My Little Pony: Rise of the Elements

by Featherdust418

Chapter Three: The Ominous Oasis

After staring at the sky for some time, Twilight scanned the wide, open space before her and was... well, a bit unimpressed. There seemed to be just a wide, open area with a few rocks and massive plants. The ground was similar to that of the cavern floors, aside from the cracks running through it all different ways due to it being so dry.

Feeling herself become weaker from holding the invisibility spell, Twilight removed the muffling spell to have better concentration. As soon as she did, she began to speak.

"Huh. That's it? Really?" She asked rhetorically, with a deadpan look.

"Oh well, I guess so! Uhh so yeah, pretty boring. This means we can go back now, righ-" Spike started to say, as the red sky seemed to be more threatening than welcoming to him. That, and despite his fear, he too was a bit unimpressed with the sight before them. However, before he could finish speaking Twilight cut him off.

"Oh ho, not yet! There's got to be more to this. I'm not leaving till I find that spot Shiny was talking about! Hmm... There seem to be more of those big plants- which I believe are called trees- in that direction, so let's go that way! Also, we need to get away from the guards cause I can't keep this spell up much longer!"

With that, Twilight immediately ran towards the trees (which was conveniently in the opposite direction of the troop), hid behind a large boulder, and dropped her invisibility spell. Spike hopped of her back, and she leaned against the rock and closed her eyes, breathing heavily and Spike stared at her worriedly. Although he knew she would be alright, he hated to see her strain herself too much. He then rummaged through the saddlebag, and pulled out a canteen of water. Handing it to her, she grabbed it and gulped most of it down swiftly. She then handed it back to Spike, and he placed the cap back on and put it back in the bag.

"Thanks Spike. Now... Where were we?" Asked Twilight after her brief recovery.

"How about... Getting out of here?" The baby dragon grinned hopefully at her, but to his dismay she was shaking her head.

"Nice try, but we're not leaving just yet. I feel much better now too. I'm going to take a peak over this rock... Stand guard in case anyone comes!"

'Ah yes, cause I'll definitely be able to stop the guards if they find us.' Spike thought to himself, but decided against saying it aloud. It would only cause an argument anyway, and that would slow them down further. The sooner they found what they were looking for and back in their nice, warm, and very safe cave home, the better.

Twilight climbed up close to the top, and looked over. Seeing the group of guards in the distance startled her, and she ducked down slightly. After a moment of realizing that they were far too busy to notice her (or even consider the notion of somepony following them), she picked her head back up and looked away. Slowly focusing on the area with more trees, she noticed what seem to be a path, and squinting her eyes to see better she saw that it seemed to go further into an area with even more trees, and the ground was becoming less cracked as well.

Twilight slid back down the rock gently, and turned towards Spike. He gave her a curious look, and asked her,

"Well? Did you find anything?"

"I sure did. We're going to follow a path I found. It leads to an area with more trees, and the ground is less cracked too. That means there's most likely water that way, which is probably the waterfall that Shiny was describing!" Twilight told him excitedly.

"But, Twilight! What if there's something out there? Like some kind of monster! I don't want to run into anything..."

"Oh please Spike. You know this area is protected by the ancient spell. Nothing can get in, and nothing can get out. We'll be fine! Now let's go before Shiny and his raiding party go back and we're stuck out here!"

She didn't have to tell the baby dragon twice. He was hoping, with one last-ditch effort to change the mare's mind, but in the end it proved to be useless which he half-knew anyway. So he went along with the rest of her crazy plan without any more objections. He climbed onto her back, and she cast the muffling spell on them once again- mainly to keep quiet while on the path, but also to block any more protests from her dragon companion, not realizing he had silently promised to refrain from doing so.

Once they had successfully snuck by and made their way down the path, the area became quite dense with even more trees. Twilight, feeling that they were a safe enough distance from the guards, dropped the muffling spell.

"Sure are a lot of trees around here... I think I read about a place like this in one of my books. It's called a f... a fe... a fo... ooh it's on the tip of my tongue! Spike! Can you get my book on Places of Interest in The World Above and see if you can find a place with a lot of trees?"

"Way ahead of you Twilight!" Spike, who had the book in his claws already, was searching for the page that Twilight was indicating. Almost as soon as Twilight had went out from behind the rock, he decided that she would most likely want to compare what was in the books to reality. So, to possibly save some time, he would start reading and answer her burning questions for her instead of her having to look it up in the book and find it herself.

"Ah, here it is! A... forest! Is that the word you were looking f-"

"FOREST! That's it! That's what we're in right now!" Twilight shouted excitedly. Spike crouched down against her and whispered roughly,

"Keep it down, yeesh! Could you be any louder? Maybe you should have kept the muffling spell on, I hope no one heard you!"

Twilight, with a hoof over her mouth, gave him an apologetic look. She then recast the muffling spell and galloped silently down the rest of the path. Maybe, if there was a chance the guards had heard her, she could lose them by moving quickly. No sense in waiting around, as there time was running short as well.

As she continued to run, she noticed the earth beneath her was becoming softer. Her worry began to vanish and was slowly replaced with joy.

'We must be getting close... It's got to be right around he-'

Before she could even finish the thought, she found herself in a large, open area, with a small pool and a cliff backdrop. A crisp, pure waterfall flowed down, and a rainbow shot out from the waterfall and into the pool. Along either side of the cliff were various plants growing out of the rocky wall, and some had sprouted many different flora of various colors. Along the edge of the pool were some bushes and plants, with the same vibrantly colored flowers. Even the red sky gave the place a warm glow, and all the previous warning it gave of was fully replaced by a sense of comfort and peace.

The two stared in awe and wonder, mouths hanging open. Never had they seen such beauty, having been confined to their little underground home for their entire lives. Twilight once again dropped the muffling spell, but despite that only continued to stare. It was Spike that decided to say something first, shaking his head slightly to break free from the trance they were both held captive in.

"Wow... Twilight. This is truly incredible. It's beautiful! Look at that waterfall, so clear and clean! And these flowers, they're so pretty! And... Uh, Twilight? Twilight!"

Spike, noticing his unicorn friend standing stock-still, shook her head slightly out of fear. To his relief, Twilight blinked and responded.

"What? Oh, Spike! S-sorry! I just... This place is so... Wow! There's so much beauty here. And, there's... Magic here too, I can feel it. It's as if it's calling out to me..." She began to slip once again into a trance, and Spike took action, full of concern for his friend.

"Twilight? Twilight! Snap out of it!" The dragon shook her head again, and she blinked.

"What? Huh? Oh! Ah, sorry Spike! It won't happen again, I promise! But I didn't expect there to be magic here... And certainly not this strong. I wonder where it's coming from?"

"M-maybe it's... his m-magic..." Spike cowered down against Twilight, eyes darting around nervously. Twilight, on the other hoof, rolled her eyes at his suggestion.

"Spike, Discord's magic can't reach us here, remember? So it's not his. Besides, this place is peaceful, so I don't think it's a dark or bad magic. Hmm, this is certainly an interesting find... What is this place?"

"Uh, Twilight, that really is interesting and all- no really, it is! But our time is getting shorter by the minute, and I really don't want to miss our chance back home..."

Twilight's eyes went wide, and she exclaimed,

"Oh my gosh Spike! The guards! We have to go back now if we want to sneak back home! Ok, quick, can you just grab a few of those flowers? As a souvenir for our little excursion! Then we'll go back, I promise!"

Spike, without question, ran up to one of the bushes, and grabbed a few flowers. Then, shoving them in the saddlebag, he leaped up onto Twilight's back, and the two turned around to find... The entire area blocked off with trees.

"What? No-no-no-no-NO! H-how? W-where's the path? That's impossible! This is where we came from, right here!"

"We're doomed."

"Quiet! How can I think with that kind of negativity? Um, ok Twilight, think, THINK."

And as she thought, she paced. Spike, who would normally would have criticized her talking to herself, was far too distraught to even notice. He held his head in his claws, squeezing his eyes shut. Twilight paced along the trees, following the length of them with each back-and-forth. Finally, close to the side of the cliff, she saw a path running through the trees. She paused, then exclaimed,

"Here it is! Spike, I found it! Let's go now!" And the two shot down the path. Twilight was slightly hesitant, as this was surely not where they came from. Or maybe she was mistaken? Either way, what did she have to lose?

As they ran, Twilight noticed the earth beneath her hooves becoming more dry.

"Ok Spike, we must be getting close! The earth is more dry here, and fewer trees too! Soon we'll be-"

As she spoke, she ran out into another clearing. Pausing, she and Spike saw the guards in the distance, and she quickly dove behind a large boulder to stay hidden.

"Ok... They seem to be heading back now. I'll cast both spells one more time, and we'll sneak in after them! See, I knew my plan would be a success! Alright... Here we go!"

Twilight cast the spell, and began to move towards the guards. She watched as Shiney cast the spell to go back down under, and the trap door appeared. Soon all the troop went through, and Twilight made her move. Quickly, she sped over to the door, but the closer she got the more it began to fade.

'What? How can it be disappearing so fast? Shiney isn't even in yet, he's still making sure everypony's accounted for! He's going to have to use the spell aga- SHINEY!'

As the two came right upon the trapdoor, it had disappeared altogether. However, what was even more strange was that, Shining Armor, which seem to be staring right at the currently invisible duo, began to fade away as well. Soon, everything was gone, and they were left in an empty, open area, alone.

"T-Twilight... What just happened..."

"I... That was an illusion. We were tricked. No. No-no-no-no-NO! No... Shiney, please, come back..."

"Ugh... I shouldn't say it. But you know what? I'm going to. Twilight, we should have stayed home! Now... W-we're really stuck out here, aren't we? Oh, this is juuust great! We're gonna be in so much troub- wait. Twilight, why is your saddlebag glowing?"

Looking down, spike saw a soft glow of various colors spilling out of the bag.

"Huh?" Twilight looked also, and levitated the flowers up out of the bag. Sure enough, they glowed softly... And they had waves of light that seemed to be pulled in a certain direction. As Twilight moved the flowers, the waves stayed the same.

"That's odd... It's almost like a... A compass! Spike, we should follow where these flowers are pointing!"

"Oh, so you're just going to trust some random magic flowers. Are you crazy!?"

"Well, would you rather sit out here in nowhere land? Or do you have a better idea?"

Spike grumbled to himself, but she was right- they would just be waiting here. And apparently this wasn't even the place that lead to home.

"Fine, let's go... But I don't like this."

Twilight then held the flowers out in front of her with her magic, and followed the waves running through the flowers. Eventually, she came to a point where she, with her magic, detected a small, magical bubble around themselves.

"Uh... Spike. We're not within the ancient spell anymore..."

"W-what? What do you mean?" Spike asked, becoming increasingly fearful of his surroundings at her statement.

"I... Well. We're still safe... I think these flowers are protecting us. We're still covered by the spell."

"Okay, well turn around and go back to the big spell!"

"I... Spike, no! I can't! These flowers are trying to tell me something! They're leading us- safely- to... Somewhere. I can't just ignore them! We've already come this far, I'm not turning back now!"

Spike looked at her as if she was crazy. Then he closed his eyes and sighed. There would be no changing her mind, and, well, if the flowers were keeping the ancient spell with them then maybe they could be trusted. That, and he couldn't go back alone with no spell to protect him. He could never risk Discord finding him... He shuddered at the thought.

"Ok fine... Let's go then. This trip better be a short one!"

Twilight smiled widely, and gave him a big hug.

"Ohhh, thank you Spike! Alright, let's go- the sooner we find what the flowers want us to, the better!"

And the two went on, traveling for several hours. Finally, they came upon a sign, which surprised them both.

"Ponyville... And an arrow pointing in the same direction as the flowers. Well, I guess this is where we're going."

"Wait, there are more ponies? Ponies can actually live here? I wouldn't have expected that..." Said Spike.

"Some of the books I have mention it, though others say it's not possible. Very conflicting, I myself didn't think it possible... Well. This is where the flowers want us to go, so... Here goes nothing."

'Or everything', she thought to herself, and the two bravely made their way towards the small village.

Author's Note:

A new chapter? That was fast! Honestly I feel a little bad for Spike in this one. Despite his fears, he's lived with Twilight and gone enough crazy adventures with her to know that there's no changing her mind when she has an idea. (That and he maaay be interested in a new adventure himself, he's read quite a few comic books after all.)

So, it seems these newfound, magic flowers are leading them to Ponyville... What will they encounter there (well, besides ponies) when they arrive? Find out in the next chapter of MLP: RotE coming soon! (Comments and constructive criticism welcome!)