"Now finish this door."
Jasper opened her eyes, yawning as she did so. While they didn't need to sleep, they preferred to do it. It felt more... Familiar to them. Not now though, since something had apparently woken her up. It sounded eerily familiar to her, but she tried to ignore it and squeezed her eyes. Unfortunately, when she heard that sinister laugh she instinctively shot up out of her bed to find the source. To her surprise and relief, she was greeted with a green light coming from her friend's head. Peridot was dreaming. It was only a bad dream. Although, when they dreamt about the evil king they often got glimpses of the horrible things they did when they were under his control, but this appeared to be something different entirely. Peridot appeared to be building something. It looked like a trap. After all, Sombra had Peri install plenty of those around that throne room of his, but this appeared to be in a different area. Possibly somewhere under the throne room?
Peridot was fixing the door while Sombra observed with a grin. After a few moments, it appeared that the green gem had finished her work, with the former king giving her a nod.
"That will be all Peridot, now resume your guarding schedule."
"Yes King Sombra." She replied monotonously, causing Jasper to grit her teeth. They both left the room and the door became hidden. The projection began to fade as Peridot opened her eyes. Her vision was drawn to the left where she saw Jasper staring down at her.
"Uuh, is there any reason why you're staring at me while I sleep?"
"You had a dream Peri." Jasper responded.
"What?! You looked at my dreams? That's an invasion of my privacy!" Peridot blushed with embarrassment.
"Do you remember what it was?"
"Hm. Be quiet and let me think for a moment..." Peridot tapped her chin for a few seconds. "I think it was... Me with Sombra?"
"What were you doing in the dream?"
"Setting traps... I think."
"But we haven't seen any of the traps you were setting, and the room didn't look one we've been in before, I think Hey, wouldn't some of those traps still be active?" Peridot stared at Jasper for a moment, before frowning and nodding.
"Hey you're right; we should probably tell Cadence and Shining Armour to make sure they're all disarmed.
"What are you two talking about?" They turned behind them to see Lapis sit up with a groan and face them.
"Well that does sound quite concerning." Cadence frowned. "What do you think Shining?"
"I agree. We should probably send some guards to disarm those traps with you, though I don't believe it'll be easy, with your memories being sealed and all." He had thought about trying to find a counter spell to unseal their memories, but he decided to scrap it.
"Do you know where they are?"
"I... Think I have a pretty good idea. Jasper told me it looked like it was around here, both in the throne room and the secret room below here." Peridot said.
"Do we have to? I mean, it is just a dream after all." Amethyst groaned.
"Well if there are traps there, they could be anywhere in the castle." Garnet exclaimed. "Not to mention if Sombra has another secret room, it could help us find out more about him. He could have something dangerous down there."
"Uuugh, fine, but I don't wanna have anything else to do with him after this."
"I think this is where it was." Peridot walked down the stairs. The gems as well as the other crystal guards frowned, whilst Mercury retained a stoic expression. The basement of the castle, going even lower than the secret stairway with the magic door Twilight and Spike had used to find the Crystal Heart. The guards trotted nervously as they looked around. Mercury scoffed at the two.
"For someone who insisted to come along, you don't seem to care that much." Solid remarked.
"Now where was it?" Peridot frowned, as she and Jasper searched the area. As she touched part of the wall, a magical door suddenly appeared.
"This must've been like the one Twilight and Spike told us about, which means we'll need a powerful magic to break it." Peridot paused for a moment. While it was like the door under the throne room, it appeared to be much larger. At that, Mercury stepped forward. Her horn began to flare, until it connected with the crystal on the door. Soon, it opened. After pausing for a moment, they stepped through the door, walking into a dark hallway. Torches on the walls suddenly lit up, and Mercury's horn dissipated. They looked around, seeing only grey floors, walls and ceiling and the straight line they all led through.
"Where do you think it leads to?" Rock Solid asked.
"Difficult to say." Peridot looked on. "Perhaps some sort of lab? Maybe a library with dark spellbooks? It could be anyth-" She stumbled to the left as a a green spike nearly impaled her.
"Whoa!" Jasper's eyes widened. More followed suit and they were forced to dodge every single on. The spikes had already blocked their exit, they could only keep going in their original direction.
"Did I do this?!" Peridot covered her head as more spikes sprouted from the ground. They all ran in the only direction they could.
"It would look like it!" Jasper grunted. They suddenly stopped as two walls clamped together, making a loud but contained noise.
"Oh come on!" Amethyst groaned, running. "What else did he have you do?"
"I don't know, I don't remember any of it!" Peridot raised her arms defensively.
"Well you might need to start, or else we're doomed." Flash sighed. They all ran into the darkness not knowing what awaited them, with only a few having a vague idea. Soon, smaller spikes began launching themselves at the group from the walls. Lapis mustered up all the water she could find to make a shield of ice, but she was forced to rely mostly on her wings. Just as they were nearing the end of the hallway, they could see three separate routes they could walk through.
"Which one do we go through?" Jasper frowned.
"Try that one!" Mercury pointed at the corridor on the left, and they all ran through.
"Wow, that was more than I thought." Peridot wheezed.
"Where are we now?" Amethyst looked around the room that appeared to be a dead end, with a wall . Mercury flared her horn to brighten the area. Noticing candles on the walls she lit them. It was still rather plain; an average- sized bookcase on the wall, long with an old table in the middle and a book lying on the ground next to it.
"What's this place?" Jasper asked.
"It appears to be a small study area." Merucry stared at the bookshelf. "And the majority of these appear to be spellbooks."
"What about that one on the ground?" Lapis picked the book up. "It doesn't appear to have a title." It also appeared to have a few pages missing. Nevertheless, she opened it up to a random page and read aloud.
"Entry 12
A peculiar event occured today. Three beings of an unknown species stumbled into the empire today. They call themselves 'gems' and it's a mystery of where they came from. From what I can tell, they appear to be well- versed in combat. It's is incredibly intriguing."
"This... must've been on the day we first came to the crystal empire." Jasper leaned forward. "What does the next page say?" Lapis turned the pages to view the next entry.
"Entry 13
I have put the gems through guard training and they've exceeded with flying colours. It's quite amazing. They still appear to be uncertain around me. Gaining their trust might prove difficult, but they seem to be grateful for my offering of a home and an occupation. They don't appear to know about my conflict with the princesses or my works in the empire. I shall try to experiment with them once they feel more secure." Jasper's fist was clenched. Knowing what happened certainly didn't help one bit. If anything, it was only making her angrier. Peridot placed her hand on Jasper's shoulder, calming her down slightly.
"Keep reading." Lapis nodded and turned back to the book.
"Entry 16
Every piece of information I find out about these gems only makes me more intrigued. According to Peridot, gems do not need to sleep or eat, although they sometimes do both out of preference. I suppose they could be classified as some sort of golems; that is what they are closest to."
"Well now I feel offended." Jasper rolled her eyes. "Anyone found a way out of here yet?" After receiving a series of "No." She sighed.
"Entry 22
Celestia and Luna attempted to take the empire back. With the gem's help, I successfully drove the two out. When I heard they were coming, I had fully expected to lose. Perhaps I could hold my own against one, but I'm no match for the both of them. But with these gems, I have a chance. Perhaps my hold over the empire shall grow permanent after all.
"Do you have to keep reading that?" Jasper groaned.
"Well who knows? It might show us how to get out of here and disable those traps." Pearl shrugged. "Let's see if the other books have any clues..."
"Yeah, no matter how interesting the book is we need to keep looking." Solid said as he searched for any type of hint as how to get out.
"Entry 28
This may be my most useful finding yet. With my own magic, I can control these gems. Usually one would need an accessory to control a pony and they are incredibly difficult to make. With the gems, however, I can pour my dark magic into their cores, and make sure that my influence is strong. It's taken me quite some time to perfect a control spell, but I've done it. The gems now have enough dark magic in them to become my complete puppets. Such amazing warriors, and so easy for me to control. My research is not finished yet. Just as she finished, they heard the sound of something moving. They looked up and saw the bookcase shift to the right, revealing another room swallowed in the shadows their former king had once crept in.
"Huh. A secret bookcase passage." Lapis whistled.
"Come on." Garnet hurried them on. "There's no point going back now."
"Indeed." Rock Solid nodded in agreement with the fusion. "We must make haste, especially since our previous exit is blocked off."
"Exploring!" Amethyst pumped her fists in the air. They all went through, and the bookcase door closed behind them, leaving them in complete darkness.
"Crap." Jasper grunted.
"Don't worry, I'm sure there are more torches around here." Peridot made a dim light with her fingers.
"I've found some." Mercury flared her horn once again and lit a few. Once they got a few lights they found that the walls and ceiling were far larger than they thought. Nearly everything was made of stone. Not only that, but the walls were all covered in holes, large enough for the gems to fit through. However, they didn't try. They were too much in shock to do so.
"W- Wha..." Peridot's eyes were wide as she looked around.
"No... he didn't..." Was all Jasper said.
"What?" Solid frowned. Do you know this place?"
"You could say that." Pearl's 'breathing' was funny,
"He actually did it." Lapis looked through the caves.
"He made a kindergarten."