//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 - In Which Patience Is Tested And Rocks Attack // Story: The Chronicle of Spike: Rise of a Hero // by QuillVolt //------------------------------// Spike likes to consider himself to be a patient dragon. Not only does he work in an, albeit seldom-busy, library (though he's been considering hiring a part-timer to watch the place since he's usually out for one reason or another), he deals with the CMC on a near-daily basis, substitutes for Cherilee regularly, keeps track of Pinkie Pie if need be, and runs a pseudo-foalsitting service. He isn't entirely sure how that last one happened, but he does have a lot of experience from taking care of Twilight everyday for the eight years he was her assistant. "Are we there yet?" The dragon cringed. The infamous question that tested the limits of the patience of all ponies and dragons everywhere. Gritting his teeth, he grunted out a "no". The moment he and Apple Bloom set claw/hoof into the cave, the walls began to quiver and instinctively the two of them dove into a forward roll, pausing only long enough to grab Peewee. Immediately after they were clear of what they assumed would be a cave in, the entrance literally vanished. No rocks fell, no signs that something sealed it, and no evidence that it moved. It was just gone. And without it, darkness enveloped them. They chanced having Peewee flare up with the gentlest flame he could manage so they could at least see each other - after asking the young phoenix if he would, of course. It wasn't much, but enough for them to sort take a look around. Some sort of squarish chamber, with a few narrow tunnels here and there. When they decided to take a look, Peewee's light wouldn't reach further than two meters in either direction. That and the fact that Peewee started warbling nervously every time they got near one was enough to deter their urge to go and explore. Interestingly, there was a staircase of sorts in one of the corners that they might've missed had they not decided to search around the chamber some more. It lead down, but like with the passageways only the steps in front of them were illuminated. Peewee appeared to be fine with it though, so Spike decided to go with Apple Bloom following only after he made sure that the steps weren't rigged in any way. Like with what happened before, the stairs vanished, leaving the three of them in another chamber similar to the previous one save for the fact that it only had one passage that lead out of it. Peewee was fine with this one as well, so they followed it. That was an hour ago. They haven't stopped walking (flying in the fledgling phoenix's case) since. The path was almost perfectly straight most of the time except for the few turns they had to make. And since the tunnel had just been wide enough for one of them to stretch his/her claw/hoof out fully on one side, Spike elected to go first just in case he needed to use his firebreath ("Not that it's been useful lately." "Can't argue with that.") with Apple Bloom trudging along behind him and Peewee hovering between one and two meters above the two. It wasn't as if Spike couldn't understand his friend's restlessness; both of them were already far used to having something happen. The fact that one of the things that their town - possibly their entire country, but he hasn't looked into it - is famous for its sponateous musical numbers (amazing how fast he and Twilight adjusted despite neither of them doing anything remotely close before they came there) can testify to that. Plus, he's pretty sure that neither of them are fans of small and dark places. A dragon that hates caves is probably as unusual as, well, as a dragon that hates hoarding. Great... he's an freak among both dragons and ponies. Spike felt his spines shiver the same time he heard Peewee squawk in surprise. "Blackout now!" Spike yelled as he turned and tackled Apple Bloom to the ground. She let out a sound that possibly resembled a squeak, but he wasn't really paying attention. Peewee had extinguished his fire, so they were surrounded by darkness again, but Spike kept his gaze directed firmly behind him. "S-Spike?!" Apple Bloom exclaimed. She sounded extremely confused and... a bit flustered? "I know that Scoots said those things when she found out that I have my own room at the library, but I really don't think that this is the place for...!" She definitely let out a squeak when Spike pressed himself even more against her, but she immediately quieted down when she heard something above them zoom past with a whoosh. Spike gulped. He was about to tell AB to calm down (why was she ranting? And what in Equestria did Scootaloo say this time?), when he felt his spines shiver again and he barely had enough time to press himself down even more just as a projectile flew by and narrowly scrape the tip of his head spines before noisily colliding against the far wall. If they were still standing, that would've gone straight through their heads. Spike felt a brief pang of fear for his avian friend until he felt something feathered nuzzle against his claw. All three of them held their breath as the sound of something big and heavy lumbered closer. Spike made a motion with the claw that he knew Peewee was near and hoped that he understood. The almost systematic plodding drew even closer and Spike tensed. He felt Apple Bloom tense under him as well, but he wasn't sure why. Did she understand his plan too or something? As soon as the steps were less than two meters away from their current position, Peewee swiftly flew up and cloaked himself in an intensely luminescent flame that could've been mistaken for a miniature sun. Spike launched himself at the large shape, found what he assumed was the head, and chomped. There was an extremely loud CRUNCH as the powerful jaws that could rend even the hardest of gemstones cleanly crushed it with ease. Peewee dimmed down to the previous amount of light as before while Spike spat out what was in his mouth. It landed at the same time its body toppled backwards with a boom. Dragons could see in the dark to an extent for extremely obvious reasons, though Spike never practiced that skill much so his night-vision was a bit lacking. Even so, it was enough to roughly identify their attacker. And now that there was finally some light, he could get a better look: Entirely composed of stones, roughly bipedal in structure, various joint utilizing the number of stones for an increased range of movement, a stack of rocks on each side to function as arms with a fist-sized boulder and a heap of pebbles for digits at the end. A golem. Spike had only read about these and never seen one before, but he knew that it there was some serious magic involved. Animation required a steady flow of magic in order to retain its status. The more complicated something it, the more difficult it would be to animate. Judging from the shape, this was a very crude and very simple model of golem. If he had to describe it, he would say that it just barely qualifies as a golem instead of a moving pile of rocks. Even so, for it to still be functioning after Celestia knows how long... Spike forcibly put aside any and all urges to study it. For now. Twi's rubbed off on me in more ways than I thought... "Hey A... B?" He turned around to apologize for his roughness, but his jaw dropped when he saw the state his friend was in. Apple Bloom was still lying on the ground, panting for some reason, and extremely red in the face when she looked at him. Spike got the feeling that Applejack would throttle him if she saw the two of them like this. Shaking the wayward thought from his head, he offered a claw to the young mare and she hesitantly took it. An awkward silence settled. Say something you idiot! Two thoughts were thought simultaneously, one directed at the dragon that thought it in the first place and the other at the idiot calling himself an idiot. Spike scratched the back of his head, cursing the fact that his wits choose the worst times to abandon him, when he noticed something. All emotion immediately disappeared from his face. Apple Bloom looked curiously as Spike took a step towards her. That curiosity turned into confusion as he took another, then slight concern as he continued forward still until there was very little to no space between the two. Her eyes widened as he slowly and deliberately reached out a claw towards her. She closed her eyes when she felt something rustle her mane. There it took a few moments before the rustling stopped, and when Apple Bloom tentatively opened her eyes, she was met with an awkward and apologetic smile from a certain purple dragon. "Your bow was crooked." was all he said. She nodded, understanding his intention. "So, Spike... the thing that attacked us... how did you know how to...?" "Golems are remarkably resilient, even Clunkers like this one. If me and Peewee combined our flames again, it probably wouldn't have done much," Spike admitted. "Though since I don't sense the presence of a spellcaster or any residual magical energy, I assumed that it must have some sort of generator to supply the animation spell with mana. Still, for it to not have run out even after all this time, either there was an immense supply of mana stored - but that's unlikely since the destruction I caused would've caused severe magical backlash - so that means-" "Spike!" Apple Bloom sighed tiredly. Sadly, she was far too used to dealing with that. "Focus please." "... I was monologuing again, wasn't I?" Apple Bloom nodded. Spike groaned. "Sorry. Unneccesarily long explanation aside, separate the power source from the spell and it'll stop. Thankfully, years of working alongside one of the foremost magicians in Equestria has made me rather sensitive to the presence of mana." "You mentioned that before, but what exactly is this 'mana' stuff?" "Another exceedingly long explanation aside, just think of it as magical energies. That's pretty much it in a nutshell." Actually, it's much more than just that, but I don't want to go off into another lecture in the middle of an underground tunnel, under the middle of the Everfree, with Clunker Golems wandering around. Besides, we've wasted enough time as it is. Spike cleared his throat. "Your curiosity if refreshing and all AB, but I think that we really should get going." Apple Bloom nodded in agreement. "So if we run into any more of these, what did you call 'em, 'Clunkers'?" "Just leave this to me and focus on not getting hit. I don't think your hooves can go through solid rock and I don't want you to get hurt." Normally she'd be insulted if somepony said that too her, especially since she can and will kick anypony's butt short of her sister and maybe Rainbow Dash in a brawl. But again, this was Spike. He meant only for the best. That, and he did have a point. Last time she tried something like that, she ended up spraining both of her rear hooves and was banned from helping out around the farm and crusading until she recovered. It was so boring, but at least a certain somedragon kept her company everyday he could until she got better. Peewee brought Apple Bloom out of her reminiscing by chirping and drawing both of their attentions to the wreckage of the golem. Spike walked towards it cautiously, wary that it might still be active, but he was quickly overcome with excitement when he noticed something shiny amidst the pile he had spat out. Spike shifted through the small rocks and pulled out a silver cube. It was small, easily fit into the palm of his claw, and had a number of markings on each side. Upon further inspection, the markings were revealed to be symbols. A raging flame, a streak of electricity, a frozen snowflake, and what he assumed was a rock. On the top and bottom were the same stylized dragon emblem he had seen on the scroll. But above all that, Spike could feel loads of mana emanating from the little object. He put the cube in his bag. One of the many things he's learned over the years is that you never know when you might need something, regardless of whether or sot it was something he spat out. "Let's go AB. Something tells me we've got a lot of walking to do." He received a loud groan in response. ... They reached the end somewhere around the fifth floor. One large chamber with natural lighting from an indiscernible source, no paths, no doors, and the staircase disappeared again. Just a bunch of small pillars against one corner. In other words, they were trapped. "On the bright side, there's some sort of ventilation system so I don't think we need to worry about suffocating." "Great, instead we'll die of thirst." "Nah, that's only if we don't kill each other first." "Yeah, you're right. I can't stand you after all." "Nor I you, my not-so-fair mare." "Why thank you, you horribly uncivil dragon." "..." "..." "... I liked mine better." "Yours was easy! You try to comin' up with something that also rhymes with 'dragon'!" "Touché, Apple Bloom." "..." "..." "Are we really so bored that we have to resort to insultin' each other?" "Eeyup." "Who are you supposed to be, my brother?" "Eenope... OW! What was that for?!" "You're being annoyin'." "This is boring." "What was your first clue? We were kiddin' around on how we were gonna die earlier! Then we were insulting each other even though we make fun of the ponies that do that." Spike got up from the wall he was leaning on. Apple Bloom, who was reclining on him, fell to the floor with an indignant shout. Peewee fluttered from his perch on top of his head to fly around. "I'm going to take another look around," Spike wisely chose not to mention that he'd rather do anything than be her punching bag again. He'd had enough of that when she and Applejack were teaching him how to fight (even if he's one of the few - if not only - nice dragons, learning a little self-defense definitely did hurt). Apple Bloom cleared her throat and held out a hoof. Spike rolled his eyes and pulled her up. One more look around the walls. They might've missed something the past nine times. Aaaaaaaand........ Nothing. Just some indentations in the floor. And the same pillars in the corners, whose numbers coincidentally match up with the number of pillars. Absolutely nothing. ... ... ... "WE ARE COMPLETE AND UTTER IDIOTS!" Spike yelled. If was a pony, he'd be pulling his mane out right now. How could he not see something so obvious?! "Spike? What's wrong?" Both Apple Bloom and Peewee were looking at him oddly. Of course, with his sudden outburst it was to be expected. "I'm an idiot." "Sigh, Spike... I hate to be the one to tell you this, but I think everypony in Ponyville already knows that." "No, I mean I'm an idiot for not realizing the solution to our problem is something a foal could've figured out." Spike smacked his claw against his forehead before moving to the corner. "Should I be insulted?" "Nah, everypony knows that Sweetie Belle is the smart one among your group." "... Now I know that I'm insulted!" "Don't hate me, blame the poll." "Poll? Explain. Now." Spike sighed exasperatedly before turning to face her. "A poll was made last year featuring the colts and young stallions in Ponyville on who they thought was the best mare and why. As the librarian, I was supposed to keep track of the results. Considering that the mare to stallion ratio is insanely unbalanced, it was much easier than I thought. And before you ask, you, Sweetie, and Scoots were pretty high in the rankings. That Diamond Tiara was really upset when she found out that you three were several places higher than her." Apple Bloom mentally cheered and laughed. "So what did they say about us?" "Without some of the more inappropriate comments, Apple Bloom, you were said to be the pretty hard-worker with a ton of rustic charm and several interesting ideas. Sweetie Belle is a, and I quote, 'brilliant beauty' with a wonderful singing voice. And with a stunning lack of terms, Scootaloo is, for lack of a better word, hot and really athletic." I won't mention that tons of ponies were comparing them to their sisters... and whatever Rainbow Dash is to Scoots. They're more than that, after all. Apple Bloom tilted her head in confusion. Sweetie's singin' again? I haven't heard her sing in a while and Scoots hasn't mentioned anythin'. If neither of us knew, how the buck did somepony else find out? "I have to say though, the results were somewhat surprising. I never thought that there would be such a difference between first and second place." "Who's in first place?" "I don't know who this 'Who' pony is, but Fluttershy had a massive landslide victory. Even ponies from out of Ponyville came to vote for her as the, quote 'most adorable pony in all of existence then, now, and in the future who can make your heart melt in a single glance' unquote." To this day I wonder how they found out about the poll and why so many of them were close to Ponyville at the time... "Ah..." Apple Bloom nodded as if that explained everything. "Anyways, AB; I'm sorta taken aback that you would care about this type of thing so much," Spike admitted with a surprised expression. Then he smiled warmly. "You are confident in who you are, even if others ridicule you for it. And I'm aware that much of it is due to the fact that you're used to such treatment, but even so you still set an example for the new Crusaders. It's one of the things that I like and admire about you." Apple Bloom could not suppress the blood and heat rushing to her face. It was worse because Spike had that accursed smile when he was saying it, so he meant every word of it. Even if she spent a lot of time around him in the past four years, she still wasn't completely immune to those sappy and heartfelt lines that causes mares to fall for him, even if he had no idea about it. It was bad enough even before he hit his growth spurt and landed on the 'hotties' list... ugh. It's irritatin' to think that about my friend! Those rumors really do not help at all! And his so-called fan club is so stubborn! And troublesome! While Apple Bloom was growling - why, he had no idea - Spike busied himself with moving the pillars to their places. Despite only being his size, they were infuriatingly heavy and difficult to grip. Spike ended up resorting to pushing the things with his head while his claws were used to supply the necessary traction required to counteract Neighton's third law. Spike mentally groaned. Even to himself, he still sounded nerdy in his head. Still, it's better to be intelligent than savage, Spike reminded himself. If it hadn't been for so many ponies teaching me things, I probably wouldn't be better than those reptilian jerks I met during that one Dragon Migration. With a sigh, he finished moving the last pillar in place before stepping back to admire his work while rubbing his sore neck. Six pillars placed in pairs with narrower space in between with regards to the distance to the wall. Amusingly, Apple Bloom was silently ranting to a very confused-looking Peewee. He debated whether or not to ask what riled her up when the cave began to shake again. Unlike the previous and barely perceptible tremors, this was a full-on quake that threatened having the chamber collapse into itself. Spike's first instinct was to get over to his friends and protect them, which resulted in him tackling Apple Bloom to the ground again while snatching Peewee mid-flight and covering both of them as best as he could. He winced as he felt a few well-sized stones made contact with his scaly hide, but it wasn't something he couldn't handle. Besides, he wasn't paying attention at all anyways. Apple Bloom didn't say or do anything. For once, Spike didn't have some sort of snarky comment at the ready. Peewee was simply mesmerized. Each of the pillars had spiderweb cracks running from top to bottom, with a luminous blue gleam spilling out from within. More and more cracks fractured, more light shone forth, and the shaking intensified until, finally, the pillars exploded. Shaking his head, Spike leapt to the front and shielded the two from the rubble, cringing as the pebbles pelted his wings. He did notice, however, that Apple Bloom's and Peewee's eyes were glowing the same blue as the pillars before it faded and they shook their heads to shake off the rest of... whatever that was. When the rocks and trembling stopped, the trio chanced a look... and subsequently proceeded to drop their jaws/beak in shock. In place of each pillar, six magnificently carved statues of dragons stood on top with their own respective pedestals. They were roughly the same size as the pillars, but had incredible detail in each one of them. Of the foremost four, one had fins and spikes reminiscent of flames, the second just seemed to shout energy (Spike got the feeling that whoever that dragon was and Pinkie Pie would get along splendidly), the third exuded a noble and sort-of cold aura, and the fourth and last one was solidly built, but was also incredibly serene and calm. Spike, Apple Bloom, and Peewee felt safe just by looking at them, almost as they would guard them from harm. The two in the back, which also happened to be side by side, consisted of a teenage dragon and dragoness. Aside from the former having some sort of purplish tint and had a wave-like fin pattern and the latter having facial spikes on the sides of her (admittedly) pretty face and a tail-blade, the two didn't particularly stand out to Apple Bloom and Peewee. However, Spike felt something akin to kinship just by looking at those two. Not quite like the familial sensation he got when he was with his mother, aunt, or cousins. This was more of like... an unseen, inexplicable bond that he felt to two dragons he didn't know even if they existed or not. Spike jumped. Was it just his imagination, or did the dragon statue smile at him, as if he were saying 'good luck'? "Spike! The ground!" True to Apple Bloom's words, a glowing circle materialized in front of the statues, with a small and gentle cyclone emanating upwards from it. The sheer mana from the magic, not including the spell itself, was enough to overload Spike's senses. It was strong, the type where centuries and even millennia could not hope to phase it. Whoever or whatever this was originating from... "Are you alright?!" Spike began trembling, and Apple Bloom and Peewee immediately rushed to his side. The phoenix fledgling chirped worriedly for his friend. Spike only continued to shake more and more before suddenly stopping. "ALL RIGHT!" His sudden outburst startled the young mare next to him and caused Peewee to fall off, only to ascend back to eye level after frantically flapping his wings. Spike was beaming, his eyes shone much like the gems he was fond of eating, and everything from his expression to his posture simply cried out utter excitement. His quivering from before had been more out of anticipation than anything. Apple Bloom smiled. With how serious he was nowadays, it was easy to forget that Spike enjoyed adventures and fun almost as much as she did. Whether it be his, hers, or their friends' exploits, it might have been the only times when she can see him revert back to his old, more fun-loving and carefree self before he burdened himself with tons of responsibility. If anything could bring back Spike to how he was when she first met him, it would be this. The thrill that comes from the anticipation of knowing that they've almost reached their goal after so many trials and the satisfaction from figuring out the solutions to vexing problems... She had to suppress a shiver herself. She was about to go examine that curious funnel of wind as her adventurer's instict told her to when Spike barred her path with his wing. Gone was the gleeful expression from before, replaced by a stone cold glare. His pupils had dilated considerably, a sign that there was danger present and his instincts were in overdrive. Having known him long enough to learn that his senses are far sharper than anypony's and are generally to be trusted, Apple Bloom immediately fell into a defensive stance and stood back to back with him. Peewee followed their example and looked ready to ignite his wings and scorch the first thing that comes at them. There was silence for a few moments, and that's when Spike heard it: a low droning rumble that sounded like what he imagined the noise a moving mountain would make. Suddenly the ceiling broke and the trio had to scramble to avoid being crushed. They were separated into a triangular formation, with Spike near the lower-right corner and Apple Bloom directly across from him on the right side while Peewee was fluttering by the statues. Both dragon and phoenix registered that the magic circle and gust had vanished, which meant that there was still something that needed to be done. All three watched as stones and bits of metal and various other similarly hard objects fell from the newly-made hole in the chamber's ceiling. They seemingly arranged and stacked themselves, and Spike immediately knew what was going to happen long before that thing finished assembling itself. Of what was outlined in his book, there are various classes of golems. For example, the Clunker they encountered before fits the description of being a 'hastily cobbled together pile of material'. Each class had their own focus and functions which would separate them from other the types. Among these classes, there are also a list of golem classes that nopony has been able to research; mostly because they don't survive the initial encounter. Even so, there's enough data on these models to make sure that they're labeled under the RAID (Run Away If Discovered) category. Bears a striking resemblence to a Clunker? Check. Bits and pieces of other material mixed in to form armor and weapons? Check and check. Monstrously huge? Check. This is probably gonna hurt? Ugh. Check. It was just their luck to run into a RAID-class golem, and a Synthesizer of all things! They can absorb other objects in order to repair damage to their body and well as enhance their strength by incorporating whatever material was used into their basic structure. While this may enable them to grow to ridiculous proportions, they are not capable of absorbing intangible things like flames and air or living creatures. That's all the information on Synthesizers in the book he read, and Spike resolved that when they get home, he's going to have to fill it in a bit more. In the meantime, he's got a little researching to do. Spike rolled his front limbs before twisting his head to the side, resulting in a pop sound. He shrugged once for good measure before dropping down into a fighting stance. Without taking his eyes off of the massive golem, he managed to see Apple Bloom and Peewee doing something similar. He grinned. It wasn't as if he enjoyed getting into these scrapes, even less so if his friends are dragged into the mess, but a dragon's gotta do what a dragon's gotta do and he was taught to do things with a smile. Although, the most he could manage in these situations was a condescending smirk; which for some reason fits in with the situation rather well if he could say so himself. "Time to begin the analysis." Then he charged.