Mount Everhoof. A beautiful sight to behold, but an ever treacherous challenge to climb. The tallest and oldest mountain on the planet, the tall giant has stood the test of time. With little to no one ever being able to reach its summit. With its perilous winds and dangerous slopes, no one could ever achieve to climb it. Only one pony ever reached the top, and how they did it remains a mystery. No sane creature has ever since dared tried to climb it.
“Gah!”
Well, save for those with questionable sanity.
Chrysalis groaned as she was flung back into the snow. She picked herself up to see her centaur companion reach out and touch the magical barrier in front of them. Tirek recoiled in pain as his hand burned against the magical barrier. Several large boulders with ancient ruins glowed as the barrier faded from visibility.
“Can you absorb it, and make it go away?” Cozy Glow asked as she hovered next to him.
“I can only absorb magic from living beings,” Tirek responded. Cozy paused for a moment before glancing back at Chrysalis.
“Like her?” She said pointing to the changeling.
“Betrayal!” Chrysalis accused as she got into a battle position.
“Not betrayal, teamwork,” Cozy said, her companions tilted their heads at her statement. “If Tirek absorbs your energy, he might be strong enough to break through!” Cozy explained, Tirek smirked at the idea, staring at his muscles at the thought of becoming stronger.
“And then?” Chrysalis questioned.
“Then...he gives it back!” Cozy responded, snapping Tirek out of his moment.
“I do?” Tirek said.
“Mm-hmm” Cozy nodded. Tirek frowned as he lowered his arms in disappointment.
“How do I know you won’t take my magic and leave me?” Chrysalis said glaring at the two.
“Would we do that too you?” Cozy said in a cute voice. Chrysalis stuck out a hoof at them, emphasizing who they are and their history. Sheepishly Cozy responded, “Okay, normally we would.” This didn’t inspire confidence in the queen.
Sighing Tirek spoke up, “I’ll give you your magic back.” Chrysalis looked between the two and the cave entrance, seeing no other option Chrysalis relented.
“Do it.” The queen spoke as she braced herself for what she was agreeing too. Tirek stood tall and opened his mouth. Breathing in heavily he started to drain Chrysalis’s magic. Green energy shot out from her horn and into the centaur’s mouth. Cozy watched on in awe as the centaur began to grow larger, his muscles increasing in size, and his horns curving and growing larger. Chrysalis gasped as the last of her magic left her, collapsing in exhaustion.
“So...much….POWER!” Tirek shouted, his voice booming across the mountain top. Giving his new larger muscles a kiss he turned to the cave entrance. “Welcome back baby!” He said before firing a beam of energy at the barrier. Unfortunately for the trio, the barrier held, with only a small hole. “It’s not big enough for me!” Tirek groaned as sweat started to roll down his face. The barrier was putting up more of a fight than the centaur thought.
“Maybe not you!” Cozy said before flying through the hole. Turning back she shouted to the centaur, “Keep it open! Or I’ll be trapped forever!” Cozy said before flying into the cave.
“Would that be so terrible?” Chrysalis bemused.
Cozy flew through the dark cave, the further she went in the darker it became.
“Ugh, I should’ve brought a light.” Cozy groaned. Continuing her search, after several minutes she saw a faint cyan glow coming from behind a corner. She turned a corner and gasped at what she saw. There in the center of the room, was the Bewitching Bell. It sat inside the mouth of a stone dragon’s head. The dragon didn’t look like any she had ever seen. This one had a long snout, rugged carved scales along its face, a crown formed out of its scales at its head, long sharp teeth, and rubies in place of the eyes. It appeared as if it was glaring at her, like a dog protecting its precious bone. Intimidated by the sculpture she dropped to the floor, her wings pinned to her sides.
“Get a hold of yourself Cozy, it’s just a glorified rock it can’t hurt you.” She muttered to herself, giving herself a good smack on the cheek to shake her from her daze. She cautiously approached the statue, looking closely she didn’t see any traps. The bell glowed softly blue in the maw of the beast. Shakily she rose to her hind hooves and reached out to grab the bell.
“Almost got it…” Cozy said as her hooves grazed the bell, suddenly her vision blurred and she was bombarded with strange images of fire and destruction, accompanied by strange sounds and voices.
“You shall not prevail!”
“What lies down there?”
“There’s got to be millions worth of gold in here!”
“No, wait! This is a-”
“No amount of gold is worth this!”
“Run? There’s no escaping that thing!”
“What strange energy you have….”
“That thing can’t be tamed!”
“It’s immune to magic!?”
“I WILL NOT FAIL! I SHALL PREVAIL!”
“Foul thing! You haven’t had the last laAAAUUUGGGHHHH!”
“I’m sorry you’ve become too dangerous. Forgive me. Hovvk mld, groo gsv dliow mvvwh blf!”
“GAH!” Cozy yelped as she fell backward. She felt like she’d ran a hundred miles, her heart was racing. Her hair was standing up on end. She could feel her whole body shake. A chill went down her spine like she was staring down the jaws of a monster. Looking back up at the bell it glowed softly, whispers coming from the dark artifact.
“HURRY!” Her shock was broken as she heard Tirek’s cry. She was running out of time. Thinking quickly she took off her snowcap and wrapped the bell inside it. Quickly she took the makeshift sack and flew toward the exit. Wincing at the sudden daylight, she dove through the hole just as the magical barrier slammed shut. She fell headfirst into a pile of snow. Poking her head out she saw her companions look at her expectantly. She lifted her hat and revealed the bell.
“Ta-da?” Cozy said sheepishly. Chrysalis turned back to the centaur.
“My magic.” The changeling pleaded Tirek looked at his larger form one last time before sighing. He opened his mouth returning the magic to his changeling ally. Chrysalis could feel her strength return as she leaped up to her hooves.
Cozy didn’t bother to listen to their conversation as she stared back at the bell. It glowed faintly as it and the whispers died out. It’s glowing runes fading as the bell turned dark. The filly narrowed her eyes at the bell, a sense of dread spreading over her.
“NOO!” Cozy snapped out her thoughts at the queen’s outburst. “The Magic of Friendship is like a disease! An infection that spreads to those around you.” Chrysalis paced, quickly Cozy took her hat back and flew over to Tirek with the bell in hoof as Chrysalis continued. “I watched it infect my hive, I will not let it get me!” She said turning back to her allies.
“Obviously,” Tirek responded.
“Same,” Cozy agreed before looking back at the bell. “But Grogar said we have to work together.”
“Grogar is too powerful, something must be done about that,” Chrysalis said. “Let Grogar think we’re his loyal servants. In the meantime, we’ll hatch our own plan.” Chrysalis grinned her voice dripping with malicious intent.
“Ooh, I love a good backstabbing.” Cozy agreed, holding the bell close.
“After that, we can go back to destroying each other!” Tirek said with glee.
“But what do we do with this thing?” Cozy asked looking back at the bell.
“I can think of a few things.” Chrysalis grinned. “But that will have to wait, we have to go back to our ‘master’,” Chrysalis said rolling her eyes. “That and it’s cold up here.” The three of them started to shiver at that. The three made their way back down the mountain. Cozy paused and gave one last look to the cave. Something didn’t seem right.
“Cozy hurry up! We don’t have all day!” Tirek yelled back at her. Cozy shook her head and flew after her allies.
But back in the cave, the statue of the dragon head stood. Suddenly a creaking noise filled the cave as the mouth of the dragon snapped shut. The ruby eyes glowed as the sounds of gears filled the room. The gears turned and pistons began to move, as an old mechanism started to churn.
Deep below the mountain, in a vast dark cavern, several gears began to move. Several small crystals lit up the large cavern. It was larger than an entire town possibly the size of Manehantten. Scattered throughout the cavern was a sea of treasure. One could buy an entire country with how much there was and barely make a dent.
The ancient mechanism continued to churn as it opened a secret hatch in the wall. Within sat a small green crystal sphere upon a stone disk surrounded by six small crystals. The crystals lit up with hum, sounding almost like notes from a flute. The glowing gems shot out energy to the sphere. The sphere started swirling with energy, lighting up with a blue glow. A female voice spoke out as if it was waking up.
“[color=#2caf26]Hmm….wha? Five more minutes, mother I wish to sleep.” The sphere said. The surrounding crystals responded by zapping the ball again. “Alright, alright! I’m up I’m up!” The sphere said annoyed. “What’s with all the ruckus?” One of the crystals, an orange one lit up, sounding off a low hum.
“Come again? I’m still waking up.” The crystal ball responded. The pink crystal lit up, emitting a more high pitch hum.
“Gone? What do you mean gone?” The sphere asked, its voice growing worried. The blue crystal lit up with a short low pitched hum.
“How?!” The sphere shook, her voice echoing off the walls. “Who took the Bewitching Bell?!” The purple crystal gave off a soothing pitch. “A filly? How in the name of the Stars did a filly find her way up there and take the bell?!” The magenta crystal responded with a dutiful pitch. “Two other life forms, with powerful magic? Great…..” The sphere groaned.
“Okay, we prepared for this. It’s time to wake ‘him’ up.” The sphere said the other crystals lit up in alarm each emitting a hum in protest. “We have no choice! If they figure out how to use the bell who knows what happens!” The sphere said in alarm. “How long has it been gone?” The six crystals went silent at that. “Well? How long?” None moved, as if scared to answer. Then the yellow crystal lit up, giving off a quiet hum.
“What was that?” The sphere asked, the yellow crystal seemed to shake in fear, and lit up again in a slightly louder pitch. “Come again? Can you speak up please?” The sphere said growing annoyed. After a few seconds, as if the crystal was taking in a breath, it lit up letting off a loud hum that shook the pedestal they were on.
…
…
…
“THREE MONTHS??!! WHY WASN’T I WOKEN UP SOONER?!!!” The sphere screamed in alarm. The crystals seemed to cower at that, if they could move they would’ve scooted far back from the angry sphere. Finally, the pink crystal lit up giving off a worried hum.
“The mechanism wasn’t working properly?! But this place was built to work even several centuries after it was built! What went wrong?!” As if to answer the question, a low groaning noise was heard from above. A few gears fell near the pedestal, rusted and cracked. The sphere lit up and illuminated the room. Upon closer inspection of the gears, there were several tiny holes in the metal. Suddenly a tiny grey beetle crawled out of the hole before taking a bite from the metal.
“Coppermites?! Of all the blasted- ugh! No wonder the warning system was delayed, these little jerks ate through it!” The sphere groaned. “Well, no time like the present I guess.” With that, the six crystals lit up and fired a beam of energy at the sphere. The crystal sphere started to crack under the force of the magic. Finally, the ball shattered, releasing a green mist, the mist swirled in place as it began to take shape. Suddenly a tall white-coated unicorn mare appeared. Her mane and tail were a deep green with a streak of red running through them. The tail and mane flowed in the nonexistent wind, she had a cutie mark of five leaves flying in a magical wind. Her eyes opened revealing her mint green eyes. Her form sparkled with magical energy as she faded in and out of visibility. Lighting her horn the six crystals swirled around her before transforming into various jewelry. The blue, orange, yellow, and pink crystals transformed into four golden bracelets, with the respective gems appearing on them. The four bracelets clasped around the mare's legs and glowed dimly. The purple gem transformed into a gold necklace that latched itself around the mare's neck. Finally, the magenta crystal formed into a golden helm that lowered onto the mare's head. The magenta gem sitting gently underneath the mare's curved horn.
The pony became solid and sighed, as she started stretching her joints. “Ugh, over ten thousand years inside a crystal ball can make a girl feel stiff.” Shaking herself off she sighed before trotting out into the opening of her chamber. Looking out across the sea of gold the unicorn lit up her horn. A green magical light shot out from her horn as she scanned the infinite sea of wealth.
“Now where are you?” She said to herself as she trotted out of her chamber, rather than fall down the cliff however she proceeded to walk on air as if it were solid ground. For the next few minutes, the mare continued to trot through the vast chamber, her magic scanning along the surface of the gold. Finally, she stopped when her light turned red, “There you are.” She said, “It’s time to wake up, sleepyhead.” The mare paused closing her eyes as she took a deep breath. Her horn flashed with arcane might, her eyes opened flashing pure white with magic.
The mare’s voice boomed, her gems glowing brightly before firing a beam of magic toward the gold.
…
…
…
Amongst the piles of gold, jewels, and trinkets, the sea of gold started to move. Shifting below a red snout pierced the surface, puffing out steam. The temperature started to rise as more gold moved. Bit by bit patches of red appeared in the sea, a large red tail lifted from the piles of wealth, creating a waterfall of gold and creating a loud, ‘thump’ when it crashed down. Finally, a large blood-red colored head lifted from the gold. The large dragon head turned one side half-buried in the gold the other facing the floating mare. A large orange serpentine eye opened and stared directly at the mare. The large black pupil narrowed as a growl escaped the dragon’s maw.
“Hello, Smaug. We have work to do.”