Listen well, for what I am about to tell you is a secret of the highest secrecy. Spike bravely flung himself down the dreaded passage, his head and heart filled with worry for all life, including the lives of the three demons who had caused this catastrophe in the first place.
But, as is with most things in life, the reality of the situation far outweighed anything his imagination could even hope to conceive of.
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Three things were immediately apparent to Spike.
Those three things, collectively called the Cutie Mark Crusaders, were standing next to the pond, completely soaked in water, and thankfully for the entirety of the multiverse, there was only three of them.
All three of them immediately turned their dreaded, angry gazes towards the dragon.
“What was that for!?”
“Do you know how long it takes to dry feathers!?”
“My ribbon!!!”
Spike, however, paid the screams and gazes no mind. Something else had become apparent to him.
Something ominous and glowing was coming from the mirror pool, just beneath the surface. And was becoming brighter. And while it just looked like some kind of ominous glowing thing from here, it appeared as if it would soon burst right out of the po-
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Brave Spike, worried for the well-being of all things, immediately sprung into action! He bravely charged to the three demons, grabbing and lifting them with his mighty strength, rushed them to a safe distance, behind cover, and then rushed back to the mirror pool, to face whatever monstrosity would await him!
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Spike, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Applebloom were all at the back end of the cavern, each of them very carefully, very cautiously, looking over the rock they were hiding behind, staring with baited breath at the mystical pool, which was now glowing as bright as the sun on a day where Celestia was kinda hungover, otherwise known as ‘New Years Day Sun’ (which is to say dim enough to look directly at for a few minutes with no adverse effects)
“Uh….not that I’m afraid or anything, but shouldn’t we try to get out of here?” Scootaloo shakily questioned, obviously not scared of her impending doom at all.
The other two CMC, equally unafraid of what horrible fate awaited them from inside the pool, muttered an agreement as they noticed the pool beginning to bubble as if it was being boiled with a low flame.
Spike made a decision. Not only was the safety of the three troublemakers at risk, but quite possibly all of Equestria. He knew what he had to do.
He quickly pulled out a scroll and a quill, and wrote a very short and simple message.
Mirror Pool. Code Omega.
Without even bothering to carefully roll the scroll up as he usually did, he merely breathed his magical flames upon it, and sent it on its way to Celestia.
Well, that’s what was supposed to happen.
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The fire of a dragon that is hatched via magic is said to be among the purest forms of magic there is. It requires no complicated spells, no mental gymnastics, and no effort on the part of the dragon. It merely is. It comes from the very core of the dragon. The magical properties of this fire do not need to be learned. A dragon, from birth, simply knows what it can do with his fire, a fact that made Spike’s caretaker Twilight Sparkle extremely jealous in her younger days. But the simple fact was that Spike knew, with all his heart, that no matter what, his magical fire was infallible.
So suffice to say, it was one of the greatest shocks of the young dragon’s life to see the scroll, wrapped in his flame as it began its journey to Canterlot, suddenly struck down by a sudden burst water from the pool. A burst that was far too well timed, well placed, and deliberate for Spike to discount to mere randomness.
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Three fillies and one dragon saw their last hope for salvation go down in a blast of water.
“We’re doomed” Sweetie Belle calmly stated as the Mirror Pools boiling began to rise to threatening to overflow, the heat of it being so hot that it could be felt from behind the rock that served as their hiding place.
“Eeyup” Applebloom said, in a tone that would make her oldest brother proud.
“I always pictured my eventual demise happening with more explosions” Scootaloo deadpanned.
“Eeyup”
“I blame you three for this”
“We understand.” All three CMC droned in an entirely too well practiced unison.
Spike would have pondered this (and he was sure Twilight Sparkle would have encouraged him to do research) but the current situation was about to literally explode in his face, or looked like it was about to as the light was now burning brightly as the sun, and was giving off a heat that felt like it could have come from the sun itself. Not to mention the geysers that were forming and rising ever higher and higher
And then a loud CRACK erupted from the pool
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Celestia was only half listening to the earth pony who was strongly preaching the finer points of property tax law to her. Which was immensely frustrating for the Princess of the Sun, seeing as how Celestia knew everything about the laws on the books, and it would be rude of her to interrupt her guest’s impassioned speech just so she could point out how his complaint was already covered by Revenue & Taxation Code Chapter Sixty-two Section three.
Oh, and the ominous letter sent by Spike earlier.
Not that she didn’t trust Spike. Celestia knew that Spike would tell her if she needed to head to Ponyville for any reason, and that no news was good news. And yet, she couldn’t help but worry...though the fact this pony was now ranting about unrecorded contracts made her think boredom was a bigger factor than worry in her rush to leave.
She was both thankful and worried when a stream of green flame, most assuredly a letter from spike, came in through a window. Worried about what it held, thankful that it temporarily silenced the pony.
The Princess carefully took the letter into her magic, and opened it.
She stared at the contents of the letter. Then she stared out the window that overlooked her Garden, where she could very clearly see an odd looking statue that upon a cursory glance would look like a mishmash of creatures, but was actually the incarnation of evil. She then looked back at the letter.
The writing in the letter was certainly not Spike’s writing. For one, the writing was scratchy and messy, not the flowing perfectly spaced script the dragon was known for. And more importantly, the last time this language was used….
Her eyes wandered back to the accursed statue. Then she calmly rolled the letter back up, set it aside, and spoke as calmly as she could.
“You’ll have to forgive me, Mr. Spud, but my immediate attention is needed elsewhere. Please talk to my secretary, and she will ensure that you will be able to talk to Luna first thing this evening.”
And she promptly took flight as fast as she could, tearing across the skies towards Ponyville as fast as her wings could carry her, the fact that a sonic boom going off right above Canterlot tended to be frowned upon the furthest worry from her mind.