The Great Parent Rescue

by Kaipony

Now, It's My Turn

After quietly waiting to make sure that neither Cutlass or anyone else was coming his way, it was a simple matter for Spike to slip out from between his parent’s pens and dart amongst the geology of the cavern to make his way back to his friends. He made sure that he was concealed within a shadow and no one was within earshot before speaking.

“Twilight,” he whispered. “I’m back.”

“Spike! Girls, keep a lookout.” Twilight lay down and angled herself so she could speak to her assistant and still keep an eye out for any guards that might pass nearby. “You made it. How are the other dragons?”

“Not bad, but not great either.” He bounced up and down on the balls of his feet, his claws clenched together. “Listen, I found--”

“I anticipated as much,” Twilight interrupted, constantly glancing left and right without ever actually looking at Spike. “These Scale Collectors are a lot craftier than we imagined.”

“Yeah, but I found--”

“So, we put our heads together, mostly because it was easier than having to hold them up ourselves, and I think I have an idea of how we can gain the upper hoof. First, we need to--”

“Will you stop talking and listen to me?” Spike demanded, raising his voice. He immediately clamped his claws over his mouth and crouched in silence.

Twilight recoiled, and she tucked a foreleg up against her chest as though protecting herself from a physical blow. “Spike?” Her pupils were dilated, and she had leaned away from the outburst.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Twilight,” Spike apologized, his voice dipping back into a whisper. “I didn’t mean to say it like that, but I’ve been trying to tell you something important.”

“No. No, I’m sorry.” Twilight offered. “I was just...this plan is...” Her ears flattened against her head. “I’m scared, Spike. We’re all scared.”

“Me too. I have an idea about that, but first I have some amazing news.” Spike took a deep breath and let it out, steadying his vibrating limbs. “I found my parents.”

“You did?” Fluttershy’s voice asked weakly from the other side of the cage.

Twilight’s eyes lit up, and she reached through the bars to pull Spike into a hug as best as the bars would allow, the shock of Spike having raised his voice against her melting away. “That’s wonderful. That’s great. I can’t believe they’re actually here. Wait.” She released him. “How do you know it’s really them?” Twilight’s expression passed from ecstatic to cautious. “You’ve never seen them before, and your real parents would only have ever seen your egg. What if these dragons are trying to trick you as Sludge did?”

“A real dragon can sense family,” Spike recited proudly. “Even family that’s been away for far long, long time. They knew my name, Twilight. My mother knew my name before I said it myself. There was a spark, something inside all three of us that I didn’t feel with Sludge. I know it’s them. I know it like I know how your book shelving systems.”

“That’s a pretty bold statement,” Twilight tittered. “Still, after what Sludge did, I can’t help but be a little skeptical.” Then her look softened. “But if you say so, then I trust your judgment.”

“Thanks, Twilight. And now I need all of you to both trust me and listen to me. I have a plan to get us all out of here.”

Twilight grinned and leaned down. “I’m all ears.”

~~*~~

“Come on, Spike!”
“Get that there lock open, quick!”
“Please hurry. This damp air is murder on my mane.”

The shouting voices of Twilight Sparkle and her friends echoed off the walls of the Scale Collector’s lair. Equine, feline, and dragon heads alike all jerked towards the noise. To their credit, the caged ponies were doing their best to move about in frantic anticipation despite the lingering effects of the enfeeblement poison.

“Hurry, hurry, hurry! They’re coming.”
“I simply cannot stand another moment in this dreadful dungeon.”
“Help us, Spike. You’re our only hope.”

“Get over there and grab him!” Ardent Bloom ordered from her writing desk at the rear of the Collector’s living area. The two Storm Guards, their combined efforts to reattach the broken door from earlier having ailed, dropped the piece of the cage and quickly lumbered towards the pen with the others in quick pursuit. The three Abyssinians watched from their perches within their small den but continued to tally their latest profits and discuss where the market for scales might shift to in the coming months. Nimbus, still standing watch over the entrance, looked on with keen interest.

When the assembled Collectors reached the penned ponies at a trot, Twilight flashed them a cold smile. “He’s already gone. You’ll never catch up to him.”

Ardent Bloom growled and opened her mouth to respond when another voice, the rumbling baritone of a dragon from the ledge, rose up.

“Come on, kid! Get us out of here.”

The Collectors glowered at their newest prisoners and then hurried off in the direction of the latest sighting. They failed to notice a small purple and green figure crawling across the stream in the opposite direction towards a small sitting area that was set up just outside the living area. There, upon a table cluttered with mugs and bread crumbs, sat a large bundle of brass keys.

Spike hopped up onto a chair and scooped up the bundle of keys. He grunted under the weight. “Geez.” He shouldered the packed keyring and eyed the backs of the Storm Guards as they and their master futilely searched for him among the dragon cages. “Are those guys also the janitors? Look at all these keys. How will I know which one opens which door?” Mentally tabling the concern, he quickly made his way around to his parent’s cages, noting that the search among the other dragon cages was nearing completion.

He proudly presented his prize to them. “Look! I got the keys.” Spike held them aloft for the pair to see.

“Great job,” Flint congratulated.

Scintilla was constantly scanning for any Collectors that looked like they might head in their direction. “Please hurry.”

Spike tried the first key in the lock of his mother’s cage, but it did not fit. He tried the next one, and it fit but did not turn. The third, fourth, and fifth keys also yielded similar results. “There’s too many,” he worried aloud. “I’ll never be able to try them all in time.”

“Keep moving,” Flint urged. “Try some of the other cages.”

“But, I need to--”

Scintilla reached out and stroked her son’s head. “We’re not going anywhere, Spike. Go help the others. We’ll still be here.”

A small tear formed in the corner of one of Spike’s eyes and he opened his mouth to protest, but he pulled himself together and nodded. “Right. I’ll be back soon.” He crouched low and crawled his way back to his friend’s cage. There, he waited.

“Try the next one, Spike!” he heard his father shouting. The Collectors and their guards immediately abandoned their search and hurried towards the dragon couple. Spike used the distraction to make his way up to the collection of dragon cages. There, he tried the same order of keys as he had on his mother’s lock, but no matter how many he tried, none of them worked.

“Hurry it up, kid,” the dragon inside the second cage urged.

“I’m trying.” Another failed key attempt.

“Well, try faster. It looks like they’re done with those two.” Sure enough, the Collectors, led by Cutlass, were stalking away from Spike’s parents and back towards him while Ardent Bloom moved towards Twilight and the others.

Spike grunted in frustration and hopped down from the door. “Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be back.” He slunk off and kept moving in a counter-clockwise direction. At each cage, he tried to find the correct key, but each attempt ended in failure. He simply could not get any of the locks open quick enough. Before the search could reach the incline that led to the dragon prisoners, Spike clambered down the short vertical rise on the side closer to the cave entrance and tucked himself in-between every rock and cranny he could find on the ground. Quietly, he moved forward.

With the dragon cages behind him, Spike reached the trickling stream and slipped down into the water, wading his way under the bridge. Peeking just above the edge of the bank, he picked up a rounded stone and lobbed it into the living alcove towards the cots and chests. It struck the cave wall, creating a cracking noise as it skittered across the ground, coming to rest beneath one of the low beds.

“I heard something over there,” The Purrveyor shouted. He abandoned his tallies and lead his two fellow Abyssinians towards the sound. One after another, Spike counted the other Scale Collectors as they crossed the bridge and converged upon the disturbance. He took the opportunity to try his luck at his friend’s lock. Spike could see them trembling, but could not tell if it was due to nervousness, fright, or in response to the poison that remained in their bodies.

He was so focused on trying to get the lock open that he failed to notice a soft hoof prodding him urgently until Fluttershy’s voice reached out to him.

“Spike,” Fluttershy hissed in warning. “They’re coming back.”

“I know,” Spike grunted, flipping through the seemingly endless queue of keys and trying them in the lock as quickly as his shaking claws would allow. His ears picked up the sound of approaching hoofsteps.

“Hurry,” she squeaked.

“I know.” His claws worked furiously.

“I mean it.” Fluttershy looked up and gasped. She frantically shooed at Spike. “Run! Hide!”

“There he is!” a voice yelled. Cutlass appeared, brandishing her saber, and pointing at Spike. “The little runt’s been leading us on.”

“Yah!” Spike dropped the keyring but quickly scooped it back up. “I’m sorry!” he apologized before leaping away from the cage and running as fast as his legs would carry him.

Ardent Bloom pounded across the bridge and came skidding around the cage, stopping only to keep her balance. She pointed a quivering hoof at the fleeing dragon. “Hit him with a dart. Use the net guns. Use a feathering birdcage, I don’t care. Somepony get that dragon!”

Spike poured on what speed he had left in his legs and shouldered the keyring like a satchel. He fluttered his wings, hopped once, and lumbered into the air under the weight of the brass keys. First, he headed straight for the exit, but Nimbus rose into the air to meet him. The pegasus pulled a tube out from one of his bags, followed by a painfully familiar dart. Cutting sharply to the right, Spike veered back towards the dragon cages as a dart whished over his head, missing its target by inches. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw one of the Abyssinians, Scurf, if he remembered correctly, aim something at him that looked like one of the tubes the Guards were also carrying.

Spike dove, making for a stalactite formation just as a burst of air from the tube fired a net in his direction. Weighted ends reached towards him like fingers, but before they could envelop him, they caught the tip of the stalactite and wrapped tightly around the limestone. Spike was nearly ensnared in the process, but the little dragon bolted and circled around the central pillar, moving further into the lair. Spike flitted around the ceiling at the cavern like a trapped fly. He chewed on his talons as he frantically looked around, starting to hyperventilate. Then he noticed the Scale Collector’s vault, the vault one of the dragon prisoners had mentioned. Its door was unguarded.

Ducking a dart thrown by Sand Briar, Spike scrambled across the floor and reached the vault entrance. Grasping the largest key on the ring, he fumbled with the weight of the keyring and nearly dropped it in the process of trying to line up the pin with the hole. Shaking claws jammed the key into the keyhole. “Please, please, please,” Spike muttered to himself as he twisted. It turned. “Yes!”

The massive vault door was balanced on four hinges so that even though it was far more significant in size and weight than Spike, he was able to pull the door open just enough to squeeze past. The sounds of the approaching Scale Collectors were growing louder by the second. Bracing himself against the inner wall, Spike heaved the door shut, threw the slide bolt over, and jumped back.

Something solidly impacted against the door but failed to do more than cause it to shiver. Then came two louder, harder impacts. The door trembled but held firm.

“That should hold them for a while. At least until I figure out what to do now that I’m stuck in here.” Spike dropped the set of keys on the floor and turned in a circle, taking in the contents of the vault. The room was broad but not very deep, no bigger than the basement of the Golden Oak Library had once been. At the far back was a pile of sacks, the open mouths of which confirmed their contents to be many different colors of dragon scales. Small wooden chests were stacked against the wall to the left. Spike walked over to one and levered open the lid. Inside were riches. Coins of gold and silver, numerous gemstones, multihued crystals, and small bits of jewelry were piled atop one another. He checked a few other chests and found them to contain roughly the same.

“Wow. Look at all this stuff. I can’t believe they’ve gathered this much.” Swallowing down an urge to snack on a few of the gems, Spike shut the chests and inspected the third wall of the vault. Arrayed on shelves that were cut into the rock were bottles and small boxes. Reaching up to retrieve a box, Spike opened it and quickly shut the case.

“Poison darts. This must be their supply of potions and stuff.” He tossed the box aside and grabbed the nearest bottle. It contained a pale amber liquid. The label on the side identified it as “Truth be Told.” He put the potion back and continued checking all the names. An abrupt, louder pounding on the vault door made him jump, and he perused at a quicker pace.

“There’s got to be something in here that I can use,” Spike said to himself. Near the end of the fourth shelf, he found a bottle of something bright purple. The label caught his eye, and he pulled it down.

“What’s this? Dragon growth?” He swirled the bottle around, and small sparks flashed within the liquid. “This must be what they use to make dragons grow larger when they want to make their scales fall off faster.” Spike shuddered. “That’s terrible. That’s horrible. That’s....” He paused and looked over at the vault door, then back down at the bottle. “Not a bad idea.” He quickly scanned the other shelves and found another bright purple potion. The little dragon took both of the bottles, and slowly approached his only way out.

“Open up!” a muffled voice shouted from outside. The door shuddered again.

Spike jumped at the clamor and fumbled with the potions in his claws. More crashing and smashing sounds followed. A faint growling mumble filtered through and then the sounds of forced entry redoubled in fervor. Spike paced from one side of the vault to the opposite, his head down in concentrated thought. He did this twice more before halting in the center of the chamber.

Glaring at the large door, Spike huffed and snorted. Whiffs of smoke leaked from his nostrils. He squared off with the doorframe and stomped over to the shuddering vault door. Spike stood before it, flinching slightly at each impact. He looked thoughtfully down at the two potions he held. His claws shaking, the glass bottles made little squealing noises as his talons tightened against their necks.

“Ever since I can remember, everyone’s always been there to look out for me.” Spike shut his eyes tight. “Twilight. The girls. Everyone. They cared for me. They protected me. And now I’ve found my real parents. Mom and Dad told me to run, tried to keep me safe without even thinking about themselves.” There came another muffled shout, and furious pounding rocked the vault door. He distinctly heard the voice of Ardent Bloom.

“Open this door, kid, or everyone you care about is going to pay for your troublemaking.”

Spike uncorked both of the growth potions. “Not this time.” Tilting his head back, Spike poured the contents of both bottles down his throat. He wiped his mouth with the back of an arm and dropped the empty flasks.

“Now, it’s my turn.”

Comments

[Anon E Moose]

Spikezilla time!

[SpikeSmolder fan]

Oh yeah, go get them Spikey!!!!!!

[TasermonsPartner]

“Help us, Spike. You’re our only hope.”

[ace_attorneyfan800]

“Ever since I can remember, everyone’s always been there to look out for me.”

For some reason this got me to thinking of this song:

[Kaipony]

9730824
Good song and a great band.

[Scyphi]

Swallowing down an urge to snack on a few of the gems,...

Actually, might as well. Help build up your strength while also depriving these nutters of that same amount of their riches and effectively thumb your nose at them all in one go.

Of course, growing super large and smashing the whole place up works too. Just be sure to get in the first hits, or they'll nail you with a whole lot of those darts pretty quick, and I'm pretty sure they won't be any less effective while you're big than while small, especially if they use more than one.

[Godslittleprincess]

Oh my.

[Jake The Army Guy]

So Spike is going to fall under the effects of growth magic. Hmm, why does this sound familiar?