//------------------------------// // Chapter 14: Plans in the Making // Story: The Adventures of Test Subject SP-1K3 // by Dedion //------------------------------// The sound of hooves running on stone echoed throughout the mines. The mares' screams nearly matched their hoofsteps in terms of loudness. While Sweet Crisp and Storm Rider ran ahead, Sapphire stayed behind. Looking back, she saw the many eyes of the flying monsters chasing them. Her horn ignited before discharging a powerful blast of freezing air. While the first dozen of the beasts became little more than ice sculptures before shattering on the ground, the rest of the colony wasn't far behind. Sapphire cursed under her breath before running to catch up with her other teammates. It was almost unbelievable how well those monsters were able to see in the darkness of the mines. If it wasn't for the Eyes of Dragon spell, Sapphire knew they would have all been bumbling around in the dark. It was a shame she couldn't cast it in time to save Diamond. Had she been just a few seconds faster, their commander could have seen that divot in the ground. And maybe Sapphire wouldn't have had to see those flying monstrosities descend upon Diamond, ripping away her flesh as if it were paper. The pool of blood growing ever so larger as Diamond... Sapphire shook those thoughts from her mind as she refocused on running for her life. It did not take long for her to catch up with her teammates. They seemed to be stuck at an intersection of eight mine shafts. Each path seemed to go on forever. "A come on! Where do we go?!" panicked Storm Rider, "There could be a whole bunch of dead ends!" "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it! Come on!" Sweet Crisp yelled as she ran ahead. Storm Rider and Sapphire run alongside Sweet, the pack of canines on could be heard not too far from them. Sapphire lit up her horn again and fired a beam of magic into the ceiling of the mine shaft. Tons upon tons of rocks came tumbling down. The ponies ran as fast as they could to outrun the collapsing tunnel. Luckily enough, they managed to beat the self-made cave-in. Gasping for air, the three ponies took this time to rest. "Wh-what are those things?!" asked Storm. "If I had to guess..." Sapphire took a deep breath before finishing, "... Some type carnivorous bat." "So, the Diamond Dogs just have flying bats that can eat through a pony in less than two minutes?!" Sweet yelled, "Why are those things here?!" "I don't know! Your guess is as good as mine!" retorted Sapphire. Her eye twitched slightly. She paused for a moment before following the sound she heard. "Do you hear that?" "Hear what?" asked Storm. Sapphire did not reply to Storm's questions as she took a few more steps forward before sprinting ahead. "Hey! Wait!" Sweet Crisp exclaimed as she and Storm ran after the unicorn. Eventually, the sounds of rushing water made it to their ears. The group increased their speed and saw that the tunnel was opening up to a large cave. A few wooden platforms and walkways could be seen along the edges of the wall with a large natural stone bridge that stretched over a vast chasm at the center of the cave. However, what grabbed the mares' attention was the massive waterfall roaring to their left. To say that they were happy would have been an understatement. The light from Luna's moon almost made the pony trio break down into tears. Just a little more, and they could teleport to the nearest town, rest, and report back to Celestia and Luna! However, the shriek of dozen upon dozens of bats echoed throughout the cave, making their blood run cold. Swarms of the little devils spewed out from holes in the cave's walls. Sapphire quickly cast a shielding spell to cover the three of them. However, she wasn't quick enough as Storm Rider took to the air. Sapphire screamed for the pegasus to return, but she was cut off by Storm Rider's howls of pain. The bats were quicker than Storm Rider had given them credit for. The moment she took to the air, they chased after her. They quickly attached themselves to her no less than a few yards away from her teammates. Their teeth sunk into her flesh, tearing out chunks of meat with every bite. A few of them had taken an interest in her wings and had begun devouring them. It was not long before the screaming pegasus fell out of the sky and into the rapidly moving river below. Sapphire grit her teeth as the bats continued to ram into her shield. Her horn grew in brightness as she charged for another spell. If these bats were surrounding them, then there was only one way to get rid of them all. "Brace yourself," She ordered Sweet Crisp. The earth pony clenched all her muscles and prepared for whatever Sapphire was about to do. A bright blue light shined throughout the entire cave as Sapphire unleashed a powerful blast of magic. All of the bats that were close enough to Sapphire when she cast her spell were frozen in an instant and shattered into tiny pieces once they hit the ground. Others had a worse fate as they fell out of the air, partially frozen. Those that weren't killed by their fall or by drowning the river cried out as they suffered from frostbite, twitching on the ground in agony. Sapphire panted as she gazed over her work before turning towards a shivering Sweet Crisp. "W-W-Why c-couldn't you use that earlier?!" asked Sweet. Sapphire huffed before she explained herself. "It uses too much huff magic," Sapphire answered. "I'm huff surprised that I'm still standing. Normally, that should..." Sapphire's body chose that at that moment that it was at its limit as she fell to the ground. "Ah... buck..." Sweet stood up and tried to help Sapphire back up. After what seemed like forever, Sweet finally managed to get Sapphire to stand up. The unicorn's legs wobbled with each step she took, and she had to concentrate on moving. They were almost home free. They just had a little more to go, and they could be back with their family. The sunlight began to warm her fur as she hobbled Sapphire along with her. Freedom was just a hop and a skip away. She could practically see her home already. Her sister would welcome her home with a fresh apple pie. She could sleep in her bed, her ever so soft bed. She could nuzzle with her dog and play with him until the sunset, and the moon was high in the sky. Just a couple more steps, a bit of rest, and they would be home free. It was a miracle that most of, if not any, of Spike's stuff had survived his meltdown. He would have to thank Jet for grabbing it. A few holes and more than enough burnt marks appeared across the surface of his bag. His knife, money, and rations made it through mostly unscathed. The rations were a little well done, but he could deal with that. It was his book that took the brunt force of his meltdown. A little less than half of the book was salvageable while the other portion was burned. Spike didn't know what he should be feeling at this moment. So many emotions flooded his mind that it became nauseating. He felt joy and happiness by the fact that he was out of that facility. He was freed from those collars, and he was taking the first steps to ensure he would never be shackled by them again. Spike also felt anger and rage boil softly in his veins. Whether it was his own emotions or influence of the dark magic resting inside of him, Spike felt this deep urge to go out and render all those who sought out to harm him to nothing but ash. However, because he let that urge take control of him earlier, he could feel that Fizzle, Jet, and Garble had distanced themselves from him as one would a dangerous animal, which made Spike feel sad and a bit lonely. A few tears began to sting Spike's eyes as they began to roll out of his tear ducts and down the side of his face. He quickly whipped them away as he looked over what could be salvaged from the situation. Only a few seconds passed by before Spike felt a presence behind him. The young dragon turned around to find Fizzle standing nervously behind him. The two remained in silence for a few moments, but to them, it was an eternity. Upon seeing the book that Spike was holding, Fizzle changed entirely from being awkwardly nervous to surprisingly lively. "That's interesting," Fizzle said, "That grimoire is really odd." "Grimoire?" Spike asked, confused. "That's what that book is," Fizzle explained, "Think of them like magical teaching books. Beings with knowledge of magic, but with no direct heir to teach, make these from time to time so that their knowledge can be passed down. Alone those with a natural ability to use magic or those who've studied it for years can use them, though. What's really interesting is that an author can enchant their grimoire to act a certain way. This grimoire is about pyromancy, right?" Spike nodded head. Fizzle rubbed his chin with his claws. "Normally, a grimoire is enchanted to be resistant against the elements. More so if it's teaching how to manipulate one. So for this grimoire to be burned so bad. I would theorize that whoever made this grimoire enchanted it so that if the user of the book uses fire magic with malicious intent near the book that the book absorbs the magic and burns pages equal to the amount of intent used. So if you wanted to kill someone with fire magic near the book, you'd end up burning a lot of pages." "But why would someone do something like that?" asked Spike, "What's the purpose of learning elemental magic if I can't use it near the book!?" "Well, I've heard that some beings separate education and violence. While they may teach you combat-focused spells to defend yourself, they don't want you to use it in a place of learning. So the author might have thought that this book would only be used in a school or something and enchanted it, so if you use magic with the intent to hurt someone near it, you will lose knowledge as a consequence." Fizzle said. The two dragons continued to talk for what seemed like a few minutes, but they had been chatting for hours. They were only stopped by the loud groans of Fang. Spike rushed over to his friend and check on her. She complained about the pain in her arm, where the arrow was ripped out. Fang glared daggers at Garble while she did so. In her complaining, she didn't notice Spike's new wings to which she had more than enough questions. It took some time to get the little dragon to calm down, but once she was, the group began to put their plan into motion. With Fizzle leading them, the group dug their way down into the rock. They continued to dig for what felt like forever until they made their way into an out-of-commission mineshaft. The group then took a break while Fizzle looked at his maps. The rest of the group passed around a few snacks while they all waited to catch their breaths. Midway through his meal, Spike heard something. His ears tuned into the sound that was coming from his left to try and make out what he was hearing. It almost sounded like... screaming. Pony screaming to be more precise. The voices in his head returned with glee in their tone. HoWW?! PonIEs live? ImPOSsible. No MATTer, We CaN FInish the JOb! Spike felt the rage boil inside him. Purple sparks flashed across his body as he began to move. Before Spike could stand up, the young drake forced himself to sit back down. The voices screamed at him and questioned as to why he would hesitate to finish off those ponies. Spike argued that they were not a threat. By how far away the screams were and by how much they were fading away, the ponies were too far away to do any harm to them. BuT, what HaPPens If THeY escape? Tell PrInCESseS? Hatred began to fill Spike's eyes, but he forced himself to calm down. Rage and hate weren't what he needed right now. The stunt he pulled earlier manage to put the teenage dragons in the group on edge, and if he wanted to earn their trust back, he would have to stay calm. The voices were cut out by Fizzle, putting a claw on Spike's right shoulder. "Spike, are you okay?" Fizzle asked. The young drake turned his head to respond. "I'll be fine," Spike replied. Fizzle stared at Spike for a moment. "You're hearing those voices, aren't you?" Fizzle asked. Though, with his tone, Spike suspected that it was more of a statement than a question. "... Yes," answered Spike, "I thought I heard ponies screaming, and they reacted like they usually do." "There is no way you heard ponies," Jet commented. The two turned around to see Jet slouching against the wall. "After what you did, those ponies are deader than dead. We won't even be able to find even a hair from them down there. It's probably some bats or something." Spike nodded in agreement. With their leader's horn broken and the rest in a panic, he most likely killed them. "In any case, we should be hurrying up. If we can manage to get out of here before the sun sets, we can get some scavenging done. Topping off our supplies isn't a bad start to our journey home." said Fizzle. The rest of the group nodded before they followed Fizzle down the mineshaft. Fang helped Spike up, and the two walked behind their older counterparts. "Twilight, honey, you should be resting!" Twilight Velvet pleaded to her daughter. However, Twilight continued on writing and editing her research. She may not be able to use her legs again, but she wasn't going to just sit around while there was work to do. Books nearly towered to the ceiling while a sea of crumpled paper with magic theories and equations written on them. A chalkboard stood at the foot of the purple unicorn's bed. Equations, graphs, and other things filled the board that was beyond Twilight Sparkle's mother's understanding. "I need to finish this, mom," Twilight replied, "I can almost taste it, I'm so close. I'll sleep when I'm done." "Twilight! You've been doing this ever since you've gotten back. You haven't eaten anything, and the only thing you've drunk is coffee!" "Oh, that reminds me-" Twilight levitated a coffee pot over to her mother, not taking her eyes off the board. "Can you give me a refill, please?" "I'm not giving you more coffee, Twilight. I'm serious when I say that you can't keep doing this. You aren't going to keep doing this! Not in my house!! You nearly worked yourself to death in those facilities, and I'll be damned if I'll let you do it here." For the first time since Twilight arrived at her parent's home, she stopped writing on the chalkboard. She turned her attention to her mother, who had tears building up in her eyes. "I've always been told it's a mother's job to worry about her children, but I don't think they meant I should fear for my children's wellbeing," Velvet paused for a moment to get her words in order. "Twilight, do you know how long it's been since I've seen you smile? How long it's been since I've seen that spark in your eyes? You've done amazing work for Equestria, and for ponykind, don't get me wrong. But, you would have to be blind to not notice how much it's taken from you. You can't do this anymore, Twilight. Whether you think so or not, you've reached your limit, and I'm not about to just stand by while my daughter continues to work herself to an early grave. You can stop now, Twilight. It's over." Twilight stared at her mother, surprised. Was she really that easy to read? Twilight turned her head towards the chalkboard in front of her. Her eyes scanned the board for what must have been the hundredth time. She was so close to finishing her work, but there was still something missing. Spike's reaction to her spell before when she tried to cleanse him of the dark magic in his body meant that there was something else going on with him other than what she had previously expected. Not to mention, he was free now. The equivalent of a walking time bomb of mass destruction was just out in the world. He was a danger to those around him as well as himself, and that danger only grew as time went on. It was then that a thought came into her mind, maybe she was going about this all wrong. She was dealing with dark magic and severe dark magic at that. If there weren't enough sufficient resources that Twilight could use on her own, then maybe the princesses could be more help to finish her work. Her pride hated the idea of asking the princesses for help, but her mind told her that this was now the best course of action. She had tried her best on her own, but she was restricted by many factors. Surely the princesses, being alive for as long as they had been, knew of something else that they could add to this. "Alright, mom," Twilight started, "I guess your right. I'll hand over the rest of my research to the princesses, and I'll wash my hooves of this for good." "I know this may have meant something to you, Twilly, but you'll see it was for the best," Velvet pulled her daughter in for a hug and the two embraced each other for a few moments. Once the two separated, Velvet spoke again. "I'm going to go ahead and start a bath for you. We're having take-out from Hay-burger tonight, so start thinking about what you want to eat tonight. Oh, and don't worry about the mess, we'll help clean it up tomorrow." "Okay, mom, thank you," Twilight said as her mother exited her room. She pulled out a quill and paper before beginning to write to the princesses. "Dear Princess Celestia and Luna, I wish to have a meeting with you to discuss something that involves Spike (the dragon that responsible for the escape of nearly all dragons at my previous employment) and his... special magic..."