The Legend of Spike: Krazoa Island

by DiabloGuapo

The Test of Observation

Rarity and her companion, Kyte the CloudRunner, had arrived at a large stone building with large tower in the center. She could see the structure was supported by pillars and the walls were decorated with stain glass windows. Above her, there were balconies and spires that were supported by buttresses. It was an enchanting and awe inspiring sight, however, there was an eerie sense of the unknown that lingered over the palace. Rarity could feel that there was some sort of otherworldly power that inhabited the building and that it was watching her. Pressing through her unnerved feelings, the unicorn dismounted Kyte.

“This is Krazoa Palace,” the CloudRunner announced. “This is the dinosaurs’ most sacred place.” That explained that mysterious force that Rarity felt and she nodded in understanding, but she still approached the temple cautiously as Kyte walked beside her. They were on a platform that overlooked the island, but the view was obstructed by the rain and the night sky. They noticed that some of the pillars were knocked over and they could smell smoke.

Rarity’s mane was completely soaked by now. It was normally styled with a gentle curl, but now it was straight and dripping wet. She brushed away some strands of clumped together violet hair out of her eyes and sighed with disappointment.

The pair froze when they heard the sound of someone talking. They could tell by their voice that they weren’t dinosaurs and they took cover behind a fallen pillar. Rarity and Kyte slowly peered over the rubble and saw a band of Diamond Dogs standing in front of an entrance they had made by blowing a hole into the exterior wall of the palace. Rarity was outraged that these brutes would dare deface such a magnificently constructed piece of architecture, but held her tongue for the moment.

“We need to get pass them,” Rarity whispered.

Kyte nodded and said, “If you go inside, be very careful.” He spread his wings and appeared to be ready to take flight.

“What are you doing?! They’ll see you!”

“I know. I’m going to cause a distraction. When they chase after me…”

“Kyte, please…” Rarity tried to stop him with a pleading voice.

“You’ll be clear to enter. Since they indeed attacked the palace that means the defense systems have been activated. You have to be careful. Oh, and be sure to steer clear of the sentries.”

“Kyte, please no,” she tried to beg, but it was too late. The pterosaur took off and flew in front of the bipedal dogs and started cawing at them.

“Xoo, oei jmocco mikkj!” he taunted in his native language. “Semo udt wok mo!”

The dogs yipped in surprise when the CloudRunner swooped in front of them, but started to growl and bark as they chased him as he took off, leading them away from their makeshift entrance. Rarity didn’t have time to worry about her new friend and so she galloped to the hole in the wall. As she ran, she thought about what Kyte had told her. She wondered what kind of security system had been activated and what where the sentries.

The mare with violet mane reached the hole and carefully peered in side. She saw a corridor that lead to a chamber in one direction and a dead end in the other. With obviously one way to go, she headed to the chamber. The Unicorn was grateful for the torches that lined the walls of the palace, otherwise it would have been pitch black inside and she would have been forced to use her horn to illuminate the way. That would have been risky, for a glowing horn in the dark would have received a lot of unwanted attention. She walked slowly so that her hooves wouldn’t clop and give her away.

She reached the chamber and peaked around the corner. To her shock, she saw something large lying on the tiled floor. It had a large quadruped body that was covered in dark orange and brown pebble like scales and its head was adorned with a frill that resembled a shield. It wore bracers on its legs, armor on its back, and its frill was covered with a metal reinforcement. It had two long horns that extended forward over its eyes and a smaller third horn over its beak like mouth. Rarity was not a dinosaur enthusiast, but she did recognize such a famous dinosaur; it was a triceratops!

Knowing that it wasn’t an enemy, Rarity rushed to its side. The Unicorn gasped and covered her mouth with a hoof when she saw the wounds on the fallen dinosaur. There were large gashes and bruises from where the Diamond Dogs had attacked it with their weapons. Rarity extended a shaking hoof to the dinosaur’s neck and felt for a pulse. Her eyes filled with sympathetic tears as she discovered that it was too late. She sadly looked over the fallen dinosaur and realized that he must have died defending the palace.

She didn’t have time to mourn for the brave warrior as she heard something coming down the hall. At first, she feared it was the Diamond Dogs, but then noticed it was a whirling sound. She hid behind the triceratops’ large body and saw what looked like a floating octopus go pass the entrance of the chamber. It was mechanical and its golden head had a design that matched the texture of the pattern on the palace’s walls. It had long arms that were made of interconnected plates, ending with blades. The thing glowed blue with magic and Rarity understood that this must have been one of the sentries that Kyte had warned her about.

Not noticing the Unicorn, the sentry continued on its way down the corridor. Rarity decided it was best to move on before it came back. The chamber she was in had an archway that lead to another corridor, but one of the support columns had collapsed and blocked the way. Rarity used her magic and moved the debris out of the way. She gasped when she saw what awaited her. Lining the walls of the hallway were jets that would shoot out bursts of fire.

“This must be the palace’s defense system,” Rarity said to herself and then moaned. First she was soaking wet and now she was going to be burnt to a crisp! This was like something straight out of a Daring Do novel. “Wait a moment…that’s it! What would Daring do in a moment like this?”

The Unicorn carefully watched the jets of fire. They would only burst for a few seconds and then wait for a few more before activating again. There was plenty space for a pony, but probably not for a dinosaur, in between the jets. This was going to be easy. Rarity approached the first jet, waited for it to go off, and then moved to the next one. She repeated to process until she safely made it to the other side of the chamber. Other than feeling the extreme heat coming from the roaring flames, Rarity was perfectly safe.

In the next chamber, she found a sealed door. Rarity tried to push against it, but it didn’t budge. She stepped back and noticed the door was segmented into four different sections and that it must have slid together. She also noticed the door had a symbol of what resembled a diamond with six arms branching off it. Each arm ended with a circle and the lower three points where longer than the top three. A complicated door like this must have a way off activating it. Rarity looked around the room and noticed a large raised section on the floor. Taking a closer look, Rarity discovered it was a pressure pad. Standing on the switch, her weight caused it to lower and the pieces of the door slid away, revealing a large chamber. Before Rarity could enter the next room, the door sealed shut once more when she stepped off the plate. Understanding how the door worked, she looked around for something to weigh down the switch and found a post with a basin of fire. Using her magic, she moved the post over so that it rested on the plate, allowing her to continue.

Rarity entered the room and nearly cried out in despair when she found three more bodies of fallen triceratopses. She closed her eyes and looked away from the tragic scene.

How could they do this? she asked herself. She opened her eyes and looked to each of the fallen warriors. They were trying to defend their home and those monsters murdered them. What kind of fiend is Scar?

A cough caught the Unicorn’s attention and she noticed that one of the dinosaurs was still breathing. She rushed to its side and placed a hoof on its massive foot. The triceratops opened an eye and looked up at the mare that was looking down it with a sorrowful expression.

“N-Nxe uho oei?” it asked while coughing.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t understand you, sir,” Rarity apologized. “My name is Rarity. I’m here to help.”

“A pony?” the dinosaur asked, switching to her language and coughing as he talked. “Then, you’re not… with those... dogs?”

“Of course not, I came with here with a CloudRunner. What has happened here?”

“They attacked the palace, trying to steal… the power of the… the Krazoa. The Krazoa… need your help… They are dying…”

“Was it you that sent the distress signal?” The triceratops weakly nodded his head to answer her question.

“When we were attacked, I signaled for help,” he explained. He closed his eyes with a pained expression as he recounted what happened. “We were massacred.”

“But you’re dinosaurs! How can they pose a threat to you?”

“It was their leader, General Scar. With his magic, he was able to provide his army with weapons and technology that overwhelmed us.” Rarity recalled her encounter with the overgrown Doberman on his airship and the red talisman he had around his neck. Diamond Dogs didn’t have magic like Unicorns, Alicorns, and perhaps even zebras did, but whatever his charm was, it gave him his own magic.

“But what were you doing here?”

“The King EarthWalker sent us to protect this sacred palace…” he explained. Apparently, his tribe was called the EarthWalkers, just like the flying pterosaur who had brought her there was called a CloudRunner. “Home of the Krazoa.” The EartherWalker motioned his head to a statue on the wall and Rarity saw it depicted a tall figure wearing a robe with a rounded headdress and a long bearded chin. The statues eyes where made of sapphires with a third one in the center of its forehead. “The Krazoa are peace spirits… powerful being who bring life to our island. Without the spirits, our island is dead.”

“Is there something I can do?” Rarity generously offered, wanting to help this unfortunate island under attack.

“My girl, only the pure of heart can take the tests,” he told her as he pointed to another door marked with the same six armed symbol that was on the other door. It opened and there was a yellow glow coming from side. “Enter the Krazoa Shrine. Once inside, complete the spirit’s test and await your reward.”

Curious, Rarity left the EarthWalker’s side and headed towards the room with the yellow light. Inside it, she could see a circular platform carved with strange symbols and a circle over it on the ceiling with matching symbols. The yellow light seemed to be emitting from these matching circles.

“If you succeed, then return here to me…” he continued. He coughed again, causing Rarity look back over her shoulder at him. “I’m not going anywhere…”

After giving him one last sympathetic look, the alabaster Unicorn headed into the room and cautiously looked at the glowing platform. She gingerly placed one hoof on the altar, but nothing happened. She then stepped up on the platform and waited for something to happen. For a moment, she thought nothing would happened, but then she felt a warmth envelope her. The two circles grew brighter and light filled the shrine as Rarity felt the magic enter her. Her body glowed yellow and orange and then vanished.

In a similarly designed shrine elsewhere, a yellow and orange light materialized and a Unicorn appeared within it. Rarity looked around and discovered that she was in another location. She saw the archway had statues of those Krazoa Spirits on either side and figured that this was the Krazoa Shrine. Not wasting any time, she headed into the shrine. It looked very much like Krazoa Palace, with the same titled floor, pillars, and torches on the walls. As she walked down the hallway, she stopped suddenly when three jets of flames burst from the floor! She yelped in fright and leaped back.

Apparently, this place is also booby-trapped, she thought to herself, unamused. She looked at the floor to see if there were any more fire jets. To her relief, there wasn’t. To her dismay, there was one of those floating sentries! The mechanical octopus started to spin, stretching out its bladed arms and becoming a flying buzz saw. Rarity backed away nervously and looked around for away pass the thankfully slow moving sentry. Unfortunately, there wasn’t and the only other way she could go was the way she came. The thing drew closer and Rarity came up with a plan. Just as the sentry approached her, she ran under the spinning blades and passed the sentry. She laughed at her success, but stopped when she founded the way was blocked by a gate.

“How am I…?” she started to ask out loud until she heard the whirling sound of the sentry coming from behind her. She spun around and saw that the machine that was glowing with blue magic now had her cornered. Even though fighting wasn’t her thing and didn’t know many offensive spells, she was out of options. She charged her horn and shot a light blue bolt a magic at the sentry. The magic struck the machine, causing it to shudder and to lose its magical glow. Having its power source disrupted, the machine collapsed to the floor in a heap of mechanical parts.

“Oh, well that was easy,” Rarity exclaimed, a little surprised that her magic could defeat it ease. She then grimly thought, If I could defeat it this easily, then Scar could as well. I guess the sentries weren’t designed to combat magical threats. That’s probably why the EarthWalkers were sent to defend the palace.

Behind her, Rarity could hear the clanking sound of the gate being raised. She continued through the gate and around a corner where she saw another sentry. Using her magic, she blasted it before it noticed her. With that threat out of the way, she noticed another gate at the end of the corridor and an ethereal purple light shining through the grate. Also, there was a pressure plate before her and jets that shot out fire just like that one hallway in the palace. Acting on a hunch, she stepped on the plate, and the gate opened, but slowly it started to descend. Understanding what she must do, she made her way down the corridor, making sure to avoid the fire jets, and made to the gate before it closed.

If only Rainbow Dash could see me now, she proudly thought as enter the room. On the opposite side of the room was a round mirror that hung from the wall that rippled like water. As strange as this was, it was nothing compared to the figure before the mare. It was blue, but translucent and glowed with a purple light. Rarity was mesmerized by its beautiful glow and she noticed it looked just like the statues she saw earlier. It had an ape like face, a long chin, a circular headdress, and long tendrils that flowed behind it. This spectral head was floating between six giant urns that rested on the six pointed symbol Rarity had noticed on the palace doors.

“Welcome to the test of observation,” a voice radiated from the pulsating purple light. The voice echoed and seemed to be laired, as though many whispering voices were speaking at once. “Watch closely where I hide. If you can find me, then I will be yours to return to Krazoa Palace. Do you accept?”

“Yes, let us begin,” Rarity told the spirit. In a flash of purple, the spirit entered one of the urns. The urns started to spin, first clockwise, then counterclockwise, and then clockwise again. They speed up, would crisscross, and shuffle around. It reminded Rarity of a game that swindlers would play on the streets. With the amount of spinning, crisscrossing, and changes of direction, it would be easy to lose sight of the target. When the urns stopped, Rarity smirked, walked forward, and tapped on the side of an urn. The urn glowed purple with magic and the unicorn knew she was victorious. It was hardly a challenge for her, for she had one of the most discerning eyes in all of Equestria and paid a great amount of attention to detail.

The spirit then emerged from the rippling mirror and floated towards Rarity. It lingered in front of her for a moment, and then it lunged at her! She gasped as the spirit entered into her, causing her to float backwards with its momentum. Her body glowed purple and she hovered in the air for a few seconds before slowly landing on her hooves. She looked at herself, and nothing seemed to be out of place. However, she could feel a power inside her, and if she could see her own eyes, she would discover that they were glowing purple.

Well done, a voice said within her head. I will remain in your body until you release me in Krazoa Palace. As soon as the spirit within had said this, the yellow teleporting magic once again enveloped her and she was taken back to the palace. She stepped out of the altar room and saw the same EarthWalker was indeed still there. She ran to his side and he feebly looked up at her. He smiled when he saw her glowing purple eyes, which signified her success.

“The shrines keep the spirits safe from harm…” the EarthWalker wheezed, running out of time and trying to explain as much as he could before his time came. “…but their powers are useless. Only when the spirit has been released… back into the palace… can it be used to stop this war.” He then mustered the last of his strength, rolled over, and pointed to a platform behind him. “…There.”

When he rolled over, Rarity got a good look at a large slash on his chest and cried out, “Oh, your chest! I must do something to help you!”

“Forget about me… just go…”

“But…” she tried to protest.

“Please… for Krazoa Island… you must go…”

She didn’t want to leave to mortally wounded soldier, but she nodded and left as a few tears leaked from her eyes. She stood on the platform and it rose up to an entrance of a narrow tunnel. Unlike the lower part of the palace, this corridor had dark blue tiles and brilliant white overhead lights instead of warm gold tiles with torches. She came to a t-junction. To the left as a large open chamber that appeared to be the heart of the palace, but to the right was a smaller shrine. On the wall of shrine was a Krazoa face statue with pillars on either side. On the pillars were torches with green flames. Rarity could feel the spirit drawing her in that direction, so she followed it.

She came to a glowing white circular altar before the statue and felt something pulling away from here as she stood on it. It had knocked the wind out of her and her legs gave out beneath her. She groaned with discomfort and she raised herself up with her front legs. She leaned her head back, stuck her chest forward, and groaned one more time as the Krazoa Spirit phased through her chest and floated into the statue that resembled it on the wall. She fell back down and panted. Looking back up, she saw the statue shake and then open its eyes and mouth. A purplish white light emitted as a beam from the glowing eyes and gaping mouth and headed down the corridor to the central chamber at the other end.

Unbeknownst to Rarity, someone was hiding behind one of the pillars beside her. Whoever it was had watched her released the spirit and now emerged from their hiding place in the shadows. Rarity strained as she rose back to her hooves, recovering from the ordeal. She looked at the beam of light, but then she heard something behind her and turned around. The Unicorn’s eyes widen with terrible recognition and gasped, “It’s you!”

The figure rushed her and forced her into the beam of light. She screamed as she was carried away by the force of the beam and entered the central room of the palace. Her body was encased in a crystal and the platform beneath it raised up pass the multiple levels and balconies of the round chamber until it reached the roof. On the roof was an apparatus with gyros rotating around the crystal and spinning apertures that held the crystal in place with that same beam of purplish magic. Rarity opened her eyes, blinked a few times, and looked side to side. All that she could see was the raining night sky and the Krazoa Spirit she had released that was circling the crystal that she was now trapped in.

Comments

[DiabloGuapo]

Well, the Rarity prologue section of the story is over. Coming up next, Spike enters the story and the real adventure begins.

[Fluffy-Boi]

This is good stuff. Third time reading it.