Author's Note

Shade makes a return in this chapter, and his dialogue is thanks to his creator, AstralFlare42. Thank you as always, Astral, for your characters and aid in creating this story. 👍

Episode 76: Of Friends and Idols

“You want us to do what?!” Ocellus stammered in horror.

“It’s the best way I can think of to defeat Grogar,” Diamondback insisted.

But even Spike felt dread in his heart. “DB, I get what you want to do,” he said. “Truly I do… but ‘infiltrating Grogar’s fortress and trying to use the bell on him’?”

“He has our magic, Spike,” Diamondback reminded him. “Our connection to the Elements. We already have no clue if the Elements will be enough, even with the Pillars and both the Mane and Young Six contributing. If we take our team out of the equation entirely, our chances get even lower than they already are.”

“But Twilight already took the Bell,” Spike replied. “We’d have to steal it back from her. And I heard Shining Armor has been making a lot of security upgrades.”

“Upgrades that, if we tried to fight,” Thorax put in, “Would leave a horrible impression. Chrysalis has already taken two thirds of my Hive, and is not going to help our reputation. I don’t need to make things worse by attacking our allies.”

“Do neither of you understand?” Diamondback demanded. “This is bigger than the changelings or the ponies. Grogar is a threat to everything.” She sighed. “Twilight still believes this can be won with honor intact. But we already have a spy in Grogar’s midst.” She looked to Spike. “Sometimes, Spike, you have to be willing to do bad things in order to achieve good goals. You know that.”

Spike found himself remembering Starlight; what he had done in the name of getting to her. “We also need to have lines, Diamondback. When we fight monsters… we have to be careful that we don’t become monsters ourselves.”

Diamondback stared at him in disbelief, before turning her gaze to Jackknife and the sea ponies and hippogriffs.

“Don’t give me them eyes, DB,” Jackknife said with a shake of his head. “We start fighting our allies, we just divide ourselves further. We gotta stand together on this.”

“Indeed,” Novo agreed. “If you stole from me, I’d throw you out of my kingdom faster than you could say ‘wait a minute’. I don’t see why Twilight should be any different.”

“If it was a question between having you angry at her and saving her kingdom, which option do you think Twilight would choose?” Diamondback replied coolly. “For that matter, what choice would you honestly make?”
In the brief lull DB’s question left, Spike became aware of a high pitched cawing. For that matter, everyone else did as well.

“That sounds like a griffon,” Ocellus realized, turning to the source.

Everyone turned as a familiar dark gray figure wooshed through the air towards them.

“Gabby?” Spike asked as the young griffon skidded to a stop before them.

“Guys!” Gabby gasped. “Thank everything golden, I…” She paused, taking in Spike’s form. “Did you do something with your scales?” Before Spike could reply, Gabby shook it off. “Look, never mind that, we need help.”

“What’s wrong?” Spike asked.

“A bunch of freaky dragons showed up at Griffonstone,” Gabby said. “They… they’re getting the Idol of Boreas!”

It was bad enough that Spike had to rely on Gabby to fly him back. It was even worse when he recognized the lead dragon as Shade, who laughed at the sight of him. “Wow. You still look like you need to have your mommy feed you.”

But the worst thing about the whole situation had to be seeing Swift - beaten and ruffled - kneeling in the grip of one of Shade’s dragons.

“Swift?” Spike stammered.

“Let go of him, you sons of…” Jackknife hissed, ready to throw hands.

“Ah, ah, ah,” Shade taunted, using his blades to halt the sea serpent. “Wouldn’t want to get between this family reunion between mother and son, would you?”

Spike blinked. “Son?” But then he took a second look, and his heart fell.

At the time, when the dragons were choosing between Ember and Shade, Spike hadn’t been thinking about which dragons might’ve been joining Shade. But as he gazed up into the familiar blue eyes of the dragoness holding Swift, his heart sunk as he remembered exactly who this dragon was.

“Sunny,” Diamondback growled for him. “As I recall, I bought that hybrid from you a long time ago.”

Sunny smirked. “You’re not exactly in a position to bargain, Diamondback,” she replied back smoothly, gazing down her nose at Diamondback’s depowered form. “Luckily for you, I’m in a generous mood.” She shook Swift by the nape. “I’m willing to fork him back over for one particular bit of treasure.”

Spike glanced at Gabby. “The Idol, right?”

“It seems that Hawke still thinks that she owes her nephew,” Shade laughed. “She already agreed to the terms. She even went for it herself.”

All eyes turned to the Gorge where the Idol had last been seen.

“Though I suggest sending someone down there after her,” Sunny noted. “It’s been a while, and I’m starting to think the winds got her.”

“Don’t,” Swift snapped. “Spike, don’t…”

Sunny forced his beak shut. “I didn’t give you permission to speak, kid.”

Spike seethed on the inside. If only he had his inner greed back.

Unfortunately, with Shade, Thorn and even Pyrite by her side, Sunny had the clear advantage.

Jackknife still looked ready to take them all on, but Gabby and Thorax held him back.

“Not here,” Gabby said. “First, we need to make sure Hawke’s okay.”

Reluctantly, the group of heroes turned their backs on the villains, and headed over to the Gorge.

Peering down, Spike couldn’t see Hawke, let alone the Idol.

“It fell even further than before,” Gabby noted. “I don’t know if any of us can get to it.”

“So why the heck did Hawke try?” Jackknife demanded.

Gabby merely indicated Swift. “The second they got their talons on Swift - and Hawke found out she couldn’t fight them - she was heading down there.” She gave a hopeful smile to Spike. “I really do think you guys had a positive impact on her for once.”

Spike grimaced, glancing at the flock of griffons who stood impartially between the dragons and the allied species. “Well, that impact won’t be considered very positive if she’s hurt. We gotta go down there.”

Thorax stepped up. “I can shapeshift into something that can resist the winds better.”

Diamondback turned to her dogs. “Let’s also see if we can’t tunnel a way down.”

“You don’t think they’ll consider that cheating, do you?” Spike asked, glancing at the flock again.

Diamondback shook her head. “Right now, Spike, it’s the best option we have.”

Spike had to admit, DB was right about tunneling.

Though he still feared the griffons might consider their method cheating, they made good progress with it, the dogs cutting through the rock and stone like it was water, leaving small holes like air pockets for them to check their progress further down into the gorge.

Though the harsh winds did whistle through the holes and smack them with cold air, it wasn’t enough to stop them in their journey down the gorge…

Until they eventually reached Hawke. The griffon was trapped on the other side of the chasm, huddled in a ball with one of her wings bent at a bad angle.

“Thorax,” Spike asked. “Can you shift into something that can bridge this gap or at least resist the winds?”

“Yeah,” Thorax replied, shifting one of his wings into a massive Roc wing. With the heavy limb resisting the winds, Spike was able to scramble across to the ledge Hawke was trapped on.

Touching her caused her to flinch, before she realized who was with her. “Swift?” she asked immediately. “Did they…?”

“They’re still holding onto him,” Spike promised. “But they won’t give him up without the idol.”

Hawke gazed hopelessly down into the chasm and shook her head. “Then… maybe it would’ve been better if I just… ended it fighting them.”

“Hey, don’t think like that,” Spike insisted. “At least you tried.”

“But I failed,” Hawke mumbled, her voice sounding more dead than when she had been enslaved. “I can’t do this, kid.” She looked at him with broken eyes. “I can’t save him. I can’t take back the years he suffered under me. I can’t… fix… anything.” She looked down. “I don’t know why I tried. I never could’ve done a thing to change this, so why did I bother?”

Gabby heard over the winds, and rushed to Spike’s side. “Because you and I knew that it was possible. We know that we can be better.”

“You might be, Gab,” Hawke replied forlornly. “But I’m not.”

“If that was true, you wouldn’t be down here,” Spike noted. “You’re a lot stronger than you’re giving yourself credit for.”

Hawke coughed out a hollow laugh. “Yeah, right? If I was stronger, I wouldn’t be dying down here, looking for an idol to get back a nephew who won’t ever forgive me for what I did. Nor should he.”

“And that’s exactly why you’re so strong,” Spike said. “Being able to offer kindness to someone you know hates you… that takes a lot of heart. Swift was willing to offer kindness to you, even though he doesn’t like you. But it’s a two way street. Can you still do the same for him?”

“What do you think I’m doing?” Hawke demanded. “I already busted a wing looking for the Idol!”

Gabby gripped her shoulder. “So ask for help,” Gabby replied. “I know, it’s tough for us griffons to do… but you’ve already proven how strong you are mentally. Why not go the rest of the way?”

Hawke gazed down at the shadowy chasm, and then up at the sky above. She sighed.

“Pretty please… with sugar and a cherry on top,” she looked to Spike and Gabby. “Help me save my nephew.”

Spike smiled. “Of course.”

Turned out Hawke had gotten closer than they thought.

After picking her up, the diamond dogs managed to reach the bottom of the gorge, where the Idol of Boreas sat, a little cracked, but otherwise untouched.

With their treasure in hand, the dogs brought everyone back up to the surface… where the dragons were still waiting.

Swift tried to break free. Almost got free too. Unfortunately, Thorn knocked the wind from him with a well-placed gut punch, and the poor hybrid was once again subdued.

Sunny stepped forward and extended her claw. “Hand it over,” she ordered.

Spike, Diamondback, Gabby and Hawke all exchanged glances. Gabby was watching her fellow griffons with despair. All of them had eyes on the Idol.

Spike tapped one claw on the Idol, stepping forward as if to hand it over.

But as Sunny’s claws extended, Spike turned his gaze to the griffons.

“Is this really what you guys need?” Spike asked, indicating the Idol. “Do you really need some Idol to feel proud of yourselves? You guys have shown a lot more progress than you might realize.”

Gabby grinned. “That’s right,” she said, noticing Gallus in the crowd. “Gallus, you learned to wield an Element of Harmony. You saved Equestria!”

Gallus brightened a bit at that.

“Not once, but twice,” Spike agreed. “The Storm King and Sombra both would’ve wiped us out if it wasn’t for you guys.”

“Do you have a point?” Sunny demanded.

“Yeah,” Spike said, keeping his eyes on the Griffons. “An Idol shouldn’t be what you guys need to be proud. You’re good enough on your own.” With that, he tossed the Idol to Sunny.

Smirking, Sunny tossed Swift to them. “Isn’t this interesting, son?” she asked Swift as Gabby and Spike pulled him back up. “Once, you sought to get away from these birds. Now you want to go back to them?”

Swift gazed at Hawke, who avoided his gaze in shame. But Swift’s fury turned back towards his mother.

“If I had known what kind of monster you were,” he replied, “I never would have left.”

Sunny scoffed, before tossing the idol to Shade.

“Let’s put this piece of junk to good use,” he noted, before pouring Grogar’s magic into the Idol, making the blood pearl inside glow. “This should work with just a thought.” He looked to the griffons. “And it is working.”

Spike’s heart sank as griffon after griffon followed after Shade. Gallus stayed. As did Gilda and one of her friends.

But the majority of the griffons - even Grandpa Gruff, the closest thing they had to a leader - went off with Shade.

“Ha! You’re losing your friends.” Shade taunted as he left. “Enjoy the last of your lives! They’ll end sooner than you think!”

As Shade took his leave, Diamondback walked up next to Spike.

“Still think it’s a bad idea to get the Bell?” Diamondback asked.

Spike wanted to say yes. To invoke his fear of becoming the very thing he was fighting. But with Swift and Hawke both injured, he found himself remembering their own sorry state: Star Wing still in dreamland, he and Diamondback without power, and now Swift beaten up and nearly broken.

His heart hammered at the idea of going down the dark path. Yet, at the same time, he knew the path where Grogar won would be even darker.

Spike sighed, and made a decision.