It was now the dead of night as the group progressed towards Opaline’s hideout. They had taken the time to get some much needed rest after the fiasco at Mount Metazoa, and were now simply waiting as the hideout finally came into view.
“We’re close now. Be ready.” Athos reminded the group.
“What do you think we’ll find once we’re inside?” Benga asked.
“She’s probably utilizing creatures from Tartarus as a makeshift defense. And there’s probably lots of traps too.” Ember answered.
“Stay on your toes. We can’t afford even a second of hesitation in there.” Spike said. They all nodded in agreement as the skiff touched down. As they disembarked, they could feel an ominous atmosphere as they approached the entrance to the hideout. It was a building that was well hidden, having been carved into the mountainside as a way to maintain discretion, a large open entryway standing before them. The group tentatively made their way inside, and as they did the torches on both walls lit up, casting thick shadows across the interior of the cave.
“Creepy.” Autumn Blaze commented as her eyes darted around nervously.
“You said it.” Smolder agreed. They continued deeper inside until they came to a large foyer area which branched off into several tunnels.
“We should split up. It’ll help us cover more ground.” Athos suggested.
“Agreed. Let’s do it in four teams of two. And whatever you do, don’t get caught.” Ember said. After they had decided on their groups, they all headed down separate tunnels, with Spike and Benga heading down the center left tunnel. After a few moments of walking, they came to a room that contained a large stone monolith in the center. They saw a robed figure in front of the monolith muttering something to itself, and they decided to enter more cautiously. Suddenly, Spike stepped on a piece of broken glass, making a loud crunching sound. They quickly took cover as the figure spun around, revealing a formless mass beneath the robe with only two glowing purple eyes staring back. It let out a ghostly shriek as it began to look frantically around the room.
“Dear sweet Celestia! What is that!?” Spike exclaimed in a hushed tone.
“No way. It’s a Wight.” Benga said in a mixture of excitement and terror.
“A what?” Spike asked.
“When I was a child, my father would tell me stories about angry spirits called Wights whose sole purpose was to devour life. I never even thought they were real, much less did I expect to actually see one.” Benga explained.
“Must have been another resident of the deep vaults of Tartarus.” Spike said. He peaked out from their hiding spot and saw a doorway across the room, next to the stone monolith the Wight had been occupied by before. “We have to figure out how to get past that thing without getting killed.”
“Definitely. I’m not keen on dying today.” Benga agreed. They moved slowly in a clockwise fashion around the outer perimeter of the room to reach the exit, taking great care not to draw the Wight’s attention. Spike saw that as it frantically clawed at different objects in the room, they would slowly begin to wither and rot away. He shuttered as they saw that they were almost to the door.
“Almost there.” Spike whispered quietly. He reached out and tried to wrench the door open. As it rattled from the force Spike used to try and pull it open, the Wight spun towards their direction, looking around for the source of the noise. Spike and Benga tensed up, knowing that the Wight would catch them before they were able to get the door open.
“I have an idea. I’ll create a distraction while you focus on getting that door open.” Benga suggested as he took a look back towards the Wight, who was floating ever closer towards them.
“Will you be able to get away in time?” Spike asked.
“Not to worry. I’m quick on my feet.” Benga responded with a wink. He moved quietly back the way they had come and leaned down to pick up a loose stone lying off to the side. He got into position and gave Spike a thumbs up as he chucked the stone at the Wight, who quickly snapped towards Benga and began to float ominously towards him. With the Wight now distracted, Spike gripped the door handle once more and began to lurch it open. The structure’s age certainly explained the difficulty of getting the door open as Spike had to yank on it quite a few times in order to slide it open even a little bit. He looked back and saw Benga dodging the Wight’s furious swipes as it tried to catch him in its clutches.
“Benga, it’s open!” Spike called to him. As Benga jumped and flipped over several toppled obstacles in the room to reach the door, the Wight let out a haunting wail and launched some kind of cloud towards them. When it hit the wall beside them, they could see that it started to crumble and decay, causing them to scramble through the door even faster. They both just barely made it through the door as the Wight reached out to grab them, and to their surprise saw that the Wight did not pass beyond the threshold of the door, instead just staring at them with those haunting purple eyes while pacing back and forth.
“It’s not chasing us. Why?” Benga wondered aloud as he slowly stood up.
“It must be that monolith. It probably keeps it contained to that room.” Spike estimated as he caught his breath.
“Lucky for us then. C’mon, let’s hope the others haven’t run into anything like that.” Benga said. Meanwhile, Garble and Athos walked in complete silence down their respective corridor. Garble could tell Athos wasn’t much of a conversationalist, so the atmosphere was awkward to say the least.
“So, got any good stories to pass the time?” Garble asked as he tried to break the ice.
“That is not why we’re here.” Athos responded.
“I’m just saying man, it’d be nice to not walk in complete si-“ Before he could finish, Athos held up a hand for him to stop and gestured to the room ahead. To their surprise, they saw a massive skeleton with chains wrapping around it, the room only barely large enough to hold its massive frame.
“Woah, what happened here?” Garble asked.
“I believe this is what remains of Cerberus. With Tartarus out of commission, it would appear its guardian no longer had a purpose. Perhaps Opaline figured she could tame the beast for her own purposes.” Athos guessed.
“Guess it didn’t go too well.” Garble said as he studied the massive canine.
“We should keep moving. All of these tunnels should lead to an inner sanctum of some kind.” Athos said.
“Kinda sucks leaving the big guy like this.” Garble responded.
“There’s nothing that can be done for it now.” Athos reminded him. Garble took one last look back up to Cerberus before rejoining Athos and continuing on. In another tunnel, Ember and Autumn Blaze walked along in deep conversation, though it was a little one sided at the moment. Ember asked Autumn about how she had met Applejack and Fluttershy, and she quickly learned that Spring Leaf wasn’t kidding when she said Autumn Blaze was an absolute chatterbox.
“And then, I went into this whole big musical number when Applejack asked about what happened. It was really involved, lemme tell ya. And then, we took everypony to-“
At that moment, Autumn’s hoof caused the floor tile she had stepped on to depress into the floor. Ember barely managed to pull her out of the way of the spikes that shot forth from the wall and nearly skewered the oblivious Kirin.
“Whew. Thanks Ember. That was a close one.” Autumn said as she breathed a sigh of relief. Ember took a look at the spikes and saw that a viscous green liquid dripped onto the floor, making her very grateful she got Autumn out of the way in time.
“Yikes. What is that stuff?” Autumn asked.
“Poison. And a powerful one too. Must be an extra security measure. If the spikes don’t kill you, the poison certainly will.” Ember answered, not taking her eyes off the spike. Autumn gulped nervously as she looked on down the hallway.
“Any chance those were the only traps?”
“Not likely. We need to be very careful from here on.” Ember responded. They took careful steps down the hallway, with Ember being able to see that certain tiles were marked slightly differently to determine which ones would trigger a trap. She tested one of them with the Scepter, pushing down on it and watching it depress into the floor just like before and saw a stream of arrows fire off back and forth from the wall ahead of them.
“Hopefully we’re close to wherever it is these tunnels lead.” Autumn wondered aloud.
“You and me both.” Ember said back. In the final tunnel, Smolder and Spring Leaf had just finished a battle against strange stone constructs, though to their surprise they went down quite easily.
“Is it just me, or are these things just like that golem that attacked the Kirin Grove?” Smolder wondered.
“They definitely are.” Spring Leaf responded as she shifted out of her Nirik form.
“I don’t get it. Why would Opaline be trying to recreate those golem things?” Smolder asked.
“It could be that she had read about how Grogar created the golems and tried to make her own foot soldiers. Seems she hasn’t perfected the process though.” Spring Leaf answered. Smolder studied the loose pile of stones that once formed one of the constructs, thinking about what their use could possibly be.
“If she built enough of these, she could have an army large enough to overrun any kingdom she wanted.” Smolder said as the realization dawned on her. Spring Leaf looked ahead and saw a faint light peaking out from the end of the tunnel.
“That has to be it. The inner sanctum!” Spring Leaf exclaimed. Smolder looked ahead and saw what Spring Leaf was referring to. She saw the same faint light and realized they must be getting close to their destination.
“Well we wouldn’t wanna keep Rain Shine waiting any more than we already have. Let’s go!” Smolder said as she took off down the tunnel, with Spring Leaf following close behind. As they made their way towards the light, they could hear faint voices coming from the room ahead and they immediately took cover. They didn’t see their companions when they looked around the room, but what they did see was enough to elicit shock and horror out of both of them. They saw Opaline pacing back and forth muttering aloud in frustration and in front of her was Rain Shine, who was strung up like a demented puppet for Opaline’s experiments.
“Ugh! I don’t have enough power to absorb the fire element from the Kirin, and I can’t absorb the dragonfire until the eggs have hatched. Blast that Twilight Sparkle, locking away my magic in those infernal crystals!” Opaline grunted in frustration. Spring Leaf gasped in horror at the sight and moved to charge Opaline before Smolder held her back.
“Wait! We can’t just go charging in by ourselves.” Smolder hissed quietly.
“But she’s torturing Rain Shine! We have to do something!” Spring Leaf whispered, clearly exasperated by the situation. From the corner to the southwest Smolder spotted Ember and Autumn Blaze emerging from one of the other tunnels. From directly above them, on the northwest balcony came Garble and Athos, and finally on the opposite end to the northeast came Spike and Benga. They all knew what they had to do, and figured that they were in the perfect position to get the drop on Opaline.
“Tell me, oh honored guests. Were you truly planning on attacking me after I’ve been such a gracious host?” Opaline called out. All of their eyes went wide in shock at the revelation that Opaline was aware of their presence.
“It would seem this hideout has been compromised. And it looks like I’ll need a sufficient distraction in order to make my escape.” Opaline muttered to herself. She reached into a bag she had on her side and tossed out several glowing gems, which interacted with a massive pile of stones as they began to swirl and form together. The group saw that the stones finally formed a massive golem that had various different elements shifting and moving across its body. Spike saw Opaline take her leave as the golem engaged the group with various elemental blasts.
“Not this time!” Spike growled as he took off after her. He could faintly hear the others calling after him, though his focus was directed solely at catching Opaline, giving chase through the winding caverns and dark corridors of the hideout until they were eventually back at the entrance. He leapt forward and managed to tackle Opaline, springing back onto his feet and sliding back until they were face to face with each other. They both slowly stood up as light rain pattered around them, eventually turning into a more steady drizzle.
“Ah, I remember you. Twilight’s little assistant.” Opaline recalled.
“This ends now.” Spike said as he clenched his hand into a fist.
“On the contrary. It hasn’t even begun.” Opaline replied with a wicked smile.
“What did you do with the dragon eggs?” Spike asked, his tone growing ever angrier.
“They’ll stay with me for the time being. Wouldn’t want them falling into the wrong hands now would we?” Opaline said mockingly. At that moment, a massive Roc landed on the ground next to them, as Opaline mounted it and prepared to take flight.
“No you don’t!” Spike shouted as he charged her. The Roc swatted him away, causing him to tumble through the mud. Opaline laughed as Spike picked himself up and gave her a menacing glare.
“If I were you, I’d worry more about those friends of yours. You can’t afford to lose them too, can you?” She asked mockingly as she laughed once more. Spike let out a loud roar and shot out the largest blast of fire he could muster but missed as the Roc quickly took flight and disappeared into the night. Spike huffed as he caught his breath, and suddenly the realization struck him; he had left the others to fight the golem. He quickly rushed back into the hideout, retracing his steps back through the tunnels before he finally got back to the inner sanctum, and what he saw instilled a great sense of horror in him. The room had been completely torn apart, with the golem having finally been reduced to nothing more than a large pile of stones, but his companions looked incredibly rough, and what was worse is that Garble wasn’t waking up. Smolder and Ember shook him to try and get him to wake up, though to no avail. Benga and Athos were leaning against the far wall taking a breather while Spring Leaf and Autumn Blaze tended to Rain Shine, who was still recovering from her own torture by Opaline. Smolder saw Spike enter the room and stomped over to him, grabbing him by the collar of his cloak in the process.
“What’s with you? What were you thinking taking off like that?” Smolder asked angrily.
“I… I was…” Spike tried to say, though he found that he couldn’t find the words. Smolder scoffed and let go of Spike before turning back to Garble.
“We need to get Garble back to the Crystal Empire. Maybe they’ve got some doctors who can help him.” Spike and Benga carried Garble together as the group made their way out of the hideout, and as they returned to the skiff, Rain Shine got Spike’s attention.
“I didn’t get a chance to say it before, but thank you for rescuing me. I had suffered Opaline’s torture for weeks.” Rain Shine said as they boarded the skiff.
“Did you happen to find out what she was planning to do once she drained your fire magic?” Spike asked.
“I once caught her mentioning something about breaking the barrier surrounding Equestria and taking back her magic, but not much beyond that.” Rain Shine answered. Spike gave it some thought as they set on their course back to the Crystal Empire. Several hours passed as they journeyed back to the Crystal Empire, eventually reaching their destination just as night began to descend on the next day. They got Garble to the Crystal Empire’s best doctors, and they all waited with baited breath as the doctors treated him. Eventually, a unicorn doctor came out to meet with the other dragons, who all stood up at the same time as the doctor approached.
“How is he?” Ember asked.
“He’s stable, but still unconscious.” The doctor said. “We have no idea when, or even if, he’ll wake from this.”
She left them to their thoughts as they pondered what to do next. Spike was mentally kicking himself; he didn’t want his friends to be casualties in his pursuit. They all stayed with Garble for a while before heading back to the Crystal Castle in order to get some rest from their journey. As they entered the castle, Spike felt a hand on his shoulder and saw Capper standing next to him.
“Heard about what happened to Garble. Don’t worry, we’ll make sure he gets the best treatment possible.” Capper reassured him.
“Thanks Capper. I appreciate that.” Spike said with a small smile. Capper gave him a pat on the back before taking his leave. When Spike got to his room, he saw Flurry Heart waiting outside with a look of concern on her face.
“Hey Big Bro.” She said with a wave.
“Hey kiddo. What’s up?” Spike asked.
“Mom told me about what happened with Garble and the Kirin leader and everything. It sounds like you guys have been through a lot.” Flurry Heart said.
“Definitely. But I’m hoping Garble makes a full recovery soon.” Spike said.
“What about you Big Bro? Are you okay?” Flurry Heart asked.
“Yeah I’m fine. Why?” Spike asked curiously.
“It’s just, this whole thing seems like it’s really taking a toll on you. I just wanna make sure nothing happens to you.” She answered worriedly. Spike pulled her into a reassuring hug.
“Don’t you worry. Nothing’s gonna happen to me. Scout’s honor.” Spike reassured her.
“You’re right. Thanks.” Flurry Heart said as she returned his hug. “Well, I should let you get some rest. Good night Big Bro.”
“Good night kiddo.” Spike said. He watched as Flurry Heart disappeared down the hallway and finally opened the door to his room. He closed the door and took a seat on his bed, finally taking in the full scope of everything that had happened over the previous few days. Opaline’s words still echoed in his mind, though he did his best to shake them off as he lied down to try and get some rest.
After a few hours, Spike awoke from yet another dream. He ran a hand down his face as he sat up and looked out the window. After a few minutes, he took out his communicator and dialed a certain number. The communicator rang for a few minutes before the familiar face of Luster Dawn came up on the screen.
“Spike. What a surprise. I can honestly say I wasn’t expecting to hear from you again.” Luster said.
“Things have gotten pretty complicated, Luster. A lot more than we anticipated.” Spike said back.
“And what is it that you’re calling me at this hour for?” She asked. Spike took a deep breath as he braced himself for what he was about to say.
“I need a favor.”