Chapter Three: The Thousand Year Door
"Do we really have to go in there? It seems like it'll be a tight fit..."
"Well, it's the only way I've seen to get underground. At least the only one I've heard about. Lots of the town's residents talk about the strangest things...." Spike and Sweetie Belle stood in front of what appeared to be a thick green pipe sticking out of the ground. It had been surprisingly close to Cheerilee's laboratory, just past a nearly broken down fence which had been easy to bypass. Now all they had to do was muster the courage to venture down the pipe.
"So, uh, you want to go first?" Sweetie Belle laughed.
"You can't use that 'mares first' rule on me now! I believe you're supposed to be the epic hero here Romeo?" Spike blushed, looking down into the deep blackness of the pipe.
"I have no idea how long that thing goes. What if... what if they were all lying? What if this just closes off and we'll be stuck down there forever??" Sweetie Belle sighed.
"But then again, it could be the only way down there. You go first and if you can't get back up, I'll go get help, alright?" Spike nodded his head and gulped. He turned back to the pipe and looked down.
"Well, here goes nothing.... wish me luck." Sweetie Belle nodded her head. Spike took in a deep breath. "For Rarity!" With that, he pulled himself up onto the pipe's edge and jumped into it.
After a few minutes of getting the both of them down the pipe, Sweetie Belle and Spike were successfully in the underground area of Rogueport. It appeared to be very vast and dimly lit. Somehow, though, it was cleaner than its aboveground counterpart. Sweetie Belle kicked at a rock at the ground.
"I expected it to smell worse down here, but it's cleaner and quieter! We should stay down here instead!" Spike ignored her ramblings and looked around. It seemed there were two directions to go and he wasn't sure of which path to take.
"Where do you think we should go?" Sweetie Belle shrugged.
"I know a little bit about the underground, but that doesn't mean I know where this mysterious door is. Let's head down those stairs, I guess." Spike nodded and the two began walking down the stone staircase to their left. Not too long after they reached the bottom they heard voices from ahead.
"Hey there, sweetheart, what are you doing hanging around a pathetic baby dragon like that?"
"Yeah, why don't you come hang out with us for a while?" The two looked up to find in front of them three young scruffy looking colts, one Earth pony, one Pegasus, one Unicorn. Sweetie Belle glared at them.
"Oh, I'd looove to come hang out with you guys sometime! You know, when the three of you grow up and at least get your Cutie Marks! Not that I'd even hang out with a bunch of imbeciles like you then." The three of them exchanged glances.
"What did she call us?"
"I don't know!" Sweetie Belle put a hoof to her face.
"Come on, Spike, let's go." She continued walking but was stopped by the Earth pony in front.
"Hey now! I didn't say you could go! I'm pretty sure you insulted us and there ain't no way we'll let that get by us!" Sweetie Belle stepped back from the colt's dirty hoof.
"Fine. You want to get even? Let me give this to you for insulting me by thinking I'd want to hang out with an idiot like you!" Before the colt could retort, Sweetie Belle turned around and hind kicked him in the face, knocking him back into the Unicorn. The Pegasus took immediate action and swept down, knocking her over. Sweetie Belle looked up, trying to push him off. "Spike? Help me!"
The little dragon snapped back to reality and ran up to the Pegasus.
"Hey! Get off of her!" The Pegasus grinned and successfully pinned her down, beginning to reach down into her side bag.
"Let's see what you got in here, little filly!" As Sweetie Belle struggled, Spike decided to take action. He blew his green fire and scorched the bare flank of the Pegasus. The colt shrieked and jumped off of Sweetie Belle. He flew back to his accomplices, rubbing the singed fur on his rear.
"L-let's get out of here, guys! It's not worth it!" The other two quickly got to their feet and chased after the Pegasus, who headed the other direction frantically. Spike smiled triumphantly, but Sweetie Belle leered at him.
"What? I saved you, didn't I?"
"Just get to it quicker next time, ok?" Spike laughed nervously and followed her as she began to walk away on their determined path. They walked cautiously through the darkness of the underground. Sweetie Belle stuck close to Spike's side.
"Think we're getting closer?" Spike whispered, his voice still managing to echo in the expanse.
"I have no idea. It's possible, though." Spike's stomach began twisting in knots because of the uncertainty that lay ahead.
"Well, you think there are other ponies down here like those other ones? Ponies that will attack us and try to mug us?"
"Again, it's possible. But really, I feel like anything is possible down here. It has an almost mystical feeling to it. Then again, that could be a sign that we're close to the Door. It could be giving off some kind of magic that my horn is picking up." She tried to think of the positives as they maneuvered through some unstable looking rocks.
For a while longer, they continued walking in silence. Their surroundings weren't completely silent as Sweetie Belle swore she could sometimes here rocks shifting or loud noises from aboveground, but for the most part it was quiet. That was until they noticed something up ahead.
"Sweetie Belle, look!" Spike pointed at a small shape up ahead of them. With a closer glance, it appeared to be a small creature. Spike took a step towards it. "Hey little guy... what are you doing down here in a dangerous place like this?" Upon closer inspection Spike recognized it as baby Phoenix, which very much reminded him of his own pet Phoenix, Peewee, who was back at home. He walked closer to it, but the sound of a disturbed pebble sent the small bird scurrying into a hole in the side of the wall beside them. Spike sighed. "Aww, it was so cute! I hope the little guy will be ok."
"If a Phoenix is down here... well, I have no idea why that would be. Maybe there's something that way?" She pointed towards the blocked off entrance in the wall which seemed impossible to navigate at the time being. Spike shrugged.
"Aww, well, let's just continue on."
A few more flights of stairs up later and the two had reached an ominous looking entranceway which was a lot taller than the previous looking ones.
"Think this is....?" Spike didn't even have to finish his thought as Sweetie Belle nodded to him, confirming his suspicions. The two entered through the dark entrance to be greeted by a suddenly lit up room which seemed much too large to fit underneath an entire city. It seemed to be as big as the city itself. To their amazement, there was in face a very large door with strange patterns on it as well as a large round platform in the center of the room with grand designs on it.
"This is definitely the place." Sweetie Belle said, stating the obvious. The largeness of the place made them feel miniscule, causing them to walk slowly towards the center of the room. Still sticking close together, they made their way to the base of the platform. "You want to go first?" Spike frowned, fear tightening his chest. Shaking, he stepped onto the platform and to his surprise, nothing happened. After a moment, Sweetie Belle joined him and they looked around for a full scope of the room.
"Now what?"
"Maybe we should look over Rarity's letter again?" Spike nodded in agreement and pulled the letter from Sweetie Belle's saddlebag. To their amazement, the letter began to glow and lifted up into the air from Spike's hands.
"What? What's happening? What's going on?" Spike fell back, landing next to an awestruck Sweetie Belle. They watched the letter glimmer in the air, then were blinded by a sudden light that emitted from it. Sweetie Belle noticed the patterns on the platform glowing as well. After the light faded, the letter descended from the air and back into Spike's hands. He turned the letter over, which revealed to them a strange map. "What is this?" The two examined it, noticing that there appeared to be six different locations on the map. One of the locations was vividly colored and included a familiar emblem.
"That looks like Rarity's Element!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed. It was true, on the map there was, clearly marked, an icon resembling Rarity's Element of Generosity. Spike could tell by looking at the other five blank shadows that the other Elements were represented on the map as well. Behind each shadow he noticed what appeared to be a certain setting. He recognized Rarity's Element in front of what looked like Cheerilee's laboratory.
"I think this is a map of where the six Elements are!" Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes.
"Of course it is! And it's going to help us find Rarity, too!"
"I think it will also open this door. Just look at the designs on it! They looks just like the Elements of Harmony!" Sweetie Belle looked up, finding this to be true.
"Which Element should we go after first? Obviously, Pinkie's doesn't appear to be an option at the moment." Spike scratched the back of his head and looked back at the map.
"Uhh.... all these places look a bit... intimidating." He was looking at Twilight's Element, which appeared to be in a very dark, shadowy place. "Wait, how about Fluttershy's?" Spike pointed to the area on the map where Fluttershy's Element should be. Behind the shadow was an area which appeared to be very flowery and pleasant.
"That looks like Petalburg.... the entrance to it is actually underground. We could head there, I suppose." Spike nodded. Petalburg sounded like a safe, non-threatening area. If Fluttershy was residing there, what could possibly be wrong with it?
"Alright, then, ready to lead the way?" Spike folded the map and put it back in Sweetie Belle's saddlebag.
"Yeah... alright, let's go!"
After leading the way for a little bit, Sweetie Belle wasn't sure of where to go.
"I know that to get there you have to take a path through the underground waterways, so I'm assuming you have to go downwards, but...." She trailed off, not sure where to head next. They had managed to avoid a few underground denizens by sticking to the walls of the underground pathways, but it was still dangerous walking down here.
After their first battle, they realized they felt rather weak, despite winning. Sweetie Belle tried to convince Spike that they were tougher than they thought if they won two against three, but he was still nervous about running into other enemies. Especially now that they had the map.
"Maybe those pipes back there that I saw lead to a different area. I mean, that first pipe led us down here, they have to go somewhere else!" Sweetie Belle agreed and they headed back to the area where they had earlier spotted a pipe. Trying not to feel afraid again, Spike willingly jumped in, followed by Sweetie Belle. They fumbled to their feet and looked around, realizing they were on a platform surrounded by water. There seemed to be some unstable looking stepping stones leading to another pipe ahead of them.
"We made it! Hooray!" Sweetie exclaimed, taking a step forward. Spike held out an arm to stop her.
"But wait, what is that?" He pointed to a strange brownish thing protruding from the water onto the platform. He approached it and poked it, retreating his hand quickly. "It's all scaly...." The thing retreated into the water.
"Wait, Spike, could that be uh-" She was interrupted as a large shape rose out of the water in front of them. Before them now was a giant four-headed Hydra. Sweetie Belle gasped.
"Now what do we do?" Spike looked back and forth, shaking as the Hydra roared, obviously annoyed that it had been awoken from its slumber.
"Uh, hold on!" Like earlier, he blew out his green fire at one of the heads of the Hydra. It coughed and shook itself off, afterwards yelling louder than before.
"Spike, you just made things worse!" Sweetie Belle squeaked, hopping up to him.
"I know, I know! What do we do?" Sweetie Belle hopped nervously from hoof to hoof, trying to think.
"Well, um, Hydra's are water creatures that... have four heads. They're huge so they can't fit through small spaces!" She looked up above her to see some piping above them. "Uhh, I might have some sort of plan, maybe." She looked at Spike, biting her lip.
"Well, what is it?"
"It involves you flying through the air!" Spike gulped. He didn't want to, but the Hydra began snapping its heads at them. He jumped backwards.
"Alright, alright, just do it!" Sweetie Belle held her ground, staring one of the Hydra's heads in the eyes.
"Hey Hydra! Look at what I've got here!" She picked up Spike with her front hooves, waving him tauntingly. Its eyes followed his movements.
"W-wait! Sweetie Belle! What are you doing!" Before he could struggle, Sweetie Belle mustered up her strength and swung him in a circle, letting him go and sending him flying up through the pipes. The heads went after him, two of them hitting their heads on the pipes like Sweetie had intended. She cheered internally as Spike landed safely on the pipes above, clinging on for his life.
"Hydra, over here!" The two heads that remained undamaged turned on her. They lunged at her and she ran backwards, hoping she was going the right direction. As intended again, she quickly dodged their jaws, causing the heads to crash into the wall. All four heads now dizzy and injured, the Hydra growled in pain and slid back into the water with a splash. Sweetie Belle cheered.
"Great! You did it! Now can you get me down from here?" Sweetie Belle looked up at Spike apologetically.
"Whoops. Didn't think that part through." Spike laughed sarcastically and glared.
"Then come over here and catch me!" Sweetie Belle trotted over to the area beneath Spike and awkwardly held out her front hooves. He jumped with faith and was caught by Sweetie Belle, who then stumbled and dropped him into the water. She giggled as he climbed out, dripping wet.
"Sorry Spike. But come on, we did it! And the entrance to Petalburg's right there!" He continued to glare as he turned to the stepping stones.
"Alright, let's just go and find Fluttershy already...."