

"I still don't know if that's going to be big enough." She said in dismay as she looked at the ordinance.

"Well, that's all I have." said Tech, "What's got you worried that you need more than a cluster missile?"

"Do you know about the giant diamond that's coming to Canterlot?" she asked.

"Of course, the gem celebration the museum team is throwing this week!" replied Techorse with a smile, "I bought tickets to go see it with Twilight."

"How sweet!" teased PAL, aware of his master's relationship with Twilight.

"Anyways." Continued Rainbow Dash, "the gemstone is going to be…"

A loud sound of hoofs on stone stopped the conversation as the sea green mare entered the tiny warehouse noisily. She was carrying a bottle of barbecue sauce with her magic.

"Hey, how did you get in here?" asked Techorse with a bit of anger in his voice. He hated security breaches.

"The door was locked, so I entered magically." she responded simply, "I just had to return this bottle of barbeque sauce to that master chef of yours."

PAL said to her, "I appreciate that compliment miss, but I'm afraid I never lent out a bottle of barbeque sauce. Everything in the kitchen has been accounted for."

"Oh well." responded the mare with a tilt of her head, "then this one is a gift from me."

She threw the bottle to PAL, who caught it with a skillful stretch of his arms.

"You're going to need all the barbeque sauce you can get with your friend Rainbow Dash here." continued the spy as she put a front leg around the back of Rainbow's neck.

"Really?" asked Techorse with suspicion.

"Yes." She replied, "She uses so much of it. I swear, one of these days she's going to take a bath in it!"
Tech took note of Rainbow Dash's uncomfortable facial expression as the spy talked.

"Anyways, I guess I'll see myself out, I have no need for your weapons." She said fancifully as she teleported away in a flash of light.

"So, what were you going to tell me about the gemstone?" asked Techorse as he regained his train of thought.

"Absolutely nothing!" replied Rainbow quickly, "I just thought I'd see what new cool gadgets you had today. Well, I gotta go too, bye!"

She ran out of the room, trying hard not to scream or panic.

"Something's up." Said Techorse as soon as she was out of sight, "And I think it has to do with that strange girl who was just here." PAL nodded in agreement and started to put the weapons away.

---

Rainbow Dash was running out of options quickly. She had to warn someone, but that spy was keeping up with her too well! There was only one pony left she knew would have any advice on beating dragons, and she lived far away enough from the center of town that there was no way the spy could follow her. Fluttershy's cottage was not completely isolated, but to Rainbow Dash it might just be quiet enough to tell her secret without fear of retaliation. Rainbow landed at the doorstep from her flight and pounded on the door with a front leg.

Fluttershy cautiously opened her front door and said, "Oh, hello Rainbow. What's the matter?"

"We need to talk! But first we've got to hide." she replied with great desperation, looking around to make sure the spy was gone.

"Ok." said Fluttershy uneasily as she let Rainbow Dash into her humble home. She hid underneath of the nearest couch and let her rainbow streaked tail poke out from underneath the furniture.

"Why do you need to hide?" asked Fluttershy gently as she crouched and looked at her friend cowering under the couch.

"I'm being followed by a spy!" she replied.

"A spy?" asked Fluttershy, "for who?"

"For the dragons!" she whispered.

"Dragons?" asked Fluttershy again, still confused about her friend's state of panic.

"Get under the couch with me and I'll explain!"

Fluttershy sighed and crawled underneath of the pink-cushioned sofa.

"Ok, now will you tell me?"

Rainbow Dash looked around for the spy and nodded.

"It all started earlier today, when I was out for my morning exercise. I stopped for a break outside a cave in the mountains when I heard some voices talking about a plan to steal that huge diamond coming into Canterlot this weekend. I was going to warn everyone, but one of the dragons caught me and tried to feed me to his leader! Luckily, he was a bit nice and I was left alive, but he warned me that if I told anyone this secret, his spy in Ponyville would tell him. Then, I'd be his next meal!"

"That's horrible." commented Fluttershy.

"I thought after you told off that last dragon, you might be able to stop these guys!" said Rainbow Dash.

"I don't know." doubted Fluttershy, "There's four of them, and only one of me."

"Please?" begged Rainbow.

"I'll see what I can do."

Rainbow Dash crawled out from underneath the sofa and sat on top of it. She was soon followed by her friend.

"Are you ok now?" asked Fluttershy.

Rainbow nodded, but her eyes dilated when she looked out the window of the tree home. The sea green mare was staring in on them, and when she realized her cover was blown, she left the window and took off running.

"Who was that?" asked Fluttershy, noticing the mare.

"That's the spy!" shrieked Rainbow, "She's going to tell on me to Don!" Rainbow Dash ran to the door and threw it open before running out screaming.

"Oh dear." Said Fluttershy as she frowned, knowing a terrible thing was about to happen. Rainbow Dash started to fly up high into the air, and considered her options.

"Ok, maybe I can just leave the country for a while. Lay low, and they'll never find me!" she said to herself in mental anguish.

"But what if he has spies there too?" Then, Rainbow Dash got an idea, "If that spy never makes it back to Don, she can't tell on me!"

She scanned the surrounding terrain as she hovered in the sky and spotted the mare running away for the mountains. "Ah ha!" she shouted as she flapped her wings and sped off to attack her enemy. The spy had picked up the pace, her tail flapping in the breeze. All of a sudden, she was pounced by Rainbow Dash and knocked to the ground, scraping her belly and face. Rainbow Dash turned over the mare and began throwing punches with her front hooves. The spy screamed and dodged the blows, frustrating Rainbow Dash who was desperate to stop her from telling.

"Take this and that!" shouted Rainbow, pummeling away with all her might. Without warning, a pair of metal arms separated the two, ending the brawl.

"Woah! That's enough!" shouted Techorse as he pulled them apart with the robotic limbs.

"let me go Tech!" yelled Rainbow. Tech made sure there was at least three feet between the two as he held on to them by his robotic arms.

"Rainbow, what has gotten into you?" he scolded, "first you come to me looking to get a weapon, and now you attack another pony without reason? Are you crazy?"

"But I!" protested Rainbow.

Techorse didn't listen, he turned to face the spy and asked, "Are you all right?"

"Yes", she replied while panting for air, "I'm fine."

Techorse released his grasp from the spy and Rainbow. He said while shaking his head, "I can't believe what I just saw. Why Rainbow?"

She answered him, "This spy is trying to tell on me to a dragon who wants me gone!"

"She's lying, she's just angry because I've been following her." replied the spy.

"I know Rainbow Dash is a little afraid of large dragons." said Techorse, "So it wouldn't surprise me that she's in a panic. However, I don't actually have much evidence to go on, so I can't make a good call. But if I hear that Rainbow was telling the truth, miss, you'd better avoid Ponyville. The entire town will know what you've been up to."

The mare nodded and ran away from them. Tech retracted the robotic arms back into his saddle, the limbs disappeared into the machine with a click as the panels on the sides closed.

"I'm going back to the castle." He said, "To think about all of this."

The turbofans extended from out of the device on his back, and he lifted off vertically into the air before disappearing into cloud cover. Once he was gone, the mare approached Rainbow Dash again.
She laughed evilly and said, "Well Rainbow Dash, it looks like you've lost. You've told the story, and now you're going to pay for it."

"Please." begged Rainbow, "Don't betray another pony and tell him."

"I get paid way too much for mercy like that." said the spy as she smirked at Rainbow Dash, "But I do have some advice for you. When you do get what you deserve, bring a blindfold so you don't have to watch." The mare laughed and vanished with a teleportation spell.

---

The rest of the week went by with Rainbow Dash going mentally insane inside of her cloudhouse above Ponyville. No one actually noticed because she never left her house for anything, she was simply that afraid. The day before the diamond was scheduled to arrive in Canterlot, Techorse made some last minute check-ups on his castle.

"Ok, so we've repaired the factory equipment, filled all the order forms, and cleaned the place." He said, checking each item off the list he held with his robotic arms.

"All of it is done." Said PAL, who was inside the castle's central computer, "I've run a diagnostics check and we're good to go for this weekend. Have a great time tomorrow, master."

"You're coming with me." He reminded the machine, "I have a ticket for you too, buddy."

"Great!" replied the robot with excitement, "I should pick out something to wear on my chassis!"
"Don't go overboard; it's a party, not an etiquette lesson."

"Very well." said PAL, rolling his eyes.

The doorbell rang as they discussed the upcoming events of tomorrow. Techorse walked over to the castle door and hit the lever to open it. He looked away from the tall opening doors as he went back in to continue working on his list. Eventually, he felt a soft brush against his side.

"Hello Fluttershy." He said gently while maintaining his gaze at the paper.

"Hi. I was wondering if everyone's ready to go for tomorrow."

"Of course!" answered PAL as he entered the room in his robot body, "we're all set Fluttershy!"

"That's great PAL." She smiled while making eye contact with the machine.

"Have you heard from Rainbow Dash lately since her incident?" asked Techorse as he checked the last item off his list.

"No. She's still scared of the dragons." replied Fluttershy in disappointment.

"Are there really any dragons, or did she just make that up?" asked Tech, turning to look at Fluttershy.

"Yes." She replied, "Earlier this week she said a gang of dragons threatened her. They would have gotten her, but they said she could go if they didn't tell anyone about some plan they had."

"What's the plan?" asked Tech.

"I forgot, but apparently she said this spy was following her around. She looked like some girl with a light green coat, but I only saw her for a split second."

The ballpoint pen fell out of Tech's robotic hand and hit the ground.

"Overly dramatic, master." criticized PAL as he put his hand over his face.

"Oh shoot." Said Techorse in horror, "that's the mare she was trying to beat up. She was telling the truth!"

"I thought you knew." said Fluttershy.

"I didn't!" he continued, "But if she was telling the truth, those dragons already know she told! She could be in danger!"

Fluttershy said, "Don't worry, they won't be after Rainbow tomorrow. They'll be too busy. You see, I remember the plan now. It's to steal the world's biggest diamond."

Fluttershy realized what she had said and muttered, "Oh no."

The inventor pony's right eye twitched as he realized he had been duped by the spy and Canterlot was in grave danger.

"We've been had!" he shouted angrily.

"Calm down." encouraged Fluttershy, "I promised Rainbow that I would try and talk with the dragons."

"They won't listen." Warned Tech, "There's only one way we're stopping those dragons."

PAL smiled and used his remote control to bring the missile crawler back into the room. He looked with excitement at his master.

"Too messy PAL." he said.

The robot frowned and put the cruise missile away with disappointment.

"What are we going to do then?" asked PAL, "if we're not going to use force and peace is going to fail, what option do we have?"

"We scare them away. I have an invention up my sleeve that might just do the trick. But we need Rainbow Dash." He answered.

"She won't come with us to Canterlot." said Fluttershy, "Those dragons will be looking for her."

"If they try to smash her, I can protect her." Assured Techorse, letting his laser cannons spring from his saddle with a reloading "click".

"You don't understand." Said Fluttershy desperately, "Their leader isn't going to smash her for telling. The leader is going to eat her!"

"But ponies aren't the primary prey for dragons! They're bluffing." reasoned Techorse.

"Even so," replied Fluttershy, "she's too scared and she won't come with us." The colt sighed and retracted his guns.

He then thought of something and said, "Then we'll need to bring Spike along on this one. My plan might still work, but I have to talk to Twilight. PAL, take care of Fluttershy here while I'm gone."

"Yes sir!" replied the machine happily with a salute. Techorse left his castle to go explain the situation to his marefriend, leaving the two others alone.

---

Meanwhile, miles away, the gang of four dragons was talking about their plan to steal the diamond. The light blue one said, "So, all we have to do is go in there, scare away the ponies, and take the big diamond."

"Then you eat it boss, and you'll be invincible. Takin' over the ponies' cities will be easy with that kinda armor." added the white one.

The green dragon was the last to say, "It will be like taking candy from a hatchling."

Don nodded his head and looked at each of his underlings as he spoke, "Tomorrow, I become more powerful than ever. But before we take over this country, we gotta instill a little respect in those ponies."

"How are you going to do that, Don?" asked the white one, "Breathe a little fire? Smash a building?"

"I've been thinking boys, and I know exactly what I'm going to do. My spy tells me that little weasel Rainbow Dash told on us. We've lost the element of surprise."

"So what are you planning on doing?" asked the green dragon gruffly.

"When the party starts, we're just gonna walk in there casually and explain our presences." Replied Don, "Then, to make sure they don't try and defend themselves, I'm going to demoralize them by eating Rainbow Dash."

The white dragon's narrow eyes expanded as he asked, "But I thought you said it wasn't any fun…"

"I know what I said you idiot!" shouted Don.

Calming down, he coughed and continued his speech, "But if I choke down the runt in front of all the others, they'll be begging for mercy and hand over the diamond, and then the country."

"I've got the sauce right here. Might make her taste a little better." laughed the white dragon as he tossed Don a large bottle of reserve barbeque.

"Thanks Wyrm." chuckled Don.

"Wait a minute." said the green one, "How do we even know Rainbow Dash is going to show up? It's likely she won't be there if she knows she's going to die."

"I'll send our spy to tell her to show up tomorrow or we'll crush all her little friends. Most of 'em are going to be there at the party."

---

That being said, the spy was ordered to teleport into Rainbow Dash's cloudhouse and break the news to her. When she did so, she found herself looking at a mental wreck rather than the tough pony she used to be. Rainbow was curled in a corner, her hair in horrible disorganization and her muscles twitching. She spotted the spy and pointed at her shakily.

"You!" she said menacingly to the spy.

She replied, "Don says to be there in Canterlot tomorrow."

"I'm not letting him get me!" shouted Rainbow.

"If you don't." warned the spy, "All your little friends go instead. Be there tomorrow and go quietly, or everyone else goes down instead."

She laughed again and disappeared in a flash of light. Rainbow wept and grabbed a pillow from her bed, mashing it into her face. Although she really didn't want to end up inside one of the monsters, she now knew her friend's lives were also in peril too. But instead of losing her mind, she became angry. Now that her friends were also threatened, it was possible for her to take action.

"Now wait a minute, I'm Rainbow Dash. I don't cry like this when there's trouble! I'm not going to let those dragons hurt the others, even if it means I have to face them alone." She shouted, standing up and throwing the pillow away. "Tomorrow, I'm fighting Don, and even if I lose, at least my friends will make it!"

Running outside of her house, she dipped her hooves in the chromatic puddle that stored her rainbow water and gazed at her angry reflection. Tomorrow would certainly bring someone's destruction.

---

The trip to Canterlot the next morning was made quick and simple thanks to Twilight Sparkle's mass teleportation spell. The others seemed a little bit disoriented from the trip, but PAL seemed strangely unaffected.

"That was an interesting experience." noted the machine logically.

"Where's Techie?" asked Pinkie Pie. All of a sudden, there was a blue flash of particles next to them, and Techorse appeared out of the vortex. In his mouth was a small metal box with a bunch of buttons on it.

"Hey ladies!" he said as he dropped the box, "What do you think of my self-teleporter?"

"Based on how undizzy you are next to us, I'd say it's just as good as Twilight's!" complimented Spike.

"Where's your saddle?" asked Pinkie curiously, sure that the boy would have brought his favorite invention.

"I decided to go without it today." said Techorse, "PAL has all the stuff we need to stop the dragons in the metal container I sent him with."

Twilight put a hoof on her forehead and groaned, "Ugh, so that's why he seemed bigger than usual. That cargo must have weighed quite a bit." Techorse smiled and walked over to her.

"I still can't believe we're going to try and have a good time while Rainbow Dash is hiding at home." said Fluttershy.

"Once we scare off the dragons with what's in here, we can party all we want." assured Techorse, "just trust me."

"All right, you're the colt with the plan!" cheered Pinkie Pie, taking a happy leap in the air.

"Let's get in line." suggested Twilight, "once we get inside the grounds, we can set up."

As they approached the event, Tech whispered to her, "Twilight, any chance of Princess Celestia showing up?"

"Not likely, she's supposed to be away on diplomatic duties." She replied quietly.

"Ooh, whispering!" added Pinkie Pie, "Can I join?"

They laughed about the unnecessary secrecy and got into place at the back of the line to get into the event.

"I wonder why Rarity didn't come today." said Spike, drumming his fingers on the top of Twilight's head, "she would have loved to see this diamond."

"No she wouldn't." answered Twilight, "The diamond may be the world's largest, but it's extremely flawed. It's not very pretty, just big."

"So why would dragons want to steal it?" asked PAL.

"To eat it?" suggested Spike, "I mean, we do eat gemstones, but the flawed ones taste funny."

"Yeah but it's not for the taste." Said Techorse, "If my theory is correct, there's enough diamond in this gemstone to provide two and a half tons of material for scales. If a dragon even of a large size were to eat that, it would provide the protective equivalent of 60 inches of steel armor for the dragon's entire lifetime."
"So?" asked Spike.

"So." He continued, "Let's give an example from my past. Back on Earth, the most powerful military unit was a battleship. It had 12 inches of steel armor."

Spike did the simple math in his head and shouted, "Five times that? Sheesh!"

"A dragon with that kind of protection would be immune to almost anything!" said Twilight in a bit of a panic.

Techorse nodded and finished, "He'd be explosion proof. Not even missiles or magic blasts would leave a mark."

"Oh dear." said Fluttershy, "We can't let the dragons get a hold of that gem."

"There it is." said PAL, pointing to the large rock on the metal display stand. The gemstone was cut into a large rectangular solid, measuring 12 feet on the long side and four feet on the narrow.

"That is a big gemstone." said Spike, salivating a bit.

"Don't get any ideas. There's no way you're eating that entire thing." said Twilight sharply.

"Fine." He replied, "But it would be cool to have all that extra armor."

"I know." Said Techorse, "And that's why we have to stop that gang."

After getting inside the perimeter of the outdoor exhibit, the friends waited next to the gemstone for the gang to arrive.

---

Twilight was having a conversation with another pony when she noticed it was starting to get a little dark. Looking up, she saw the four shadows of the dragons descending from the sky. Some ponies screamed as they landed on the grounds, others fled in terror, while some even fainted. The four landed in front of the giant diamond and folded their wings behind their backs very politely.

Don cleared his throat and said, "Hello. Good to see all you ponies."

"You must be the leader of these dragons." shouted Twilight.

"You'd be right about that miss." replied the gray dragon, "The name's Don."

"We know." said Twilight, "Rainbow Dash has told us so much about you."

"She has, has she?" laughed Don.

"You leave her alone!" demanded Fluttershy.

"Oh, we will leave her alone." said the green dragon, "If you just give us this rock here."

"You can't have her or the diamond." yelled Techorse, "I will see to that personally if I have to."

"Look he thinks he's such a tough guy!" said Don with a grin as he looked at his comrades.

Don then put on a very serious face and said to Tech, "Now listen. We're dragons of honor. But if Miss Dash doesn't show up and face me, we're going to have to accept some substitutes in her place."

"Substitutes?" asked Twilight worriedly.

"There are plenty here at this little shindig." explained Don, "You boys help yourselves to as many ponies as you want. Eat up!"

"Not so fast Don!" shouted a voice from above.

Rainbow Dash landed in front of the dragon with a loud pound on the soft dirt outside of Canterlot. She looked up at him with anger in her eyes.

"You'd better not attack my friends!" she screamed at him.

Don smiled and said to her, "You showed up! Great!" He reached down and grabbed her with his claw.
She looked down as she was being picked up and said, "Maybe I didn't think this plan through so carefully."

Rainbow Dash struggled to get away, but Don squeezed her tightly, and she soon stopped to avoid being crushed.

"Do something!" shouted Fluttershy at Techorse, "These dragons aren't going to listen to me!"

Don laughed and brought Rainbow Dash in front of his face. He then shouted to all the ponies watching, "All of you will learn to respect the Don and his gang. Or you'll suffer the same fate this little girl's gonna suffer."

He snapped his left fingers, and Wyrm handed him the bottle of barbeque sauce. Rainbow Dash looked at the bottle, and shook her head at the dragon.

"Where is she?" asked Twilight, looking back at the boys. PAL opened the container and took out the laser minigun from the armory. He planned on saving Rainbow Dash with the weapon, but now, he scanned the terrain for the sea green unicorn. The robot spotted the spy watching Rainbow Dash with a sinister grin on her face.

"I SEE SPY!" shouted PAL in a fake Russian accent, pointing to the evil mare. The machine lowered his minigun and took aim.

"Don't shoot her!" reminded Techorse as he tilted the huge gun up with his leg, "bring her back unharmed!"

"Why? Because of her Miss Dash is going to be devoured!"

Tech sighed and shook his head, "Revenge is not how we do things, PAL. The girls have taught me that."

"Yes master." replied the robot in understanding. Then the robot gave a battle cry and charged after the enemy with his minigun.

---

As the robot ran after his opponent, Don finished pouring a good amount of barbeque sauce over Rainbow Dash's head.

"I hate this brand." She said sadly as some of the tangy sauce got in her mouth.

The dragon opened his jaws and prepared to throw her inside. Rainbow looked into his mouth and saw the rows upon rows of razor sharp teeth.

"Hold on." pleaded Rainbow Dash. Don closed his maw and looked at her in confusion.

"Please don't chew me!" she requested.

Don laughed, "Don't worry, I won't." and prepared again to consume Rainbow Dash in one bite. But before he could stuff her down, a purple bolt of energy smashed into his hand, knocking Rainbow dash clear of his jaws. Don roared in anger as Rainbow Dash spread her wings instinctively and splashed down in a nearby fountain, where she cleansed herself of the sauce.

"Great shot Twilight!" cheered Spike. Twilight concentrated and charged the energy around her horn for another powerful shot. This time, the magic blast struck Don in the head, and he was knocked backwards onto the ground. The other dragons helped their leader back up to his feet.

"Nobody messes with me like that!" he screamed. Pointing to the others he shouted, "Go and get them, smash those ponies and bring me the diamond!" The other three began their assault on Canterlot, breathing fire and breaking buildings.

"Retreat!" called Techorse as he ran away, making sure he moved PAL's box to a safe location before he left.

The team split up in the chaos of the dragons rampaging through the city. Twilight rushed over to the fountain and took the blindfold off of Rainbow Dash.

"Are you ok?" she asked her friend as she helped her out of the fountain.

"I'm fine." She replied, "Now let's go stop Don together."

"Techorse has a plan we need to follow." Said Twilight, "and I trust him. He says an invention of his will scare off the dragons."

Rainbow Dash argued, "Now hang on, I was nearly eaten. I think I deserve to call the shots here."

Twilight nodded in agreement and said, "All right, but be careful!"

Rainbow nodded and shot off into the air, she was going to have her revenge. Don took a few steps towards the block of diamond and prepared to take it. His claws were intercepted by Rainbow Dash, who punched his hands hard. The dragon retracted his arms in pain and swatted through the air, trying to shoot down the flying pony.

---

Meanwhile, PAL was in full pursuit of the spy with his minigun.

"Come back here!" he shouted at the fleeing mare, who was in a full panic. As they went around an apartment building, PAL came face to face with the white dragon.

The spy said to him, "Crush this robot who's been chasing me!"

Wyrm reached down for her, "Sure, after a little snack."

He snatched up the sea green mare who immediately wailed, "Wait, what are you doing?"

"Don told me to do this." He explained, "If I eat you, we don't have to pay you."

"Wyrm, no, please!" she screamed as the dragon opened up. At first, the robot on the ground considered letting the dragon eat her. After all, she had gotten Rainbow Dash in trouble in the first place. But when his master told him to bring the spy back alive, he knew he had to help no matter how much he hated it.

"I'm going to have to ask you to let her go, dragon." ordered PAL with a touch of politeness.

"Maybe I will, robot. What are you gonna give me in return?" asked the white dragon, shutting his mouth.

The six barrels of PAL's weapon began rotating rapidly, winding up for a spray of laser fire.

"It's more like what I won't give you. I won't give you a burst from this if you let her go."

The dragon really hadn't paid attention to the minigun, but realized it was a weapon now and started to lower the spy to the ground.

"Look, robot, I'm sorry." He said, "I'm puttin' her down!" said the dragon.

"Too late!"

The robot opened fire, sending a hail of laser bolts into the dragon's body. He shrieked in pain and dropped the mare onto the ground before collapsing into a heap of charred dragon behind her. A few coughs from the monster indicated he was still conscious.

PAL spun down the minigun and approached the pony, who was shaking in mortal terror.

"W-why did you help me?" she asked slowly, "I nearly got your friend Rainbow eaten!"

"I promised my master I'd get you back to him alive." said PAL as he returned to his normal voice, "and I keep my promises, even if I don't want to. Now, will you please come with me?" The pony nodded her head slowly and walked away with the machine.
"Do you have a name?" asked the robot.

"Shade." She responded shakily, still recovering from her trauma.

---

The green dragon, several hundred meters from Shade and PAL, was having fun knocking over buildings with his tail. Celestia's guards had responded to the reports of the threats, but they were having trouble attacking the monsters due to their limited weaponry and the surprise nature of the attack. As the monster continued to knock over buildings, Spike was running through the area. The dragon spotted him and recognized him instantly.

"Hey, I remember you, you're that gem thief!"

"Oh, hey Grindle." Said Spike nervously, "I thought you were over that."

"Not even close." growled the dragon. Spike turned and ran as he was chased by his old foe.

"Twilight!" cried Spike, "help me!" Grindle laughed and breathed a stream of fire at Spike, attempting to scorch him. Spike jumped over the rope of flame and ran between two buildings. The green one jumped over them and landed behind Spike, the impact shook the ground and caused the small purple dragon to trip. Grindle extended the spikes out from his tail and prepared to murder the young guy, who was no more than one hundredth his size.

"I've been waiting a long time for this." He laughed as he swung at Spike. Spike rolled out of the way, and Grindle's tail tore through the base of a large water tower. The metal structure caved, and the storage tank tipped over. Grindle saw the threat, but it was too late, and with a great crash he was trapped underneath the fallen tower. Spike waited for the dust to settle and saw Grindle's claw go limp underneath the giant storage tank.

"I did it!" he shouted, "take that you…"

"Spike!" called Pinkie Pie as she rounded the corner.

She noticed the crushed dragon in front of him and recoiled with disgust, "Ewww, messy!"

"Not my fault." Admitted Spike, "he tried to get me, but he sort of got himself."

"We have to get back to Techie!" alerted Pinkie Pie, "he's about to put the plan into effect!"

"Then let's go." said Spike as he climbed onto Pinkie Pie's back for a ride.

---

On a nearby rooftop, Fluttershy stroked the light blue dragon's nose with her front leg.

He said to her, "I never really meant to do all this. It's just that I wanted to be a tough dragon, so I joined the gang. But all I ever really wanted was to settle down, collect a nice horde, and start a family."

Fluttershy replied, "And I'm sure you will once we're done here. You're a nice dragon Blushi."
Blushi sniffed and said, "Thanks Fluttershy. I'm gettin' outta here. This dragon is done with the Don."

Blushi walked away from Fluttershy, who smiled at her success in giving the dragon therapy.

"Another beast tamed." she sighed as she lifted gently into the air.

---

Meanwhile, Don was still locked in pitched combat with Rainbow Dash. She kept flying around him, punching the dragon once in a while to throw off his aim. Don breathed fire again and again, hoping to roast his intended victim, but kept missing.

"I'm gonna cook you first!" he screamed as he clawed at the air. Rainbow Dash kept flying circles around him, then struck another blow across the side of his snout. Don screamed in agony and stumbled backwards. Below him, the ponies had assembled for the final confrontation.

"All right!" said Techorse, "Time to end this." He reached into the metal box and took out a device that resembled a video camera with a blue coil around it. Tech put the machine on a tripod and aimed it up.

Twilight recognized the machine and said, "That's the shrink ray! I thought you destroyed that thing!"

"I did." He replied, "But I had to rebuild and reverse engineer it for this special case. It's now a growth ray!"

"So what's the plan?" asked Pinkie Pie impatiently, "Don's going to gobble up Rainbow Dash any second now if we don't hurry!"

"My plan is to use it on Spike." said the colt with pride.

Spike pointed at himself and asked, "Me?"

"Yeah," answered Tech, "you'll grow several stories high, and then defeat Don in dragon to dragon combat."

Spike put his fists at his sides and said, "Sweet! Fire away!"

"Wait a minute." said Twilight "Is this safe?"

"Hey that's right!" shouted Pinkie Pie, "Last time you used that ray, you got stuck in me!"

"Well, I haven't had time to test it." admitted Techorse with a sheepish look.

"Then Spike's not using it." said Twilight sternly.

Spike crossed his arms and pouted, he really wanted to play Godzilla, but his overprotective caretaker wouldn't let him. PAL returned to the group at this moment with the spy in tow.

"I'm back." He said, "And I brought her safe and sound, as you wished."

Tech nodded and said to the mare darkly, "You're going to jail for what you did."

PAL thought that seemed like a fitting punishment for her, but after a moment realized that Shade was truly sorry for her actions and took pity on her.

The robot sighed and said to Techorse, "Master, as you know, Shade here was contracted by Don to spy on Rainbow Dash. But Don had plans to simply let his minions eat her as well to skip out on the bill. I barely managed to rescue her, so if it's all the same, I think she's been through enough and learned her lesson."

"That's fine by me, but she still has to answer to Rainbow Dash for what she did to her."

Fluttershy hugged PAL's leg and told him, "You're a very sweet robot for helping Shade."

"Thanks Miss Fluttershy." He replied.

"Can we focus?" asked Twilight, "Don and Rainbow Dash are still fighting behind us."

As she said that, Rainbow Dash scored another hit on Don's head. The dragon roared and smacked the hovering pony away from him. Regaining her orientation in the air, Rainbow flew upright and looked at him straight in the eyes.

"Ready to quit?" she asked.

Don saw Wyrm and Grindle approach him and said, "Not yet, get her boys!"

Wyrm and Grindle were limping, holding each other to provide support.

"No." answered Grindle, "We've had enough. We quit Don."

Wyrm was missing many scales, each hole in his armor showed where a laser bolt had hit him.

He shouted at him, "It's nothin' personal, it's just too much trouble."

The two dragons took off into the air, leaving Don alone to fight his enemies.

"Well, that's it, your cronies have all quit and you can't get past me." said Rainbow confidently, "if you go now, I won't hurt you."

Don looked at the giant diamond brick and said, "Maybe I can't get you, but I can still have the diamond." He made a run for the gemstone, but stopped when the others below him stood in front of it.

Twilight called out to him, "You're not getting the diamond, Don." Twilight prepared to fire a magic missile at him.

Don saw his spy standing next to her and said, "Hey, Miss Shade, mind stopping this purple freak for me?"

"Not on your life, Don!" she shouted angrily, "You tried to feed me to your cronies to avoid paying me."
She also charged up a blast to fire at the dragon. The combined shots from both the unicorns struck Don in the chest and sent him careening backwards. He picked himself up from the ground and shot a geyser of flame from his nostrils.

"You'll have to go through all of us if you want the diamond!" shouted Pinkie Pie.

Don smiled and immediately picked them all up at once with his claws.

Techorse glared at Pinkie Pie and said sarcastically, "Excellent strategy there."

Fluttershy, Tech, Twilight, Shade, Pinkie Pie, and Spike were being held by Don.

Rainbow Dash landed next to PAL and shouted, "Hey, let them go!"

"Never!" shouted the dragon, "You may have all your precious teamwork and friendship, but I'm still the big Don around here, and the biggest guy wins."

Don licked his lips and said, "You might want to look away kid, this may get a little messy."

Twilight looked at Techorse and shrieked, "It can't end like this!"

PAL realized that without Spike, the original plan wasn't going to work, so he picked up the ray and aimed it at Rainbow Dash. Hitting the button, the red beam enveloped the Pegasus pony in front of him, and she started to grow rapidly.

Rainbow Dash grew to 90 feet tall, giving her less than one minute before the ray would revert. But the sudden growth in size surprised Don, causing him to drop the captives he was holding and back up slowly. Rainbow Dash stared directly in his eyes and walked closer towards him, she was now three times as tall as he was.

"Not so big, now, huh Don?" she asked, squinting in rage at him.

"Hey!" he replied nervously while backing up, "Um, you know, I was just kiddin' about the whole eating you thing. It was just a stunt for publicity, you know?"

"You dunked me in barbeque sauce." She said while gritting her teeth.

Don looked around for a way to escape, but knew that he was too slow to out-fly Rainbow Dash at this scale.

"Let's talk this over." He whimpered, "Maybe you can join my gang!"

"I already have good friends.", she answered, “And I'd never join a filthy gang.”

Don swallowed and stopped backing up. Rainbow Dash raised a leg to stomp on the dragon. Don put his hands over his eyes in cowardice. Seeing this, she changed her mind.

Rainbow Dash let him open his eyes before she got in his face and said gently, "I'm going to let you go this time, because if there's one thing less fun than being eaten, it's getting bits of dragon stuck in your hooves."

Rainbow Dash spread her wings and flapped them hard in one huge motion. The force of the air picked up Don and sent him flying backwards into the atmosphere screaming. Eventually the gray dragon disappeared against the sky. The ray wore off at this point, and Rainbow Dash shrunk back down to her regular size. Once she had, the citizens of Canterlot cheered for her and her friends.

"Wow!" said one Pegasus pony with a camera, "I'm a reporter for the local newspaper. Could you tell us how you managed to grow so big and defeat the dragon attacking our city?"

Rainbow Dash looked over to Techorse, who shook his head quickly and drew a slashing movement across his throat. He didn't want anyone to find out he had rebuilt the ray he promised to destroy.
Rainbow Dash looked at the reporter, struck a pose and said, "Because I'm awesome!"

As the reporter started to fly away to go write her article, Pinkie Pie squealed, "Wowie, that was amazing, way to go Rainbow Dash!"

"I really should thank all of you though." She admitted with a smile, "if it wasn't for Twilight's attacks, I probably would have been chomped, and without the rest of your guy's help, the city would still be under attack."

"Don't mention it." Said Tech, "No seriously, don't. The minute I get back to the castle, I'm tossing this ray in thermite."

"Good." said Twilight, giving him a hug, "No more crazy rays."

"Well I suppose we should pack up and head home then." said Fluttershy, observing the conclusion of the fight.

"Ok." said Twilight as she finished her hug. Twilight got a confused look and scanned the wrecked fairground. "But where's Spike?" she asked. Pinkie Pie snickered and pointed at the diamond block.

Spike was attempting to gnaw off a chunk of the gemstone, but had gotten stuck on the corner and was comically hanging off the end of the gemstone by his jaws.

"I guess he couldn't resist that armor." said Tech with a bit of a laugh. Twilight freed her friend from the block and teased him for his greed.

"Spike you silly dragon, you literally bit off more than you could chew."

"I couldn't help it." He replied with a shrug, "I just had to try it. But it's nothing to write home about."

"Write!" said Twilight as she lifted her head, "That reminds me. I'll write my report and drop it off at the castle before we leave."

"So what's it going to be about?" asked Tech.

"It's going to be about how it's important to tell others when someone plans something dangerous. Sure, no one likes a tattle-tale, but in a real emergency it can save lives." She answered.

Shade hung her head and approached Rainbow Dash humbly. Because she had been spared from going to prison, she knew she had to keep her promise to Techorse and at least apologize.

"I'm sorry for what I did. I got greedy and nearly got you killed by those guys. Can you forgive me?"
Rainbow Dash smiled and said to her, "You know, because you apologized, I'm only going to beat you up a little bit for what you did." Shade backed off and tried to hide behind PAL.

"I was kidding." Laughed Rainbow, "Of course I can forgive you!" Shade smiled and bid them farewell. In the end, the gang of dragons had been dispersed, and except for the collateral damage, everything had turned out well that day.