Sink or Swim
Spike gulped down what may or may not have been his last gulp as the older, stallion stared at him from the other side of the jail cell bars, giving his pegasus wings an aggressive flap. As much as Spike wanted to just take one last breath, abandon all ships and just burst through the closest wall to obtain freedom, he knew that wasn’t an option. For one, the walls were made of stone. The second, and possibly more important reason, would be that if he showed any sign of ‘dragon-ish’ aggression, he’d be screwed. Why? Because that would mean any chance at peace would be gone and his mission would be severely jeopardized.
He couldn’t let that happen. Everyone he loved was depending on him, whether they knew it or not.
His thoughts were interrupted as the older pony finally broke his menacing but silent stare and started talking.
“So, tell me dragon,” he said, a slight southern Equestrian drawl to his voice. “What brings you ‘round these parts? You here to cause trouble in my village?” He sniffled and wiped his hoof across his face. “I’ll tell you one thing, there ain’t no way I’m gonna let a dragon cause trouble in Onyx Twister’s town!”
Using context clues, Spike assumed that he was referencing his own name. He let out a nervous laugh. “Well, Mr. Twister, trust me. This has all just been a huge misunderstanding! I know you probably get that a lot from your prisoners, but—”
“Ha!” Onyx Twister laughed aloud. “A misunderstanding? You mean to tell me a dragon just strolls into my village, causing all kinds of trouble for the good folk around here, and I’m supposed to believe it’s just a misunderstandin’?” He let out another hearty belly laugh. “I’ve heard it all now.”
Spike frowned. There was no way he could convince this pony to believe him no matter what he said. The dragon looked around but there was nopony there to help him this time. He was on his own, save for a stallion who already didn’t like him for contextually good reasons.
Well, Starlight did always tell him the first steps into adulthood are miserable and lonely. Turns out, she was right. She also said they could be awfully expensive, but that wasn’t super relevant here considering Starlight has never time-travelled her way into a cell before. Regardless, Spike was going to just have to figure this one out all by himself. After all, he had a job to do.
Spike clawed himself out of his own head and cleared his throat, making direct eye contact with the pony. “Look, I’m going to be completely honest with you. I’m not necessarily asking you to believe me, but at least hear me out. Please?”
The stallion rubbed his chin, looked him up and down, and let out a sigh. “Alright then. This oughta be good. Say your piece.”
“Thanks.” Spike took a deep breath and began. “I’m on a serious mission to try and save the dragons back home. There’s a really bad sickness going around and the only way I can cure it is by getting some ingredients from here in your lands.”
The pony continued to look at him with an unflinching stare. If nothing else, Spike at least had his attention, and that was better than nothing.
He continued, “I get it, dragons don’t normally seem like the type to care about other creatures besides ourselves that much. But, if it isn’t obvious, I’m not like most other dragons, and I don’t wanna see my friends and family get sick. I’m only here because I was stumbling through the woods and found myself here by accident. I had no intention of causing trouble for anypony.”
The stallion nodded a few times in response. Maybe, just maybe, he was getting somewhere!
“So,” Spike said. “If you could just let me go, I promise I’ll walk right out of your town and go on my way without ever looking back. I swear on my honor as a dragon, for whatever that’s worth around here.” Spike finally exhaled a deep breath. He managed to spit it all out. Now he just had to await a response.
“Ha… Ha ha!” Onyx erupted into a brief fit of laughter. “My goodness, that was quite the tale dragon, but I gotta admit, you had me convinced there for just a second.”
Spike’s wings drooped further than usual, along with his head. That was the most believable story he could think of but no dice. He was doomed. Equestria itself was doomed. There was no way he was ever getting out of here…
“You see, here’s the thing,” the stallion continued. “You had me going until you mentioned that you were different than most other dragons. In my experience, all dragons are the same: greedy, violent, and hungry. You’d sooner burn down a village than bring your momma breakfast.” He spit at Spike’s feet. “You’re no different than the rest.”
Spike chanced a glance upward and opened his mouth to try one last plea for his freedom but was interrupted by a new voice that decided to enter the fray.
“He is different, daddy.”
“Huh?” Spike and Onyx said in unison.
The dragon peered down the small hallway the best he could to see Ellidee standing there, her previously curious eyes now narrowed with determination.
Onyx immediately put on a scowl. “Darlin’, I told you to wait back at home while I took care of things! What are you doing in here? Don’t you know it’s—”
“Dangerous?” she asked, finishing his sentence for him. “Honestly, daddy, does he look dangerous to you? He’s literally just a big softy and you have him locked up in a cage. Besides, look at him.” Ellidee waved her hoof up and down at Spike. “He’s not exactly full-grown yet. In dragon times, he’s probably just a baby.”
Spike twiddled his claws against the cell bars. Just when he thought he left the baby dragon things behind, it rears its ugly head once more.
“Just sayin’,” Ellidee continued. “I don’t think we’re in any kind of danger right now.”
“Heh, is that what you think?” Her father said. “You must’ve forgotten that dragons can do all kinds of things. They’ve got teeth, claws, can breathe fire and who knows what else!”
Spike, meanwhile, just looked back and forth between the two of them, not knowing what to say. It was official: no matter the circumstance, it’s always awkward being around two creatures that are arguing, especially about him.
“Psh.” Ellidee dismissed her father’s rambling with a quick wave of her hoof. “Let’s be honest here. If he really wanted to hurt us, the whole village would be on fire right now! Or if he didn’t care about the law or making a good impression, he could’ve just flown through the roof already with those wings of his and left us in rubble. It’s only made of wood!”
Spike took a moment to look upward, and he remembered… yeah, it was only wood. He honestly could have gotten out at any time if he wanted. Why didn’t he think of that? Great, now he felt awkward and dumb… Why did this always happen in front of pretty mares?
Onyx Twister let out a huff. “Well, that may be true, but I’m not gonna risk losing you over some dragon, no matter how much of a pansy he might be.”
Ouch. This was starting to get way too personal way too fast. But Spike took the fact that there was a slight lull in their argument to finally speak up.
“Uh, can I say something?” The dragon looked back and forth between the two ponies who were now looking right back at him. “I don’t mean to like, overstep my bounds or anything, but I can sense a lot of tension here. Let me see if I can make any sense of it.” The dragon turned his attention to Onyx. “First off, your daughter is right. If I wanted to, I could’ve burnt this place to the ground already. Please trust me, that’s the last thing I wanna do. You have a whole rustic thing going on here and it’s quite nice, actually.” He now turned his attention to Ellidee who had moved in front of his cell throughout the argument. “On the other claw, I’m sure your father just wants what’s best for you. I mean, he’s got a point about most dragons being, well, for lack of a better word, a lot of us can really suck sometimes. Trust me, I know. I live with dragons.”
Ellidee tilted her head to the side. “Suck?”
Spike mentally facepalmed. Of course, modern slang made no sense. “It’s a dragon term. It means we’re bad. Unpleasant.” She nodded in response. Whether she understood or not was neither here nor there. Regardless, Spike took her agreement as an invitation to continue. “Anyway, I promise, I just want to leave you in peace and be on my way.” He released a sigh and turned his eyes away, pointing them to the floor instead. “There are a lot of friends that really need me right now, and I’m the only one who can help them. Please let me.”
Onyx Twister rubbed his grizzled chin and opened his mouth to speak, but was quickly cut off by his daughter, who stomped a hoof down to announce her turn.
“Daddy, please come with me.” She gave her father a firm stare. “We need to talk… outside.”
Onyx once again opened his mouth to seemingly refute her point, but ultimately sighed and nodded his head. “Alright, fine. We’ll talk.” He then turned his attention briefly to the caged dragon. “Now you behave while I’m gone. I swear, if there’s one thing out of turn in this here building when I get back, I’m makin’ sure you never get out of there.”
Ellidee rolled her eyes and grabbed her father by the hoof, leading him down the hall. Spike followed them with his eyes as far as he could before he finally heard a door open, and slam shut again.
It was always an awkward feeling when you knew someone was talking about you while you’re not around, even more so when you knew that the conversation they’re having will change your life in an instant. It was enough to get any creature’s heart racing, much less a dragon that was already prone to unwarranted anxiety.
Thanks, Twilight.
Spike remained as still and quiet as he could be, trying his best to hear even the faintest whisper of their conversation. Unfortunately, there was nothing to be heard but the sound of his own heartbeat thudding faster and faster by the second. He took a few deep breaths to calm his nerves before finally letting out a sigh.
There was nothing he could do. Nothing he could do… but wait.
He walked over to the makeshift bed and sat down on it, not caring a bit for his own discomfort. As he waited, he couldn’t help but think of all the awful things that could happen next. They could simply throw away the key to his cell and leave him there forever. In that case, he’d be forced to burn his way out and become the villain everyone already thought he was. Or worse, Ellidee was a unicorn. Maybe she was powerful enough to cast some kind of spell on him preventing him from even being able to blow fire and he’d just starve to death inside this cell, leaving behind only his corpse for future generations to laugh at.
The dragon shuddered, trying to shake off the negativity that was quickly taking over his mind. It wasn’t an easy task though, considering it just didn’t seem like there was any hope. Sure, Ellidee was on his side, but her father wasn’t, and he was the leader of the whole town. What he says goes apparently, and there was no love lost between him and dragons.
As thoughts raced through the dragon’s mind, he swore that hours must have passed. Even days! But, in all reality, it had probably only been like ten minutes at most. Right as he was about to collapse backwards onto the unwelcoming straw bed, he heard the front door swing open, followed by a single set of hoofsteps.
Oh no. It was just Onyx.
The dragon stood up and steeled his nerves. If Onyx was alone, then it obviously meant that Ellidee had no luck. Or who knows, maybe she was in on the whole ‘destroy all dragons’ thing, too. Regardless, he was going to take his sentence like a real dragon should: with dignity and resolve.
He closed his eyes and took a final breath as he heard the hoofsteps stop in front of the cell door. When he opened them, however, he was not greeted with a sight he was expecting. Not at all.
Ellidee used her magic to levitate a set of keys towards the cell door and quickly and efficiently unlocked it, swinging the door wide open.
“Well,” she said with a confident grin. “You’re free.”
Spike just stood there, dumbfounded.
“Why?”
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Mmm, horse racism.
10858493
The most socially acceptable form.
10858497
But does it still have the regular amount of calories?
10858506
its horse racism.
it has slightly more than average i think.
10858589
Damn. I’m on a low calorie diet.
Spike probably also could've gotten through the stone wall or metal bars too. He literally chews through gems all the time, and gems are basically just shiny rocks. Might be gross tasting, though.
10858715
That's a great point! I didn't even think of it, honestly, but you're right!
i.imgur.com/0EBKp59.png
Spike, this is one of those times where you DON'T ASK THAT.
10859154
Lol, for sure. Just take the blessings life gives you. But, you know, gotta move the plot forward, lol.
Didn't the last chapter show concept where the prison cage was made of stone?
10860600
Gosh, it may have. I'll take a look. I read it again before writing this chapter, but I could've missed that detail.
10861092
Nah, I mean the art piece.
10861137
Ahh, I see. Well, I was just grateful that the artist did such a good job that I forgot to mention a couple of the smaller details. Oops, lol.