In a forest on the outer edge of Equestria, the animals were enjoying their lives living as animals without a care in the world.
But that all changed when a loud engine filled the air, causing the birds to take flight and the grounded creatures to run up trees or into their underground burrows. A few seconds later, the source of the sound rocketed into view.
The all terrain truck shot over the land and as it did, those inside cheered at the excitement they were having.
Flash Sentry was at the wheel, with Soarin Skies beside him and the rest of his team in the seats behind him. The truck wasn't exactly the same as before, as the living accommodations had been shrunk down to make room for a second row of seats. Trixie, Wallflower and Springer sat in the centre row and behind them, Shining Armor, Luna and Cadance of all ponies were seated.
Shining and Cadance, having never experienced Flash's all terrain vehicle, were amazed by its performance. "This is awesome!" Shining cried, as the truck went flying through a muddy puddle.
Cadance laughed as well, enjoying the ride as she sat between Shining and Luna. Unlike the first time they had met Cadance, the omni was dressed in a blue skirt and a white sleeveless shirt with a pink sash around her waist. A white and pink backpack was on her lap, along with a pink magic staff with a blue heart on the end of it.
The reason the group were flying through the jungle, was because Luna had discovered the last location of a castle, belonging to a well renowned wizard and creature scientist. When she heard where it was, she could think of no better team to ask to accompany her.
And when Shining and Cadance had learned where they were going, they decided to tag along. Shining wanted to see how far Flash and his team had come, since he had last seen them in action and Cadance thought it would be fun.
"Shouldn't be much further now," Luna told Flash. "Take a right here." Flash swerved the truck around and everypony cried out at the sudden shift in direction, laughing at the excitement.
"I have got to get myself one of these," Cadance smirked. "Can you imagine rocking up to peace agreements in this?"
"Well I can happily disenchant one for you," Flash stated. "But I don't think it'll actually work without my belt feeding it magic." He wasn't completely sure about that, since he had no idea how much of an internal combustion engine it actually had. For all he knew, the only thing it would need was gas.
"There it is!" Luna announced as she pointed ahead of them. They all looked out the window and saw a mountain, just beyond the trees. Leaving the jungle, they found themselves in a large open space surrounding the mountain.
"This is where the castle is?" Trixie asked, as Flash pulled the truck to a stop. Everypony got out and Flash dispelled the vehicle, Springer placing his paw on the ground and channelling his aura.
"This place was once full of life. Many ponies lived here."
"Yes," Luna nodded. "I bet if you dug this area up, you would find the ruins of old houses that were built around this castle."
"What castle?" Soarin asked, "I don't see anything that looks like it could have been a castle. Either the whole thing was destroyed, or it was built underground."
"No," Cadance shook her head, "I can sense it." She pointed up at the small mountain, "a spell is keeping it from view." They all turned to the mountain, Luna smiling as she took out her scythe.
"Exactly. A phasing spell, keeping it from being discovered." She raised it up as the weapon glowed, then spoke a spell Flash couldn't quite comprehend as she swung the weapon down. Doing so caused the blade to unleash a dark blue energy blade, which flew up towards the mountain.
The attack struck something and exploded, the light it unleashed spreading across something to form a dome around the entire mountain. Then, when it was completely enveloped, the dome shattered to reveal an old looking castle atop the giant rock with a staircase leading down to them.
"Wow," the students all whispered as Luna began to step towards the stairs. "To think it's just been hiding here." Wallflower placed a hand on the stair's banister, as she, Trixie, Shining and Springer started climbing up it. The winged ponies flew up to the top of the staircase and found a set of red double doors waiting for them.
Luna opened it up once the others were there and they all stepped inside.
"So who exactly was this unicorn?" Soarin asked, as they looked around the entryway of the castle and found the place was rather well preserved despite being centuries old.
"He was believed to be a descendant of Starswirl the Bearded," Luna explained. "He created many impressive spells, that are still being used today. But not much else is known about him. He ran this area of Equestria and Celestia stated he was quite...quirky. Not sure what she meant by that. She said be rarely if ever left his castle and was always doing research. But he was also known to have some very fun parties. He even invited Celestia to a few of them."
"Did Celestia ever go to any?" Cadance asked.
"Not sure," Luna replied. "Anyway, he died and his castle vanished when he did. Celestia tried to make the place unphase, but the spell was just too strong at the time. It wasn't until now that it finally weakened enough for us to come take a look around."
"What are you expecting to find?" Flash asked, noticing a suit of pegasus armor standing against one of the doors.
"He's bound to have some experiments and notes, that could prove useful." Luna spotted a small bookshelf ahead. "We'll do a quick sweep of the place and make sure there isn't anything dangerous. Then we can leave a proper survey to an archaeology team." They nodded but as they did, Springer sensed something.
"We're not alone here!" He prepared to go into his battle mode, whilst the others brought out their weapons, ready to fight whatever was coming.
They looked down the dark corridor, as something appeared from out of the darkness. It was small, no larger then a soccer ball, and round. It seemed to be sliding along the ground and eventually, it came into the light and revealed itself to be a mass of blue jelly without eyes or a mouth. Inside the mass was a golf ball sized core of some kind.
"Oh," Flash smirked, "it's a slime." He had always wondered if slimes were a thing in this world, but assumed so since it had so many other Adventure Story elements. He turned to the others and noticed Shining and Soarin looked a little nervous, whilst the girls all looked like they were staring at some kind of eldritch horror. "You okay?"
The slime moved closer and when it did, the girls all screamed with Luna unleashing a blast of magic that struck the slime. The core in the center popped, which caused the slime's body to follow suit and spill its liquids everywhere.
The girls continued to scream and leap away from the slime. "Wow!" Flash told them, "what is up with you guys?"
"You don't know about slimes?" Soarin asked, Flash nodding as Shining sighed.
"They have another name. The bane of mares."
"Come again?"
"Slimes destroy clothes!" Trixie cried, still looking terrified despite the slime being dead. "They're the weakest monsters in existence and can't even hurt ponies. But their fluids can dissolve fabric."
"Ah," Flash nodded, "I get yah. Guess fighting a monster that can leave you butt naked would be difficult. But hey, you managed to destroy it. So what's the big problem?"
"Slimes never come alone," Shining replied. "You see one, there's probably a whole lot more you're not seeing." And just to prove his point, more slimes suddenly appeared from down the corridor.
The girls screamed and began to run the way they came, the boys chasing after them with Soarin launching several Aero Shots to destroy the slimes behind them.
The girls ran for the exit, but found that even more slimes were waiting for them there. "Where'd they come from?" Wallflower asked, as the boys caught up.
Flash then noticed the stairs seemed clear of slimes and began to fly up them. "This way!" The others followed him up the stairs and they eventually arrived at next floor, which was also free of slimes.
"That was too close," Trixie sighed.
"Did one get on me?" Cadance started looking her clothes over. "I think I got some on me. Shining," she was whining like a baby, "did I get any on me?" Shining looked her over and shook his head, Cadance sighing. "Can't we just teleport out of here and be done with this place?"
"We can't turn back now," Soarin frowned. "If we run away from slimes, that embarrassment will live with us our entire lives." The mares sighed, but knew he was right.
"Let's see if there's anything up here," Shining told them. "Hopefully, those slimes will have dispersed once we're done and we can leave." They nodded and began to make their way through the castle's upper levels.
A few minutes of looking into different rooms, which were mostly guest quarters, they found a large set of double doors that were locked. It took Wallflower's shell drill to bust through it and when they looked inside, they found the place was a large laboratory of sorts.
"This must be where he did his research," Springer guessed as they looked around. There were many different vials and potions covering the table, making them worry the air might have turned toxic if the potions mutated.
But Luna did a quick air quality spell and found the place was safe.
"Hey," Wallflower found some kind of journal on a table, "this must be his notebook." He opened it up and read through it. "Geez, this guy's handwriting was terrible."
"Can you read it?" Luna asked, as she stepped up to a bookshelf and took out a few of the books. Some were actually quite rare, museum pieces some would call them. "Memory spells?" She read the books, "why would he be studying memory altering spells?"
"To anypony who's reading this," Wallflower stated. "It is clear my time has passed and whoever's reading this wishes to know about my life's work."
"What life's work?" Soarin asked, as Wallflower speed read through the first few pages. From what she could tell, he was talking about creating the ultimate creature of his dream. One that would allow him to have his every fantasy.
"What fantasy?" Springer's question would remain unanswered, as something fell down from the ceiling: A slime.
The girls all screamed at the sight of it, the four of them rushing out the room whilst Soarin, Shining and Springer dealt with the creature. Flash ran with them, knowing that they would probably need protection if they ran into more slimes. And sure enough, several more slimes fell down from the ceiling and almost fell on top of the girls.
Cadance leapt back, falling right into Flash, whilst the others continued running forwards.
At the same time, the notebook Wallflower had been holding started glowing. She looked down at it with confusion, as the book unleashed a bright light that began to spread across the entire castle.
"What now?" Trixie moaned, as the slimes approached. "I just wanna get out of here!" And it was as if the light was answering her question, as in that moment she, Luna and Wallflower vanished.
"What happened?" Cadance gasped, as Shining, Soarin and Springer rushed out of the room and saw them. And before any of them could cry out, Cadance and Flash vanished before the light faded away.
"CADANCE!" Shining ran over and destroyed the slimes as he inspected the area she and Flash had been on. "Where did they go?" He closed his eyes and tried to connect to the lingering magic, trying to determine what it was. "It doesn't feel like destruction magic. It's more like...teleportation magic?"
"But where did they get teleported to?" Springer asked, trying to lock on to Flash and the other's auras. But he couldn't. They were either shielded or very far away. "Where are you guys?"
Flash moaned as he began to come around.
He was on his back and felt a weight on his chest. As he opened his eyes and tried to pick himself up, he heard another moan and looked down to see a mixture of yellow, purple and pink hair right in front of him. Cadance was laying on top of him.
"Oh no," Flash gulped as he felt something pressed against him. Something Shining would probably kill him for feeling. "Um...princess? You okay? Cadance!"
"Huh?" Cadance finally awakened and groaned as she picked herself up, clearly not realising what she had just been doing and the effect it had had on the young stallion. "What happened? Where are we?"
"I have no idea." Flash looked around and saw they were laying at the dead-end of a long corridor. Looking down the corridor, they saw several openings in the wall until it reached another dead end. The only light source, was from a small hole in the ceiling every couple of feet. "Oh, don't tell me we were teleported into some kind of maze."
"Looks like it," Cadance nodded. "I wonder if it's located under the castle."
"Think you can teleport us out of here?"
"I can try." Cadance grabbed him by the arm and pulled him close to her, making Flash blush as she held her magi-staff and channelled her magic into it. But the light exploded off them before it could completely form. "Looks like whatever that wizard was up to, he didn't want anypony getting out of here easily."
"So what do we do?"
"What else?" Cadance walked forward, "we go through the maze." But as she said that, they heard a laughing fill the air. Cadance held up her staff and Flash summoned his sword and shield.
"Welcome," a weaselly sounding voice announced, "my pretty little contestants. By now, you've probably realised you're trapped in an intricate maze. There will be no teleporting out or blasting your way through the walls. The only way out is to run my special gauntlet. Nothing here is life threatening, but you might want to be careful."
"What did he mean by that?" Flash asked, Cadance unsure.
"Who was that?" Trixie asked. She, Wallflower and Luna were in another corridor, having just woken up from their own teleportation.
"Sounds like a recorded message," Luna stated. "Something must have triggered some kind of entertainment spell on the castle."
"Entertainment?" Wallflower gulped. "For who? I don't find getting teleported into a giant maze entertaining. And what did he mean about a special gauntlet? If it's not life threatening, why do we have to be careful?" It was then that something appeared around the corner. Something that made their eyes go wide. "Oh no."
"SLIME!" Trixie screamed, seeing a red coloured slime moving towards them.
"I've never seen one that colour before." Luna was just as scared as the girls, but was also intrigued by the slime's strange colour. But before she could wonder if the colour effected it, the slime suddenly spat something at them. A bullet of its slimy substance, which made them all cry out as Luna put up a shield.
"Since when do slimes spit?" Wallflower asked, Luna lowering the barrier as Trixie unleashed a barrage of icicles. One struck the slime and destroyed it, spilling its substances all over the floor.
Luna sighed. "Looks like that wizard left a little surprise for us. A gauntlet of slimes, possibly with new abilities that could make getting out of her unharmed tricky."
Flash and Cadance found themselves in a similar situation.
As they made their way through the maze, several blue slimes appeared. Cadance looked terrified at the sight of them, whilst Flash summoned his weapons. "Stay back. I got this!" He rushed forward and slashed at a slime with his sword, then cut through another and another. He quickly dealt with them all, without getting any of their slime on him.
Cadance clapped, "my hero." Flash couldn't help but blush at this, as they continued forwards. Along the way, they found more slimes and Flash kept slashing at them whilst Cadance gave support with her magic.
"Weird," Flash frowned after cutting up the last slime. "These things don't even try and protect themselves." Another slime appeared and Cadance held up her staff.
"Fire Shot!" A fireball exploded from the staff and shot towards the slime, only for it to leap out of the way. "What was that you were saying?"
Flash rushed forward and cut the slime in half, making it pop as he leapt back. "Guess some slimes are smarter than others." As he said that, another slime appeared. This one being purple in colour.
"A purple slime?" Cadance had never heard of such a thing. As far as she knew, slimes only ever came in blue colours. "I don't like this." As she said that, the slime shot forward with incredible speed. This surprised them, since slimes were only meant to move slowly.
Flash raised his shield, prepared to counter when it attacked him. But to his surprise, it shot right past him and targeted Cadance.
The omni screamed as it tackled her, knocking her to the ground as its body because to eat through her shirt. "NO!" Flash quickly ran up to it and used his sword to flick it off of her, destroying the core as he did so and causing it to melt into the ground.
"You okay?" Flash turned back to her, only for his eyes to go wide when he saw what the slime had done.
"Oh," Cadance moaned at her exposed chest, "my bra as well." She then remembered Flash was there and looked up to see him staring, the avian gasping as their eyes locked.
"I'm sorry!" He spun around, as Cadance covered her chest.
"It's not your fault. It's that perverse wizard that did this." She sighed, "there's no way I'm gonna be able to walk around like this. I can't fight with my arms covering myself. Don't suppose I could borrow your jacket, could I?" Flash nodded, though he doubted it could fit her.
But just as he was about to take it off, a idea suddenly flew into his head. He quickly took out a card and imagined the shirt Cadance had been wearing before. When the card formed, he slotted it in and summoned it before disenchanting the shirt. "Here." He threw it back at Cadance, who caught it and was shocked to see her shirt had been restored.
"Wow," she smiled and quickly swapped it out. "Thanks. Remind me to call you the next time I need a dress made in a hurry." Flash blushed at this, whilst more purple slimes appeared.
"Great," he summoned his weapons again and was ready for them. The slimes charged again and like before, they were making a beeline right for Cadance. "Why do they only want you?" He quickly slashed them in half.
Back in the castle, Shining, Soarin and Springer continued to search the place for their friends.
As they did, Soarin was reading through the notebook Wallflower had dropped when she was teleported away. "Hey, listen to this?" Shining and Springer looked over at him. "At long last, my experiments are beginning to show results."
"What results?" Shining asked. "What was he experimenting with?"
"It seems he was trying to breed new types of slimes," he explained. "Slimes with abilities outside of their normal fabric eating abilities."
"I get it," Springer nodded. "So he was trying to make slimes that could be useful to ponies. Maybe one that eats dirt instead of clothes. Or ones that produce medicine. Is it stuff like that?"
"I'm not sure." Soarin flipped to the next page. "Huh, what's this?" He started reading. "Construction on the labyrinth is ahead of schedule. It should be ready by the time I've completed my first batch of new slimes. My pretty little guests are sure to have the time of their lives down there."
"I don't like the sound of that," Shining frowned as he looked down at the ground. The only place that could be was below them inside the mountain. And if Flash and the girls had been teleported into it, they had to find a way out before they ran out of food or energy.
Back below the castle, Trixie, Luna and Wallflower were continuing to fight their way through the maze.
But the slimes just kept coming and they could only make little progress since they had to keep their distance. "Lumino Shot!" Trixie fired a laser that fired some purple and blue slimes.
They quickly rushed through the maze and when they turned a corner, Wallflower found herself slipping on something. "WOW!" She fell to the ground and felt her pants get soaked, making her look down and see a strange white liquid covering the ground. Whatever it was, it was very slippery. "What is this?"
"Look!" Trixie pointed down the passageway and they all saw a bunch of white coloured slimes, which were giving off the slippery stuff as they moved along the ground. They had been moving away from them, but when Wallflower screamed they turned back to the mares. "Get up!"
"I can't!" Wallflower tried to stand, but slipped on the ground again. "This stuff's like ice." She slipped again as the slimes got closer, Luna quickly raising her staff.
"Wind Wall!" The wind flew out of her staff and filled the entire corridor, passing over Wallflower whilst blowing the slimes and their substance away. They were eventually pushed against the far wall and popped, freeing Wallflower to pick herself up.
"How many types of Slimes are down here?" The Terran asked, the Magi and Omni not wanting to know.
They continued down the hallway and turned another corner, where they found a bunch of green slimes. These ones were sticking to the walls and ceiling, just waiting for unsuspecting victims to walk by so they could fall down on them. "Oh, I don't think so." Trixie held up her staff, "Super Freeze!" She unleashed the lightning and it hit the walls and roof, covering it and the slimes in a layer of ice.
Once they were frozen over, the three ran through the hallway and hoped they would soon find the way out. They weren't sure how many more slimes they could handle.
Flash and Cadance continued to journey through the labyrinth, Flash acting as Cadance's guard and protecting her from the slimes that seemed to have it out for her clothes.
So far, he had only had to replace her shirt twice and her skirt once. But It had still been awkward whenever he did and the fact the slimes kept getting the jump on him, was really starting to bug him. Several more purple slimes were flying towards him, "why...are...they...ignoring...me!?" He asked with each swing of his sword.
The slimes were destroyed and he once again managed to avoid losing his clothes. As they did, Cadance also wondered why they kept coming after her. Then she remembered what the wizard has said and the events leading to them being there. "You were holding me when we teleported. And it didn't look like Shining or the other boys were targeted for the spell."
"Huh," Flash scratched his head. "So you're saying the magic was only supposed to bring you down here?"
"Exactly. And the slimes keep ignoring you, no matter how much danger you put them in." She tapped her hoof, "I don't think they're ignoring you. I think they can't sense you."
"Huh?"
"Slimes don't have eyes. They have an ability called magic sense, kind of like echolocation. What if these slimes had their magic sense altered so that they can't pick up males."
"Why would someone do that?"
"The wizard that lived here was male. Maybe he didn't want his own clothes getting destroyed."
Flash frowned as they turned a corner. "So this guy created an elaborate trap that targeted mares and only mares. The teleportation brings them down to this maze and they have to find their way out, whilst avoiding the slimes as best they can."
"Exactly," Cadance nodded. "I'm willing to bet this happened during his many parties Celestia mentioned."
"You think he planned on bringing Celestia down here?" Flash asked, imagining the regal sun omni racing through this maze getting attacked by slimes."
"Possibly. Though if that actually happened, the castle would have probably been destroyed in her rage." Flash nodded as they turned another corner, where some red slimes were waiting.
Flash shielded Cadance from their slime shots, as the omni launched a blast of light that fried them to a crisp.
It was two final turns that led them to a hallway, which ended in a set of stairs. They began to fly up it and as they did, they saw several white slimes making the steps slippery. Flash easily destroyed them and they continued upwards.
They finally reached the top of the stairs and when they did, they found themselves in what they believed to be a large chamber. They could only guess because the place was pitch black, making it impossible to see anything that wasn't a few feet in front of them.
"Light Source," Cadance held up her staff and unleashed a blast of light. Said light shot into the air, growing brighter as it flew higher. Doing so caused the place to completely illuminate, allowing them to get a better look at the room as a whole.
In doing so, they found that it was a large square room roughly twenty or so meter from one wall to the next. Three of the four wall had an opening that connected to a staircase, whilst the fourth wall appeared to have a similar opening but it was blocked off.
"What is this place?" Flash asked, Cadance humming as she looked towards the walls. When she did, she gasped seeing the image inscribed onto it. "What?" But before he could look, Cadance rushed over and covered his eyes.
"Don't you dare look!" Flash was very confused, Cadance making sure to push his head downwards unaware that she was forcing Flash to look directly at her chest. "Oh, that old wizard was absolutely revolting."
"Why? What's on the wall?"
"The walls are all covered in mares," Cadance replied. "Naked mares." Flash's eyes went wide at this, his male instincts screaming at him to take a look. "Parts of the wall are blank and the designs of these mares are too...life like."
"So?"
"So, I don't think these are just random images placed on the wall. Based on what we've learned of this wizard, I'm willing to bet they're meant to be reminders of his previous victims." Flash quickly caught on.
"You means these are real mares?" He sensed Cadance nodding, Flash still a little confused. "So what, he sent those poor mares through a series of elaborate slime-filled traps that eventually lead them here?"
"Where their naked forms were then used to decorate the walls," Cadance frowned. "So evil."
Flash pulled away and covered his eyes, Cadance not stopping him. "I'm surprised he didn't have an army of mares or angry stallions attempting to smash his doors down and destroy this place." Cadance hummed as she seemed to be thinking about that.
"Yes. Unless the mares leave this place without any knowledge of what happened to them."
"You mean that memory spell?"
"Exactly. The wizard trapped the mares in here, forced them to run a gauntlet of slime traps and eventually lead them here to get themselves put on the wall. Then, he removed their memories of the whole event."
"Wow," Flash could hardly believe it, "that is evil." And as he said that, he sensed Cadance turn away from him. When she did, Flash felt a sudden urge to remove his hands and open his eyes. To look at the wall. 'No, I can't.' But his fingers were starting to move on their own, 'it isn't right. I should show these mares respect.' His fingers parted, his eyes feeling like hooks were pulling on the lids. 'But...this happened hundreds of years ago. They're long since dead. It's...it's not like I'll ever meet them.' And so, his eyes began to lift themselves up and his neck began to crane upwards. And as he looked towards the wall, the image was beginning to focus and-
"FLASH!" The teen yelped and shut his eyes, spinning towards the voice.
"I didn't look. I SWEAR!" It was then that he recognised the voice. "Wait, Trixie? Is that you?"
"Yeah?" Trixie replied, "Luna and Wallflower are with me. What are you doing?"
"Um...look at the walls." He waited and the mares all gasped, Cadance beginning to explain what they had found.
"I see," Luna nodded. "Yes, keep your eyes closed." Flash groaned, really wishing they could just leave. The mares all had the same thought. "It appears this is the final room that leads up into the main castle. But how are we supposed to get up to it?"
"There must be a trick or something," Wallflower stated. "And knowing that wizard's taste, it's probably designed so that by the end we're naked."
"Well that's not gonna happen," Trixie announced. "We're getting out of here and keeping our clothes on. And Flash is keeping his eyes closed!"
"Yes ma'am!" But as Flash said that, the room filled with light alongside Cadance's light ball. Then, a voice began to echo in the room. A laughter that sounded like nails on a chalkboard.
"Congratulations, my pretty little contestants. You've been able to make it all the way to my final challenge. Overcome this and freedom will be yours. But even if you've managed to get this far whilst clothed, nothing will save you from my greatest creation. My masterpiece. THE MEGA SLIME!"
"Mega Slime?" Flash asked, as they all heard something coming from above them. The mares gasped as they looked up, Flash still blind. "What's going on?" He suddenly felt someone pull on his jacket and yank him backwards, right as something sploshed down on the ground where he had been.
"Flash," Luna ordered, "open your eyes!" Flash did so when he looked at the ground, he found a strange black substance on the floor. One that didn't look like the slimes he had seen before. This one remained a puddle, not forming any kind of shape whatsoever.
Then, more of the substance plopped down and Flash looked up. Doing so allowed him to see the ceiling was a grid formation and sliding out from between the gaps, the black substance spilled out. "What is that?" The puddle grew larger and larger, making them all step backwards as it finally started forming a shape. And soon, a giant sphere of black slime was sitting in the centre of the room.
"That would be the Mega Slime," Luna gulped as the creature suddenly grew a bunch of slimy tendrils that started swinging around. They all cried out as they leapt back, doing their best to avoid the slime. But when the slime's arms swung around, it sent out drops of its substance that flew everywhere.
One of these dollops hit Flash on the knee and as soon as it did, it started eating through his pant leg. "Gyah!" He swept it off before it could burn through anything else. "Great."
"This isn't gonna be easy," Cadance sighed as she and Luna took to the air. "Try this! Super Freeze!" Luna and Trixie tried the same thing and as the blue lightning shot towards the slime, the creature's body suddenly hardened. The next thing they knew, the lightning bounced off it and struck random spots in the room.
"No way!" Trixie cried, as the creature's body once again liquefied and swung tendrils around. Trixie leapt back and the whip struck the ground, exploding and sending drops of slime flying at her. "Light Barrier!" The wall of light appeared and the slime bounced off it, leaving Trixie's clothes unharmed.
Wallflower used this time to get into position, her gauntlet transforming into her soundwaver. "Time to go POOOOOP!" She screamed into the microphone and the device sent it out ten times louder, the sonic attack hitting the slime and pushing it backwards. However, the other side of the creature once again solidified.
As such, the slime bounced off of this and flew back the way it came. This sent a blast of slime out towards Wallflower, who gasped as she was getting her breath back from the scream.
Luckily, Flash was there and made a fire shield almost as big as him. He leapt in front of Wallflower and shielded them both, whilst unleashing a blast of fire that flew up towards the slime and actually burned it.
"Nice shot!" Cadance smiled. But then she remembered, "the slimes don't register you. Remember, all those traps only focused on females."
"Yeah," Flash stood up, "and I bet this thing won't notice me either."
"What are you talking about?" Trixie asked, as Flash shrunk his fire shield before summoning his lightning blade. He then noticed a tendril shooting towards Luna and before it could get close, he shot towards it and slashed right through the tendril.
It popped and Flash used his shield to keep himself from getting splashed, then turned back to the Mega Slime and unleashed a blast of lightning from his sword. The lightning slammed into the creature and it vibrated as the electricity surged through its body.
It pulled away from the source of the pain, but didn't attack back like it would if one of the girls had attacked. "Oh, yeah!" He flew at the creature again and went for another slash, but a tendril swung around and almost hit him. "WOW!" He barely raised his shield and was pushed backwards, drops of slim landing on his shoulder and side. "Dang it!"
"I thought you said it couldn't see him?" Trixie asked, as Flash landed.
"It can't," Luna stated. "But it knew the attack came from that direction and swung wildly." Another tendril swung out and hit nothing, though it did throw out several drops of slime that the girls had to defend themselves from. "Flash, don't keep attacking from the same direction!"
"Got it!" Flash leapt into the air and flew around the giant slime, launching fireballs and electrical blasts at it.
"We have to keep it distracted," Luna told the others before firing out a blast of dark light. Trixie unleashed a barrage of icicles, whilst Cadance shot a beam of light. Wallflower slammed her fist into the ground, causing spikes of rock to explode out of it.
But no matter what the mares did, the slime was able to counter their attacks. Luna and Cadance's beam attacks were deflected by the slime growing hard, whilst the icicles were caught in the slime and melted. The rock spikes impaled it from below, but that did nothing against the slime's gelatinous body.
These attacks did nothing to the slime, but they did keep its attention away from Flash as the teen flew around launch fireballs and lightning bolts. The creature's body was burned and fried by the attacks, causing it to grow smaller as the slime was evaporated. But it was a slow process.
"Dang it," Flash sighed. "How were those smaller slimes easier to kill then this?" Then he remembered all the slimes had that strange orb inside each of their bodies. "Yeah, that thing popped whenever it was destroyed. That's what I gotta do here."
"What are you talking about?" Luna asked, as she dodged another tendril attack.
"I gotta destroy that...thing inside the slime. The ball thing that pops when it dies."
"You mean the Nucleus?" Cadance asked, as she blasted a another tendril only for the slime to land on her skirt. "Eww!" She brushed it off quickly as Flash tried to look inside the slime, her skirt partly melting but still staying intact. "Normally, the nucleus is located in the centre of the slime. And since they're so small, it can't move it around that much. But for a slime this big...if the nucleus is the same size..."
"It could be anywhere," Flash sighed as he realised the nucleus was well protected. "Attacking the outside could mean finding the nucleus could take forever. There's no way the girls will be able to hold it off that long." Wallflower and Trixie found their sleeves getting hit by the slime and eaten away. Luna's pants were also eaten at, getting turned into shorts until she blasted the slime off . "No other choice. I gotta take this thing down from the inside out."
"What?" Cadance asked, "are you insane?"
"Just keep that thing's attention focused on this side!" Flash told them before dispelling his sword and shield. He flew around the slime and as he did, he took out another card and slotted it into his belt. "Here we go!" His arms were encased in light before it vanished, transforming into the gauntlet claws.
At the same time, the girls continued to blast at the creature and keep its attention on them. As they did, the creature flicked its tendrils around and sent more slime raining down upon them. "Hurry, Flash!" Luna cried, as part of her shirt was melted away.
Flash took a deep breath before bringing his claws together and shooting towards the slime. "Hellfire Spiral!" He roared, as he spun around and was consumed by flames. The blazing drill slammed into the Mega Slime, boring into it at high speed. By the time the slime realised something was wrong, Flash had drilled all the way to its core.
The flames expanded outwards and slammed into the baseball sized nucleus and roasted it alive.
Outside, the girls all watched as the slime thrashed around in pain. And eventually, the slimy orb seemed to shrink down for several seconds before completely exploding in a wave of slime that went everywhere.
Flash had broken out of the tornado and flew down to the ground, doing several flips until he landed on his hoof and slid across the ground. His claws dug into the ground and caused several sparks before he finally slid to a stop.
He let out a smirk as he dispelled his gauntlet and spun around to give the girls a victory pose. But as he did, his eyes went wide seeing what was happening.
When the Mega Slime was destroyed, its slimy body had flown out and covered everything in the room. That included the girls, who were drenched head to hoof. But no sooner did it splash on their skin, the substance began to dissolve along with any piece of fabric that it was touching. Within five seconds, the four stood in front of Flash completely naked.
To say Flash hadn't been expecting this was an understatement. His brain had completely frozen in shock, unable to even make him blink for fear of losing a second of this.
The girls were looking themselves over in disgust, then gasped when they remembered they weren't the only ones in the room and turned to see Flash staring at them.
Flash gasped as he realised he was caught, then noticed the girls looking him over. "Huh?" He finally looked down and gasped when he saw his own clothes had been destroyed by the slime, making him cry out and cover himself. The girls had also done what they could to keep themselves covered, but the damage had already been done.
Flash would remember this moment for years to come and the image would be chiselled into his brain forever.
"I'M SORRY!" He cried before dispelling his weapons and taking out a new card, imagining Trixie's clothes before summoning an perfect replica of it. "Here!" He disenchanted it and threw it behind himself, Trixie grabbing the clothes as he did the same for Wallflower before moving on to Cadance and Luna.
The mares saw the new clothes and quickly rushed to put them on. They also did their best to not look at Flash, who was now remaking his own clothes. But unfortunately, they also couldn't help but sneak a peek at him. And they had to admit, they were impressed with what they were seeing.
Shining, Soarin and Springer had searched the entire bottom floor of the castle, searching for some kind of passageway that would lead them down into the aforementioned maze.
"Anything?" Springer asked, as they regrouped in front of the entrance.
"Nothing," Soarin sighed as Shining shook his head. They all frowned, as another slime appeared only for Shining to blast it with his magic. "Where could they be?" Suddenly, the ground beneath them began to shake and they looked down to see the floor splitting open and sliding into the rest of the floor.
They leapt off the moving slabs as they disappeared, revealing a staircase that lead down into a dark tunnel.
They then heard voices, unsure what exactly they were saying. But eventually, Flash and the girls appeared from out of the stairs. "You're alright!" Shining cheered, only to then notice everypony looking red in the face. "You okay?"
"We're fine," Cadance assured him.
"What happened down there?" Soarin asked.
"Nothing," Trixie stated. "Nothing happened down there. Just a big maze with nothing else inside of it." The others nodded, thought the boys had a feeling there was more to the story. "Can we go now? I don't wanna risk getting teleported back down there."
"I'm with Trixie," Wallflower nodded. "I don't think any mare will ever wanna step hoof in this castle." They all agreed and began to leave, Shining, Soarin and Springer noticing Flash was keeping his eyes close to the ground. Clearly, something had happened that this group would take to their grave.
As they stepped out of the castle and made their way down the stairs, Shining looked over at Cadance and raised an eyebrow. The omni turned to him and saw the look, "what?"
"I don't know. Something's...different about you. You look the same...but I feel like something's different."
Cadance once again blushed and looked ahead. "You're just imagining things." She, of course, knew what Shining was noticing. It was actually quite a few things, all centred around her new clothes.
Whether intentional or not, Flash hadn't made their clothes exactly like the old ones. Their designs were the same, but he had made them a size or two smaller then the originals. This meant their clothes hugged their forms tighter and caused their figures to be accentuated even more they had before.
Cadance's were the worst, since her original clothes were already quite form fitting. She even had to pull on the bottom of the shirt to keep it from revealing her bellybutton.
Then there was another issue the mares were facing. Flash had only made them the clothes he had seen them wear, which meant any clothes that had been beneath the surface layer didn't get remade. As such, they were walking around completely commando, since they just couldn't bring themselves to ask him to make them anything.
Trixie and Cadance were keeping their hands down by their sides, not wanting the wind to hit their skirts, whilst Luna and Wallflower stood at the front of the group so nobody could see where their pants were riding up. And, of course, Cadance, Luna and Wallflower were wishing they were wearing a jacket like Trixie to hide what their tight clothes were doing to their chests.
It would be a very awkward journey home, or at least to the next town where they intended to buy some new clothes and underwear.
Flash, meanwhile, was still replaying the image he had seen in his head. As much as he wanted to purge the memory out of respect, it had taken deep root in his brain. And as they reached the bottom of the staircase, Flash looked back at the castle.
The wizard that lived there might have been a perverse and sick old man, but Flash had to admit he had quite the imagination. Flash never would have come up with what he had made into a reality. The many different slimes, his ploy to force unsuspecting mares into a gauntlet of clothes eating creatures and wiping their memories so he wouldn't get in trouble. The guy was a genius. An evil genius.
"We will never speak of this again," Luna stated once they were away from the castle. "We take what happened to our graves and it will be left forgotten. Agreed?"
"Agreed!" The girls then turned to glare at Flash, who gulped
"Agreed," he whimpered. With that, they all left the area the exact same way they arrived. And hopefully, their embarrassment would remain a secret for all eternity.
Back inside the labyrinth, in the room the Mega Slime battle took place in, an empty space on the wall began to glow.
As it did, marks began to appear from out of the light and were etched into the stone. Slowly, five images appeared. The images of five naked ponies. The centre pony was a male, whilst the four ponies around him were female. Based on how close the five ponies were to one another, it looked like the male was being surrounded by a harem of beautiful ladies, whilst the ladies looked at him with amazement on their faces.
This image would remain on that wall for many years to come, not being seen by any other soul for a long time. But when it was eventually found again, those who saw it would only think one thing. That stallion was one lucky son of a biscuit.