//------------------------------// // Chapter 10: Dragon's Lair // Story: Spike's Mark // by mikemuir0178 //------------------------------// Chapter 10: Dragon Lair Spike’s mind seemed to run in circles as he tried to figure out the next step in finding Grey Shire and Runt. Assuming Runt was undergoing a Molt, it would only have lasted two or three days, just like his own. But if that was the case, why did they leave him and where did they go? Spike then started remembering events involving his own Molt. The Molt had given off a terrible smell that could make any dragon cringe. Yet at the same time, it also attracted predators. Spike still got chills as he remembered how a Roc had almost caught him. If not for Twilight, he would have been eaten. Even worse, Rarity would have fallen victim as well. Did the same thing happen to his parents? Spike still clung to the hope they were still alive somewhere. But the question was where? Spike was awoken from his thoughts as he heard something drop in front of him. He looked down to see a large emerald at his feet. “Spike,” Rarity whispered angrily as she shined the miner’s helmet on him, “Be careful. We don’t want to wake the bats!” Spike reached down and picked up the emerald. He then looked up at the ceiling of the cave he was in. To his relief, the bats were still fast asleep. However, any loud noise could easily wake them up and send them into a frenzy. “Sorry, Rarity. I just got a lot on my mind,” he said as he placed the emerald into the small basket he was holding. “It’s okay,” Rarity sighed as she saw Spike’s expression. She could only imagine the turmoil that was going on inside Spike’s head. It had been her hope that if Spike helped her gather some more gems, it would help take his mind off Grey Shire and Runt. So far, it did not seem to be working. Rarity returned to work looking for gems. As she began using a pick to remove a diamond, she wondered what she could do to help Spike. She could only imagine that the emotions Spike were feeling were like when she almost had driven away her sister, Sweetie Pie. She wanted to do something to help cheer him up. As the diamond broke lose, Rarity removed it from the cave wall with her magic. However, as she did, a faint glimmer of red appeared on the rock underneath. Curious, she levitated the diamond to Spike’s basket and began digging at the spot. After a little work, she unearthed a fairly large ruby. Rarity smiled at her find as she pulled it out of the rock face. Her mind raced with ideas on what she could use the ruby for. Perhaps something in her Princess Line. Or maybe she could create her own Fire Emblem collection of garments. However, as she was about to levitate the ruby to Spike, she began having second thoughts. In the eyes of a dragon, the ruby would be a wonderful treat. It wasn’t as exquisite as a Fire Ruby, the shade of it was to light. But she suspected any dragon would like to get their hands on it. “Here, Spike,” Rarity said as she levitated the stone to him, “You can have this one.” The moment Spike looked to Rarity, his eyes shot open in surprise at the ruby. “Really? Thanks Rarity!” Spike said happily. “Spike!” Rarity whispered again. Spike had almost forgotten about the bats. “Sorry,” he then examined the ruby, “But are you sure about this?” Rarity smiled. “I think you need it more than I do,” Rarity responded. Spike was touched by the gift. He could only imagine that it was hard for Rarity to part with. However, Rarity had shown several moments of compassion in the past to help others. He was grateful that she was trying to help him forget his worries…at least for the time being. “That looks like quite the find. Guess I should have dug there more.” Spike and Rarity jumped at the familiar voice in the cave. Rarity turned her helmet down into the deeper part of the cave to see a dragon slowly emerge from the shadows. Spike smiled as he began to make out the characteristics of the dragon. “Smolder. What are doing down here.” Smolder stepped into the light to fully reveal herself. Clutching to her chest with one hand, she carried a few gems she had dug up in the cave. “Getting some afternoon nourishment of course.” Rarity looked at the gems in smolder’s hand with concern. From what she could tell, Smolder had found some that would serve her well in her next line up. “Take a look at this beauty,” Smolder said as she pulled a deep shaded ruby from her pile. Rarity’s eyes lit up the next second as she realized what Smolder was holding. It was a Fire Ruby. Though only half the size when compared to the one Spike gave her on his birthday, it was still one Rarity thought she could use. In fact, it would serve her better if she decided to pursue her Fire Emblem idea. “Um…You wouldn’t be willing to part with that, would you?” Rarity asked. “Huh? Are you kidding? This baby will make a great dessert later on,” Smolder replied. Spike could see Rarity’s interest in the Fire Ruby and quickly decided to help her out. “Perhaps we can make a trade. We have a lot of rare gems here,” Spike said as he held up the basket for Smolder to see. Rarity was a little unsure on the idea of trading some of the gems she mined, but she definitely wanted that Fire Ruby. She decided to follow Spike’s lead and see what could be offered in exchange. Smolder took a moment to look at the gems and consider the offer. “Well…The Emerald and the Aquamarine are to my liking, but…I don’t think so.” Rarity began to worry she might lose the chance to get the Fire Ruby. However, she needed most of the gems she found for her next set of clothes. She couldn’t trade all of them. Spike could see the worry in Rarity’s eyes, and quickly interjected. “What about if I throw in this ruby with the emerald. Will that work?” “Spike?” Rarity was surprised by Spike’s generosity. She could only imagine it must have been hard for him to part with his gift. Smolder looked at the ruby Spike had and considered it. She had to admit the ruby was at least twice as large as the Fire Ruby. Alone, the Fire Ruby would have been the better choice, but the combination of an emerald and ruby did appeal to her. “All right. You got yourself a deal.” Spike took the Emerald from the basket and handed both the ruby and emerald to Smolder. Smolder then handed over the Fire Ruby to Spike. For a brief moment, Spike took a moment to admire the deep red color of the Fire Ruby. It reminded him of the Fire Ruby he used to have. He also remembered the reward when he parted with it. Spike then turned to Rarity and held it up to her. “Here you go, Rarity.” “Oh. Spike,” Rarity smiled as she placed a hoof over her chest. After levitating the Fire Ruby out of Spike’s hands, she leaned down and placed a quick kiss on his cheek. Spike blushed as he felt Rarity’s lips on his cheek. Smolder rolled her eyes in disgust. “Ugh…I’ll never understand what you two see in each other,” Smolder replied, “I mean why-“ Smolder paused for a second as she sniffed the air around her. “Wait…Is that?” Rarity and Spike recognized Smolder’s reaction was similar to the other dragons in the Dragon Lands. The two looked at each other for a moment, but could see no harm in telling Smolder the truth. “Spike gave me a Mark,” Rarity said proudly. Smolder’s eyes shot open and her jaw dropped as she heard this. “You mean…” she turned and looked at Spike in surprise, “You actually gave her a Mark!?” “Shh! The bats,” Rarity cautioned when she thought Smolder was speaking to loudly. Smolder placed a hand on her mouth and took a moment to look at the ceiling. Fortunately, the bats only stirred slightly, but did not awake. Smolder then returned her gaze to Spike. “So you and Rarity are…” Spike tapped two of his claws together nervously as he averted his gaze. “Uh…Yeah.” Smolder was caught completely off guard by the revelation. She knew Spike and Rarity were close friends. But a Mark on a pony…It was something never considered in the dragon community. “Wow,” Smolder said in surprise, “This has never happened before.” “Actually…It might have,” Spike admitted. Smolder turned to Spike in surprise. “It’s possible that my mother was a pony named Grey Shire and my father was a dragon named Runt.” “Runt?” Smolder questioned, “He must have been the smallest of his siblings to have been given that name.” Rarity decided to jump in. “We’ve been trying to locate them these past few days. As best as we can tell, Runt was undergoing a Molt and left Spike’s mother. The two of them then disappeared fifteen years ago.” “A Molt, huh,” Smolder paused to consider this. “Well as I told Spike, usually when the Molt occurs, a dragon is kicked out to go off on their own. Usually they go to start their own horde.” “But…Runt never had a horde,” Spike replied. Smolder scoffed at Spike. “Please. Every dragon has a horde. How else would they eat gems? I’m sure even you have a stash hidden in your room somewhere.” Spike silently admitted he did. He had a small cache hidden in one of his drawers back at the castle. Though it wasn’t a very large collection, it still could be considered his own little horde of gems. “Would a dragon store anything else other than gems?” Rarity asked. “Of course,” Smolder replied, “Even I have a few trinkets hidden away.” Rarity lowered her head in thought. “I wonder if we can find a clue in Runt’s horde. But where would we look?” “Normally dragons prefer caves in mountains that are hard to reach or secure,” Smolder then gave a small laugh, “Good luck finding it.” Spike silently agreed with Smolder. Dragons preferred to hide their horde in a hard to reach area or in a secure location. If Runt lived with Grey Shire, he would have wanted to keep his stash close. However, now that Spike had time to think about it, he never saw a single gem in Grey Shire’s cabin. He also remembered how Applejack had said how she and the others had investigated the cabin, but only found a few notebooks in the drawers. A couple of gems would surely stand out. The only place near the cabin that even had any gems was… A realization then dawned upon Spike. “RARITY!” Spike shouted, “I KNOW WHERE MY FATHER’S HORDE IS!” “Spike!” Rarity cried. “Too late,” Smolder said as she looked at the ceiling. Spike and Rarity followed Smolder’s gaze to the ceiling to see hundreds of bat eyes angrily staring down at them. The next moment, the cave was filled with the angry screeches of thousands of bats as they dived down on the three intruders. X X X X X “Are you sure?” Twilight asked. After their escape from the gem cave, Rarity and Spike made their way to the Castle of Friendship and gathered all their friends there. They all met up in the conference room where Spike and Rarity proceeded to tell them that the next clue to finding Grey Shire and Runt might actually be in the gem cave near the cabin. “Yeah. Dragons need to eat gems, and the gem cave near the cabin is the closest cave with an abundance of gems,” Spike replied. “Not to mention that the gems inside are of excellent quality. I find it hard on how any dragon would pass them,” Rarity added. “But,” Fluttershy asked, “Weren’t you down there before?” Rarity nodded, “We were. But we were looking only for gems at the time. The cave extends beyond the cavern we were in.” Applejack considered the idea. “It is worth a look. We found nothing at the cabin and all our options in Ponyville are out.” “But, didn’t you get flooded out last time?” Rainbow Dash asked. Rarity smiled and looked at Rainbow Dash. “That’s where you come in.” “If you can clear the area of clouds, it shouldn’t be a problem,” Spike added. Rainbow gave a smile of confidence at the offer. “Consider it done! Those clouds won’t know what hit them!” “THEN LET’S FIND MY AUNT!” Pinkie Pie shouted happily. Twilight let out a sigh as she heard Pinkie Pie. She thought about correcting her again, but decided against it. Grey Shire had at least some relation to Pinkie Pie. “All right. Does that mean we all agree to search the Gem Cave?” Twilight asked as she looked around the room. “Count me in!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “I’ll help Spike,” Fluttershy responded. “FOR MY AUNT!” Pinkie Pie cheered. “I’m not holding back,” Applejack replied. Twilight looked to Rarity and Spike next. The two smiled happily as they saw their friends rally behind them. Small tears of joy began to form in Spike’s eyes as he heard each pony call out. With any luck, they would find the next clue that would lead to his parents. To Be Continued…