Dragon’s Odyssey

by GrumpyMonk97

Chapter 9: Notes from the Underground

Morning crested over the horizon as the residents of the Kirin Grove awakened. The Kirin had begun to make repairs to their homes in the aftermath of the battle against the ice golem, so the Grove was bustling and lively. The group was waiting by the outskirts of the Grove, with Spring Leaf saying her goodbyes to Forest Fire.

“You’re leaving right? You sure you’re gonna be okay?” Forest Fire asked, concern clearly evident in her voice.

“Don’t worry, I won’t be alone. I’m more worried about you.” Spring Leaf responded. Forest Fire pulled her into a hug, which she returned in kind.

“Be careful.” Forest Fire whispered as they parted. Spring Leaf gave her a smile and a nod as she turned to leave with the dragons.

“So, got any leads we can follow up on?” Spike asked as Spring Leaf caught up with them.

“There is one that comes to mind. Autumn Blaze.” Spring Leaf responded.

“Who?” Ember asked.

“She’s a Kirin who’s been scouting the wilds ever since the monsters got released from Tartarus. Apparently, she’s somewhere near Griffonstone right now.” Spring Leaf explained.

“Let’s hope she’s still there by the time we get there. It’d suck to have made that trip for nothing.” Smolder chimed in.

The group began their journey towards Griffonstone, traveling for the entirety of the day before eventually stopping to make camp for the night. They all sat around the fire, having just finished off some of the rations they were given and were now just taking in the warmth of the flame.

“Man, I could really go for some gems right now. It’s been too long.” Spike groaned as he layed on his back next to the fire.

“I heard that. A shame they’ve been so rare lately.” Garble agreed.

“Gems?” Spring Leaf asked.

“I guess you could say that gems are something of a delicacy for dragons.” Spike explained.

“I see.” Spring Leaf said hesitantly.

“Don’t worry. Most of the ponies in Ponyville didn’t get it either.” Ember said in a deadpan tone. The group fell silent for a moment as they watched the fire crackle and pop.

“So, how far out are we from Griffonstone?” Smolder asked, finally breaking the silence.

“Probably another half a day at most. We made good progress today.” Ember responded.

“You think Autumn Blaze is still there?” Garble asked.

“She should be. Last I heard, she was going to be spending quite a bit of time there, so we should be able to find her. That said, we should get some rest for the journey tomorrow.” Spring Leaf said.

“Agreed.” Smolder retorted. The camp fell silent as the group gradually drifted off to sleep. The night continued to pass but at one point, something ominous stalked the camp. They were all still asleep as the figure slithered around, taking care not to make too much noise. As it rose up from the ground to strike at Smolder, she slowly blinked awake and saw the figure standing above her, ready to go for the kill. At first, she passed it off as a hazy vision from being half asleep but soon her eyes shot open as she realized what was happening. She saw a giant snake creature rearing back its head to take a bite at her, and she shot out a stream of fire breath to force it to back off. The rest of the camp awoke suddenly at the sounds of combat. They all saw the snake creature looming above Smolder, and they saw that it had a strange looking face, one that didn’t look like a snake.

“What is that?!” Spring Leaf exclaimed in shock.

“It’s a Naga. Quick, we’ve gotta deal with it!” Spike explained as Smolder had just moved to avoid the Naga’s venomous spray, which melted away some of the rock it landed on. Spring Leaf shot a blast of magic from her horn, which caused the Naga to slither towards her with blinding speed. It almost reached her when Ember planted the butt of the Scepter into the Naga’s tail, causing it to lurch to a halt. It turned around and spat a glob of venom towards Ember, with Garble just barely tackling her out of the way in time.

“My hero.” Ember said flirtatiously.

“It’s what I do.” Garble gave back with a toothy grin.

“Seriously!? Now!?” Smolder shouted as she ran towards them. Spring Leaf then changed into her Nirik form and started lobbing fire towards the Naga. It slithered out of the way before Spike caught it in the face with a strong punch, sending it flying backwards. It then burrowed underground, away from the group.

“Form up!” Spike shouted. They all stood back to back, the camp only faintly illuminated by the dying fire and Spring Leaf’s Nirik form. They all stood silently, not daring to move or say anything. Time seemed to have stopped. And then suddenly, the ground beneath them began to rumble, and the Naga burst up and scattered all of them. It saw its opportunity as Spring Leaf’s Nirik form had faded, so it slithered towards her incredibly fast. Just as it was about to reach her however, a blast of fire hit it directly in the face, though it hadn’t come from any of the dragons. More blasts of fire pelted it as it shrieked out in pain, eventually falling still. The group looked up and to their surprise, they saw another Kirin. Her Nirik form dropped away as she saw who exactly she had just saved.

“Omigosh, Spring Leaf!? Is that you?” The Kirin called out excitedly as she ran over and pulled Spring Leaf into a crushing hug. “Ooh, it’s been forever. How have you been?”

“Autumn Blaze? Where did you come from? How did you know we were here?” Spring Leaf asked, puzzled by her sudden appearance.

“Well you see, I was out near Griffonstone and I just happened to be making my way back to the Grove when I thought ‘Hey, maybe I should take a breather for a bit’ cause lemme tell ya, it’s a heck of a walk back to the Grove from Griffonstone…” She rattled on and on for some time, to the point where the dragons were having a hard time keeping up.

“Is she always like this?” Smolder asked Spring Leaf.

“Autumn’s always been a bit of a chatterbox. She was the first of us to cure the effects of the Stream of Silence, and sometimes it seems like she’s making up for lost time.” Spring Leaf explained before she tried to get Autumn Blaze’s attention. “Autumn? Autumn!”

“Huh, what? Oh right. What are you doin out here? I figured you’d be helping out at the Grove.” Autumn Blaze asked as she plopped down into a sitting position and waited for an answer.

“Actually, we came out here looking for you.” Spike piped up as he raised a hand.

“Ooh, I don’t think I know you. Nice to meet ya, I’m Autumn Blaze.”

“Spike. I’m actually a friend of Applejack and Fluttershy. They mentioned you the first time they came back from-“ Autumn Blaze gave a sharp gasp.

“You know Applejack and Fluttershy? Well isn’t that something? It’s always good to meet friends of friends isn’t it? Just a shame what happened ya know? With Canterlot, and Tartarus getting busted open and all that. Wish I’d have dropped them a line sooner.” Autumn Blaze trailed off and suddenly got rather serious for a moment before shaking it off. “Anyways, why come all the way out here to find me?”

“We’re looking for a dangerous pony named Opaline who’s been utilizing monsters from Tartarus. We figured you might have an idea where she was heading.” Spike explained.

“Autumn, she attacked the Grove. She took Rain Shine.” Spring Leaf chimed in.

“What?!” Autumn Blaze suddenly looked horrified. “Do you know where she was taken?”

“We were hoping you might have a clue to that.” Ember stated plainly.

“Can’t say I do. But now that I think about it, I did come across something weird last night on my way here. This pony was meeting with some strange guys. It was dark so I couldn’t tell what they looked like.” Autumn Blaze pondered.

“Where was this exactly?” Spike asked.

“A bit to the east. We could set out first thing in the morning.” Autumn responded.

“That would probably be best. Let’s get what rest we can for now.” Ember said.

Morning soon came, and the camp all awoke and set out for the sight of this mysterious meeting Autumn Blaze had witnessed, and the six of them eventually found themselves in a wide open clearing.

“You sure this is where is was?” Garble asked.

“Pretty sure. This seems like the spot I saw them in. Remember, it was dark when I was here the first time.” Autumn Blaze responded, trying to recall what it was she saw. Looking around, the group didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, that is until Smolder noticed that the ground in one spot looked a bit different.

“Hey guys. I think I found something.” She called to the rest of the group. They all gathered around her to see what she had found.

“I think if I pull this away…” Smolder trailed off as she started pulling at the loose roots and branches. All of a sudden, they heard a crumbling sound and before any of the dragons could take flight, the ground collapsed underneath them and they fell down a deep hole. They eventually landed, everyone collectively groaning in pain at the big fall they had just taken.

“Everycreature okay?” Ember asked the group. She got grunts and mumbles from the group, signifying that they were okay. Spike took in his surroundings and saw that they were in some kind of underground cavern. He noticed that it looked similar to where he had first encountered the Diamond Dogs, though he could tell that this was something different, as the architecture had much more refined pillars and columns, along with the walls being lined with what he could have sworn was chitin.

“Chitin? This isn’t a Changeling Hive is it?” Spike wondered aloud.

“No. Changeling Hives don’t have this much metal in the architecture.” Smolder answered. Spike cocked an eyebrow at her. “You can thank Ocellus for the history lesson.”

“Ah.” Spike replied.

“What do you think this is then?” Spring Leaf asked. Suddenly, they could hear something coming from the walls. They looked up and saw strange looking beings crawling out of the walls. Before they knew it, the group found themselves surrounded by what looked like praying mantis type creatures with four arms who were brandishing spears. The caverns were filled with clicking and chittering as the group saw that they had nowhere to go. They saw one that was larger than the rest approach them, clicking and chittering as he examined them.

“Take them to the chieftain.” He told the others. They all started shoving the group down one of the tunnels, leading them to whoever this mysterious chieftain was. Along the way, they could see that the walls had been carved out into a maze of tunnels and lined with refined metal and marble, though it didn’t look like it had been done with tools.

It looks like it’s been… eaten?” Spike thought to himself.

After some time being led down various tunnels and pathways, they eventually came to a large room that had displays of various weapons and artifacts. The group saw a throne that had a massive praying mantis creature seated upon it, a guard at each side.

“We caught these ones in the outer tunnels. This one had a shiny trinket on them.” The guard said as he took the Blood Stone Scepter from Ember’s grasp and presented it to the chieftain.

“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll give that back, bug!” Ember growled.

“What even are you? I don’t think Equestria has anything like you.” Spike asked, genuinely curious about the creatures before them.

“You are correct, dragon. The Thri-Kreen are not at all common in Equestria. As you can see, we’ve made our homes underground, staying out of sight of those above.” The chieftain explained.

“You’ve been down here all this time?” Spring Leaf asked.

“Indeed. But that will soon change. We were promised unimaginable power and control of territories above. All we have to do is protect this.” The chieftain presented his prize before the dragons, and to their shock, it was one of the dragon eggs Opaline had stolen.

“Why did Opaline give that to you? What does she want?” Spike asked, his tone slowly growing angrier.

“The pony did not say. She only said to protect it until it hatched, and that she would come to retrieve it once it did. Regardless, it is now time for The Feast to begin!” The chieftain declared. The Thri-Kreen all chittered and cheered as the group was suddenly dropped down into an even deeper hole. What they saw was a series of tunnels going every which way, darkness blanketing their surroundings.

“Oh this ain’t good. What should we do?” Autumn Blaze asked nervously.

“Stay close. Anything could be down here.” Ember told them as they could still hear the Thri-Kreen chittering above them. There was a rumble in the walls around them, and a giant insect creature burst from the wall and roared at them.

“Woah. That’s one big bug.” Smolder said as her eyes went wide.

“Move!” Spring Leaf shouted as the creature snapped at them with its giant mandibles, taking a chunk out of the wall in the process. The group all split up down separate tunnels, desperate to try and get some distance from the creature. The insectoid creature then took off after its closest target, who happened to be Spring Leaf. She went into her Nirik form and started blasting it with fire, which seemed to just bounce off the creature’s hardened carapace. It slashed forward at Spring Leaf with its razor sharp front legs, taking sizable chunks out of the floor and wall. Spring Leaf kept running down the winding path of the tunnel, taking pot shots at the creature still rushing furiously behind her and managing to actually put a fair bit of distance between them. The tunnel eventually let out and she saw the others exiting out from their respective tunnels as well, leading out into a central atrium far removed from where they started.

“Not good. What do we do?” Garble asked. Autumn Blaze studied the area around them before her eyes went wide.

“I’ve got an idea!” Autumn Blaze exclaimed, having also changed into her Nirik form. “Pool your fire and aim at the ceiling of that tunnel!” She gestured to the tunnel where they saw the giant insectoid creature barreling towards them quite quickly. They all did as told, pooling their fire into a giant ball and just as the creature approached the entryway, they launched it at the ceiling above the archway, collapsing the tunnel right on top of the creature.

“Great idea Autumn!” Spring Leaf exclaimed excitedly.

“Come on, we’re outta here!” Garble exclaimed before taking a strong leap upward and busting open the ceiling that was already weakened from the fire blast from earlier. They all emerged into the upper level and saw that the Thri-Kreen were already mobilizing.

“We’ve gotta get to the throne room so we can get that egg and my Scepter back!” Ember informed the group.

“We’re gonna have quite the fight ahead of us.” Spring Leaf said.

“We’d better not let up then.” Smolder said as she shot out a stream of fire breath to break apart a crowd of Thri-Kreen in front of them. The group made their way forward as the crowd parted, narrowly avoiding the swipes from the remaining Thri-Kreen and managing to slip into one of the side tunnels.

“If I remember correctly, the throne room should be this way.” Spring Leaf stated as they continued to run. The group stopped dead in their tracks when a blast of energy hit the ground right in front of them. They looked up and saw a Thri-Kreen on one of the upper ledges who had a different styled chitinous growth on its hand charging another blast of magical energy from its hand. Autumn Blaze changed into her Nirik form and shot a blast of flame from her horn at the magic casting Thri-Kreen. As they moved, they were bombarded with more blasts of magic, eventually getting separated in the chaos. Garble found that he was by himself after avoiding the chaos from that corridor, and after catching his breath, he heard a distinct ringing sound. He patted himself down and eventually pulled out that communicator he got back in Klugetown. He pressed the answer button and saw Spike’s face appear on the screen.

“Hey, you ok? It looks like we got separated back there.” Spike asked.

“Yeah, yeah I’m good. Where are you guys?” Garble asked.

“Not really sure. But we’ll be looking for a way to get out of here fast once we get what we need.” Spike explained. Garble peaked around a corner and saw the giant doors they were led through earlier.

“Good stuff, cause I think I just found the throne room. I’m gonna try to get in and get the Scepter and the egg so we can make a run for it.” Garble said, keeping his voice low so as to not potentially attract any more attention.

“Understood. Just be careful though. It could be a trap.” Spike said.

“I’ll be in and out before ya know it.” Garble responded as he ended the call. He approached the large metal doors cautiously, hearing shouting and chittering coming from far down one of the tunnels off to the side. He quickly pushed the doors open to enter the throne room and was surprised to find it empty, with the Scepter and the dragon egg sitting unoccupied on display next to the throne. Garble scratched his head in confusion but made sure to approach carefully in the event that it was indeed a trap. As he reached out a hand to take the items, he could feel a presence behind him. He turned around and saw the Thri-Kreen chieftain emerge out of the floor and take a stab at him with one of his dual sabers. The saber was impaled through the throne as Garble elbowed the chieftain in the face, causing him to let go of the saber and back off. Garble then grabbed it by the hilt and pulled it out of the throne.

“I think you’ve had those for long enough.” Garble stated as he gestured to the Scepter and dragon egg.

“Not so. Once Opaline has achieved her goal, she will grant me unimaginable power.” The chieftain replied as he twirled his remaining saber between his gnarled fingers.

“That’s not gonna happen. We’ll make sure of that.” Garble said with conviction as he took a fighting stance with saber in hand. The chieftain beat his fist against his chest, a rough striking sound echoing from the carapace.

“You’ll have to get past me first!” The chieftain roared as he charged at Garble with his saber. Garble clumsily deflected the strike with his own saber, causing the chieftain to laugh.

“You don’t have much experience with a blade do you?”

“Maybe not, but I’ve got other tricks to make up the difference.” Garble responded as he threw a swift punch right into the chieftain’s chest, only to see that nothing happened. His confident grin dropped as the chieftain laughed once more.

“I have the ability to harden my outer carapace at will. It makes my shell harder than steel!” The chieftain explained as he hardened the carapace around his head and gave Garble a solid headbutt. Garble felt dizzy at the force of the impact but quickly recovered as he took a slash with the saber in his hand. The chieftain parried the blow and threw a solid kick into Garble’s abdomen, having hardened the shell around his leg for extra impact. He then grabbed Garble by the throat and hoisted him up into the air, slamming him on the ground on his back. Garble tried to sweep his leg but the chieftain had hardened the shell of his leg once more so he barely flinched at Garble’s attack. He then grabbed Garble and flung him across the throne room and into the far wall. As Garble picked himself up, he raised his saber to block another strike from the chieftain.

“I must say, you’ve survived longer than I expected. But you should learn to quit when you’re outmatched.” The chieftain chittered menacingly.

“I’m a slow learner. It’s one of my issues.” Garble responded sarcastically as he shoved the chieftain back, knocking the saber out of his hand. He moved to strike Garble with his hardened fist when Garble shot out a stream of fire breath, causing the hardening on the chieftain’s shell to fade slightly. That’s when it hit him.

“Seems like that hardened shell of yours doesn’t hold up well against extreme heat, does it?” Garble asked as he flashed another confident grin. As the chieftain charged towards him, Garble kept pelting him with concentrated fire blasts. The chieftain eventually broke through the assault and grabbed Garble by the throat while using his bottom set of arms to crush Garble in a vice grip.

“It’s over, dragon. Now you die.” The chieftain breathed with sadistic glee as he attempted to choke the life out of Garble.

“Don’t count on it pal.” Garble managed to choke out as he brought down an elbow on the chieftain’s collarbone. He then grabbed the set of hands around his throat and wrenched them away before kicking with both legs so that the chieftain dropped him to the ground. As the chieftain rushed towards him again, Garble belted out the biggest blast of flame he could muster. It covered the chieftain’s entire body, causing his hardened carapace to crack and fade. Seeing his opportunity, Garble wrapped both arms around the chieftain’s waist and power bombed him into the floor, taking him out of the fight for good. Garble stopped to catch his breath for a moment before he stumbled over to the display where the egg and the Scepter were being kept. Grabbing them quickly, he then pulled out his communication device and called up Spike.

“Hey, what happened? I thought you’d just be in and out.” Spike asked once he finally picked up.

“Got a little sidetracked. I’m on my way now, stuff and all.” Garble responded as he made his way to the throne room doors. “Where are you now?”

“If you take the west tunnel, you should find us.”

“Sounds good.” Garble said. As he was about to leave, he heard chittering laughter coming from behind him. He saw the chieftain raise up a hand that started to glow. There was suddenly rumbling in the floor and walls as it started to fall apart.

“I’ll make sure none of you leave here alive!” The chieftain roared as the underground caverns started to collapse.

“You’re insane! Spike, you guys gotta move. I’ll meet up with you soon!” Garble shouted into the communicator before hanging up and bolting out of the throne room. Meanwhile, Spike and the others could feel the rumbling as well as the other Thri-Kreen started to run, though where they would go is anyone’s guess.

“Anyone see a way out?!” Smolder exclaimed. They all looked for any sort of exit until Spring Leaf saw a small opening in the ceiling just above them where daylight slightly peaked in from.

“There!” She shouted as she shifted into her Nirik form and blasted the opening with fire to make it large enough to climb through. They all made their way out of the opening, with Spike and Smolder carrying Spring Leaf and Autumn Blaze as they couldn’t fly. Floating in the air as they witnessed the underground hive collapsing, they all began to worry a bit more when they didn’t see Garble right away.

“You think he’s gonna make it?” Smolder asked out of concern for her brother. Spike simply kept his gaze fixed on the collapsing hive.

Come on man. You believed in me when I was dying, now it’s my turn to believe in you. You gotta make it.

After a few more seconds of waiting, they all saw Garble burst forth from the hive just as it finished collapsing and fall face first into the dirt. The group landed to check on his condition and to see if he had the items. After he didn’t move for a few moments, Spike shook him gently.

“Garble? Hey man, you okay?”

Garble groaned as he picked himself up, and presented his prizes; in one hand was the Blood Stone Scepter, and the other was one of the dragon eggs that had been stolen.

“What’d I tell ya? In and out before you know it.” He quipped as the group all breathed a collective sigh of relief. Ember and Smolder swept him up in a hug while Spike placed an affirming hand on his shoulder. Spring Leaf and Autumn Blaze both stood by the dragons’ side with happy smiles as the group chatted and laughed about what had just taken place. As they did, a mysterious group of individuals wearing cloaks watched from a hilltop above them, being careful not to give away their position. One of the individuals pulled off their hood to reveal the face of a parrot, who pulled out a similar artifact to the dragon’s’ communication devices and called up a mysterious female figure.

“It’s them.” He said in a deep, gruff voice.

“Are you sure?” The female figure asked.

“Positive. I just confirmed it myself.” The parrot replied back.

“Bring them to me. No matter what it takes.” The figure told him.

“Understood.” The parrot gave back as he ended the call. He returned to his partner, who just watch the group of dragons and Kirin silently as they began walking away from the ruins of the Thri-Kreen hive.

“What’d she say?” He asked the parrot, not taking his gaze off the group.

“Said to bring them in. I figure since it was your tracer that led us to them, you should be the one to do the honors Benga.” The parrot said. The other figure then pulled off his hood, revealing a tabby cat Abyssinian with light brown fur, black stripes, and yellowish green eyes.

“Then we’d better not waste any more time.”

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Spike, Smolder, and Ember I can understand, but is Garble really that important a character?

[PhoenixFlambe]

Imminent betrayal?