The cave was long, curvy, and sloping. The walls were damp with moss. Around the corner, the group was having a talk.
“And you’re actually okay with knowing that this marriage wasn’t out of love?” asked Rarity. “And that we still only think of you as a friend?”
“Of course I’m fine with it”, said Spike calmly. “A little disappointed, but I’m okay. Besides, it doesn’t even count since it was only an arranged marriage in the first place.”
”Well we’re surprised by how well you’re taking it”, commented Twilight.
“Were you expecting me to get super upset and turn into a heart broken monster dragon?” retorted Spike.
“Actually we kinda were,” admitted Rainbow Dash, “but we’re glad you’re being mature about this.”
As the group continued along, the cave grew darker. Fluttershy was scared.
“I don’t like this”, she whimpered. “Everything is getting too dark to see. Let’s just turn back.”
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a green flame erupted from the handle of Spike’s sword.
“Whoa!” he cried as he held it out like a torch.
“That’s much better”, said Twilight. “That sword must be magic to be able to summon a flame like that.”
They soon reached a corner. On the wall was a basket full of torches. Spike grabbed a couple and ignited them with the fire on his sword.
“That should help”, he said as he passed the torches to the others.
As they continued along, they reached a dead end. They could not go any further.
“I can’t believe it!” complained Applejack. We wasted all that time for nothing!”
As they began to turn around, Rarity stepped on a tile which sank.
“Oops”, she said. “I hope nothing bad happens.”
”What do you mean nothing bad happens?” Objected Rainbow Dash. “In adventure movies, stepping on a sinking tile means you’ve set off a booby trap!”
Suddenly they heard a rumbling. Then a part of the wall began to slide up. When the rumbling stopped, Trixie saw something.
“What’s that?” she asked.
Everyone else looked. In the section of lifted wall was a gold medallion. It had 6 purple triangles on it.
“It looks pretty”, said Fluttershy. “I wonder who it belongs to.”
”We’d better take it with”, said Spike. “Just in case it helps us.”
Spike took the Medallion and put it around Rarity.
“I think it would look better on you Rarity”, he said.
“Why thank you, Spikey-Wikey”, said Rarity. “You’re always being so thoughtful.”
“Hey there’s something else there too”, pointed out Pinkie Pie.
And there was. In the spot where the Medallion was stood a scroll. Spike picked it up.
“It’s in some sort of ancient language”, he said. “I can’t understand what it… wait a minute!”
The words on the scroll glowed green.
“I can understand it!” cried Spike.
”What does it say?” Asked Trixie?
Spike read the scroll.
Prepare yourselves, brave travelers. The first of the many dangerous Trials await you. Beyond this door, you shall be put to the test and pushed to your very limits. Good Luck.
Suddenly the scroll vanished in a green flame.
“Many Dangerous Trials?” asked Twilight. “That doesn’t sound good.”
“And what door?” pointed out Rarity. “We’re at a dead end.”
”No we haven’t”, pointed out Spike. With that, he approached the wall. On it was a slot. He carefully slid the sword into the slot. Suddenly with a rumble, the wall rotated away. “See?”
“Spike, when will you ever quit surprising us?” chuckled Twilight.
They walked through the doorway through another corridor. Out of this corridor, they came across a fork in the path. In front of them were two doors.
“What now?” asked Trixie.
“I say we take the right door”, said Rainbow Dash, about ready to head off.
“Well I say we should take the left one”, said Trixie.
“Left is so boring!” argued Rainbow Dash. “I say we go right because it’s the ‘right’ way!”
Pinkie Pie laughed at the joke. Eventually all 7 Mares were arguing over which way to go. Spike rested his claw on the wall and noticed one of the stones was loose.
“Anypony got a file?” he asked.
“I have one”, said Rarity, levitating it out with her magic. “Do you need a manicure?”
Spike took the file, and slowly jimmied the stone out until he was able to pull it out. He then reached his claw in the hole and pulled out another scroll.
“Another scroll”, said Twilight.
“What does this one say?” asked Fluttershy. Spike opened the scroll and read it.
Insure you choose the correct door
Here in this empty room.
For choosing incorrectly
Will surely seal your doom.
To make sure you make it out safely tonight,
Follow your heart and you’ll always be right.
“See?” said Rainbow Dash. “It means to go right.”
She was just about to fly off when Twilight held her down with her magic.
“Were you even paying attention to the scroll?” she asked. “It said to follow your heart. The heart is located on the left side of the body. So it means to actually go left.”
So they went through the left door. They could see that if they had chosen the right door, they would have fallen down a bottomless pit.
“That was quick thinking, Twilight” complemented Spike.
Twilight put a hoof to her cheek to hide a hint of blush.
“Thanks”, she giggled. Spike had complimented her on her smarts before, but for some reason, this time it felt a little bit different.
Just as the reached the next room, they could see another door.
“This’ll be easy”, said Pinkie Pie. “Lets go!”
Just as they got close to the door, it closed!
”Hey what gives?” said Rainbow Dash. “Let us out!” and she began banging on the door. Then Fluttershy screamed.
“Monsters!” she cried.
Crawling out of holes in the ceiling flew an army of ice goblins with batwings.
“Ew!” groaned Rarity. “Their breaths reek!”
The ice goblins fired Ice balls at them, but suddenly, Spike’s sword glowed again and surrounded the group in a shield of green flames.
“Man I love this blade!” cried Spike.
“Let’s show these critters who’s boss!” called Applejack.
They charged at the goblins for a counter attack. Spike sliced on in half with his sword and it vanished in a puff of smoke.
“Weird”, said Spike.
Twilight, Trixie and Rarity shot some more down with their magic, Pinkie Pie blasted them with her party cannon, Rainbow Dash and Applejack kicked them, and Fluttershy hid and squeaked in fear.
“I wanna go home!” she wailed. No matter what they did, more and more ice goblins kept reappearing.
“How are we supposed to get out?” asked Applejack.
“They just keep coming back!” said Rainbow Dash.
Another Ice Goblin came up behind Spike and was about to attack when Spike sneezed and fire flew out. The Ice Goblin backed away in panic. This gave Spike an idea.
“Fire!” he cried. “They hate fire!”
Quickly Spike reached into his bag and pulled out a small bottle of hot sauce. He drank it, and suddenly let loose a huge ball of fire! The Ice Goblins shrieked as the fire reached them. Within seconds they melted and the fire went down. Suddenly the doors opened.
“Yay!” cried Pinkie Pie.
“That was amazing, Spike!” cried Fluttershy. She raced over and locked Spike in a hug and nuzzled his cheek. When she realized what she was doing, she set him down and blushed.
“If you’re done cuddling,” said Applejack, “we gotta keep going.”
So they went through the door. Upon entering a larger room, the doors behind them closed. Rarity shivered.
“Goodness!” she cried. “It’s getting colder. And me without my scarf!”
”We’ve got bigger problems than that, Rarity”, shivered Twilight.
And she was right. Their hooves were incased in ice.
“I’ve always heard I was a cool mare,” shivered Rainbow Dash, “but this is ridiculous.”
Suddenly, there was a rumbling. Then an icy mist filled the room and manifested into a giant Ice Creature. He had icy wings shaped like bat wings, razor sharp teeth, and cold eyes that could freeze you on the inside if you looked directly at them. On his body was a suit of armor fashioned from ice and snow. And behind him was another door, which was closed and had a keyhole.
“I am the Ice Guardian”, he said in a raspy voice. “If you wish to obtain what you seek, you must first defeat me.”
Spike looked back at his friends as the ice below them began to grow higher.
“If it means also saving my friends,” he said bravely, “then I’ll do it.”
Spike pulled his sword out and charged at the Ice Guardian. But to his surprise, the Guardian countered him with an Ice Blade. Then the Ice Blade became a double wielded one.
“That’s no fair!” argued Spike.
”I’m a magical ice being,” said the Guardian, “what did you expect?”
The Ice Guardian then attempted to strike, but Spike blocked with is sword and it only knocked him back.
“Spike!” cried the mares. They were worried for their friend’s well being. Slowly, Spike got up.
“I’m fine”, he said. “Don’t worry about me.”
“If my hooves weren’t frozen I’d kick that Ice Guardian into the next century!” complained Rainbow Dash.
The Ice Guardian then turned his ice sword into a mace and charged again. Spike had to stay on the defensive.
“Oh man”, he said to himself,”He’s too strong.” Then he looked back at his friends. They were now up to their necks in ice. “And my friends will become icicles. And it’ll be all my fault.”
Spike hated himself now that his friends were in danger. But he was not going to stand by while they freeze to death.
“I don’t even care if it costs my very life”, he said with determination. “I have to save my friends!”
Suddenly, the blade on Spike’s sword ignited in green fire. Then he began to twirl it. Slowly at first, then faster, and faster, and faster! The blade now looked like a flaming ring.
“Go Ring of Fire”! shouted Spike. And he threw the sword with all his might! The Ice Guardian prepared to counter, but the sword went right past him.
“Call that a move?” he asked. “It didn't even hit me.”
”Who said it was aimed toward you?” Spike smirked. The flaming ring circled around them all. As it went faster, the flames rose higher.
”The ice!” cried Pinkie Pie. “It’s melting!”
Indeed it was. The ice they were incased in was slowly melting. But that was not all that the flames affected. The Ice Guardian’s sword was also melting.
“Hey!” he complained. “No fair!”
”Who said it had to be fair?” grinned Spike. Then without any warning, he jumped into the air and whistled. The sword flew out from the blaze and into his claws. As he touched the ceiling, he sprinted off and charged down towards the Ice Guardian. As he struck, he split the armor in half and sent the Guardian soaring right into the wall with a crash! The crash caused a part of the ceiling to fall over him. The flames died down and the remaining ice on the mares broke off into chunks.
”We’re free!” they cried. And without any warning, they pounced on Spike and started kissing him. When they realized what they did, the got off of him, feeling very embarrassed. Spike, who’s face was covered in kiss marks, went to see if the Ice Guardian was alright. The Guardian rose from the rubble and kneeled to Spike with honor.
”You may proceed”, he said. And with that, he turned to snow and vanished. In his place was a small key shaped from ice. Spike picked the key up and used it to open the door.
“That was pretty intense, Spike!” commented Rainbow Dash. “Just when he thought he’d beaten you, you used that Ring of Fire and boom! Where’d you learn a move like that anyway?”
”I’m not sure”, replied Spike. “I was just so concerned about my friends and wanted to save you girls that I just used what I could come up with.”
As they passed through the door, they came into a smaller room. Just ahead was a pedestal under a beam of light. On the pedestal was a sack.
“What do you suppose is in that sack?” asked Fluttershy.
“I bet it’s full of candy!” shouted Pinkie Pie in excitement. She bounced up to the pedestal, opened the sack, and frowned. “Never mind”, she said with disappointment in her voice. “It’s just a stone tail thingy.”
The tail looked smaller in the bag as Pinkie Pie took it out to show the others. Suddenly, a beam of light shot out of the medallion and engulfed the tail. When the light faded, the tail had disappeared. And in its place was a map.
“Look!” Rarity gasped.
Everyone looked where she was talking about. One of the purple triangles in the medallion had turned red. And in the Red Triangle was a brief message.
You have obtained Count Lucius’s Tail
As soon as the message disappeared, Twilight realized something.
“Wait a minute!” she cried. “Remember when I told you about Drago Fangtooth?
Everyone listened in to Twilight as she began.
“Well, Count Lucius vowed to return for revenge after being defeated. But his body was turned to stone by a Council of Elders, split into different parts, and hidden away to make sure that he could never return. But even though his body was gone, his spirit remained. He placed a curse on the land that was once his kingdom which would cause any dragon that entered to go mad and become one of his servants.”
“Oh my”, said Fluttershy quietly.
“The only way to lift the curse,” continued Twilight, “is to gather the parts of Lucius’s body, put him back together, and vanquish him once and for all.”
”How many pieces do we have to get?” asked Trixie.
“The medallion must act as some sort of storage device for the pieces”, examined Spike. “There’s 6 Triangles in it, one turned red, so that means we have to find 5 more pieces.”
“I bet the dragons that were attacking the Crystal Empire were working for Count Lucius”, suggested Rainbow Dash. “They were probably looking for those pieces too.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” asked Applejack. “Let’s find those parts before those other dragons do!”
Spike examined the map. On it, a large red checkmark had been placed on a certain location. And a trail to another location formed.
“The red checkmark must indicate where we already are”, he said. “The map is showing us where we need to go next.”
Suddenly, a flight of stair appeared before them, ascending towards a light.
“A way out!” cried Pinkie Pie. “Let’s go!”
They ran towards the stairs. Spike was in front, but he moved to the side.
”Ladies first”, he said politely. This earned him a few giggles, but he paid no attention. Although, he was a bit curious as to why they had kissed him earlier. As soon as they had gone up the stairs, he followed them. The stallion who had followed them down and witnessed the battle was very impressed.
“Good work Spike”, he said. “Even when things look grim, you refuse to give up until a solution arrives.” And with that, he followed them up the stairs.
High in the air, Darkblaze and his team had been searching for Spike. In his pocket was a map similar the one Spike had. Suddenly Darkblaze felt the map glow.
“What the?” He pulled it out to take a look.
”No!” he gasped as the red checkmark appeared. “They’ve already gotten to one of Lucius’s parts before we could!”
”That don’t sound good”, put in Tubbo. Darkblaze smacked him upside the head.
“Of course it’s not good you dunce!” he roared. “Count Lucius is not to know about this. Now come on!” And they raced off to get to the next body part before Spike and his friends could.