A Rather Large Adventure

by BradyBunch

Chapter Sixty-five: Diplomacy Fails

"All right." Starlight drew a quick, hasty map of the area in the sand by burning the designs with a laser beam. "Forgive the crudity of the design. I don't want to spend extra time drawing it to scale-"

"It's fine, Starlight," said Applejack. "Get on with it."

She rolled her eyes and began to speak, addressing the entire group of ponies before her. "As you all know, we have a crisis on our hooves. Noble Blade was taken by the Noxxa in the middle of the night. He's being kept in their nearby camp, Black Fang Redoubt." She tapped the map burned in the sand. "Now we have a few options we can choose. A frontal assault-"

"Yes!" Rainbow Dash said immediately. Rarity, Firestorm, and Twilight nodded their firm agreement.

"No, wait, you guys-" Spike started.

"We need to talk about the repercussions of this," Shining Armor continued.

"What repercussions?" asked Firestorm over the growing disagreement between the ponies. "All we do is just bomb the crap out of them."

"But what about Noble Blade? Friendly fire is still an issue."

"STARLIGHT!" screamed Pinkie Pie high above everyone talking at once, and the noise died down.

"Thank you," Pinkie said in a posh accent, bowing. "Now. We should get him back at any cost, right? But we also want him to remain safe. That means we should try and make them happy enough to let them go! Maybe we can throw them a party and he can slip away in the confusion!"

"I agree with Pinkie," Starlight spoke up.

"A party?!" Rainbow Dash incredulously demanded. "That's the best option we have?"

"I meant diplomacy, Rainbow Dash," Starlight reiterated with a sigh. "Pinkie has a point. Diplomacy has the fewest question marks for a good outcome. We can persuade or trick the Noxxa to release him."

"No! The Noxxa will not give Noble Blade three days to live!" Firestorm protested.

"I doubt they'd even give him two," Rarity whispered to Twilight.

"I mean, we have got to do a frontal assault on Black Fang Redoubt," Firestorm continued. "I can do a Sonic Flameboom above the camp and level it. We strike hard, we get him out, we release him right now!"

"Absolutely. Get him out by any means necessary," Twilight agreed. "The Noxxa need to be wiped out as quickly as possible. While they live, his life is in danger. The question is, can Firestorm do it without harming Noble Blade?"

"No," whispered the familiar voice of a timid mare, rocking back and forth on her rump.

Firestorm gave her a surprised look. "But Fluttershy-"

"Don't do it," Fluttershy whispered, her eyes wide and threatening to get wet. "Don't do it, Firestorm."

Twilight turned her attention to the balled-up Fluttershy. "Why not? You out of all of us should want to get him out."

"I do!" she said, and she sounded desperate, on the verge of tears. "I do want him! I would do anything to save...! But we don't know how much danger he's in! The Noxxa have a knife pressed against his throat! If we try to break him out and they decide he's not worth the trouble-!"

"They slit his throat and he dies!" Applejack heavily finished.

Rarity indignantly rose. "That is not the issue! We are talking about time, not whether or not they'll try to kill one of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony! Of course they're planning on it! The question is when!"

"Ah'm not gonna sugarcoat this for ya!" Applejack retorted. "Yer plannin' on calling in an airstrike on a base where a hostage is bein' held! That sound intelligent to ya at all, Rarity?"

"To wait gives the Noxxa the advantage!"

"They already do have the advantage! And we'll increase their advantage if we decide to act in haste!"

"Girls, girls," Fluttershy pleaded, coming between the feuding friends and keeping both at arm's length. "There has to be another way to save him!"

Applejack and Rarity took several deep breaths before backing off. Rarity adjusted her messy mane in a bout of frustration. "Fluttershy the negotiator. Hm. Well, then, do you have any other ideas?"

"Listen," said Shining Armor, speaking before Starlight could. "I don't like any of these options. We must simply pick the lesser of two evils. The only way we know for certain we can wipe out the Noxxa at Black Fang Redoubt is if Firestorm performs a Sonic Flameboom above the camp and sets fire to everything. But if we do that, Noble will be caught in the flames as well. We do that, it'll blow the whole works. It's just too risky." He affixed Firestorm a hard look. "None of us will take that chance."

Firestorm managed to look astonishingly humble.

"With that said," Starlight continued, "if we launch a standard attack on the base, we'd likely all be chewed to pieces. They're too well fortified for us to penetrate in a normal ground or airborne invasion. That leaves us with the final option." She tapped the ground. "Diplomacy."

"How in the hay are we going to negotiate with a bunch of demons?" Rainbow demanded.

"...We can go about this a few different ways," Starlight answered, evidently thinking quickly on the spot, judging from her tone of voice. "We can threaten them to let him go, or otherwise Firestorm will destroy the camp. We could also gently persuade them to let him go, or give them a bribe of some kind."

"Pardon me?" interrupted Rarity. "What do we have that can be used for a bribe again?"

Starlight pursed her lips. "I don't know," she admitted. "But we'll have to think of something. If he dies here, the Elements will be rendered ineffective to destroy King Solaris when the time comes. Failure is not an option!"

"Starlight," Fluttershy whispered, gesturing behind her. "I'm...wondering what Freedom Fighter thinks about this."

All heads swiveled to the dark warrior. He was leaning on a beam with his front arms crossed. Freedom Fighter, who had been trying to stay silent, sighed and fell to all fours.

"I can't make any guarantees," he admitted with a cold edge, giving a solid clench of his mechanical left hoof. "He might make it. He might not. We might be able to break our way in. We might not. We might negotiate our way out of it. We might not. We might all die horrible deaths. We might not." He held a fierce glint in his scarlet eye. "All we can do is try."

A feeling of resoluteness overcame the ponies assembled. Twilight especially felt it. It seemed to infect their minds with a false pretense of reassurance.

Because Twilight honestly didn't have much hope for the future. What could they do? They were the ones on the ropes here. Twilight felt twisted and harsh on the inside. And it wasn't her doing. It was the harsh, cruel world she had been exposed to. Tempest was right. Living comfortably had blinded her. Tribulation had opened her eyes.

She immediately felt irrationally angry with herself upon thinking that way. No. Tempest was wrong. She had faced adversity before. She could get through this one as well. Couldn't she?

"So who'll go and be the lab rat? I mean, the diplomat?"

Freedom Fighter's sarcastic question was enough to almost instantly silence the camp. Who actually wanted to put the bell on the cat? Twilight knew that was going through their heads.

So it was Twilight who broke the silence first. "We'll draw for it."

"Draw for it, eh?" Pinkie repeated slyly. Taking a long stick, she quickly scribbled an incredibly detailed self-portrait in the sand and tapped the sand to display it. "How's that? Do I win?"

Starlight took one incredulous look at the detailed drawing done in three seconds, and drew a hoof across her own crude map in the sand and scribbled it out.

"To draw lots, Pinkie, means to select a pony at random," Rarity explained. She was using her magic to pick up several well-sized white pebbles from the ground in their hideout. "Here. White is a no-go. Black is go." She picked up a black pebble as well. "We put them all into a burlap sack…ugh, such a horrid piece of cloth..." She poured the pebbles into one she procured from the edge of their camp. "...and we all pick a pebble." She gave a pointed glance at Freedom Fighter. "Except for him."

"Why me?" he irately demanded.

"You're going in no matter what," she explained. "To protect the diplomat. Out of all of us, I would have thought you'd be most ready to go inside an enemy camp. And with you in there, no bug will lay a filthy claw on you or the pony you're guarding."

Freedom Fighter acknowledged her words with a sigh and a jerk of his head. "I'm not sure where to argue on that one."

"The pony who picks a black pebble from this bag will enter the camp and assess whether we can spirit Noble out of there," Rarity finished. She tossed the burlap sack to Twilight. "Toss it up and pick it."

Twilight wondered why she was taking direction from Rarity. But she forced those feelings of bewilderment down and blindly chose a pebble from the sack. The pebble she got was as white as Rarity's coat.

"Ooh! Ooh! My turn! My turn!" Pinkie bounded over and mixed around in the sack with a hoof, her tongue stuck out of her mouth. After a few seconds, she pulled out a pebble. "Ah ha! A bla...white." She sighed. "All right. Not my turn after all. Fluttershy, your turn!"

The shy pony wiped her eye and breathed heavily as she searched blindly in the sack. Twilight could only imagine what it was she was feeling. She loved him. So would she wish to draw a white pebble? Or a black?

The answer was given when a white pebble appeared on the tip of her butter-yellow hoof. Fluttershy's eyes were beetled. In either frustration or determination. Twilight couldn't tell.

The bag passed to Rarity next. The elegant unicorn's dainty hoof disappeared into the sack and fuddled around for a moment before she drew out a pebble. It was as ebony black as the monsters who had abducted their friend.

Rarity faltered for a second. From her face alone, she had obviously not expected this. But Twilight had known her for too long. She was acting.

"Oh, what a horrid stroke of abysmal luck!" she bemoaned, and hurled the pebble over the walls of their camp and down the cliffside.

"Look, Rarity," Twilight sighed. "I'll go. You don't need to worry about risking yourself for no-"

"Absolutely not," Rarity flatly refused. "Out of all of us, I have the best chance to smooth-talk whoever is in charge of these beasts. I don't like this. Not a bit. But the best chance for our retrieval lies with me now." Her sapphire eyes were as hard as the jewel they were colored as. "I shall save Noble Blade."

Her hoof, curled up slightly so it was holding another black pebble, straightened. The unseen pebble dropped to the ground beneath her.

She had cheated.

---

"Twenty-six...twenty-seven...ha ha! I like this job! Twenty-eight! Two more and you get a break! Twenty-niiiiine...Thirty! All right, you son of a bitch! Cleaning time!"

Noble Blade's teeth were pressed together tightly from the pain. The cat's tails were especially designed to be effective. Iron musket balls had been woven into the tails of the whip to give him an extra sting. He had never been whipped before. Neither had he done any whipping to another pony. But he could recognize the additions.

It could be worse. They could have put fishhooks on the end of the tails.

"Cleaning your wounds isn't the most desirable job on earth," the Nox commented, making sure to press extra hard into his ripped-up back with the tough rag. Noble hissed whenever he did so. "See, the problem is, whoever gets this job also has to make sure you don't get infected. Unfortunately. Me personally, I'd much rather put rat poison or ground glass into your food. But nooo! The idiot who's in charge of us all has decided to preserve you. Again, it's unfortunate that preserving you doesn't include putting salt into your wounds and stuffing you into a pickle jar."

His filthy mouth hovered near Noble's ear. "But that won't stop me once he's had his fun with you."

His breath was terrible, and his voice was horrifying, and his language was a nightmare, but setting aside all of that, Noble caught a spark of interest.

"What idiot?" he whispered.

"Gah...royalty of some kind. Hate to admit it, but he makes you look…" The Nox gagged. "Tolerable by comparison."

"Me." Noble's voice was dry and sarcastic.

"Hard to believe, innit?" He pressed hard into Noble's back again with a rag. "Just arrived last night. And already, none of us can stand him. Stuck-up, rich, pretty boy. I bet he's still a tit-sucking child who likes to play dress-up in his spare time. I bet he's some secret whorish hairy hermaphrodite with a four-hundred-pound mother called Chuck or something. I even bet you're taller than him."

"That's too far," Noble weakly warned.

The Nox burst into laughter, taking a break. "Maybe you're not so bad after all!"

"I'm elated... to have your approval," Noble hissed. The sting on his back!

The Nox patted his back a bit more, gently this time. " 'Course, we all had to learn this stuff elsewhere. It's not like we would know all about what's desirable by ourselves. See, there's no such thing as gender, far as Noxxa are concerned. Nothing specific, all the same. Just like our father intended. Foal and filly standards and whatnot, those are all lost on us. There's no such concept as beauty among the Noxxa."

"That's obvious," Noble assured him.

The Nox narrowed his eyes. Then he shrugged. "That one was on me."

The gates beyond the doors of Noble's cell opened.

"You mention I said any of this to you, and I'll tear your Cutie Mark off," he hissed in his ear. "The pony of the hour is here."

Noble lifted his head weakly. Pony?

"That will do, Nox," came a refined voice. "Take a break. I would like some alone time with our dear, dear prisoner."

"Yes, prince," the Nox sullenly said. He threw open the barred door to Noble's cell and skittered out.

Prince.

The pony of the hour appeared in front of the chained Noble. His pristine suit was sharp. His mane was like a gold waterfall around his neck. His ceremonial sabre was strapped at his side. And around his neck was a heavy silver amulet with a priceless sapphire in the middle.

"You must be Noble Blade," the prince casually said. "Otherwise, I'd have to replace you and take another. I'm trusting you are?"

"Blueblood…" Noble muttered. "Wha... how in Equestria did you end up here?"

"It's a long story." Blueblood came into his cell, careful not to touch anything unsanitary.

"How are you in charge of these... abominations of nature?"

"These abominations are ponies that have been cursed by your prophet. I am leading the path of restoration. The fact that you're here is merely a side effect I intend to exploit."

Man, how out of the loop was Blueblood? If only he could know-!

"What do you want with me?" he murmured. "I don't... owe you money, do I?"

"I have riches beyond compare thanks to my six-legged comrades," Blueblood modestly bragged. "I don't need the money out of your hefty bank account. And I certainly would never give you anything you ask for."

"Funny," Noble breathed. "I would never ask anything from someone like you. So we've ruled that out."

Blueblood pursed his lips. "Trying to offend me won't work, Blade."

"Won't work on me either, Blueblood. It might as well be futile."

Blueblood jerked Noble's head straight up. The barbed wire between his arms cut deeply into his fetlocks and horn. He hissed.

"Do you know why you're here?"

"...I can't say I do."

Blueblood shoved Noble's head backwards and released. "Two reasons. First off, you're a threat to the throne. Before you publicly revealed yourself at the Grand Galloping Gala and threatened my life, I was the only one in line to inherit royalty."

Noble's eyebrows quirked. "I threatened you?"

"I know what I'm talking about. Don't act stupid, Noble."

"I could give you the same advice," Noble muttered under his breath.

"You're an heir to the throne of Equestria!" Blueblood exploded. "As the nephew of Cadence, you're set to inherit something. See, Celestia's lost favor with me. Before you, I was supposed to be the next in line as Celestia's nephew. Things have changed. But not if I can help it! I'm the rightful successor, not you!"

"This is a bid for power?" Noble asked with some surprise.

"Yes, it's a bid for power!" Blueblood exclaimed. "Canterlot politics are always that way. Next in line for inheritance."

"...I'll be honest, I kinda forgot I was royalty," Noble admitted. "It's never been important to me."

"Then what kind of ruler are you?" Blueblood asked, on the verge of laughter. "Honor is the only thing that matters. Honor alone will get you places."

"I can see where it's taken you," Noble retorted. "To a torture camp, ruling over insects. How honorable you must be."

Blueblood's smug grin had disappeared almost instantly.

"I have ten times the power you do," Blueblood hissed. "Open up your eyes. See the world from where I stand! Me, among the mighty! You, chained at my command."

"I would open my eyes," Noble admitted. "But all I would see is an ugly sight."

Blueblood immediately slapped him. Noble reeled, digging the barbed wire into his skin. A large bruise appeared on his skin.

"I almost forgot to mention the second reason you're here," Blueblood added, trying to regain his composure. "The mare Rarity that dotes on you...thinks you're the best thing since sliced bread…"

"Oh!" Noble nodded in faux-understanding, his head still exploding with pain. "You're winning her heart by kidnapping her friend and demanding her to come to you in exchange! I see! Truly honorable of you."

"Rarity is mine," Blueblood insisted, starting to circle around the bound prisoner. "I just didn't see it at the time. And you are in the way. I'm telling you, I am nothing if not persistent. She will love me and no one else. All I must do is remove you from the equation."

"So do it already."

Blueblood gave him a patronizing look. "I want to." He shrugged. "But I want to relish this for a bit longer."

"Sir!"

"What?" Blueblood demanded of the approaching Nox in exasperation.

"Two ponies and a baby dragon are at the front gate of Black Fang Redoubt. They carry a white flag and wish to speak to you."

Blueblood smiled. It was oily and satisfied. "I have to go and deal with your friends now. I'm guessing they're here to barter for your release. Hang tight in there." He messed up Noble's mane like a father admonishing his child. Blueblood then pointed at him. "He's had a long enough break. If you want to get creative with him, you can. Just keep him intact."

The new Nox grinned sickeningly. "Yes, sir."

---

The gates of Black Fang Redoubt were fifteen feet tall and forged from dark iron. Spikes stuck out on every available spot. They hung between two tall towers made from iron as well. In those towers, Noxxa were aiming cruel crossbows, iron-spiked longbows, and even one or two primeval blunderbusses.

Rarity, Freedom Fighter, and Spike were in the mind to quiver before the imposing portals.

But they dared not. Not even when a deep horn sounded, and the Noxxa begrudgingly let open the gates to the camp within.

The three brave souls plodded in. What greeted them was a wide street with two rows of buildings on both sides. Those buildings ranged from two long barracks, to a blacksmith forge, to a kitchen, to a storage area. Noxxa were standing solitary all over the place, decked out in spiky armor, giving them dark looks. The Noxxa were on the side of the street, on top of the low buildings, stuck like flypaper on the sides of those buildings.

Black Fang Redoubt was much larger than that, of course. It also consisted of many other erections and fortifications. But from their limited perspective, that much was all they could see. Which was probably for their benefit.

One Nox from the doorway of the smithy spat into the street right where Rarity was about to put her hoof.

Freedom Fighter directed his scarlet eyes to the offender and quietly narrowed them.

His arm was a blur.

Faster than the eye could see, a thin blade embedded itself in the panel next to his head. The Nox realized it a full second after it happened and jerked away belatedly.

"Don't throw things at us," he advised quietly. "Or I'll throw something back."

The Nox gulped, nodded, and retreated into the smithy. The other Noxxa on their path leered at them unpleasantly, but they made no other sudden movements as they advanced.

"That was close," Spike whispered. "If you had missed, we'd be treated as enemies!"

"My knives go exactly where I want them to," Freedom Fighter answered.

They presently reached a longhouse next to the mouth of the cave, around which the entire camp was erected. Half a dozen black bugs were congregated around the outside, crawling on the walls of the cabin, and peeking over the edge of the roof. It all had the same effect. They were truly surrounded. There was nowhere they could go without their eyes on them.

"Your host awaits you," gravelled a noise right behind them. Startled, all three ambassadors whirled to see a Nox slithering next to Rarity, being careful not to touch her. "Try anything suspicious...and you will never leave this camp."

Freedom Fighter muttered something darkly to himself.

"I am so sorry," the Nox began, with every intention in his tone of insincerity. "But you seemed to have said something I haven't heard. Speak up. Speak up! Anything you say, I must hear for recording."

Freedom Fighter's eyes, thin as narrowed, angled slits, bore so hotly into the Nox's that the bug actually shrank back. He seemed to have grown in height, if it was physically possible.

"I said that if you come close to us again I will tear your arms off and carve your face into ash with your own claws. I'll squish your head into black sand and toss it into the eyes of your friends. I eat bugs like you for breakfast, you carapace-covered slimy pile of dung. I season my soup with your ashes. And you taste more delicious the slower I kill you. You've got a smokey, sharp taste. Like pepper. I didn't eat breakfast this morning. Care to help a pony out?"

Freedom Fighter took a step towards the abomination. The Nox quivered and retreated back a few steps.

Freedom Fighter gave a gruff nod and signalled to the others to advance into the cabin. Once Spike and Rarity had opened the door, Freedom followed.

None of the Noxxa watching wanted to continue after that.

---

Once the magnificent oak door had swung shut, the only light in the cabin came from a few worn-down, buzzing lamps. Mites of dust floated about in the air. There was a desk at the far end, along with a large mattress on a reclining bunk behind it.

Sitting in the chair behind the desk, sipping at a glass of brandy, was-

"YOU!" Rarity roared, lunging for the prince with a wild fire in her eyes.

Spike caught her just before she collided with the pony there. "Rarity! Ungh! Get back!"

"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, YOU SON OF A WHORSE?!" Rarity demanded as she was pushed back by the straining Spike. "COULDN'T LEAVE 'WELL ENOUGH' ALONE, NOW COULD YOU? WHERE IS HE?! WHERE IS OUR KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR?! I WILL BEAT IT OUT OF YOU IF I HAVE TO, YOU STUCK-UP, HALF-WITTED… STUPID-LOOKING… BUG FUC-"

"STOP!" thundered Freedom Fighter, clasping his hoof around Rarity's and forcibly shoving her back. She stumbled for a few steps before getting into another feral position and breathing through her nose like a bull.

"My, my," Blueblood said with evident surprise. He set his lacquered drink down. "She's grown feisty? This rose has a rather poisonous thorn now."

"I'll spit that poison at you if I have to!" Rarity retorted. "You deserve no better!"

"Shut her up, or you will be thrown out."

Freedom Fighter let out a pained groan of consternation. But he relented at last to his enemy's demands.

"Rarity, for Noble's sake, please… keep yourself composed."

Rarity for her part looked like she was about to explode. But she reluctantly dragged a seat to her with her magic and sat down so hard, the chair almost broke from the sudden strain.

"For your white flag, you sure don't show signs of peace," Blueblood commented.

"Give me a reason to show peace first," Freedom Fighter replied.

"Well," Blueblood pointed out. "I do have a hostage of yours. That is what you came here for, I assume?"

"We came to find out your… conditions."

"Conditions?" Blueblood flicked his hoof. "I don't have to give any conditions. You want to kidnap what I've rightfully stolen."

"And you wonder why?" Spike dryly remarked.

Freedom Fighter sat down on a chair in the lukewarm cabin. "Listen, Blueblood."

"Prince Blueblood."

"I came here to recover the closest friend I ever had. I will do anything to get him back."

Blueblood had a glint run across his eye. "Anything, you say?"

"When I say anything, that also includes tearing your vertebrae out of your throat and dangling it in front of your eyes," Freedom Fighter casually continued. Blueblood paused in his tracks, fear evident in his expression. Seeing it, Freedom Fighter grinned. "Whether it be force or by subtlety, or even just a simple exchange, I will go to any length to take. Him. Back. I don't care how many soldiers you have. I'll break them all to get him back. He's the best out of all of us, but he doesn't even know it. While you seem to be his exact opposite. You're the most vile piece of filth in Equestria, but you think you're the best thing since sliced bread."

Blueblood's face was violently twitching. His hoof was about to reach for a bellpull next to his desk. But he was able to cool his heels, lean back, and breathe evenly.

"All right. Fine." Blueblood flicked his hoof again. "You can have him."

Rarity gave a deadpanned look. "It can't be that easy, can it?"

"Would you like me to make it harder? I only kept him around for a bargaining chip anyway. I don't like him. But I knew that you do. So you can have him--for a price."

"Name it."

Blueblood pointed at Rarity. "Her."

Both ponies were already making furious movements towards him. But Spike was already there.

"No!" Spike insisted. "Rarity is worth more than anything you can understand!

"Listen to me, dragon," Blueblood patiently tried to explain. "I don't care about Noble Blade, but he's the best knight in Equestria. He said it himself when he pressed a knife to my throat at the Gala!"

Freedom Fighter looked extremely uncomfortable all of a sudden.

"He would never do that!" Rarity declared.

"Ah, but he did! He said he was! But he didn't know at the time just who he was dealing with. Listen. All I ask for is a fair price. A jewel for a jewel. A life for a life. I know the value of individual lives, and this is the fair deal I offer you now. Give Rarity to me, and I promise, I will deliver Noble Blade up to you." He grinned. "Unless you think one life is better than the other?"

Freedom Fighter and Rarity exchanged worrisome glances. Both of them, and they knew it, would not accept the deal. Otherwise, they'd be in an even worse situation than before.

"Well then?" Blueblood asked with that same grin. "You said you would pay any price. Are you… backing out?"

Rarity's glance returned to Blueblood. Her eyes were smoldering with internal flame.

"Oh, I had hoped you would have seen reason," he lamented. "Perhaps when you're a bit more serious about this deal you can return to spirit him away."

"You little-!" Spike begun, lunging for him. Blueblood casually held him at arms length as Spike made furious swipes at him. "I'll show you! Ngh! Come here!"

"And next time, leave this child behind," Blueblood added as an afterthought.

Freedom Fighter, giving him the most hateful glare he could muster, marched up to Spike, pulled him back, and directed the struggling kid to the door. Before they headed out, he unhinged a combat staff from his hip, twisted it to ignite the enchantments, and pointed the glowing staff at Blueblood.

"If it weren't for our peace flag," he breathed, "I would take your life right now."

"You'd better leave before the Noxxa see you pointing that at me," Blueblood reminded him.

Freedom Fighter still was affixing him a murderous stare, but he sheathed his weapon and stomped out.

---

The trek back through the camp was not as anxious as the first one, but they didn't feel any better, either. The Noxxa had their eyes glued to them in mocking triumph of the first round. None of them approached them--Freedom Fighter was looking ready to wring the neck of anyone near--but they were snickering and hissing in laughter.

Once they passed through the massive iron doors of Black Fang Redoubt and they thundered together behind them, Freedom Fighter let out a curse that made Rarity wince and Spike shrink back.

"I should have done more," he breathed. "He was right there. I could have torn his head off! Or I could have snuck into the redoubt itself and freed him!"

"There was nothing you could do!" Spike told him. "If you had, we'd all be dead or captured, and the others in Appleoosa would be in an even worse condition!"

The dark warrior pondered his words before groaning and kicking at the ground as they walked towards the city in the distance. "You're right, but I still want to kill him."

"No matter what we do, we shouldn't give up!" Rarity declared. Her usually high voice, curiously enough, was an octave lower. "We need to go back with a bribe."

"Why would you want to go back to Blueblood?" Spike wondered.

Her expression burned. "To face me."

"Not alone, you're not!" Spike insisted. "I care too much about you to lose! Next time, we should all go!"

"With what?" Freedom Fighter pointed out. They walked as a group, so all three of them could overhear each other. "We don't exactly have much of a bribe we could give them."

Spike thought for a moment before he snapped his claws. "I know! We do have something we can give them in exchange for Noble."

"What is it?" Rarity asked.

Spike's eyes glittered. "Tempest Shadow."

Comments

[Jade Dawn]

Well...dang it.

[A Man Undercover]

Sorry it took so long, but I finally managed to read this chapter.

As always, you made quite a stellar chapter (minus the slight cussing, of course). I especially enjoyed the beginning, when the ponies drew rocks and Rarity drew out a black rock on purpose to find Noble and try to save him. It was a great test of character for her and truly represented her generosity and how far she's willing to go for others.