Spike and Sombra awoke at seven AM, just as they did every morning. Today however promised to be rather interesting. The previous night the pair had taken a serious step in their budding relationship.
While Spike seemed no worse for the experience he noticed Sombra was moving a bit slower than usual. The cause was quite obvious, so Spike didn't question him. Spike himself remembered that particular hurt, though it had been some time ago.
"You're gonna want to take it a little easy. I probably should have warned you about that." Spike told Sombra guiltily.
Sombra snorted a bit, but seemed just fine.
"I am quite alright. I have felt myself ripped apart before, this is much more tolerable. Though I suppose it was vaguely similar." Sombra said as he delivered a sly grin in Spike's direction.
"Catty! I like it. Unfortunately, I think you need a day or two before we can put that confidence boost to use." Spike laughed.
Sombra stretched himself out a bit, and though he was sore he felt like a new stallion. He knew logically that nothing had changed, but at the same time Sombra couldn't help but feel he and Spike were closer. Reason be damned, he felt like he could suddenly take on anything.
It was by far the greatest experience of Sombra's admittedly short life.
Though Sombra quickly remembered what needed doing today and tapered his excitement with a bit of his usual cautious nature.
"So then... Today we are able to explore the cave beneath the water. My first solitary excursion, and an interesting one at that. I would be lying if I said I weren't a tad nervous." Sombra supposed as they walked to the bathroom.
"Well, we can wait a day or two if you want more time to get ready. I mean we just got the suit yesterday, and you haven't even tried it on." Spike pointed out.
Sombra briefly considered waiting a day to prepare himself, but he dismissed the idea a moment later.
"No. I don't think waiting will get us anywhere. If we have the means to obtain the pearl then it is our duty to do so. There are four elements left, but it seems the last two will be especially taxing to master. Time is not on our side, no matter how astounding the progress we have made in a two months." Sombra decided.
Spike saw that there wasn't much he could do to dissuade Sombra, but he could certainly be there to help.
Once the two shared another more thorough shower, Sombra and Spike gathered up what would be needed for the mission. Sombra's scarf to wear beneath the suit, the suit and helmet themselves, Sombra's sword, the walkie-talkies, and a waterproof flashlight that could be affixed to the front of the diving suit.
Once everything had been gathered up, Spike cooked them a proper breakfast. There was no sense in rushing to the unknown on an empty stomach. Especially not when Spike was offering a full spread as a sort of unspoken apology for being unable to accompany Sombra into the cave.
Though Spike's voracious appetite would have made almost as good of an excuse.
Per Spike's request they waited forty five minutes after they finished eating to make their way to the river. The next fifteen minutes were spent flying to the river, making a full hour. Spike refused to let Sombra enter before an hour had passed due to some sort of superstition.
While a little annoying, it was sweet that Spike was so cautious about Sombra's well being.
As soon as Spike landed and Sombra was safely on the ground, Spike helped Sombra into the suit.
While he knew it was necessary, Sombra wasn't overly fond of the design. Orange and mustard yellow with bronze colored bits here and there. The air tanks were red, but the paint was chipped and somewhat rusted. While Sombra completely trusted Apple Bloom's ingenuity and skills he wished that the suit had the same flair the dragon saddle did.
The helmet was red and seemed at least a few decades newer than the suit, but Apple Bloom had chosen a perfect fit. However before donning it, Spike clipped a small wedge-shaped device with a luminescent oval of green crystal set into it.
"Okay. That's your walkie. You just have to think about me, and as long as we both have one we can talk. I pumped a lot of mana into it, so you've got about six hours worth. I think that should be enough, but I can't get a read on how big the cave system is. All the water is messing with my Geomancy." Spike explained.
"No matter, being able to communicate with you will be a boon. Remind me to thank Apple Bloom for that. She has been instrumental in all this." Sombra asked.
"We'll send her a gift basket or something, for now worry about you. Now, your scarf should keep you warm if the suit doesn't, and the sword is clipped to the suit's left. You'll have to use it without the helmet, so you won't be able to use it until you're in the cave. Which is why I'll be going down with you to make sure you get in alright." Spike explained.
Spike scooped Sombra up, extra careful not to accidentally nick the suit with one of his claws.
"Love you, Sombra. Good luck down there."
"I love you too, Spike. I should be fine, but thank you all the same."
With their regards exchanged, Spike jumped into the river with Sombra in tow.
Sombra couldn't see for a moment in the violent churning caused by Spike's jump, but eventually the waters calmed a bit. Sombra clicked the light on the front of the suit on, allowing him a better view of the underwater scenery.
The riverbed was covered in dark brown mud, and littered with all manner of debris. Underwater plants, rocks, sunken tree limbs, and a few too many animal skeletons to be comforting. There was even what seemed to be a sunken boat big enough for one or two ponies split into two pieces. Also not very comforting.
It wasn't until Spike carried Sombra a few hundred feet away did Sombra see the cave.
Had Sombra not known to look for it he would have assuredly missed it. How Spike found it without any additional light in the span of five minutes underwater was beyond Sombra's reckoning. Still, within the span of two minutes Spike was placing Sombra in front of the cave.
Sombra gave Spike a playful salute as he descended into the darkness of the cave.
In reality however Sombra was actually a ball of nerves. All his extra determination had left him as soon as he remembered he couldn't properly swim. The fact he had a finite air supply also began creeping through the back corners of his mind.
Luckily the dark tunnel Sombra was making his way through wasn't too bothersome. Darkness was something that wouldn't likely ever bother Sombra. The flashlight provided enough visibility, but as the minutes passed the fear of not knowing what came next began to weigh on Sombra.
Fortunately, Spike came through with a save.
Hello? Is it working? Sombra? A familiar voice asked out of nowhere.
"Uh... Yes? Spike? Is this the device working?" Sombra replied, hearing his own echo in his diving helmet.
Yupp. Seems like it. Can you make anything in the cave out?
Sombra briefly paused his trek through the cavernous tunnel and looked around.
"Not as such. Just rock, darkness, and water." Sombra sighed.
Sombra almost wanted for something to show up. The anticipation was nearly palpable. Sombra was extremely relieved to have Spike on the line, for that would make it at least bearable.
Nothing to do but follow the tunnel then. Just lemme know if you run into something weird. Although by now we have a pretty broad definition of what's normal. So I guess something weird by even our standards?
"I don't believe Lyra can breathe underwater." Sombra retorted jokingly.
Easy now. She already thinks she's being a third wheel. I'm not saying we should have her live with us forever, but let her pop the question to Bon Bon first. I've got a feeling it's going to be soon. Spike countered, even though Sombra knew he had forced himself not to laugh.
"I didn't mean anything by it. I merely meant that Lyra is quite a lively character... And that I will miss her too. She has been very helpful to me, despite thinking I actually had conquered the empire when first meeting me. It took some time, but she grew on me." Sombra admitted as he resumed his march through the tunnel.
Sombra felt immensely calmer now that he could speak with Spike. He hadn't expected the devices to be so practical, but was now considering the walkies as his favorite modern invention. Other than the cappuccino machine and indoor plumbing of course.
Yeah. Lyra takes some getting used to. Mom couldn't stand her at first. But after they got to reminiscing about school they hit it off. Plus last Hearth's Warming she got mom a magic bookmark that keeps an exact numeric total of how many books the owner has read, ever. She practically kissed her.
"I imagine that would have made quite an awkward situation." Sombra laughed at the very thought.
I would have forced Zecora to invent brain bleach. Spike shuddered.
Conversation carried on similar nonsensical topics until Sombra found himself at an impasse. There was a rock wall at the end of the water filled tunnel, but with the light Sombra saw there was another open-air chamber above. How big was uncertain, but it seemed like the perfect sort of place to find hidden treasures.
Climbing the rough rock wall and cursing his inability to merely swim up, Sombra made it to the top.
Once he was out of the water he realized he was quite tired. The weight of the suit and the underwater movement had drained him somewhat. Sombra removed his helmet, testing the cave for breathable air.
Once Sombra was sure he wasn't going to suffocate he placed his helmet on the ground at a safe distance from the water to avoid letting it fall into the tunnel.
"It would appear there are more caves in this system. Luckily I will be able to explore them on hoof. There is a sizable air-pocket. I must thank you for talking me through the first leg of the journey. I wasn't sure I could do this alone." Sombra admitted.
S-y --ain bre-king up. Can- hear -ou -ery we--
Spike had come in garbled and full of gaps, Sombra barely understanding him.
"Ah... I see. I suppose it stands to reason the rock and water would eventually block the signal. I suppose it's quite impressive it held out this long. Into the unknown then." Sombra grumbled.
Sombra left the device clipped to his ear, but within a few more steps into the cavern the signal cut out completely. Sombra was now on his own in every sense of the word. Though he was thankful he at least had his sword with him.
While Sombra wasn't formally trained in swordplay he was confident that as long as he could get a good hit in on something the impossibly sharp blade would do the rest.
As Sombra looked around to get his bearings, he noticed green lights glowing around the cavern. Upon inspection the light sources were luminous crystals. They weren't all that bright, but they certainly added to the cavern's mysterious atmosphere.
The deeper Sombra made it into the chamber the more crystals appeared. It was strange, but even though Sombra kept a sharp eye out he could find nothing out of the ordinary. Mostly rocks, pools of water in dips of the cavern floor, and an occasional misleading glare off a wet surface.
No sign of the pearl, nor any sort of enormous guardian creature that Sombra was half expecting to see.
After what seemed like at least an hour Sombra realized that the chamber had gradually been sloping down. There was no telling if he was under the riverbed, or merely underground at this point. It didn't matter though, as Sombra knew he merely needed to turn around and head straight to get back to the entrance.
Though to be certain, Sombra used his sword to remove some of the low-hanging crystals from the cavern walls and placed them at the borders of a large pool created from a drip in the ceiling. They illuminated the pool an unnatural green and served as a rather effective marker.
Sombra would be hard pressed to miss the marker should he get turned around.
"This cavern is strange. I can't help but feel I am not alone... Yet there isn't anyone, or anything to be found." Sombra said, just in case Spike could hear him.
When no reply came through Sombra sighed and carried on his way.
Fortunately it seemed Sombra didn't have too much longer to wait.
At the very end of the cavern was a luminous pool of water that lit the area despite the strange absence of light crystals. It was at least large enough to accommodate Spike's full size. The pool looked about a foot deep, and in the center was what appeared to be a navy blue sphere the size of a grapefruit.
Without hesitation Sombra stepped into the pool and ignored the cold that penetrated even the diving suit and the magic within his scarf.
Sombra couldn't help but notice the water was becoming decidedly more viscous as he neared the pearl. Before he was halfway through he was unable to move forward at all. All he could do was wiggle about and try to free his legs. Even once he drew his sword the now gelatinous pond merely healed itself for every slash he made.
Sombra tried using his sword to touch the pearl in the center, but as soon as the blade neared the gem the pool began to quiver.
It was as though the pond feared Sombra taking the pearl.
The pearl and pool began to defy gravity and flowed upwards before the semi-solid coalesced into a massive hulking blob, essentially spitting Sombra out of it's form. Sombra had been thrown about enough to know to roll when he hit the cavern floor. He managed to get back onto his hooves rather quickly.
Though keeping the sword in his mouth at the same time had made it a tad difficult.
It will be a joyous occasion when I can use telekinesis again. Sombra huffed as the pond took it's true form.
Sombra soon found himself staring down what was now an angry looking slime. A peculiar creature Sombra had read of in one of Spike's books. The book had said that a particular variety was the most powerful.
"A king slime. A slime that has consumed many of it's own kind to grow, and who has consolidated it's power into a hard to destroy core that possesses a size proportionate to the slime's power. Judging by the size of the pearl, this is a very powerful slime." Sombra recalled with dread.
Sombra briefly cursed himself for wishing something would happen earlier before trying to decide how to proceed.
Sombra circled the slime at a distance of about three meters, trying to see if it had any obvious weak-points beyond the core. When it became clear that was a lost cause Sombra merely appraised what little there was to see.
About four meters tall, one and a half meters wide, and the core is suspended at least three meters up. I cannot reach the core unless it were to swallow me whole. A foolish thing to attempt, since it seems quite capable of increasing it's body's viscosity.
Sombra did the only thing he could in the situation and took a step forward to gauge it's reaction.
In retaliation the slime which had been waiting for Sombra to act attacked by shifting it's form and lashing out with four tendrils at a high speed.
Sombra managed to slice three of them off with a well-timed swing of his sword, but another hit him squarely in the chest. He was bowled over, but gritted his teeth so he might keep his only means of defending himself. By the time Sombra scrambled to his hooves again he lost all semblances of pride he had earned as the bisected tendrils oozed back into the main body of the slime.
"Well. This bodes poorly." Sombra sighed into the handle of his prized sword.
Sombra struggled to try and come up with something resembling a plan of action. The slime seemed to be immortal, in an annoyingly more convenient way than Sombra himself. It was also extremely versatile in ways to injure or detain Sombra. Though the slime wasn't one for thinking it seemed and merely kept hammering Sombra with it's stretching tendrils.
Sombra dodged or deflected a number of attacks, but seemed to be taking at least twice as many. Sombra had quickly become exhausted, now only barely able to keep himself upright. He looked around in vain, trying to find something in the empty cavern that might be of use.
As one of the tendrils managed to grab Sombra he couldn't help but see the crystals he had arranged on the floor for himself. The slimes attacks had pushed him back a fair distance. Sombra could see the ceiling was still dripping slowly from above, adding a minuscule drop of liquid to the pool every few seconds.
As he was being thrashed about, Sombra formulated what was equally likely to be a winning stratagem or a concussion induced delusion that resembled one.
In an extraordinary feat of timing and precision for someone as beaten as Sombra, Sombra managed to wait until just the right moment when the slime had him as close to the ceiling as possible. Sombra plunged his blade into the source of the dripping.
Sombra was only able to stay there as long as the sword had purchase, only a scant few seconds or so. Still, the sword had done it's work and sliced cleanly through the rock like any other dragon fang.
Sombra dropped the sword as pain racked through his aching jaw, but water began to flow from the wound in the ceiling.
Sombra's gamble had paid off.
The water was merely a trickle at first, but as Sombra drifted between consciousness and unconsciousness he heard the water begin to gush.
In a startling turn of events the slime found it's viscous form begin to dilute as it got sprayed by the quickly increasing flow. By some impossible means the slime hissed and squealed in fear. Sombra fell to the floor in the cold water that was now up to his legs and against all odds got to his hooves.
The water had managed to snap him awake, but the lucidity was quickly wearing off.
With the absolute last of his strength, Sombra jumped into the half-melted slime and grabbed the pearl-like core with his aching jaws. He practically glided through the loose slime, causing it to lose form entirely and landed back onto the floor of the cavern. Though now he found himself underwater without his helmet.
Still, the slime-core's power couldn't reassemble it's now watered-down body.
Sombra had won.
As his focus waned, Sombra heard what might have been a muffled explosion and a flash of purple. Whatever was going on Sombra was too exhausted to care. He had accomplished his goal, and now Spike could continue his training.
...
Sombra awoke with a familiar taste in his mouth, and an equally familiar headache. He had become unfortunately accustomed to it. Though Sombra seriously doubted he would ever grow to enjoy the taste.
"Regeneration speeding serum." Sombra mumbled as his sight struggled to come into focus.
"Yupp. We're fresh out now, but I didn't think you'd object to using the last of it. You got pretty roughed up."
Sombra realized he was laying on the bed in Spike's bedroom, and that his vision was fine. The lights were merely off. Which Spike saw fit to rectify just then.
Sombra was quite relieved to see his knight in purple scales curled around him, looking as though he hadn't slept in a week. Sombra came to realize that that was a distinct possibility. His head was aching terribly, but he remembered what he had been doing.
"There was a king slime in the cavern. It was immune to physical harm. I exploited a weakness in the cavern's ceiling to access the river and dilute it to prevent it from reforming around the core. Our so-called pearl." Sombra explained, reliving it as he described the experience.
Spike nodded, reaching over to the nightstand and showing Sombra a familiar object suspended in a mason jar of water.
"Slimes are pretty rare nowadays. Especially that big or that strong. You handled the situation as best as you could. I'm just sorry I couldn't have done anything. I jumped into the river as soon as I saw bubbles rising to the surface though so you weren't in the water long. You had the core in your mouth. It started reacting when I took it out so I put it in water.
I got all the water out of your lungs, and force-fed you the regeneration speeding potion. You've been asleep for something like ten hours. Mom used her magic to dredge the river, and the cavern. She got your sword, your walkie, and the suit's helmet. Mom... kinda heard me talking to you while you were out though." Spike explained.
"I take it she knows then." Sombra practically groaned.
"Yeah... She's back at the castle. She's gonna need a little time to process everything." Spike admitted, sounding equally worried.
Sombra smiled despite everything. He had obtained the next to last gem alone, even if it cost him a little pain. Twilight would come around eventually too, which would be a load of of his shoulders down the road. There was only one thing bothering Sombra in the back of his mind.
"We need to talk about something, Spike." Sombra announced, looking up at Spike.
"I'm pretty sure you don't know this, but those words are extremely worrying to anyone in a relationship." Spike chuckled nervously.
Sombra shook his head, alleviating a bit of Spike's worry.
"It is becoming increasingly clear that I need to learn to defend myself better if I'm to be without magic. I would like to begin training with you to improve my sword skills, and if you would be amicable enough I believe teaching me the lessons Zecora taught you would be equally useful. We're exposed to danger on a near weekly basis, and I rarely escape unscathed." Sombra asked with great conviction.
To his surprise Spike wasted very little time thinking about it.
"Okay, I'm alright with that. I hate seeing you get hurt, and since Zecora's walled herself off from the world we aren't getting any more regeneration speeding serum for awhile." Spike agreed.
Sombra had already braced himself to mince words with Spike, but it seemed Spike's protective nature had won out in a different way than Sombra had expected.
"Ah... Excellent. I actually thought there was going to be something of an argument to be had on the subject. I had mentally prepared myself and everything." Sombra chuckled awkwardly.
Spike quickly kissed Sombra on the forehead, unfailingly causing him to blush.
"You're mine. I know that sounds possessive, but I'm a dragon. There's no fighting that. Just knowing you were completely out of my reach and potentially in danger was killing me. I want you safe.
"So tomorrow I'll let you watch me end that crush the slime's core in my teeth and then we'll train. I need to practice water magic, but after that we'll train together. It's gonna take some work to figure out exactly how to go about training without hurting each other, but we'll do it." Spike elaborated.
Sombra briefly considered being upset at the label of a possession, but he discarded the notion. Somehow he rather liked the sound of belonging to Spike. He was already his in every other meaning of the word, and in the same way Spike was his. An unorthodox viewpoint to be sure, but rather fitting for the two of them.
For the time being Sombra merely let sleep take him, Spike following shortly after. Both of them were tired, and it would be time to move forward again soon. A moment of peace in a war that was silently encroaching upon the land was going to become continually harder to grab hold of as time went on. They would have been foolish to pass up this time together for anything.