Dragon’s Odyssey

by GrumpyMonk97

Chapter 4: Bloodsport

The Past:

Spike walked through the School of Friendship, taking in all the sights and sounds of the various classrooms and students who were roaming about the halls. Many waved and greeted him politely, which he returned in kind. He had just returned from a conference at the Changeling Hive, and while it was good to see Thorax again, the meetings were boring as can be, and he was certainly glad to be back in Ponyville. He had decided to stop by for something, or rather, somepony. He made his way through the halls until he came to a particular classroom where he found just the pony he was looking for; Sweetie Belle, who was organizing documents at her desk as her students were flooding out of the classroom, her most recent class having just ended. He gave a knock at her door.

“Guess who?” He said as he crossed his arms and leaned up against the doorframe. Sweetie Belle turned and saw him, a big smile creeping up her muzzle.

“Spike!” She exclaimed as she ran over and wrapped him up in a hug. “When did you get back?”

“Just now. Thought I’d drop in and see how everypony’s doing.”

Sweetie Belle went back over to her desk to finish reorganizing its contents. “Have you gotten a chance to see Starlight and Sunburst yet?”

“I actually just came from their office. Glad to see some things never change.” Spike said

“Ain’t that the truth.” Sweetie Belle stated with a sassy expression. They both laughed at the moment.

“So I actually had something I wanted to ask you.” Spike said as he rubbed the back of his head. He had no idea why he was so nervous all of a sudden. “Are uh, are you free later?”

“Mayyybe. What’s up? Sweetie Belle asked as her curiosity had now been piqued.

“I’ve got some time before I have to be back in Canterlot. I was thinking we could, I don’t know, grab dinner? Maybe go for a stroll in the park afterwards?”

Sweetie Belle giggled as a light blush lit up her muzzle. “My last class ends at 4. Whaddya say we meet up afterwards.”

Spike smiled. “I’ll be there.”

The Present:

Spike began to stir awake as he could tell he was being dragged. He looked and saw two Storm Creatures, each holding him by one of his arms. Eventually, the two guards tossed him into a cage and slammed the door shut behind him. He groaned as he picked himself up from the dirt and looked around for his companions.

“Ember? Garble? Smolder? You there?” He called out, his voice echoing off the walls. He saw someone lift up their head from one of the other cages, and he recognized it as Garble.

“Spike? There you are, man. What happened?”

“I don’t know. It looks like we got ambushed when we got across the sea.” Spike recalled as he tried to wrap his mind around what was happening.

“This wasn’t exactly the welcoming I’d imagined.” Spike turned and saw another cage that contained Smolder, who was sitting up against the bars of her cage.

“Guess King Challa wasn’t kidding about Klugetown huh?” Ember stated flatly as Spike saw her sitting in yet another separate cage.

“Thank Celestia you’re all okay.” Spike said with relief. “We need to get out of here and find the Overmare.”

“You seek the Overmare?” The group heard an unfamiliar voice call out. They saw a bird like creature sitting in the cage next to Ember with his back turned to them. “They say only those the Overmare deems worthy gain an audience, though nocreature has been able to do that in quite some time. Better get used to life down here in these cages, or get ready to be just another stain on the sands.”

As soon as he said that, the group heard thunderous applause and cheering coming from directly above them. They all looked to each other with concern at the gravity of their situation. Suddenly, the door to the room opened and those Storm Creature guards came back. They were accompanied by a fish like creature who wore a nicely pressed suit and had a pin with a sun like crest emblazoned upon it, which come to think of it looked similar to the symbol painted on the guards’ mask and armor. He rubbed his chin looking over his potential prospects.

“There. The purple one.” The guards grunted to each other in a gutteral language as they opened Spike’s cage and dragged him out by the back of his neck. He struggled against them before they delivered a swift punch to his gut and threw him down onto the ground.

“Ooh, this one’s got some fight in him. He outta give the crowd a good show.” The bookie stated with excitement. The guards then picked him up began to shove him out of the room. Spike looked back and briefly saw the rest of his group before the door to the cage room slammed shut. He could hear the cheering of the crowd getting louder as the guards led him to an open room with a large metal door. The door behind him closed as he could hear the announcer hyping up the crowd. Eventually, the metal door opened as he walked out into a large open arena and saw bright lights, a stark contrast to the dimly lit corridors he was just being led through. All around him, Spike could see waves upon waves of creatures of all kinds yelling and cheering, ready to see the spectacle that was about to unfold.

“Ladies and gentlecreatures, it’s time for a new challenger to step into the arena! So put your assorted appendages together as we find out if our scaly friend has what it takes to survive against the terrifying, the deadly, Big Braunheim!”

As the crowd erupted into cheers, Spike saw on the opposite side of the arena another large metal door open. His opponent slowly lumbered out, until it eventually stood to its full height. Spike looked shocked as he saw the curved, knarled horns, grey fur, and a singular eye as he realized he was about to fight an Arimaspi, and a pretty angry looking one at that. Meanwhile, the other dragons had been shoved into a large open holding area with other prisoners to spectate the match, and they looked similarly shocked at Spike’s opponent.

“Are you ready!?” The announcer called out as the crowd went wild once again. With the sound of a gong, Big Braunheim charged towards Spike with frightening speed. He managed to just barely roll out of the way as the Arimaspi slammed into the wall. Spike sprinted forward and jumped up to deliver a solid blow to Braunheim’s face. The creature shrugged it off and swatted him away with its giant paw, Spike skipping across the ground in the process. Picking himself up from the dirt, he rolled to the side as Braunheim slammed both fists into the ground. Spike countered by using his wings to propel himself forward and slamming into the back of Braunheim’s knee. His wings then lifted him up to deliver a solid knee into Braunheim’s chin. The crowd was completely ecstatic at this point, their cheers practically echoing off of the walls of Klugetown itself. Braunheim responded by grabbing Spike in his paw and slamming him into the ground, then proceeding to deliver solid punch after solid punch, leaving quite a sizable crater in the ground. Spike could feel himself slowly start to lose consciousness from the beating he took. His memory started to flash to different points in his life; helping to save the Crystal Empire, meeting other dragons for the first time, being appointed Twilight’s royal advisor, asking Sweetie Belle to dinner… he had been able to make all these memories because Equestria was at peace, a peace that didn’t exist anymore. He knew that he had to survive, no matter what, so that he could set everything right. For Twilight, for his friends, for everyone!With that thought, he caught Braunheim’s fist before he could land another blow, and unleashed a torrent of flame right into his face. As Braunheim staggered back, Spike got up from the dirt, launched himself forward, and pummeled Braunheim right in the chest with a lightning fast flurry of blows. He jumped up into the air, grabbed Braunheim by his horns, and did a front flip, flinging Braunheim into the wall of the arena, making a huge crashing sound and leaving the wall weakened and crumbling. Braunheim collapsed after that and was officially out, no longer moving. Spike let out a loud scream, releasing all the pent up rage and anger he had held inside for so long. Ember, Smolder, and Garble were all completely speechless; they had never seen something like that from Spike. The crowd was silent for a moment before they began to cheer, possibly louder than they ever have before.

“Well now, that was quite a spectacle wasn’t it folks? Looks like we’ve got a promising new champion for the arena!” The announcer let out excitedly at the potential profit Spike could bring in as their champion.

“I’m not gonna be your plaything! None of us are!” Spike yelled out as he ran over to where the others were spectating from, having been where he tossed Braunheim and now the wall was weak.

“C’mon guys, we’re outta here!” He said as he helped them pull away some of the rubble so that they could get free. All four of them now stood together in the arena as it started to fill up with guards. The group fought them off as they began their assault. Garble caught two guards at once and clapped their heads together, Smolder punched one off to the side and kneed another in their gut before throwing them across the arena, Ember did a backflip kick on another as it charged her and let out a stream of flame as more charged her, and Spike was throwing punches left and right at the guards who continued to pour in.

“Enough!” A loud voice came from above them, and suddenly all of the fighting ceased. The dragons looked to where the voice came from, and could only see a silhouette as the arena lights shined down on them intensely.

A pony? Spike thought to himself as he could only vaguely make out the figure who had called out.

“Bring them to my office.” The figure told the guards, clearly annoyed at the situation. Suddenly, the group found themselves being shoved to the ground and clapped in irons, having being taken by surprise in the momentary confusion. The crowd had finally started to calm down after what they’d just witnessed, and the four dragons found themselves being taken out of the arena and through the streets of Klugetown. Any passersby gave a wide berth as they saw the enchained dragons being escorted by a large group of guards. Eventually, they came to a large tower in the center of the city, easily the largest building in Klugetown. They went in through the back entrance and up a private elevator. It felt like forever as the elevator ascended to the tower’s zenith, but eventually the doors opened and the guards shoved the dragons into the room. They fell face-first onto the floor in front of a large desk with a chair that had its back turned to them.

“So, care to explain why you’re causing trouble in my town?” The chair swirled around and the dragons all saw a pony with a pink coat, golden eyes and mane, and a pronounced unicorn horn on her head. Spike’s jaw dropped wide open when he looked upon her.

“No way. Luster Dawn?!” Spike couldn’t believe his eyes. Luster Dawn, Twilight’s foremost student, was the Overmare. She did look a little bit different, as Spike now saw that she had quite a large, pronounced scar running over her right eye and across the bridge of her nose down to her left cheek. She also carried herself differently, as she was no longer the timid, studious unicorn who studied under Twilight. She carried herself with grace and dominance, and her eyes held no fear now, as it was clear to everycreature in this room that she was the absolute authority in Klugetown. Her stern expression briefly dropped to one of surprise as she saw the dragon before her.

“Spike?!” Luster Dawn stated aghast, never expecting to have seen the dragon again.

“You two know each other?” Ember asked as she chaffed against the iron cuffs.

“Yeah. She was Twilight’s student back when she was in charge of Equestria. Had a bit to learn about friendship. It was a whole musical number, you’d have love it.” Spike quipped as he threw Ember a slight grin. Ember gagged a bit at the thought of ponies singing about their feelings. Not really her style.

“Well, it’s good to see you again Spike but I have to repeat my earlier question. Why are you and your little entourage causing trouble in my town?” Luster Dawn asked as she leaned back in her chair.

“I don’t know. Care to explain why you had us tossed in cages to fight for sport?” Smolder snarled. She and Luster locked eyes, clearing not being fans of each other given how the first impressions went.

“My guards can get a bit eh, overzealous when it comes to looking for new talent.” She picked up a device from her desk, tapped on it a few times, and spoke into it.

“It’s me. Tell Torok that Braunheim’s not gonna cut it anymore. We’ll sort it out later, just tell the guards to make sure the current contestants don’t get any funny ideas. We can’t afford any kind of mutiny.” She tapped on the device once more and set it back down on her desk and turned to look at the group once again.

“Well, thanks to all of you, my arena needs a new champion.”

“What do you mean?” Spike asked quizzically.

“Klugetown doesn’t fund itself. Creatures come to the arena for a spectacle, and the better the spectacle, the more likely they are to spend their coin. And the four of you may just be the shot in the arm this place needs. Get them out of here.” Luster responded as she motioned to the guards, who dragged the dragons to their feet and started to lead them out of the office.

“Spike, you know this pony right? Think you could get us out of this? I don’t know about you, but I ain’t exactly down for getting roped into a gladiator pit!” Garble exclaimed as they all tried struggling against the guards.

“Luster, what happened to you? You know this isn’t right. Do you think Twilight be proud of what you’re doing here?” Spike called out desperately. Luster then ordered the guards to stop. She turned the chair back around to face the dragons, and Spike could see something different in her eyes now; a mixture of anger and hurt.

“Would she be proud? Would she be proud?! I did what I had to in order to survive. When that day came, I lost everypony I cared about. Mom, Dad, Twilight, you… So I realized that the only one I had to look out for was me, and I had to climb to the top by any means necessary, even if it meant fashioning a ladder from the bones of my enemies. And besides, what good did friendship do in the end? All that pony had to do was whisper a few falsehoods in the ears of anypony who would listen, and all of Equestria fell apart.” Spike’s eyes widened at the last statement of Luster’s speech.

“Wait. You know something, don’t you? About the pony who caused this collapse. Please Luster, I need to find out who she is and how she did this. We have to set this right, for Twilight.” The guards looked to each other before looking to Luster to see what they should do. Luster Dawn thought about it for a moment before letting out a big sigh, rubbing her temples with her hooves.

“Tell you what, I’ll consider this matter settled if you do something for me. More specifically, I need something retrieved.”

The dragons all looked to each other quizzically before Garble spoke up.

“When you say “retrieved”, we talking like a heist or something?”

“Exactly.” Luster Dawn opened up a map before turning back to look at the group with a devious smile. “The four of you are going to be breaking into the Midnight Castle.”

Comments

[PhoenixFlambe]

So that's where she went. Like the execution of Luster being a battle-hardened yet excitable boss