Earning Freedom

by Daxisle

Mark

Mark

Mac's eye twitched.

Fillies, that's what they reminded him of. Even in such a serious situation as this, Twilight and Soarin were screaming over each other to Luna like Scootaloo and Applebloom did to him when something bad happened and neither wanted to get in trouble for it.

Spitfire had the same look, or she did until her hoof was slammed over he face. Professionalism: when your boss facehooves over you, you're doing it wrong.

"NO, you should have stayed out of it! We had everything under control!"

"It was a matter of national security! You're aiding of the enemy is inexcusable!"

"Spike isn't the enemy!"

"Yes he is!"

"No he isn't!"

Sweet Celestia was it giving him a migraine.

Fortunately, Luna had less patience for such squabbling than he did and brought it to an abrupt halt, courtesy of the Royal Canterlot Voice.

ENOUGH! She bellowed, bringing about an almost supernatural silence. "Now, we wish thine subjects speak as adults, instead of foals."

The apple stallion inwardly chuckled. Perhaps he and she weren't so different after all.

"Now, we demand to know what is going on here!"

"Well..." Twilight said, beating Soarin to the punch. She told her side of it and how since Spike was passive and being kept calm, she and her friends were justified in holding the fliers back.

Though, the second in command of the fliers saw the situation differently, siting some legal jabber about how orders were orders and interfering with them were grounds for reprehension from the law.

Big Macintosh failed to stop the seething leer at the ponies words. It wasn't the time or the place, so he'd hold his tongue in that respect; but staying to the law could have caused far more damage than breaking it. There was a time and place for protocol and holding to rules, that much was true, and he didn't know for a fact that what Rainbow was doing would calm Spike indefinitely, but what ever the Wonderbolts had in mind would have ended a great deal worse; of that he was certain.

"And on that note." Soarin pointed to the fallen drake, siting his team's handy work. "The target is subdued."

"Yea." Macintosh spat. "Only cause Rainbow calmed 'em down so yer' cheap shotin' behinds could catch 'em off guard."

All present looked at the stallion with gaped mouths. He was only telling the truth, Spike was in a highly vulnerable state physically --emotionally too by the look of it.-- Only one of the seven freely assaulted the dragon, and that pegasus single hoofedly defeated a being that easily took down five of them on his own? The Wonderbolt taking credit for the dragon's downfall wa questionable at best.

Before the Soarin could reply, a low grumbling from Spike brought everypony's attention back to the current issue. "We'll finish this later." Twilight declared, eying daggers at the stallion, before galloping off to her former assistant. Macintosh shared a brief stare down with him as well before he followed suit, quickly tailed by Applejack carrying a very beaten Rainbow Dash on her back.

---

"Spike are you... Sin?" Twilight asked in shock. The stallion in question, for what ever reason, finished stuffing something into his saddle bag. "How did you get here? How are you walking?"

The addressed gave a pained smirk. "Not my first time being crushed by a dragon, Ms. Sparkle."

"Where's Pinkie and Rarity?" The lavender mare asked. Sin shrugged, it wasn't a lie to say he didn't know. They must have noticed he'd disappeared and were probably looking for him.

"Sin? What'er ya doin' here?" Macintosh asked trotting up. Again, the stallion chucked and repeated himself.

"Enough about that." The Federalist dismissed and turned to the unconscious form of his friend. "He's out cold. I don't know what you did, but it was effective."

"We didn't do anything." Twilight spat, looking back to the seven ponies flying towards them.

'So, they were the one's responsible.' Sin mused. For a split second, he thought Triple M had made an appearance again. With Luna here, he was almost sure of it.

Setting aside idle chatter, the ponies did the only thing they could and inspected the dragon's wounds. When Rainbow arrived, she had spilled information about how she felt Spike shrinking while she was standing on his muzzle. The revelation gave hope to the theory that just keeping him away from anything valuable would allow him to shrink back to normal size.

It made sense, and was a hopeful truth. Now, to figure out what the hell happened to turn him into this.

Yet again, Rainbow Dash was the one to explain, and it wasn't something Sin wanted to hear.

"He what?" The stallion seethed. Taken a bit aback by the sudden emotional outburst, Rainbow awkwardly repeated a short summery. 'No, no that can't be true. He'd taught the drake better than that.' All the same, it was an accusation that could be investigated, as much as the Federalist dreaded the suspicion confirmed. "Where?"

He was pointed in the direction of the Dogs' mines and began walking, well, limping with a purpose.

"Need some help, partner?" Mac asked, limping beside him as well.

"Your in just a bad a shape as i am," the stallion stated walking a few steps ahead. "If I were you, I'd look into restraining him until he returns to normal." And with that, Sin wordlessly continued onward. A small pit in his stomach beginning to form.

His mind was a blaze with thoughts, ranging from how could this happen to what he was going to do if it were true. Had he failed? Had he truly failed what he considered one of his closest friends? Where did he go wrong in it all? What part of "non aggression" wasn't understood?

No, no, innocent until proven guilty. Perhaps there was another reason he went to the mines. Just going to mine for some gems? That seemed like a plausible explanation.

'Oh yea, intentionally going into a mine where the Dogs would rip him to shreds for intruding on their territory... No, no he wasn't looking for trouble or anything..'

Spike didn't seem the kind for revenge though, he was sarcastic and humorous, a bit blunt and cold to be sure, but never seemed the type to actually want to cause harm to another. There had to be another explanation.

Twenty minutes of limping later, his fears were confirmed. Large chunks of dirt and earth lay haphazardly tossed aside, the once flat and lustrous green land that he remembered being here had turned into a disturbing gash that lead deep into the earths' crust. With as fresh as the disturbed dirt and rocks were, the mar couldn't have happened but a few hours ago. There was only one thing big enough to cause this much destruction.

Sin pressed his lips and gulped. He remembered studding up on Diamond Dogs in case there was ever an instance he wanted to visit the state of Cania, one piece of information that stuck with him most was the "Treasure Hall" where all the canine would store all the gems they'd discovered.

Stealing himself limped over the edge of the new chasm and looked down.

The Federalist's heart sunk when he saw what was at the bottom. the Sun was at just the right angle in the sky to catch the glimmers and twinkles of the brilliant gem stones below.

"No," He whispered before looking for a way down. maybe he wasn't seeing it right, maybe Spike had pushed past them? It was just a few shines right under the light, there was dirt all around them so it couldn't have been that much. He looked for a way to investigate, saw an incline and slid down.

'Oh yes, only a few, the cave in after Spike left this place wouldn't have --oh, I don't know-- buried them? Honestly, you're in denial.'

And maybe he was, that flat bit of ground would be the epicenter of this crater. Spike's treasure hoarding effect would need a lot of gems to grow to his current size and strength. NO! Spike wasn't like this, he wouldn't assault a group of other sentient beings and steal their treasure, there had to be another explanation...

When he finally reached the bottom, his heart sank again. Upon viewing the plethora of jewels that laced floor of the old cavern, all of his doubts disappeared.

Sin removed his goggles down to his neck and l fell to his rump. It was hard to take in, Thousands upon thousands of various sized gem stones littered under the rubble. The dirt was there, but it wasn't enough to hide just how many valuables lay scattered in.

'There it is.' The voice in his head condemned.

Yea, there it was. Incontrovertible evidence to deny that this was, in fact, his dragon friend's doing. The gems fed into his greed and his body grew to the point he would erupt from the earth, climb out and do as he pleased. But why? Why would he come back here?

'Are you retarded? Gee, why would a dragon come back to a jewel rich mine after he fought his way through Tapio knows how many Diamond Dogs that have huge sums of treasure locked away? Milikki, I'm completely stumped.

Did he? No, the dragon was upset and wanted revenge, he didn't want to to steal all the gems for himself.

'Yes, that's exactly what he did.'

No, he didn't.

'Are you seriously denying what's in front of your own fucking eyes? Look around!' Sin sighed, failing to do so. He didn't need to, he knew, he knew that his logical side was right, he just didn't want to believe he was betrayed like this. Or maybe it was a failure on his part in educating the drake. Why not? His fuck ups bit him in the ass how many times today?

The stallion sat in silence, too tired and sore to move just yet. He'd need time to truly let this sink in, and how to deal with and confront the dragon responsible.

---

Whilst Twilight, Rainbow and Applejack began to speculate what course of action would bring Spike back to normal size, Macintosh was eying a particular wonderbolt with a glare heavy enough to crush obsidian. Despite the fact the entire group of fliers were receiving a scolding from the lunar alicorn, Soarin would often allow his eyes to wander and lock with Mac's own.

Treason... That word was stuck in Macintosh's mind. That pony would have charged him with treason for trying to keep a sensitive situation under control. Who did that stallion think he was to even threaten such a thing? And with such impunity no less, Soarin had no idea what the the four of them were doing to keep Spike calm, yet he'd have the worst charge placed upon the farmer and his friends just because the flier was upset?! No, that was not okay by any means.

"Twilight!" Mac looked over to find a familiar trio of mares approaching, the pink one taking point. "Have you seen Sin? We- SPIKE!" The three rushed over to the dragon and began inspecting for injuries."

As the rest of AJ's friends arrived, Luna dismissed the performers/special officers. One by one they slowly began to take flight, the princess's words stinging a bit at their egos, all until one remained. He didn't stay for an extended period though, just long enough to hold a proper stare down with the farmer. It was strange, this pony hadn't really done much in the way hurting Macintosh, yet he held more contempt for him than the jailor who locked him those many months ago.

In a blink, the flier's eyes shot up as if realization struck and he grinned smugly. "I'll be seeing you." He growled before lifting himself into the air and shooting after his companions.

Silently, the apple stallion watched him off, his face as hard as stone. "Eyup." he said to no one in particular. What was that supposed to mean? He'll be seeing him? Was that a threat on his life?

'Please let it be.'

Are you kidding me?

'What? If he comes at you, then you can beat him down in self defense. Nothing saying you can't enjoy the process is there?

Isn't revenge what got Spike in this whole mess?

'Two different things, boss. Two completely different things.'

Mac shook his head, the prospect of seeing a psychologist becoming more and more appealing, and did his best to walk with out limping. Now what were they going to do? If what Rainbow said was true, they could probably just wait his growth out. Keeping him calm and away from any valuables for a few hours should do the trick.

"Heya Big Macintosh" called his sister with a gentle smile. "Why doncha go get some rest? We c'n take it from here." But... After staying up most the night, being teleported for the first time, chasing down a dragon, going hoof to hoof with a Wonderbolt, maybe some rest was just what he needed...

---

---

---

His eyes slowly began to flutter, unsure about if to open. Consciousness crept upon him more and more, making the raisng head ache even more profound. 'ow man, what happened?' He thought. His memories drew an immediate blank but were slowly beginning to return. He wished they wouldn't, not because he remembered anything bad, but every thought he had sent a jolt of brain splitting agony through his cranium.

He groaned and rubbed his face, immediately retracting the appendage and letting it fall to where he lay. Another mistake. He just sat and lay where he was for what felt like hours. His memories were all coming back, but he didn't have the mental fortitude to search through them. Letting his mind rest was the only thing that didn't cause him too much discomfort. Eventually, the head ache began to subside enough for him to think, but he still didn't want to move.

Suddenly, he heard murmurs. They sounded so far away and muddle, like there was something between he and them. What were they?

"How's Spike doin'?" A louder, more rambunctious voice asked.

Spike, that's his name. (Because you needed to be told that... yea)

The drake slowly forced his eyes open and looked around. He was on a very soft bed in a dark, but familiar wooded room. "Twilight's room?" He asked in a daze. Slowly, the dragon began to sit himself up, trying to get his thoughts gathered. How did he get in here? Why couldn't he remember doing anything that would garner concern from others?

Spike took a breath and sat at the bed side and pulled a hand away from a sudden discomfort in his arm. His green eyes looked curiously over a white bandage that enveloped his left shoulder, a noticeable soreness throbbing from it.

Once his mind was clear enough to think properly, he figured he should go down stairs and inform his friends that he was ok. He made his way to the door than stopped just before grasping the door knob. The dragon took a few steps backwards and looked to his right into a vanity mirror that showed his reflection.

It was curious, something was off about him. No, not off. Wrong. Something was wrong with him.

The more he looked, the wider his eyes became. His body... A larger head, pot belly, small and chubby legs... "No." He gasped taking a step away. No, no no no no this couldn't be happening. He was his small and pathetic size again.

Horror and dread over powered any remnants of his drowsiness. Spike's breathing became erratic the longer he stared at himself. His Spine's lost their slicked back edges, his eyes once again full of innocence and curiosity, and worst of all: The damn mare muzzle he had. All the work he'd put into his body, all the scars and experiences his form had been molded from were gone now.

Left with only the chubby cheeked, baby dragon he had come to despise.

He stood as still as he could, fighting against his body's trembling and eying the reflective surface with a vain hope that what he was looking at was merely some kind of enlarged picture. A very fearful and nervous picture. He blinked, the mirror image blinked in sync. He didn't want it to be true, how could this have happened to him?

Minutes passed and his body calmed. His eyes grew to a sturdy and hate filled scowl and he punched the mirror as hard as he could, scattering the shards to fall with small and large clanks and screeches of farther breaking around him. He didn't know why he punched the mirror, but dammit if it didn't make him feel at least a little bit better.

"SPIKE!" Twilight called. He didn't care. He was too angry to care. Look at him! It was like the last seven months of his life were erased in one night's sleep! Luna dammit all, why?!

A stampead up the library stairs came, and the door to room burst open with a single gasp presiding. Typical.

"Spike?"

The dragon stood silent for a moment, his claw still pinning a few shards unfortunate enough to have been stuck between his fist and the wall with small bits of blood now dripping. A few tense breaths passed and in a low tone, he growled. "What. Happened. To me?"

Another moment of silence. Spike was still focused on where the mirror was, uncaring for their presence save the information he demanded.

"Y-" Twilight began timidly. "You don't remember?"

Spike's eye twitched and his head snapped in her direction. "If I knew, would I be asking?" He snarled. He was far too livid for stupid common sense games. "What the buck happened to me!"

Before he could get an answer from the distraught unicorn, Applejack poked her head in the door. "Everythin' all righ' in here, sugarcube?" Soon after, Rarity and the rest of her five friends began to enter, each with various looks of concern, irritation and relief.

When Rainbow Dash stepped in, limped rather, a sudden sense of connection hit him. Like she knew or was apart of his current situation.

"Oh my goodness, Spike your hand-"

A snarl from aforementioned caused the pink maned pegasus to squeak and shrink behind her mane. Unamused with his intimidation tactics on the element of kindness, Applejack stood in front of her as a mother would her frightened young. "Look Spike, Ah know yer havin' a hard time n' all, but that don't give ya th' righ' ta-"

In one solid and almost instant motion, Spike's eyes were a mear inch and a half a way from her's, the glass his fist was holding up, falling after the fact.

Applejack was taken aback, but only for a moment before her own gaze hardened, trying to match the devolved hatchling's intensity.

"What happened to me." He whispered through clenched teeth. This close, he was this close to smacking the living crap out of the mare if the next words out of anypony's mouth didn't begin with: 'What happened was...'

Luckily for the farmer, Twilight began to explain the situation in a soothing and calming tone. At least she understood that he wasn't in the mood to be toyed with.

Though her words quickly sucked the anger out of him and replaced it with a numbed sense of concern and confusion. As she spoke, it was like a movie played in his head, the many memories he'd forgotten shoving themselves into his forethought. The Diamond Dogs, the mine, the anger he felt, the consequences, the gems...

His eyes widened at the realization. The gems. That's what made him grow, right? What was he thinking in claiming them for his own? He didn't know, how could he? The drake was running for his life to avoid being captured by the law for assaulting an entire pack of dogs just to get to their leader. Well, he didn't wake up in a prison cell, that was good at least.

Spike looked at his shoulder as Twilight explained the part of the Wonderbolt's arriving. It was impressive how much damage had been done to it, a good chunk of scales were missing and even some of his flesh was carved off, from what she said; and the radiating pain more than confirmed the story. Score was even now for sure...

Upon completion of the events explained, the lavender unicorn posed the question that the room already knew the answer to. "We just have to know, why did you go back into the mine?"

He didn't want to answer, what was the point? The evidence would speak for itself, he grew quickly and the Canine were famous for the only treasure they horded. Would they even believe him if he were to say he was sorry for what he had done? That he was just trying to hide away from the law and lost control of himself...

His blank stare and lack of an answer was all the excuse somepony needed to speak.

"Revenge..."

The room turned to Rainbow Dash. "Because of what they did to you when they took Rarity?" She gave a small look to the fashonista than to him. "That's why you went there in the first place, isn't it?"

The drake let a small smile cross his lips, she bucking narked on him, figures.

"Yea." he nodded, his tone mixed between bitter and relieved. He was already screwed, might as well come clean about it.

So, the drake confessed, he confessed to everything. His resentment for being treated like a child still, the sitting and thinking in the park, the fact he wanted to track down Fido and make him feel the same kind of humiliation he felt, all of it. He expect himself to break down some how, maybe a tear or a sob, but it didn't come. All things presented were done in a fashion of nothing less than calm and even matter of fact.

And he felt no remorse for it. The dogs deserved what they got as far as he was concerned. Rarity's payback was humiliating them and making off like a bandit with multiple carts of gems, while he'd never gotten so much as an apology.

It was quiet again. Six pairs of eyes looking upon him with concern and sadness. What was sad was that he felt anger at them. The six friends present used to fill his heart with warmth and love, and the worry-filled eyes he saw now used to make him feel cared for and loved. But today, they just pissed him off.

"Wh- Why didn't you tell us?" Twilight asked, breaking the silence.

Spike snorted. "Honestly? I didn't care enough to dwell on it." He shrugged and turned to look at the broken mirror below him, seeing his reflection in the larger chunks. "I knew I wasn't big or strong enough to do anything about it, so I let it go."

"But now I-" He stopped and clenched his fists. His tiny, non threatening fists. "I restored what I lost that day..."

---

Macintosh began to stir from his slumber, his ribs ached beyond reason, but other than that he was ok. Granny didn't give him too much hassle about sleeping in his room, considering his shape. Matter of fact, her hard demeanor had completely dropped upon the sight of him being hurt and after palpating his abdominal and determining non of his ribs had actually broken, sent him to get some bed rest.

The red stallion forced himself up, he couldn't rest yet; there were a few last things he needed to take care of before he could relax. He slowly crawled out of bed and made way for the door. Down the stairs, outside and on his way to town. Though, he had to stop for a moment and take in the fact that some of the apple trees had been broken over. Well, Granny Smith and Applebloom are both ok, that's all that's important.

The trip through town wasn't much worse. A few buildings with a small amount of roof torn off, a nice gash in the barber shop, and other small damages. Though, with the repairing residents, while generally irritated, looked more worried and uncertain. He over heard two mares mumbling to each other as he passed. Both were confused and angry to why Spike was "allowed" to grow like that again. As if it were condoned by those responsible for him or even his fault.

With a snort, he marched to the library, not fully sure what to expect, however the door flung open before he could get to it, with a very strange sight coming out. The familiar dragon spoke in his old higher pitched voice again, and he didn't look to happy. Following was Twilight and Applejack, calling for him to stop and talk to them.

"What else is there to say?" The drake barked. "What I did was stupid, but I'm not sorry for it."

Wait, they were talking about that already? Mac would have expected them to try to keep him calm, what happened?

"Spike, please... you're hurt and upset right now, I get that." Twilight said compassionately, none taking notice to Macintosh's arrival. "But please, can't we talk about this later? Please?"

Her words were sincere and gentle, Mac actually felt compelled to tell Spike that she was right. Heads were still hot and there had been enough bad decisions made for one day.

Too bad the aforementioned didn't see it that way.

The green eyed reptile just scoffed and rolled his eyes his before proclaiming that he wanted his old body back as quickly as he could get it and had every intention to retrieve his bag from the lake in hope. As he turned to walk, Macintosh caught his eye and the two stood for a moment. The stallion wasn't sure what it was, but the look in Spike's eyes wasn't right.

The drake continued to walk, but Mac stood in his way.

"What?"

Mac didn't answer. Something was wrong with his friend, and he wanted an explanation for it.

"Oh great, now you're getting on my back too?" He folded his arms. "Ok, I attacked the dogs to get revenge for what they did to me. Ok?" With the shoddy explanation given, he tried to push past, but found a giant red foreleg blocking his path and two somber eyes looking down at him. "What now?"

"N' you turned into ah rampaging monster tah do that?"

Spike took a step back and quirked an offended brow. "No, that was an accident."

"Is tha' righ'?" Mac asked flatly. Being tender and what not wasn't really his way of doing things. And with the way the girls were looking right now, maybe his way was just what the dragon needed. "N' how's tha?"

Spike stood for a moment then rolled his eyes, "Why don't you go talk to Rarity? Mac? I don't need this." He tried to walk past again, but this time, the stallion through his hoof forward and sent the hatchling staggering back.

"No, I think ya do." Mac growled, his eyes narrowing. He could hear a bit of debating from the girls about Spike's words and if they should intervene or not, but this was a male thing. And could only be handled as such. As expected, the drake returned the glare and balled his fists threateningly.

Even in his current condition, Mac could easily win in a fight, but as likely as the situation was coming to it; but he'd rather not. Spike was his friend, one of the individuals he'd actually gotten close to in his life... Still, he had to address the problem. "Y'all need to learn to respect others."

A bewildered look crossed the dragon's face, as if he couldn't believe what he was just told. But Mac knew that was the case and proceeded to enlighten all present. Ever since they started following Sin, there was one thing the Federalist had failed to address, and it was that Spike was still young. He treated all of them as adults and let them make their own decisions.

While he did teach that it wasn't ok to commit aggression against another, Sin didn't much care if the group was respectful or considerate to others. So long as nopony was hurting another, he didn't care what happened. But there was more to life than simply 'not hurting others'; especially when it came to ponies who cared for you.

Freedom was a great thing and all, but that belonged to those mature and respectful enough to be trusted with it. It wasn't that he couldn't be trusted, far from it, but even with Spike's aged body, his mind still had plenty of growing up to do.

Apparently, the hatchling had forgotten that there was a certain etiquette that one gave to those who actually gave a damn about them, and it was time he remembered that.

"You think I don't respect her?" Spike gave a bewildered smile. "Twilight raised me from birth, she's practically my mother!"

"Then why do ya treat 'er like 'n annoyance?"

Spike threw his palm into his face. "Because she's treating me like a child!"

Mac was about to answer, however, a pony moving past him halted his words.

Sin wordlessly walked past him until he was face to face with the issue at hand. Mac pressed his lips, typically when the Federalist made an entrance, he'd usually say preclude it with some vocal greeting. Where was that pony for so long anyway?

"What do you want?" Not a second after the words left his mouth, the dragon fell to the ground, a sharp pain now shooting through his nose. Mac stood with his mouth agape, Sin scowled at the dragon and retracted his hoof from a firm right hook.

Woah hold the bucking mail curior, Sin... the master of Non aggression, just assaulted sompepony who wasn't personally provoking him. Mac couldn't move, he was rightfully shocked, but it didn't end there.

"Why did you claim the dog's treasure?" Sin asked barely above a whisper. If it wasn't for Macintosh's proximity, he wouldn't have been able to make it out.

Spike, who had a look akin to the apple stallion's own, broke from his stupor an stood with dagger eyes. "Truth be told, I don't know."

"Don't give me that bull shit." Sin growled taking a step forward and repeated himself with an edge that could cut diamond. Spike eluded that answer in favor of explaining why he went there in the first place.

"Revenge?" The Federalist repeated. "You betrayed my teachings because of something that happened years ago? Is that what I'm coming to understand?"

"You weren't there, you don't know what they did to me! How ashamed I was! How could you ever understand?"

TWAK.

---

Spike was down again, but this time he wasn't the only one. Sin became engulfed in a lavender glow and was shot back a good ten feet before he came to a skidding halt on his side. And to add onto the current commotion, an almost bodyless black blur zipped past the stallion and slammed itself into Twilight.

"Shade!" Sin barked, the aforementioned's typically over powered flying ability hadn't done it's expected damage, the unicorn he'd just attacked merely staggered backwards into Applejack, both keeping upright. "That's enough."

Shade himself stood on shaking legs and eyed his friend's assailant with seething eyes.

Sin picked himself up with some difficulty and managed to slowly limp back to where he stood, explaining to his associate that he did, in fact, deserve the unicorn's scorn. That last hit was unnecessary on his part.

"The only one shaming you here is yourself." The tan clad stallion seethed looking to Spike, who was getting up for the second time. "Now enough with self pity, emo bull shit and grow up." His seething words were concluded with a brief stare down from the drake. Sin knew he was probably over stepping his bounds on this one, but with the destruction that his friend had just wrought, he couldn't sit by with out giving his two bills on the matter. Spike was mentally in a bad place, a place he'd recognized from not too long ago.

Sin couldn't allow him to end up the same way. "You want to be treated as an adult? Why? Ever since we've gotten here I have seen nothing resembling that from you." Spike opened his mouth but Sin wasn't about to let him get a word in. "What? You're going to bring up how calm and level headed you've been? You became upset when Twilight told you that you were too young for a job. An adult would have disregarded her opinion and just tried to find one, or not asked her at all; not thrown a fit when an opinion didn't go their way. She is your mother, but she doesn't hold control over you. I'd expect you to have figured that out by now."

Spike's frown deepened during the scolding, but not turning more angry or hateful, but more of a...

Pouting? Well, at least the message was sinking in. But dammit if Sin didn't hate seeing males pout, it wasn't anything logical, just really stupid and pitiful looking. He had to restrain a third kick of his hoof because of it.

"And Macintosh is right." The stallion sighed looking up to Twilight and Applejack, who was now joined by Rarity and Pinkie Pie. "I didn't teach Spike to respect others. I saw him as the adult he wanted to be and I treated him accordingly, I didn't recognize the problem because I didn't care; and I owe all here an apology for that." He looked to the pouting reptile again. "Especially you."

He shared a moment of eye contact with Spike who then looked away again. His gaze then looked up to the unicorn mare, her angry eyes softening the longer he looked at them. He wasn't sure why he waited for her scowl to disappear entirely before he turned away, but it just felt right to ensure that he didn't leave with her upset at least. The dragon needed help, and hopefully Sin knocking the self-righteousness out of him, his friend would understand that fact as well.

"Shade." He said, beckoning the night pony to follow him back to the Everfree. "Oh and Macintosh." he stopped again and looked to the giant red stallion. "Sorry about the apple trees." And with that the two ponies left Ponyville.

...

...

"Hey Big Macintosh, wha' all did he mean 'bout the apple trees?"

Comments

[zsewqthewolf]

will i find it ok, but am still don't like how the mane six act around sin, i mean they don't undersand that in life you can't get everything you wanted in life.

As for pinkie i really want to say this to her " they resano why sin don't like you becasue you push people around until you get what you want like a cild that want candy and cry for it until the mom and dad give out to you, and not giving you a slap on the behide for how you aut. "

[Daxisle]

2724084 How they act around him, or act around the decisions he makes? Because if you don't like the way they act around him, you're going to hate the next chapters.

[zsewqthewolf]

2724339 i know, but still love it.

I mean they don't know true freedom until they have a tast in it, I know what freedom is. It's about no can tell you what freedom is and it's up to you to make it.

Hell the girls keep show what is not freedom is, even if it hit them in the head so hard it make pinkie pie hira look srt8.

I know for a fack that to have freedom you mech give out sercidy but it's worth it, Hell i wish i was there to show them the Bill Of Rights.

Man i can see there face wean they say that my contry the usa let people to have guns.

[Brony of the Revolution]

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Are you the editor by chance?