Earning Freedom

by Daxisle

lll

III

Macintosh gently awoke to the glowing sun beyond his window. He looked down to find Annabelle missing this morning. Probably took off in the middle of the night again.

A few hours after Star Shade was taken by Celestia, Annabelle had stopped by the farm and nearly lost her mind when she saw the bandages on Macintosh's muzzle. The apple pony demanded that he was fine, but she shushed him and looked him over anyways. It was a comfortable feeling, having somepony care for you in that way.

Still, she wasn't pleased about his condition and questioned Shade's loyalty if he was willing to inflict such damage on one he called friend. Long explanation short, she got the jist of the insane bat pony's condition, she couldn't fathom why Mac had remained friends with him though, despite the long winded explanation of their ordeal in the diamond dog slave mines. All the same, the butter milk mare just asked for Macintosh to be more careful in such dealings.

Fumbling out of bed, the apple stallion resolved to get some chorse done for his sister, who still hadn't returned home for some reason. After a quick shower he made way down stairs for some breakfast. His breath caught in his throat at the sight before him.

There was both his grandma and Annabelle, in the kitchen together. He wasn't sure what they were talking about but the latter seemed excited about it.

"Well, Ah'll be." Granny chuckled. "Didn't know ye could fry sea bacon 'Bout time we gotta mare who could cook somethin' sides apples round here." Granny praised, overlooking the sizzling slabs of giant, sliced sea weeds. It wasn't Mac's favorite, but it did sound kind of appealing, and the smell emanating from the kitchen wasn't bad either.

"Ah've never had sea bacon before, what's that?" Applebloom asked.

"A special plant from the ocean that, when stir fried and seasoned, tastes amazing! My momma taught it to me back when I was a filly." The golden maned earth pony announced, flipping the sea weed over in the pan. Her eyes flew to the stairs at his hoofsteps. "Oh hi, Big Mac! You're just in time fer breakfast!" She chirped happily.

It hadn't hit him until that point how embarrassing his entire situation was. He, a grown stallion still living at home. But that was how farm life was, and the fact that there were not other stallions do do the heavy plowing and lifting in his stead, which he had every intention to do today even if he'd gotten a late start.

Before long, the table was in a spread of all kinds of food from sea weed to apple fritters. It was the most diverse meal the stallion had in a long time. Well, since he'd eaten with the griffins, anyways. It made him shutter to think about, poor rabbits.

During breakfast the typical comments were made about how great the cooking was and a few questions about spices and seasoning when something new came along. Talk about the chores that needed to be done for the day, which were plenty since AJ hadn't been around, and who'd be by to assist. Which, was nopony.

Spring was important for any farm, hopefully Mac would be able to get everything he needed to get done yesterday done within the next week in short order. Last thing they wanted was a disappointing harvest.

It was an odd circumstance, to say the least. His granny wasn't too thrilled about swallowing her pride and asking for him to return to the farm work, but she somehow managed it. Folks weren't stopping buy to help like they used to. Rainbow Dash being held up more and more at the weather factory to go threw some kinda training about getting water for clouds or some such, and Pinkie Pie was swamped with the spring break rush, where Sugar Cube Corner suddenly became a hot spot for kids with way too much time on their hooves.

Finishing up, the stallion excused himself and made way for the shed to grab some fertilizer and secret apple family tree reguvinizer. The trees would be the primary concern, but the smaller pineapple orchard in the north still needed to be looked after. Maybe he'd teach Applebloom about it at some point today, if she wanted to.

The golden sun was shining bright and unimpeded today, a much needed change of pace from the dreary and cloudy mornings they'd had previously. Mac gathered the supplies onto a cart and made way for the fields. He'd planned out the scheduled and determined that he'd be able to get at least the north western fields done today. By week's end it should all be fertilized and ready for rejuvenation.

Half way through the day, as he was applying some much needed fertilizer to a tree root, a shadow appeared over the stallion from behind. Thinking it was either Annabelle or Applejack, Mac turned around to greet them, but his smile fell almost as instantly as it had come. For it wasn't Anna nor his sister, it wasn't even a pony. A black jacket clad griffin stood before him, looking down at him expectantly. Something seemed vaguely familiar about the hybrid, but for the life of him, Macintosh couldn't figure out what.

"Mr. Macintosh Apple?" It asked in a calm but intimidating voice. His overbearing presence left a familiar kind of intimidation that reminded the apple pony of Sin's own.

"Can Ah help you?" Mac asked, stand up straight, now looking slightly down at the griff.

"Yes actually. I'm aware that you're associated with the dragon called Spike, yes?" The black and red Griff asked.

This piqued Mac's attention and he asked who was asking and why.

"My name is Conno, and I've been sent to gather any and all information on the matter." Conno replied taking out a flipbook and pen. "Could you please tell me why Spike was arrested?"

Initially, Mac refused to give any information. He didn't like when anypony came onto his property and randomly started asking questions, especially when the pony was a griffin he didn't know. Though, Conno coaxed the stallion by explaining that he intended to help the young dragon, claiming it was in his employer's interest to see the drake free.

Reluctantly, the apple pony recalled the day of Spike's rampage. It was simple, considering he'd only gotten there after Luna had winked them both there after the attack began. All he could account for was that reasoning with the dragon had been working out rather well until the Wonderbolts showed up and started making trouble. Aside from that, was that Spike was sorry for what he'd done and was genuinely ready to accept responsibility.

Apparently, that wasn't what Conno wanted to hear. "I see. Is there anything else? Anything at all?" He waited for any kind of response before writing down a few final notes in his notepad before putting it away. "We'll be in touch." He declared before flapping his wings and taking off into the sky, leaving the stallion to contemplate who he was, why he was asking questions, and why he had the same kind of presence Sin had.

---

Celestia and Twilight sat in rather large cavern upon a not so comfortable rock couch. Diamond dogs had been placed at all the entrances and stood guard to ensure that either no harm came to the princesses or they couldn't escape. It was hard to tell. The two had been told that they'd be recieved by the leader of the Gamma Pack, yet one night and three hours past day break, neither had seen head nor tail of any diplomat.

"Princess," Twilight began. "Are you sure coming here alone was a good idea?"

Celestia chuckle. "My faithful student, there is nothing to fear from these dogs. We may be in their home, but they are in my domain. And besides, we've both faced more powerful foes. Between the two of us, there's nothing to worry about."

Twilight gave a hopeful smile and went back to waiting patiently.

Finally a large, pitbull face K9 came forth before them, jewels of every sort adorning his elongated pristine white vest which lead all the way to the ground. Unlike most of the other mutts, this dog didn't have a sense of nervous ignorance or stupidity about him.

"Princess Celestia." He declared with a bow, turning his head to the side and exposing his neck. "I apologize for the wait. There's been some trouble aside from your dragon."

"I'm sorry to hear that..." Celestia paused.

"Please, call me Alpha Raptor." Raptor declared with a toothish grin. "What can I do for you this fine day?" He asked, acting a little too corgeal.

"We beg mercy for our friend, Spike." Twilight interrupted, hushed quickly by Celestia.

"What she means is that we would be happy to discuss terms for leniency upon your prisoner." Raptor gave a look of interest and condescending amusement.

"I regret to inform you that I am not the sole judge against your friend, your highness. It will be a vote between myself and the other six pack leaders to determine his fate." His eyes than lit up as he looked over the princess. "Though, I suppose I could be... persuaded into a fair verdict?"

He licked his chops, eyeing Celestia's taught and divine body, his eyes turning an unashamed form of lustful as he chuckled, giving Twilight one of the worse shivers of creepyness she'd ever experienced.

Celestia apparently also caught on, smiling polity and rejecting any favors of sexual nature. Raptor took this denial with both grace and dignity. "Well, can't blame a dog for trying." He chuckled, his face re-dawned a neutral expression. "Now, all joking aside, I'm afraid that I'll need to hear testimony before I can truely decide one way or the other. Your associate's crimes are great, but they are beyond great. It isn't often an entire pack is defeated by one being as small as he was without magical powers."

"He's dangerous to us, Celestia. I don't think I need to remind you about the relationship between dragons and dogs?"

Celestia nodded. "I'm aware, Raptor. But he's no threat to you, of that I can promise."

"Oh? Just as he was no threat to the Delta Pack?"

The sun goddess countered by recalling the events of the Delta Pack's pony napping of one of her little ponies and how she was used as a slave, and how she'd not pressed charges against them for the crime. Raptor returned with a reminder that the Pack had suffered the indignity of slavery under said pony and had their belongings robbed in order to be rid of the pony they napped, when easily they could have had her killed.

This went on in a back and forth until Celestia sighed in exacerbation, demanding to see Spike as ruler of the land they stood upon.

"Careful, your highness." Raptor challenged, looking the solar goddess in the eye. "This may be your land, but this is a diamond dog matter." The two looked eachother in the eye, both waiting for the other to concede the challenge and walk away with the other's tail between their legs.

It was impressive how long he lasted, but Raptor looked away first. Experience trumps youth this day, still it was the only victory the ponies would get. The alpha denied them visitation to Spike but were more than welcome to provide council during the real trial.

Dismissing themselves from the tunnel, Twilight and Celestia offered thanks for the gracious hospitality and teleported back to the castle to figure out their options.

---

Slamming a his heavy pick ax against another rock, Spike grunted with ever increasing effort that the constant mining took on his body. Two days of constant labor had strained his muscles and caused multiple bouts of dehydration, but he didn't give up. He mined every gem type the earth had to offer and gladly offered it to the diamond dogs, knowing that it wouldn't erase his sins, but it was at least a small consultation.

Coughing from the dusty dirt he sent spraying with another hit of the pick ax, the drake halted his work and took a drink of water from the canteen he'd set aside. Cool and refreshing water, it was amazing how something so vital could be taken for granted.

"Why you stop work, geko?!" He heard his control officer bark from behind.

"Sorry," the drake apologized. "Just got a little thirsty is all."

The dog scoffed. "Oh, look at me, I'm a dragon raised by ponies and I can talk right, BAH! No care why, back to work!"

Gripping his tool of the earth to channel his anger, Spike turned back to the tunnel and began hammering again. He knew the dogs hated dragons and that he deserved to be here, but man were they rude. Not to mention that their grammar was absolutely atrocious.

He lifted the pick a little to quickly and it flew from his weakened grip, sent to clamor against the cart meant to transport dirt to the surface.

"WATCH WHERE YOU THROW THAT!" His handler barked. "You try to kill Desodo?!"

"Maybe" The slave muttered under his breath. It was an interesting thought, but he'd never entertain it for long. Spike was a good dragon, killing wasn't something good dragons or any other race would do, aside to eat of course.

After a few more hours of slowed work, yet another dog had come to inform Disodo that it was time to put Spike back into his cell for the night. Grunting with disapproval, the pug faced mutt beckoned to be followed.

The tunnels may have been hard work, but Spike had to admit that, as they traveled through back to the compound, they were astonishingly beautiful. Like the last two mines he was in, there were lighted gems to illuminate the way, a large cavern that served as the main base of operations and thousands upon thousand of wooden supports and railways with hundreds of off shooting vein mines that had to go for miles into the earth's crust in every direction.

His mind slowly slipped to the treasure trove of gems that laid in the very bottom of the mine, imagining the utter enormity the pile had to be for all the work this mine had labored and he couldn't help the small bit of drool that escaped his smiling lips. All of those delicious gems... all of them, just for him.

Physically smacking himself, Spike berated himself for even thinking about that. It was that exact thing that had landed him in this mess in the first place!

'But how can you not? All of those succulent, shiny, valuable gemstones? All fo-

STOP! I know! I know! But I can't think like that any more! What I did was wrong, it got ponies hurt and landed me as a slave in a diamond dog mine! I shouldn't be thinking about it.

But he was, and he hated himself for it. It was wrong, so very wrong, but he wanted it, he wanted to bath in the jewels and hoard them all to himself. He wanted to consume and keep them, to lavish and protect them. He wanted them a-

Physically slapping him again, Spike forced himself to think about something else. Well, after giving a nervous chuckle at the disturbed look his handler had given him.

"Crazy geko." He gruffed, shaking his head.

I've got your crazy right here, pal.

After a while of walking, Spike felt the earth beneath his feat become denser and harder from extended foot traffic, signalling their closeness to the top of the operation. Seven minutes later, he found himself back in his cell, Disodo giving him one last look of disgust before walking off to do whatever.

It wasn't his best day, but suffering was part of repentance, and as Spike laid down onto the cold ground, he hoped that the dogs would take his labor for them into consideration when his time for trial finally came.

Author's Note:

Comments are always appreciated.

Comments

[RadicalDishonesty]

How large is Spike in this one? I know his size was a bit variable...

[Daxisle]

6269970 Returned to baby form, natural dragon growth taking a while and all. But I'll have him regrow to his "teen" stage again.