Chapter 5 - The Quest for the Infinity Gems Part 1
"I wonder how Spike is doing." Sally sighed while feeding Pee Wee, the little Phoenix chirping when hearing the name of his 'dad'. "You miss him too, uh?"
Sally had been doing most of the bird-sitting since Spike left, almost a week ago...
"Yes, the montage saved us some story-telling time." Pinkie's voice is heard again. "You didn't think Spike became so good in less than one day, right?"
… and, back to the story, Sally, whenever not working with Twilight and her Mobian compatriotes, wondered about Spike, and why he left off like this. He obviously loved his family and friends, and he was too much of a responsible, loyal assistant to just drop off his job for such a long time; sure, he was physically and psychologically affected by the Diamond Dogs' attack, but even then, leaving for a training trip with a mysterious coach was just too much.
"It wasn't just the attack." Sally guessed. "He had some unsolved issues... something none of us realized... and the attack was just the straw that broke the camel's back. But what issues made him make this decision? And for how long had those issues been there?"
"And how did he manage to do ALL this work every day?"
Sally turned to see Tails, groaning, and carrying a large stack of books.
"Seriously, this guy did everything around here! Keeping the library organized was enough to keep anyone busy all day long, and he still made time to cook, clean, buy the groceries..." Tails sighed when finally dropping the books. "No wonder Twilight and the other ponies appreciate him so much. Spike does practically all of Twilight's chores, and even many of the other ponies' as well."
"In some aspects, Spike fulfilled the same work I did at Knotville when I was an artificial intelligence." Nicole said while she and Twilight entered the house, both of them carrying the groceries. "Back then, I managed all the maintenance details so Princess Sally could focus on leading her people and also accomplishing all her Freedom Fighters' responsibilities."
"Yes. With Spike around, I rarely had to do any chores and I could focus entirely on my studies and the occasional mission, like this work we're doing." Twilight sighed while looking at the bread she bought. "Without him, I can barely make anything edible more complex than a sandwich. Maybe... that's one of the reasons he left; he felt underestimated. Now I see how much I depend on him... I realize I didn't give him all the credit he deserves."
Twilight looked very sad when saying this. It wasn't just that she missed Spike doing this stuff for her, but she also terribly missed his company; even with all the friends she had now, Spike would always be one of her first and best. For a very long time, Spike and Cadence were the only non-blood-related friends of her, and she stopped seeing Cadence almost completely when her studies became more intense and time-consuming; the little dragon was one of Twilight's most constant factors in her life, and without him, Twilight felt as if she had lost something as important as her own magic.
"Screw that." Twilight sighed and thought out loud. "I'd give up magic for a whole year just to have him back."
Sally, feeling bad about the whole issue, and missing Spike a lot as well, comforted Twilight while Nicole and Tails carried the groceries to the kitchen.
"Don't worry, Twilight. You said it; Spike gets underestimated. He's far more capable than anyone gives him credit for. He'll be okay no matter what. And if he's with someone else, and this pony is a trainer, Spike is smart enough to have found a decent coach, and if things get bad, he'll leave the coach and contact us."
"I guess you're right." Twilight looked down. "I wonder who's this mysterious coach."
"Who."
"You said it, Owlicious." Twilight shook her head and went back to work, cutting the usual 'comedic routine' with her owl assistant. Sally petted Pee Wee and looked back at Owlicious, the nocturnal bird actually sighing a bit.
"You miss Spike too, uh?" Sally asked the owl.
"Who."
"The dragon." Sally sighed before looking back at Pee Wee. "Yes, yes, I know... but things were getting a bit too depressing here."
Meanwhile, Adam and Spike were flying to the first location. At first, Spike thought the place looked familiar, but then realized it just looked similar to the usual wild place he and Rarity went for jewel mining, but still very far away from Ponyville.
"You might not like to hear this, Spike, but this is Diamond Dogs' territory. In fact, Equestria's largest pack lives around here." Adam said to his rider.
"You mean, even MORE than the pack that lives next to Ponyville?" Spike groaned. "Perfect. Just. Perfect. I might as well bathe myself in barbecue sauce... hey, wait, why didn't you tell me this before?"
"This is my way of telling you." Adam started explaining. "You see, even the alicorns make mistakes, no matter how experienced. And I made a mistake when I had the Soul Stone; I tried finding a good hiding place for it, but it was too close to this area, and the dogs found it along with several jewels. Luckily, the dogs don't know about the stone's power, so they hadn't used it, and since practically all the ponies and most of the other creatures stay away from them, the Diamond Dogs, ironically, became my 'watch dogs' for the stone, protecting it without realizing it."
"Mmmm... very clever." Spike grinned.
"Thanks. More than, 'clever', I call it 'making the best out of a silly mistake'... heh, in fact, that's what experience is, Spike; learning from all the times you screwed up." Adam half-joked while landing. "Here it is. I can't go underground, Spike, at least, not without using a lot of magic that would alert the Diamond Dogs. You, however..."
"I can dig my own entrance." Spike grinned. "No wonder why you chose this as the first stone I'd recover."
"And also why I insisted so much in training you as much as possible before starting this mission." Adam nodded at him.
Spike understood it perfectly; basically, he was going against the very same danger that made him finally decide to leave Ponyville to better himself. The dragon jumped down the alicorn's back, and started using his dragon senses to find the closest entrance; once he did, Spike nodded at Adam and started digging, making a tunnel that ran parallel to the dogs' entrance one.
Once Spike had tunneled a few yards, he changed his tunneling to connect with the dog's main entrance. Spike then paid close attention to the ground's vibrations; when he didn't feel any, Spike realized there were no dogs walking or digging around, and finally entered the dogs' tunnel. Like the pack he already knew, Spike noticed this one also had some torches through the tunnels, providing a semi-decent illumination. Spike held his staff in a battle position, and sniffed the air, realizing the whole area was filled up with the dogs' scent, but there were no 'fresh' scents, meaning no dog had been in this tunnel for at least three hours.
Spike suddenly stopped walking when hearing some noises ahead of him; the dragon now moved silently, and realized that, if he could smell the dogs' scent, it was possible they could smell his as well. Spike heard the dogs approaching, and he quickly made a tunnel, closing the entrance behind him, just in time to avoid getting detected by the dogs. While the canines started sniffing the tunnel, trying to locate Spike, the dragon was already extending his tunnel to get past these sentinels.
When Spike finally emerged, he went back to using his nose, knowing that he had to go look for wherever the dogs stored their jewels, this being the place where he would find the stone too. After sniffing from a while, Spike found the tunnel that had the most intense scent; this meant most of the dogs were there, or spent the most time at this place, so it was either the dogs' dormitories (or equivalent) or the gems' storage room.
"Hope it's the second option." Spike thought out loud before bumping with a large dog.
"Hey, what are you doing at the dorms' entrance?" The dog growled at him.
"Great. Option One." Spike sighed. The dog was about to hit him when Spike knocked him out in a swift move, using the staff to hit the canine's chin at full force.
"Whoa. Adam's training is working." Spike grinned. He then heard another dog coming, and Spike had an idea; he hid under the unconscious dog's body. The dragon then saw the paws of the two dogs that had arrived.
"My, this guy was so tired he fell asleep before entering his room." One of the dogs chuckled. Spike groaned when recognizing the voice.
"It's one of the dogs from the other pack! Seriously, these guys are... 'hounding' me?"
"It seems so. Maybe he came from the jewels' room; you know how we all spend hours there." The other dog said; Spike recognized his voice as well.
"True that. You were right; this was the best place for us to recover from that beating in Ponyville. Seriously, when did the ponies start getting super bodyguards?"
"I know. I still have the scars." The second dog groaned. "Well, let's go get some sleep."
Spike saw the dogs leaving; luckily, they weren't exactly the 'nice, helping' type, so they didn't even try to carry the supposedly sleeping dog to the dormitories. Once they were far enough, Spike climbed on top of the knocked out dog, and slapped him a few times to wake him up.
"Now, listen, and listen good, because I'm only gonna say this once... where do you guys keep your jewels?" Spike growled while holding the dog by the collar with one hand, and moving the staff closer to the canine's eyes.
"I... I won't tell you.."
"I used this to knock you out with a single hit. You wanna find out ALL the things I can do to you with this staff? Trust me, it's not nice." Spike gave the dog a sly smirk. When the dog still stayed silent, Spike simply shrugged and raised the staff, pretending to be ready to attack again.
"Suit yourself. Time to neuter the puppy!"
"No, no, wait!" The dog yelped in a hurry. "Go to the second tunnel to your right, and then straight ahead. You can't miss it."
"Thanks. You are smarter than you look... then again, if you were as smart as you look, you'd be dumber than a headless worm."
"Uh... eh... that was an insult, right?"
"I rest my case." Spike shrugged and then raised the staff again. "See this staff?"
The dog gulped.
POW!
"You should've seen my fist." Spike grinned while rubbing his knuckles in his chest after knocking out the dog with a good left hook when the dog was distracted looking at the staff. Spike then placed a little rock under the dog's head, mimicking a pillow, and left, following the canine's instructions. When Spike got to sniff the dogs' fresh scent, he knew he was getting closer to the storage cave, and started moving with extreme caution.
When Spike found the cave, he had to make an effort from yelling in excitement; the whole cave was filled up with jewels, forming several good-sized mountain-shaped stacks. For a dragon, this was the equivalent of a kid entering a candy store, and Spike went as far as hitting his own head with the staff to remind himself he had a mission to complete. The dragon then realized there were several dogs in this cave, guarding the gems; some of them were sleeping, but others were quite alert. Spike jumped behind a pile of rubies to hide from a dog that was getting just too close, and started looking from this relatively safe spot.
"Okay... where are the dogs keeping the stone? They don't think it's a jewel, so they didn't stack it with the gems... but they were smart enough to realize it's important, so they kept it here... or... so lazy they just dropped it somewhere around here when they realized it wasn't a jewel."
Spike thought the 'lazy' excuse was the most reasonable explanation, and started looking around the cave, now leaving his hiding place and using the jewels' stacks to hide whenever a dog looked in his direction. After searching for a while, Spike found a pile of normal-looking rocks; obviously, the stones the dogs found mixed with the gems, and that they later piled apart from the jewels. Spike realized his staff had started vibrating slightly, and when aiming at these rocks with it, Spike finally saw one stone started glowing slightly with a green light.
"Yes. That's the stone." Spike smiled and, happy, took a handful of diamonds from a nearby pile and eat them... before realizing his mistake. He was so happy for finding the stone that he forgot about being cautious for a moment, and allowed his appetite to control him.
Spike gulped and swallowed the already chewed diamonds, and turned to see a large dog growling at him. The dragon just gave him a sheepish grin.
"Heh... excuse me, but... this isn't the All You Can Eat Buffet for Dragons, right?" Spike said while giving quick glances around him, noticing the rest of the dogs had seen him as well. "My bad. Uh... eh.. if you want the diamonds back... well, if you wait a few hours, and give me some prune juice..."
"I have a better idea. Let's open up your stomach, and we'll take them out!" The dog grabbed Spike by the collar.
"My joke was gross. Yours is disgusting. And since we're on the topic of nauseating comedy, here comes a burping." Spike growled a bit and then burped at the dog's face... and being a dragon, this burp came with a quite large flame. The dog yelped in pain and rolled on the ground trying to extinguish the flames while Spike changed his staff into its nunchucks mode, as now it was no longer time for stealth.
"Alright, it's clobberin' time! And where that came from, I'll never know!"
A dog pounced on Spike and the dragon hit him in mid-air with his weapon, stunning him, and then, in a swift move, made a roundhouse kick, combining his foot and tail in the same attack, to hit two dogs that attacked him from behind. Spike then jumped aside to hit another dog with his nunchucks, and dodged to avoid another pouncing one. The dragon then took another handful of diamonds but, instead of eating them, he started spitting them at the dogs, at full force; as Adam had pointed out, in order to chew jewels, dragons didn't have just very strong teeth but also impossibly powerful jaws, so Spike could spit the jewels almost as hard as Rarity could throw them with her magical telekinesis; the remaining dogs had to duck and cover behind the other jewel stacks to protect themselves from the very hurtful projectiles.
Spike then looked back at the Soul Stone, and started dashing to get it, but more dogs jumped in his path; now it wasn't just the cave's sentinels, but several other dogs that heard the fight and were now coming from every access tunnel. Spike continued hitting and flaming them but the dragon realized he'd get beaten by their sheer number unless he could get the Soul Stone.
Spike looked up at the cave's ceiling, realizing it was covered with stalactites, and this gave him an idea. The dragon changed the staff to its grappling hook's mode, and fired the hook at one stalactite, pulling himself up right in time to avoid a charging dog. Then, Spike started swinging his way through the cave, using the stalactites as he had used the trees when practicing in the forest, and when he passed right above the Soul Stone, Spike stretched his tail as much as he could and grabbed the stone with it.
The dragon then landed on top of a large pile of emeralds, and started shooting fireballs at the dogs; now he was in a high position, Spike had an advantage, and the dogs now had to approach him with extreme care. When Spike realized the dogs were pausing in order to get ready to attack him in overwhelming numbers, Spike placed the Soul Stone in the staff.
"Okay, let's see... what's your place in the staff... ah, here. Green rock, third space."
The moment Spike did this, the staff started beating like a heart, and the rock's green glow covered both the staff and Spike. When the dogs saw this, they all stopped in their tracks, and when Spike looked at them, they all yelped in fear and pain, as Spike's eyes started projecting the stone's energy over them, with the Soul Stone doing what it did best; taking control of the enemies' souls.
Spike felt the Soul Stone's power engulfing him, and then the screams from the dogs' souls as the stone started absorbing them. The dragon then realized the stone was also trying to absorb his own soul.
"No... " Spike said out loud, growling at the stone. "You... are not doing this... I'm the one in charge here... and you do what I tell you... and what I'm telling you now is... NO SOULS FOR YOU!"
Spike's sheer determination and focus, strengthened by Adam's training, finally got him total control of the stone, or, at least, enough to keep it from absorbing everyone's soul. The dragon then mentally commanded the stone to stop attacking the dogs, but still keeping some link to them; Spike didn't want to turn the dogs into souless beings, knowing that doing this would make him a monster as bad or even worse than Discord or the Changeling Queen, but he wasn't dumb or naive enough to lose his edge on the canines, knowing they'd surely get back to attacking him if they thought he was defenseless.
"Now, Dogs, listen up!" Spike got the dogs' attention, all of them recovering from the stone's attack. The canines whimpered and cringed in fear yet none dared escape, especially when Spike did a very decent roar-and-flame combination to get sure they'd take him seriously.
"I'm leaving now. And I'm taking this stone with me. And... a few jewels too; I didn't have dinner yet." Spike added casually before getting back to his serious tone. "But, you see, this stone allowed me to take a look inside your souls, and as disgusting as it was, I realized you mutts stole most of these jewels. So, you better return all of the gems you stole to their real owners, and only conserve those you mined yourselves. And if I hear you fleabags are back to attacking ponies, or causing any kind of problems, even if it's something as small as chewing off a newspaper, digging on someone's garden or chasing a mail-mare, I'll get back here, and that time I WON'T BE NICE!" Spike growled and made the stone to glow for emphasis. The dogs cowered at the sight.
"So... CAPICE?"
The dogs stayed silent.
"Ugh... I said, did you understand?"
"Eh... everything except the 'capice' thing." One dog meekly answered.
Spike facepalmed and groaned before giving the dogs another glare; the canines nodded at him, obviously getting the message. Spike then walked down the pile of gems and started gathering a few ones for himself.
"Mmm... let's see... one... no, two rubies. And... some diamonds... a handful of sapphires... hey, can I get a bag here?" Spike said out loud, and one dog was about to dash to get it when another stopped him.
"Moment. Eh... paper or plastic?"
"Do you guys have plastic here?" Spike arched an eyebrow. The dog just shrugged; the dragon just did the same. "Paper. More ecological."
A few moments later, Spike was filling his bag with jewels, stopping when finding a Fire Ruby; Spike almost ate it right there, but decided to save it for later. When moving to the emeralds, Spike almost lost control of his appetite again when finding a large Forest Emerald.
"Calm yourself, Spike; only get the jewels you can carry in this bag, and leave." Spike then looked at his bag, and gave a nearby dog a sly grin. "A larger bag, please."
About 5 minutes later, Adam saw a very happy Spike walking out of the dogs' lair, this time by using the main door/hole, and carrying a bag almost as big as himself.
"Grocery shopping?" Adam arched an eyebrow at him.
"Yes. Sorry, they didn't have milk." Spike said casually before showing Adam the Soul Stone. "One down, five more to go."
Adam nodded at the dragon, silently proud of his pupil's progress, and then signaled the dragon to ride him again. Spike did it, and before Adam started flying again, Spike took the Fire Ruby and the Forest Emerald out of this bag, and put them along with the Glacier Sapphire he had left with Adam.
"You brought your lunch?" Adam asked him, noticing what Spike was doing.
"Yes, but... I might reserve these jewels for later." Spike then got silent for a moment. "I used the Soul Stone."
"And, how it worked?"
"It was cool... and scary." Spike admitted. "I could feel the power... and... how the stone wanted to feed on my soul... and the dogs'... it took me a lot of effort and time to control it... well, maybe it was just a few seconds but, to me, it felt like hours. Do all the stones do this?"
"Well, not all will make you feel... bad when using them, but yes, you'll need to use all your concentration and will force to gain control over their power. That's also one of the reasons I wanted you to get the Soul Stone first, since its power is hard to control, and, once you proved yourself capable of commanding it, as it happened, it proves you'll also be able to control the other stones." Adam explained as they finally left.
The alicorn started flying around, apparently at random, while Spike took out the scroll describing the stones and started reading about the Soul Stone; even if he had already done this, the dragon decided it was a good idea to re-check, as Twilight often did at home when studying a particularly interesting or tough subject. As Adam said, the Soul Stone's power was particularly hard to control, due to its soul-absorbing capacities; besides this, the stone could also allow the user to steal, control, manipulate and alter souls, living or dead, and is the gateway to an idyllic, pocket universe (something that was both cool and scary, since it meant the trapped souls were in a nice place but also unable to escape). The dragon then re-read the part that made this stone particularly dangerous; it was sentient and with a hunger for souls, and Spike would probably get physically and mentally exhausted if overusing it, risking his own soul if running out of energy to control the stone's power.
"Power..." Spike pondered about this, and realized what stone he'd need now, in order to control the other stones' energies more easily.
"Adam, please, fly West. We're going to the dragons' territory."
"You're driving now." Adam grinned yet obeyed.
After almost one hour of flying (with a five minutes recess for lunch), Adam landed on top of a huge mountain; while recovering the Soul Stone required Spike to go underground, getting the Power Stone would require him to go up, to the caves on top of the dragons' territory. Spike remembered this place from the time he tried to join the other dragons; it wasn't a nice experience aside the fact he got to 'adopt' Pee Wee; even if some would say he practically kidnapped a newborn bird, most would agree that, in fact, he saved the little phoenix, since, without him, the gang of teen dragons would have destroyed the egg.
"Just as nice as I remembered. And I am being VERY sarcastic." Spike groaned.
"Yes, I noticed." Adam them pointed at a cave right ahead of them, the other side of the Dragons Roost, that was basically a semi-active volcanic crater. "Most dragons only come here during their migration, but there are some who reside here permanently. Hope you ate enough jewels so you don't get tempted or distracted by the ones you'll find there."
"Don't worry, I ate enough. And I still have the biggest ones." Spike paused. "In fact, I'm gonna try trading these gems."
"The jewels for the stone? Good idea; a non-violent alternative." Adam nodded. "You aren't taking the Soul Stone with you?"
"No, I don't wanna use it again until I get the Power Stone, so I can have enough strength to control the Soul one without getting tired... besides, the Power Stone is supposed to boost the other stones' effects, so I'll only be able to use the Soul Stone's full capacity when using the Power one." Spike explained.
"Good thinking. Still, be careful." Adam nodded while Spike handled him the Soul Stone, removing it from the Staff for the time being. Spike also left the Glacier Sapphire with Adam, as he was still thinking about giving it to Sally later, and only brought the Fire Ruby and the Forest Emerald.
Unlike his incursion at the Diamond Dogs' lair, this time Spike entered the Dragons Roost without trying to be stealthy. In fact, he wanted the other dragons to notice him, and realize he was coming in peace. As he walked through the crater, a few large, adult dragons looked at him, but gave Spike little interest, as most grown-up dragons do with the youngsters unless they try to steal their jewels. This was, no doubt, part of the reason most of the teen dragons were big jerks, since the adults didn't try to educate or restrain them, and allowed their youngsters to mature at their own pace, something that at times could take decades or even centuries.
"And some still wonder why I consider myself lucky for being raised by ponies." Spike pondered, his thoughts making him miss his friends at Ponyville; even if, obviously, he missed Sally a lot, at this moment the one he missed the most was Twilight, who had been a big sister for him, and was one of Spike's main role models.
When Spike finally got to the cave, he realized the other dragons finally were giving him some attention. Obviously, they didn't like the idea of Spike entering here, but, again, did nothing to stop the little one, and in fact, they started paying more attention to Adam. The large alicorn was an intruder, but, as even the most antisocial dragon knew that a full grown alicorn could be a dangerous opponent, the dragons just kept an eye on him, knowing that the alicorns also realized fighting a full grown dragon wasn't an easy task either. So, while Adam stayed at the Roost, the dragons would pay little attention to Spike.
The purple dragon entered the cave and, after walking for a few minutes, found piles and piles of jewels. Some of them were so bright that they actually provided a good illumination inside the otherwise dark cavern. Spike took a deep breath, trying to use his nose to find the dragon that would, surely, be guarding these jewels... sniffed not one, but several dragons.
"Yes. Of course. Why not them?" Spike groaned and rolled his eyes. "In three... two... one..."
"Hey, look who's back!"
Spike sighed and looked up at the teen, red and yellow dragon landing in front of him; he was soon followed by several others among the same age. Even if much smaller than the adults, the teen dragons were still much bigger than Spike.
"Yeah, Garble, it's the little ponies' friend!" An orchid dragon, with blonde hair-like scales that covered his eyes, grinned at Spike.
"Wow, very impressive, Fume. How can you even see me with that thing covering your eyes?" Spike grinned at the larger dragon. "Two words; hair-cut."
Fume growled at this while his companions laughed.
"Oh, look, the little one grew a spine!" Vex, a large, obese purple dragon mocked Spike.
"Of course he had to grow a spine; he hadn't grown anything else!" Puff, the albino one of the group, grinned at Spike, his joke getting general laughter again.
"So, are you done with the jokes?" Spike rolled his eyes.
"Why, you don't like our sense of humor?" Garble, the red leader, smirked at Spike. The little dragon just sighed and shook his head.
"Garble, those can't even be considered jokes. I mean... come on, guys, where's your creativity?" Spike smirked. "How about... 'this dragon is so small that he has to pass by the same place twice to form a shadow'? Or... go for a classic, like 'Hey, Spike, how is weather down there?'. And this one is good... 'this guy is so small that he can't even hold his breath'."
Garble was surprised at Spike's reaction, while the other dragons started laughing loudly.
"Garble, we should conserve this guy around! He's a great buffon!" Clump, the large, brown dragon, was almost rolling on the ground laughing.
"Yeah, a buffon... it takes one to know another." Spike grinned. Clump was so dumb he didn't even get the insult, but the other dragons did and laughed even more.
"Yeah, you're kinda funny, Shorty, but we hadn't forgotten you and your pony pals." Garble stopped acting friendly and went into full bully mode. "Last time, that purple unicorn made a fool out of us."
"Oh, come on, she can't have the full blame. You did more than half of the job." Spike grinned at Garble.
"Okay, wise guy, what do you want? If you are trying to join us again..."
"Garble, really, I wouldn't trust any club that accepts me as a member." Spike rolled his eyes again and then took out the reference sheet Adam gave him. "Look, I came here looking for this."
"Uh... the grocery store is three miles south." Fume pointed out.
"It's not my groceries list."
"Good; the prices there are criminal." Fume frowned.
"Back to topic, I'm looking for this." Spike showed the sheet to Garble, pointing at the Power Stone.
Garble looked at it and shook his head.
"It's a shame. A real shame."
"What?"
"That I never learned to read."
Spike face palmed, groaning, and, again, showed Garble the sheet.
"Okay, Mister Literate, just tell me if you have this stone!"
Garble, frowning, looked at the sheet again, ignoring the letters (that he didn't understand anyway) and focused on the very accurate pics/drawings.
"Yes... I think we have this stone over there." Garble pointed at a distance. "Vex uses it to crack nuts."
Vex, a very fat purple dragon, nodded in agreement.
"Oh, for... wait, cracking nuts? We eat jewels! Why you even bother cracking the nuts?" Spike asked Vex, who just shrugged at him.
"I don't like getting shell pieces in my teeth."
"And, sadly, that's the most logical thing I've heard since I entered here." Spike sighed. "Fine, let's talk business here. I really need that stone."
"Why, you collect them?" Garble mocked him. "Don't tell me; you got bored of collecting butterflies."
"I have never collected butterflies. Fluttershy wouldn't forgive me." Spike said the last part under his breath before looking back at Garble. "I wanna buy it. I brought some gems with me, and I'm gonna trade them for the stone."
Now all the teen dragons were getting very interested.
"What kind of gems?"
Spike decided to show just one jewel at a time, in case he could pay for the stone with just one gem and save the other. Spike took out the Fire Ruby; and it was enough to almost drive them crazy.
"THE PRECIOUS... I MUST HAVE THE PRECIOUS..." Puff almost grabbed the ruby right there but Spike moved it out of the way right on time, and then slapped Puff's hands.
"Down!" Spike frowned at him before looking back at Garble. "So, we have a deal?"
Garble was about to accept but his greedy nature gave his brain a very needed intelligence boost.
"Mmm... I don't know... you obviously care a lot about this stone if you're willing to pay this much... so... I bet you'd pay even more." Garble folded his arms, grinning.
"Just my luck; the only thing you are smart for is doing business." Spike rolled his eyes and took out the second gem. When the other dragons saw the Forest Emerald, even Garble started drooling.
"OOOOOH... SO DELICIOUS..." Garble and his gang were pretty much hypnotized by this.
"So... we have a deal?" Spike grinned while showing both gems to the gang. He couldn't blame them, at least not this time; in their place, he would be drooling too.
Most of the teens were ready to say 'Yes' when Garble stopped them. The red dragon gave Spike a predatory smile.
"Uh. Oh. That's the same smile Rainbow gets when Applejack's family makes cider." Spike gulped a bit. "Except that Rainbow doesn't have fangs."
"We accept your deal, Spike... but... wait, I just remembered something." Garble pretended to have an idea and his sly smirk became very obvious. "You are alone. No unicorn to teleport you away this time. Not even any other pony to help you escape. And we're more than you. Bigger. Stronger. You know what I mean."
Spike frowned at this. Garble grinned evilly. The other dragons got dumbfound expressions.
"Uh... can you explain what do you mean?" Fume asked.
Garble and Spike got annoyed expressions and turned back at the other dragons.
"That we're stealing his jewels without giving him the rock." Garble explained.
"Ooooooh..." The gang chorused.
"I really, REALLY, didn't want to do this." Spike sighed. He then morphed his staff into its nunchucks mode.
"Nice toy. I'm gonna use it as toothpick." Garble grinned as he and his gang surrounded Spike.
"Well, the toothpick is for after eating, so... HERE, BOYS, LUNCH TIME!" Spike threw the ruby and emerald over the gang's heads, and the result was immediate; all of them, even Garble, forgot about the attack, and they all pounced on the jewels to start fighting over them. Spike simply grinned and shook his head.
"You guys are lucky for being so strong, or, with this intelligence of yours, you'd be more defenseless than a snail in a fancy restaurant." Spike thought out loud. Vex heard him and stopped fighting for the time being.
"Uh, what did you..."
WHACK!
Spike gave him a very strong hit right in his muzzle, taking Vex down; the large dragon rolled on the floor, holding his muzzle in pain. Before the other dragons realized this, Spike attacked them, still with the nunchucks mode, and when the teens were stunned by the multiple hits, their little opponent changed the nunchucks to bo staff mode, focusing on one dragon at a time. In less than 10 seconds, most of the gang was knocked down; the only one standing was Garble, who managed to catch the staff when Spike was about to hit his head.
"TAKE THIS, YOU MORON!" Garble roared before attacking Spike with a very large flame, so powerful it would hurt even a dragon Garble's size. So it was understandable Garble was stunned when it didn't even faze Spike.
"And now, you take this!" Spike made his own attack, but, instead of fire, he shoot a smoke cloud at Garble's face, blinding him. Garble released the bo staff, and Spike lost no time to hit him several times in his knees, shoulders and tail, leaving Garble practically defenseless before finishing the job with a good roundhouse kick/tail attack at the head.
"You should have accepted the deal, Garble. Much less painful." Spike grinned, not noticing Puff recovering and attacking him from behind; the albino dragon snatched the staff from Spike's hands and grinned.
"Heh.. let's see what you can do without your toy."
"With pleasure." Spike grinned and cracked his knuckles. "Round One. Fight!"
Three seconds later...
"Heh. Spike wins. Perfect." Spike grinned while dusting off his hands and recovering his staff, that had fallen from Puff's hands when the little dragon started beating him up. It was so fast that Puff was knocked out before falling.
"Nnnnngh... what... happened... to you?" Garble, barely conscious and still on the ground, looked up at Spike; it was very humiliating for the larger dragon to look up at the little one.
"Just showing you that living with ponies doesn't make you a weakling." Spike grinned. "Now, you're gonna tell me where's the stone, or I'm gonna turn this staff into something much more painful."
"I... will... never humiliate myself..."
"It's over there." Vex interrupted Garble. The red dragon groaned while Spike thanked Vex and went to find the stone.
The Power Stone was right where Vex told him, on top of several smaller rocks. It wasn't hard to find since it was a bright red color.
"And the red one goes... here." Spike, smiling, placed the Power Stone in the staff's first hole. One second later, Spike felt himself so strong he knew he would be able to beat Big Macintosh in a hoof/arm wrestling match without breaking a sweat.
"Whoa... so this is why it's called the Power Stone!" Spike said in awe. He then grabbed a nearby boulder, that probably weighed more than 2 tons, and lifted it over his head just with one hand; and then, Spike used his fire breath on it, turning the boulder into hot lava in a moment.
Spike, smiling, started walking out of the cave, but stopped when walking next to the Fire Ruby and the Forest Emerald.
"Mmm... okay, I brought these as a payment... but you guys tried to steal them from me, so, technically, they're still mine. And since you attacked me, it means you didn't accept the deal, so I don't need to leave them here." Spike grinned. After a few moments, he just shrugged and grabbed the emerald leaving the ruby for the gang. "There. You keep this one; I'm in a good mood. Besides, I like the green ones better."
"T-thank... you..." Clump, in pain, nodded at a leaving Spike.
Garble, however, wasn't letting him go so easily. Despite the pain, he stood up, and charged at Spike from behind; the red dragon kicked, punched, slashed, and even dropped a rock on top of Spike... and the purple dragon barely noticed, and this didn't even slow him down.
"Mmm... you guys have mosquitoes around here? I feel some very little bites." Spike commented, very casually; the Power Stone was making him so strong and resistant that it would take an adult dragon's attacks just to slow him down.
Garble, impressed but still enraged, stood in front of Spike.
"YOU'RE ONLY LEAVING THIS PLACE OVER MY DEAD BODY..."
Spike, whistling and smiling, simply walked over Garble, the red dragon feeling as if a full grown buffalo was stomping on him.
"Okay... my hurt body... not 'dead'... just hurt... VERY hurt..." Garble groaned in pain.
Spike left the cave, and, this time, all the adult dragons were paying him attention, and some actually looked wary at him. Apparently, now that Spike had the Power Stone, these dragons could somehow sense he was as powerful as them, or even much more powerful, so they gave him the same respect and attention they'd give to any serious competitor.
"Whoa. Talking about a change in the mood." Spike thought out loud. He then noticed a huge, golden dragon was approaching him. Spike then realized he was still holding the Forest Emerald, and, apparently this was enough to make this dragon take a risk and try to steal it.
"Mine." The yellow dragon grabbed Spike in his massive, clawed hand.
One moment later, the adult had to release the little one, as Spike had used a flaming attack, powerful enough to hurt even a full grown dragon. The yellow giant looked down at Spike, who was now tapping the ground, using a pose he had seen Sonic use at times.
"I'm waitiiiiiiing."
The huge dragon looked at the little one's eyes, realizing this purple dragon meant business, and that he had the power to back up his attitude. The yellow dragon moved aside, and Spike, very politely, nodded at him and muttered a silent 'Thank you' before getting back to walking; the yellow dragon went back to his place, without losing sight of the little purple one; all the other adults had seen this, and were now looking a bit nervous, yet still not agressive at all, realizing Spike certainly was strong enough to be a threat but, apparently, he was leaving in peace, so they had no reason to fight him.
"Very impressive, Spike." Adam said to his pupil when he finally got back: the alicorn, obviously, had seen the whole thing.
"Thanks. I made a decent deal with the other dragons." Spike grinned while showing him the emerald. "I got the stone at half-price. A great bargain."
Spike then grabbed the Soul Stone, and placed it in the staff. As before, Spike felt how the Soul Stone's energies invaded him, and tried to get his soul, but now he had the Power Stone, the purple dragon was strong enough in both mind and body to fully control the Soul one without risking himself.
"It works, Adam. I... feel the Soul Stone's energy... but now I feel I'm in complete control. It's great!" Spike was now extremely happy. The Soul Stone was useful when facing the Diamond Dogs, but its power scared him as well; without control, this stone was even more dangerous than whatever enemy attacking him at the time. Now, Spike could use the Power Stone to control the other, and even boost its energy if necessary.
"Wanna go get another of the stones, or you need a break?" Adam asked him.
"Mmm... right now, I feel with enough energy to do a dozen Iron Pony Competitions without resenting it! Let's go get another one!" Spike said in excitement before using the Power Stone in Adam, restoring all the energy the alicorn had used to fly them here.
"Heh... thanks, Spike. Okay, let's go then." Adam nodded at his pupil and signaled the dragon to ride him.
As the alicorn and his rider flew away, Garble crawled out of the cave, just in time to see them leaving.
"Okay... I'm really going to hurt that stupid shorty..." Garble growled before cringing in deep pain. "But first... somebody go to the grocery store... I think they sell aspirins too."