Chapter Nineteen: Gloomtail
Underground Rogueport past the Thousand Year Door was much bigger than they had hoped it would be. After the Changelings had fled, they began searching the area for any sign of a key. Luckily, there weren't many nooks and crannies one could be hidden in, but that didn't mean it could have a secret to finding it, like the keys in the Riddle Tower did. Finally, They came across a door on one of the walls which seemed promising.
"Let's just hope this is easy…" Spike said as Twilight opened the door, which was thankfully unlocked. The door opened up to a darkened hallway. Torches began lighting up by themselves as they walked into the hall, startling them, though Twilight just pointed out that it seemed as though many of the properties of underground Rogueport were magical. They continued walking through the hallway, wondering how long it could extend. They found out after not too long.
The hallways ended and morphed into a large room, one which was not lit up with torches as the hallway had been. They huddled together in the darkness, but Twilight lit up the area with her horn.
"Don't worry, everyone. Just stick by me and keep walking." They kept walking and kept their eyes on the floor for any sign of a key. They had wandered deep into the room, though could still see a few of the lights from the hallway, and still had seen no sign of a key.
"Um, Twilight, d-do you hear that or is it just me?" Fluttershy asked timidly.
"Hear what, Fluttershy?" A gust of warm air enveloped the group suddenly. Twilight coughed and swatted away the pungent odor as she looked forward. Fluttershy squeaked and tensed up.
"Ponies in my lair? What in the world could you be doing here?" A large, black dragon head was looming before them, large, glowing black eyes watching them intensely. This dragon seemed even larger than Hooktail.
"O-oh! Sorry Mister Dragon, we didn't mean to intrude on you in any way! We were only looking for a particular key, i-if you possibly have seen such a thing…" The dragon let out another hot breath into their faces, making Twilight cough again. "O-of course, if you haven't, we'll just be on our way and we apologize for bothering you." A strange noise started coming from the dragon, one that sounded like a strange growling noise. They figured it to be a laugh.
"Well now, are you little ponies adorable. I'm sure you're just as delicious as you are colorful." His smile turned into a scowl and he growled again, this time in a much more menacing manner.
"Fluttershy! Do you have any of those crickets we used on Hookatail?" Spike called out desperately.
"N-no, I would never bring harmless little animals down here! It's too dangerous!"
"Hooktail? What, why are you talking about my sister?" The dragon lowered his head again to their level. "Are you the ones who attacked my sister in her castle and stole from her?" Spike gulped.
"Well, ahh, actually, you see… why do you ask?" The dragon flared his nostrils, glaring at Spike.
"My name is Gloomtail. I am the older brother of Hooktail. She told me about some little pests intruding in on her castle, it must have been you, wasn't it?" Spike gritted his teeth, too shocked to reply. "Let's see how you like it, then. You won't be able to bother us dragons anymore once you're in my stomach!" He took in a deep breath of air and blew his fire at them, but Twilight had already teleported them out of the way.
"Run for the hallway!" Twilight called to her friends. It was too late, though, as Gloomtail had moved his large body in front of the hall's entrance. Their only chance of escape was defeating the dragon, now. Gloomtail roared angrily, reaching a clawed hand out towards them. They stumbled backwards, but he managed to grab onto Spike, who trembled fearfully in the grasp of the dragon.
"Well, well. I'm disappointed in you, little dragon. You possess all of this power, yet spend your time traveling with ponies and attacking other dragons? How disgusting." Gloomtail opened his mouth wide to show many rows of pointed teeth. Before he could toss Spike into his mouth, Fluttershy zoomed up to his snout and bucked it with her hind legs.
"No! Bad dragon! You can't eat our friend like that, he's weaker than you! You shouldn't be eating anyone!" Gloomtail abruptly dropped Spike to the floor, who landed with a thud, and turned on Fluttershy.
"Oh really, little pony? And what are you going to do about it?" Fluttershy's confidence fled her and her ears folded back, fear filling her chest.
"Um, I…" She squealed as the dragon snapped at her, barely getting away from his bite. Twilight turned to Sweetie Belle down below.
"What did Spike mean when he asked Fluttershy for crickets?" she asked curiously.
"The sound crickets make causes dragons to feel sick. Didn't you know that, Twilight?"
"Oh, um, well… no, I didn't. There aren't a lot of books about dragons in my library." She tried to excuse her lack of knowledge, but was blushing. "Anyways… I could always try to use my magic to make the illusion of a cricket. If that would work…" Sweetie Belle looked up at Fluttershy and Spike trying to dodge the dragon's attacks feverishly.
"It's better than nothing! Just do it quickly!" Twilight nodded and began working her magic, creating the illusion of a small swarm of crickets.
"Hey, dragon! Look over here!" Gloomtail paused and turned to look at the Unicorn. Fluttershy and Spike quickly gained composure and ran back to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, who had backed themselves up against a wall. The dragon leaned down to look at the small insect mirage.
"But, how did you… no! It's impossible!" He hissed at them angrily, backing his head away. "Get those filthy things away!" Using her magic again, Twilight Sparkle attempted to form the sound of crickets chirping. Spike covered his ears as Gloomtail roared in anguish. "Make it stop! Stop that foul noise!"
"Let us out of here, then!" Twilight demanded. Gloomtail hastily moved away from the hallway.
"Go! Get out of here! Just take those things with you!" He began gagging, coughing something onto the ground. "Even take the stupid key that you wanted! Just leave!"
"The key?" Twilight asked, looking at the shape. "Quick, Spike, grab it!" Twilight released her magic, causing the cricket illusion to disappear. Spike ran and grabbed the key and they fled towards the hallway. Gloomtail looked as the mirage disappeared.
"What? You tricked me!" His voice grew louder and angrier. "Come back here, you pests!" He roared at them as they fled into the hallway. He still took the opportunity to send a stream of flames through the hallway after them. Twilight used her magic to form a blockade in the hallway, stopping the flames from reaching them as they ran towards the door. They heard a final roar from Gloomtail as Spike slammed the door behind them.
Luckily for them, the key that Gloomtail had given them was the key that fit inside the pedestal on the top floor of the Riddle Tower. Once used, eight other pedestals arose from the floor around the central one. Each one of those had its own keyhole, which matched up with one of each of the keys they had found by solving the puzzles. Once each key had been set in place, there was a rumbling noise from the back of the room. A hidden door shifted open to reveal another area ahead. They headed inside to find themselves in a sort of mansion. They climbed down a long set of stairs lined with red carpeting, the door behind them closing. There were more lit torches in here and they wondered if that was because of some more magical properties or simply evidence of Filthy Rich's passing through.
"They couldn't have got much further now. We have to be close!" Spike cried out as they walked along the red carpet pathway. They marched along through many sets of doors leading into only larger rooms, which felt rather endless. One of the rooms was just a long pathway with deep, dark abysses on both sides. They walked single file, trying their hardest not to peer over the edge and get vertigo. Past that room was another set of stairs heading down, and finally, an elaborate set of double doors. After opening that, they found what they had been looking for.
"Welcome, Spike! I'm surprised it took you this long to reach us."
"Give her back, you monster!" Spike yelled angrily at Filthy Rich. He snickered and ignored his demand, turning to his daughter.
"Would you like to test out that second robot daddy bought you to replace the old one?"
"With pleasure, daddy!" Diamond Tiara said in a sickeningly sweet voice. Filthy Rich took out a small device and clicked the button on it, causing a robot contraption to form itself around Diamond Tiara. It rose up much taller than the first one she had used in the Boggly Woods and seemed to have larger weapon mechanics on it. "Let's take these guys down for good, Daddy!"
"Of course, dear." He and his daughter approached the group, prepared for battle. Spike growled furiously and Twilight stepped valiantly beside him, ready for battle. The fillies took places on the other side of him, Fluttershy timidly standing beside Twilight.
"We won't let you down, Rarity! We will stop them!"
"We'll see about that now, won't we blank-flank?" The evil filly laughed as she pressed a button on her machine, causing the robotic arms to stretch out, the arms cannons charging their energy. "Goodbye, Cutie Mark Crusaders!" With another button, two rockets shot out of the cannons at them. Twilight easily formed a barrier of protection around them, causing them to explode in front of them and swirling up a storm of dust. They used this to their advantage, Spike hopping onto the back of Fluttershy to try and perform the maneuver they had used on Diamond Tiara's previous machine. Spike jumped onto the glass of the robot's cockpit.
"Give up, Diamond Tiara! You can't keep my sister here forever!"
"What are you going to do about it, Spike? You can't break through this time! It's heat proof!" Spike attempted to use his flames on it anyways, but she was right. With a manipulation of the controls, the robot shook Spike off of itself, but he was caught by Fluttershy, who brought him back to the ground.
"Now what do we do?" Spike asked.
"We can try and trip the machine. That might mess up some of the wiring and disable its movement." Twilight said just as Sweetie Belle was about to speak, used to being the one to come up with the plans. The filly gave her a slightly scornful look.
"That's a good plan. Let's go with that." she said anyways.
"Are you just going to stand around and talk, blank-flank, or are you actually going to try to do something productive?" Sweetie Belle pawed at the ground. "You know, as opposed to every other day where you can't even get your Cutie Mark!" Diamond Tiara laughed harshly.
"Why aren't you coming at us, Diamond Tiara? Can you barely move in that giant hunk of metal?" Diamond Tiara stopped laughing, staring at Scootaloo, who had decided to speak up.
"Oh, you want me to hurt you? That's funny, I didn't think you would give up that quickly. Not that it matters to me either way." She began charging the cannons again, but the fillies began running circles around the machines feet. "What in Equestria are you doing?"
"Just try to step on us, Diamond! I dare you!"
"Yeah, there's no way you can catch us! We're way faster than that old pile of junk!" Diamond Tiara sneered.
"Yeah, right. You're just asking to get crushed! Fine by me!" She fell straight into their trap, pressing the controls to lift up the robot's feet.
"Now, Twilight! Go!" Sweetie Belle called back. The Unicorn ran at the feet of the robot, running underneath and using her magic to send a shockwave through the leg of the robot. It caused it to stumble, becoming unstable.
"What? What did you do?" The robot began falling over sideways, Diamond Tiara screaming inside.
"My precious darling!" Filthy Rich cried out, running over to the machine. He opened the hatch, prying her out of the cramped space. Spike stomped up to Filthy Rich, Sweetie Belle standing beside him.
"Now, give us back Rarity! You can't keep her hostage anymore because obviously you can't stand up to us!" Still, though, he laughed at them.
"Aren't you forgetting them?" he asked, pointing back to his crew of stallion bodyguards. They walked up behind him, standing in a line before where they presumed Rarity was being held prisoner. Before Spike could speak another word, there was a crashing noise from above.
"Whoops! Pardon me, I didn't see you there!" Debris from the ceiling fell down, knocking out a few of the stallion bodyguards.
"Heehee, silly Daddy! There's no need to apologize to the ceiling!"
"Ahh, but you can never tell which things are alive and which things aren't, dear. For example, you may not be alive right now!"
"That makes no sense!" Twilight's mouth gaped wide open as Discord descended from the ceiling. A pony who wasn't a Pegasus floated beside him, her eyes swirls of purple and white.
"Twilight Sparkle! What a delight to see you again! How's the Princess? She must be doing well since I put her under that fun little spell, isn't she? Either way, you must know why I've returned now, haven't you?"