Earning Freedom

by Daxisle

Forceful Action

Forced Action

Spike scowled as he was lead out of the Mayor's office, his terror and grievous acceptance about his fate quickly replaced by irritation and begrudging tolerance.

He got the message about what he'd done five minutes into the conversation, 'twenty thousand bits in property damage, two ponies injured, neither really hurt, one only holding psychological damage, and the other having a broken leg from trying to escape the panicking crowd.' But she just kept going. Belly aching on and on and on about how irresponsible he was and how he should have known better and blah blah blah. Yea, he deserved it, but damn if it wasn't irritating.

It didn't strike him until he'd wrapped up the meeting how convenient it was for the mare to call him to task for his crimes the same moment as the imperial investigation for with the Diamond Dogs had come to a close. Probably afraid he'd unleash on her personally for berating him as she had without the Canterlot guard's presence.

All the same, the true terror was yet to come when he'd have to go before Celestia.

Spike's stomach began drop and his irritation once again gave way to terror as the thought of one authority figure over ruled the other. He cringed as he imagined the look of disapproval upon the Princesses face. Even after all this time, the thought that she would be disappointed in him still filled him with shame.

That and the fact she would dictate how long he'd be sitting in the Canterlot dungeon.

'Guess it really doesn't matter how long you're away, a mother figure's wrath hurts no matter what.'

---

Twilight walked through the market, cautiously and discreetly observing Spike and his escort. Obviously she'd make way for Canterlot upon the next train but she wanted to see her friend before he was taken away for Celestia knows how long.

She fought back the tears and the urge to charge forth and render the guards to take the baby dragon away. Somewhere he'd be safe and never have to serve his sentence. But she knew better than that. Even if she somehow did toss away her love for Celestia and the unbelievable amount of both anger and disappointment her teacher would feel, Luna would find him.

She knew about the Lunar alicorn's ability to invade dreams and communicate with ponies. Dragons probably weren't exceptions to this ability, and neither was she.

She felt her body shake, she couldn't believe it was happening all over again. It wasn't fair! He'd just come back!

The lavander mare's breathing quickened and became labored as the situation fully dawned on her. Spike was going away, this time he may not come back for years, decades maybe.

Unable to contain herself any longer, the unicorn ran forward, passing the two guards who stood back in shock and tackle hugged her son. Spike began to protest but quickly dismissed it in favor of offering comfort. The mare was glad for it, she needed it. Spike had grown up so much since he left almost a year ago. He fought to protect his friends, grown into a teenage dragon, learned a trade in gem carving that he could easily make a career of, was intelligent beyond his years, and was finally looking for wisdom beyond some charliton who hated government and lived in the woods.

The mistake was made, however. She knew that no matter how much she hugged or hoped, he was leaving again. She felt the hooves of the guards begin to pry her off, their gentle words attempting to coax the distraught mare from their prisoner.

"GET OFF A' THEM!" Cried a deep and angry voice.

"Mac no!" Twilight cried, using her magic to envelope the stallion and levitate him before he reached the guards. Both stepping back again, the crimson earth pony's hooves mere inches from their snouts.

"What's goin' on!" Big Macintosh demanded, his hooves still reaching for the guards. A buttermilk earth pony soon joined at his side, gently whispering to try to calm the pony down.

It took a moment to explain the situation, but the look of defeat upon Macintosh's face told of his resignation. Fact of the matter was that he too knew that this was coming.

"Ah'm sorry, Spike." He mumbled, eyeing the green irises of his companion. Spike reached out a claw and brought Macintosh in to join the group hug. The two had become best friends since they departed, and though the drake would never admit it in public, he'd come to love Macintosh as a father figure.

Suddenly another solar pony dropped from the sky, his labored breathing sluring his initial words until he finally calmed down enough to speak properly.

"Twilight Sparkle, I bear a message from Princess Celestia." He said before pulling out a scroll in his wing and giving it to the mentioned.

Twilight reluctantly tore herself away from the hug and unfurrowed the scroll. He eyes widened and her emotional breakdown halted in complete shock as the three simple words registered in her mind.

Discord is missing

---

"Where are we going?" Annabelle asked between labored breaths as she galloped, following Macintosh as he raced for the borders of the Everfree forest.

"Ta tell Sin n' Shade!" Macintosh replied. Though, it was more to find out if Shade could track down Discord more than anything. It was clear the lunar pony was in contact with the lord of chaos, perhaps he could help them find him.

'Or maybe Shade's the one who took him.'

The thought was almost enough to make him stop but the stallion kept going. As strong and insane as the bat pony was, he wasn't strong enough to carry a statue out of the Canterlot gardens undetected. At least, Mac didn't think so.

A few minutes and the avoidance of many tree roots and traps later, Macintosh and Annabelle burst through the brush that outlined Sin's camp. The sight that greeted him would have stolen his breath, had it not been for the fact holding it for more than a second would have caused him to collapse from pure exhaustion.

A griffon stood in a pouncing stance, his talons and claws digging into the ground as his beak clicked in warning, waiting for the quickly growing tension to be broken.

"Where's Sin?" Mac asked absently, his mouth getting ahead of his brain.

The hybrid's body relaxed slightly but immediately tensed up again. "Who wants to know?" He growled.

"Who are you?" Mac demanded, his own fight or flight system kicking in.

Eyes narrowed, the griffon studied the stallion for a moment. "You a friend of his?"

"Yes Ah am."

Slowly but surly, the black and bald foreigner relaxed his body until finally he stood upright and proud, looking eye level with Macintosh. "Wasn't aware." He exhaled. "My name is Tyken."

"Macintosh," He replied. "N' this is Annabelle."

"H- hi."

"How do you do." Tyken replied more of a statement than a question. "What do you want with the boy?"

Boy? "Ah need tah tell him that Spike's been taken tah Canterlot."

"Spike?" Tyken asked, his demeanor becoming much more concerned, all the build up completely dispersing. "The young drake? Who took him?"

"The government."

Tyken's eyes narrowed and his tallons gripped into fists. He muttered something incomprehensible under his breath before he turned suddenly and dashed out of the camp and into the thicket, the sounds of rusteling leaves and brush accompanying his dash.

Curious and thuroughly confused as to how this creature knew Spike and Sin, Mac shot after, informing Annabelle to stay in the camp where it was safe.

"Yea, I don't think so." She declared before she gave chase.

Mac hadn't run long, a good two minutes tops, following the tracks and sounds of the griffon before he heard voices echo throughout the forest. He slowed his trot to quiet his hooves, motioning for his companion to do the same before slowly approaching where he heard Tyken and Sin talking.

Mac knew that Sin wasn't on the best terms with those from his homeland, and found the griffin's sudden appearance in the Everfree very disturbing. The harsh tone spat between the two not helping matters either.

"Where's Shade?" The apple pony heard his friend ask. He gently poked his head through the brush to find the two Federalists standing beside a slightly green lake. Tyken quirked his head, probing the pony to explain farther. "The lunar pegasus who was at my camp?"

"What? Ya talkin' 'bout the lad who's six sheep short'va flock?" Sin nodded. "Aye, colt left day after I brought ya back. Strange thing, one minute he's pettin' those beasts of his, next thing he jumps awake and starts going on about something being rehabilitated." Tyken waved a claw dismissively. "Why in Tapio's name you'd associate with an individual like tha' is beyond me."

"Rehabilitation?" Sin quirked a brow and then deadpanned "The word 'Discord' was mentioned, wasn't it?" Tyken nodded and the former senator spat. "Well, that explains- Macintosh?"

Both turned their attention to the stallion and mare as they approached, each exchanging greetings and reintroduction. After the eighth time telling Mac not to worry about the bandages around his neck, and what caused them, the apple farmer informed Sin of the days events with Spike and Twilight. His explanation was cut short, however, as Sin already knew.

"It was only a matter of time." Sin sighed. "Celestia may be friends with Spike and his mother, but she's a fair ruler. I doubt she'd let him get away with what he's done."

Mac ground his teeth to halt his snark filled reply, it hurt to hear his friend be so callous and pragmatic about somepony he considered his closest friend. But fact of the matter was that he knew, deep down that Spike deserved the punishment he had coming to him. Still, that didn't make it any easier to accept.

A few more moments of silence crept by before Sin limped past the three residents by the lake. "I'll be leaving for Canterlot tomorrow." His voice strained with each step he took.

"In your condition?" Tyken replied. "I don' think so."

As par the course, Sin shrugged off the objection and continued through the brush to the camp.

"You were just mauled by wolves, ya daft bastard!" Tyken cried, blocking the stallion from his bag. Mac, still weary of this stranger, moved quickly to protect his injured friend by placing his body between the two.

"Easy Mac." Sin soothed, placing a fetlock over the stallion's chest. "Tyken won't hurt me." Trusting his friend's words, Mac backed off a bit, but kept a wary eye on the hybrid Federalist, who, oddly enough, eyed the stallion with a kind of curiosity that had no business existing on anything who nearly had it's head bucked off.

"Ya gotta good friend, Lad." He complimented, turning with a look scolding look "hopefully you'll learn to appreciate this one."

Sin scoffed initially as he passed, but stopped mid step as he took in his master's words.

Windmane and Zell; he warned them about his predicament. About how his family's political and economic ascent had changed all of them. About the night his father threatened him into obedience after he'd helped get the young stallion elected to political office. And how his younger brother stood idly by, a look of begrudged acceptance on the grey earth pony's face.

Sin remembered that night so clearly in his mind. How angry and fearful he was upon hearing his father's threats, how angry he was that neither he nor his brother had challenged him upon it.

Sin thought himself mature in telling Gemini to "do as he saw fit" before going into a tirade about how he was elected for his views and by the will of the citizens of North New Equine.

How foolish he was to ever believe that ideology and compassion held more sway in politics than money.

Though, after Gemini had left, Malich found the young stallion sitting up that night, preparing his case to go against the political moves that his father wanted. Timidly, the grey earth pony approached and offered words of comfort, pledging to send word that night to Sin's friend back home and do everything in his power to see Zell safe somewhere outside of his father's reach.

But that was a lie.

Sin took a breath and leaned down to pick up his saddle bag before turning to the others. He shared a stare with Tyken, his hard gaze softening faster than a politician's honesty when faced with capital, he turned away and sighed. "You ready, Mac?"

Macintosh nodded in the affirmative and the two began their treck back to Ponyville, Annabelle in tow.

Once the three were gone, Tyken embraced the silence of the forest for a few moments. His body shuddered ever so slightly as his tallons dug into the camp ground. Another shudder, and another until finally a low and sad whine escaped his beak. "Fergive me, boyo."

---

Macintosh, Sin and Annabelle sat within the Ponyville express en route to Canterlot. They had to wait an hour for it to arrive, as the last train had already departed with Twilight and Spike in toe.

Apparently the rest of Twilight's friends had been informed to late to make the first train as they sat in the next cart over, but Mac wasn't too concerned about them for the time being. His mind was more focused on something that griffon had said before the three of them had left.

"Hey, Sin?"

"Hmm?"

Mac wasn't sure how to approach the situation, but felt bluntness would be the best course of action. "When that Tyken fella said he hoped you 'priciated our friendship, wha' did he mean by it?"

His muscles tensed a little as he saw his friend's lips press. Mac hadn't known the stallion all that long, but he knew the subtle body language that Sin desperately tried to repress. "Nothing," was all the stallion replied with.

"Yer lyin'." Mac stated darkly. Sin didn't lie often, but when he did, it wasn't hard to see.

The aforementioned locked onto Macintosh's face, creating a tense moment of judgement. Mac kept his face neutral, presenting a stone front was his specialty. Sin's overbearing presence had once intimidated him, but after the time the two had spent together, Macintosh had come to realize that it, much like his darkened goggles, was a defensive mechanism. One he had to learn to out stead in order to gain the Federalist's respect and admiration.

Though respect and admiration didn't equate to something he'd been trying to get from the first day he'd met the pony. His trust. And with the wordless shake of the head, this situation seemed to be no different.

It was a silent irritation that Mac had to live with, being friends with a pony who wouldn't open up about themselves. Sometimes he questioned if the two were even really friends, or if they just associated with one another for the sake of the common interest of freedom. To say such uncertainties was disheartening was an understatement.

Aside from some chatter between Annabelle and himself, along with the occasional visit from either Pinkie Pie or Applejack, the train ride was relatively peaceful until they'd reached Canterlot.

As expected, a security detail of Solar and Lunar guards greeted them and escorted the ponies to the castle proper.

"Oh my goodness" Annabelle gawked as the troop was lead through the city, he mouth agape as she took in the capital. "It's so pretty."

Mac smiled. It was adorable to see the foal-like innocence and wonder upon her face as she took in the sites. "Never been ta Canterlot?" She shook her head before her eyes befell a rather large crowd gathering to see a pair of unicorns preforming some kind of exploding pyro-technic show, accompanied by synchronized symphonic musics.

As the troop approached the castle gates, Mac couldn't help but notice the higher concentration of guards that stood and patrolled around the walls. Apparently, Discord's disappearance had placed Celesta on higher alert than he initially thought.

"I wonder if he escaped?" He heard Fluttershy ask to nopony in particular.

"Fat chance." Rainbow replied.

"Yea!" Pinkie chimed in. "If he did, I'd be showing in chocolate milk rain right now!"

Macintosh cringed as he recalled the first time the lord of Chaos had broken from his stone prison... Dancing buffalo wearing tu tus... so much rage, so much why.

Eventually they made it into the throne room to find Celestia barking orders to numerous guards. "Have the second Solar brigade check the Canterlot Catacombs! It's possible he's hiding there if he hasn't used his magic yet."

"Your highness, we've received word from the 3rd Sun Scout, he's not in the Misty Mountains!"

"Tell them to move their search to the Dodge Junction, and the surrounding areas. Send every Chaos detection relic we have to spare."

Giving a salute, the two guards ponies dismissed themselves from her majesties presence to go about their orders. Celstia's eyes widened as she saw Twilight's friends and beckoned them forth. "It's wonderful to see you again, My little ponies. Thank you for coming so quickly."

"We got here 's fast as we could." Applejack stated matter of factly. "Where's Twilight?"

Celestia bit her lip for a split second before informing them all that she was with Spike in the back room. The unicorn had yet to come to terms with what was happening to her son.

"I'm sorry, Sin, Macintosh, would you two please wait outside with your friend while I speak with My little ponies? This information is for them specifically."

Nodding, the three exited the room and sat outside the doorway to the hustle and bustle of golden clad unicorns, pegesi and earth ponies charging every which way to either give orders, get orders or run about to new locations.

"Do you remember where Luna's audience hall is?" Sin asked out of the blue.

Mac's eyes widened, why did he want to see... her? He looked to find a sour look on Annabelle's face that spoke of her own disapproval for the lunar alicorn.

With no answer, Sin began his trek through the castle to see if he could remember where it was. It was a slim chance that she'd be there, but if anypony knew how to find Star Shade, it would be the dream walker.

He saw a couple of black clad lunar pegisi enter a door way and took that as a good sign. He slipped in as quietly and stealthily as he could, keeping himself hidden behind pillars and anything else as he crept along. It was more undignified than he liked when in the presence of other sapient beings, but when gaining access to information was as essential as finding food, avoiding detection and silent skulking was one of the many talents he'd acquired during his many years in the wilderness.

Luckily, the doors were mostly ungraded, all probably scrambling to find the missing draconaquis.

As he entered yet another gothic themed room and quickly dashed behind a tapestry as he heard a pair of hoofsteps approach the door on the other side of the room. "Seriously? She had her personal guard watch the gardens last night?" He heard a voice question as the door opened. Sin couldn't see the ponies talking, but he could make out that one of the voices was a younger male while the other was an older female.

"Yes, we aren't sure why she did, but they are facing one Tartarus of a punishment for their failure to keep who ever it was from getting the statue. Nightwish thinks that she knew somepony had planned to steal it so she had her best Night Walkers posted to ensure it didn't happen." The voice tisked. "Sure glad I'm not those guys."

'Hmmm, a higher up changes out a standard security unit for a more elite one on the day that a high profile valuable is stolen? Gee, what are the odds?'

Sin waited until the pair was out of ear shot before continuing to the next door. He opened it slightly and peered his eye in to take a quick servey of the room. He saw Luna sitting on her own throne with a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Come in, Sin." He heard her call.

Against his better judgement, the stallion pushed the door open to find the room only held two other guards, whom she dismissed as he found his place before her.

"How may we help you, our little pony?" Luna asked, her smile more forced than usual.

Sin contemplated somehow sneaking a question about her guard detail about last night, but thought better of it. He needed answers now and would probably be dismissed if he went prying in that area. "I'm looking for Star Shade. I know that you've been keeping tabs on him ever since he assaulted you a few weeks ago." The stallion stated bluntly. "Tell me where he is."

Luna's are twitched, aside from that her posture remained neutral. "I'm sorry, Sin, I'm afraid I don't know where your... rather rambunctious friend is."

"You're lying." Sin sneered. "We have a saying in my country, don't bull shit a bull shitter. Where is Star Shade?"

Luna's reaction this time was far more distinct. She knew where Shade was, she just didn't want to tell him. And if his hunch was correct, he knew why. "We do not have time for this, Discord is missing, or haven't you heard?"

'Indignation, always a favorite for those in power.'

"I've heard, which is why I'm looking for the pony who either took him or knows where he is." Sin shot back, satisfied to see the look of realization on Luna's face. "Now, tell me where Shade is, or Celestia will be informed about a certain change in guard last night."

Eyes wide and breath caught in her throat, Luna's words faltered for a moment. "How doth thou know about that?!"

Sin smirked. "My sources are confidential. Now where is he?"

Recomposing herself, Luna smirked. "Thou are in my chamber, my little pony. You are in no place to make demands." Her horn glowed an ethereal blue as he heard the door behind him lock.

Smirk intensifying, Sin flexed and relaxed his fetlock before talking to buy time. "Perhaps I'm not, perhaps I'm just a pony who sits in your throne room, a pony without magic who is completely at your mercy." His body relaxed as the idea came to him. "Or, perhaps I've already informed someone else of your change in guard and if they don't see me in the next thirty minutes, perhaps they go to tell your sister about it."

It was a gamble and one hell of a lie, but it wasn't as if he'd thought about things playing out the way they had. A mistake on his part for not really setting it up as he claimed, though if the bluff worked, he'd walk out with Shade's location, if it didn't, he'd probably be having Spike as a cell mate.

All well, he'd gotten out of worse situations.

Author's Note:

This is totally not forced at all, and is certainly not an attempt at keeping the story moving because of my inability to write for crap.

Comments

[TheStratovarian]

Ouch, heck of a test subject potentially.