Dragon Rock
In a flash of blue transporting magic, Spike reappeared on the Warp Stone’s hoof. Waiting beside the giant stone pony were his friends. While the dragon was gone, they had been conversing with the Warp Stone. The scholarly Twilight Sparkle was most interested in learning all that she could about the magic he possessed and his history.
“Spike, my boy,” the Warp Stone said to the purple dragon as he placed him back on the ground. “Three SpellStones down and only one to go. You seem to be getting the hang of this! Now then, it’s time for you and your friends to go to Dragon Rock, your toughest challenge yet.”
“D-d-dragon Rock!” Fluttershy stammered upon hearing the name.
“Relax, Fluttershy, I’m sure there’s no actually dragons there,” Twilight reassured her friend with the phobia of the fire breathing creatures. Despite the Alicorn’s reassurance, the Pegasus trembled at the thought of encountering a fully grown dragon.
“Well, it can’t be worse than the RedEyes,” Spike replied. “So where do we find the Guardian of the SpellStone of Air?”
“He’s closer than you realize,” the Warp Stone said as he turned on his base and pointed down to the valley.
“You mean he’s a ThornTail?” Spike asked in surprise.
“But they’re so meek and peaceful,” stated Fluttershy.
“Yeah, who would’ve thought one of those laid-back easygoin’ fellars was a Guardian?” Applejack rhetorically asked.
“He who has no voice has plenty to say,” the Warp Stone quoted an old Saurian proverb.
“Kinda like Big Macintosh,” Pinkie Pie quipped. They then headed down the hill to ThornTail Hollow in search of the last SpellStone Guardian. They looked around the grassy valley and could see the ankylosaurids grazing on grass, moss, and other vegetation. With all of them having unassuming looks on their beaked faces, none of them really stood out as the “Guardian” type. Spike recalled how all the other Guardians were the leaders of their tribes. Garunda Te was the Chieftain of the SnowHorns, the Queen of CloudRunners was one, and Tricky’s father was the King of the EarthWalkers. So far, none of the ThornTails they saw wore any regalia or fancy jewelry to set them apart from the rest. They split up and started asking each one if they knew anything. The response they received was either a shake of the head in the negative or a mumbled “No,” as they continued to chew their food.
Frustrated, Spike stopped and looked around the valley. His friends were still asking the tribe if they knew who the Guardian was, but were getting nowhere. There must be one ThornTail that knew something or had something useful to say. As Spike paced around, he nearly bumped into one of the giant red mushrooms. It started to shake and it produced a noxious cloud of red spores. Spike remembered encountering one of them when he had first arrived on the island and stepped away from it. He then remembered the ThornTail that warned him about the red mushrooms. He was the same one that had found Rarity’s fire ruby necklace and would wish him luck as he ran by.
Spike then looked around for that particular dinosaur. He seemed to be a more knowledgeable and talkative ThornTail. Maybe he could be of some help. He spotted the ThornTail off by himself near a cluster of palm trees and ran up to him.
“Excuse me,” Spike called out to him as he approached the ankylosaur.
“It’s you,” the independent ThornTail said as he spotted Spike. “How’s your journey?”
“It’s going well, but I need to talk to you.”
“Hhmm?”
“I’m looking for the Guardian of the SpellStone of Air and I have a feeling I know who that is,” Spike said while giving the dinosaur knowing smirk. The ThornTail’s eyes lifted in surprise and looked up from the shrub it was eating. His brow then furrowed and he looked back down in shame.
“Oh, you’ve figured it out then?” the Guardian of the SpellStone of Air replied.
“You’re the only one from your tribe that seems to have a clue about anything that’s going on and you’re the only one that actually opens their mouth to say more than one word at a time.”
“I don’t deserve to be a Guardian after what happened,” the ThornTail lamented. “I too attempted to save our island, but I failed.”
“Tell me, what happened?” Spike urged him to continue.
“I led a group of dinosaurs against General Scar. We knew he was taking the SpellStones back the sacred lands, so we headed to Dragon Rock. He heard of our plan before we could act and launched a full-scale offensive against us. We never stood a chance. I managed to escape, by the others couldn’t retreat in time and were trapped when Dragon Rock separated from the surface. Some of them are my good friends. They are probably still there trying to fight the dogs off. I’m a coward for running away. I should be there helping them fight.”
“You said it yourself, you were outmatched,” Spike tried to ease his guilt.
“Outmatched or not, I shouldn’t have given up so easily. If Scar wins, then we all are doomed.” The Guardian looked pleading up to Spike. “Please, help my friends.”
“Don’t worry, I will,” the dragon promised. He then noticed his friends had walked up during their conversation. They gave the saddened dinosaur sympathetic looks, but decided it was best not to say anything.
They then rushed to the Great Fox and it took off from ThornTail Hollow. The airship headed southeast to the floating island known as Dragon Rock. From their view, they could see it was barren and had a rocky terrain. The rocks had a rusty red color and they rose up in jagged spires that made the location look even more inhospitable.
The ship dodged the floating chucks of rock that circled Krazoa Island like a maelstrom. As they passed some of larger boulders, they saw the Diamond Dogs’ fleet of airships hovering over the surface. Apparently, General Scar had stationed the majority of his forces there to prevent them from getting the last SpellStone.
“It looks like there are a half of a dozen enemy airships down there,” Peppy observed.
“Can this thing take them all on?” Applejack asked Captain Pepper.
“That’s a negative,” the brown Unicorn answered. “Their ships may be old and outdated, but so is ours.”
“We need to take them out before we head down to the surface,” Twilight declared.
“I beg your pardon, Your Highness, but they outnumber us six to one,” the Captain pointed out.
“Not exactly, don’t forget you have a dragon and an Alicorn on your side,” the princess smirked. “If you can draw their fire, Spike and I can disable their cannons.”
“Wait, look!” Slippy pointed out the window and they all saw that smoke was coming out of the enemy airships. Peppy pulled out his telescope and took a closer look.
“Well, look at that,” the spectacled navigator stated. “It looks like they’re having some technical difficulties down there. Some of the engines have been damaged.”
“But how?” Slippy asked. “The dinosaurs are melee fighters. They don’t have any anti-aircraft weaponry.”
“Rainbow Dash,” Twilight answered with an amused shake of her head. “When we separated, she came here. I bet she was the one who crippled their aircraft.”
“Did she also take out their cannons?” Pepper asked the gray earth pony.
“No sir. They appear to be intact,” Peppy reported.
“At least we can out maneuver them. Here’s the plan; I’ll steer the Great Fox in front of them and we’ll fire a shot to get their attention. Once they start coming after us, the Princess and Spike will then fly in behind them and take out their cannons.”
“Here. Before you go, take this with you,” Slippy said to Twilight as he placed a communication stone around her left foreleg. “That way we can keep in touch during the battle.”
“Thank you,” she said to him as she walked out of the command deck.
After the briefing, Twilight Sparkle and Spike went out onto the deck of the ship as it approached the first Diamond Dog airship. Down below, Slippy armed a cannon and waited for Pepper’s signal. When the Captain told the green mechanic to fire, Slippy shot a cannonball that sailed over to the nearest ship and struck its hull. The dogs on-board sprung to attention and scrambled to arm their own cannons.
That was Twilight and Spike’s cue. They leapt off the edge of the ship and started to fly around the fleet of airships. The lavender Alicorn went to the right while Spike went to the left. As they circled around the ships, the Diamond Dogs took noticed of them and started to fire at them as well. Since the dogs weren’t the brightest of creatures, their aim was off because they kept firing where the two had been instead of leading their targets. However, it was still quite hazardous due to the amount of cannons firing.
“Do a barrel roll!” Peppy said over the glowing communication stone.
“(Press Z or R twice)!” Pinkie Pie shouted from behind him, earning her weird looks from everyone else on the ship. “What? That always works in video games.”
Taking Peppy’s advice, Spike rotated his body as he flew and spun as he rolled around in the sky in a spiral pattern. The trick worked and the Diamond Dogs’ aim was thrown completely off. Spike and Twilight met back up behind the rear ship
“Good job, Spike. Though, that looked like a combination of both a barrel roll and an aileron roll,” Twilight told Spike as they hovered in the air. When Spike gave her a confused look, she shrugged and said, “Rainbow Dash has been teaching me flying maneuvers ever since I gained wings.”
They then started to get to work on taking out the cannons of the ship. Flying along the port side of the ship, Twilight used her magenta magic to zap the gunners off their post while Spike landed on the deck and tossed the cannons overboard. Spike then went over to the starboard side and took care of those cannons as Twilight covered him.
After that ship had been disarmed, they moved on to the other ships. They repeated the process of Twilight providing air support as Spike threw the cannons down to the island below. Whenever they would come across a ship that had its cannons sticking out of the sides of the ship, Twilight would telekinetically pull them out of the hull. Spike would cling to the side of the ships and use his draconic strength to rip the cannons out through the hulls, leaving the gunner dogs cowering in fear.
By the time they had finished disarming all of the ships, the Diamond Dogs had started to retreat. They started to fly back to Krazoa Island with black smoke coming out of the damaged engines
“Yeah, alright!” Spike cheered as he watched the vessels limp away.
“Great job you two,” congratulated Captain Pepper over the communication stone. “Now, head back to the ship. We’re preparing to land.”
“Here, thanks for the communication stone,” Twilight as she gave the device back to Slippy when she landed back onto the deck. The Great Fox touched down in the middle of the barren landscape. When Spike and his friends headed off the ship, they saw that Dragon Rock wasn’t as desolate as they thought. While the ground was hard and dry, there were trees with black trunks and purple and orange leaves. There were strange pod-like plants that had steam rising out them. In the distance, they saw smoke rising from a shorter volcano. From the way its walls were cracked open along both sides of the volcano, making it look like a maw full of sharp fangs, and from the smoke rising up from it, it looked like a great fire breathing monster sticking its head out of the ground. It even had an impression in its side that looked like an eye socket.
“I guess that must be Dragon Rock,” Spike said as he looked at the landmark.
“And look right next to it,” Twilight pointed out. Built into the side of the volcano was a fort. Unlike the other Diamond Dog bases, this one looked sturdy. It was surrounded by a high thick wall and there were cannon turrets mounted on the towers.
“Look out!” Tricky cried. Everyone jumped back as the trees shook as something approached them. Everyone took a combative stance and prepared to take on any Diamond Dog that might happen to be coming right at them. Spike clenched his fists, Applejack got ready to buck, and Twilight’s horn glowed with magic. To their surprise, an EarthWalker came through the trees. The gawked at the Triceratops for a second but then relaxed when they realized he was on their side.
“I thought I heard voices,” the dinosaur soldier said to them and then noticed Tricky. “Prince Tricky?! What are you doing in this dangerous place?!”
“We’re here to find the SpellStone!” the Prince EarthWalker explained.
“The SpellStone? Those mutts have it locked up in that fortress of theirs. My comrades and I came here to try and get it back, but we failed.”
“Yeah, we know. Your ThornTail friend told us all about it,” Spike told him.
“I am pleased to hear of his safety, but many of the others were not so fortunate. Many of us were wounded. Others…” the soldier grimly replied and they understood what he meant.
“That’s awful,” Fluttershy exclaimed, tears forming in her eyes. Applejack took off her hat in respect of the fallen and even Pinkie Pie’s smile turned into a frown.
“Come, I’ll take you to our camp.” They followed the EarthWalker to a nearby camp that was hidden from the dogs by a thick cluster of trees. There, they saw a bunch of wounded EarthWalkers. Fluttershy immediately sprung to their side and helped to clean and bind their injuries. “As you can see, we’re in a rough shape. They kept on bombing the forest from their airship trying to find us. We thought we were goners until a flying blue pony came and sabotaged their airships.”
“So it was Rainbow Dash who damaged their engines,” Twilight stated, confirming her earlier suspicions.
“Where is she now?” Applejack asked, not seeing her Wonderbolt friend among the EarthWalkers.
“I’m right here,” the heard a voice coming through the trees. They turned their heads to see the sky blue mare with the multicolored mane walking into the camp, walking only on three legs. Her right foreleg was tucked up against her body and it had a scrape running down it.
“Oh my goodness!” Fluttershy gasped and then rushed to her side in order to treat her friend’s wound.
“Forget about it, Fluttershy. It’s just a scratch,” she told the yellow mare. She then addressed the rest of the group. “I did some reconnaissance, but I couldn’t find Spike anywhere. However, I did see that the Diamond Dogs have some prisoners locked up over there. What about you guys, did you find any clue on where Spike is?”
“Um, Dash,” Twilight said to her.
“What?” she asked, not noticing the purple dragon that was standing off to the side. Twilight pointed a hoof and Rainbow Dash followed it to see Spike smiling at her. She stared at him, looked him up and down, and then finally said, “Holy horseapples, you’ve got wings!”
The group gathered together and laughed as they formed a group hug. Of course, Rainbow Dash had a million questions for everyone. Fluttershy explained to her that she found Spike in CloudRunner Fortress, Spike told her how his wings grew in, and Twilight Sparkle told her that they have already reclaimed three of the SpellStones. Spike also told her that he had found Rarity and that he needed to find the Krazoa Spirits in order to save her.
“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s get that SpellStone!” Rainbow Dash excitedly shouted.
“But how are we going to get inside the base?” one of the wounded soldiers asked. “They’ll see us coming.”
“Maybe they’ll see you guys, but we’re small enough to sneak inside,” she explained. “Besides, you guys aren’t going anywhere. You’re in no condition to fight.”
“She’s right,” Twilight said in support of Rainbow Dash’s claim. “You should stay here and rest. We’ll take care of it.”
“Um, I think I should stay here too,” Fluttershy announced. “I still need to finish taking care of their injuries. Um, if that’s okay with you.”
“Okay, Fluttershy. You can do that while we go,” Twilight said with a nod before turning back to Rainbow Dash. “Lead the way, Rainbow Dash.”
They trekked through the bristly forest until they came to a rock formation that ran along the wasteland’s floor to the fort. The rocks provided cover so that they were able to sneak up to the base of the fort’s wall unseen. Along the side of the fort, they found a crack between it and the volcano large enough to squeeze inside. Once they breached the wall, they saw that the dogs had tunneled into the volcano and had made its caverns their base.
“Which one do you think has the SpellStone?” Tricky whispered to Rainbow Dash.
“I don’t know. I couldn’t find it,” she answered.
“Then where are the prisoners?” Applejack asked. Rainbow Dash motioned to a large walled off cavern across the courtyard.
“But how are we going to get over there without being seen?” Tricky asked.
“Leave that to me,” Twilight declared. Her horned glowed with a magenta aura and a dome of magic surrounded them. “An invisibility spell. Now they won’t be able to see us, but be quiet and stay inside the dome.”
The five huddled around Twilight and walked with her as she carefully made her way to the prison at a steady pace. The Diamond Dogs scurried back and forth across the fort as the carried crates and boxes. Twilight would pause to let them by without them entering the circle and navigated around them. When they reached the prison’s door, they saw a guard sitting in front of it. After looking around to make sure no other dog was watching, Spike stuck his head out of the bubble and activated the dragon-spell.
“Open the door,” Spike commanded the guard. It nodded its head and unlocked the barred door.
“These are not the ponies you’re looking for,” Pinkie said as she also poked her head out of the bubble and waved a hoof in front of the dog before Applejack pulled her back by her tail.
“These are not the ponies I’m looking for,” the guard repeated to everyone’s surprise. Spike rolled his eyes and conked the guard on top of its helmet, knocking it out. Spike then propped up the dog to make it look like it was asleep.
Inside the large chamber, they saw a HighTop standing between four posts. Chains led down from the posts to the shackles around its neck. Off to the side was a tunnel with cells and cages. A giant bird cage with a CloudRunner hung from the roof of the tunnel. Twilight’s horn stopped glowing and the invisibility dome vanished. When the CloudRunner saw the four ponies, the dragon, and the dinosaur, he cawed and flapped his wings.
“Let me out of here!” he begged.
“Sshh, keep it down,” Spike told him as they ran over to the caged pterosaur. He saw a lever on the wall and pulled it down. The latch on top of cage released and the cage dropped from the ceiling. They cringed and ran up to the CloudRunner. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Thanks for helping me out,” the freed CloudRunner said to them as he shook off the broken pieces of the cage and stretched his wings. “Wait, ponies and a dragon? Hey, aren’t you friends of Rarity?”
When the CloudRunner asked them the question, they gave each other surprised looks and Spike asked, “How do you know Rarity?”
“My name’s Kyte. I helped her get onto General Scar’s Galleon,” he explained. “When we went to Krazoa Palace, I was captured by the Diamond Dogs. I’ve been stuck here ever since.”
“We need to find the SpellStone of Air,” Twilight explained to Kyte. “Do you know where they have hidden it?”
“My guess is that they’ve taken it deep with the caves, but this place is crawling with dogs. You’ll need a distraction.”
“I can help you there,” the chained up HighTop offered in his deep voice. “If you release me, I can bust out of this place and you can get it while they chase after me.”
“Are you sure?” Applejack asked. “Ah mean, it’ll be dangerous.”
“Don’t worry about me,” he told them. “I’ve been wanting to pay them back for a while now.”
They looked together with unsure glances, but then Twilight used her magic to undo the shackles around the large dinosaur’s neck. He sighed with relief as he rubbed his sore neck against a pillar.
“Ah, that feels so much better,” he said. “Come on, let’s bust out of here!”
“Woohoo! Jailbreak!” Pinkie Pie cheered in excitement.
On the perimeter wall of the base, some Diamond Dogs were on patrol. They looked across the rocky plains in search of the dinosaur soldiers. As they marched, they felt a tremor. Confused, they halted and looked around. They felt another thud that caused them to shake. More dogs ran barking out the tunnels in the volcano and into the courtyard, ready for an attack. When another tremor hit, they realized it was not coming from outside the wall, but from inside the base. A large crack appeared on the prison’s wall with another quake, and then the HighTop came bursting through it with a loud bellow! The dogs yipped in alarm and scattered as large pieces of the prison’s wall were showered across the courtyard. They jumped out of the way as the massive sauropod charged out of his holding cell while Pinkie Pie rode atop his back.
“All of your base are belong to us!” she cried as she shook her front hooves in the air for dramatic emphasis. The Diamond Dogs on the fort’s wall were sent flying as the HighTop broke through it, demolishing the cannon towers in the process. With their turrets destroyed and their large prisoner chasing after them, the Diamond Dogs fled from the base. Once the Diamond Dogs had flown away in an airship, Pinkie Pie slid down the tail of HighTop while cheering, “Yabba dabba doo!”
Rainbow Dash laughed and wrapped a hoof around her pink friend’s shoulders. “Ha ha! Pinkie, that was so radical!”
“Thanks for releasing us,” Kyte said as he hovered beside the HighTop.
“You’re welcome. You can find your friends in the trees over there,” Twilight told them. They thanked them again and then headed off to rejoin the other soldiers. Fluttershy then floated down and landed beside the group.
“Good gracious, what happened here?” she asked when she saw what remained of the wall. “I heard a loud noise coming from the base and though something terrible must have happened to all of you.”
“We’re fine, sugar cube,” Applejack eased her worries.
“You just missed a totally awesome escape,” Rainbow Dash told her.
“Now that the base has been cleared, we can go find that SpellStone,” Twilight announced. They looked up at the network of tunnels and tried to figure out which one to take. As they searched the rooms of the base, they came across stockpiles of weapons and cannon ammunition. In other rooms, they found crates of food and supplies. They even found some gems that the Diamond Dogs have already collected from the island, but no SpellStone.
When they reached the highest level of the base, they found a tunnel that went deep into the volcano. On the walls were torches to light the way. As they searched the rooms as went further down the tunnel, they felt it was getting hotter. At the end of the chamber, there was a larger room with desks, maps, tables, and tunnels leading to the other parts of the base. By the look of it, it was the command room of the base. General Scar must have used it to plan out his strategies when he was here. On the table in the middle of the room was a large yellow stone.
“There it is!” Tricky exclaimed. They all gathered around the table and Spike picked up the SpellStone of Air.
“Aw yeah!” Rainbow Dash cheered.
“This means we can finally put the island back together again!” Tricky announced.
“Let’s get it back to the Force Point Temple where it belongs,” Twilight said to everyone else. Spike placed the SpellStone under his arm and started to follow his friends out of the room. As Spike was about to leave, a large figure emerged from one of the tunnels and walked up behind him.
“Huh?” Spike felt something on his shoulder and looked back to see a large clawed hand grasping it. The claw spun him around and a fist collided against Spike’s jaw. The blow knocked the purple dragon down, sending the SpellStone of Air spinning across the floor. Spike rubbed his sore jaw, but as he looked up to see who his assailant was, they grabbed him by the shoulders and threw him into the wall. The impact caused Spike the crash through it and land in the crater of the volcano. Spike shook his head and looked over the ledge that he landed on to see the boiling magma below.
“Spike!” Twilight shouted as she and the others ran back down the tunnel to help him when they heard the noise. A wall of orange flames blocked the doorway of the war room, separating them from Spike and his attacker. Spike rolled over onto his back and saw a figure standing in the hole in the wall that he had made. Spike eyes widen and his mouth opened in disbelief. It was someone he hadn’t seen in years and wasn’t too anxious to meet again.
“Garble.”
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3706083
Of course not. See for yourself in Chapter 19: Dragon Rock.
Four, count them, four Pinkie Pie 4th wall references.
Well that explains somethings. Time is see a dragon showdown.
Is it weird for me to be waiting for Peppy to tell Spike to do a barrel roll since this story started?
3708076 Eeeeenope! I have been waiting for it as well!
3708076
No, it isn't weird. What kind of Star Fox fan would I be if I didn't put in somewhere in my story?
Jeez pinkie so many memes this chapter.
Dang well one thing I know is that spike has an advantage. If I remember right garble has no wings as I think they come in differently for dragons. Plus spike has a personal stake due to peewee. And I figured out spike was channelling his dragon instincts wrong.he has to control his emotions as he focuses on using that side of him. He must keep in mind that he is in control on a subconscious level. And the constant reminder of his nightmares is not helping. To me spike has to get his mind under control. Have him face his fear and overcome it. He must have full control of his mental state.
3708050
: Captain, there appears to be a crack in the fourth wall.
: A crack?
: I think something is on the other side.
: Oh no! The crack is getting bigger!
: We mustn't let it get through!
: There's nothing we can do! We can't stop it!
: Stand your ground! We have to keep it out!
: Heeerrrreee's Pinkie!
: Aaaaahhhhhhhh!
3708572
(Bang Bang)
(Bang Bang)
(Bang Bang)
(Boom!)
3710491
Oh horseapples
3708050
That's all squared up to me.