• Published 8th May 2015
  • 4,331 Views, 399 Comments

Spike's Shadow - DraconequusMaximus



Sombra has once again returned, but is now powerless. Spike is assigned to be his parole officer, but Sombra soon finds himself hopelessly entangled in a much darker part of Spike's life even his friends and family didn't know about.

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Up In The Air

Daring Do was the first to touch down on the rock formation, not wanting Spike to beat her there. Even if he could have done so almost effortlessly. Spike had deigned to give her some space, knowing that Daring was a lot like an older version of Rainbow Dash. Stubborn, set in her ways, and willing to do almost anything to complete her objectives.

Spike just hoped Daring's objectives were still of the purely heroic kind.

"So, uh... Daring? Now would probably be the time to use whatever magic item you have." Spike suggested.

Daring nodded, reaching into her bag.

The item Sombra had caught a glimpse of before now made it's debut appearance. It was a rounded flute-like instrument about a foot long, but only a bit thicker than the average flute. The only truly remarkable thing about it was an odd bit at the end that had a ring with ridges attached to the flute by four prongs that bent outward.

Daring proceeded to look around the surface of the rock formation, looking for something known only to her. As Daring had much experience in the field of looking for hidden artifacts, traps, and the like, her search took only a moment.

Daring pressed a hidden switch inward and the floor of the formation vibrated a little. A section of the rock opened up, revealing a small dip in the rock face that began filling with a luminescent liquid from an unseen source. Daring eyed the shallow pool of liquid skeptically, but supposed it was what she was looking for.

Daring dipped the ring portion of the flute-like magic item into the liquid. When she withdrew the device Daring raised the mouthpiece to her lips and played a short tune. Every note caused the liquid on the flute's end to glow brighter and brighter until a bubble began forming.

The bubble began growing at an astonishing speed.

It didn't stop expanding until it was easily twice the size of Daring herself. The bubble shifted backward and soon encompassed Daring's whole body in a matter of seconds. As soon as Daring was completely enclosed in the unorthodox magic item an imaginary breeze picked the bubble up, carrying Daring upwards at a fair speed.

Spike and Sombra hadn't known exactly what to expect, but the bubble certainly hadn't been it. It took the pair a few seconds of awkward silence to snap back to attention.

"Well, that was something. Anyway, put the top down, Sombra. We aren't letting her beat us up there." Spike said after a moment.

Sombra smiled wider than he had since Daring had joined their excursion as he dove down into the pod. Spike was in the air a split second after he heard the dome click shut.

Sombra had fortunately opted to buckle up before shutting the hatch. Sombra did however deign to wait until they were a substantial height to don the oxygen mask.

Sombra eventually began to feel the air thinning after some time, slipping the oxygen mask on and activating the mechanism. Though the mask was very uncomfortable Sombra had to admit the apparatus did it's job. He could breathe without issue, though Sombra found it hard to believe Spike had no troubles breathing this high up.

If anything I'd think Spike would require much more air than either Daring or myself. Sombra thought to himself.

Hey Sombra, look out the window. We're here, but we really did beat Daring's magic bubble, so I'm gonna circle around the place so we can get a good look.

Sombra put his musings on Spike's lung-power aside, more interested in the temple.

Thanks to Spike's slowing down to cruising speeds, Sombra was able to take in the temple's grandeur. The temple was roughly three or four times the size of the palace in The Crystal Empire. It looked exactly like the picture Luna and Celestia had provided them with, even though it hardly did the place justice.

It was indeed a squared crown-like arrangement of turrets with a much larger turret in the center. It gave off a strange sort of vibe, but each of the trio felt something different about it.

Spike felt strangely at ease seeing the temple, as if he was going to an old friend's house.

Sombra felt increasingly tense, as if they were heading right into the lion's den.

Daring was feeling a rush of adrenaline at the thought of continuing her decades-old fight with Ahuizotl.

This place is like something out of a fiction novel. Appropriate considering the company we're keeping.

Yeah yeah, Daring's bubble is almost to the base of the temple. I'm taking us down, so just try and get along with her until the job is done.

Sombra braced himself as Spike quickly began heading down. Looking out the wind-shield, Sombra saw the base of the temple coming up quickly, along with the bubble containing Daring.

The bubble popped as soon as Daring was a foot above the base of the temple.

Spike touched down a short distance away, finding the air around the temple was just like the air down on the ground.

Magic permeated the likely artificially created atmosphere, in a much higher concentration than Spike had ever felt. Save a few instances where magical beams of rainbow-colored light were being blasted at the forces of evil.

Sombra opened the windshield, sticking his head out to see if he could breathe properly.

"Interesting. The mana here is so dense I can feel it even without my horn." Sombra observed as he began getting out of the pod.

Spike of course lowered his wing and let Sombra slide down to the floor of the temple's outer walkways.

"Yeah, I know. This place must suck in ambient magic from all over to keep it in perpetual motion. That's probably why it likes going to populated places, the more spells being fired off the more magic is dispersed back into the world's mana-flow." Spike surmised.

Daring took in a deep breath, finding the air was definitely breathable.

"Dunno what you two are on about. I don't feel anything weird. Just really clean air." Daring concluded.

"Must be a magic-user thing. Let's just get inside. It'll probably take forever to search a place this huge." Spike suggested.

Walking up to the door of the temple was simple, but actually entering would be something of a chore it seemed. The door was at least as tall as Spike's home and was made of a dark-grey metal, covered in runes each the size of a pony's head. The group stared at the monstrous door, wondering exactly how to open it.

"Well... Dragon-boy, think you could tear us a hole through the wall? Stone shouldn't be a problem for you, yeah?" Daring suggested.

"Nah, that won't be necessary. I think I can open the door." Spike stated confidently.

Spike took a deep breath, and calmed his nerves. He stared intently at the door, looking over the runes intently. Sombra was a tad surprised to find that Spike could read the absurd characters.

Yr wyf Spike, mab Nabi, olaf o'r rhai cyntaf. Gwas o dduwiau, hen a newydd, amddiffynnydd o harmoni. Spike shouted in an almost unearthly dual-tone.

The door's enormous hinges creaked, and slowly but surely the great iron barriers pushed themselves inward. Inside was a great darkness, as the building didn't have very many windows.

"What exactly was that just now? Did you just cast some sort of spell?" Sombra asked, thoroughly confused.

"Actually, I just told the door who I was and it opened. The runes are Draconian. The language of dragons. Zecora taught it to me.

"They read 'Announce thyself to be judged if you wish to gain entrance to the Temple of Nyll, Goddess of Sky.' More or less. This is the temple one of my ancestors looked after. It makes sense, I just feel stupid for not thinking of it sooner. Who else would need such a big building?" Spike revealed, new excitement coursing through him.

Sombra considered that, finding the story made sense.

A goddess of the air and sky would most likely have no problem constructing a floating castle. Though the fact that it was still lazily floating about after the goddess's death and countless eons later was impressive spellwork. Even knowing Nyll had been a goddess the sheer magnitude of magic at work in the temple was utterly mind-boggling.

"Yeah, that's neat and all, but we need to get moving. I grabbed a branch off of one of the dead trees as we left Farrier's Gulch. It outta make a decent torch." Daring butted in.

Daring held out the branch, prompting Spike to light it.

"We don't need it. You happen to be in the presence of a master pyromancer in training." Spike gloated.

Spike held out his claw and blew a steady stream of fire into his palm which formed into a ball of emerald light. Spike removed his claw, but the ball of fiery green light stayed in the air. It soon floated upward a bit, keeping a steady source of light over their heads.

In the green light, it was easy to see the interior of the temple. It was all dark-gray stone, nothing particularly exciting. The only thing visible without entering was a hallway, meaning they could go in without immediate danger.

"Impressive." Sombra praised.

Daring however merely rolled her eyes and placed the branch back into her bag.

The group hastily made their way inside soon after, watchful of anything that might cause them harm.

Once they reached a sort of foyer-like area the size of Spike's entire home the group managed to locate a brazier in the center of the floor. Spike didn't hesitate in directing the fire that guided them into the brazier, igniting the long-doused lighting fixture.

Within a matter of seconds the entire room's light fixtures all erupted into green fires, allowing the trio a full-view of the foyer. Viewing it all at once was a far more entrancing experience than viewing it a bit at a time.

It was just as enormous as previously thought, and on each of the walls was a banner of white with sky-blue borders, each with a stylized outline of a dragon in the center. The floor was covered in a beautiful mural that depicted an indescribable being of rainbow-hues gifting much smaller beings of all shapes and sizes musical instruments.

"Holy crap. Ma would flip if she could see this. I'm seeing this, but I'm resisting the urge to flip." Spike spoke up first.

"Indeed... I have no words." Sombra added.

"Yeah, okay. Easily the nicest floor I've ever seen." Daring admitted.

Spike ran his claw over his comb of sharp spines, trying to process what he had just witnessed.

"Nyll, goddess of air. Inventor of philosophy and music, shaper of the sky, and the founder of pacifism. She used to live here. I feel a little sick thinking that someone related to me by blood caused her to die." Spike lamented.

Sombra thought he should offer some words of encouragement, but was once again cut off by Daring.

"Yeah, tragic. But right now we need to get moving. You just turned on every light in the joint, so we need to start the search. The important stuff is always in the biggest, most-important-looking areas." Daring declared.

Spike nodded his head in agreement, even though Daring's attitude was really beginning to irk him.

Having no information on exactly where the gem was, or of the interior makeup of the temple made things rather difficult. There were currently two hallways open for exploration, but there was still a ways to go before they could reach the chamber that might contain the gem at the heart of the temple.

Even when they did find it they needed to wait for the timer to start to take it with certainty there would be no casualties or international incidents.

Ahuizotl was set to make an appearance, and he could very well show up before the timer went off. Subduing the villain and keeping the stone safe would be a rather hefty task. Any mistakes made now could very well have catastrophic consequences.

Spike went to the entry way to each hallway, giving each a tongue-flick test. Daring and Sombra stayed in the center of the room, watching Spike's odd display. Reptilian senses were somewhat difficult to explain to mammals, and time was of the essence.

"Does he do this often? The tongue thing I mean." Daring asked Sombra.

"Every now and then. It's strange but he always seems to learn something about his surroundings." Sombra replied.

Daring was quiet for a time, until curiosity got the better of her.

"So, how's the dragon in bed? Can't say I don't see the appeal. The guy's huge, strong, and pretty exotic. Definitely interesting."

Sombra leaned in angrily, getting right in Daring's face.

"I am not in a relationship with Spike. I have only known him for scarcely longer than a fortnight, and the first time we met I tried to destroy him and several of his family members. I will admit I find him to be the only being I feel I owe any ounce of loyalty to, but that doesn't give everyone the right to assume I am fornicating with Spike." Sombra glowered.

Despite Sombra trying to seem threatening, Daring merely smirked.

"Yeah, I figured you weren't. But seeing how quickly you reacted to a simple ploy, I'd say you've got the hots for the big lizard. Bad. Even if you can't accept it." Daring taunted, poking Sombra on the snout.

Sombra was immediately tempted to draw his sword, but Spike returned, causing Sombra to forgo his homicidal intentions.

"The one on the right is giving me some bad vibes. I dunno why though, it seems like whatever happened that way was so long ago I can't get a scent. I say we check it out." Spike suggested.

"Seconded. Dangerous usually means important." Daring agreed.

"If the danger has passed, I see no reason to avoid it." Sombra consented gruffly.

Spike sensed the apprehension in his voice, but chalked it up to nervousness.

The group headed down the newly lit hallway, finding nothing out of the ordinary until it's end.

The room was filled with something of a library-like assortment of stone shelves, each filled with what appeared to be stone tablets with more draconian runes on them. It would be an amazing discovery, had it not been for the state of the room.

Many of the shelves had been knocked over, tablets broken or crushed, and once beautiful wall-hanging tapestries torn asunder. But worst of all were the room's occupants.

Everywhere there were bones.

Complete skeletons of members of every race one could think of, and even a few that were impossible to name. Among the most abundant were those of a strange bipedal creature with a swine-like skull. They stood out, as they were the only ones that had seemed to posses weapons or armor of any sort.

"We're about an a million years to late to the party, huh?" Daring asked uneasily as she surveyed the scene.

Spike picked up one of the porcine skulls and stared into the vacant holes that once held the creature's eyes. Without so much as a glint of hesitation in his eyes Spike closed his hand and destroyed the skull. For the time being Spike kept the shards in his clenched fist as he looked over the graveyard the once bustling library had become.

"These are orcs' skeletons. A stupid, violent, and famously disgusting race of barely sentient monsters. Dootha created them, and Dramaal and Dorta made them extinct. But not before they helped the rest of Dootha's forces kill his siblings, and anything else that got in the way." Spike explained.

Shortly after Spike released the petrified bone fragments which dropped to the ground with a sound not unlike breaking porcelain.

Spike looked around the room a short while longer, carefully surveying the bones of fallen innocents and orcs alike. Neither Sombra nor Daring said a word, seeing the serious look on Spike's face. After a few moments of rather weighty silence it seemed Spike had come to some sort of conclusion.

"None of the orcs bones have a single scratch on them. If they had died in the struggle there'd be blade or claw marks on their bones too. Whatever killed them did it without laying a finger on them. It wasn't dragon fire either, or there'd be absolutely nothing left." Spike deduced, only now sounding unsettled.

Sombra and Daring both quickly glanced around realizing Spike was right. The innocent worshipers and scholars that had been slain were marred by cuts and slashes while the orc skeletons were wholly intact.

"That is... distressing, but it could have been Nyll. Or the magic of your ancestor who was steward to this place." Sombra pointed out.

Spike nodded, hoping that was the case.

"No point dwelling on it I guess. We should get a move on." Spike agreed.

The group continued on, finding a number of rooms in similar condition to the library-like room. They left the rooms without a single word, but eventually they came to a crossroads.

A hallway that split in three directions. The central path was more of an opening to a massive staircase. From what could be seen it appeared that Spike's fire had also illuminated the upper floors.

No way we're splitting up. There's too much we don't know, and Ahuizotl is still due to crash the party at any time. Spike thought to himself.

"I call top bunk!" Daring shouted, taking wing and sailing up the stairs.

Unfortunately she didn't make it very far, as Spike had just barely managed to grab hold of her tail with his right-claw. Daring looked back at Spike angrily as she flapped to maintain altitude.

"Let go of me! We've got an insane amount of ground to cover. It makes sense to split up. Three paths, three of us!" Daring practically growled.

"Yeah, no. This is dangerous stuff we're dealing with. Safety in numbers." Spike argued, not willing to budge on the matter.

Daring huffed, knowing she was hopelessly outmatched in terms of strength. Without hesitation Daring reached into her bag and retrieved her machete with her mouth.

In one swift motion, Daring slashed the hair of her tail down to a bob, allowing her to escape with a surprising burst of speed.

Spike's nostrils were doing a spot-on impersonation of smokestacks, fuming a pair of black-smoke torrents.

Sombra had yet to see Spike ever get so annoyed, but the threatening atmosphere Spike was figuratively and literally giving off was short-lived. Spike began muttering to himself, counting backwards from one hundred, if Sombra was hearing correctly. After Spike finished counting he spat a small cloud of black ash, waving it away.

"I'm okay. She just got to me. She's way too confident. Or suicidal." Spike huffed.

As Spike recuperated and calmed himself, Sombra took Spike's words into consideration. Something clicked into place in Sombra's mind, a memory of Spike's almost astonishingly complete memory of Daring's adventures.

"You did say that her rivalry with Ahuizotl has recently escalated, yes? To the point that both Daring and Ahuizotl have inflicted serious bodily harm to one another?" Sombra asked.

Spike thought back over his near encyclopedic knowledge of the Daring Do series.

In the recent volumes of Daring Do, the series's quality had come into question. Only because Daring herself focused less on her actual archeologically or altruistic objectives than she did stopping Ahuizotl.

Daring had failed to save the Tenochtitlan Basin from flooding caused by Ahuizotl three books previous, and and the latest book had been pushed back a number of times already.

Both Daring and Ahuizotl had been gunning for the other, Daring having broken Zotl's collar bone and receiving a broken wings and two broken left-legs in return.

"I think the kid in me overshadowed my judgement. Daring isn't here for the adventure. She just wants to take down Ahuizotl, maybe permanently. I'm starting to question whether we should have brought her. Though she probably would've come without us." Spike reasoned.

"I imagine you are right. She has been rather dead-set on stopping him at all costs." Sombra agreed, not wanting to say I told you so.

Spike sighed and looked up the stairs.

"I guess we should go save her from herself. Even if she is being kind of bitchy." Spike declared.

Sombra gave a singular sharp laugh of amusement as the two headed up the stairs. Spike smiled awkwardly at seeing Sombra let some real emotion slip so suddenly like that. It was always a high-point to see Sombra's mask come off, even for a moment.

After a few minutes of walking up stairs Spike and Sombra reached the second floor.

It was much the same as the first floor had been, but somewhat more opulent. Some of the walls had interesting decorations on them, though some had been destroyed. A few skeletons littered the floor there too, but many of the rooms had doors which were locked. Spike could have pried them open if he chose to, but Daring still needed to be found.

"We may very well find the gem before Daring. The enormity of this structure continues to undermine our task." Sombra huffed, still a tad winded from the grand staircase.

"Yeah. It's too damned big. There's a bit of earth-type magic Zecora told me about that might help, but I've never tried it before. I guess I can give it a go?" Spike suggested uncertainly.

"I suppose it is our best option, so long as there is no inherit risk?" Sombra warily agreed.

Spike nodded, alleviating Sombra's worry.

"Nah, I just don't have the greatest understanding of how to do it. I got the gist I think, so now I just have to try." Spike continued.

Spike dug his claws into the stone of the temple and began concentrating. He shut his eyes tightly and began focusing his mana into the floor.

Traditionally the spell was used as a tool to enhance spacial awareness via a connection with the ground. Spike hoped that the natural stone used in the construction of the temple would allow a similar result. Though that was assuming the spell worked the way Spike wanted it to in the first place.

It was something Spike had never tried, but establishing a connection between his hands and feet, the ground, and relaying the vibrations picked up from the ground to his brain sounded ridiculously complex. After a few minutes Spike made something of a breakthrough.

He could now differentiate between the subtle vibrations of the temple's movements and his and Sombra's heartbeats. Seeing sound as ripples was a disorienting experience, and Spike had trouble processing the information accurately. Everything was too vague to get a fix on a location beyond a few meters.

I'll just have to give it more juice. Spike decided.

Sombra who had been watching quietly noticed Spike's brow furrow just before he saw Spike's form begin to glow green. Mana that resembled flames in it's movements coursed through Spike, sending cracks of green through the floor for a good ten feet in all directions. It was clear that Spike was redoubling his efforts.

It didn't take long for Spike's eyes to open in alarm, and it seemed to take even less time for Spike to scoop up Sombra and throw him into the dragon saddle. Before Sombra even had a handle on what was happening Spike was already bolting down a hallway.

"What in blazes is going on!?" Sombra shouted at Spike.

"Spell worked. There's a fourth heartbeat!"

Author's Note:

DUN DUN DUN! You know what's coming next week. Or you think you do~!

Hope you enjoyed the chapter, I almost didn't get it done in time.

Thanks for reading!

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