//------------------------------// // CloudRunner Fortress // Story: The Legend of Spike: Krazoa Island // by DiabloGuapo //------------------------------// Spike awoke with a killer headache. He sat up and placed a claw to his sore head. He then gasped as he remembered what had happened. He looked around and found himself locked in a cell surround by think stone walls. He then noticed that he wasn’t wearing his backpack anymore. “My bag!” he gasped. He figured that they must have taken it from him before they threw him in the cell. It made his blood boil to think of some dog rummaging through it. Not only did it have bits and gems in it, but the fire ruby necklace that belong to Rarity. He stood up and was about to bust down the cell’s metal door, but then stopped himself when his communication stone glowed gold. “It seems as though you are in trouble again,” Spike’s master said through the stone. “I’ve got this,” Spike claimed. “While I am certain that you can easily break down the door and thrash any dog that you come across, you have to consider the hostages,” the voice told him. “Not only are you a prisoner, but the entire CloudRunner Tribe as well. They might use them to get to you.” “What do you suggest, Master?” Spike asked. “Deception and illusion,” the master answered. “First, you need to free the prisoners to eliminate that factor. Then you will be free to face Scar. To do this, you must learn your next lesson; the dragon-spell. One of a wyrm’s innate abilities is to influence the minds of others. Once again, only a few learn to master this technique, but every dragon subconsciously uses it to a minor degree. Though it will take time for you to master this art, I am certain that you can use it to fool these simple minded creatures long enough to sneak out of the dungeons.” “How do I use it?” “It is a matter of willpower,” the master explained. “If you concentrate hard enough, you can influence the thoughts and actions of others. You can use your words to plant your suggestions in their minds. The more they listen to you, the more your words will sink into their heads. However, you can really influence them if you make eye contact. A master of the dragon-spell can compel all those who met their gaze to do their bidding.” The stone’s glow faded and Spike was alone once more in his cell. It was time to bust out of there, but he would have to go about it quietly. Bashing against the metal door would make too much noise, so that option was out. Spike looked at the stone wall and thought about clawing his way free. As he thought, a demure voice whispered from the other side of the door. “Hello? Spike, are you in there?” the familiar sounding voice asked. “Fluttershy?” Spike could hardly believe what he was seeing as the gentle mare’s teal eyes appeared on the other side of the door’s barred window. “Fluttershy!” “Oh, thank goodness I found you,” she exclaimed. “I… But… How…” Spike stammered, being at a complete loss for words. “What are you doing here?” “Looking for you, of course,” she told him. “Yeah… But… Never mind, we’ll discuss that later. How did you get in here? How did you get pass the guards?” “I flew in through an open window into a storage room that’s next to your cell,” she explained. “I met your friends outside and they told me that you went inside this fortress looking for a SpellStone.” “Fluttershy, listen to me, it’s not safe here,” he cautioned her. “The Diamond Dogs have taken over the place and enslaved the tribe that lives here. If they catch you, they’ll lock you up too!” “I know, but I had to help you.” She smiled at him, causing the dragon to smile back. She may be a scaredy pony most of the time, but she always pulled through when her friends were in trouble. “Listen Fluttershy, I need to get out of here and save the CloudRunners. Keep a lookout as I dig myself out of here. You said there was a storage room, which way is it?” “It’s right on the other side of that wall,” she said as she pointed to a wall in Spike’s cell. She then flew out of sight and into the adjacent room. Spike heard the sound of her lightly tapping on the other side of the cell’s wall. He went to the wall and clawed away at the stone. When the dust cleared, he saw Fluttershy standing by the window she had mentioned. She coughed lightly as the dust cleared and then smiled as tears of joy filled her eyes. Spike opened his arms and his good friend embraced him in a warm hug. After hugging for a good minute, she looked up at him and said, “I’m so happy you’re safe.” “I’m glad to see you too Fluttershy, but what are you doing here?” he asked as they ended the hug. “Everypony is looking for you,” she explained. “Yeah, I bet,” he muttered. “After those investigators pinned the blame for the murders on me, I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole Equestrian Army was after me.” “Oh no, you’re not wanted for murder,” she clarified, causing him to raise a brow in confusion. “By the time you left to fight Dracula, Twilight had already proven that you were innocent. Everypony has been trying to find you to bring you home. The rest of the girls are already searching the rest of the island for you.” “You mean… I ran away for nothing?” Spike felt as though he was kicked in stomach. “It wasn’t your fault,” the pink maned pony reassured him. “It was all the doing of those mean investigators. You should have seen how upset Princess Celestia was with them. In fact, I don’t think I have ever seen her reprimand an entire town before.” Despite her words, Spike felt as though the entire situation could have been avoided if he had just trust in his friends to pull through for him. Now, Rarity was sealed inside a crystalline prison because she came looking for him. However, he still had a job to do. “We can worry about it later. Right now, the CloudRunners… no, all of Krazoa Island needs my help. Go and find the others. I’m going after the SpellStone.” “I’m coming with you,” Fluttershy declared. Spike gave her doubtful look. “You’ll need my help. I know it’s going to be dangerous, but there are dinosaurs here that need my help.” “Okay Fluttershy, but promise me you’ll run if things start to look bad.” “I promise.” “Okay then, stay close to me,” he instructed as he turned to head out of the storage room. “Oh!” she exclaimed, causing Spike to jump and quickly turn back around to see what was wrong. “What?! What is it?!” he urgently asked. “Y-you… you have wings!” she said, admiring the two wings sprouting out of his back. Spike smirked and eased up. “Yeah, but that’s not all. I’ve learned some new tricks. Now, keep quiet and follow me,” he instructed. The yellow mare nodded and followed after him. Just down the hall from the cell and the storage room was a long room filled with overgrown birdcages. Inside them were sorrowful looking pterosaurs and one bipedal dinosaur with a hard dome on his head. Spike recognized it as a pachycephalosaurus. At the end of the room was a Diamond Dog asleep at a desk, a panel of levers and switches behind it. On the desk was Spike’s bag. “There’s a guard,” Fluttershy whispered. “What how are we going to free them without waking him up?” Might as well give the dragon-spell a try, Spike thought. “I’ve got an idea. Get ready to run if it doesn’t work.” Spike tiptoed to the desk of the sleeping guard. In his mind, he focused on the dog in front of him. Okay, focus. I am a Diamond Dog. I am a Diamond Dog. I am a Diamond Dog. Fluttershy held her hooves to her mouth in fearful anticipation as she watched Spike approach the snoring guard. Spike cleared his throat and the dog snorted then mumbled as it groggily opened its eyes. Fluttershy didn’t have the nerve to watch and covered her eyes. Through the dog’s still bleary vision, he saw a figure standing in front of him. As he made eye contact with the figure, his vision cleared and saw another Diamond Dog standing in front of the desk. The guard figured that his shift was over and his replacement came to relieve him of his duty. “You take over,” dog said as it stood up and started to leave. “Keep eye on prisoner. Me go for break.” Once the Diamond Dog had left, Fluttershy ran up to the dragon. “What happened? Why did he just walk pass you?” “That, my friend, is one of my new tricks,” Spike cryptically answered as he pulled the switches and released the captive CloudRunners. He then grabbed his bag and gave a sigh of relief when he saw that everything was still there. “Thank you for freeing us,” said the pachycephalosaurus. “No problem. But now, we have to find the Queen. As long as Scar has her, it would be unwise to move against him.” “My name is Gradabug of the BoneHead Tribe,” the pachycephalosaurus introduced himself. “I work here as an architect. After they locked you up, they imprisoned the Queen in her own royal chamber as an example to the rest of the tribe.” “Thanks for the information.” Spike then turned to the CloudRunners. “Stay out of sight, but be prepared. Once we save her, it will be the time to drive the dogs from the fortress.” The CloudRunners nodded in agreement and flew out to prepare for battle. Spike and Fluttershy then left the dungeon and went down a corridor that led to stairwell. They flew up it and exited to the main plaza of the palace. It had a grass courtyard, cherry trees, pools of water, and a platform. There was a second level balcony that overlooked the courtyard. “Up there,” Spike said as he pointed up to the balcony. Fluttershy followed as he flew up to the second level. Spike looked around to check if they had been spotted and saw that at the end of the courtyard was the tallest part of the fortress. The Queen’s chambers must have been in there. At either end of the balcony that surrounded the courtyard were hallways that would lead them to the other side of the building, where they hoped to find an entrance to the Queen’s chamber. They ran down the nearest hallway and came to a balcony that overlooked the lake. More important, they saw the door that led inside and up to the third floor. As they reached the top of the stairs, Spike and Fluttershy saw the Queen with a collar around her neck, chaining her to her own royal perch. A bridge went over another courtyard to the platform on which the perch sat. Two Diamond Dogs were standing guard by the captive Queen. When they saw the dragon and the pony, they raised their clubs and charged. Spike stood protectively in front of Fluttershy and took a deep breath. As the dogs reached them, they were met with an arctic gust of wind. The dogs froze in their tracks as Spike used his frost breath to encase them in a layer of ice. Spike smirked as he tapped the ice on one of the dog’s nose. The only thing that they could move was their eyes and they watch helplessly as Spike and Fluttershy made their way to the Queen. Spike took a hold of the chain and used his breath to freeze it as well. With a well placed strike, it shattered and the Queen CloudRunner was freed. “Your Majesty, are you alright?” Spike asked. He could see that she was covered with bruises and she limped as she walked. “Oh my goodness, you’re hurt!” Fluttershy exclaimed sympathetically. “Forget about me! My children, they have my children!” The Queen coughed and Fluttershy allowed her to lean against her for support. “Please, you must find them!” “Don’t worry, Your Highness, we’ll find them,” Spike promised. The Queen rested on her throne and Spike and Fluttershy ran out the royal chamber. From the balcony outside of the courtyard, they heard a chirping sound coming from the lower level. Running to the railing, they saw four Diamond Dogs carrying small cages, each containing a baby CloudRunner, heading to an airship docked on the lake. “I’ll cut them off!” They swooped down from the balcony and flew to the enemy vessel. As Fluttershy hovered behind them, Spike flew in front of the dogs and landed before them. The dogs yipped in surprise as Spike spat green fire at the ground in front of them. The dogs turned to run back to the fortress, but they came face to face with “the Stare.” “Drop those cages!” Fluttershy ordered. The dogs tucked tail and placed the four birdcages on the ground before the Pegasus. “You ought to be ashamed of yourselves! Now, let those poor children go this instant!” The dogs obeyed and the four babies fluttered out of their prisons. “Now, you four are going to sit there and think about what you’ve done!” For such a little pony, Fluttershy can be scary when she used “the Stare.” The dogs whined and hung their heads in shame as they sat on the dock. Fluttershy then turned to the four baby CloudRunners that floated around her and smiled. “Come along little ones, your mother is waiting for you.” As they returned to the throne room with the children, they saw that the entire tribe had gathered around in the courtyard. The four babies chirped happily as they flew to the Queen. The mother CloudRunner flew up and circled about in the air with her children. When they came back down, the children landed on four golden levers that adorned the pavilion that covered the royal perch. “Thank you for saving my children,” Queen said as she landed on a fifth lever. As she pushed it down, a door behind the throne slid open. “Scar has hidden the SpellStone inside the treasure rooms beneath the fortress. Find it, Spike, and return it to the Force Point Temple. Our island is in your claws. Now, we will drive these intruders from our home.” At her command, the CloudRunners took flight and spread out to cleanse their domain. Spike and Fluttershy went through the door and down the stairs to the treasury. The stone chamber was lit by torches and Spike could see gold coins glittering on the floor in piles. Along the walls were golden statues of CloudRunners. He felt his natural draconic urges starting to kick in and began to drool at the sight. All this gold would make a nice hoard, he thought. Maybe just a clawful… Wait, no! What am I thinking! He shook his head to clear it of the greedy thoughts and continued to make his way further into the lower chambers of the palace. The SpellStone should stick out from among the gold coins. A gemstone of that size would be hard to miss. As they went deeper into the treasury, they came across a dark chamber. “It’s so dark, I can’t see,” Fluttershy whimpered. “Here, hold my claw,” he said as he took her by the hoof and led her through the darkness. As Spike navigated around broken pillars and piles of treasure, Fluttershy would occasionally stumble over an obstacle. Eventually, they saw a light coming from a chamber up ahead and heard voices echoing off of the stone walls. When they entered the torch lit room, they saw General Scar giving orders to Rover and Fido was holding a large blue gem. “Scar!” Spike shouted as he approached the towering Doberman. The General turned around to see a purple dragon followed by a yellow pony. Spike started to breathe green flames and Scar backed away, raising his arm in attempt to shield himself from the heat. He looked to the side and saw Spot standing beside him. He picked the small brown dog and held him up in front of him as a shield. Spot squirmed about and Scar turned to the other two dogs. “Get the SpellStone out of here!” he barked. Rover and Fido ran with the SpellStone down a tunnel and Scar threw Spot at Spike. The dragon dodged the flailing dog and Spot landed in a pile of gold. Spike glared at Scar, whose talisman started to glow with dark magic. “Huh?!” Spike exclaimed in confusion as the General began to fade from sight. Scar laughed and vanished as he used an invisibility spell to make his escape. “Spike, the SpellStone!” Fluttershy pointed down the tunnel that Rover and Fido had gone through. Scar would have to wait for another time. The dragon and the Pegasus ran down the tunnel and saw the two higher ranking Diamond Dogs ahead of them. They were about to jump out a hole in the wall that led outside when Spike tackled Fido, causing him to fumble the SpellStone. It went sliding across the stone floor towards Fluttershy, who picked it up. It was rather heavy for her and she struggled to remain airborne. “Give that back, pony!” Rover demanded as he rushed towards Fluttershy. “Oh my goodness, oh my goodness,” she said frantically as she tried to get away from him by flying over him. However, the weight of the stone started to weigh her down and she started to descend. Rover grabbed her by her long pink tail and yanked her out of the air, causing her to drop the stone. Rover gloated as he picked up the blue gem. “Hey, dog breath!” the red vested canine heard the dragon call out to him. “Catch!” Rover looked just in time to see the shocked look on Fido’s face as the larger dog sailed through the air and crashed into him. The two dogs went tumbling onto the ground and Spike helped Fluttershy up. “Are you alright?” “I’m fine, thank you” she said as stood back up. Spike went over and picked up the SpellStone of Water. The two Diamond Dogs groaned and sat back up, wavering as they held a paw to their heads. Spike then squatted down in front of them with the stone underneath one arm. “Leave,” he forcefully commanded, glaring into their eyes as he used the dragon-spell. They then jumped out of the hole onto a docked airship just underneath the fortress and prepared to take off. “Wait for me!” Spot cried as he came running around the corner. He jumped out the hole and the airship flew away. As the last of the Diamond Dog fleet flew away from the CloudRunner Fortress, Spike walked with Fluttershy back to the Great Fox as the tribe escorted them. “Well done, Spike,” Gradabug congratulated. “You now have the SpellStone of Water.” “And with Scar gone, my tribe can start to rebuild their lives,” the Queen CloudRunner added. She then humbly bowed to the purple dragon. “I am forever grateful.” Spike and Fluttershy returned the bow. “Don’t forget, as soon as you get back to surface, you need to return the SpellStone to the Ocean Force Point Temple,” the BoneHead reminded. As Spike and Fluttershy headed towards the airship, the CloudRunners raised their wings in a salute as they passed by. “Now we can meet back with the others,” Fluttershy stated as they joined the crew on the command deck of the ship. “Oh, they’ll be so excited to see you. We should pick up Pinkie Pie and Applejack, they’re down in ThornTail Hollow. And Twilight will want to see you right away!” “As much as I would love that, we should return the SpellStone first,” Spike said as he sat down in his chair, Tricky excitedly sitting beside him. “Captain, can you drop me and Tricky off back at Cape Claw? We’ll meet you guys back at the Hollow once we’ve returned the SpellStone.” “Affirmative,” the brown stallion confirmed as he took the helm. The engines rumbled as the airship rose from the lake and headed east back to Krazoa Island.