Next morning on a small rocky island off the coast of Krazoa Island, a rugged ship named Great Fox rested on the shore. The sounds of a hammer and a wrench in use could be heard. On the bridge, an older gray Earth Pony was sitting at his station, looking over a stack of maps. His mane was white and he wore glasses over his red eyes. He wore a trench coat that nearly covered his cutie mark of a rolled up map. As he tried to study his maps, he kept looking up every time he heard the hammering coming from the engine room. The blaring rock ‘n roll music coming from the jukebox wasn’t helping either. He groaned a bit in annoyance and tried to focus.
Down in the engine room, the hammering and tinkering finally stopped and a lime green Unicorn with blue eyes stepped back to observe his work. He was wearing a purple choker and had a cutie mark of an oil slick. He wiped his hooves of grease and took off his ball cap that had the word “Slippy” written on it to wipe the sweat from his forehead. He placed his cap back on his yellow mane and turned to the light brown unicorn behind him.
“That should be it, boss. All fixed,” the lime green Unicorn said in a way too high pitched voice.
The other Unicorn looked up and down the engine inspecting the repairs. He had a gray buzzed mane and blue eyes. His cutie mark was a medal and he wore a red officer cap. Satisfied with the mechanic’s work, he said, “Alright then, let’s get her back in the air.”
They returned to the bridge where the navigator and their new recruit were located. The newest member to the mercenary team known as “Star Fox” was a purple dragon in his late teens with green spines running down his back. The scales on his underbelly and his ear frills matched his spines. At his feet was a backpack that contained a few supplies, mainly some bits and a few gems. The captain went to his station and pressed a button and pulled a few levers. The engines roared and the vessel shook.
“Well done, Slippy,” the captain congratulated the lime green mechanic. “We’re back in business.” He pressed a few more buttons and pulled more levers and the ship took to the air. He then took the helm and steered the airship in the direction of the larger island. “Alright boys, we’re two days behind, so we need to catch up. We don’t want someone else collecting the reward before we do.”
As the Great Fox headed to Krazoa Island, its crew noticed that pieces of the island had broken off it and started to orbit around it like planets around a star. There were four large landmasses that resembled floating islands and the rest were no more than a circling ring of debris. These floating rocks would make flying to Krazoa Island a challenge.
Back on the bridge, the navigator, who was named Peppy, was nearly at his limit. He looked up from his maps once more with an irritated scowl and looked over to the dragon and Slippy, who were enjoying the loud music.
“Hey Spike,” Peppy called to the dragon, shouting over the music. “Isn’t this music getting on your nerves? I’m trying to work on my maps!”
“Okay old-timer,” the dragon said back to the Earth Pony, acknowledging his request, and turned to the mechanic. “Turn it down Slippy.”
“Blah blah blah,” the mechanic muttered disgruntled and tossed a wrench behind him. The wrench banged against the jukebox and the music abruptly died.
“Hey!” Spike gripped. He asked Slippy to turn it down, not to break the thing! Besides, he liked that song.
“Alright, knock it off!” Captain Pepper ordered the two. “We’ll reach the island soon enough, so it’s time for briefing.” Peppy, Slippy, and Spike tuned in their chairs to face the light brown stallion. Spike shifted in his chair uncomfortably. His back was sore and a twinge of pain would course through his body. Almost a week ago, Spike faced the revived King of Vampires, Dracula. Though he managed to defeat the monster, he was framed for the vampire’s crimes and had to flee Ponyville. The battle was brutal and Spike was thrashed. Most of his injuries had recovered, but his back was still giving him problem. Ever since Dracula slammed him into the wall of the ancient Palace of the Royal Pony Sisters, he would have fits of pain.
“We are approaching Krazoa Island,” Captain Pepper continued. “An ancient land between Equestria and the homeland of the zebras.” His horn glowed yellow and an image of the island appeared in the center of the bridge, detailing the island and the floating landmasses. “As you can see from this image and by looking out the window, chunks of the island have been torn from its surface. It’s our job to get them back.”
“And what exactly are we to do about it?” asked Slippy, overwhelmed by the weight of the situation. “I mean, how do we stop an island from falling apart?”
“I’m not certain yet,” Pepper admitted. “The message we’ve received didn’t have too many details about what’s really going on. But, it does explain that if Krazoa Island explodes, it could affect the entire world! The only lead we have is that we must locate the queen of the EarthWalker dinosaur tribe.”
“Dinosaurs!?” Spike perked up at this bit of information. As a child, he was fascinated by the prehistoric beasts. They had always sparked his imagination and he felt to kinship with them, for dinosaurs and dragons were thought to be distant relatives. “There’s real living, breathing dinosaurs there?”
“Yes, as far as I know,” the captain confirmed. “The island is supposed to be home to many tribes of surviving dinosaurs. The two ruling tribes are the EarthWalkers, who we know as ceratopids, and the CloudRunners, the pterosaurs. As I was saying, it was the Queen EarthWalker that sent out the message. Maybe she can help us further.”
“Wow, triceratops and pterosaurs,” Spike marveled at the mention of those two famous types of prehistoric animals. Though pterosaurs weren’t technically dinosaurs, he wasn’t going to complain. “I wonder what other types of dinosaurs are there.”
“We’ll find out soon enough,” Pepper reassured. “But first, we have to navigate through the floating rocks.”
“Alright Captain, let’s do it!” Spike cheered. Peppy saluted and Slippy hooted with enthusiasm as everyone manned their stations. The airship headed straight for the island and entered the ring of floating debris.
“Be careful Captain,” Peppy warned Pepper as the ship approached the first of the rocks. Thankfully, the rocks seemed to be moving at a slow pace.
“I know what I’m doing,” the light brown Unicorn told the gray Earth Pony as he steered the ship. The Great Fox smoothly glided around a large boulder and started to effortlessly weave in between the rocks. “See, this is foalsplay.”
“Yes, but it’s that attitude that causes accidents,” the spectacled stallion reminded. “Treat every mission, no matter how easy it may seem, with great care. You never know what might happen.”
“Calm down old friend. I’ve got everything under control.” Just as Pepper had said those words, the airship suddenly shook and the crew nearly lost their balance.
“See, I told you!” Peppy chided.
“That wasn’t a rock,” the captain said as he peered out front windshield. “Somepony fired at us! Look!” He pointed out the window and they all looked out to see another airship floating amid the floating boulders. Pepper tossed Spike a spyglass and ordered, “Spike, find out who they are! Also find out how badly we’ve been hit!”
The dragon ran out on to the deck and saw that a piece of the railing had been broken away from the enemy’s attack. He extended the spyglass and used it, along with his enhanced draconic eyesight, to get a better look at the other ship. It was a smaller patrol boat and on board, Spike could see the crew was bipedal dogs and they were loading their cannon for another assault.
“Diamond Dogs?” Spike said as he recognized the canine crew and then ran back to the bridge. “We’ve been lightly grazed by the first shot, but they’re preparing for another.”
“Did you see who they were?” the captain asked as he made evasive maneuvers, using the cover of the floating rocks to escape the enemy’s range.
“They’re Diamond Dogs,” Spike reported to everyone’s surprise.
“But Diamond Dogs aren’t this aggressive,” Peppy replied. He was proven wrong when a cannonball shattered a nearby rock.
“Can we fight back?” Spike asked.
“Yes we can,” Pepper answered. “Slippy, you and Spike prepare the cannons. I’ll try to outrun them. If they continue to follow us, return fire.”
“Aye aye sir! Come on Spike!” The two younger team members ran below deck to where the cannons and ammunition was stored. Since their ship was being attacked from the rear, Slippy and Spike loaded the rear facing cannons. They looked out at the pursuing ship and waited for the right moment. Floating rocks would obscure their sight of the ship, and it would weave in and out of their line of fire. The Diamond Dogs’ ship fired another shot, but it sailed just an inch off its mark and missed the Star Fox team’s vessel. The rocks no longer blocked Spike’s view, for the ships had just exited the ring of floating island pieces, and the dragon had a clear shot. He breathed a small spark of green flame and the cannon boomed as its projectile went speeding at the pursuing ship. It struck the hull and entered the engine room, crippling the enemy vessel and causing it to retreat.
“Way to go Spike,” Slippy squeaked as they watched the other ship fly away. The two gunners noticed that Great Fox was slowing down and descending. “I guess we’re landing. Come on, we better head back to the bridge.”
When the pair had returned to the bridge, the ship was already preparing to land in a lush valley that had a river running through it and ruined remains of ancient buildings. A herd of large quadruped creatures were grazing on flowers by the river. They had scaly bodies that were shades of brown and tan and beaky mouths like the EarthWalkers, but instead of horns and a frill to protect them, they had bony plates running down their backs and spikes on their tails. Sitting by the waterfall that fed the river was a large horse statue that moved about like a living creature. The inhabitants of the valley heard a noise and looked up to see the strange sight of a metal ship coming out of the sky and landing in the middle of their valley. The dinosaurs looked at the ship for a moment and then went back to grazing, uninterested.
The Star Fox mercenary team disembarked and gathered outside their ship on the green grass. Spike looked around and was enchanted by the beautiful paradise where he had arrived. There were tropical palm trees, ferns, giant red mushrooms, decorative ruins, and to top it all off, dinosaurs! Spike stared at the dinosaurs and identified them as to be some sort of ankylosaur. It was a little disillusioning to see one of Spike’s childhood fantasies grazing like a cow on Applejack’s farm, but he was still in awe of seeing a real life dinosaur.
“Great shooting Spike,” complimented Captain Pepper. The brown stallion wearing the officer cap smirked and teased, “For a moment, I thought we weren’t going to make it.”
“Very funny sir,” Spike dryly said as he rolled his eyes.
“I know. Now, on to business.” Pepper pulled out his mission report. “According to the information we have and the map, we’ve land in ThornTail Hollow, where the Queen EarthWalker is said to be located. Remember, we have to find her so that she can give us more information. In the meantime, we’ll try to talking to those ThornTail guys.” Pepper motioned his head over to the ankylosaurs, identifying them to Spike as the ThornTail tribe. “Apparently, some of the more educated dinosaurs can speak Equestrian, but they have their own language. Slippy, I want you to see if you can find a translator or a dictionary of some kind.”
“Okay, I’m on it,” the squeaky voice mechanic responded as he headed off to carry out his assignment.
“Peppy, I want you to look around and see if there is a place where you can get a better map of Krazoa Island.”
“Yes sir.” The older stallion also headed off.
“Okay Captain, but what about weapons?” Spike asked. “Shouldn’t we be armed with those Diamond Dogs out there?”
“It’s always the same with you young guys; shoot first, ask questions later,” Pepper sighed. “This mission is about saving the island, not blowing it up. It requires a different tactic. Try using your head.” At this, the buzz cut unicorn laughed at his own joke.
“Yeah yeah, very funny sir,” Spike muttered sarcastically.
“Besides, you’re a dragon. You’re armed enough as it is. Since Slippy is off finding a translator, I’ll take a look at the damage on the ship. In the meantime, I want you to scout around and see if you can find where the Queen EarthWalker is.”
Receiving an assignment, Spike headed off to explore the valley. He noticed that there were dirt roads that lead to different paths out of the valley; one north and one south. On the side of the path, the purple dragon noticed one of the giant red mushrooms. Wanting to take a closer look, Spike walked towards the mushroom. Spike had no idea a mushroom could grow so large. It was just as tall as he was. As he approached the giant fungus, it started to shake and a cloud of red spores surrounded it. Spike choked and gagged as he quickly backed away from the red mushroom.
As Spike continued to cough, he heard a low voice laugh, “Better stay away from them. They make nasty clouds when you go near them.” Spike turned around and saw a ThornTail standing by a ring of palm trees.
“You speak Equestrian?” Spike stated more than asked, relieved to be able to communicate with the native. The ankylosaur nodded and then stared at something on the ground in the center of the ring of trees.
“Warp Stone talks like that, so some learn to talk like him,” the ThornTail explained, its eyes not leaving the object on the ground.
“What are you looking at?” Spike asked as he walked up beside the dinosaur to see what it was so interested in.
“A shiny red stone. Many shiny stones grow on trees, but none of them look like that.”
“What do you mean ‘grow on trees?’ Stones don’t …,” Spike started to say, but then looked around and saw that the valley had shorter trees with gems, instead of fruit, hanging from them. As Spike panned around in awe, he noticed that some tress had green gems, while others had red, yellow, or blue. Spike thought he had died and gone to Heaven. Money, or food if you’re a dragon, literally grew on trees here.
“Yes, never seen a shiny stone that shape,” the ThornTail commented, snapping Spike out of his awe induced daze and wiped the drool from his mouth. When the dragon looked down to see what the dinosaur was talking about, his heart nearly stopped. His jaw dropped and his eyes widen at what he saw. Lying amidst the white and blue flowers was a gold necklace set with a large fire ruby in the shape of a heart; the same necklace Spike had given to the mare he loved years ago. He reached down and picked up the necklace in a trembling claw, proving that it was real and not some hallucination.
“Rarity,” the dragon whispered the name of the Unicorn.
“Yes friend, very rare,” the ThornTail added, misunderstanding what the shocked dragon meant, but Spike wasn’t listening. Rarity was here on Krazoa Island, but how? The ThornTail spoke again and asked, “Why are you here, friend?”
“Huh? Uh, we…that is, my team is here to fix your island,” Spike explained and then looked back at Rarity’s necklace. It would have to wait for now, so he placed in his backpack for now. “I need to find the Queen EarthWalker. Do you where she is?”
The large ThornTail nodded and directed Spike over to a stone building with a small wall in front of it. Spike ran down the trail towards the building and passed the small stone wall into a grassy courtyard. The entrance of the structure was sealed shut by a large slab. Before he could try to figure a way inside, the ground slightly trembled and four Diamond Dogs popped out of the ground, surrounding Spike.
“No one can enter,” one dog growled.
“We guard this place,” another said.
“I’m looking for the Queen EarthWalker,” Spike declared.
“No queen here,” the third dog lied.
“Yes, she not lock inside and we can’t get in,” the fourth dog foolishly confessed. His three fellow dogs gave him exasperated looks and face palmed. “What?”
“Never mind, get the dragon!” the first barked and they all jumped in the air in attempt to dog pile on Spike. The dragon jumped backwards out of the way and the four dogs collided, banging their football helmets together. Shaking their heads, the Diamond Dogs got back up and charged Spike, growling and barking. It is a foolish thing to run in the direction of a dragon’s mouth. What these four mutts forgot is that dragons were infamous for the incredibly hot substance that is produced by their breath. They were quickly reminded when a pillar of green flames burst on the ground before them. The four dogs yipped and jumped back to avoid the blaze. While they were distracted, Spike sprung at the nearest dog, grabbed him by his club like tail, swung him around and knocked the other three over. The four dogs looked up at the dragon standing over them and then ran for the hills when he set the tips of their tails on fire.
Spike smirked in triumph. When he first faced Diamond Dogs, he was still small and was easily outmatched. But he remembered the air battle on the way to ThornTail Hollow. Peppy was right; Diamond Dogs weren’t usually this aggressive. Like dragons, they were greedy and territorial, but they never would invade another race’s land. How could they cause an island to fall apart? What was Rarity’s necklace doing there? Was she in danger, and did the Diamond Dogs have something to do with it? Something was definitely wrong here on Krazoa Island.
Spike looked back at the giant sealed entrance and noticed a glowing red tile over the doorway. It stuck out like a sore claw and must have something to do with opening the sealed door, but what exactly?
As Spike was studying the glowing red panel, another wave pain struck his back. He hissed in pain and his knees buckled. He dropped to all fours and panted, recovering from the sudden pain. Unlike his other wounds from his battle with Dracula, his back was getting worse. Even though the pain had already passed, his limbs shook as he got back up.
The young dragon then smelt something traveling on the breeze; a familiar scent. He sniffed the air a few times, following the scent, and looked north. Down the path, there was large building on the other side of the river and a smaller rounder building beside it. Between the two was the mouth of a cave. Whatever the scent was, it was coming from the cave. Spike wasn’t sure why, but something inside him wanted to see what was in that cave. He ignored the sealed door for now, crossed the river, passed between the two buildings, and stood at the mouth of the cave. It was dark inside, but he could see due to his draconic eyesight. He looked back over his shoulder at the Hollow. He had a job to do and the Queen EarthWalker was just on the other side of a door. However, his curiosity won and he entered the cave.