Chapter 56

“I swear, if I ever see that dweeb Spike again I’m gonna,” Garble groaned as he punched his claws together

Blaze rolled his eyes, “Just be thankful that I am not going to tell Adamas about what you did”

The three teenage dragons walked out to the large runway, they all scanned the long marble surface and saw no trace of Adamas. The slim black dragon spat an ember into Blaze’s face, “we weren't planning on that alicorn showing up”

“I hope you aren't talking about Noxporta,” Adamas growled as he glared down at the teenagers. They turned around to see the diamond dragon standing with his hind legs either side of the door they walked through

“Umm… is his father Dave?” Garble smiled innocently before being coated in a thick stream of smoke being blasted from Adamas’ nostrils

“Yes and his father is a close friend of mine and to the enlightened,” Adamas snarled. “If I hear that you did anything bad to Nox then I will have you punished!”

The black female flapped her long wings and flew up to look at Adamas. “Some of us think that this enlightened stuff in nonsense”

“You don’t think that dragons can obtain magic?” Adamas narrowed his eyes as the black dragon folded her arms in response. “Well sit down young Zisha and you may learn something”

Zisha snorted before returning to her spot beside the other two dragons. The large diamond drake opened his jaws and released a small stream of flame into his hands, the flame stayed around Adamas’ claw as he looked at the young apprentice

“Can you freeze fire?” he stared down at the apprentices as they shook their heads. “Well I can,” He stared at his claw and the dancing flames stopped in their tracks and a thin layer of ice slowly covered the orange fire

The diamond dragon opened his claw and the frozen fire fell to the floor and shattered, the ice briefly burst into flames before leaving a mix of burnt spots and water droplets to litter the ground

“Now I want you to find Dave and apologize for being a nuisance,” Adamas pointed at Garble, the red dragon groaned as he wandered back into the castle. Zisha and Blaze both chuckled as the unlucky teen gave them a glare and disappeared around the corner

Meanwhile…

Dave held the dining room door open as the elements of harmony began to walk out of the room. “The guards will take you to your rooms if you want”

“No thanks Dave,” Twilight smiled over her shoulder. “I’ve been here enough times to know where the bedrooms are”

Rainbow Dash giggled as she began flying backwards. “I think Twilight is hitting on you again Dave!”

“I only date alicorns!” Dave chuckled as the group of girls laughed. He turned back to Celestia as he closed the door. “What was up with the gryphons earlier?”

The princess sighed as she rubbed her eyes, “the changelings are being difficult again so he asked for our help”

“I assume the gryphons thought Odio was still with them?” Dave groaned as Celestia nodded. “How the hell did he know about me and Luna though?”

“Eagle eyes,” Celestia pointed upwards. “Gryphons fly high in the air and can see things with ease”

Dave shook his head as he glanced at the stained glass windows, “So they have UAVs then”

“UAwhats?” Celestia rose an eyebrow but Dave stepped over and wrapped his arms around the alicorn

“It doesn’t matter,” Dave sighed. “So we still have some of the afternoon left… do you want to…”

Dave was cut off as a knock at the door gave a brief warning as a guard stepped in and saluted. “Prince Dave, two visitors are here to see you and your father”

The human instantly frowned as he guessed who the visitors were, he put on a smile as he looked at Celestia. The alicorn smiled back as she stood up and walked to the door, “Don’t be too long, ok?”

“I won’t,” Dave blew a kiss to Celestia before frowning at the guard. “Get my father now, send in the guests”

The guard saluted and allowed Battering Ram and Flux to step into the room, their eyes stared at Dave as they walked around the table and sat down. The human remained standing as he glared at the two ponies

“What the hell do you two want?” Dave snarled as he clenched his fists. “You have some nerve showing up here”

Battering Ram sighed as he glanced at Flux, “We would like to wait for Strong Shield before we say anything”

“Planning to kill us both off?” Dave narrowed his eyes. “You wouldn’t risk it now my dad is better, not here”

“We don’t want to hurt you,” Flux sighed as she lowered her head. “We just want to talk”

Dave sat down, shortly after the door opened and Strong Shield stepped in, slamming the door behind him. The unicorn sat next to Dave as they both glared at the Pegasus and earth pony

“So why are you both here?” Strong Shield glared. “If you want to negotiate you can go fuck yourselves”

“Where did you learn that language?” Dave glanced at Strong Shield

“From you,” the unicorn leaned forward as he focused his attention on the two ponies opposite him. “Now what do you want to say?”

Flux looked at battering Ram before her ears rested against her head. “We only wanted to protect Equestria… Puppetmaster helped show us a way that was better than the guards”

“It involved killing,” Strong Shield snarled. “How was that protecting?”

“We were only harming criminals,” Battering Ram shook his head. “The guards couldn’t protect everyone”

Dave slammed his fist into the table, “You tried to kill me and my dad!”

“And we are sorry,” Flux shuddered. “We spent most of our lives looking for the key… when we saw the chance to get it we… lunged”

Battering Ram dipped his head, “When we started talking to you again we began to think about how much time we wasted and how little we actually have left”

“Wait… you’re giving up?” Dave shared a confused look with Strong Shield. “But what about the vault?”

“If I know Strong Shield then the key is never going to be found,” Battering Ram chuckled. “We don’t have time chasing ghosts anymore”

Flux nodded, “I have fought too many times, and I just want this to end”

“So you are happy with the consequences… so long as the key is lost?” Strong Shield narrowed his eye, looking for any hint of treachery

“The key is gone… and so is most of our time,” Battering Ram looked down at his hooves. “I will take full responsibility for our actions as long as Flux gets off free”

Strong Shield glared at Flux, “This is a trap”

“She doesn’t want to hurt you Shield!” Battering Ram groaned. “Just because you had your heart replaced with a block of ice it doesn’t mean that you will be betrayed again”

Strong Shield stood as he walked to the end of the table his eye stared at Flux until she slowly stood and walked over to him. Dave and Battering Ram exchanged nervous glances as Strong Shield lifted his hoof and tapped his scared eye

“The key was hidden in here,” He narrowed his good eye as Flux gasped

“W-why would you put it in there you silly colt?” Flux raised her hoof to stroke along the scar. “It must have hurt”

“Like you wouldn’t believe,” Strong Shield sighed as he held Flux’s hoof. “Are you lying to me? About giving up?”

Flux nodded, “I'm not lying… I can’t do this senseless fighting anymore”

“That offer still stands you know,” Strong Shield looked into Flux’s eyes. “You still need to give me an answer”

The Pegasus smiled as tears began to form at the edges of her eyes. “Yes… of course I will marry you”

Battering Ram smiled until he looked across to Dave, “So what is my punishment?”

“If I had my way?” Dave shrugged. “Lots of tests to make sure you weren’t lying, prison for a while and finish off with community service”

“Still better than guard training,” Battering Ram chuckled as he looked at his hooves

Meanwhile, Flux had wrapped her hooves around Strong Shield’s neck. “What was really inside the vault anyway? A new type of machine?”

“I was serious when I said Project Harvest,” Strong Shield snorted. “Puppetmaster told me right before I finished him, not to mention I got scanned and rejected”

“What is Harvest missing?” Flux pondered. “Probably something rare like a phoenix”

Dave sighed as he reluctantly smiled at Strong Shield’s small smile on his face. His head turned when Garble stepped in and dragged himself over to Dave

“Hey dude,” Garble sighed as he sat next to Dave. “I was sent here to apologize for something”

Dave smirked at the dragon, “Oh yeah? What did you do this time?” he laughed

“Oh ha!” Garble groaned, his snout twitching as he narrowed his eyes at Dave. “Hey I didn’t know that you eat gold!”

Dave’s smile dropped as Strong Shield froze in place, Battering Ram and Flux both glanced at each other before they looked to Dave’s stomach

“I don’t know what you mean,” Dave gulped as he saw Battering Ram’s eyes open in realization

Garble sniffed around Dave’s face, “Pure gold too! Wicked!”

“Garble…” Dave frowned at the dragon. “Remind me to kick your ass at some point”

Strong Shield grabbed Flux and threw her aside as he shot a ball of magic into the air. Dave shoved Garble aside as he stood up to face Battering Ram. The large earth pony had already began to throw the table at them as he charged for Dave

The ball of magic exploded and filled the room with light, the sudden bang blinded everypony except Strong Shield as he pulled Dave down to avoid the flying marble table and began running him to the door

Battering Ram recovered enough to see Dave and Strong Shield dive out the door, he braced himself to charge but Flux jumped into his way

“YOU IDIOT!” Flux screamed at him. “You had to throw the table didn’t you?”

The navy earth pony frowned at the smaller Pegasus. “He threw you aside! The key is in Dave and Strong Shield saw fit to attack!”

“IT WAS A TEST!” Flux broke down into tears. “Shield could have easily snapped my neck but he wanted to see if we would attack once we knew the position of the key”

Ram’s eyes shut as he let out a sigh, “I thought he was going to attack BECAUSE we knew the keys location”

“Oh no…” Flux gasped. “We have to stop them from getting to the vault”

“Why?” Ram frowned. “If we don’t follow then they might see we just acted out of reflex”

“Strong Shield was telling the truth…” Flux shook her head. “If he opens the vault, just to get the key inside then… oh dear Celestia no”

The huge pony glared, “What? The vault will open, scan Shield and see that it doesn't need unicorn and close again”

“Yes but what if it scans Dave before he can get the key inside?” Flux shook her head. “Equestria has only one human… Harvest needs it”

“Hang on, I thought that harvest was made of every living creature,” Ram glared. “It only needed one creature and there are only four that we know of, and they all live here!”

Flux groaned as she hit Ram’s chest, “What if Dave shows up as a better match?”

“Oh…” Battering Ram’s eyes popped open. “Harvest would gain Dave’s healing, his traits… his knowledge”

“And Harvest would know the location of every populated area as well as the location of alicorns,” Flux rubbed her eyes. “We have to stop them from getting to the Daedalus and to Tartarus”

Garble pushed himself off the ground as he glared at the ponies, “What the heck are you on about?”

“None of your business dragon!” Flux snarled. “But we have to get Strong Shield to believe us, which is impossible… or get the key and hide it”

“We have basically switched roles with Shield,” Ram groaned. “If we fail, can we count on anypony being able to stop Harvest?”

Flux shook her head, “I couldn't kill Strong Shield… why would Celestia be able to kill Dave?”

“I’m really lost,” Garble held up his claws

Ram snarled, “If you want an explanation then go ask Strong Shield!”