The Drake Six

The return home was so triumphant, Spike almost forgot about Diamondback’s plan. Almost.

It was one thing to see so many creatures of so many different species all interacting with each other with at least some level of amiability. It was another for Twilight herself to swoop down on Spike and give him a massive hug.

“Spike,” Twilight cheered. “Thank goodness you’re back. When Fluttershy told me…”

“We’re fine, Twi,” Spike assured her. “More importantly, Jackknife and Swift are fine. And…” He glanced back worriedly at the few griffons that had joined them.

Twilight herself noticed the small numbers, but shook it off. “You did what you could,” she promised. “No need to feel ashamed about it.” She got a small hopeful smile. “In fact, there is something you could help me out with.”

Spike looked up at her in intrigue. Further away, he could feel Diamondback’s eyes on him.

“Pinkie managed to get all the yaks to our side,” Twilight explained. “And between our reinforcements being complete along with us having the Bell, my brother’s upgraded security,” Twilight said. “And he wants me and my friends to test its effectiveness. Considering you helped get everyone together…” she shrugged sheepishly. “Well, I could really use my number one assistant for this.”

Spike’s heart skipped a beat. Here he and Diamondback were wondering how they were going to get the Bell back, and now Twilight was handing them both a golden opportunity.

Before he could speak, Diamondback surged over. “Princess Twilight,” she said eagerly. “We’d be honored.”

Further away, Pyrite and Thorn watched.

“What are they doing?” Thorn whispered.

“It… looks like they’re planning a break in too,” Pyrite noted.

Thorn stared at her. “They just got everyone together, and now they plan to break into their own home?”

“I think it’s in order to test the security’s effectiveness,” Pyrite replied, noticing the Young Six joining the Mane Six and the remnants of the Mane Six. “See? They’ve invited representatives of each species to join.”

Thorn scoffed. “Sounds like they want to know the strengths and weaknesses of their allies just as much as their own.”

“Which is something we can play to our advantage,” a new voice declared, before a nearby tree burst into green flames, revealing Queen Chrysalis.

“Chrysalis?” Pyrite gasped.

“‘Queen’ Chrysalis to you, knave,” Chrysalis hissed. “And it sounds like it was a good thing I decided to see what you were up to.” She chuckled as she watched the budding heist group. “They wish to break into their own palace. Maybe we should help them along the way.”

Thorn grimaced. “We do need that Bell. Especially if Pyrite’s going to avoid sharing Tirek’s fate.”

Pyrite, however, grinned despite the circumstances, her eyes on her lighter counterpart. “I don’t think we need to worry too much about that.”

Spike had been worrying so much about Diamondback and her risky plan that he almost missed the extra stake his adopted siblings had put onto the challenge.

“The Sibling Supreme Crown?” Spike whispered as Twilight told him.

Diamondback and Phoenix exchanged surprised glances, but Jackknife was the first to speak up: “What the heck is a Sibling Supreme Crown?”

Spike chuckled sheepishly. “Ah, it was stupid…”

“Stupid?!” Twilight laughed before explaining to the others. “When Shining Armor and I were foals, we competed over everything. So, to keep it friendly, our parents gave us gold stars every time we did something special. Sharing, getting good grades… even telling a really funny joke. At the end of each week, we’d add up the stars. And the sibling with the most would win the Crown of the Sibling Supreme - and bragging rights - until next time.”

“Yeah…” Spike chuckled himself. “I always… wanted to be Sibling Supreme myself one day, but… eh, that was a long time ago.”

Despite his words, he felt a jolt in his heart as Twilight’s horn lit up with a familiar green aura and a scroll appeared in her hooves.

“Oh, you… replicated my fire,” Spike mused.

“Sorry, Spike.” Twilight at least looked genuinely apologetic. “But ever since you started hanging out with your own friends, I needed a way to make sure that I could still receive messages without bothering you.”

A new sensation rose in Spike. “Do you think you could… use the technique to give me back at least one of my powers?”

Twilight paused, considering it. “Let’s… get this done first, and then we’ll talk about that.” Though she did look very interested in the idea as she read the scroll… only for her interest to shatter into horror.

“What is it?” Rarity asked.

“He guessed the whole plan I had in mind,” Twilight stammered. “‘Dear Twily, hope your idea isn’t just…” she shook her head and showed the whole thing.

Pinkie gasped. “My parties have become predictable?!”

Rarity sighed. “I suppose we should have expected this. No pony knows Twilight better than her own brother.”

“So you’re saying I should give up?” Twilight asked.

“Nonsense,” Diamondback said with a grin. “Don’t forget Twilight, you aren’t the only planner here. And it’s not just you and your friends.”

“That’s right,” Silver Stream said, as she and her own friends stepped up. “We were asked to help, and that just means…”

“We get to plan a break-in,” Gallus noted with a wry grin. “Heh. Count me in on that.”

“This doesn’t feel quite right,” Swift mumbled, but Diamondback nudged him into silence.

“We should each come up with a separate plan,” Diamondback said. “Hit the castle on three different fronts. He may be able to expect Twilight’s plan… he might even be able to plan to counter anything by ponies.”

“But he doesn’t know what we’re capable of,” Smolder agreed with a grin.

The thought got Jackknife chuckling, though Swift looked nervous, and Spike couldn’t blame him.

Though, at the same time, Spike had far more to doubt than Swift.

Something Diamondback noticed, as she pulled the young dragon to the side. “You alright, Spike?”

Spike shook his head. “I know what you’ll call this,” he said. “A window of opportunity.”

“That it is,” Diamondback whispered, glancing around to make sure no one heard her. “We find the weaknesses, we exploit them, and we take a short detour to where the Bell’s being kept. I already had my dogs form a perfect replica that we can swap out…”

“But are we sure about doing that?” Spike asked. “Twilight trusts me a lot to help her with this. And…”

Diamondback, however, grinned. “Let me ask you something else, Spike,” she said. “How badly did you want to be ‘Sibling Supreme’ when you were little?”

Spike grimaced and looked away. “I-It wasn’t about the title. If I’m being honest… it was about being seen as just as capable as Twilight or Shining. To be a part of their rivalry, to be their little brother.” He looked down.

Diamondback placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. “But they never thought of you that way, did they?”

Spike could only shake his head no. With his more powerful form gone, he truly felt like a lost child of two worlds.

But then Diamondback lifted his chin. And when he stared into her eyes, there was no malice or ulterior motives. Just the light of a close friend he had been through so much with.

“Let’s see if we can’t fix that,” Diamondback offered.

Back outside, Thorn, Pyrite and Chrysalis snuck closer to the palace, observing the individual heists going down.

Thorn laughed as the fans blew Gallus and Smolder off course. “Nice try, bricks for brains.”

“Ah, my dear Ocellus,” Chrysalis purred, watching the young changeling manage to make it past…

Pyrite blinked. “Are those shards from your throne?”

“Indeed,” Chrysalis said happily. “They may have thought they could modify them to repel all magic, but those shards will remember who originally built them.” With a blast of her own horn, the shards nearest to her and her companions went dull, and the trio snuck in closer, only to find guards of every species patrolling, though a few were distracted by some sort of band put on by Applejack, Jackknife, Swift and Phoenix. The three quickly ducked out of sight, Chrysalis camouflaging them for good measure.

“So, what now?” Thorn asked.

Chrysalis and Pyrite exchanged a look. “Well,” Chrysalis noted, “Since your friend here seems to believe our ‘heroes’ will retrieve the Bell for us…” she looked up and grinned as Spike, Diamondback, Fluttershy and Silver Stream leaped out of a balloon manned by Pinkie… right as the balloon popped and sent Pinkie flying comically around the palace. “All we need to do is make sure they get their window of opportunity.”

Pyrite glared at the guards. Specifically at a yak and an earth pony who were starting to butt heads angrily. “And maybe…” Pyrite offered carefully, “We can sow a little discourse in the process.”

Chrysalis gazed at the guards, and her face split into an evil grin. “I love the way you think,” she praised.

Meanwhile in the throne room, the four wannabe thieves carefully watched the security measures.

“Geese?” Diamondback whispered. “Of all things?”

“Not just any geese,” Fluttershy whispered. “Frozen North geese.” She sighed. “The poor babies are always living in such harsh conditions. No wonder they’re so cranky.”

Silver Stream hummed. “They need friends,” she noted.

“Indeed,” Diamondback noted, turning to Fluttershy. “Why not make a small deviation to this plan?”

Fluttershy blinked. “But… we’re supposed to do what’s unexpected of us!”

“And it would be really unexpected,” Spike realized. “To do something expected right after committing to doing something unexpected. It’s the last thing they’d, uh… expect.” He grinned hopefully.

Silver Stream and Fluttershy both exchanged surprised glances, before Fluttershy shrugged.

“Well, I guess I can’t say no to caring for animals,” she noted, before carefully gliding her way over to the geese.

The geese started to honk, but Fluttershy soothed them.

“You’ve been glaring for so long,” she whispered. “Who wants a feather massage?”

With the geese placated, Silver Stream and Spike glided towards the crown.

Silver paused. “So… if I take the crown, what does that make me? Honorary Sibling Supreme?”

“It’s a shame we won’t find out,” Shining’s voice replied.

Silver spun as Shining strode in smugly.

“Gotta admit,” Shining noted. “I wasn’t expecting someone outside of Twilight to make it in here. But you should know, just as she will know, there’s no way to beat the true Sibling Supreme.”

“You sure about that?” Spike asked, before seizing the crown and landing right on the trap door. With a salute, he plummeted down into the catacombs… right as Rarity and Rainbow Dash were walking by.

“Ugh,” Rarity bemoaned. “I am sick of being lost in these slimy corridors!” She glared at Rainbow Dash. “But you shouldn’t pull every lever you come across. Half of them have been traps.”

“And the other half might open a secret passage to the castle!”

“It’s not worth the risk!” Rarity argued, briefly noticing Spike. “Oh, hello Spike.” She turned back to Dash. “Even if we did find our way back to the castle, we’d still have all those g…” she paused and turned back to Spike. “Spike? Silver Stream?!”

Spike held up the crown confidently. “And more.”

They heard the rumble of guards upstairs.

“Then maybe we should head back outside,” Rarity noted with a grin.

Escaping turned out to be easier than Spike thought: the guards had gotten into a series of massive arguments with each other, leaving Rarity, Dash, Spike and Silver free to head out and back to Twilight.

Twilight’s eyes sparkled as she beheld the crown in Spike’s grip. “You got it!”

Shining galloped out, only to skid to a stop. “I can’t believe it.” He gave Spike an appraising grin. “You really pulled it off.”

Spike chuckled softly. “Yeah,” he admitted. “I guess I did.”

“All hail Spike!” Diamondback’s voice declared. “Or should I say… the true Sibling Supreme?”

Twilight and Shining glanced at each other, before giving Spike twin grins. “Yeah,” Twilight said. “The true Sibling Supreme.”

Spike blinked in shock. “H-Huh?”

“The little brother we’ve always had,” Shining agreed, before both of them hugged Spike.

As a collective “Awww” rose from the Mane Six, Spike almost wished he could live in that moment forever. The moment that clarified he was and always would be part of Twilight’s family.

But the moment was ruined once again by his own thoughts.

“Wait… I thought Diamondback was still in the throne room.”

He looked back for her, only to see her tail sweeping out of sight. At the same time… he blinked as he thought he saw a second Diamondback.

He almost wanted to say it was Pyrite, but the shade wasn’t right. Nor was the eye color.

And to make matters better, Diamondback seemed to be carrying a very familiar bell as she scooted past two more arguing guards and slipped out of Canterlot.

Spike blinked, struggling to comprehend. Had Pyrite just stolen the Bell? Or had Diamondback gotten what she wanted?

Further away, Pyrite rejoined Chrysalis and Thorn. Together, they watched Diamondback and her dogs lug the Bell away from Canterlot.

“Yes, run along, my diamond-decorated darling,” Chrysalis hissed with delight. “Walk further and further into the trap that’s waiting for you.”

“That was a nice touch,” Thorn admitted. “Briefly joining the others to keep them focused on praising my counterpart.”

“It was risky,” Pyrite admitted. “But… let’s see if it pays off.” She eagerly watched Diamondback as she followed the diamond dog Myst to Grogar’s domain.