Blue Angel

by V-Pony

Truth or Dare-Pt 8: Hello, Murphy...

Twilight Sparkle could be described as a high-strung sort of pony six days out of the week, with scarce down-time in between where she wasn't rushing to meet research and study deadlines. Even so, she believed she could handle whatever life might throw at her-she was Princess Celestia's number one student after all-and that included the magical re-education of the (formerly) Great and Powerful Trixie, whom had taken up residence in her Library Tree. The transition had been remarkably smooth, with Trixie willing to lend a helping hoof in almost anything, a fact which Spike had somewhat taken advantage of as he passed on many of his chores to her. Twilight caught on though, and quickly put a stop to it, insisting that Trixie would better serve her fellow ponies by learning practical magic over illusion, rather than sweeping floors and dusting furniture.

As Spike and Trixie had become more acquainted with one another, Twilight had been able to shift a little more of her attention to her main concern: Volare's request to re-visit Earth via the Long Distance Spell. Though she didn't question his motives (which included tying up loose ends, re-distributing his estate, and probably letting his Blue Angel squadmates know they didn't have to mourn him as he was alive and well), nor was she worried about actually getting him to Earth in one piece, Twilight was very concerned with how he'd return. Until his arrival, Twilight had linked the return spell to Rainbow Dash's Sonic Rainboom as it disrupted time and space just enough to allow such travel to occur over so long a distance (though how far away from Earth their planet actually was remained a mystery to her). This return method wasn't a problem for Rainbow Dash, as her ability to perform the Sonic Rainboom had become almost routine the more she practiced it.

The problem lie in actually getting Volare up to that speed as well, and Twilight had been wracking her brains trying to figure out ways to get it to work. True, she knew he likely wouldn't be able to produce the wingpower necessary to go that fast, but neither could Rainbow Dash. That might sound strange, but there was something else taking place within the Sonic Rainboom itself; something else other than just the simple breaking of the sound barrier that disrupted space so much. Something almost like a Unicorn's spell or even a-oof!
"Ah-ow-what the-owowowow!" Twilight was smashed out of her musings by two blurs-one mint green and the other navy blue-who came crashing into her around the corner, sending the Acceleratory Conundrums of Anatomy bouncing off her nose before the two blurs plowed into her, tumbling her hooves over horn into a cabbage stand, a wicker basket unceremoniously landing atop her head as she lay on her back upon the warm cobblestones.

As things quieted down and Twilight realized that nothing internal was terribly damaged, she also came to realize that a soft, warm weight was settled on her belly...and that the usual hustle and bustle of Stirrup Street had gone eerily quiet. Twilight slowly, carefully levitated the basket from off of her head and blinked the sun's glare from her eyes to find herself staring directly into the face of Volare-who also happened to be the weight straddled across her body. Instantly, her cheeks flamed into a blush and if her head wasn't already pressed back against the street, she would have recoiled just a bit further as the two ponies froze in each others' gazes. Everything and everypony around was silent.

"Uh...h-heya, Twi," Volare croaked, and at his words Twilight remembered that she hadn't made any head-way on the spell to counter his body's effects on her, that they were in a very compromising position, and that they were very much in a public place-the last possible spot either of them wanted to be in this situation. Those thoughts flicked through Twilight's mind in an instant, even as the warm, goldish haze his body was causing on her mind began to crawl in like a rising tide, and she quickly focused herself by reverting to an old foal-hood trick: thinking of numbers. One number (or rather one value) in particular stood out-10 feet...the "safe distance" she and Volare had ascertained through trial and error just like this. In a flash, before she could succumb to the haze, Twilight's body lit up white, and with a sharp crack and a pop, she disappeared, teleporting right through Volare's body, and reappeared on the other side of Stirrup Street.

"Heya, Volare; what's up?" Twilight called from across the road, a blush still very evident upon her features as Volare shakily rose to his hooves.

Quick thinking as always, Twi.
"Oh, you know, same ol' same ol'. Fancy running into you here, eh?"
Lame.

"Heh, well I do live just there, silly," Twilight pointed a hoof towards the Library down the street, the forced tone of her voice indicating that he play along to shake the curious eyes of the surrounding townsponies; their "secret issue" was dangerously close to being discovered. All it would take would be the right questions and they'd be the scandal of the town. Or worse, they might over-react and ostracize Volare, Twilight thought. But the pilot caught the hint and nodded.

"Ha, right; silly me," he waved a dismissive hoof. "Oh, my training is coming along pretty good!"

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, I'll be up to 10 Wingpower soon!"

"Really? That's excellent!" Twilight called back. The onlookers, seeing that nothing else exciting seemed to be ahoof, eventually returned to their previous tasks, allowing Twilight and Volare to breathe a sigh of relief as Lyra scrabbled upright, half a cabbage impaled upon her horn and giving her a ridiculous appearance. "You alright, Lyra?"

"Yep, I'm good," she dusted herself off and shook the shish-kabobbed saurerkraut from her horn, shooting the cabbage vending Earth Pony an apologetic grin. "Sorry bout that, sir."

"This is the fourth time this month, Ms. Heartstrings!" the green-maned vendor half-groaned, half-growled, his irritation only slightly abated as Lyra tossed him a hoof-full of bits from her saddlebag. He quickly counted the bits, gave her a terse nod, and went about cleaning up his wrecked cart. "You ok, dude?" Lyra hoofed Volare in the shoulder and waved a hoof at Twilight. "Sup, Sparks?"

"Oh, nothing much: just the usual research," Twilight called back across the street, not coming any closer than the opposite curb, which Lyra found rather curious. "Can I have my book?"

"Huh, oh yeah," Lyra spotted and levitated the leather-bound tome, holding it up in front of her and shaking her head at the title. "Here it is, safe and sound!"

"Toss it over!" the Librarian insisted, and Lyra couldn't help but glance back and forth between the Pegasus and the Unicorn in bemusement, as if she were missing the punchline of an inside joke.

"Oookay, or you could come and get it," Lyra replied, cocking a brow as Twilight's hooves shuffled nervously on the sidewalk.

"Or, you could toss it!" Twilight's forced smile devoured half her face, while a nervous sweat began to break out upon Volare's brow. But before Lyra could ask why the hay she didn't just come and get it, rather than risk damage to it, Volare spoke up.

"Hey Lyra, you and Twilight gotten together to study human stuff yet?"

"Huh? Oh, actually no we haven't," Lyra shook her head. "Hey Sparks, when're we gonna meet up and study those two-legs, eh?" she grinned hopefully at the Librarian, who spotted Volare's desperate wink behind Lyra. Play along.

"Oh, right...um...how about tomorrow?" Twilight suggested, realizing that meant she'd have to delay research on the counter spell. Then again, better than becoming a spectacle in broad daylight here, right? "Can't be today-working on...um-"

"Nah, that's cool; got something special planned for pilot-boy here," Lyra bumped Volare with a hip and chuckled. "Tomorrow sounds good though-here you look busy and we're gonna be late. Catch!" The lyricist flipped the book across the street, barely making it halfway before Twilight caught it with her magic and gave Lyra and Volare a grateful smile.

"Sounds good. See you tomorrow morning then?"

"Yeah, and I'll bring some of my collection for ya to study," Lyra pumped a hoof and grinned again. "See ya, Sparks! Oh, wish Volare a happy one-month!"

"Happy...oh, right!" Twilight beamed in realization. Had it really been exactly a month? It somehow seemed simultaneously shorter and longer-everything but exact...strange. "Happy one-month, Volare!"

"Heh, thanks Twi," Volare nodded before being nearly yanked off his hooves by the rambunctious Lyra. "Uh, I guess I got a date with destiny or something-see ya!" he managed to shout before Lyra yanked him around the corner, and he was gone.

"Date...heh," Twilight frowned, her ears drooping for a moment before shaking the lingering feeling off, focusing on the matter at hoof. This matters more than some passing fancy, she decided with a sigh, opening her book and continuing on the way she'd come before the crash, making sure to glance up above the cover every now and again to avoid anymore collisions.

"Hey, ya finally made it!" Vinyl Scratch looked up from her lunch and shot Volare a huge grin as the pilot was practically dragged around the corner and into the build site of the Gilded Griffin by Lyra. "Happy one-month, bruh! Sit down and grab a bite," she patted the "table" scavenged from the surviving front door of the restaurant, the scuffed brass griffon grab handle reflecting the general state of the property; they'd both seen better days to say the least.

"Yeah, nearly sans hoof; and thanks," Volare chuckled as Lyra released her grip on his numb limb before she galloped over to the DJ and bumped their hooves together in a complicated pattern that seemed to be the work of years of repetition. Meanwhile, Bon-Bon, who was situated on a padded seat next to Vinyl, rolled her eyes and snorted, lifting her yellow construction helmet to scratch at her mane as she pored over the building blueprints laid out on the table before her. "Those the plans I take it, Bon-Bon?"

"Happy one-month, Volare; and indeed they are," she nodded, going from smiles to business as he reached her side and looked at the plans himself. "As you know, it's virtually the same design as the previous building, but we're using more modern materials and re-purposing Lyra's human artifacts room."

"How so?" Volare tilted his head. "Does Lyra know? What about her stuff?"

"Oh trust me, she insisted on this,"' Bon-Bon waved a dismissive hoof. "We're going to be decorating the inside of the Griffin with her artifacts and using that side room as a performance stage for live entertainment. You know: add a little pizzazz to the place."

"Wow, that's...kinda adventurous, Bon-Bon. You sure you're feeling ok?" Volare chuckled and dodged a playful swipe of her hoof. He was glad to see her in higher spirits, and one glance at the construction site explained why: the framework of the restaurant was already erected, as were the arch and beams of the roof. All that truly remained was the masonry, windows, and flooring, and then it would be time to furnish the place. "Wow, Trixie sure has out-done herself; speaking of whom, where's she at? Octavia too-"

"Have at thee!" CLINK-CLANG!

"I will have a-CLANK!-wait, what's that mean?"

"It means take that!" CLANK!

"Whoa, what the hell?!" Volare reflexively ducked and turned towards the source of the shouting and clanging metal just in time to see Octavia backing up over a stack of masonry stones, swinging what looked to be a piece of construction rebar in one hoof downwards towards her foe: Trixie! The blue magician clamored up the stack of masonry after Octavia, until both were standing level at the top. Trixie's hat was missing, and she had a yellow sweat-band tied around her forehead, while Octavia wore a construction helmet similar to Bon-Bon's; both wore fierce grins as they clashed again, Trixie wielding a short shovel with her magic.

"If it means 'take that,' then why're you running away, Tavi-haha!" CLINK-CLANG! She swung her shovel, but Octavia skillfully blocked it with her rebar, turning the blow aside to strike back at Trixie, who quickly back-pedaled to dodge the blow before returning to the attack. Supremely confused and worried that Trixie had gone off the deep end again, Volare made to run up and stop them, but Lyra collared him and shook her head.

"Lemme go Lyra, I gotta stop them!"

"Volare, it's fine," Bon-Bon snorted in an almost bored tone as the shouts and clanks of metal from the two dueling ponies echoed off the surrounding buildings. "They've been at this every now and again since yesterday."

"But-what's-huh?!" the pilot sputtered, trying to break free of Lyra's grip, but the lyricist was surprising strong and she held him firm. "Why're they fighting each other again?!"

"They're not fighting, bruh; they're dueling," Vinyl patted the air with a hoof. "It's totally cool. Just chillax, man."

"But I-" Volare protested, but as he watched, it became clear that something was definitely different about this "fight" this time around. Trixie and Octavia's hoof placements were deliberate, their strikes controlled, their banter more humorous than acidic. Numerous times, he spotted chances where Octavia could have skewered Trixie, or the latter could have easily decapitated the former with her shovel, but neither did anything of the sort. His friends were right: this wasn't the same sort of knock-down, drag-out fight that had left The Griffin in ruins; this was two ponies having a bit of sport with each other. Despite the rasp of the ribbed rebar grating upon the shovel blade accompanying the shouts and scuffling hooves of the duelists, he noticed that even the ponies passing by the construction site barely batted an eye towards them, as if this were old hat. However, their activity did draw the awe of three young fillies who were held in rapt attention as Trixie and Octavia continued their "fight" down the masonry pile, around piles of timber, through the dusty build-site, and finally up on top of the door/table itself.

"Hey, watch it!" Bon-Bon cried as Octavia parried, leaped back, and riposted, nearly trampling the building plans in the process.

"Ah, my apologies Bon-B-whoa, almost got me that time, Trixie!" CLINK-CLANG-CLANG! "Oh, hello Volare; happy one month-haha, have at-agh!" Octavia leaped off the table as Trixie swung the shovel at her feet, nearly taking Bon-Bon's head off as the blade edge bounced off the brass griffin door handle and nicked her construction helmet, spinning it off of her head before she could even think to duck.

"Sorry Bon-Bon!" Trixie blushed slightly before following her opponent, sweat making it past the band on her head and dripping all over the building blueprints. "Oh, and happy-ya!-one month, Volare; we'll be done just as soon as I beat her!"

"Not on your life, Trixie," Octavia smirked and flicked at the shovel, nearly disarming Trixie before she recovered and attacked once more.

"Oh gimme a break, you two!" Bon-Bon cried, Lyra and Vinyl bumped hooves and grinned, and Volare merely shook his head in amazement. Those two were unbelievable. It was about that time that he noticed the three fillies standing there, jaws agape.

"You three out of class?" Volare queried as he trotted over, keeping an eye on the duel.

"Yeah, Ms. Cheerilee...she let us out early-ohmygosh!" Scootaloo cried as Octavia lost her footing, but Trixie caught her with her magic, smirked, and tossed her upright to continue. The orange filly glanced questioningly at Volare, but he gave her a reassuring nod: believe it or not, this is apparently totally normal.

"Wow, those two are..." Applebloom trailed off, eyes wide as Octavia climbed halfway atop a wooden beam, still clashing with the magician; both were tiring, but neither was willingly giving an inch. "...wild!"

"Crazy," Sweetie Belle squeaked.

"Nah, awesome!" Scootaloo beamed and hopped up on Volare's back to nuzzle her brother. "Happy one-month, bro!"

"Haha, seems everypony's keeping track," he chuckled and nuzzled her in return before she reared up and assumed her usual position, with her fore-hooves resting on top of his head as they watched the duel continue.

"Well, yeah you're not exactly crowd-blending material anymore, dude," Vinyl laughed. "Not after the airshow and saving Trixie from that building...oh, and hanging with Fancy Pants is always a plus too. Soak it in dude, you're semi-famous!" The DJ crossed her hooves behind her head and leaned against the table to watch the combatants while Volare did his best to shake off a slight blush with a nervous chuckle.

"Yep, Lyra and Pinkie kinda helped make that happen," Sweetie Belle nodded and gasped as Trixie swung the shovel, missing Octavia by inches and clacking it off of a piece of marble in a shower of sparks. "Maybe we should stop them?"

"Yeah, good luck; Ah ain't gettin' between them two madponies," Applebloom shook her head.

"Won't have to," Bon-Bon spoke up. "They're just...about..." Before she could say another word, Octavia skillfully slid close to Trixie, flicked the shovel blade away with her rebar, and quickly tweaked Trixie's horn with a hoof, interrupting the magical flow just long enough for her to knock the shovel aside and buck it across the build site, disarming the Unicorn and leaving them both breathing hard and sweating buckets. "...done," Bon-Bon concluded with a smirk.

"Whoa," Scootaloo and Volare gasped simultaneously, while Applebloom and Sweetie Belle simply stood there in silent awe.

"Damn, you beat me again, Tavi!" Trixie growled as Octavia tossed her rebar away and wiped the sweat from her bangs, which had gone rather askew during the duel.

"Yes, well don't feel bad; you did get me the first time," she indicated the bruise on her right forehoof as they made their way back towards the lunch table.

"But that's six in a row now," the magician grumbled before Octavia pulled her into a quick embrace.

"And each as exhilarating as the last," the cellist pulled back and smiled, a blush very evident on her features, though Trixie wrote it off as them being hot and sweaty from the duel rather than anything deeper... "Thank you."

"Meh, don't mention it," Trixie mumbled before Octavia nuzzled her cheek against hers. Trixie paused in surprise but smiled as Octavia winked and gave her a smile of her own.

"You just need to work on your technique, that's all; a little less swinging and a bit more thrusting."

"Thrusting, got it," Trixie nodded.

"It's fencing, not a bloody ballyhoo brawl," the cellist and the magician chuckled together as they reached the table.

"Are you two quite done?" Bon-Bon gave them a look of irritation. "We made this lunch here for everypony to partake of, as well as wish Volare a happy one-month; not waste that time swinging shovels at each other!"

"I don't mind, Bon-Bon," Volare chimed in as he and the Crusaders sat down at the table. "It was entertaining to say the least."

"Yes, and more than a little ruinous," the navy/pink maned mare grumbled as she wiped the debris off he blueprints and retrieved her fallen construction helmet. "Now then, are you all sufficiently calmed down, steam blown off, and settled?" she shot Octavia and Trixie a look, and the two duelists smiled in guilty embarrassment. Vinyl merely laughed, hard; she'd never seen Octavia act like this in public, and it was a breath of fresh air to see the normally uptight mare loosening up like this. Lyra nodded and popped the top off of a large bowl of salad and began doling it out, while Volare and the CMC continued to stare at Octavia and Trixie subtly nudging and giving each other side-long looks.

"Ahem, so," Volare cleared his throat after finishing his meal, content to listen to how much progress Trixie and Octavia had made on the building as well as Trixie's tutelage under Twilight, the amount of which would intensify once Trixie was finished with the construction project. "Why were you two going at it like that?"

"Ack-going at it? Nopony's going-oh," Trixie blushed furiously, wiping her face with her sweatband to hide her features while Octavia shook her head and chuckled softly.

"Trixie and I were just...well, blowing off a little steam, as Bon-Bon said. That's all. Just gets a little stressful making sure all these angles are perfectly situated so we don't have warped floors again," she gestured towards the building framework. "And so, we figured, what better way to do so than to, well, continue our little duel from night's previous?"

"Interesting way of going about it," Volare nodded, unable to keep himself from drawing the vague parallels between their duels and his and Dash's "competition." But he shook those thoughts away and focused on the matter at hoof. "So, yeah, thanks for the lunch you guys; and thanks for remembering I've been here a month."

"No problem, dude," Lyra grinned and stuffed a tomato slice in her mouth, much to Bon-Bon's chagrin.

"Don't you ever chew your food, Lyra?"

"Yep, like this," the mint-green mare smacked her lips and chewed very visibly in front of Bon-Bon, causing the Earth Pony to pull a face.

"Yech, of course you do..."

"Don't get any ideas, Scoots," Volare chuckled and nudged his little sister, giving the other two Crusaders a warning look as well. "Sweetie Belle, chew with your mouth closed."

"What're you, my dad?" the Unicorn filly grumbled but obeyed, while Applebloom complied without any insistence; her Grannysmith had taught her well, giving her the what-for if she didn't behave herself at the table.

"Indeed; Lyra's probably not the best example of manners around here," Bon-Bon jumped on the chance to shoot a barb her friend's way.

"Hey, I am too a good influence-UUURP!-'scuse me," Lyra nodded defiantly as Bon-Bon facehoofed. "See? Said excuse me and everything."

"There's a lot more to it than that," the businessmare shook her head slowly.

"Meh, whatever," Lyra shrugged and slurped her drink, drawing muffled chuckles from the four Crusaders. "Hey Vinyl, didn't you have something you wanted to show Volare?"

"Huh? Oh yeah! Couldn't really do much with that old speakerbox you torched, so..." the DJ reached under the table and fumbled around in her saddlebag before pulling out a red ovoid device the size of an orange. She sat it on the table and waved her hoof in presentation-style, inviting the pilot to take a closer look. Topping the device was a series of small knobs, the tell-tale mesh cover of a speaker was embedded into the long side of it, and the unmistakable red dial complete with an 11 poked out of the opposite side, causing Volare to cock an eyebrow as Vinyl grinned and pointed out the features. "Voila: I give you Soundbox 2.0! Lighter and more compact than version 1, but just as powerful. The receiver on this one is internal and totally compatible with the previous version's ear-pieces, the range is improved, and it's linkable with others for a surround sound effect, once I build'em of course. Soo....whatcha think, cuz I think I did pretty damn awesome," she buffed a hoof on her chest as Bon-Bon rolled her eyes.

"Wow, this is pretty sweet, Vinyl," Volare nodded in approval, gingerly picking the device up and turning it over in his hooves.

"Can we try it out?" Scootaloo asked with an excited grin, ready to rock and roll...but her smile faded as Vinyl shook her head and shrugged helplessly.

"No can do, kiddo," she opened the back plate of the box and showed them the empty chamber within. "We're lacking in the crystal department; kinda need one for power storage and signal focusing."

"So put one in there an' let's try it out," Applebloom slammed a small hoof on the table.

"Yeah, Cutie Mark Crusader Music Masters...yay?" Sweetie Belle piped up, but again, Vinyl merely shrugged. "What's with all the shrugging?"

"Again, no can do cuz airshow here kinda blew up my last ones," Vinyl hoofed the red-faced Volare in the shoulder.

"Oops?" he managed to say before the CMC leaped on him, pounding him with their hooves and scolding him for being an idiot, much to Vinyl's amusement. The DJ laughed uproariously as did Lyra, Trixie, and Octavia. Even Bon-Bon managed a chuckle as Volare did his best to evade and deflect the maelstrom of small hooves and playful head-butts, finally flying out of the attacking trio and perching atop the roof-arch of the Griffin.

"Aww, no fair!" Scootaloo sulked, but Vinyl patted her on the shoulder.

"He didn't do it on purpose, you guys. Besides, it's just a matter of locating some new crystals, modifying the speakerbox to take them, tuning the receiver for the correct signal from the ear pieces, and then...well, you get the idea. Pretty simple once ya get the hang of it," Vinyl grinned smugly.

"Ok, so any crystals will work, cuz I think Rarity's got loads of them at the Boutique," Sweetie Belle said, but Vinyl shrugged once more.

"I gotta be honest, I dunno what kinda crystals those were, exactly; this one might have been some sort of sapphire, but I'm only guessing on color. All I got left is the powder they were pummeled into," Vinyl dug around in her saddlebag and pulled out a smaller paper sack which contained a small pile of bluish, sand-like powder. "If I knew what it was I could go and find it my-"

"Well, my sister Rarity knows a lot about gems and stuff, so maybe she can tell us!" Sweetie Belle took off down Stirrup Street before anypony could object, Scootaloo and Applebloom hot on her hooves, leaving the adult ponies sitting in a thick cloud of road-dust and silence.

"Well...they're certainly rambunctious little fillies," Octavia chuckled as Volare fluttered down from the roof.

"You don't know the half of it, Octy," the pilot reached across the table and grabbed a loaf of bread. He chewed thoughtfully, awaiting the return of the CMC and hoping they didn't somehow wreck the Boutique or anything else on the way there or back. Meanwhile, Trixie and Octavia finished up their lunch and returned to the construction of the Griffin under the close eye of Bon-Bon, while Lyra hopped up in a hammock she'd stretched between two structure beams to take a nap.

Just as Volare was considering going after them himself, the CMC returned with a rather frazzled-looking Rarity in tow.
"Alright, alright you three, just what is it that's so important you came bursting into the Boutique like that?"

"They didn't tell you?" Volare tilted his head.

"Well, they've certainly been chattering on about something, but I couldn't get a word in edgewise, so here I am myself," Rarity replied before fixing him with a semi-hurt expression. "And just where is your scarf I made you, darling? Do you not like it anymore?"

"Oh, no no no, Rarity I love it; comes in extra handy when flying up near Dash's house," Volare insisted. "But I figured since I'm on the ground and in town, and it's such a warm day, that-"

"Pish relax, Volare I'm only joking," Rarity tossed her violet mane and tittered before addressing the CMC. "Now then, what's gotten into you three, hmm?" Between the younger ponies, Vinyl, and Volare, Rarity finally understood the situation, that they wanted to know what sort of crystal is used to be, and she tumped out a small pile of the blue crystal dust to investigate it using a small jeweler's Loupe she carried in case she came across any gems worth buying. But after a moment of hemming and hawing, she shook her head and leaned up with a frown. "Well, there are two things I can tell you here: one, this wasn't a sapphire, as that's a gem, not a crystal-"

"What's the difference?" Sweetie Belle piped up.

"Well, you see Sweetie, gems are precious or semi-precious stones prized for their color and luster, while a crystal is a bit more specific type of gem...one I'm not terribly familiar with," Rarity admitted.

"At least we know what it's not," Volare said. "But you can't tell us what it used to be?"

"No, I'm afraid not, darling," Rarity shook her head. "There's just not enough structure remaining to tell what kind it was, and that's important especially if you're looking for something of similar design, right?"

"Or close to it, yeah" Vinyl confirmed. "I mean, we've got some wiggle room here, but if I have to modify the internals too much, it's back to the drawing board...again."

"Aww, so are we stuck then?" Applebloom groaned, but the fashionista chuckled and fondly patted the farm filly's ribbon-bedecked mane.

"Not hardly dearie; we may not be able to tell the structure, but I know of someone around town who fancies himself a...crystal connoisseur of sorts," Rarity smirked and trotted off west down Stirrup Street. "Don't go anywhere! I'll be right back in two shakes!"

"Who ya think she's gettin'?" Applebloom asked, but Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle shrugged. "Volare?"

"Search me," the pilot shook his head. "Vinyl?"

"Nope," the DJ snorted and settled down to wait a little while longer, wracking her brains for whom Rarity might be speaking of, but coming up empty.
.....................
Rarity soon returned, and it wasn't somepony trotting next to her, but rather somedragon.

"Spike?!" Volare exclaimed as the purple and green baby dragon jogged into the build site, giving the seemingly-snoozing Lyra a claw-bump as he passed her.

"Sup dude?" Spike grinned toothily. "Long time no see, huh?"

"Yeah, no kidding," Volare nodded, trying to recall the last time he'd really interacted with who was technically the first person he'd met when he'd arrived in Equestria. Thought he was cooking my toes...heh. "How ya been?"

"Been catching up my sleep, that's what. The change to Fall does this to me every year for some reason," he gave a small yawn in emphasis. "Anyways, Rarity here says you need my help?"

"Yeah-wait a sec...you're the 'crystal conni-whatzit,?'" Vinyl raised her shades skeptically, to which Spike crossed his arms and grinned smugly.

"Heh, you could say that; my diet is made up of them."

"Oh...duh," the DJ scratched the back of her head before motioning Spike to the table and the pile of blue powder. "Rarity couldn't figure out cuz the structure is all smashed to bits. You got anyway of telling what is used to-hey, what the!?" Vinyl pulled her hoof away as Spike's tongue slithered around the pile of blue powder, pulling it into his mouth. His eyes closed as he mulled the fragments around in his mouth, his fangs crunching lightly upon the powder and sampling its texture, flavor, density, and composition before swallowing it with a sigh. "Jeez, warn me next time," the DJ wiped the saliva from the side of her hoof and looked expectantly at the baby dragon. "Well?"

"Heh-heh, you were right Rarity; it wasn't a gem at all," Spike smiled up at the alabaster Unicorn of his desire for a long moment, and it took a nudge from Vinyl to bring the baby dragon back to reality. "Huh-uh, r-right. Let's see," Spike smacked his lips and rubbed his chin for a moment. "Slightly alkaline taste cuz of the calcium...cubic structure, definitely softer than emerald...with blue coloration. Heh, that was almost a toughie," Spike grinned smugly, milking the moment for all it was worth before declaring: "Fluorite; Blue Phantom Fluorite to be exact."

Everypony was stunned to silence, everypony that is, except Rarity who patted Spike's spines with a hoof.
"Isn't he just an amazing little dragon?"

"Yeah, no kidding," Volare blinked in amazement. "How did you...?"

"Pfft, you don't live with Twilight Sparkle for years without picking up a few things," Spike gave a "no-big-deal" shrug of his shoulders. "What? She had a buncha books on Geology and I read a few of them; no biggie."

"The Chemistry of Geology?" Volare offered, chuckling at the memory of Dash tossing that book aside in disgust the day they'd crashed into and disorganized the bookshelves of the Library...hours before his wing had been torn off... Again, he shook the thoughts from his mind and focused on the present.

"Yep, that was one of them," Spike confirmed. "Anyways, whatcha doing with a bag of fluorite powder?" he suddenly dropped his voice and whispered, his eyes flicking left and right conspiratorily. "You're not...trafficking the stuff, are ya?"

"What the-hay no, why?!" Vinyl exclaimed so loudly that Lyra tumbled out of her hammock as Spike recoiled, defensively waving his claws.

"N-no reason; it's just some dragons'll kill for finely ground gem-powder like this," the baby dragon explained, and Volare felt something die inside of him...something like innocence, and he facehoofed and groaned.

"Please don't tell me you have personal experience with this, Spike."

"Hay no," Spike crossed his claws defiantly, and Volare relaxed slightly. "I prefer crunching up my gems; keeps my fangs tough, ya know?" he clacked his teeth and grinned.

"Oooh, so terrifying," Rarity swooned dramatically, causing the CMC to roll their eyes and Vinyl to playfully tweak Spike's spines with her magic.

"Riiight, moving right along," Volare nudged the baby dragon with a hoof. "That fluorite is what's left of the crystal that focuses and powers Vinyl's compact speakerboxes. We-well, I-kinda shattered her last one the day I got back in the air cuz I fed too much power through it."

"So lemme get this straight," Spike said as he scratched a claw through the powder. "You used a soft crystal like Fluorite in sound equipment? Jeez, no wonder it shattered; how cheap were you trying to be?" Behind the baby dragon, Vinyl snorted in irritation.

"Uh, I didn't build it, I just played it. She built it."

Spike turned to see the incensed Unicorn and again waved his claws defensively.
"Uh-heheh, meant nothing by it, Vinyl. Honest!"

"Yeah, I'll bet," the DJ slammed her shades back over her eyes to hide her embarrassment. "It was what I could get at the time, alright? I figured: why use the best stuff I've got for a prototype if it stands a chance of blowing up on me? Meh, anyway...got any idea where we can find more of the stuff? I just grabbed what I could when I was in Trottingham and never asked that chick where she found it. Besides, that's what this thing is already calibrated for using," she nudged the speakerbox and shrugged. "So, um...help?"

"So you want us to find you more crystals for your equipment?" Rarity asked. At the DJ's nod, the fashionista's face broke out into an excited grin. "Well, of course I'll help; what sort of Element of Generosity would I be if I didn't help ponies in need, hmm? Spikey-wikey, where can we find some of this...what did you call it?"

"Fluorite. And um...hmm," Spike tapped his chin with a claw. "If I remember right, it's formed in mineral veins in caves. But not just any old-"

"So we head for the nearest cave, then!" Scootaloo declared, pumping her hoof in the air with Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. Volare, Rarity, and Spike all exchanged worried looks: This probably won't end well... "Cutie Mark Crusader-um...what do you do in a cave?"

"Spelunk!" Sweetie Belle squeaked, and Scootaloo shot her a strange look.

"...yeah it's official: you're part dictionary."

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"I'm a Unicorn!"

"You mean a dictio-corn?"

"That's not even a word!"

"Haha, you'd be the one to know!"

"Shut up, Scootaloo!" Sweetie Belle butted her muzzle up against Scootaloo's and glared before Applebloom pulled them apart, giving Volare a nod; she'd played peacekeeper like this before.

"It's settled ya'll: we'll be Cutie Mark Crusader Spelunkers, right Volare?" she looked up at the pilot as if asking permission to accompany them, but to where he didn't even know!

"Um, eh-heh, let's figure out where we're going first. Spike, what sorta cave is this Fluorite stuff found in?"

"Uh...caves near hydrothermal activity, I think; the heat's needed to form the crystals," Spike scratched his spines and glanced sidelong at Rarity, who was clearly impressed so far with what he knew. Volare could tell he was trying to stay cool in front of her, but at the mention of hydrothermal, alarm bells went off in his head.

"Wait a sec, hyrdothermal as in volcanoes?!" he gaped. "Yeah, sorry Vinyl, but I think you may be SOL on this one." There was no way in hell he was taking the CMC near a volcano!

"Nah, not necessarily, dude," Spike shook his head. "The caves don't have to be active anymore, and don't have to be volcanic either. If they were, we'd be up a creek cuz the nearest active volcanoes are out in the Badlands, and that's Dragon Country."

"Eesh, then where do we look, Spike?" Rarity asked, but the baby dragon smiled smugly; he knew alright.

"Near the next best thing: hot springs!"

"Ok, that sounds a little less crazy," Volare chuckled.

"Ooh, hot springs! How exotic-wait, I don't know of any hot springs near here, though," Rarity scratched her mane, but Spike continued to wear that sagely little grin.

"Ha, but I do! C'mon guys, you ready to go on a little trip?" the baby dragon asked, and before anypony could stop them, the CMC shouted in excitement and thundered out of the building site, headed to Celestia-knew-where. "Hey guys, come back! Jeez, hey I'll grab them while you guys meet me at the North Ponyville Bridge!" Spike declared before running after the fillies as fast as his legs would carry him.

"But wait Spike, where're we going?!" Rarity called after him...

"...Spike-wikey, please tell me this is some sort of uncouth joke," Rarity's eye twitched as she looked out off the precipice they were standing on, out over the miles and miles of brown, bubbling muck and mire of Froggy Bottom Bog. Volare's gaze followed suite, flanked on either side by Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, while Scootaloo stood on his back for a better look. All of their noses wrinkled at the sulfurous stench that wafted up to them on the afternoon breeze, surefire evidence of hydrothermal activity.

"Nope, not joking," Spike shook his head and nudged Rarity with an elbow before journeying down the slope that ran along the cliff face, headed for the bog. "C'mon, sulfur is good for your skin!"

"Yech, but not easy on the nose," Rarity levitated her handkerchief over her muzzle before following the dragon, Volare and the CMC close behind. But despite Spike's insistence that this area of the Bog was safe, he remembered the episode with the Hydra...

"Hey Spike, you 100% sure this place is safe? I mean, what about Hydras and such?" He wasn't so much worried about himself as he could fly away from danger, but his ground-bound companions certainly couldn't!

"Huh-nah, those guys hang out on that side of the Bog," Spike pointed a claw across a wide gorge about an 1/8th of a mile away, Volare recognizing it as the gap that Twilight bounced across to escape the Hydra. "They can't cross and I dunno why they'd want to; not much for them to eat on this side of the Bog cuz of the sulfur. Kinda drives food away, ya know?"

"Yes, and here we are, heading into it-ugh, yech, disgusting!" Rarity hopped up and down, shaking her back-hoof to dislodge a clump of mud she'd stepped in. "I like spa mud, but not this filth! Spike, slow down! Why do you even need me anyway?" Rarity trotted until she caught up with the baby dragon, who'd paused to consider the next route to take. "Well?"

"Cuz you're gonna help us find those crystals, Rarity," he said matter-of-factly while Volare pulled Applebloom away from the mud before she could pop a large bubble with a curious hoof. He shook his head sternly and she pouted for a moment in reply before allowing herself to be herded after Rarity. Sweetie Belle continued to keep her eye on the path, avoiding any muddy dips in her way, while Scootaloo took advantage of her "ride" to gaze around and take in the scenery.

"But Spike, I know a gem-finding spell, not one for crystals! It's different," she groaned, realizing she'd likely trotted all this way-into a bog, for Celestia's sake-for nothing! But to her surprise, Spike simply chuckled and nodded to the right, beckoning her to follow a narrow path that skirted the edge of the mud on the left, and rose up into a near-vertical rockwall to their right. After a half minute of walking, they turned another sharp corner and came across a jagged section of cliff that stretched away into the distance. Gaping from the cliff-wall every few feet was a dark mouth of a cave, and Spike waved a claw dramatically.

"Behold, the caves of Froggy Bottom Bog!" At his companion's unamused expressions, he dropped the flair with a huff. "Jeez tough crowd. Saw'em the last time Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie, AJ, and I were here. Just never got the chance to check'em out."

"Yes, very er...lovely and rocky and oozy," Rarity sniffed as she reluctantly followed him. "But where do I come in if my gem-finding spell won't help?"

"Because you've got an ability nopony else here has, Rarity: your horn glows," Spike pointed out. "Fluorite is always embedded in other rocks and is kinda hard to spot. *But since Fluorite glows when hit by Unicorn horn-light..." he trailed off and blushed for a moment, his next words caught in his throat. Rarity didn't notice though, and was more concerned with getting her 'freshly-permed coat' filthy.

"I suppose that makes sense, but why not get Twilight to help instead?" She fixed him with a suspicious stare. "Why drag me all the way out here before telling me this?!" Volare gulped: if they went back into town to get Twilight, he'd have to make up an excuse to not go, and that would arouse some serious suspicion! Oblivious to his inner conflict, the CMC simply winced at Rarity's near-shouts of irritation. But Spike stood firm in the face of this 'lady-like' storm, faced her, and spoke.

"Because I spend all my time with Twilight and...maybe I just...wantedtospendthedaywithyou!" Spike blushed fiercely and turned away, pretending to stare intently out into Froggy Bottom Bog. Meanwhile, the CMC nudged each other and smiled while Volare's heart went out to the little guy. The pilot shot Rarity a look, but she'd already gotten the message as her face had softened and leaned down to nuzzle Spike's spines.

"Oh Spikey-wikey, all you had to do was ask."

"R-really?" Spike relaxed somewhat, his arms uncrossing though his face still remained reddened.

"Hmm-hmm, of course. I always enjoy spending time with you...when the time calls for it of course," she tittered, Spike turning to face her and wiping an eye, meanwhile Volare breathed a sigh of relief-crisis semi-averted.

"Eh-heh, darn mud bubble popped and got crud in my eye."

"Of course it did," Rarity smiled knowingly before heaving a great sigh and fixing her face in a determined expression. "Now then: let's go find these crystals! Sweetie Belle, you and your friends stay close to Volare." She turned to the pilot. "I'm counting on you to keep an eye on them; do not let them wander off into these caves-no matter how they may want to be spelunkers."

Volare shot her a quick salute and nodded sternly.
"Thought never crossed my mind ma'am, right guys?" A chorus of 'yeahs' issued forth from the fillies, satisfying both the adult ponies.

"Spike, you know this area more than anypony else here; lead the way," Rarity nodded towards the baby dragon, who fixed his own face in a serous squint and marched forward, nearly tripping over a root as he did so. He quickly caught his balance, shook off his embarrassment, and lead them into the first cave they came to.

"Alright guys, I got a good feeling about this!"

"Alright, that's it!" Volare gasped, brow glistening and chest heaving as he leaned against the cliff-wall. He glared down at the mortified Spike, who was missing a few head spines here and there. Rarity and the CMC were huddled slightly further up the slope, with the mare looking over the scratches the fillies had obtained from the latest near-disaster caused by the local wildlife that made the otherwise beautiful caves their homes. "I'm picking the next cave!"

"Well how was I supposed to know that one would have a pack of Timberwolves living in it, dude?!" Spike shot back, wincing as he plucked a massive tooth splinter from his tail. A trio of the creatures had snuck up on them in the depths of the cave while Rarity was using her horn-light to search for the Fluorite crystals. Rarity had spotted them just in time and bucked one in the face before it could snatch Sweetie Belle, and then the chase through the dark was on! As they chased the ponies from their den, Volare carrying Spike as rearguard protection while the girls ran ahead of them, the pilot had the presence of mind to shout that Spike could breathe fire! He had to give it to the little guy though: he sure was brave in a pinch. Spike had turned and belched a small ball of green flame behind them, hitting one of the combustible predators in the face with a snarl and a crackle of burning brambles. They quickly gave up the chase, allowing the ponies to escape the cave. Even so, Volare had a few choice words coming for Spike, for that had been about the last straw!

"You said you knew this area!" Volare retorted, shaking twigs from his wing feathers. "And that doesn't make up for the bears we found in the first cave; you know, the ones that nearly took your head off," he indicated Spike's broken spines. "Oh yeah, and let's not forget the frickin' Blood-Bats in the cave after that!" he nodded towards the small bite marks on his withers. "C'mon dude, you're leading us from bad to worse!"

"Yeah, well I knew the Bog, not the caves," Spike grumbled, obviously irritated with himself and how he'd been embarrassed in front of Rarity back there. Volare caught the look on his face and figured as much before sighing and patting the dragon with a hoof.

"Look...I know you're trying to look good in front of Rarity, but you do that on your own time, ok?"

"But I-"

"No buts, Spike. There are other lives at risk here besides yours and mine, and we gotta look out for them, ya know?" he nodded towards the shaken CMC and Rarity. "Now tell me the truth, and I won't call you out in front of Rarity: do you know if any of these caves are safe at all?"

"I, uh..." Spike looked away shamefully, twiddling his claws before sighing. "No, I don't know, ok? Sorry..." Volare again patted him with a wing and sighed himself.

"It's ok. At least nopony got hurt too bad," he chuckled and flicked another splinter from Spike's spines. "You sure showed that Timberwolf what-for though!"

"Yeah, well I just didn't want it to hurt Rarity or the CMC, that's all," Spike shrugged. "Nothing special about it."

"Doing the right thing is always special, dude; cuz it's often a lot tougher to do than the wrong thing," Volare nudged him. "And saving our flanks back there and owning up right here-that takes a lot of something in here," he poked Spike in the chest and smiled.

"Heh, thanks Volare. You're alright," the baby dragon smiled in return and stuck out his claw. "Look, uh...I dunno if I ever apologized for giving you such a rough time when you first got here last month, but..." Volare took his claw with a hoof and pumped it once.

"Not really needed, but it's accepted anyway," the pilot nodded, his silver-blue eyes never wavering from Spike's green ones. Little guy's growing up, he thought fondly before hoofing him in the shoulder. "Now c'mon, let's get going back into town."

"But what about the crystals?" Spike asked in sudden alarm, still not wanting to disappoint Rarity. "Everything points to them being out here somewhere!"

"Maybe, but it's getting late and Rarity's getting grumpy. And I'm not sure which is worse, heh-heh," he nodded towards the sinking sun and the Unicorn, who was pacing and grumbling about the humidity ruining her 'coiffure.' "We'll come back some other time, Spike. Just you and me so we don't risk anypony else."

"But we need Unicorn horn-light to find the Fluorite," Spike protested, and Volare groaned inwardly. "Maybe we can come back with Twilight?"

Volare groaned a bit more inwardly, closing his eyes as if in contemplation, though in truth he was trying to decide if there was any way out of this. Again, if Spike wanted to bring Twilight, he'd have to make up an excuse to stay away from her for now, though they could let Spike in on it...and on the other hand, if they stayed out here, they might run into worse! And Twilight would be handier than Rarity in the 'dealing with blood-thirsty predators' department...But I can't be near her till she figures out the counter spell!
With a sigh, he realized there was only one choice for now, and he prayed that whatever greater forces were at work in Equestria would either not damn him for this, or at least give him a friggin break!

"Rarity!" he called out as he opened his eyes, and the alabaster mare came trotting over.

"Yes, what is it, Volare? Have we decided on a course of action-one that hopefully involves a warm sauna bath and a good coat scrubbing at the spa?" she asked hopefully. But against his better judgement, Volare shot her down.

"Not quite yet. Spike says he knows one more cave we can try, so we're gonna head there before going back," he glanced back and winked at Spike, saving him a little face in front of Rarity.

"Are you sure, Spike?" she asked a bit skeptically, and understandably so!

"He's sure," Volare answered when the dragon hesitated. "C'mon, let's go check out the next cave," he waved a wing and fell into step beside Spike, the two males leading the way a short distance in front of the girls. "I'm still picking the next cave, Spike," he hissed, but Spike had no intention of arguing, and he merely nodded in quick agreement as he trooped along.

"Sweet, I wonder what we'll find in the next cave!" Scootaloo grinned with a bit too much excitement for Volare's comfort.

"Maybe a manticore!" Sweetie Belle suggested, and Volare's heart did a little flutter.

"Nah, a baby hydra," Applebloom countered.

"Oooh, or a big ol', slimy swamp monster! Cutie Mark Crusader Swamp Monster Slayers, yay!" Scootaloo declared, and this time Rarity's heart fluttered, especially at the mention of "slimy." Yep, she was certainly looking forward to that bath now! As the CMC continued to banter behind them, Spike and Volare marched along, giving the numerous smaller cave mouths they passed a wide, respectful berth. After a while, Spike nudged the Pegasus with an elbow.

"Dude, why're we passing all those other caves? What're we looking for?"

"Well, we've just been randomly trying different little caves, and animals and such have made their homes in there, right?"

"Right."

"So, let's try a big cave this time; you know, something different so we're not banging our heads on a brick wall so to speak."

"Whoa, but what if something big made its home in there?"

"Aha, good point, but you also pointed out big predators like Hydras stay on that side of the swamp cuz of lack of big food," he nodded towards the distant gorge. "So common sense would say we don't have to worry about big predators here."

"Yeah, but..." Spike thought for a moment. "What if little predators like Timberwolves and such are living in a big cave?"

"Why would they do that when there's plenty of little caves to live in? Besides, didn't you say Timberwolves have a pretty strong smell to them? Just sniff around the cave and we'll know if it's safe." Volare trotted along, secure in a little common sense.

"But what about bears?" Spike's eyes widened for a moment. "Why wouldn't they-"

"Live back there with the rest of those bears in that other cave? Nah, I don't think a place like this could support that many..." Volare trailed off and halted as they rounded a sharp bend in the path and came upon the yawning mouth of a cave so large that it could easily swallow the dragon and Pegasus a dozen times over at once. "...predators." Within moments, Rarity and the CMC came trotting around the corner, bumping into the stopped duo with a chorus of oofs!

"What's happening up there, Spike?" Rarity asked in concern, but as she caught sight of the massive cave mouth, she too could only stare in awe. It wasn't the largest cave she'd ever seen in her life (that honor fell to the cave on top of the Dragon Peak), but this one was certainly a close second.

"Whoa, is that tha cave we're lookin' for?" Applebloom craned her head back to stare up at the stalactite-winged cavern mouth, as did Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. Volare motioned for them and Rarity to hang back for a moment while he and Spike checked it out.

Well Volare, ol' buddy, you DID want to find a big one...
"Eh-heh, yeah I think so," Volare nodded and carefully approached the cavern, Spike at his side. They stepped a few feet into the cave, noting that the stone that made up the walls was a much darker color than the other caverns they'd entered previously, giving the interior a much more shadowy appearance than the others. It was almost foreboding...still... Different...that's a good sign. At least we're not ACTING insane. "You smell any Timberwolves?"

"Nah, nothing that strong," Spike confirmed after a moment, though he didn't mention that the sulfurous stink of the bog was kinda perforating everything. Still, Timberwolf breath really reeked, and since he didn't smell any... "We're good," he nodded and motioned for the girls to follow. But as they entered the cool chill of the cavern, the dark walls devoured the reflected sunlight, and they were quickly enveloped in near-total darkness. "Ouch-hey Rarity, your horn," Spike winced after stubbing his foot on a stalagmite.

"Oh, r-right," the fashionista muttered, not keen on wandering through the dark bowels of the planet like this. Luckily the CMC didn't seem too terribly fazed-then again, maybe that was a bad thing. She quickly ignited her horn, flashing a brilliant blue-white and illuminating the interior of the cavern, revealing just how tall the ceiling truly was.

"Whoa, check that out," Spike pointed upwards, and everypony craned their necks to see that the cavern continued to soar higher and higher hundreds of feet above them, the true limit of it disappearing into shadows that not even Rarity's horn-light could breach. Apparently the entire cliff-side here was hollow. But that wasn't what Spike was pointing at. Instead, he was pointing at the faint blue glow that radiated from a jagged crack in the black rock, one that hadn't been there until Rarity had lit her horn.

"Fluorite!" everypony exclaimed at once. But it was too high up on the wall to reach, and Volare didn't feel nearly comfortable enough flying up there through the shadowy, inverted forest of needle-sharp stalactites that reached down towards them. Instead, the small group followed the fluorite vein as it zig-zagged down the wall in incomprehensible patterns, with smaller capillaries branching off the main vein every few feet. But they continued to track the main vein as it neared the ground, finally leveling out and entering a more narrow tunnel that split off from the main cavern. The glowing vein ran along the ceiling of the low tunnel, turned a corner, and finally disappeared into darkness.

Volare and Co. halted and looked about, indecisively-shuffling hooves the only sound besides their breathing and the ambient dripping of cave water far off in the distance. "What're we waiting for, guys?" Scootaloo spoke up impatiently. "Isn't that what we're looking for?"

"Yeah it is, but..." Spike trailed off, sniffing the entrance of the tunnel. Again, he didn't smell anything too terribly amiss, but there was something else lingering beneath the scent of sulfur. Something familiar that he just couldn't quite put a claw on. It was a smell not unlike that of charcoal combined with the must of decay, but darn it if he couldn't tell for sure for all the sulfur stink! "I dunno, guys. The air's hotter down that tunnel. Shouldn't it be cooler?"

"Yeah, but we are in a hydrothermal area, so it would make sense for the air to get hotter the deeper we go," Volare scratched his head. "Besides, you don't smell any predators, do you?"

"No-I mean there's something kinda weird but I dunno what it is," Spike shrugged his small shoulders before Rarity patted him on the spines.

"We've come this far trusting you, Spike. What's a few more feet, hmm?" She smiled, her thoughts preoccupied with finding the mother-lode of glowing fluorite crystals. Just think of what she could do with those in her designs! "I say we go for it."

"Yeah!" The CMC's shout echoed down the tunnel, bouncing all over the place before being swallowed by the obsidian shadows. "Cutie Mark Crusaders Deep Cave Divers, yay!" Taking Rarity's declaration as permission, the 12-hoofed hurricane stampeded down the tunnel, intently following the fluorite vein and disappearing around the bend before the stunned older ponies and Spike could react.

"Son of a bitch," Volare growled and took off after them, Spike and Rarity in hot pursuit. So much for keeping things quiet, he thought. It wasn't that he doubted Spike's sense of smell, and he definitely welcomed Rarity's horn-light, but he'd also seen more than his fair share of movies where loud intruders in caves tended to meet messy ends. The thought of the CMC being attacked galvanized his thoughts, and he put on a fresh burst of speed, nearly going airborne if not for the dangling stalactites above him as he pursued the shouting and laughing trio. To his relief, he found them just as quickly as they'd disappeared, the fillies milling about in the next cavern.

But just as he was about to scold them for running off like than nearly giving him a heart-attack, Rarity rounded the bend behind him and the full illumination of her horn shown about the room...and their jaws all dropped in amazement. But it wasn't at the sight of the massive glowing lodes of blue fluorite embedded all over the cavern walls, nor was it the size of the cavern itself, which was much smaller in comparison to the one they'd just left. No, it was at the sight of what the fluorite was illuminating: a massive pile of gems nearly a dozen feet high.
"By Celestia's beard," Rarity gasped, the blue light from the fluorite reflected and magnified in her azure eyes until all she saw in her mind's eye were the gems before her. Buck the fluorite-this was the real stuff! With a tittering, girlish squeal, she rushed forward past Volare and Spike to inspect the gems. The two males shot each other worried glances before approaching the fashionista, who was flitting from gem to gem at a breakneck pace. "Hmm, yes-yes-yes, cut, uncut...rubies, sapphires, emeralds, amethyst, and-ooh, jade! Heeheehee, this is marvelous!" Volare merely facehoofed, but underneath that, something just seemed...off about all this.

"I dunno about this, Spike," Volare voiced his worries, shaking the dragon out of the natural semi-trance he himself had fallen under by the sight of so many delicious stones before him. "Spike? Spike!"

"Huh-wha?" the baby dragon shook his head.

"Spike, stick with me here," Volare said as he did his best to keep an eye on the roving CMC. Scootaloo was inspecting a towering stalagmite while Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were attempting to pry/buck a large lode of fluorite out of the wall. "Doesn't anything just seem wrong about this?"

"Huh, whatcha mean?" Spike asked, his hungry eyes trailing back towards the pile of gems despite himself.

"Look around: huge pile of gems like this seem natural to you?" Volare waved a hoof in emphasis. "Who or what piled them here?"

"Oh, I see whatcha mean," Spike shook his head again, forcing himself to turn away from the dominating pile of twinkling stones and think. But the more he tried to think, the harder it got, and he kept trying to turn and look at the gems. "It's a...it's gotta be a-argh, darnit I can't focus-I gotta eat something, dude!" Spike's pleading green eyes stared up into Volare's, and the Pegasus finally relented. He knew how powerful a motivator hunger could be, remembering how Twilight had used it to get him to focus on learning the basics of pony anatomy.

Funny how things come back to you, he thought and finally relented with a small sigh.
"Go ahead, Spike. I'll keep watch."

"Thanks, dude," Spike grinned and sprinted to the gem pile, nearly knocking Rarity into them as he arrived and began scooping clawfuls up into his mouth. Rarity glared at him for a moment, irritated that he'd devour such beauty. Then again, there was so much more to go around, and so she simply smiled, fondly patted the baby dragon, and went back to her own little mission.

"Heh, those two sure are something," Volare shook his head before noticing the small orange presence beside him. "Hey, what's up Scoots? Not interested in spelunking anymore?" he chuckled.

"Nah, I just wanna hang with you for a bit," she grinned and leaned against him. "Been a while since we've gotten to, ya know?"

"Aww, thanks Scoots," Volare felt his heart swell a bit; and she was right. Except for their morning jogs, they hadn't spent much time together lately, what with his training and her schooling getting in the way of things. "So, I guess you're wondering what living with Rainbow Dash is like, huh?" he asked, suppressing an amused smile at Applebloom and Sweetie Belle's lode-dislodging attempts. The tiny fillies weren't making much headway against the massive piece of fluorite, and as much as he felt like lending a hoof, it was keeping them occupied and out of trouble...

"Yeah, I kinda was. So how's it going up there with her?"

"Oh, nothing terribly crazy," Volare fibbed a bit; she didn't need to know or worry about the Truth or Dare game. That was just between him and Dash. "Mainly working on getting my wing-strength up. I'll be passing 10 Wingpower soon!"

"Sweet!" she buzzed her own small wings for a moment before her face fell. "Wish I could get up there and train with you..."

Heart, why must you hurt so bad!?
"Aww, I know Scoots," he hugged her with a wing. "But until I totally trust myself in the air, I don't wanna risk getting you hurt. Heh, no telling what Fluttershy or Dash might do to me if that happened," he grimaced, and not dramatically either.

"Aww, darn...well, maybe you could train me on the ground like we did at Fluttershy's? You know, instead of running laps and stuff," Scootaloo suggested.

"Hrm, that could work. I'll talk to Dash about it the next time I see her. Oh, maybe she could help too since she still knows way more about flying than than I do."

"Yeah, that sounds good! Thanks, bro!" she nuzzled his chest and looked back at her fellow Crusaders for a moment before speaking up again. "So, what're we doing right now?"

"Well, I'm standing watch while Spike and Rarity get whatever it is they have to do out of their system," he chuckled as the gem-obsessed duo continued to circle the pile of riches, one picking up gems and the other devouring them.

"Standing watch? Why? You don't think something's in this cave, do ya?" Scootaloo looked past Volare worriedly, but nothing but the silent tunnel stared back at her.

"I dunno, Scoots. I mean, I thought there might have been, but Spike doesn't smell anything weird, and if something was here, you think it would have shown itself by now," he sighed and rubbed his eyes with a hoof. "I just wish I knew more about this area cuz...something just feels off in here," he scuffed the floor lightly. "I mean, for one it's really warm in here, but I dunno if it's cuz of hot springs or something else." The more he thought about it, the more he felt a chill try to crawl up his spine despite the humid air. But why?! It was like staring at shadows and echos of things just out of his reach. Like a circling predator just outside the reach of the firelight. There was a presence, but the presence of what? Just as he thought it had to be his imagination over-reacting, he felt a supportive pat on his foreleg from Scootaloo. He looked down at her with a smile, but it faded at the sight of her concentrated frown. "Scoots?"

"You know what bro, you're right," she trotted towards the dark wall of the cavern and stared. The encounter with Ray and Jill had forever changed the young filly in that she tended to pay more attention to the details of things more than her peers, and she seemed to be onto something. "Something's...weird here." She sniffed the air, getting that same hint of charcoal and decay that Spike had, but she didn't know anything that would smell quite like that besides, well, charcoal and the Bog outside! And that seemed pretty normal by this point...still...she studied the black wall intently, confused by how it seemed to just absorb Rarity's horn-light.

"Volare darling, would you be a dear and give me your honest opinion?" Scootaloo waved a hoof, and the pilot trotted over to Rarity, who was levitating a number of multi-colored gems around her neck. "What do you think about these on a silver chain? Too flashy, or just too me? Hee-hee!"

"Haha, maybe a little of both," Volare chuckled, glancing over at Spike who was lounging against the pile of gems and crunching noisily on an orange topaz stone the size of his fist. In the meantime, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom gave up on dislodging the Fluorite lode and wandered over to the gem-pile, nosing through it and picking up stones at random, while Scootaloo still continued to study the dark cavern wall with an intense gaze. The pilot shook his head and sighed, trying to relax. Maybe he was really was just overreacting. Maybe, just maybe they'd had enough bad luck for the day, and things were finally starting to look up. He picked up a sizable chunk of lapis lazuli that burned an even more intense blue than the fluorite-filled walls surrounding them. He was no rock expert, but he figured something this beautiful and this large would have brought a good chunk of change on Earth. Hell, it'd probably sell for a good amount in town or look good as a gift for Dash or something...knock on wood, but this is turning into a decent day after all, he grinned.

It was right about that time that Sweetie Belle nudged a large ruby aside and spied something dull brown and out of place in the brilliant gem-pile. "Huh, what's this?" she squeaked and pulled it free: it was a simple cloth bag cinched shut with rope, and something clinked softly inside it. Just as Applebloom turned to investigate, Scootaloo experimentally ran her hoof along the dark wall of the cavern, and it came away sooty, revealing more fluorite covering the wall beneath it.

"What the hay," she muttered, trying to wipe the soot from her hoof before realizing that was where the source of the charcoal smell was. "Hey bro, there's soot all over the-" she said as she turned, but her words died in her throat, her eyes went as wide as saucers, and her jaw dropped towards the floor as she pointed a shaking hoof towards Volare. "B-b-br-r-ro," she managed to stutter, catching her brother's attention. One look at the horrified expression on her face told him something was very wrong.

"Scoots? Scootaloo, what's wrong?" he asked, leaning away from the gem-pile and taking a half step towards her before he heard and felt a low, deep rumble from behind him, coming from beneath the gems. He paused, one hoof in the air, and turned to face the gems. "What the hell," he managed to mutter before another distant-thunder rumble issued forth from under the pile of riches. "Spike, what's going on?!"

"I-I dunno!" the baby dragon cried, pulling Rarity away from the gems, causing her to drop them with a startled eek! The gems fell to the cavern floor and shattered loudly, and an even louder and deeper grumbling sound answered from the twinkling heap. Spike, the CMC, Rarity, and Volare all suddenly came to the same conclusion as to what, rather than who, had piled up these gems-in a cave in the middle of a swamp-as a jet of hot air shot from the end of the pile nearest to Volare, and a stack of rubies and emeralds slid off the pile, revealing a golden-slitted eye nearly half the height of the Pegasus himself: it was a dragon hoard! And its owner looked ready to murder everypony in that cavern.

You gotta be fucking kidding me, Volare thought as the eye moved around in its socket, fixing itself on the closest pony within its field of vision: a petrified Scootaloo. Volare reacted instinctively, as any big brother would for his little sister.
"...hello Murphy," he muttered before bringing up his back hoof, sighting in on the angry eye, and bucking backwards as hard as he could while screaming: "RRRRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!!!!!!!!"

"Do you really think it was a good idea to send them to find those focusing crystals?" Octavia asked without looking up from the simple cello interlude she was writing for the upcoming Hearth's Warming Eve Play. Due to the reconstruction still going on in Canterlot, Ponyville had been chosen as the town to perform it this year. It was to be an outdoor play, and even though it was still months off, Octavia intended to make her mark on it this year, and that entailed starting early!

"Yeah, I don't see the problem with it," Vinyl replied, fiddling with the dials on the new speakerbox, charging it every now and again with her horn to check the resonance, tuning, and so-forth; all the little intricate adjustments that went into producing the perfect combination of sound. "I mean, between Rarity and Spike, they'll probably find something useful, and Volare'll keep the CMC under control. What could go wrong?"

The front door of the duplex slammed open, startling the two musicians who leaped to their hooves in alarm to see who'd enter their home so abruptly. To their surprise, the one who'd kicked the door halfway off its hinges had been the usually prim and proper Rarity!

"Whoa Rares, what gives, girl?!" Vinyl cried, lifting her shades as the alabaster Unicorn trotted in with as much grace and dignity as she could muster...except she wasn't her usual color at the moment. Instead of her properly permed pearly pelt, it was a singed, sooty mix of black and grey, and her normally brilliant violet mane hung in a matted sweaty mess, while her azure eyes looked red and tired.

"Oh my...Rarity, what happened to you?" Octavia held a hoof to her mouth in worry.

"Forget me, you musical miscreants; help them!" she nodded over her shoulder as the fillies of the CMC came trudging in, each a similar mess of soot and bedraggled manes. Spike came limping in as well, turning back to look behind him every few steps as he did so. And finally, Volare entered, and both Vinyl and Octavia gasped audibly: Volare was singed and sooty from hoof to wing, and he was walking with only three of his legs; his back left one he barely allowed to touch the ground as he labored into the building, nudging the door shut with his muzzle before collapsing to the floor in a groaning heap.

"H-heya, guys...made it back," he grinned crookedly before his head lolled to the side and bonked up against the door.

"Holy hellfire," Octavia swore before hurrying to his side, shooing the CMC, Spike, and Rarity away as she did so, while Vinyl ran to grab a wet towel. The sharp smell of burnt feathers and fur rose up from the Pegasus, causing Octavia's nose to crinkle in disgust and worry. "What happened to you?" she asked nopony in particular as Vinyl arrived with a towel, helping Rarity levitate the pilot over to a divan, if anything to keep him from laying his head on the dusty floor (something that Octavia kept getting on Vinyl's case to clean, but now wasn't the time to worry about that!). None of them had any grand medical experience; they needed Fluttershy or somepony of the like, and Octavia was about to voice her concerns about that before Rarity stepped forward and spoke.

"It was my fault," she declared, and Spike and the CMC stared at her in surprise. "I was too pushy and-"

"No, it was my fault, Rarity!" Spike interrupted her, not allowing her to bear the blame. "I didn't pay enough attention and it...well, yeah," he waved a claw at Volare. "If I hadn't been distracted by all the gems, I would have smelled that guy hiding under them, and we wouldn't have-"

"Yes, but the gems he was under and the sulfur from the Bog covered the smell, and there was no way you could have"- Rarity interrupted before being cut off herself.

"Blast it all, what happened?!" Octavia demanded as Vinyl wiped the soot from Volare's face, and he gave her a weak smile of thanks.

"Well, there were bears," Sweetie Belle spoke up softly.

"And Blood Bats," Applebloom added.

"And Timberwolves," Scootaloo said, and with every predator mention, Octavia's heart sank a little further. "But those weren't the worst. We kinda found a dragon...a big one."

"Under a gem hoard," Spike admitted, twiddling his claws nervously under the steadily growing angry glare of the cellist.

"And it attacked, but you should have seen Volare!" Rarity declared, passing her hoof gently through Volare's singed mane. "He was gallant-he kicked that ruffian in the eye before it could grab any of us, and we galloped out as fast as we could!"

"Yeah, but then it came after us," Scootaloo continued. "But my bro flew up and knocked down one of those stalac-whatchamacallits and it pinned the dragon's wing to the ground!" she grinned proudly up at her brother.

"Meh, I ran into one in the dark," he said weakly, waving a dismissive hoof at the sore lump on top of hie head. "No biggie..."

"But it is quite a big deal, darling," Rarity insisted, wincing as Vinyl's towel passed over a darkened spot on Volare's flank that didn't wash off. His fur was scorched black, and he groaned as the burnt fur crumbled into dust at the slightest touch, leaving a semi-bald spot in its wake. The fashionista gently brushed her hoof along Volare's foreleg as she continued to speak. "And when that dragon fell to the ground, he breathed fire at us to spite us before we could escape, and...well, Volare's body blocked it from reaching the CMC."

"Hey, I helped too," Spike spoke up quietly, receiving a pat from Rarity.

"Of course you did; our little Spikey-wikey here is fireproof, and he...well, he did his best," she turned to reveal the opposite side of her body, where a vaguely Spike-shaped outline of soot-free fur stood out like a beacon. "It would have helped if he was larger though. Still, he did what he could to keep me safe." At the sight of Rarity's unsooty flank, despite his burns, Volare let out a great laugh of giddy post-shock mirth, and everypony else soon followed suit in relief until the whole duplex roared with laughter. After a long moment, they finally calmed down, and Vinyl returned to cleaning Volare up, while Octavia shook her head incredulously.

"Volare, I can't tell if you're just ludicrously brave, cursed with horribly bad luck, or a little of both," she chuckled. "But to jump in front of dragonfire to keep your friends safe; now that's borderline insanity. Dragonfire can melt diamonds-you could have been burned to a crisp!"

"Well, I kinda fell in front of it, to be honest," Volare replied with a chuckle of modest embarrassment.

"Either way, I'm proud to consider myself friends with a pony who'd do such a thing," she smiled and went about helping Vinyl clean him and the others up. Nopony else besides Volare was seriously burned, with the CMC suffering singed manes and Rarity's having her pride hurt more than anything. And Volare's burns, though seemingly ugly from the outset, were mainly fur and feather damage. Only a few patches of skin on his left hindleg actually got burned, and nothing nearly as bad as what he'd experienced in the jet crash, so that was a blessing in disguise. All in all, Octavia determined that he probably didn't have to go to the hospital, which he said was good as Twilight would probably kill him if she found out. Even so, it would probably be a good idea to see Fluttershy before he went home, as she probably had more experience with dragonfire burns than the doctors at Ponyville Medical anyway.

"So, I guess the trip was a bust, huh?" Vinyl said off-hoofedly over a meal of simple sandwiches that Octavia and Rarity managed to whip up.

"Vinyl you really need to get your concerns and priorities straight!" Octavia scolded her sharply. "Their health is more important than your bloody damn crystals!"

"Alright, alright jeez, don't bite my head off," Vinyl shot back with a snort. "Somepony's got their strings over-tightened if ya know what I mean," she whispered from behind her hoof, drawing snickers from the CMC.

"It's ok Octy," Volare assured her, wincing a bit as he tried to find a comfortable sitting position that didn't involve his tender hindleg resting on the floor. But there just wasn't any real comfy way to do it! "Grr, anyway to answer your question: no, we didn't get any Fluorite."

"Bummer, dude," the DJ frowned, though she cocked her brow when Volare grinned instead. "What's up? Did ya find something else?"

"Well, I didn't, but Sweetie Belle did," he motioned for the young filly to come over. "Grab that pouch you found out of Rarity's saddlebag, Sweetie."

"Right!" she squeaked and retrieved the brown cloth pouch, complete with clinking contents.

"Show'em, Crusader," Volare said, and Vinyl leaned forward in anticipation. Even Octavia, despite her annoyance with Viny's somewhat insensitive behavior, turned her attention to the bag as it was opened, and its contents gently poured out onto the table with a gentle tinkling noise, revealing a small group of narrow, red and clear crystals, each barely 4 inches long. At their appearance, and for the second time since Volare had met her, Vinyl's shades fell off her face in shock. "I take it you know what those are, Vinyl?" Volare smirked. "Cuz not even Rarity or Spike do."

"Y-yeah, I sure do," the DJ stared wide-eyed and gingerly picked up one of the clear crystals and inspected it, turning it over and over in her hooves and her face splitting into a grin that grew wider and wider as she did so. After flicking the point of the prism with a hoof and chuckling at the crisp ringing noise it made, she set the crystal on the table and spun it. The vibrations of the crystal on the tabletop combined with its points cutting through the air to create a very distinctive, resonant humming sound. "These are Appalantean Crystals, dude."

"Appa-what-an?" Scootaloo asked.

"Appalantus, the Lost City of the Sea Ponies way out in the middle of the Antlertic Ocean," Vinyl explained, her grin somehow growing even wider as she again flicked the crystal so it spun and hummed. "Buck Fluorite, this is the top of the heap when it comes to focusing crystals!"

"Wow, seriously?" Volare cocked a brow.

"Hay yeah!"

"Sweet find, Sweetie Belle!" Scootaloo and Applebloom smiled and high-hoofed their beaming fellow Crusader.

"Ohmygosh, dude," the DJ suddenly stopped the crystal and stared at Volare and the others for a moment. "That city sank almost 1000 years ago, and it's getting nearly impossible to find these things. Really makes me wonder how the hay that dragon found them."

"Dragons hoard all kinda of riches; coulda come from anywhere," Spike gulped. "Or anypony..."

"Wonder who the unlucky chap must have been," Octavia mused, but Vinyl was on a different channel, it seemed.

"Do you realize how much other DJ's like me would pay to have sound crystals like these?" the DJ smirked impishly.

"Whoa, wait a sec, you're not gonna sell them, are you?" Spike bristled. "We did kinda go through Tartarus to find them, ya know."

"Oh no way Spike, I'm just sayin' that these are gonna make my sound equipment killer! The clear ones were used back in the day for linked communication, so in theory I should be able to even link the speakers with their resonances, giving them a real surround-sound, concert-style quality." She held up one of the two red ones. "And these ones...holy hay, these red ones boost thought image clarity better than anything pony-made on the market!"

"Ahem, perhaps you should ask their permission to use them, Vinyl," Octavia crossed her hooves and snorted softly.

"Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, of course," Vinyl then fixed them with the most pitiable expression she could muster-puppy dog eyes and all. "Can I please use these in my equipment, you guys? Pleeeaaaaase?" The effect was instantaneous, but unexpected as Volare burst into helpless laughter rather than immediately capitulating.

"Hahaha, of course you can use them, Vinyl. Not sure what the hell I'd do with them myself anyways," he grinned, though Rarity coughed politely.

"Ahem, well please tell me we'll at least get some compensation for all the trouble we went through, especially since what we found is so much grander than what we originally set out for."

"Ha, you think I'd leave ya hangin' like that, Rarity? I'm hurt-thought you knew me better than that," Vinyl smirked and swept the crystals into the bag. "How's half of the earnings of my next concert sound?"

"H-half?!" Rarity gasped, knowing that the DJ's concerts often attracted clouds of thousands, and that meant tens of thousands of bits. The only reason why Vinyl wasn't rich was because she blew it all on new sound equipment and booze, but that was none of Rarity's business anyway. Still, she could do a lot of good with 5,000+ extra bits.

"Heh, didn't stutter as much as you there, Rares. So how about it?"

"I-um...what do you think, Volare?" Rarity looked to the pilot, but he shook his head.

"Money's no object to me-still got plenty from Luna. But you can get yourself, Spike, and my Crusaders something nice," he smiled. "They kinda earned it, eh?"

"B-but what about you darling?" Rarity insisted. "Surely you must need something!"

"Heh, a bath would be nice."

"Yeah, no kidding bro," Scootaloo sniffed and pulled a face that soon had the whole room shaking in laughter once more.

Heh, happy one-month to me, Volare thought as he sank back into the divan, enjoying the good company of his friends as the CMC retold the tale once more from their own perspectives, going into further details about bears, Blood Bats, and the like that faded into the background as sleep began to overtake the burned, bitten, and battered Pegasus. Alright Murphy, you owe me big time...

Notes:
Whew, sorry for such a long chapter again, but I wanted to try my hand at adventure-style writing again.
Hope it didn't drag too terribly badly!
Next chapter should be quite a good bit shorter and quieter in comparison, considering what happened in this one...
Still, I wonder how Dash is gonna react to Volare's burned butt, heheh!
Volare: Oh haha, aren't you just a barrel of laughs /eyeroll
Author: Yep! *grin*