Canterlot Crashers
Saphria laid on her belly on the vantage point outside of canterlot castle, there were plenty of trees planted around the place so nobody had noticed a new one sprouting overnight and even if they did they wouldn’t have questioned it. Gazing through the binoculars at the throne room she smiled when she saw the princess of friendship take the bait, now all they had to do was wait for the guards to-
“New orders from the princess!” said a pegasi guard rushing over to the two outside “all guards are to immediately report inside the castle in pursuit of the two rogue dragons inside, apprehend on sight!”
“Sir yes sir!” the other two chorused.
Saphria grinned, Artair’s plan had worked perfectly so far, all the guards were distracted by Griffith and Yam which allowed them to slip in unnoticed under all the chaos.
“Are they gone?” asked Connor, plucking away a fruit from a low hanging branch
“Yeah, time to move on to phase two. Come on guys.”
The trio slid down the tree trunk to the grassy ground below and simply walked straight into the castle, no fuss.
“I must say, this is pure genius. Using Griffith and Yam as a distraction like this.” said Saphria.
“Thanks Saphria, appreciate it.”
The three pushed through the front doors of the castle into the extravagant foyer, to which Connor let out a loud whistle.
“Dang, these guys have got some wicked cool digs; I mean personally I’m not that into flashy stuff but wow.” said Connor
“Stay focused Connor, we’re not here for sightseeing, now artair where are those cells?” said Saphria
“In the lower levels of the castle, there’s several stairwells that can take us down...oh wait.” dread began to creep into Spike’s tone
“What? What’s wrong?”
Spike scratched the back of his head in embarrassment “I just remembered that they’re all hidden passageways, this castle has tons of them; and I might have forgotten which ones lead to the dungeon.”
“You forget?! What do you mean you forget?! You said you know this castle like the back of your claw!” said Saphria
“I thought I did, but it’s been awhile Saphria! I’m not perfect!” Spike argued, only for Connor to get between the two
“Come on guys,chill out. We’ve only got an hour to kill right now, don’t spend it fighting; you do know where the passages are right Artair?”
Spike nodded
“Then let’s just try each one until we find the right one. If it leads down then we’re going the right way right?” said Connor
“I suppose so. Given I’m not a fan of improvisation, especially in these affairs but I guess it’ll have to do, lead the way Artair.” said Saphria.
“Okay, I think there’s one behind the giant painting of Prince Blueblood. The passageway behind it’s probably the only reason Celestia keeps the darned picture.”
“Why wouldn’t she want it?”
“Guy is kind of an idiotic jerk”
************************
This was hands down the most idiotic thing Griffith had ever done in his life and this is coming
from a guy who once thought it was a good idea to combine a toaster and a flamethrower, he can still smell the scent of scorched wheat to this day.
Yam and him had split up at the first cross road they had spotted to cover more ground and lessen the chances of them being surrounded. But the fact that the ponies were much quicker than he anticipated complicated matters, having the floor of each hallway frozen solid would have been really handy right now.
Luckily he had brought plenty of gadgets along to throw at them, like the trail of smoke bombs he was dropping behind him. Unlike gas Crystal used back in Baltimare, these were completely harmless apart from a minor cough and they broke the ponies’ line of sight fairly well, more than once some of them accidentally ran into a wall or column.
After a bit he had managed to lose all the guards chasing him, but the two pegusi, the orange earth pony, and the horde dragon didn’t give up so easily.
“WHEN I GET AHOLD OF YOU I AM GONNA TURN YOU INTO A DRAGON PRETZEL!” shouted Rainbow Dash, moving forward with a burst of speed.
Griffith tucked and rolled to avoid her, pulling out a small gun and firing at her when she turned around to make another dive. Instead of a beam, a rapidly increasing bubble sped towards the wonderbolt, encapsulating her inside of it.
“What the heck?! What is this?”
“A bubble gun, duh!” said Griffith as he ran past the trapped pegasus and turned a corner, throwing down a column as a blockade.
The bubble quickly popped and Rainbow Dash fell to the floor, taking a moment to shrug off the impact she quickly resumed the chase with others.
Mere seconds after they had left however, a hidden doorway opened up on one of the walls and a certain baby dragon walked out of it.
“Hmm, I think we forgot to take a left turn at the kitchen.” said Spike,
“Looks like...hey wait did we just miss something?” said Connor “this place is trashed.”
“Must have been Griffith, there’s no ice anywhere.” said Saphria “doesn’t really matter though, we gotta keep moving. Where’s the next passage?”
“Right through here...I think.” said Spike, pressing a hidden panel on the opposite door opening up another passage way
Further down the hallway Griffith skidded to a stop when he came upon a dead end, no doors and only one window that opened up to a several story drop; turning around he could see the group slowly advancing on him.
“End of the road fella.” said Applejack. “This is yer last chance ta give up Spike.”
“How about you meet my other friend instead? GO!” said Griffith, tossing a small humanoid figurine onto the floor.
It erupted into a cloud of violet smoke that shot up seven feet into the air, once it cleared away a large black golem with purple symbols on it stood in the figures place; the golem took one look at the quartet and let out a roar, charging straight at them and knocking them aside like bowling pins.
Griffith leaned down towards Fluttershy “hey, you gonna be alright? Did he hit you too hard?” there was an air of genuine concern in his voice, he didn’t want to hurt Artair’s friends anymore than he had to.
Fluttershy groaned as she tried to get to her feet.
“Yeah you’re gonna be fine, see ya!” the mechanic hopped on top of the golems’ back and hitched a ride as the stone man started bashing through walls.
“Ugh, come on now everypony. On yer feet! He’s getting away!” said Applejack.
“I hope the others are doing a lot better than we are right now.” added Fluttershy
*****************************
Yam skated through the halls of canterlot castle, turning it into her own skating rink, throwing down a path of ice that she used to propel herself ahead of her pony pursuers.
Being an ice dragon meant that she had the unexpected benefit of granting her full traction on demand on her ice trails no matter how slick it was, having a good understanding of physics also meant she knew how to keep her momentum up so that she maintained a speed consistently faster than the princess of friendship.
Of course it wasn’t like the alicorn didn’t try to teleport in front of her, but Yam merely threw snowballs in her face to prevent her from getting a clear shot at her.
The changeling was also troublesome as he kept attempting to cast the spell he used back in Appleloosa on her, but her agility combined with the fact that he had to run while casting it made it very difficult for Thorax to get a clear shot unlike he did with Mia.
The strangest thing however had to be the pink earth pony, unlike the others she was actually keeping pace with her, skating along the ice trail like it wasn’t even there, she didn’t even have ice skates on! Somehow this pony was directly defying the very laws of physics and Yam didn’t like it one bit.
“HI!”
“Gah!” Yam screamed, completely startled.
“What do you want for Spike huh? Gems? Cupcakes? Gem flavored cupcakes? Name your price!”
Yam was so distracted by the pink pony that she didn’t notice she was headed straight for a window, by the time she finally looked up to see where she was headed it was already too late. The ice dragon smashed through the glass pane with a resounding crash, shattering it into pieces and started to fall. Luckily for Yam the drop out of this window was much shorter than the one Griffith had come across and she ended up falling through the skylight of the castle’s library.
“Pinkie, Rarity, get down to the front doors and block her in! Thorax and I will cut her off from the air!” barked Twilight as she spread her wings and flew out the window after Yam, Thorax quickly following.
Just outside in the gardens, Spike, Saphria, and Connor gazed up at the crazy wipeout they had just witnessed, looks of worry focused on the now shattered window.
“That looked painful. Do you think Yam will be okay?” said Spike
“She’ll be fine, yam is a lot tougher than she looks. Artair, resourceful too. Odds are she’s already gotten back up and dusted herself off” replied Saphria
“I can vouch for that, Yam is my best friend and I’ve seen her take a lot worse spills and come out just fine. You have to admit the wipe out was pretty epic though” added Connor
“Connor!” Spike and Saphria said in unison
The plantmancer shrugged “What? I’m just saying.”
“regardless we have to keep looking, we’re much lower to the ground now which is a good sign. You said the next one is under a rock Artair?” asked Saphria
“Yup” said Spike, lifting up the stone in question “careful though, this one is a slide.”
Back inside the library Yam had hidden herself behind one of the bookshelves as she picked out the shards of glass embedded into her chest, they weren’t deep or large enough to cause her any lasting damage but they still stung like crazy. The only reason she was still standing was due to a combination of draconic durability and thinking quickly enough to conjure a snow pile below her to break her fall.
Their game of tag had turned into hide and seek, the three ponies and a changeling stalking the shelves for her.
She would have used a small snow drift to blind them and make her escape without bringing any harm to their persons. But she was completely surrounded by ancient tomes containing near infinite amounts of knowledge, any use of her ice powers would ruin any that got caught in the blast and she couldn’t risk destroying such valuable artifacts from a time long gone.
They were closing in fast and she needed to think of something quick to slip away, otherwise all this effort would have been for nothing.
Yam gazed around the corner and spotted the changeling approaching fast. That’s when it came to her, how she could escape with minimal collateral damage to the surrounding areas; Yam quickly channeled her ice aura’s magic.
The magical poof that sounded off from behind the shelves was spotted almost instantly by Thorax.
“There you are! No running away this time!” Thorax fired off the magic depriving spell right at Yam who made no movements to dodge away. To Thorax’s horror when the spell made impact, Yam’s entire body shattered into small pieces instead of just weakening her like he intended.
“Oh no! What have I done?!”
“Thorax!” said Twilight speeding over to the changeling “what happened?!”
“I-I didn’t mean to kill her! I just cast that magic removal spell like I did back in Appleloosa, I didn’t think it would shatter her!” Thorax sobbed.
Twilight looked over Yam’s remains, holding various pieces up in her magic, examining them for signs of what went wrong.
It took her only a few moments to figure out what went wrong “This is a fake.”
“W-what?”
“This wasn’t Yam, it was just an ice sculpture shaped like her.”
“Then where’s-” the loud bang that came from the doors to the library made Twilight and Thorax jump three feet into the air. Looking over to the source of the noise they saw that Yam had broken down the doors with a large icicle that served as a battering ram.
“We’re okay!” Pinkie Pie shouted.
“Relatively speaking” Rarity added with a groan.
“Sorry about that. But you all didn’t leave me a lot of options.” said Yam, creating another ice trail to skate down the hallway.
As Thorax watched her slide away he turned to Twilight and said “do you think the others are having a better time?”
****************************
Silver Crunch was perched high up on a ladder, icing bag clenched tightly in his hooves.
As the head dessert chef in canterlot castle, he was tasked with making all of Princess Celestia’s cakes and this wasn’t as easy as it sounded. While the princess was more than happy with the modest meals served by the chefs in all the other divisions, she had surprisingly simple tastes when one came down to it; when it came to cakes she was as picky as they come, everything had to be just right or it went in the trash, worser still was that the alicorn ate an unnaturally large amount of cake, Silver swore that he once saw her unhinge her jaw and swallow a three layer cake whole. Many have tried to meet her high expectations when it came to sugary desserts but all before him have failed, he had lasted the longest out of anypony. Sure there were assistants who wanted to work under his tutelage but none made it farther than a week, they all cracked under the pressure. But not Silver Crunch, he was sturdier than that.
His latest creation was a five layer banana-chocolate chip cake with peanut butter frosting. One of his best works, he had spent the entire weekend working tirelessly on it to ensure it was just right; with good reason too, Princess Celestia said this would be the last cake he would make before his three month vacation, he’d earned it. Tomorrow he’d be on a train to Manehattan enjoying a nice long nap, as long as nothing happened to this cake in the next thirty seconds.
Discord must have poked his head into the room at that moment, as a large stone golem carrying a dragon on his back burst through the wall to his left and ran straight past Silver Crunch, nicking his ladder in the process.
Silver flailed about, trying to regain his balance or at least trying to make sure he fell anywhere that wasn’t near the cake. He couldn’t fail now, not at the final stretch. He took a leap of faith and landed safely on a pile of flour bags in the corner. He looked up at the cake and let out a sigh of relief, not a single imperfection on it.
Just then a rainbow blur streaked past him, causing the cake to shake from the wind. Silver Crunch quickly rushed over and steadied the cake on the platter with his hooves, being as careful as he could to prevent any damage and luckily the cake remained totally fine.
Looking over to the hole in the wall his mouth opened in dread at the sight of a dragon, a pegasus, and an earth pony rushing towards him.
Scooping up the cake platter, Silver Crunch hopped on the counter and held it over his head. The ground shook and rumbled at the trio ran past him, Silver nearly lost his balance but steeled his nerves and stood strong.
Taking a quick survey of his surroundings he was elated to see that nopony else was going to come running through here, Silver hopped off the counter and place the cake on the counter and turned around to get the cake topper only to spin around on his hind hooves when he heard the plate sliding off it’s perch. Silver dived towards the cake as it fell and like a gymnast on trapeze he expertly caught it midair, perfectly preserving the cake.
He gently placed the cake topper in it’s needed position and let go of the breath he didn’t know he was holding.
“Wow that was close, I really thought this cake would have splattered on the floor like a slapstick comedy and I would have shouted to the heavens in pure rage over having all of my work ruined by random chance. But once again I came though in the end, now to take this cake to the pastry safe and ask Celestia for hazard pay.” said Silver Crunch, contentedly carrying the cake away from danger.
Further down the makeshift hallway that the golem had created, Rainbow Dash was struggling to keep up with the beast as every time it smashed through a wall she had to slow down to avoid the debris. But it didn’t last much longer as the golem slammed into a wall that was a bit too sturdy and broke apart into a pile of rocks, magic quickly vacating them.
“Oh no, that’s not good.” remarked Griffith.
Rainbow Dash thought the exact same thing, she was going too fast to stop herself in time and she slammed into the same wall.
Griffith checked to make sure that Dash was still in one piece. “Not what I planned but whatever works I guess. Do ya need some help there?”
“Gonna….kill...you.” Dash said through pained breaths
“Well that answers that.”
“TARGET IN SIGHT!” shouted a guard “MOVE MOVE MOVE!”
Griffith quickly dashed down the hallway to evade the now twelve ponies pursuing him minus one dragon.
Ember had stopped chasing him several rooms back as she pondered something.
“Wait why doesn’t he just hide somewhere in the castle until the hour is up? He has the means, so why does he let us keep chasing him? unless…..THEY WANT US TO FOLLOW THEM!”
Ember took off towards the dungeons, she had to check on the prisoners immediately.
*****************************
Speaking of Mia, Dylan, and Crystal. They all were listening to the sounds of chaos above them, all wondering what in the world the others were even doing up there in the first place.
“Sounds like a wicked party is going on up there. I wish I could have been a part of it.” remarked Mia.
“You might just yet.” said Crystal, pointing towards a hole that had just opened up in the wall.
A series of joyful screams began to resonate from the passage and moments later, out popped the baby dragon we all know and love, followed by Connor, and Saphria bringing up the rear.
Unfortunately given the speed they were going they all slammed into the iron bars of the cell, falling on top of each other in a heap.
“Owww! That hurt man!” Connor moaned.
“Now I realize why I never saw anypony use that passage anymore.” Spike said, rubbing the bump forming on his head.
“Nevermind that, we found them! Mia! Dylan! Crystal!” said Saphria.
“Guys! You came for us!” said Mia “quick, get us out of here before the guards come back.”
Saphria took out one of her blades and started to pick the lock with it “oh don’t worry, Yam and Griffith are taking care of that.”
“What are you talking about?” said Dylan.
“They goaded the princess and her allies into following them on a wild goose chase around the castle, while all the guards are busy chasing them we sneak in and get you guys out. Sorry it took so long, Artair forgot how to get to the dungeons.” replied Saphria.
“Well better late than never, great plan Saphria.”
“Actually Artair thought up the whole thing.” said Connor, keeping an eye on the doors.
“Wait Artair made this plan?” said Dylan in disbelief.
Having gotten Mia’s door open, Saphria set to work on Dylan’s “he’s a bit more clever than he lets on Dylan, be thankful he convinced Connor and Yam to come back for you.”
He looked over towards Spike, it wasn’t his normal look of resentment that he normally had for the runt, instead it was one of silent approval.
‘Maybe he isn’t as weak as I thought’ Dylan said in his head, pushing his cell door open.
Spike pulled a blue hoodie out of his backpack and handed it to Crystal who smiled at the baby dragon as she slipped it back on. “Good job Artair” said the archer, tussling spike’s head fin “good job.”
“I don’t know about you guys, but I’m ready to blow this bummer of a town.” said Connor.
“We can’t leave yet, they confiscated my bow and arrow set. I think they have it in a room a few floors up.” said Crystal “you know how much it means to me Saphi.”
“Okay, I’ll come with you to-”
“You are going nowhere punk.” a new voice said.
The group jumped back upon spotting the very displeased looking dragon lord staring them all down.
“WHERE DID YOU COME FROM?!” shouted Connor.
“Nice little trick you had going there, using two of your own as bait to distract us from the real threat. Very clever, but I’m smarter than the rest of them.” said Ember “now Spike, come over here.”
Spike started up at Ember and felt a deep feeling of sadness pooling up in his stomach; he knew Ember pretty well and the way she was looking at him didn’t say she was angry, it said she was scorned, betrayed, and hurt as a friend from his actions. For a moment he actually considered coming over there but quickly snuffed out such thoughts, even if he thought that he could convince them to let him leave on his journey they would tear into his dragon friends for what they’ve done. He was in too deep to back out now.
“N-no.” Spike said.
Ember raised an eyebrow at the dragon. “Spike as dragon lord I order you to come with me.”
Spike shuffled his feet “I don’t want to Ember.”
Saphria quickly got between her friends and Ember “he said he doesn’t want to come with you feral, back off.”
“Spike whatever these dragons told you was a lie! They are backstabbing traitors who want nothing more than power in the world.”
“Oh is that what they tell you?” said Saphria “because a bunch of arrogant horde dragons who are so smug that they love the smell of their own farts are a completely reliable source of information.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m saying your kind was on the wrong side of history princess. You were the power hungry warmongers, not us. The only reason were portrayed as such is because none of us were around to say otherwise.”
Ember paused for a moment, scarily enough the dragon did make a good point, most of the elders did have plenty to gain from fabricating history to make them look like the heroes of the broken fang instead of the noble dragons and they certainly weren’t above lying.
Ember just ignored the doubts in her mind “no! Stop trying to fill my head with lies, I’m going to rescue Spike from you and you can’t stop me.”
Saphria drew her blades “I know, but I have to at least try. For my honor and for my friends, Connor help everyone get to the safe, tell Griffith and Yam to bail out early, and then get out of the castle. I’ll find a way to escape.”
Crystal looked at her ninja friend in confusion “Wait didn’t I do this in-”
“GET YOUR BUTTS IN GEAR!” shouted Saphria.
All at once ember lunged past Saphria, trying to grab spike away by force. But Connor was quicker, he managed to summon up a wall of plant roots that completely blocked Ember off from the rest of them. The dragon lord turned around to face her remaining adversary.
“I am going to kill you. You know that right?” said Ember.
“Wouldn’t be the first time” replied Saphria.
Ember charged forward, slamming directing into Saphria, knocking her straight through the adjacent wall.
Behind Saphria’s calm demeanor hid a very frightened soldier, one who feared for their life.
‘This isn’t any old horde dragon, this is the dragon lord, best of the best; she could easily rip you apart’ Saphria thought as Ember slugged her in the face, sending the ninja flying into another wall.
‘Who am I kidding, this dragon is gonna kill me….but if I have to go down I’m gonna do it fighting!’ Saphria spat out some of the blood that had started to build in her mouth from the blow and let out a battle cry, leaping at the dragon lord with both blades drawn. She had promised to protect Artair no matter what and she intended to keep that promise.
***************************************
“Come on, come on! I knew I should have packed more gadgets!” said Griffith rummaging through his pack while riding a hoverboard.
The amount of security in this place had turned out to be a lot heavier than Griffith could have ever imagined, he held out pretty well against the three initial ponies especially after the dragon lord disappeared. But when reinforcements started to appear is when things started going wrong.
Guards were coming at him from all sides and Griffith had burned through most of his tools very quickly just keeping them off of him. Now all he had left was this hoverboard that he made when he first got into skating.
Little known fact about Griffith was that he was an excellent skater, by no means one of the best on the Vlemm enclave but he could still pull off some pretty great tricks. It all started when his parents kicked him out of the house one day during his childhood to get him away from his inventions and make some real friends, while out and about he discovered the joys of skating and was instantly smitten but we’re getting off topic.
His skills with the board is the only reason he had managed to evade them so far but they were rapidly closing in and it was getting harder to focus on staying balanced on the board, he needed a deus ex machina and he needed it right now.
Meanwhile Yam was heading straight towards Griffith’s location just around the corner.
The glass shards that hit her midsection earlier had actually done more damage than she initially thought, her light blue vest was now soaked red with blood and she was starting to feel a bit light headed, vision blurring and focus waning. She tried the best she could to hold off the guard battalions that were now swarming her but they were starting to overwhelm her abilities with sheer numbers.
This was a stupid idea, there were so many ways this could have gone wrong and it did in every single one. Now she was likely going to bleed out, but she took some small comfort in knowing the rest of her friends were safe and sound.
“OH BALLS!!!” shouted Griffith, snapping Yam out of her thoughts.
The frost dragon looked over just in time to see Griffith slam right into her, sending her to the ground in a hard belly flop which only increased the bleeding and him straight off of his hoverboard into a decorative column, leaving a sizeable crack on the stone.
Slamming head first onto the ground Griffith was dazed but far from out of the game. But in a few moments he might as well have been.
The crack began to spread across the pillar, it was collapsing under its own weight and tipping right towards Griffith.
Yam looked up from her spot on the floor but was helpless to do anything, by that point she was lying down in a pool of her own blood and was too weak to move, all she could do was watch in horror as the upper part of the column broke free from its base and slam down directly onto Griffith’s left arm, sparks flew out as the prosthetic was crushed under the massive weight on the stone and Griffith yelled in pain.
That got Yam up and moving. Acting on pure instincts she summoned up the last of her reserve strength and created massive towering walls of thick ice that blocked off all the advancing forces, at least for now. Then she turned around and limped over to Griffith who was still screaming.
“MY ARM, MY FRIGGING ARM IT HURTS SO BAD! I CAN’T STAND IT!”
“C-c-can you move it? The pillar I mean” Yam weakly said, trying not to blackout.
“NO! MY ARM IS STUCK! YOU-YOU GOTTA LEAVE WITHOUT ME!” Griffith shouted back
“NO!” Yam pleaded, putting pressure on her heavily bleeding wounds “I CAN’T LEAVE YOU, NOT LIKE THIS!”
“HOW DO WE GET ME LOOSE THEN? THOSE GUARDS ARE ALREADY BREAKING THROUGH!”
Yam looked over to see that indeed the guards were starting to chip through her ice walls and were progressing fast, she didn’t have much time left so she went over the options in her head: she was too weak to move the pillar by herself, if she called for help they would be captured before it ever arrived, and she didn’t have enough magic to freeze the pillar enough to shatter it, so what did that leave?
Yam looked at the part of Griffith’s prosthetic that attached it to the rest of his body, eyes widening in the sheer horror of what she would have to do. Griffith followed her gaze and quickly realized what she was considering.
The mechanic looked up at Yam and gave her a silent nod, begging her to just get it over with as fast as she could, there was no other way.
Yam swallowed the vomit in the back of her throat and set to work, cold quickly encapsulated the joint and started to freeze it, ice crystals beginning to form on the area. Griffith had to undo his belt and bite down into the thick leather to keep himself from screaming at his arm was slowly frozen solid. It felt like his left side was being roasted alive, at least the last time he lost an arm like this he was unconscious for most of the time but here he was awake for every single moment.
“Almost done. Just hold out a little longer!” said Yam through sobs, she couldn’t believe she had to do this.
Eventually the arm was completely encased in ice, which was Griffith’s cue to start pulling. The pain of having his arm frozen was nothing compared to what he was experiencing now, it was unending, agonizing suffering in its purest form. Soon enough a snapping sound filled the room alongside sickening squelching noises as the limb came loose from it’s socket.
Griffith dropped the belt out of his mouth when he let out a loud roar of pain as the arm finally broke off from the rest of his body; the stump that was left behind was now bleeding heavily from the violent procedure, so Griffith picked up his now chewed belt and tied it tightly around his arm to staunch the flow.
He then used his remaining arm to throw the now passed out Yam over his shoulder and started running, body operating on nothing more than adrenaline, he had to get them out of there or they were going to die very quickly and very painfully.
**********************************
Further down the same hallway were the remaining dragons sans Saphria, they were all battered and bruised apart from Spike. They had encountered heavy resistance on the way up and barely managed to fight their way to the safe where Crystal’s weapons were being held, Mia was able to get the combination by using her speed aura to try every possible code until she found the right one. Now they were just trying to find a way out while also fighting off the guards that tried to attack them.
“Artair where’s the exit?!” shouted Dylan, letting out another blinding flash of light aimed at the guards dive bombing them.
“Right through here we just have to take the next- DEAR CELESTIA!!! GRIFFITH!! YAM!! WHAT HAPPENED?!!’ screamed Spike when the pair came into view.
“Got caught under a pillar, Yam had to freeze my arm off to get me loose. No idea about her cut, but we need to get out of here now! I don’t know how much longer she can hold up, she’s lost a lot of blood!”
Crystal could only stare in shock at her friend’s bleeding form, seeing Yam in such a state stirred something in the dragon, something she hasn’t felt for a long time….not since that horrible day.
“Connor, can you make us an exit?”
“What?” said the plantmancer, drawing his gaze away from the injured dragons.
“A way out, you need to use your plant powers to make an exit for us and you need to do it now. Otherwise Yam isn’t gonna make it in time.”
Connor nodded, he had the perfect thing in mind. Summoning every ounce of power he had, Connor focused on the plants of canterlot garden, gathering them together into a large form, one that would save them.
The rest of the guards and the mane six were on them in moments, but were hesitant to take them down seeing the heavily injured Griffith and Yam.
But Twilight wasn’t so easily discouraged, not after what they’ve done “Property damage, kidnapping, assault on my friends and the royal guard. Your streak ends here and now. Hand over Spike or we are going to have you all arrested”
“Really? My friend is bleeding to death right now and all you can think about is your precious baby dragon? You make me want to puke.” Crystal spat
“She’s a criminal!”
“And she’s also a living being Twilight, like you and me! Yeah she isn’t a saint, none of us are, but she doesn’t deserve to die for what she’s done!” shouted Crystal, starting to cry “none of this was supposed to happen! This should have been a quick and clean mission where we just scooped up Artair and returned him home safe and sound, but then you all selfishly got involved and we had to act; we didn’t kidnap Spike, he came with us willingly Twilight and we’ve treated him with nothing but kindness and respect, never tried to hurt him or make him do anything he didn’t want to! Why are you so dead set on saving him from a threat that doesn’t exist?!”
“You could have asked us! We would have understood, let him go!”
“No you wouldn’t have! You would have called us liars, cast us out, tried to exploit us for your own gain like every other creature does. Show a little kindness and we get ourselves slaughtered in return, that’s how it’s always been! It’s better if the world doesn’t know about us!” Crystal yelled. “WHY CAN’T YOU JUST LEAVE US ALONE?!!”
The flashbacks started hitting her, the screams, the pain she felt, the wicked smile on that cruel satyr’s face. Crystal was about to draw her bow and do something she would never forgive herself for when a large flower burst into the room.
“Ride’s here! Let’s go!” said Connor, picking up Spike and hopping into the ovary of the plant, the rest of the group quickly following.
‘No’ thought Twilight as she dove for her number one assistant.
‘No’ Twilight repeated as the petals closed around them
‘No no NO!’ Twilight thought as the flower descended the side of the castle.
“They’re making a break for it! Everypony mobilize, those dragons cannot escape the city!”
*****************************
Down in the gardens, Ember slammed Saphira's back over her knee, causing the purple dragon to yelp in pain.
There was no doubt that Saphria was a much more skilled fighter than the dragon lord not to mention much more well equipped, but Ember far exceeded her in physical strength and Saphria simply couldn’t keep up with her savagery.
She was getting destroyed, her vision growing dark, blood filling her mouth. She had given it her all, got in several good strikes against Ember that showed in several bleeding cuts but it wasn’t enough to stop the assault. Eventually her body gave way and she was left at Ember’s mercy, of which the dragon lord had none.
Ember picked up Saphria by the throat and began to choke her out.
“You come in here. You disrespect me, attack me and my friends, try to take that baby dragon, that baby dragon that I love! The noble dragons will never rise again and I will personally make sure of that!” Ember said, hatred dripping from every word.
Spike came running into the gardens, set on finding Saphria and getting her to the others so that they may escape; finding Ember strangling her to death was not what he wanted to see.
“EMBER STOP IT! YOU’RE KILLING HER!!!” Spike screamed.
As Ember turned to explain why she had to do this, she saw Spike’s face and all of her rage and hatred melted away. Spike looked at her with fear, like she was a monster, one that would bring him harm; he was looking at her the way other dragons looked at her father and she hated it. Then the rest of the haze began to clear up and she turned her gaze back towards the dragon she had up by the throat and realized she was about to execute one of her own species. Noble dragon or horde dragons they were still both dragons.
Ember instantly dropped Saphria out of her grasp, letting the ninja fall back to the ground where she started sucking air back into her lungs while spitting up blood.
“I-I didn’t...I never meant….I-I was just so angry...”
Ember tried to move towards the baby dragon for a hug but Spike backed away from her in fear
“Spike please...d-don’t do this to me. Not now.” the dragon lord weakly pleaded
Spike looked around him, at the damaged castle, at his friend silently pleading for forgiveness, at his other friend bleeding on the ground, all the chaos and destruction finally made him consider something that had never occurred to him until now: the effect this whole journey was having on Equestria.
He kept telling himself that they would understand in the end, that they would forgive them for what he did when he returned but seeing all of this around him….this wasn’t the way, it wasn’t right, it never was. He still cared for his new noble dragon friends but if he kept this up he would lose all of his friends in Equestria.
He knew what he had to do.
Spike ran up to Ember and gave her the tightest, most loving hug he possibly could and she squeezed him like a stuffed animal, as if he would disappear the moment he let go.
“LET ARTAIR GO!” Dylan yelled, breaking the brief silence “DON’T MAKE ME-”
“NO! DYLAN DON’T!! SHE’S MY FRIEND!” Spike cried out, shielding Ember with his body
“FRIEND?! ARTAIR SHE TRIED TO KILL SAPHI!!”
“I KNOW! JUST-just let me talk to her. Let me explain things to her, I promise I can convince her to let me go with you just give me a few minutes.” begged Spike
Dylan wanted to blast Ember, she deserved it for what she did to Saphira but at the same time he was overcome with a conflicting feeling of respect for the dragon standing up for her.
Lowering his arms he huffed “five minutes, that’s all I can give you Artair.”
“That’s all I need.”
The baby dragon then turned to Ember
“Ember….” spike said, searching for the right words “I know you care about me.”
‘More than you could ever realize’ Ember thought to herself
“I know you don’t want to see me leave, but you’ve got to let me go.”
“Why Spike? Aren’t you happy here?”
“I am, really I am but….but this is something I just can’t pass up.”
“Why?”
Spike sighed and stepped back from Ember, spreading his arms.
“Ember look at me. What do you see?”
“I see a caring dra-”
“No, on the outside. Look at me like this is the first time meeting me, what do you see?”
“A-a baby dragon?”
Spike nodded “that’s right, a puny little baby dragon who can’t protect himself or his friends from anything or anyone who might want to hurt him. That’s why I have to go with these guys, so I can become stronger, so I can protect you all.”
“Spike you’ve done plenty without-”
“I’m not done ember.” Spike cleared his throat “all my life I’ve always felt alone, an outsider. When I first came to ponyville, mothers would pull their foals away from me like I was a monster. Even now I still get looks from ponies because of what I am. I can’t go to the dragon lands, I’m too pony-like to fit in there either, the great dragon migration proved that. I’m a misshapen puzzle piece that spend so much time shaving off it’s own edges to try and fit in where it didn’t belong that eventually it couldn’t fit in anywhere. The noble dragons are different, they seem to be fellow outsiders like me, if I go with them I can finally find where I belong in this world.”
“Spike-”
“And then there’s my family, Ember in the last few weeks I’ve found out I’ve got a brother and parents who are all still alive, Twilight is a great friend but I just can’t see her as my mother no matter how badly I want it too, Celestia’s fine but I almost never get to see her. If I go to the Vlemm Enclave I might finally have what I’ve wanted my whole life...a family, a real one Ember. If you thought you could find your real mother, wouldn’t you head to the ends of the earth for her?”
Ember looked down, beginning to cry for a whole new reason only for Spike to nudge her chin up with his claw.
“Look I know it hurts to let go but if I don’t, I might be stuck where I am forever. Yes I know these guys went about it all wrong, I’m not trying to justify their behavior. But I wouldn’t have let them get this far if I didn’t think they just wanted to protect me, if you knew what they had riding on me you’d do whatever it took too. Please Ember I trust them with my life. I need you to trust in my trust, please I promise I’ll fix everything when it’s over; I’ll force the noble dragons to help me if I have to. Just let me go”
Ember wanted to scream, she wanted to cry, she wanted to hold spike and never let him go. But hearing him say it, say that he trusts the noble dragons with such sincerity and passion, lay his soul bare for her to see. She couldn’t help but be convinced to his side.
She had to let him go. But not after another hug.
“Promise you’ll come back someday.”
“I will Ember, I swear I will.”
“And try not to forget about us no matter what happens or how strong you become, always remember your friends.” Ember said.
The two separated from the hug and Ember sadly chuckled
“R-remember when you first hugged me?”
“Yeah, I do. At the end of the gauntlet of fire, you took it so awkwardly.”
“I did but I also felt… I mean that was when I started to….what I’m trying to say is…” Ember kept stumbling over her own sentences, trying to just say those three little words but found that it was next to impossible.
Ember decided to throw all caution into the wind and just show him.
Seizing Spike’s chubby cheeks into her claws, she brought his face to hers and deeply kissed him on the lips. There was no tongue, no swapping of spit, no lust whatsoever. This was a kiss of love and passion, the only one she’d get for the next few years.
Pulling away from the dazed dragon, Ember leaned down and whispered into Spike’s ear fin “see ya round pony boy.”
The dragon lord then took off too the skies disappearing behind the clouds. Spike was left behind in awe, touching a claw to his lips he could only say one thing:
“Wow”
“Heh. So the dragon lord has a thing for you? Good on ya man that is a fine female specimen for a horde dragon, high five” Said Dylan.
“Actually I’d like to stay like this for just a little longer please.” Spike’s voice could barely qualify as a whisper, he was sitting on cloud nine right now
“We gotta split though, the rest of the dragons are waiting for us back on the ship right now. How about I just carry you there?”
“Okay, sure, whatever you say.”
“To be young and in love, ain’t it grand.” Said Dylan, picking spike up in one arm and Saphria with the other, spreading his wings and taking to the air.
************************************
“Oh no. Not Saphi too!” Exclaimed Crystal. “I should have been with her to fight that dragon!”
“Wouldn’t have made a difference. She’s a lot stronger than all of us. Better she only got one, at least Artair convinced her to leave us be.” Dylan replied, handing Saphria over to Connor to take to the med bay.
“I was gonna ask about that. I’m guessing it has something to do with the dopey smile?”
“Yep. Artair’s first kiss apparently.”
“Tell me when we’re not about to be killed are we clear?” Said Crystal
“Crystal.” Mere seconds later Dylan realized what Crystal had just pulled. “I hate it when you make that joke”
“Which is why I love it so much. Griffith can you get us out of here with one arm?”
“Of course I can, once we’re far enough from the city I’ll disengage the cloaking device so we can get home as fast as possible.” Replied the mechanic
Seeing his younger brother’s bandaged, bloody stump where his arm used to be snapped Spike out his emotional high. Bringing feelings of regret to the forefront of his mind.
“Griffith, I-“
“It’s fine artair.” Griffith coldly responded
“But-“
“It’s. Fine. Just let it go.”
Spike shrunk away like a wraith in the sunlight. He saved his friends but at what cost?
The trip out of the city was spent in total silence, even Mia was feeling down from the day’s events.
After a few more hours the noble dragons had traveled far enough to the point where they thought they were safe and dropped the cloaking device.
Then all tatarus broke loose. A series of projectiles impacted against the ship, sending it careening to one side.
“What the deuce was that?!” shouted Griffith, using his remaining arm to steady himself.
“Wonderbolts! Coming in hot!” Spike yelled to his brother.
Having seen the noble dragons take to the air, Rainbow Dash enlisted the help of the wonderbolts to get spike back. They had all waited in reserve for the airship to appear on the horizon and when it did they began to assault the metal bird. But they weren’t alone, Celestia and Luna had also joined in on the assault; the princesses didn’t appreciate having their home trashed in the manner that it was and gladly agreed to help bring the ship down. There was no mercy, no quarter given, no thought of the souls on board. After the events in Canterlot Castle all they wanted to do was bring the noble dragons down.
The Violet Dawn was a well built airship but was never meant to withstand an attack of this magnitude, warnings began to flash on every screen.
“Defensive weapons down! shields down! Hydraulics down! We’re losing everything here, we’ve got to retaliate!” Griffith yelled
“No! We’ve hurt enough ponies today. We have to cut and run before this ship falls out of the sky!” Connor said, grabbing Griffith.
“But I spend years designing and building this, it’s my greatest achievement! Those ponies already cost me an arm, I won’t let them have the Violet Dawn!” Griffith hissed
Right then all the screens merged into one single image:
CRITICAL DAMAGE TO ALL SYSTEMS, EXPLOSION IMMINENT. IMMEDIATE EVACUATION IS URGED
Griffith slumped to his knees in defeat.
“No. Not my baby.”
Crystal grabbed the grief stricken dragon by the arm and dragged him down the hall towards the lifeboat, Griffith remained completely limp still crying over his loss.
“Mia! get Yam and Saphria from the med bay. We’re bailing out!” Crystal said
The speedster gave a quick salute and dashed off in the direction of her two friends.
The ship started to groan and bend under the outward force, the warning alarms blaring louder.
The Paragons swiftly piled into the lifeboat and strapped in.
The lifeboat itself was a small glider for use in emergency situations, it was made for speed and distance but was never meant to stay in the air for long. For situations like this it was also equipped with a small cloaking device to prevent destruction after being deployed.
“Is that everyone?” Asked Dylan
Every dragon let out a chorus of confirmation.
“Time to abandon ship. Goodbye Violet Dawn, we knew ye well.” Said Crystal, yanking on the release cord and sending the glider flying away from the doomed vessel towards the frozen north.
Where they would end up after this….only time would tell.
*********************************
Twilight was flying around the airship, a cocky smile on her face. They had finally gotten the drop on the noble dragons for once, they weren’t going to escape their punishment anymore. The girls would get spike back, the noble dragons would be imprisoned, and everything would go back to normal like it always did, all she had to do now was wait for the noble dragons to jump out of the airship and the Wonderbolts would seize them up.
“Any second now they’ll jump out.”
The airship began to smoke and Twilight started to worry
“Aaaany second now.”
The airship burst into flames and started falling out of the sky.
“Come on Spike, just jump out. I know you’re still in there.”
Then the airship exploded into a massive fireball that crashed into the ground in a spectacular display and Twilight’s heart almost came up into her mouth.
She didn’t see any dragons jump out….
They had just killed Spike and at least seven others in a blind fury.
She looked towards Rainbow Dash in the distance and saw she had a similar horrified expression.
Then she looked over at Celestia, the princess looked absolutely crushed, like somepony had torn out the very soul from her body.
They had wanted nothing more to keep Spike safe, to protect him like the good friends they were and ended up getting him killed all because they lost control of themselves.
What have they done….
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What indeed
This was a interesting chapter for sure. I liked the whole chasing around thing and it didn't go too much in the nobles favor. I liked the Ember moment as well. I ship the two of them because it would make the story far more interesting for the two sides Future Leaders to fall for each other. And she is the first dragoness to see him for him. I do have some issues with the chapter tho. I found it odd Spike had a moment with Ember before Twilight. I mean he just seem to dimiss her and her feelings so much in this story. And the only one to address her was a noble who know nothing of their relationship. To her this isn't about getting back a friend but the little brother she helped raise his whole life. And Spike even if he doesn't see her as a mother he damn sure should see her as a big sister. One who has taken care of him for years but he just seem to barely care about her and her feelings. I thought, great he is going to talk kto everyone, when he said he knew what he had to do, but he let me down again. I think that is one of the biggest things that make me cringe at the story.... I just don't like this Spike. Hell I will go so far to say I can't stand him. ALL of this is his fault and he can't dragon up and face anyone. He is letting everyone else do all the work while he hides. He says he doesn't want to hurt everyone he is friends with he has done nothing to change that even when he was given the clear chance. And I find it to be so funny he wants no more pain but due to him not talking and being a strong person now ALL of his Equstria friends and family will feel great pain from all of this. And with how op the nobles intelligence is they will know they all will think he is dead and suffering. But this Spike has shown he won't do anything. He will let them suffer because it is easier for him. Even as I Relfect on how much of a weakling as a person he is it just make me dislike him more. All of his pain and suffering everyone is feeling fall on him being too weak to talk to people he know trust him greatly. I honestly don't think he deserves to be just forgiven when she show back up. Hell Twi honestly might have a mental breakdown thinking she killed her little brother and Spike caused it by not trusting her to listen and talk to him like she has done Everytime he wanted to explore his dragon roots
I don't look forward to the tears next chapter...
Why didn't Spike just talk to Twilight like he did to Ember it could have solved everything.
At least Cadance may be able to find out Spike is alive and tell Twilight. And hopefully Spike feels upset he didn't talk to Twilight when he had the chance.
9230466
Spike's reasoning is a fine example of a sunk-cost-fallacy. He wants to become big and strong to protect his friends—but in the course of doing so, he's left behind incredibly pain and suffering, perhaps more than any villain has managed in the series. After all, the ponies, Ember, and Thorax will all think he's dead. And they'll blame themselves... and each other.
Just imagine how Ember will react. She let him go, only for the ponies to blast him out of the sky.
Spike better hope he'll find what he wants with the "Noble" dragons, cause there might not be a place for him to return to in Equestria. Not after all this.
Lastly, the same accusations the "Noble" dragons throw Ember's way could be directed at their own elders. Contrary to popular belief, history is not written by the winners, it's written by the survivors.
9231031
Yea that is something that really honestly bugged me. Ember who has spent her whole life as the princess of the dragons. Have ONE conversation with the Nobles and they more or less say 'nooooo your kind were the bad ones' and she start to question all she has ever known and been taught. I think honestly it was BOTH sides fault. I SOOOOO see the noble dragons as the type to put down any kind of dragon, even back then, that wasn't like them. I mean come on, they call themselves the 'Noble' dragons for crying out loud. So it isn't hard for me to see the dragonland dragons as feeling suppressed and put down by the noble dragons, and they see the dragonland dragons as violent and brutes for going against the system that was in place. I think the Nobles shouldn't be seen as being 100% right or their side is the full truth. I mean they destroyed all history of them so they can say and make it whatever they want. Kinda like how any invading forces tend to get rid of any history they deem as unneeded or wrong. They have gotten rid of history and now will spin it to however they want, or at least they CAN do that.
Those ponies just wouldn't listen to reason beforehand. They could've known the REAL TRUTH about the noble dragons and now looked what they've done. Especially Twilight in all of this, she's so suppose to be better than this.
I like if Spike could have a small talk with Twilight soon to get her to understand, it could even be in private after the ship crashed while they search the wreckage. Everyine splits up and Twilight finds Spike seperated something like that, they talk Spike says he feels guilty the ways turned out that he should have just spoken with her in the first place and that all this chaos could have been avoided but he cant turn back now not after all the noble dragons have gone through that he has to stick with this but promises they will meet again someday and will make it up to all of the simeday. Twilight agrees and makes him promise to never forget them no matter what but does so very reluctently, a very bitterswert moment.
9232172
I could have seen that. But I honestly I think if that were to happen at this point it would feel forced in to make people happy. I think having him come in a bit later. Let him see and feel how much hurt has happen because of him. Once he get back, once he get wind of how much all his friends have hurt by what he did that I'd when he acts. He more or less tell them to let him see his sister or he will leave. She is suffer and in pain from him and he need to fix things. Even when he does show up two would be happy to see him but hurt, really hurt he would do all he did, cause so much pain because he felt he couldn't talk to her. But I think that could come to the BIG issue I have seen with this Twi and Spike..... Spike doesn't see her as family in this. He refer to her as a good friend like everyone else but doesn't see her as more. That is why when he got wind of meeting his real family he threw it all to the side. Twi care more for this Spike than he does for her.
My biggest gripes here is with Spike not seeing Twilight as family is wrong and Ember doubting her people because of what the noble dragons said.
Spike isn't that detached from Twilight to where he sees her as only a friend and just feels really contrived. Also, enough with this avoiding talking to the ponies crap, after all the damage. Why does Spike keep acting so stupid, he can realize he needs to talk to Ember yet not Twilight...come on.
Ember also who is the leader of her people having doubts like that is also really contrived, you are supposed to be a smart leader who believes in those you lead. You really expect me to believe she would be so easily swayed to viewing her own people as totally in the wrong like that. No, hell no. She would know there's two sides to every story.
ahh boy.
9233526
9232351
just to clarify, he WANTS to see twilight as family. But no matter how hard he tries he just can't get the same deep connection found in real family members, twilight is essentially an adopted sister at best. (celestia is a motherly figure, but he just doesn't get to see her a lot) Deep down spike just can't register twilight as anything more than that. really in the case of any adopted child there is always a certain level of disconnect from the parents when they find out they're adopted, even as an adult, and spike knew this from birth.
9233932
Huh I really REALLY don't think you are right about the whole adoption thing. But that is your personal ideals. And all you said that I was right. The core different and big thing is that THIS Spike doesn't care as much about Twilight and the girls as much as they seem to care for him. They can't be bride or thrown off from looking for Spike. But THIS Spike has put his need and desires over everything else. He as put all the pain he has caused to the side in order to get what he feel he should have. And he only interacted with Ember now honestly I feel because she is a dragon. I think This Spike is more noble dragon than we thought and he is showing that he will favor his own kind over every other even if ponies were the ones who raised him his whole life. You said it yourself that the connection he feel for people he has never met and people he only knew for at MOST a week is stronger and more important to him than those of the people well most would consider to be his family. That attitude I think will keep him from being unlikeable in my eyes and now that it came from the horses mouth confirming that is how he view it I can't help but see him as a ungrateful brat. And explain so much of why he is going along with the Nobles with so little thought on their actions and treatment to those we all thought meant so much to him. It turns out they never really did. At least at the idea of being with his own kind they are all afterthoughts. He will comfort a dragon and make good with one of them long before any pony. He is the true prince of the Noble dragons alright.
9233969
okay, fair. I guess I'm just a little rusty in characterization.
my original aim was to make the noble dragons sympathetic anti-heros who see spike as an equal and want him to reach his full potential, but will do so at any and all costs. But I ended up making them selfish, pony-bashing, jerks and spike really insensitive towards those who care about them; by the time I realized what I did it was too late, I'm trying to run damage control but it's really not helping. At least the fic is almost over, after the crystal empire arc there's going to be a few chapters dedicated to spike meeting his parents.
as for cobalt, spike will decide to hand him over to twilight to replace him as his 'number one assistant'. though cobalt will be more akin to a servant, and they place several magical countermeasures to keep him in check.
9234006
ehh no. Cobalt being put that position just does not work. No way Twilight will say yes to that. And Cobalt being a servant with his hatred of ponies, worst assissant ever.
9234177
I agree that would be a huge eww to me as well. I mean not to mention it once again show just how little Spike view his relationship with Twilight. He think that replacing himself with another dragon will make up for himself, he doesn't think that MAYBE there might be more to her feelings about him than very shallow ones. There is also the face it just doesn't feel like a good fit. I mean the dude has come off FAR from the type to do this or even go along with it. IDK I could go into alot more detail on why I just really don't like that move but I just don't have it in me at the moment. Just saying that is something I think would be a strange and .... well eww move lol.
9235230
well I can't exactly put him to death he plays a major role in the next story and I can't let him get off scott free after what he's done so how should I punish him?
9235230
Yeah this isnt going to work. Its a horrible shallow move that solves nothing and feels like an insult if nothing else.
Heads up I'm going to be AFK from the story for a while
9235237
Maybe you should punish Cobalt by making him Spike's personal mentor and assistant but Spike can choose whether or not to respect him.
The truth that cobalt will help the Spike talks to his friends in the dream not to worry and will make him help the Luna as punishment.
I'm guessing that someone made this civil war of the dragons to kill the chosen one evil that slept for a long time
Oh now you assholes feel sorry fuck you Twilight, your friends and the Princesses too.
For all the other things I've pointed out in the past... this is a chapter I think works very well.
The SNDs are still strong... and the ponies a bit weak still, especially when you have magical prodigies like Twilight and Starlight on that side... but they're not invincible. They get bogged down. They got in over their heads. They let their arrogance get the better of them, and it COST them. There's actual consequences.
And Spike finally makes a real attempt to communicate with what are supposed to be his friends. Even Ember, who loves him. It shows, tragically, that they would have listened if he'd been open about it from the start. They didn't deserve his mistrust. They didn't deserve all the misery he's brought on them. But things escalate to a horrible point—which he SHOULD have known. He's known his pony friends long enough now that he should be aware that they never, ever, ever quit.