//------------------------------// // Chapter Five: The Earth Guardian // Story: An Elder Power // by Twogunkid //------------------------------// “This is the cave” Blinky slowed to a simple trot. “I don’t know what you expect to find in there. We are just happy we won’t have a mountain collapsing on us. Good hunting!” Blinky turned and headed back to the rock farm. The ponies glanced side to side. Philomena opened her wings and flew into the cave confirming Bluebell’s fears; an Elder Dragon was indeed imprisoned here. The three ponies and the baby dragon followed the bird in. The passage grew narrower and narrower till eventually they had to travel single file line behind Philomena who was forced to walk, because the cave could not support her wingspan. The group finally emerged in the clearing Blinky had mentioned. There were scuffs on the floor were the stone map had previously been located, and tunnels branching in all sorts of different directions. The ponies looked at them and then around the room. Aside from writing talking about wealth beyond their wildest dreams above the doors the room had absolutely nothing in it. “Legion go down that hall! Murphy you go down that one! Spike Philomena go together down that one. Mark a hallway once you’ve explored it. I’ll go down this one!” The ponies split apart trotting down their respective passageways. “Finally I’m alone.” Bluebell thought to herself “No yappy dragon, or crude police man, or unfeeling guard pony. Finally some good old fashioned Bluebell time.” She trotted through a puddle of cold slimy water “Of course this is hardly how I want to be spending it.” Bluebell kept wandering through the passage, it was filled with impressive crystals, and lots and lots of igneous rock intrusions. “Wow I wonder, if this mountain is a dormant volcano” Bluebell thought to herself. She continued her trek as the crystal grew more and more reflective. The tunnel soon became almost blinding from all the reflection. Bluebell squinted and powered forward, eventually shutting her eyes and charging blindly. It grew warmer and warmer, yet she pressed on. She would have continued had she collided with a large marble column. She opened her eyes, she had never seen such regal surroundings, she had lived in the royal palace, but everything paled in comparison to this. Grand marble columns extended to the ceiling easily a hundred feet tall. The ceiling itself was filled with magnificent paintings of a dragon, worshiped by earth ponies tending fiery forges. Intrestingingly Bluebell could not make out what color the dragon was as she moved about it shifted from its initial silver to a gold, then a strange jet black, and the a sleek green. The room was filled with sculptures all of them depicting one dragon, some of gold, some of silver, some in grand stones studded with gems. There biggest though which filled the vast majority of the grand hallway was an impressive lead statue, with an inscription reading “Jinshu, the Earth Guardian.” She would have examined it further had someone not commented. “Beautiful isn’t it?” Bluebell wheeled around to see a unicorn, he was slender and pale. “I’m the librarian. I maintain the extensive archives that are kept here, would you like to see?” Bluebell knew there was more to that sculpture, but she wanted to go with this unicorn, he seemed to be warm and inviting and ancient archives had always been among her favorite things. She followed the pony, till they came to fallen rock. “Oh dear it seems a rock slide has blocked off the library, I’m afraid you won’t be able to see it then.” Bluebell’s horn began to glow as she levitated pound after pound of rock away not realizing she was digging her own tunnel and that the unicorn behind her had vanished. --------------------------------------------------------------------- “Y’know Philomena, at first I thought it would be great taking a little vacation from Twilight, but now it seems like Bluebell doesn’t even like me. She’d rather just have that dumb bird.” Philomena turned her neck to glare at Spike “Not that there’s anything wrong with birds of course. It’s just she doesn’t seem to appreciate me, and between you and me Philomena I don’t think that Pony has a friend in all of Equestria. She’s kind of like Twilight was before we moved to Ponyville, except Twilight was never so grumpy all the time.” The two began noticing the rock change from simple shale to a smooth obsidian, and crystal outcroppings from the roof began to reflect light that grew brighter and brighter. Philomena perched on Spike so that she would not crash and the two stumbled blindly through the cave. Eventually emerging in a small but grandly decorated room, there was a door leading out into a larger room and another one leading into what appeared to be a mine tunnel. The room itself was an impressive mosaic seeming to chronicle a unicorn’s love for a dragon. Spike stopped, the white unicorn with the purple mane reminded him of Rarity. “Lucky dragon” he muttered to himself. “Lucky Dragon, you must mean lucky unicorn” Spike turned to see a pale brown Pegasus mare. “Any mare would consider herself lucky to have a dragon accept her. A mighty dragon would lavish his love with his vast hoard, gold, silver, rare gemstones.” Spike began to think, Rarity was appreciative of his help when he retrieved the gemstones for her, perhaps if he brought them to her on his own initiative, she would finally notice him. Spike was so lost in thought he was not listening to Philomena’s angry cries. “Why don’t we let that pretty bird have a nap?” out of nowhere it seemed a birdcage surrounded Philomena and a brown cloth covered it. “Perhaps you could help me young dragon. You see I am digging up gemstones, and if you would like to help me I’d be more than willing to share.” The Pegasus lead Spike down the mineshaft tunnel where he began digging fervently. He did not notice the Pegasus fade into a mist behind him. -------------------------------------------------------------------- “Some team this turned out to be! I would have been better off staying in Staliongrad. I’d be Captain of the Police Force now. Captain James Murphy! Think of that, all of them who laughed at little Jimmy, with his “girly” cutie mark would see! I’d be a hero. Now I’m stuck with a baby dragon, a grumpy unicorn, and an insufferable Pegasus. Why? Why couldn’t I have just been a mirrorsmith like Ma wanted? I never wanted a life of adventure. I just wanted respect. I trained my hardest, I read every book on psycho analysis I could find. I trained my best to be a police pony so I could show them. I still will! When I finish this mission I will be a hero to all Equestria!” The tunnel became brighter; Murphy began having trouble seeing so he lowered his police cap over his eyes a bit allowing him to move unhindered. He came to a medium sized room, it was impressive, but it had doors leading in many directions. He heard what he believed to be cries for help coming down one of them and raced down it. The light became brighter and brighter. He stumbled his way through and emerged in grand room, it appeared to be bank of some kind, many ponies all pale and slender were cowering in fear, their faces lit up when Murphy looked at them, they all pointed to a pony with a black mask on who fled behind a door and locked it. “Don’t worry I’ll get that ruffian!” Murphy began kicking the door with his hind legs as quickly as he could. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Legion made his way down the tunnel. He had little on his mind, he merely wanted to finish the mission and return to his previous duties. The tunnel began to wind and became more and more crystal filled. Legion disliked the glare the crystals gave off. With a firm kick he shattered the nearest crystal, and without it, there was almost no light in the tunnel. It became black as night. Legion had no trouble seeing, he was used to working in the dark of night, and he closed his eyes and focused. He reopened them his pupils had expanded greatly and he had no trouble advancing through the cave. He encountered a cave in from a tunnel above, spreading his leathery wings he ascended through the hole in the roof to see Murphy bucking a stone wall like a mad pony. He noticed the spectral ponies all around him. “Still up to your old tricks Jinshu?” Legion taunted the ponies “Forced to use deception to get your way. You always were the weakest of your kind” “Ah Legion. Still kicking I see, if I recall correctly I must have killed you three times myself.” One of the cowering ponies had assumed the form of a long spiny dragon and was curling and winding its way around Legion. Murphy had stopped what he was doing to stare at what was going on. “Only twice old foe. We are more than a match for you in your current state.” “Yes Legion, but why would you want to? We can give you what your heart desires. I make this pony respected, I make the dragon feel attractive, and I offer the unicorn knowledge. All I get is my freedom. Surly you want something Legion.” “We know only duty monster. Begone!” The dragon gathered the other spectral ponies and fled, leaving the room a mess of unworked stone. Murphy shook his head unsure of what just happened. “Legion? What the-… What just happened? What did that dragon say when he said he’d killed you before?” Murphy was filled with questions. “There will be time to explore our past later Pony Murphy. However if Jinshu has spoken true, than it is imperative we find our comrades and stop them. It would seem we are being deceived into collapsing the mountain ourselves. Quickly Murphy follow us!” Legion spoke with a great air of authority and Murphy followed without hesitation they rushed into a large room with grand marble columns and many statues, but the largest was one made entirely out of lead with no decoration save the inscription “Jinshu, The Earth Guardian” The group saw the ethereal spirit ponies rush from one end of the room and out of a side door back into the giant lead statue. Spike and Philomena rushed out after their spirits, and Bluebell chased the spectral unicorn from the far end of the room. The ground beneath the statue began to give way. The giant lead statue began sinking into the ground. Steam and smoke began seeping out of the cracks where around the statue. A large chunk of the floor underneath the right fore claw broke free. “We are not too late yet. Bluebell do as we command!” Legion had taken charge. He began buzzing by the dragon “Murphy Spike break the ground around make the statue fall!” Murphy and Spike began banging the floor around the dragon. The statue began sinking even faster. The freed right claw seemed to spring to life slashing slowly through the air at Legion. The dragon’s head began flailing desperate to free itself. “As we suspected, he is imprisoned in the statue.” Legion flew under the middle of the dragon and began pushing down on it. It began sinking even faster before giving way to begin falling. Legion grabbed Bluebell and carried her down in pursuit, with Philomena following close behind. “Legion have you lost your mind!” Bluebell screamed as they chased the rapidly falling statue. The Dragon had managed to free its other limbs, but being incased in lead, it was too weak to fly. The ground seemed to get brighter, and the air hotter as the descended. It came into focus as the bits of rubble landed and began to float in the burning lava. The dragon plummeted in and the lead began to become molten. “Bluebell make as many cold runes as you can on this ledge.” Legion placed her on a precariously narrow ledge and pointed at the walls. “Philomena keep watch. We will keep him busy.” Legion charged in circling the dragon who despite sinking became more and more active as the lead melted. Bluebell began carving the glyphs into the wall activating them one by one. “Hurry Bluebell!” Legion dodged a claw, which now sprayed molten lead in many directions when swung. Bluebell carved the last of the runes. “Legion I finished the last one! Get clear!” Legion flew above the ring of runes. Bluebell’s horn glowed and the frost burst began turning the lava to rock through a process of super cooling. Jinshu launched his claws sending one large chunk of molten lead, which cooled and solidified into a harsh sharp point it grounded itself in Legion’s side. He let out a cry. “Philomena, carry Bluebell out, the lead cold runes will prevent him from melting his way out. We will follow you.” The Phoenix lifted the unicorn despite her protests and carried her up. Legion flapped as hard as he could he advanced a few hundred feet up the tunnel, before stopping to rest on a ledge. He pulled the spike out of his left shoulder. Grayish-red blood began to splatter all over the ledge. Legion felt consciousness leave him, and he slumped down unconscious. Bluebell was let down gently by the Phoenix on the ledge. She smiled and then looked around. “Where’s Legion?” Spike asked. Bluebell began looking over the edge and panicking ordered Philomena to go get him. The phoenix descended, hundreds of feet before spotting the glint of armor on a ledge. Lifting the wounded Pegasus she valiantly carried him up to the surface. Legion faded into consciousness opening his eyes he saw Bluebell and Murphy staring at him. “What are you two doing? Seal the pit, and place a ward on it. Don’t leave any risk that he may be freed.” Legion slumped again groaning in pain as his blood stained the floors. “Go Miss Bluebell Spike and I will take him back to the farmhouse” Murphy lifted the Pegasus on his back and set off at a gallop. Bluebell began levitating statues and smoothing them out into one plate to cover the abyss. Eventually it was complete and she placed her horn in the ground and began concentrating. She walked out the complicated pattern, and then took a step back to admire her work. She lowered her horn a let a spark of magic fly, the whole glyph glowed bright blue for a second before fading to a dull blue on the floor. She remembered Legion and rushed out of the cave with Philomena in tow. She was disheartened with each step as she followed the trail of blood out, and towards the farmhouse under the starry night sky. Author's Note: Probably one or two updates this week, because I have off. Also I may do another one shot fan-fic this week so keep your eyes open. Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!