Earning Freedom

by Daxisle

Alpha

Alpha

Spike looked down at the numerous unconcious beasts around him.

"Please." The canine whined, "Please don't kills me."

Spikes eyes narrowed. "Kill you? No. No, You're not the one I want." He moved his face so that it was mere inches from the diamond dogs own, the mutt cowering under his opponents angry gaze. "Where is your leader?"

Cautiously, the red vested pack animal pointed with a shaking paw to the tunnel behind Spike. Throwing the beast infront of him, the drake drew his cross bow and aimed it to his enemies back. "Walk."

Obediently, the dog complied by holding his paws up and leading the way through the maze of tunnles.

Spike's inner fire was burning bright now, he couldn't believe how strong his scales were now. The pack of dogs had gotten pleanty of swipes at his being during the initial brawl, but by looking at him one would think he'd just had a nice walk through the park. Save for his reddened left eye, as powerful as his scales were, they were quite a bit weaker around the orbs.

But he'd look into that later, right now, his revenge was almost complete. As the twenty minute mark was hit, Spike began to hear raspy and imbecilic voices from the darkness ahead. The closer his guide lead him, the more he slowed them both down to avoid making too much noise.

"... and he wants you!" Spike stopped his hostage and pushed him so the two were knelt down. "Hes said he wants us leader."

"WHAT!?" A second voice barked. "I's never meets a dragons before. What he wants with mes?"

His claws trembling in both fear and excitement, the dragon furrowed his brow in concentration.

"My no know, but he... he fights like a mad dog! He tooks down whole pack himself!" The dog continued to go on about how the intruder had beaten the dozens of miners back. The drake was actually surprised at the animosity he'd been described to have. The way the dog had spoken, one would think he was speaking about an enraged demon from Tartarus itself.

"He even beats Grounder?" Silence. "Then I face him."

This was it, this is the end of his problems with the Diamond Dogs. This would be the day he finally quelled the unspoken shame he'd hidden so well. Taking a calming breath, he looked to find his guide with a mix of concern and curiosity. "You're done." Spike said before slamming the butt of his bow into the dogs forehead, knocking him out.

"Whats was that?" One of the voices barked.

Crap, they'd found him out. Spike made way ahead, following the sounds as quickly as he could, hoping they wouldn't change their minds and run away.

"He's here! He's come for you."

The sound of grunting ahead only pushed the drake to run faster, the choices of tunnels to fork into all going the opposite way now. It was clear where his target was.

"Fines then, leave mes. I'll fight him myself!" Spike smiled, the words were of pure delight, at least he wouldn't need to hunt him down past this.

A dim green light illuminated the tunnles walls, the farther he went, the brighter the light became until he finally reached a blindingly bright clearing at the end. With labored breath and acute senses, the drake's eyes began scanning the new cavern. The walls were in the typical dome shape, the top at least ten times as tall as he was. The dome was full of rail road bridges and tracks to half made tunnels and a nexus pile gemstones the size akin to a dragon's nest. What were in the carts ranged from nothing to piles of multicolor gemstones.

He turned his attention to a rather large pitbull dog standing with it's arms crossed and rock hard eyes glaring. The drake stood confused, this wasn't the dog he was looking for. "Who are you?"

The dog didn't flinch, but instead took a breath. "I am the alpha of this pack, Fido"

Spike's eyes dropped from confused to flat. It was true, this dog was quite a bit bigger than the last leader, to the point he was just a bit taller than Spike himself was now, but the fact remained that he wasn't the canine he was looking for. "Where has the last Alpha gone?"

Fido tilted his head in confusion. "The last alpha had been banished."

Eyes widening, the dragon's heart skipped a beat. "B- Banished? WHERE?" he demanded.

The dog smirked, his eyes growing amused. "You wants to know, do you?" He finished with a chuckle.

Spike's temper began to flare, his arms shook violently as he began contemplating stuffing a bolt into the dog's mouth to silence him. Baring his teeth the drake ordered the location of his target, to which the current Fido halted his mirth and eyed the drake. "Whys should I tell you?"

That was it, he'd had enough. Throwing caution to the wind, the intruder lunged at the new alpha and drew back a fist to strike. The dog was surprised, but was able to jump out of the way of the punch proper. His foe now realized, Fido drew down to all fours and began circling. Spike followed the motion, careful to keep his fists balled. He'd never tested his claws in combat, and there was excruciating pain to breaking one.

Suddenly, Fido made his move, pouncing the dragon and biting at his neck. To his surprise, the attack actually hurt, the sharp teeth managed to break through a couple of scales. Realizing he was no longer invulnerable, Spike kicked the canine off and stood to his feet, nursing the new bite wound.

Like a vampire, the miner licked the small amount of blood on his lips with delight, "If it can bleed, it can die."

A sliver of fear now mixed with his anger, Spike began actually sizing up his opponent. The mutts build was similar to his own, probably a little bigger. His stance seemed balanced and sturdy, so pushing him down, mounting him and beating his head would probably not be a viable option. And with his opponents ability to, some how, break past his scales when the others could not; being careless wasn't an option anymore.

Tired of the tension, Fido took the initiative this time and jumped. Spike braced himself and threw his fist forward... and missed. The alpha's claws glided over the dragon's armored arms and he took a bite at his top spine.

Thankful he had no feeling on it, the purple reptile took the opportunity to wrap his arms around the dog and tackle him to the ground and attempt to hold him in place. Unfortunately, he underestimated Fido's strength and like lightning, his opponent had turned so his paws were grounded and began shaking free.

With all the his might, Spike held on to the dogs torso, and finally had his footing to where he could lift the dog onto his shoulders and fallback, slamming Fido's head against the unforgiving stone floor. His hopes that would at least cause disorientation was shattered as he felt the alpha, with a new vigor, bolt from his grip. Grunting, the dragon jumped to his feet just in time to be tackled to the ground himself.

Punches and scratches were thrown by both parties, primal instincts alien to both began reeling up. Whenever Fido would take a bite, Spike would lower his head so that his spine, which was now showing signs of wear, would take the teeth. The fight dragged on, whenever one party would show signs of dominance in a scrap, the other would kick them away and regain their footing.

Eventually the two began to tire, Spike's cloak was in tatters as was the dog's vest. Compared to the rest of his pack, this particular dog was very strong. But that's what the Alpha of anything is right, the best? With this dog around, he couldn't help but wonder how the old Fido became the leader in the first place.

"Why do you want old Alpha?"

The question shocked Spike, should he answer? He decided he should, maybe he could save the trouble of wasting energy an time here. "Payback," he panted.

"Old alpha banished." Fido growled. "He gave into puny ponies and drag down pack with him."

"Where?"

"Me no tell you, filthy dragon." Fido spat.

Spike roared at the insult, his primal impulses coursing through him, pushing out his self control, and he leaped for another round. This time, however, his own claws came into play. This made the fight much more one sided, while Fido's scratches were barley noticeable, his left nice gashes in the dog's body, with differing amounts of crimson beginning to stain his coat.

Realizing the new advantage, Fido jumped away. "What?"

The reptile didn't answer, electing instead to give chase to his assailant. Fido jumped away, his eyes full of frustration and surprise. He couldn't get close enough to strike without coming in range of the drakes claws, all he could do was dodge and hope that the now psychotic dragon would run out of steam soon.

No matter where he went Spike would follow with a look of murderous rage. After a few minutes of evasion, Fido soon realized that his injuries from the short time his opponents claws were used would make him the one to slow first. Desperate to be away from danger, the alpha jumped onto the highest bridge of the tunnel. He looked back to find Spike clawing his way up the wall. Though, he had the high ground and attacked Spikes claw to make him loose his grip and fall back to the ground below.

After the process repeated itself a few times, the dragon roared with rage and glared up to his inaccessible prey. Both calming themselves for rest, Spike's primal side began to calm and he regained his senses. He was partially happy that his claws were strong enough to fight with, but a little annoyed that he tried to climb the wall when he would obviously be vulnerable to Fido.

After a few calming breaths, he tried to reason with the dog again. "Look, just tell me where the former alpha is, and I'll leave you alone." With the condition the dog was in, he'd be foolish to decline such an offer.

But... Diamond Dogs were more known for their pride and greed than their intelligence.

"NO!" He barked before growling as if he were a threat.

Spike crossed his arms and quirked a brow, but the dog stood firm. Feeling he'd get no where with reason, he began observing how he could either get up there, or get the dog down here. The caverns walls were to steep to climb, save right by the railway where Fido could get to him, it was to high to stack anything and hope to be stable, and destroying the support beams of the bridge, if the alpha didn't jump to safety, would probably kill him.

Still, he wasn't leaving with out knowing where to find his real enemy, and scanned the room until his eyes fell unto the treasure trove in the middle. His mouth contorted into a smirk as an idea began to form. He casually wondered over to the gems and picked on up.

"Hey! Those belong to pack! Put them down!"

"I'm sorry?" Spike smirked wryly, tossing a rather large ruby up and down in his hand. "I couldn't quite hear you all the way up there."

"THOSE BELONG TO PACK, PUT THEM DOWN!"

"You're offering me some gems? Well, don't mind if I do!" He chucked before taking a bite of the precious stone. "Mmm mmm, dis ish good! Om nom nom nom!" He continued to munch.

Fido swore and made threats from above, but his words only made Spike chuckle and continue the feast. His muscles began to relax, but the dragon wasn't worried, his opponent was injured and running from him after all.

"That enough!" Fido yelled after the intruder gobbled his third gemstone. As expected, his greed and pride both got the better of him and he leaped down from his place and charged forth.

Spike smirked in victory and turned to face the beast, his primal side creeping up again.

"Stop eating gems! They not yours!"

"And who's gonna make me?" He gave a smug expression.

Fido growled, but didn't lunge this time. As prideful as he was, he wasn't that stupid. After another waved off threat, Spike picked up another gem and took another bite. His eyes kept glued to the dog's own, giving the most smug and proud face he could muster, just hoping the dog would leap. It was a little scary now that he thought about it, the way he was acting. Typically he'd never think to disrespect somepony like this... Maybe he was going too far?

"I said ENOUGH!" The dog ran at him again. His introspection was interrupted by a gaping mouth full of fangs inserting themselves into his face. Pain beyond anything he'd ever experienced drew his knee jerk reaction, and with both claws reached up and ripped the dog off of him.

Spike held his hands to his head, checking the multiple cuts that almost reached his scull where the teeth had left their marks, almost unaware of the howling mutt in front of him. His anger was rising again, but now he was aware of it and fought to keep himself in check. He slowly lowered his hands, small bits of crimson on his palms as well as his claws and stood over he dog, who also was clutching his own face in his paws.

With all the speed of a snail and twice the grace, the dragon reached out and grabbed the dog by the scruff of his neck, making sure to pierce his skin and lifted him face to face, immediately dropping him as soon as he had a good look at his work.

Fido's muzzle was full of gashes, blood ran freely from the alpha's face down the neck of his coat. It was the first time he had actually cared about the smell that was now in the air, but the odor of blood and sweat that filled the air made him want to vomit. What scared him the most, was the fact that he wasn't as ashamed as he felt he should be. Why should he feel ashamed? He was defending himself. Yea, the dog had bitten him, and he only inflicted that damage because he was being attack.

"The old alpha." Fido coughed. "He- He is west. He go to find new pack."

With dead eyes, Spike took the information and mental inscribed it in his skull. It was only two details, but those would help lead him to where he needed to go. With out words, he began to walk away from the chamber, his eyes looking at the pile of gems until they were out of sight. 'Maybe later.'

His mind was numb, he didn't want to think about what he did, he didn't want to think about what he was going to do; he just wanted to leave this place and take a nap. After hours of wondering, the dragon finally made it out of laberinth to be greeted by the sun hitting the ridge to the east.

'Wow, I was down there all day and night? Man, no wonder I'm so tired.'

Free from earth, Spike found a near by pond, cleaned up the dirt and blood on his body, and made his way back to Ponyville. Fully unaware of the magenta eyes watching from a low hanging cloud.

Author's Note:

Not too bloody, I hope, but I needed a certain sense of urgency and concern for Spike's capabilities.

Comments

[DARKPHANTOM13]

If anything this proves Spike is more than capable in a fight with being roughly his size and no magic. Though I wonder what the others reaction would be. They would probably blame Sin even though he doesn't believe in that sort of thing and it was all Spike's idea.

Fully on aware of the magenta eyes watching from a low hanging cloud.

Is that a typo or does he know Dash is watching him?

[Daxisle]

2402520 typo, will be fixed.

[UltiXevoz]

I just discovered this fic. THIS IS EPIC.

[Daxisle]

2403972 Thank you for the kind words.