Spike and Diamond were riding to the crew house, but then Spike remembered that Velvet wanted him to finally get a lock for his room. There was a hardware store that Spike 'protected' after the Riders took over the Bloodstone Bikers turf. The shop, a place called 'Solid Oak's, hard work, hard wood, hardware.' Spike coasted up to the shop and noticed that some of Embers 'collectors' were in the shop right now, 'collecting' the 'protection' fee, for this month. There were 2 choices, Spike could walk in, stop the collection, and send them away all while not removing his helmet, or he could send Diamond in to do the same thing.

Every Rider was very protective of all the younger members, Diamond being the youngest, so she practically had just as much authority as the original 5.

Spike pulled into a parking spot in front of the shop, turned off the bike, letting Diamond get off. Once she was off Spike kicked out the kickstand that he uses when he was going to be getting back soon, letting the bike lean to the side. Diamond removed her helmet as she looked to Spike. "Boss, what are we doing here?" Asked Diamond.

Spike flipped up his face guard. "Diamond, has Zecora or Chrissy ever told you how I like to sleep?"

Diamond nodded. "Yeah, you like to sleep naked. So how does that relate to a hardware store?"

Spike sighed. "My mother or Twilight would occasionally walk in to my room at their house and see my stuff in the morning, so I'm picking up a new door knob, one that has a lock."

"Oh." said Diamond as she nodded in understanding.

Spike flipped his face guard down and the two walked into the shop. When they did, they noticed that there were three collectors standing around the stores owner, Burnt Oak, a older man with a gray moustache and deep blue eyes. He was dressed in a pair of well worn jeans and a working long sleeve flannel shirt. Burnt Oak was pulling out stacks of cash from the register and handing it to the collectors, all of whom wore jeans, and their custom gang jacket, with their garage door dragon on the back. It was a blue dragon surrounded by a blue aura, shooting a blue bolt of lightning from its mouth. Spike sighed, he knew who they were. Spike and Diamond walked up to the main collector, a wall of a man named Rover, as his backup stood to the side. "ROVER!" Yelled Spike.

Rover turned around to look at who ever was yelling at him, and when he did, he started to whimper like the little dog he was. His backup, Spot and Fido hid behind the shelves in the store, they didn't want to mess with the Top Dog of the Riders. "Boss, how are you today?" Asked Rover scared that he was going to mess up in front of the boss. He looked behind Spike and noticed Diamond standing there. "DT, how was your first day at school?"

Diamond smiled at Rover. "It was good Rover. Did E send you and your pack to collect today?" Asked Diamond.

Rover nodded as he showed Spike and Diamond the money. "She did." Rover looked over to Spike and handed the money to Spike. "Here you go boss."

Spike looked at the money, then he handed it to Diamond. "DT, what's the fee for the shop?"

"Well in this neighborhood, the flat rate is 500, but we always give Burnt a deal because he was our supplier during the renovations, so it should be half." Informed Diamond. She was In charge of the Riders bookkeeping, so she had everything about the operation memorized, from people who owe money, to the protection fee for local shops, and to do that she needed to understand that it was more lucrative to be kind and understanding, than ruthless and unforgiving...Most of the time.

"And how much is that?" Asked Spike.

Diamond counted the money. "300." Said Diamond as she handed Spike the money.

Spike sighed, he walked over to Burnt Oak. "Burnt, please forgive me, the dogs are not the smartest in the crew." Said Spike as he shot the Diamond Dogs a glare. "I'll have E give them a good talking to when they get back, so they learn from this mistake." Said Spike as he gave Burnt all the money back. "Your good for this month, but I need a new door knob, would you mind if I take one?" Asked Spike.

Burnt Oak smiled at Spike. "Not a problem, Sir." Said Burnt as he took the money and put it back into the register.

Spike nodded. "Thanks." Spike turned around and looked at Rover, Spot and Fido. "And you three go home and report to E about what happened, and pray to god, that she just let's you walk away with a few bruises." All three nodded as they walked out of the shop, their head's hung low for failing their boss. Spike sighed as he started to look around the shop for a new door knob.

Diamond walked up to the counter and looked at Burnt Oak. "So how are you doing Burnt? Business good?"

Burnt nodded. "It's been good, Miss DT. But I have some sad news."

Diamond looked at him worried. "Is everything ok?"

Burnt chuckled as he pat the girls head. "Everything is fine, its just that I'm thinking of retiring soon. I'm in my sixties, my wife is getting up in years as well, and my shop was just bought by a loving couple that sell wood carvings online. They needed a place to set up their new work shop, and what better place than a hardware shop. I also sold them most of my old tools, so we are going to have a great retirement." Said Burnt as he sighed. "That extra fifty was a small parting gift meant for S."

Diamond nodded. "I understand, we will miss you though. You helped us every time we needed to build a new room at the house. You never told the cops anything, and you were one of the first to help us get our footing. I know we offered you a place with us, but it suck's that you never agreed to join us, you have no idea how handy it would of been to have a guy like you in around." Said Diamond.

Burnt chuckled. "I know, and I owe S a lot. He would actually pay me for everything he needed. He was more understanding, nothing like the Bloodstone's, they would just take what they wanted, then mess up the place. I don't know how many times I needed to replace the front window, but from what I know the current window is the longest one to date."

Diamond nodded as Spike walked over to the counter. "There will always be a place for you with the Riders, Burnt. If you ever get tired of retirement, just give Z or T a call and your in." Spike flipped up his guard and looked at the man. "You were there for every moment of the Riders. You transported our supplies during the renovations, you taught me how to fix holes in the wall, how to rewire the house and how to make it an actual home for us to live, with out you, I don't think the Riders would of made it, and you did it all, knowing we're criminals." Said Spike as he leaned over the counter and gave the man a quick hug. "Thanks for everything old man." Said Spike.

Burnt smiled at Spike as he pat the young mans back. "It's been nice knowing you, S, sir."

Spike sighed. "Spike. Its Spike, Burnt."

Burnt Smiled. "It's been nice knowing you, Spike."

Spike sighed as he grabbed the knob and walked out of the shop, Diamond following behind. Burnt sighed as walked over to the door to the shop and flipped the sigh to closed, locked the door, walked back to his office. Spike watched as the lights of the shop turned off for the last time.

Outside Spike was trying to process the fact that one of the few people that actually liked the Riders was leaving. Spike watched the movements of the shop owner. But once the lights were off it was time for Spike and Diamond to go. Spike turned around, and in that moment he noticed a very specific green truck about a block away. 'Twilight, why am I not surprised. But she actually got the others to go along with her plan.' Spike sighed as he now needed to make a call.

"Hello?" Asked Ember. "Boss, what do you need?"

"E, first off, give Rover and his pack a good talking to, they took more money from Burnt than normal."

"On it, they just got back to the house."

"Good, second, I got a tail."

"What?"

"Yep, their not cops, Shadows, or Centaurs, I don't want a scene, so make this quick and clean, no one gets hurt. Lets do a patrol. You take G8 with you, they haven't had a ride in a while, and for added shits take out Lucy for me."

"Lucy, Really?" Asked Ember shocked. 'Lucy' was the prized Motorcycle of the Bloodstone Bikers, and the personal ride of the leaders. Torch had owned it since the late 70's and it was a beautiful piece of work. Black with hand painted classic orange flames, leather seat, the fork was as long as Spike, with a rear tire as wide as a head, black frame with no paneling, you could see the motor. It was not practical in the least, but some how Torch made it work. The rumor that Spike had heard from the others was that Lucy was the reason why Ember was born. She had dreamed of riding Lucy for years, but because of Garble she couldn't. Spike had offered Lucy to her when they took over the turf, but Ember was very head strong that since he took over the turf the bike was his, and his alone. The only exception to the rule was if Lucy's owner allowed for someone else to ride her.

"Yeah, take her out, its been a while since she was set onto the streets." Said Spike.

"On it." Said Ember.

"Good, have Micro track my phone to make sure the plan works." Said Spike as he hung up the phone. He looked at Diamond. "DT, we got a tail." Said Spike.

"What!?" Said DT as she started to look around. But Spike stopped her.

"Don't look around, It's my sister and the others. I just called E, and she is taking Lucy out with the guys from G8 to run a patrol." Said Spike. Just then Spike got a text from Ember.

Keep heading down K, were going to be at 19th. E

Spike nodded. "DT, we're going." Said Spike as he started the Z1000 and pulled the kick stand. DT understood the need to hurry, so she jumped on to the bike, and nodded her head, telling Spike she was ready. Spike nodded, he roared off down K street, heading for the intersection with 19th street.

The girls noticed Spike's departure from the store, and continued to tail him.

19th street was only a few blocks away from the hardware store, so it didn't take Spike long to reach the intersection. Spike sped past the intersection, as he passed Ember and the large group of members in G8. G8 or Garage number 8, was the home for all of the former members of the Bloodstone Bikers that defected after Garble took over. Their dragon was a massive cobalt blue dragon with two massive downward curving horns with gold rings on the horns, that was standing in a lightning storm, as the ground around it was on fire. Ember and G8 watched as Spike and DT sped past. She looked at her group, she reved Lucy and started to moved forward. The others followed Ember, and soon K street was blocked.

AJ stopped the truck, she didn't want to hurt anyone, but they were losing sight of Spike. Spike smiled as he looked at his mirror. "Good job E." Said Spike as he headed for the house.

In the truck, all the girls sighed, they couldn't get passed, and they really didn't want to move an inch because right out side of the truck was the notorious Dragon Riders. AJ looked at Twilight. "Twi, I know it's Spike, but I don't want to cross the Riders, so I'm calling this off." Said AJ.

Twilight sighed but nodded. "Your right, we shouldn't get involved with the Riders. But isn't it strange how there just so happened to be a division of them right where Spike just passed? Asked Twilight.

All the girls remained silent. Then Rainbow started to laugh. "Come on there is no way our Spike, our little, weak, motorcycle riding, kind hearted Spike is a member of the Riders."

Rarity laughed as well. "Yes, it must be just a coincidence."

Twilight chuckled. "Yeah, there is no way that Spike as a Rider." Then the truck fell silent again. "Right?" Asked Twilight, she was getting very uncomfortable. "I mean, Spike loves motorcycles, but he's no gang member." Said Twilight trying to reassure herself. All the girls nodded. Twilight smiled, she looked at AJ. "AJ lets head back, Fluttershy's house is the closest so lets start there." Said Twilight.

AJ gave her a small smile as she nodded. "Ok." AJ put the truck into reverse, backed up into an alley, and drove back the way they came.

Author's Notes:

I know this chapter is short, but its more building than anything. I'm struggeling to keep the girls out of the Riders buissnes for now. Tell me what you liked, what you didnt, and where the story could go next. But next chapter we will see more of the crew members.