Chapter 13: This Too Shall Come To Pass

Out of the three who lived above Golden Oak Library, Dusty was always the first to wake up – other than those times when Twilight pulled all-nighters in order to complete an assignment from Princess Celestia. Spike certainly didn’t like his mornings, however Dusty could seldom avoid rising with the sun. He supposed he had gained something of a connection, what with him working with the fire particles his core system generated. Whether that connection was enhanced through his being an Alicorn, even temporarily, Dusty did not know. Naturally, as somepony who had grown up on a farm, Gearhead was used to rising early. Even after so many years away, it just felt right.

Even on mornings without school, Dusty was rising early for his morning training, which he did behind the library to avoid disturbing anypony. He switched up the order of his routine every morning to practice magic, flight, and combat. If he included his use of Unicorn and Pegasus magic together, then he was doing five minutes of power practice, even though he made sure to cut out halfway through so he would have some active time left in case something happened. He used the time after putting his power on standby to practice his martial arts to allow his magic to recover. Combat training took the longest, since he was only limited by his physical ability. That gave his magic plenty of recovery time, so between combat routines he did magic again.

Dusty returned to the library to find that Twilight was levitating all of the books above the floor. “Reshelving day,” she explained, while Dusty quietly shut the door. He went over to stand by the display table in the middle of the library to watch and stay out of the way. Unfortunately some giggling from upstairs broke Twilight’s concentration instead, and she dropped everything. Dusty managed a few seconds of levitation, focusing on the book that would have impaled itself on Twilight’s horn. Instead, it shunted to her left and fell on the pile already on the floor by that time.

Both ponies looked at Spike, who was coming down the stairs, a heart-shaped ruby in his hands. “Nice ruby,” Dusty, who had seen plenty of gems, said.

“Thanks,” Spike said. “I’ve been aging it for months, and it’s almost ripe. It’ll be my birthday present to me next week. Hey, you took my advice and started using the floor as one big shelf!” Twilight glared at the dragon.

“Nope,” Dusty said, nodding to the two volumes that Twilight had managed to shelve before Spike distracted her.

“Oh, sorry.”

“I guess I need to work a little bit on my focus, too,” Twilight said. “Still, try to not get too carried away, Spike.”

“Got it!”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m not so sure,” Dusty said, turning toward a sound he heard coming from the door.

“Hello!” Rarity called from the other side. “Is anypony home?” Now she opened the door with her magic, and the first thing she really noticed when she poked her head in was Spike’s fire ruby. Of course, Rarity did have an eye for gemstones, and she proved it almost immediately by enumerating its perfections, even without the use of an ocular aid. Dusty could guess what was coming next, and knew that it wouldn’t exactly be pretty.

Even though Rarity had come for a book on fashion history, all of her attention was clearly on that fire ruby. Dusty knew that Spike’s crush on Rarity was bad enough that he would give it to her if she just… yes, there it was: she turned on the charm. Dusty was surprised to see Spike hesitate as long as a dozen seconds before handing it over with his compliments, literally. Really, he’d never had a chance. At least he got a kiss on the cheek out of the deal.

“Spike, that was the kindest, most generous thing I’ve ever seen you do. I’ve never seen Rarity so happy,” Twilight said.

“I’ve certainly never seen her do ‘Pinkie Hops’ before,” Dusty said.

“I will never wash this cheek again,” Spike said.

“Unfortunately for that,” Dusty said, “somepony else is in charge of your baths.”

For some of the past week, Dusty and the Crusaders had been sneaking into Gearhead’s Gadgets to work on a gift for Spike together, but the final touch was something that Dusty had to do on his own. When Rainbow Dash topped off a pile of wrapped presents that Spike was holding with a weight, Dusty was there to represent the rest of the Crusaders – not that the mares should know about the foals’ involvement.

“This is amazing,” Spike said, clearly pleased. “I usually only get the one present. From Twilight. A book.” The Unicorn sheepishly hid what was clearly another volume.

“Well, I may yet have the topper,” Dusty said, bringing out the gift from him and the fillies.

“Isn’t that the lance ‘Gearhead’ made for me when we went to rescue Rarity?”

“This one looks different,” Twilight said, “but I can’t quite put my tongue on why.”

“You’ve a keen eye, Miss Twilight. The reason is on the butt of the shaft.”

“An amethyst?” Spike said, turning the weapon in his hand to look.

“It’s a special variety of diamond called ‘cobalt.’ It doesn’t have any exchange value, however spells and elemental energies can be stored within it at high fidelity for long periods of time, according to the books that mention it. Charge it with one specific spell or one type of element, and you can use it at will – however periodic recharges will be required.”

“That’s amazing,” Rarity said. “It should be priceless for the utility value alone.”

“Cobalt is hard to find. I think only you or a Geomancer could do it at a rate that would make any sense, and between us we’d end up exhausting all the deposits in Central Equestria within a few hours.”

“So it’s a rare stone,” Dash said, “but doesn’t adding it throw the balance off?”

“So glad you asked, Miss Dash. I’ve gone ahead and lengthened the lance to maintain the perfect balance it already had – and joined the stone flawlessly with the material that was already there. It’s as perfect as it can possibly be.”

“Wow, this is great,” Spike said. He spun his wrist, twisting, and jabbing into open air to test the modified weapon. “It doesn’t feel any heavier than before, yet it’s just a little but longer. Nice work, Dusty.”

“You’re welcome, Spike. Use it well and wisely.”

“This getting gifts thing is great! I wish this day could go on forever.”

“Duh, it can’t go on forever,” Pinkie said, “because after the party you have to go to Sugar Cube Corner for a special surprise!”

“Oh wow, really?”

“Yeah! The Cakes made it specialy for you.” Pinkie and the others watched in amazement as Spike set his gifts aside to make a beeline for the door. “I know I said it had to end, but I didn’t mean right now!” Pinkie shouted after him.

“He’ll be back,” Twilight said.

Half an hour later, Spike had not returned. Button, Featherweight, and Pip came by to see if Dusty wanted to join them in a game, so he left with them. The last Dusty saw of the others as he left was Twilight leaving the library to try to find Spike.

The four colts started out with hoof-races and ball games, but inevitably found their way to Button’s house and his battery of electronic games. Button’s mother was clearly not keen on her son and his friends coming over just to play console games, but on balance she was happy to see him with friends. Besides, it was clear that they had been playing outside first. Button’s mother was a smart mare, and savvy to Button’s ways. She didn’t have to look at Dusty funny for him to get the feeling that her motherly instinct was telling her that there was something off about this colt.

And, of course, she was correct. His being an Alicorn should have been her first clue, but nopony dared press beyond that point, or even to approach Dusty about it, possibly for fear of getting into trouble with the Princesses, who were purportedly his many-times removed, many-times great-aunts. Even if Dusty was not who and what he presented himself as, he needed to be a pony with connections to pass that off as true.

It was not as though most ponies believed the Princesses would use intimidation tactics to buy their silence on controvercial issues, however Button’s family was already in something of a precarious position, with his father and older brother being out in the world. Button’s mother was a full-time caretaker, as her cutie mark, a large heart and a feeding bottle, indicated. She took care of her family, and then others’ foals at a daycare, which gave her a similar position to that of Cheerilee at the school. This meant that Button’s mother had some earning power of her own, and did not rely entirely upon her husband for funds.

Today, however, there was not any school or daycare, so Button’s mother had all the time in the world within which to very carefully probe into the matter of who and what Dusty really was. Naturally, having a mature mind despite his physical appearance, for every oblique question the mare posed, he had an oblique answer. The best he could do, under the circumstances, was to hint at her to trust the Elemental Six, who were acting as his caretakers.

When Dusty got back to the library for dinner with Twilight and her friends, Spike had still not returned. They gave him plenty of time before they started eating, but since he still did not show up, Dash grew impatient and they had to get started. As they left the library afterward, the five friends promised to keep an eye out for the baby dragon. They were all concerned as to why he might have vanished, but Twilight insisted on holding faith that he would return in due time, having found him earlier. She did not say what she found her assistant doing, but she was clearly treading a balance between concern and trust. Both ponies went to bed wondering what had happened.

Because Dusty was accustomed to awakening at dawn, he was also accustomed to it being very quiet, at least for the first few hours while he trained. On this particular morning, however, he heard a soft clatter. It was coming from Spike’s bed, or close to it – and that alone was odd, since Spike always slept in the same place, being comfortable with it out of habit. The only other circumstance under which he had fallen asleep elsewhere was when he was over-tired from a long day.

Dusty stared in Spike’s direction as he let his eyes adjust to the darkness. He picked out a large lump rising out of Spike’s bed, and when that did not satisfy Dusty’s curiosity, he focused enough to direct some light from his horn onto the pile.

And very nearly jumped. The lump was a large pile of objects, some of them toys but most of them not, and all of them without any connecting feature that Dusty could determine. Dusty had the impression that his dragon friend had just started grabbing things from all around Ponyville, regardless of whether or not they would actually be of use to him. As Dusty wondered what Spike had done after leaving the library, the dragon shifted, sending some of the objects sliding noisily down the pile. Spike flung a purple arm from within the pile, striking the floor before lying still and exposed. An arm that was longer than it should have been. And if that was the case for one arm, then the other should be the same, which meant that Spike had somehow grown significantly in only a few hours. Dusty had never heard of such a thing before.

Since Spike was not doing any harm, and Twilight was still fast asleep, Dusty decided to go ahead with a shortened version of his exercises, while keeping an ear to the ground. He knew he could have woken Twilight up then, but she might not like the twin threats of being woken early and the changes overtaking her Number One Assistant.

“Spike, would you keep it down?” Twilight sat up in her bed to try to glare down at the baby dragon, only to find a moving pile of… stuff. “Oh my,” she said.

“Ah, you’re awake,” Dusty said, absently flipping pages as he continued to read.

“Did you know about this?”

“I had a bit of a preview when I woke up. I don’t know the cause.”

“What ‘this?’” Spike asked, finally working free of the pile. Dusty judged that he was between two and three times his normal size, but taller rather than plump. And he was wearing a white, somewhat wrinkled wide-brim hat with a feather in it – not exactly the usual choice for sleepwear.

“Where did all this stuff come from? And what happened to returning that hat to Cheerilee?”

“I was gonna return it just like you said, but then I…”

“But then you what? Spike? Are you listening?” Twilight and Dusty both noticed that Spike was glancing around the room, as though seeing the objects within it for the first time.

“Oh, sorry Twilight. Zoned out there for a bit. Hey, can I have this globe? You’re not using it, right?” Spike started to pick up the object in question, but Twilight took it away telekinetically.

“Focus, Spike. What happened yesterday after I left you?”

“I dunno. Can I have this book?”

“No you cannot!” And Twilight had to rip the leather-bound volume from the dragon’s claws to get it away from him. “I don’t remember you ever being this grabby before,” she said.

“My arms weren’t this long either,” Spike said in a slightly deeper voice as he made a grab for whatever objects were in reach. Hearing his own voice, he covered his mouth with both hands. “What’s happening to me?!”

“Puberty?” Dusty guessed.

“But he’s a baby dragon!”

“Not to judge by the sudden growth spurt,” the stallion-turned-colt said wryly.

“Don’t you have something to do today?” Twilight glared at her houseguest.

“I was going to get together with the colts,” Dusty said, taking his cue and getting up. “I could certainly head out now.”

“You do that,” Twilight said, glancing back at Spike, who was walking about and grabbing more books off the shelves. “I’ll take Spike to see if we can find out what’s going on.”

“Good luck,” Dusty said, closing the door behind himself. He did not hear Twilight’s answer, but did not need to, knowing she was preoccupied with the problem at hoof anyway. Dusty had a problem of a different sort to figure out anyway, given that it was still extremely early. He decided that a stroll to the park might be a fortuitous choice: he never knew who, amongst Ponyville’s early-risers, he might encounter.

As it turned out, the answer was ‘Fluttershy and Winona.’ The Pegasus was out walking the farm-dog as a favour to Applejack. Dusty was aware that Fluttershy sometimes looked after her friends’ pets alongside her usual assortment of woodland critters, but he had not known that she was Winona’s regular walking companion. It made sense, though, given the types of preparations that farming families had to complete in the morning – and working animal that she was, the Apples might not always appreciate it if Winona was always underhoof.

When Fluttershy entered the park with Winona, she let the dog off her leash so she could run about and play, but she continued to walk at a slower pace across the park. She smiled when she saw Winona run full-tilt right up to Dusty only to roll energetically on the grass. The dog jumped up and licked Dusty’s face just as soon as she regained her paws, and the colt had to push her off bodily, because Winona was even a little larger than he was.

“Good morning, Dusty. You’re out early,” Fluttershy said once she was close enough.

“Miss Twilight asked for some space, so I gave it to her.”

“Is it about yesterday? Oh, I hope Spike got home okay!”

“He did, although neither I nor Miss Twilight know when.”

“Spike’s not in too much trouble, is he?”

“I honestly don’t know,”

“Huh,”

Dusty shook his head. “It’s a matter for the two of them to sort out,” he said, “and I’m sure they will.”

“I wish I had your confidence,”

“Don’t you? I mean, they were your friends before they were mine, so who knows them better?”

“I do,”

“And do you think Miss Twilight would stay mad at Spike for long even when he does get into real trouble with her?”

“No, of course not. They depend on each other.”

“Well then, there you go.”

“Hm. Okay. If you’re not busy, would you like to come with Winona and me?”

“I have some time to pass, so sure.” A couple minutes later, Fluttershy completed the crossing. On cue, Winona ran up and sat in place so she could hook her back up to the leash. The three of them left the park with Winona on Fluttershy’s right, and Dusty on the Pegasus’s left.

Dusty had barely left Fluttershy’s company fifteen minutes later when he encountered Pinkie Pie, hopping happily off to who-knew-where. Except that as soon as she saw him, she started telling him what business she had being awake and about at that moment: “Bon Bon is having a yard sale. Can you believe it? A whole yard! Nopony has more than one, right? So it’ll be sold fast.” Pinkie winked so Dusty would know that she knew what a yard sale really was. Or did she? This was, after all, Pinkie Pie.

The pink pony suddenly came to a complete stop. As Dusty watched, fascinated, her ears flopped, she rapidly blinked her eyes multiple times, and then her knees went all floppy for a few moments. “Uh-oh,” she said, looking around. Her gaze locked just over Dusty’s shoulders, and as Dusty saw her widen her eyes, he instinctively dove out toward the street. It was a good thing he had, because Rainbow Dash came flying out a nearby door, sending it swinging wide. If he hadn’t dove, he’d have been hit.

“Hey Dashie, you going to the yard sale too?”

“I wish! I’ve got a little catching up to do on my weather duties after Spike’s party yesterday. I didn’t want it to take all day, so I decided to get up early and get it all done quickly so I could enjoy the rest of the day. But I woke up drowsy so I stopped in for a quick bite first.” Dash turned to Dusty. “What’re you doing out and about so early? I mean, I know you get up at the crack of dawn, but you usually aren’t walking around Ponyville by now.”

“Twilight and Spike are sorting some stuff out, so I’m giving them some space. I was walking with Fluttershy and Winona earlier, and now I’ve bumped into you and Pinkie.”

“Actually, Rainbow Dash almost bumped into you.” Pinkie snorted.

“Well, I’d better get started. I’ve got some serious napping to do later. Have fun with your friends, Dusty!” And Dash shot off.

“Ooh, off to have some fun?”

“It’s just a day with Button Mash, Featherweight, and Pipsqeak. Anyway, don’t you have a yard to buy?”

“Oh yeah. See ya!” And Pinkie shot off too, although in her case she was landbound. Sort of.

A couple minutes later, Dusty was surprised to find Rarity taking advantage of the early-morning markets. If he expected anypony to take the concept of ‘beauty sleep’ seriously, it was her. “Oh, good morning,” the Unicorn said to Dusty as she paid a shopkeeper. “Are you getting an early start too?”

“Twilight is having it out with Spike, so I’m just passing time until I meet Button Mash and the others. I’ve already joined Fluttershy on her walk with Winona, met Pinkie on her way to Bon Bon’s yard sale, and thanks to Pinkie Sense, dodged Rainbow Dash dashing through a door to catch up on some weather.”

“So then all you’re missing is Applejack, but I expect you’ll miss her unless your morning stroll takes you to Sweet Apple Acres. Will it?”

“It might have, if I kept walking with Fluttershy, but then I’d have missed Pinkie and Dash.”

“Well, five out of six isn’t bad, if I must say.”

“Please forgive my asking, but Miss Rarity, what’re you doing out and about so early?”

“Of course you can ask,” the Unicorn said graciously. “I heard some limited-supply items would be sold this morning, and it would seem that that was exactly right. Why, if I hadn’t gotten up for this I’d be missing out on a great many design opportunities as a result of getting these supplies!”

“Where did you hear about these sales?”

“Why, from Pinkie Pie,”

“Are you sure she wasn’t talking about Bon Bon’s yard sale?”

Rarity thought for a moment. “She might have been, at that. So then would that make this a coincidence?”

“If so, then there are entirely too many to fit into one morning. I’m ready to chalk it up to ‘Pinkie Sense.’”

“’Pinkie Sense’ it is,” Rarity said, selecting some more supplies for purchase. “Oh, I hope I’m not keeping you?”

Dusty looked across several thatch roofs to find the sun, and shrugged. “I have time on my hooves.”

“Well then, I appreciate the company,” Rarity paid for her things, and floated her bags along beside her as they walked to the next open stall.

“Would you like me to carry a few of your things?”

“I wouldn’t want to impose,”

“Then you can consider it a ‘guy thing,’”

“Well, if you insist,” Rarity floated two full bags over to Dusty, and once he had hold of them she gingerly released them from her control. The colt easily took their weight, but then most art-type supplies were light enough when they didn’t come in rolls.

“What’s going on? Have a busy morning or something?” Button asked as Dusty approached. With Featherweight and Pip there, that made him the last to arrive.

“Yeah, something like that. Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“Well, now that we’re all here we can get this thing going.” Button bounced the ball. “Two on two, I have first pick.”

“Sure, lets call it the ‘Tardiness Penalty,’” Dusty said.

“You spend entirely too much time with Twilight Sparkle,” Pip said.

“Occupational hazard. Shall we?”

“I’ll take Feather,” Button said.

“That means you’re with me today, Pip.”

“Ready,” the smallest of the four colts said, taking up position beside Dusty. Featherweight took the ball and used his head to toss it in. Button, his beanie removed for the game, got to it first and faked right before advancing left. Pip came at him from a low angle as though from out of nowhere, stealing the ball. Before Button could turn all the way around, Featherweight was on Pip. Dusty charged in right between Button and Pip, and fairly tackled Featherweight before rolling free and back to his hooves. Pip was already in his range for the hoop. He hit the ball downward as hard as he could so it would bounce higher, then hit it with his head to score the first basket. “Alright!” Pip and Dusty looped back around to trot to their side of the ‘court,’ and waited for Button and Featherweight to bring them the ball.

For much of the game, Pip acted as the vanguard while Dusty backed him up. The larger colt proved that he had the speed and mass to protect Pip from interference from both their opponents, and yet as per the rules he used neither his flight nor his magic. Button’s mother, watching from the house, would note that he didn’t seem to even be tempted to spread his wings, keeping them relaxed and furled at his sides – not even to manipulate the ball.

Button and Featherweight also fell into a rhythm, their teamwork coming together more solidly as they played. In their case, neither of them was automatically the vanguard or guard, instead switching roles as appropriate. Featherweight was adept at stealing the ball, and Button had the accuracy to make the shot from the trickier angles, even if he lacked the strength to do it from a distance.

The score was tied fifteen-all when the Cutie Mark Crusaders came screaming and running down the street. Button and Dusty both paused, more than a little curious. “What’s going on?” Button called.

“Spike tried to steal my scooter!” Scootaloo said, near to tears. Anypony who knew her also knew how much the little vehicle meant to the Pegasus.

“And he was huge,” Apple Bloom said.

“Like, four or five times larger than usual,” Sweetie Belle said.

“That doesn’t sound like Spke at all,” Pip said.

“It didn’t look much like him, either,” Sweetie Belle said.

“Yeah, what’s wrong with him?!” Scootaloo said.

“Miss Twilight said she was going to look into that, but… she did stop him, right?”

“Yeah, but it was weird,” Apple Bloom said.

“She used a regular old broom as bait,” Scootaloo said.

“Spike uses brooms and stuff all the time,” Featherweight said. “That can’t have worked.”

“Oh, it did,” Scootaloo said.

“Like a charm,” Sweetie Belle said.

“I’d like to claim the grabbiness wasn’t quite so bad when I left the library this morning, but I’m not sure I can,” Dusty said.

“I definitely don’t like Spike like this,” Apple Bloom said.

“Yeah, it’s not cool. Not at all,” Scootaloo said.

A high, clarion scream cut through the air. With that kind of practice at distress, it could only be one mare. He’s gotten worse, Dusty thought, especially if he’s bothering Rarity. “I’m for helping to put a stop to this,” he said, starting off at an easy canter. The others soon joined him.

“What can we do?” Pip asked.

“Crowd control, and maybe a little more from me,” Dusty said.

“You have a plan?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“It’s forming,” Dusty said. They were still a good distance from Carousel Boutique, and it was clear from the sounds of the screams and further commotion that things were moving further away. That gave Dusty a certain amount of time before the others would arrive, if he flew at full speed. “Remember, keep everypony else away from Spike. We don’t want to antagonize him any more than we have to.”

“What’re you gonna do?” Button asked, recognizing something in Dusty’s tone.

“I’m going on ahead,” the Alicorn said. He leaped into the air, spreading and flapping his wings at the apex of his jump, and shot off, the downdraft causing the others to stop a moment or risk falling over.

“I didn’t know he could do that,” Featherweight said.

“Eh, he’s still not as fast as Rainbow Dash,” Scootaloo said. “Now come on, or we’ll miss everything!” As the six remaining foals continued onward, they lost sight of Dusty in a pale yellow blur over the rooftops.

Twilight Sparkle was left wondering once again how things had been allowed to get so bad. Spike had grown to gargantuan proportions while stealing everything in Ponyville that wasn’t nailed down, and a few things that were, like Fluttershy’s chicken coop and the Ponyville water tower. Now he was climbing up the mountain that the red smokedrake had once used, stolen horde held in the water tower under one arm, and his tail coiled around Rarity.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew up to head level to try to persuade Spike to put everything down, and when that only seemed to enrage Spike more, the Wonderbolts arrived. Unfortunately they chose to buzz Spike, which only made him angrier. He dumped his loot into a cave (a smaller one than the one the smoker had used), and used the water tower to pin the Wonderbolts against the mountain. Rainbow and Fluttershy tried to dissuade Spike again, and nearly got hit for their troubles. Only about a dozen lines of Wind Magic held back Spike’s tail as he attempted to use Rarity as a weapon against her friends.

“Lets try and calm down, friend,” the owner of the lines said, flying overhead on steel-wrapped wings. The voice coming from the helmet was distorted to sound like many different types of voices, both high- and low-pitched at the same time.

“Fix-It? Fantastic,” Rainbow said, but despite her sarcasm, Twilight had the feeling that the Pegasus really was thankful to see the mysterious hero in this case. It did a fair job restraining Spike’s swinging tail, which allowed Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy to fly clear and retreat. The dragon roared, and pulled hard against the restraint. Fix-It strained against Spike’s strength, but the difference between them was too great, and the flyer decided to let go, the lines vanishing without an anchor at the smaller end. Spike roared again.

“I can do the ‘hard way’ too,” Fix-It said, snapping its tail to send the segmented lance slung between its wings flipping into the air. It caught the weapon in its mouth, and the sections began to spin, each counter to its neighbour. As it did, blue energy gathered into the second-widest section, the widest section already being fully charged – probably during the flight over. Fix-It assumed an aiming posture that reminded Twilight instantly of Gearhead’s position with his expanded Geargem Dagger, and his crazy Spiral Blast, which had broken the dark witch’s anti-dragon barrier. Twilight only hoped Spike wouldn’t be too hurt.

But the energy never left Fix-It’s lance. Twilight looked more closely, and saw Spike bringing his tail, and Rarity, in to shield him from any incipient attack. Fix-It tried to fly quickly into an open angle, but no matter where it flew, nor how quickly, Spike always managed to bring his tail around. The flyer flipped over the dragon’s head, and headed over to where Twilight and the others were waiting, trying to come up with an alternate plan. The armoured pony was barely away from the dragon before it returned its lance to its scabbard.

“Can’t get in a good hit?” Rainbow asked.

“His defensive instincts are too good,” Fix-It said. “I’m open to suggestions.”

“Oh, I hope we don’t have to hurt him,” Fluttershy said.

“He’s done lots of damage already,” Rainbow said.

“If I could just get close enough, I have a memory spell that might work,” Twilight said. “How many more of those restraining lines can you make?”

“Lots, and I can spread them out and strengthen them. And keep his attention on me. Plenty of cover, if we all move in when I launch the lines.”

“Okay, we have a plan. I hope this works,” Twilight said. The others nodded their agreement.

“We’ll have to move quickly,” Fix-It said, and then fell completely silent. It wasn’t until the first magic circle appreared underneath the pony that Twilight realized it was gathering a massive amount of energy for a spell. Another circle appeared behind the armoured pony, and another two to the left and right. “Capturing Fusilade,” Fix-It called aloud, pointing one hoof at the dragon, and then everything visible was engulfed in a wave of silvery-white streamers. Although partially stunned herself, Twilight remembered to begin the charge, and then the others were right there with her.

As the ponies flew and galloped across the rocky terrain, Twilight noticed that the four waves of lines were heading in slightly different directions. One of them rose to around chest-height on Spike, while two climbed steadily into the sky. The fourth and final wave flew in low to the ground. Twilight was amazed again, both because of the control Fix-It was clearly exerting over its shots, but also because the mass of them was so different from what it’d used at first: wheras the first wave could have been barely more than a dozen strong, this one clearly numbered in the hundreds, no thousands.

Spike stared straight ahead at the most visible wave of arrows flying at his chest, so he didn’t have time to react to the low wave, which wrapped around his legs above and below his knees while the mass aimed at his chest diverted and circled around him. Fix-It stopped its forward progress, and Twilight was surprised to see it using its own body as a winch, spinning at an accelerated rate by pointing its wingtip engines to one side. The tightening restraints pulled Spike off-balance, and to his knees, where he had to use his arms and claws to fight for balance. Fix-It contracted the lines right away, and then slammed its forehooves into the ground, triggering the lines sinking into them, before metal, stone, and earth crept up the lines to reinforce them. And then Fix-It got back in the air.

At another signal Twilight couldn’t hear or see, the lines circling overhead began to rain down on Spike on all sides. Each one seemed to attach to an arm or leg about mid-way, wrapping around three or four other lines until they were braided for extra strength. Some of them hit the cave holding Spike’s horde, sending pieces flying everywhere. One piece flashed as it spiralled through the air, landing near Spike. Fix-It slammed into the ground again, and this time Twilight heared it call out “Anchor,” and then “Reinforce,” and she understood. 'Anchor' set the Capturing Arrows deep in the ground. 'Reinforce' brought additional strength by mixing elements of the earth into the lines, as did braiding the lines. Spreading them out also made it so each set of braided and reinforced lines shared the stress of holding against Spike’s strength. It really was quite brilliant. Except that Spike’s tail still remained free somehow, and he was not yet prone enough for Twilight to use her spell, even as she was getting closer.

Twilight saw the problem as she approached: Spike was shielding his tail with his still-free arm, and Fix-It clearly didn’t want to use too many of its arrows restraining just the one limb: it wanted to take Spike’s tail. Twilight knew that to do that, it had to do something to make Spike place his arm out of line so he couldn’t protect his tail anymore. Fix-It flew in, charging Spike from his free side. The dragon instinctively swung at the incoming pony with his free arm, knocking the armoured hero far, away, and apparently out of control. But as he did, Fix-It touched both its forehooves together. And the arrows circling at chest-height all came in, attaching to that arm before pulling on it so Spike had no choice but to extend it out horizontally to his side. Fix-It called its commands again, and then lines braided, anchored, and reinforced. Then the remaining lines snagged Spike’s tail, and as they anchored they dragged the appendage (and Rarity) up close to the rest of his body. The whole sequence put Rarity, still in Spike’s coils, close to his face. It also happened very quickly.

As Fix-It crashed through the trees near Ponyville, Twilight focused more fully on Spike, knowing that if he somehow broke free, the entire plan would fall apart. The Unicorn climbed carefully up Spike’s head, hoping to get to his forehead before anything else happened. On the way, though, a light shone from the side and hit something Rarity was wearing. Twilight paused, and stepped closer for a better look. “That’ll work,” she said, suddenly all certainty and smiles.

“Whatever do you mean?” Rarity asked, but Twilight was already lifting the cloak from Rarity’s shoulders – to reveal the Heart of Fire Ruby that Rarity was wearing on a necklace underneath. “Oh no,” Rarity said, mistaking Twilight’s intention. “This is a very special gift given to me by a very precious friend. I am not giving it up just to placate this brute!”

“You won’t have to,” Twilight said, turning back to Spike. “Remember,” she whispered to him, approaching his forehead with her spell charging. Mere seconds later, two Unicorns and one baby dragon were falling the small distance to the ground while Fix-It’s restricting lines crumbled to pieces. Rarity, Spike, and Twilight tumbled, and aside from some slight abrasions from the rocks, recovered unharmed.

“Spike? You were the rampaging dragon? But how?”

“I guess I let my greed get away from me. Sorry,” Spike said sheepishly.

“Oh, but in the end you were the only one who could stop… yourself. So thank you, Spike. I’m so proud!”

Twilight turned away, curious about where the light had come from, and also to give Spike and Rarity room to reconcile. Among the displaced stones, Twilight was very surprised to find Spike’s gemstone lance, which Dusty had only finished modifying the day before. Was it just a matter of luck that it had ended up where it had? Twilight doubted that. As the others approached, she picked it up “Spike? Before we return everything to everypony, I have something here that belongs to you.”

“What happened to the giant dragon?” Apple Bloom asked as she and the other foals came running from the forest.

“Did we really miss everything?” Scootaloo asked.

“Eiyup,” Dusty said, standing at the foothills. “And me with not a thing to do with it. But, problem solved.”

I doubt that, Twilight thought. But she had once been one of three (no, it was four now) to wear a mask as Mare-Do-Well, so she would respect Dusty’s choice. Just as soon as she confirmed it. Next Chapter: 14. A Hearth's Warmth Estimated time remaining: 8 Hours, 37 Minutes