Three unicorns stood in a mountainous cave. At their sides were saddlebags full of both short and long ranged weaponry. Hundreds of thousands of books had been placed on shelves engrained into the cave’s walls. Many of the books had dust on them while many looked brand new. Candelabras stood a between gaps of the shelves. All of them held three candles and were lit up. The unicorns looked around in confusion.
“This is the dragon’s horde?” an azure mare asked. “It’s nothing but books! These are worthless!”
“Calm down, Sniper,” a beige stallion said. “This might be a trap. The gems are probably deep within the cave.”
“That doesn’t matter,” a purple mare said. “We’re here to slay the dragon. After we’re done, then we can raid this place.” The mare’s companions nodded. The three of them made their trek into the cave looking around. As they went deeper inside, they noticed portraits sitting between the shelves. Beneath each one was a glass case with something inside it. One depicted a yellow pegasus mare with a pink mane. A crystal butterfly sat underneath it. A picture of an orange earth pony mare wearing a stetson over her blonde mane stood above an orange crystal apple. Across it stood a portrait of a cyan pegasus mare with a rainbow coloured mane. Underneath it was a ruby in the shape of a lightning bolt. To that portrait’s left was a picture of a smiling pink earth pony mare with a dark poofy pink mane. Sitting in front of her portrait was a sparkling blue crystal in the shape of a balloon. The azure mare’s eyes sparkled.
“Ding-dong! Hello!” she said. She rushed to the case with the butterfly inside it. A chisel was pulled from her saddle and placed on the bottom of the glass case. The mare’s tongue stuck out in concentration. “Come to mama.” The purple mare looked at each of the portraits.
“These four mares look familiar,” a book was pulled from her bag and floated in front of her. The pages turned with a single thought. Her eyes widened as she stopped in the center of the book. “Dear Celestia… these mares were the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. That yellow mare is Fluttershy, and that’s Applejack. That’s Pinkie Pie, and over there is Rainbow Dash! This is incredible!”
“Why would a dragon have portraits of the Elements of Harmony in his cave?” the stallion asked.
“Who cares?” the azure mare asked. A clicking came from the case she was working on. A large grin appeared on her face. “Awesome.” The crystal butterfly was enveloped in a cyan glow. Before she could place it in her bag a loud bird like screech echoed in the cave. All of the ponies looked towards the end of the cave. What looked like a mechanical phoenix the size of a filly was approaching them. Metallic silver was lined around its ruby red wings and body. At the center of its body was what looked like the side profile of the bird etched into a large silver ring. Its eyes were filled with hate.
“What is that thing?!” the purple mare screamed. A spear was pulled from the stallion’s bag and thrown at the bird. It stabbed through its head and it fell to the ground. The three ponies circled around it.
“That seemed too easy,” the stallion said. The bird’s body faded into sparkling dust. What was left of it was a silver ring that was three sizes too big for a pony. The three ponies blinked.
“That’s new,” the azure mare said. “Oh well, my treasure now.” As her horn lit up, a phoenix swooped in and took the ring in its talons. It hovered a few feet away from the group.
“Hey little bird,” the azure pony said. “Can you give me that shiny trinket? I promise I won’t kill you if you do.” The phoenix blew a raspberry at them. Footsteps echoed in the cave. They seemed to be moving closer to them. Looking in the distance, the ponies could see a bipedal creature with fins on its head. It appeared to be wearing a flowing coat. Its left hand was held out and gestured to the phoenix. It flew over to the creature and dropped the ring in its hand. Underneath the phoenix’s light, they could see that the creature was a dragon that stood as tall as three ponies. He was wearing a black overcoat with a silver trim. At the coat’s shoulders were silver circular patterns with a stylized dragon etched into them. On the coat’s sleeves were cuffs made entirely out of rubies with silver surrounding them. Both sides of the lapel had large square rubies embedded into it. Like the cuffs, silver was surrounding the rubies and it separated them into three sections. The dragon’s wings were passing through the back of the coat. Both of his hands had rings on the middle finger.
“Thanks, Peewee,” he said. The phoenix landed on his shoulder and he pet its head. He turned his attention to the ponies. “Hello there. I just moved into here, so I haven’t introduced myself to the village yet. I’m a little surprised to find…”
“Die dragon!” the stallion screamed. He hurled a spear at the dragon’s head. The dragon moved his head to the right, barely dodging the spear. The phoenix flew from his shoulder and squawked in surprise.
“Holy guacamole!” the dragon screamed. “What was that for?!” The three ponies armed themselves. Floating around them were short swords and axes.
“We’re here to prevent you from terrorizing the village below,” the purple mare said. “And to do that, you must die.”
“And then we’re going to steal your stuff,” her azure friend said. Her companions cocked an eyebrow at her. “What? Would you rather have me lie?” Two arcane circles then appeared in the cave, one in front of the dragon and one over the ponies. The dragon kneeled down and pushed his right hand into it. Up above, a large version of the dragon’s arm and hand descended on the ponies. They were pushed under the weight of the massive hand.
“Magic?” the stallion said. “But that’s impossible! Other than fire breath, dragons can’t use magic.”
“Every creature has magical potential,” the dragon said. “It manifests itself in different ways for each race. For example: pegasai have the power to control the skies. If one can tap into that magical potential and redirect it…”
“Then anypony can use magic,” the purple mare finished. “That’s Sparkle’s First Law of Magic. How do you know that?” The hand lifted itself from them and the dragon stood up.
“Who do you think she experimented on to discover that?” he asked. The ponies stood up and stared at him.
“You knew Twilight Sparkle?” the purple mare asked.
“I’m her baby brother,” the dragon replied. “I think we got off to the wrong start, what with him throwing a spear at my head. I’m Spike, who are you three?” The ponies looked at each other with confusion.
“I’m Sable Eye,” the stallion said.
“I’m Animus,” the purple mare said.
“I’m Treasure Sniper,” the azure mare responded. The phoenix landed on Spike’s shoulders.
“A pleasure to meet you all,” he said. The phoenix squawked. “Oh, right. This is Peewee. Anyways, is it safe to assume that you’re from the village at the base of this mountain?” The ponies nodded.
“Excellent. I was going to introduce myself to you all, but I’ve been busy the past two days setting up my things. I was just about finished cooking, would you three like to join myself and the princesses for dinner?”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Sable Eye said. “You know the princesses?”
“They’re personal friends of mine,” Spike said. “I invited them over for a housewarming party and they should be here soon. I couldn’t invite my friends who are in the portraits since… well for lack of a more eloquent phrase, they’re dead.”
“You were friends with the Elements of Harmony?” Animus gasped. Spike nodded. Stars sparkled in her eyes. “Can you tell me about them? I’ve read so much about them in history books.”
Spike chuckled. “There’s so many things that your history books got wrong about them. I should know, I have at least five of them on my shelves. Come, I’ll set three more places on the table for you.” He turned around and began walking into the cave. Animus followed close to him, bombarding the dragon with questions. Sable Eye and Treasure Sniper walked a few paces behind them.
“This did not turn out as I expected,” Sable Eye whispered.
“Who cares? A free meal is a free meal,” Treasure Sniper whispered back. “And besides, if he tries to eat us, we can always kill him and steal his stuff.”