//------------------------------// // The Fortune-Teller // Story: Chrysalis' Revenge // by ladyanaconda //------------------------------// The group set for the crystal mountains right away, though Stormfly had to take a different shape before going out, and Rainbow Dash and Spike were making sure he wouldn't run away. As soon as they were in the feet of the Crystal Mountains, Shining cast a spell on Stormfly; a collar of energy was formed around the Changeling's neck. It was a spell that would not allow the Changeling to go more than a few meters way from the group, in case he would attempt to escape. The Changeling accepted it, but the collar choked him a bit. He let them through narrow paths of stone through the bitter cold wind, up and up the mountain, until they were almost at the very peak of the Crystal Mountains. Even Rainbow Dash's wings were frozen, and she was unable to fly. Finally, after almost falling off the edge of the cliffs, the ponies arrived at a cavern located at the peak of the mountain. It was very dark, and there were stalagmites blocking the entrance, surely a safety measure should Applejack actually find the entrance of the cavern. Rainbow Dash attempted shattering the stalagmites, but they were too strong and thick to be broken by a kick. Not even Shining Armor's magic was strong enough to tear them off the icy walls. "It's useless, we can't break them," he concluded in disappointment, "We'll have to find another way in." "No way! I almost slipped off the edge a lot of times!" Screwball whined, "I can't go back there!" Stormfly cleared his throat, "If you want to hear my opinion, I'm afraid there's no other way in. No that I know of, at least. We'll have to figure a way to go through there." Shining thought for a moment, "If we can't break them off, we could also... melt them." "But how?" Spike inquired. At the moment he spoke, the others had a realization, and all eyes were on the baby dragon. Spike seemed to realize what they were thinking, but before he could run away, Rainbow Dash grabbed him and lifted him into the air. "NO, NO, NO!" the baby dragon yelled while struggling to get free, "I can't do it!" "Spike, listen!" Shining spoke firmly, "You're a dragon! A baby dragon, but a dragon nonetheless! Your fire should be hot enough to melt those stalactites!" "But I've almost never breathed fire! I don't know how to do it properly!" But when he saw the looks on the others' eyes, he decided to comply, "Alright, I'll try..." Various times, he attempted to breath a flame strong enough to melt the icy spikes, but all of his breaths were small and weak and they didn't last more than a few seconds before the icy atmosphere put the green flames out. Finally, Spike ran out of breath and he panted heavily, giving the group an apologetic look. "I told you I couldn't do it! My fire is too weak!" Screwball grabbed him by the shoulders, "Spike! Applejack is in there! And perhaps she knows where Twilight, Cadence and the others are! But to get in there, we have to melt these stalagmites! And to melt these stalagmites, we need dragon fire! Your fire!" Spike gulped, "Well, when you put it that way..." The baby dragon stared at the blocked entrance for a while before closing his eyes and started to concentrate. He thought of Twilight, the pony he considered like a big sister. He thought of Cadence, the sweet, friendly Alicorn that everyone loved. He thought of the rest of the girls; Rarity, his long-time crush and one of the most generous mares he had ever known. Fluttershy, the timid but kind and compressive girl that would always help her friends in need. Pinkie Pie, who would always try to cheer them up in hard times and saw the optimistic side of things. Applejack, who was always sincere and never told a single lie. Discord, the Draconequus he had come to see as both a good friend and a brother, despite his habit to play innocent pranks on ponies. He started to sweat despite the cold wind that was blistering all around the group, and smoke started coming out of his nostrils. Spike gritted his teeth as h felt all of his throat and stomach burn intensively; finally, he let out a fire so strong and so hot, that not even the coldness around could put them out like before. The stalagmites instantly were turned into water, Spike stopped to take a breath. He and the group, however, had their eyes on the entrance, and soon they started cheering. The path was clear. "Alright, let's go!" Rainbow Dash was the first to fly into the icy cavern, but Stormfly soon flew after her. "Wait a minute!" the Changeling called out for her, "We have to stick together, this caverns are like a labyrinth!" "Guys!" Shining Armor rushed after them, Screwball and Spike following closely behind. However, as soon as they stepped inside the cave, suddenly the floor beneath them 'collapsed' and the three fell into a dark pit, losing consciousness as they did so, and the stone trapdoor on the floor flipped back into place. Before Shining Armor lost consciousness inside the darkness of the cavern, his eyes managed to spot a pair of green eyes a few steps away from him. But Rainbow Dash and Stormfly were already deep inside the cave, and they did not realize what had happened to the others. Rainbow Dash slowly came to a stop, realizing that in her rush, she hadn't bothered to figure a way to avoid getting lost in those infinite caverns, and now she had no idea of where to go next. Stormfly accidentally bumped into her and both landed on the ice with a loud thud; the cyan pegasus frowned at the Changeling in annoyance. "Watch where you are going, Changeling!" she snapped. Stormfly returned the frown, "In case you forgot, I have I name! I'm Stormfly!" "Well, my friends are all in danger in who-knows-where because of your Queen, so excuse me if I don't like you right now!" "With that attitude, nothing's going to change!" "Whatever, let's go back with the-" Rainbow Dash stopped when she realized the obvious. Shining Armor and the others were nowhere to be seen, and they were deep into the cave, away from the entrance, and to make things worse all the caverns looked exactly alike. There was no way to figure out which way to go. "Hey, Stormfly..." she gulped, "Did you leave something to mark the way back to the entrance?" "I couldn't because somepony rushed into the caverns and didn't even give me a chance to make up a plan!" Stormfly growled, "We're lost in here! And there's no way out!" Suddenly, Rainbow motioned him to be quiet, looked around and perked up her ears. They heard the faint sounds of hoofsteps from one of the caverns, bouncing against the walls, making it almost impossible to determine where it came from. Stormfly looked around, hearing more carefully and sensing the vibrations on the ground, an ability of Changelings a few ponies knew they had. His wings were fluttering every now and then, which started to make Rainbow Dash worry. "Stormfly..." She addressed him by his name this time, "What are you doing..." Suddenly, the Changeling took off into one of the caves, barely giving the pegasus time to react and go after him. Stormfly flew into various caverns and sets of tunnels, following the source. He narrowed his eyes when he spotted somepony in the distance, and prepared to take it down, whoever it was. Rainbow flapped her wings faster, for some reason she couldn't keep up with the Changeling. The mysterious pony was unaware of the danger, for it was looking for a way out, but it did catch the sound of insect wings. Stormfly tackled the mare into the ground. Because there was almost no light, he couldn't identify the pony, but he could fear a wave of cold, stinging fear emanating from her, and it made him shiver in discomfort. Rainbow Dash landed next to them, wiped the sweat from her face and panted heavily. She tried to get a closer look at the mare... how she wished she had a flashlight. However, when a ray of light shone for a brief instant, the two of them recognized a orange-coated jared with light yellow mane and tail, green eyes and a cowboy hat. Rainbow Dash yelped, "Applejack?!" Applejack quickly shot a glance of relief towards her friend, "Rainbow Dash! Help me!" Stormfly quickly realized that he was still over her and quickly hovered off her and onto the ground aside, but now it was Applejack's turn to tackle him into submission. "Rainbow, run! I'll hold him back!" Rainbow Dash gulped, "Uh, Applejack... You're not going to believe this, but..." she scratched the back of her head, "That Changeling is on our side." Applejack gave her an almost incredulous look, "Him? On our side?" She narrowed her eyes, "Are you Rainbow Dash?" "HEY!" "Excuse me..." Stormfly could barely talk, for Applejack was crushing his throat, "Could you... please... remove your hoof off me?" Applejack reluctantly lifted her hoof off the Changeling's neck, and Stormfly took deep breaths, trying to regain his lost air. Rainbow wrapped her hooves around the Earth Pony. "Applejack! You're alright! Stormfly brought us here to find you!" She let her friend go and shook her quite violently, "Do you know where Twilight and the others are?! Have you seen Shining Armor around here?!" "Hey, hey, hey! Calm down..." Applejack was dizzy, "But no! I haven't seen Twilight, Shining Armor or the others! But please tell me you know the way out of these damn caves!" Stormfly replied, "No! We are trapped here! We didn't leave a trail because Rainbow Dash rushed into the cave without giving us a chance to even come up with a plan. That's when we separated from Captain Shining Armor, Spike and..." He couldn't help but to feel a knot in his stomach when he thought of her, "... Screwball." "What are we going to do, then?!" Stormfly thought for a moment. He had lived inside a chain of underground caverns and caves most of his life, so it couldn't be so hard to find a way out of that place. It was almost like the underground tunnels in which he was raised and born... and where his daughter was also born... The Changeling shook the painful memory from his mind and started inspecting the rocks. "Uh, Stormfly..." Rainbow whispered in confusion when watching the Changeling's strange behavior, "What are you doing?" "I was born inside a cave, I know about them. Perhaps I could find the way out..." "You sure? I want to get out of here as soon as possible!" Applejack snapped, "I've been in here for days!" "Don't worry, let me handle this..." The ponies decided to wait until the Changeling was done inspecting the eve, and finding a way of escaping those treacherous caverns. Rainbow Dash hoped Shining and the others were alright... Shining Armor soon recovered consciousness, and he found strangely comfortable. When his vision cleared, he realized he was resting on a couch, and saw that Screwball and Spike were on couches a few steps away. They were inside a cave, but this cave had no stalagmites of stalactites, and there were carpets of fiery colors with golden trimming hanging from the wall. Soon, Screwball stirred and let out a yawn before awakening, soon followed by Spike. "Where... where are we?" Spike muttered, taking a look around. "I don't know... But what I'm certain of is that Rainbow Dash and Stormfly are not here..." Shining Armor stood up, trying to figure out where they were. "All I remember is Rainbow Dash flying into the cave, Stormfly went after her, and we fell into a trap when we tried to follow them," Screwball pointed out, stretching her muscles. "You are awake," a new voice spoke and echoed through the room, sending shivers down their spines. From an entrance on one side of the cave, a Zebra walked in. Spike thought she looked a bit like Zecora, except that this particular zebra looked more like a mare, and her hair was long and straight, barely touching the ground. Her stripes were a little more curved, and her eyes were of a soft golden. "Who... who are you?" Shining inquired, rubbing his head. "My name doesn't matter, you may just call me Diviner..." the Zebra smiled warmly, "Shining Armor, Captain of the Royal Guard and husband of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza." The stallion was perplexed, "H-how do you know who I am?" "Because I saw it," Diviner spoke while pointing to a crystal ball in the middle of the cave, "When the spirits speak to me, they tell me things." Screwball gulped, "What kind of things?" "Things that were, things that are... and things that are yet to happen... Screwball, daughter of Discord. Now, let us speak of more important matters. You are trying to find your friends' whereabouts." "Yeah, we are!" Spike stepped top the front with a glimpse of hope, "Do you know where they are?" "I'm only a step on the mysteries of the unknown, it's the spirits who guide us to the truth. Let us see what they can tell us." The zebra sat in front of the crystal ball, and motioned them to come closer. She closed her eyes and started concentrating. "Powerful and wise spirits, speak to me! Illuminate me with the desire of these ponies' hearts!" When the crystal ball started glowing of a red tone that illuminated the entire room with a red tone, Screwball and Spike drew closed to each other and held each other closely in fear. Shining'r ears drooped as he saw the smoke inside the crystal ball. "I see something..." Diviner spoke with a foreboding voice, "I see a vast desert... in it, the ruins of a temple long forgotten... Your fate is to go there and look for... a Draconequus! Yes! A Draconequus! And... somepony else... a pink pony with the desire to make others smile and laugh, even when they are invaded with sadness." Suddenly, above the crystal ball, Discord appeared. Well, it was only a transparent version of him, and he set his eyes on Shining Armor. "Shining Armor! Chrysalis sent me to Saddle Arabia, to an abandoned temple along with Pinkie Pie! We are imprisoned in those cocoons!" He thought for a moment, "And did I tell you? For some reason, I have lost all of my power. Could you come and save us? Thank you very much." Shining Armor and Screwball thought something was... odd about Discord. The Draconequus had the habit of making sarcastic comments and jokes when speaking to the ponies he knew, this Discord had simply asked them directly to go and save him. Also, Discord didn't usually call Shining Armor by his complete name, he always called him 'Shiny.' The illusion before them, and this was most important, didn't even acknowledge Screwball's existence, and he hadn't even looked at her. "Discord..." Shining spoke suspiciously, "... Are you alright? Are Twilight and Cadence with you?" However, Discord's illusion had already disappeared, and Diviner opened her eyes. "The spirits have told us what they could, your fate lies in Saddle Arabia. There, you shall find your friends." Spike spoke, "B-but we can't leave just yet! We came with other two! A Pegasus and a Changeling! We were separated!" "Yeah, we need to find them, and we're also looking for an Earth pony! Her name is Applejack!" Shining explained. Diviner shook her head,"I'm afraid I haven't seen them. But do not fear, for you shall find them once you get out of the cave. there is a tunnel here that leads out into the Crystal Mountains" She showed them towards the exit, "Good luck, the three of you. The fate of Equestria lies in your hooves." The three friends looked at each other, nodded and walked out of the caverns, failing to see that Diviner's eyes glowed green for a brief moment. "Are you sure you know where we are going?!" Stormfly snacked his forehead with his hoof after Rainbow Dash asked him that once again, "Rainbow, for the last time... Yes! I know where we are going! now stop pestering me!" "I'm sorry, but I never liked underground places at all." Applejack rolled her eyes, "Come on, Rainbow Dash! A cave isn't as scary as, say,Everfree Forest!" "Everfree Forest is not as eerily quiet as this place! Every sound makes me thing there's something following us!" Stormfly explained, "Amateur. If there was something following us, we wouldn't hear it at all!" "Wow, that makes me feel better!" Stormfly simply rolled his eyes as he fluttered his wings and looked around again. He had a feeling there was something dangerous up ahead, but couldn't figure out what. All he was sure of is that the exit was close. Applejack felt a shiver run down her spine, and she grew alert; her sense of 'something bad is about to happen' never failed her, after all. "Guys, I think we should-" Before she could say anything else, suddenly the floor beneath them collapsed and the three found themselves sliding down what seemed to be a giant slide. They were in quite a funny position, actually: Stormfly was in Applejack's legs, and Applejack in Rainbow Dash's. The Earth pony wondered why Stormfly and Rainbow Dash hadn't took off already, for both of them could fly, but she assumed that they were too scared to think about it right then. The three ponies were screaming in terror, sliding into the darkness below. After three minutes, they came to a stop in the bottom of the chasm, falling over each other in the process. Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and landed next to Applejack, who shook her head to made the dizzy feeling disappear. then they noticed that a certain Changeling was nowhere to be seen. "Hey, where's Stormfly?" Applejack felt movement beneath her, and she looked down to see that she had landed right over the Changeling, who was kicking violently and letting out muffled yells of protest. She quickly stood up and Stormfly crawled from beneath her, panting heavily. "Seriously, you should think on putting on a diet!" he gasped for air, ignoring the little glare Applejack gave him for commenting on her weight. Rainbow Dash looked around and noticed that there was a tunnel ahead of them, illuminated dimly by an unknown source of light. She walked towards the entrance of the tunnel, followed by the arguing Applejack and Stormfly. When she entered, she opened her mouth agape. Instead of rocky walls, the walls inside the chamber were made of the fines marble, with golden trimming adorning it; torches were all around the room, illuminating the way to a long altar made of gens, in which a long pole made out of pure gold laid resting. Even the arguing Changeling and Earth pony left their discussion to stare at the sudden change in scenery. "That's it!" cried Rainbow Dash in excitement while pointing to the golden pole, "It's one of the artifacts!" When Applejack was about to ask what she was talking about, Stormfly sighed in annoyance before she could speak and told her, "It's a long sort, they'll tell you later." Applejack seemed to accept the answer. "But what we waiting for, then?" she spoke, "Let's grab that thing and get out of here." However, Rainbow Dash stopped Applejack on the spot. "Wait a minute! If there's something that I've learned on reading Daring Do's books, is that there are always secret traps in treasure chambers like this!" she spoke, "You should let someone who has already experience handle this!2 Applejack rolled her eyes, "If I recall, you have never been in treasure chambers like this." "But I've read Daring Do's books. It's not that hard, all I have to do is get to the other end of the room without touching the floor or the walls and everything will be alright. The most capacitated pony to do that is me!" "Oh, really? In case you forgot, you are the reason you and Stormfly got separated from the others. Somebody who is calm and thinks before acting should go to get the pole!" Stormfly smacked his forehead as Rainbow Dash and Applejack started arguing. Really, ponies and their silly discussions. He looked at the pole on top of the altar, gulped and took flight, carefully hovering over to the altar. The mares heard the sound of his wings fluttering and turned around to see he was about to grab the pole. "Be careful! "The traps!" Stormfly started sweating heavily, fearing he might actually trigger a trap. The pole was still on the altar, and there seemed to be no secret traps on the pedestal. He hoped that he would not get killed... And lifted the pole off the altar... ... Nothing happened. Stormfly sighed in relief, releasing the breath he had been holding for a while, and slowly flew away from the pedestal. However, as he hovered back to the ponies, suddenly the altar started to shrink into the ground until it disappeared, and everything around started to tremble. Stormfly quickly flew back to the ponies' side. "Great job, Stormie!" Rainbow Dash growled while dodging a falling stalagmite, "I told you this would happen!" Stormfly growled, "Well, the next time, you go and fetch the artifact!" Applejack snapped, "Save that for later! We gotta get out of here!" The ponies looked around frenetically for a way out, and the Changeling spots a hidden passageway had opened in one of the walls. "Over there!" he cried, grabbing the pole in his fangs and pushing the mares towards the passageway. Applejack ran into the passage, followed by Rainbow Dash and Stormfly just as the chamber collapsed, and the tunnel seemed to be collapsing as well. In the other end of the passage, they saw a light... Shining Armor covered his eyes from the burning sunlight; Celestia and Luna may be frozen in statues, but it seemed Chrysalis didn't mind in lifting the sun and the moon by herself. Screwball and Spike emerged from the cave entrance as well, covering their eyes. However, the Diviner had said that they would find the others once they got out of the caverns, but they were not there. They were on one of the highest cliffs of the Crystal Mountains; on the horizon, Shining thought he could see Canterlot and Cloudsdale far, far away. "Did you guys hear that?" Spike's voice sounded in an apparent endless echo, and soon it was replaced by a faint sound of rocks crumbling. As seconds went by it seemed to become louder and louder... "OUT OF THE WAY!!!" Shining Armor, Screwball and Spike didn't have time to react ad Rainbow Dash, Stormfly and Applejack bumped into them, bringing them all to the ground. In fact, it took them a few seconds to realize Applejack was with them; when they did, Spike and Screwball jumped onto her and wrapped their arms around the mare's neck. "Applejack! You're back!" Spike was crying in joy. "I missed you!" Shining Armor helped Rainbow Dash and Stormfly stand up, and the changeling dropped the pole in front of him. "That's the first artifact. We found it in a cavern in that..." Before he could point at the entrance they had come from, the rocks finally collapse sand it disappeared, "... Never mind." Shining Armor turned to look at Applejack, "Are you alright, Applejack?" The Earth Pony nodded, "yeah, no damage done. But I spent days in those blasted caves! When I see Chrysalis i'm so going to have buck her so much i'll send her into the sun!" "Do you know where-?" "No, she doesn't." Rainbow Dash spoke with sadness, "She has no idea where Cadence or Twilight or the others are." Shining Armor looked down at the ground in disappointment, and set his eyes on the pole. It had faint markings all over it, but it looked like the artifact in the book. He lifted the pole with his magic and put it on his back before looking up at the sky. "Everyone, we're heading for Saddle Arabia."