The Legend of Spike: Dragon Quest

by DiabloGuapo

Sidequests and Setbacks

The Cloudsdale Museum of Pegasi History wasn’t as large or prestigious as the Canterlot Museum of Equine History, but it did host a number of ancient relics recovered by the one and only Darin Do. This fact had Rainbow Dash acting like a filly in a candy store as she darted between the exhibits and displays, excitedly chattering as she admired the famed artifacts. Fluttershy appreciated historical items of interest as much as the next pony, but she had to roll her eyes at her friend’s overenthusiastic behavior as they waited for the museum’s curator.

“Omygosh omygosh omygosh!” Rainbow Dash shouted, clasping the sides of her face with her front hooves as she bounced on her hind hooves in front of a suit of armor. The armor was white and gold with large, pointed shoulder and leg guards. “Do you know what this is?!”

“It says it right there…” Fluttershy responded, pointing to a plaque beneath the breastplate, but her friend was too lost in her fanfilly mode to hear what she said.

“This is the armor of Prince Fujita! Daring Do found this in Daring Do and the Tomb of the Prideful Prince!”

“You sure do have an eye for antiquities,” a voice chuckle, the mares turning to see and older yellow Pegasus stallion with a light brown mane. He was wearing a tweed jacket, and his cutie mark was a chisel. “Hello, I’m Professor Field, the museum's curator.”

“I know who are. You’re Tenny’s father. Gilda’s told me about you,” Rainbow Dash said, containing her previous excitement.

“Then you must be the famous Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy,” the professor deduced.

“Famous? I don’t know about that,” Fluttershy meekly responded.

“Oh, come now, Mrs. Fluttershy. Don’t sell yourself short. My daughter-in-law has told me all about you and how you and your friends have saved Equestria countless times. You’re heroes and I would be remiss if I, as a historian, did not know what you have done for our land. This is a great honor for me.” Hearing this, Rainbow Dash beamed with pride while Fluttershy shrank from all the praise. She was never one for the spotlight. “So how may I be of service to you?”

“We need to borrow the Staff of Rain. Princess Celestia told us you might have it,” Rainbow Dash explained.

“Oh,” the curator exclaimed, surprised by the unusual request. “Um… Follow me. We’ll discuss this more in my office.”

The pair followed Professor Field through the museum until they came to a door that had his name printed on it. He opened the door, inviting them into the office. There were file cabinets and bookshelves against the walls, little knickknacks and trinkets adorning them. His desk had a stack of papers on it along with a framed picture. The picture depicted a younger Professor Field with two foals, a red filly and an orange colt. Rainbow Dash recognized the colt to be Tenny Field and guessed that the filly was Renny Field, who had disappeared some twenty-odd years ago. Behind the desk was a display shelf with a staff resting on it. The shaft was blue and swirled at the top into a dark gray headpiece that resembled a storm cloud with two yellow lightning bolts protruding from it.

“Is that it?” Rainbow Dash asked as the professor sat down at his desk.

“Yes, it is,” he confirmed.

“Great! Can we have it?” she asked, already thrilled from finding the staff so easily.

“No,” he flatly told her, stunning both mares with his refusal. “I’m sorry, but the Staff of Rain has been in my family ever since my great-grandfather recovered it over a hundred years ago, and it’s an important part of Pegasi history.”

“You don’t understand. We’re here on official world saving business. We need that staff. Princess Celestia’s orders,” Rainbow Dash explained before trying to reach for the staff behind the professor.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Dash, but I can’t just give you the staff!” Professor Field objected as he blocked Rainbow Dash.

“Look, we really need it! Don’t you know what happened this morning? Equestria was invaded by dragons, and we need the staff to stop them!”

“Yes, I know what happened… but…” the professor looked to the staff in his care conflicted. “That staff is very important to me and my career as a historian. If something was to happen to it…”

Rainbow Dash placed a hoof to her face and sighed exasperatedly before calmly saying, “Okay, what if I was to promise that nothing bad will happen to the staff? We’ll bring it back in one piece. We just need it to defeat the King of Dragons.”

Hearing this, Professor Field groaned and looked fearfully to his prized possession, anything but reassured. Seeing his distress and her companion's less than tact approach, Fluttershy intervened.

“Allow me,” the yellow Pegasus told her friend before softly speaking to the distressed professor. “Professor, I know you’re worried about the staff, and I completely understand. But we… no, Equestria needs the Staff of Rain. I don’t know what will happen, but I can promise you that we’ll do what we can to keep it safe, and we are willing to compensate for your loss if something was to happen to it.”

“We are?” Rainbow Dash asked, only to be silenced by a look from Fluttershy.

“Is there anything we can give you as collateral while we borrow it? Anything you want?”

The professor sat down at his desk again, looked at the papers on its surface, and cleared his throat. “Well, there is something I’ve been trying to acquire for some time; the Silver Harp of Garin Silverharp. He was a famous Pegasus musician during the Classical Era.”

“Okay, okay. If we get the harp for you, can we borrow the staff?” Rainbow Dash asked, mildly annoyed.

“Yes,” Professor Field finally agreed. “But there’s a problem. I haven’t been able to get it myself because it’s located in Garin’s tomb in the catacombs beneath Canterlot.”

“C-C-Catacombs?” Fluttershy stammered, her optimism diminished by the idea of a subterranean mass grave.

“This that all? Pssh, no big deal! We’ll be in and out with the harp in no time!” Rainbow Dash boasted.

“But Mrs. Dash, the Canterlot Catacombs is a labyrinth. That’s why I haven’t been able to find it myself. I’ve already been down there three times and haven’t been able to locate Garin’s grave,” the professor explained. He then twiddled his hooves and embarrassedly admitted, “And I’m afraid of the dark.”

“Bah, we can handle the dark, can’t we, Fluttershy?”

“Catacombs…” Fluttershy whimpered, not liking where this quest was taking her. As the mares left the office, neither they nor the professor noticed the bat-like creature that was peering in through the window. It cackled a high pitched laugh before flying away.

*****

On the edge of the Everfree Forest, a company of the the Royal Guard led by Evening Star was standing watch over the enchanted forest. When Twilight Sparkle and the other Bearers of the Elements of Harmony returned the Elements to the Tree, much of the wild magic of the forest had been tamed, making the forest less ominous and foreboding. Without the Tree’s magic, a creepy fog had descended upon the forest. The howls of Timberwolves could be heard from the depths of the forest, and the guards were waiting to intercept anything that might come out.

The zebra shaman Zecora had elected to temporarily take residence in Ponyville. Even when the Tree of Harmony was protecting the forest, it was still home to many dangers and only Zecora was brave enough to live within its borders. However, not even she was brave enough to remain in her hut with the potential risk lurking all about. The last time the forest was without the magic of the Tree, she was forced from her home by an overgrowth of plunderseed vines. Though the vines were destroyed when the Elements were returned to the Tree, Zecora wasn’t taking any chances.

The inhabitants of Ponyville remained in their homes and many of the businesses were closed. Surprise and Cherry Pie were upset that they had to be cooped up in their house while their mother got to go on an adventure. Sour Apple was busy keeping an eye on the farm and his little sister. Sweet Apple Acres also bordered the Everfree Forest and Evening Star had a squad posted there to ensure his friends were kept safe. For safety reasons, Big Macintosh brought Posey and their animals to the farm so that the Apple Family could all be under one roof.

In Twilight’s Castle of Friendship, Midnight was sitting at a desk in the study with a pile of books stacked in front of her. As the blue Unicorn read the contents of one of the books, a pony approached her from behind. The princess was too preoccupied with her research to notice the approaching hoofsteps.

“I have the books you requested, Your Highness” a voice announced, causing Midnight to yelp in surprise. Recovering from the shock, she realized it was only Sworn Duty and turned to see that her outburst caused the soldier to drop the books he was carrying.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she apologized as she left her desk to help him pick up the books. As they gathered up the scattered books, their hooves briefly touched, causing the two to gaze at each other. Midnight blushed and broke eye contact. Though she originally didn’t want somepony following her around constantly while her father and brother secured Equestria’s borders, Sworn Duty was proving to be quite helpful. Her family trusted him, so she figured that she could too. Besides, she thought he was kind of cute.

“So, what were you reading?” he asked to make small talk as they placed the books on the table with the rest.

“I was doing more research on the Legend of Erdrick,” she explained as she sat back down. “Everypony left so quickly that I didn’t have time to do much other than find where the amulet is located. I was getting to the part about Erdrick’s tomb.”

“What does it say?”

“Let’s have a look…” She went over the contents of the page, her brow furrowing as she read. “...Oh dear.”

“Is something wrong?” he asked, seeing her concern.

“I didn’t see this part before,” Midnight told him, suddenly fearful for Applejack and Pinkie Pie. “Erdrick’s tomb has a guardian.”

*****

“Come on, Applejack! We’re almost there!” Pinkie Pie called from up the trail before prancing off, humming along to a tune in her head. “La la la, lalala lala la la. La la la, lalala lala la la.”

Applejack stopped at an overlook in the mountain trail and pulled out the map Midnight made for them to verify their position. The Unicorn Range ran through western Equestria, with Vanhoover on one side and Ponyville on the other. From the ledge on which she was standing, Applejack could see Canterlot Mountain in the distance with the royal city rising from its side. To the north, she could see the floating city of Cloudsdale and home to the south.

“I found it! Come on, it’s over here!” Hearing Pinkie’s voice caused her to look from the sight of Ponyville back to the rocky trail only to be met with a pair of blue eyes. Applejack flinched at the sudden invasion of her personal space and took a step back as the pink pony ran ahead and pointed around the bend. “It’s just up there!”

Trotting to catch up with Pinkie, Applejack rounded the corner to see that the path led to a crevasse between two peaks. Applejack took the lead and entered the fissure with Pinkie following behind her. As the pair walked through the narrow passage, Applejack recalled the conversation she was having with her friends that morning.

“Hey, Pinkie. What do ya reckon Twilight was gonna tell us this mornin’?” Applejack asked. “Ya know, before the whole dragon invasion business.”

“Huh, I don’t know,” Pinkie replied honestly. “But she did make it sound awfully important, didn’t she?”

“And what about Fluttershy? She was gonna say something too.”

“Oh, that? I already know what that’s about,” Pinkie Pie claimed.

“Ya do? Did she tell ya?” Applejack asked, stopping her in tracks to turn to face Pinkie Pie.

“Nah, she didn’t tell me anything, but I think it’s pretty obvious.”

“Well, don’t leave me hangin’. Out with it,” Applejack demanded.

“Ah-ah-ah! No spoilers!” Pinkie Pie denied, waving a scolding hoof teasingly.

“Ya right,” Applejack conceded, turning back around. “Fluttershy will tell us when she’s ready.”

As they continued to make their way through the fissure, they saw sunlight coming from up ahead. Following it, they came to an opening that led into a clearing. It was a circular enclosure about twenty feet wide surrounded by the mountain’s walls. By how perfect the circle was and from the smoothness of the walls, Applejack deduced that the shrine was carved into the fissure in the mountain.

On the other end of the circle was a square opening cut into the rock face. Resting inside was a stone sarcophagus. The light of the afternoon sun shone down through the top of the rounded shrine and illuminated the inside of the sepulcher. Above the sarcophagus, the sunlight reflected off of a metallic object located on the wall. It was an amulet of a gold-covered wreath with a diamond set in the center.

“That must be it!” Pinkie Pie declared, pointing to Erdrick’s Amulet.

“Then what are we waitin’ for? Let’s grab it and go home,” Applejack confidently said as she stepped into the circle. As soon as Applejack placed a hoof within the circle, Pinkie Pie’s tail started to twitch. Reacting on impulse, Pinkie Pie latched onto Applejack’s tail and yanked her back into the fissure. “Hey! What…”

“Twitchy tail!” Pinkie Pie yelled in explanation before the Earth Ponies heard a rumbling. Looking up to the top of the shrine, they saw rocks, boulders, and bricks roll over the edge and fall into the circle. Applejack and Pinkie took another step back to avoid being crushed by the falling rocks.

“Booby trap,” Applejack coughed as the dust settled, looking at the rocks and bricks now covering the shrine’s floor.

“Teehee, you said ‘trap’.” Pinkie Pie giggled, causing Applejack to roll her eyes. Her amusement was cut short when they heard more rumbling. The rocks and bricks were vibrating and then rolled to the center of the circle, where they assembled. The stones climbed on top of each other until they formed a bipedal figure than stood twelve feet high, not giving much room for the two intruders to move around. The clay bricks covered the giant, giving it a lair of orange-brown armor. It had a bulky frame, complete with large arms and a broad chest. Its face was featureless, save for the two dots of magical light that acted as eyes.

“Cool,” Pinkie Pie marveled before taking a step towards the giant.

“Pinkie, get back here!” Applejack tried to call her friend back, but she kept on approaching the giant.

“Hi! My name’s Pinkie Pie, and she’s Applejack. What’s your name?” she asked as she stood before the figure. It looked down at her but said nothing. Then again, it didn’t have a mouth. “...Anyway, we need to borrow that gold thing in there. Is that okay?” Again, the giant said nothing, but stood its ground. “...Okay then. I’ll just sneak past here and…”

Before Pinkie Pie could walk around the giant, it raised a fist made of clay and rock and brought it down where she was walking. Before it could smash her into the ground, Pinkie evaded it. Again, it raised a fist and tried to crush the pony.

“Hey! Stop… trying… to… squish… me!” Pinkie shouted as she danced around its blows. Pinkie dodged it left fist only to discover that she was now stuck between the guardian and the shrine’s wall with nowhere else to go. Pinkie looked up with fear as the giant raised its right fist. Before it could bring it down onto the cornered pony, a lasso fastened around its wrist.

“Get out of there, Pinkie!” Applejack strained as she pulled on the rope, the giant pulling against her. Heeding her friend, Pinkie ran around the guardian’s legs.

“Hold him there. I’ll get the amulet,” Pinkie told Applejack as she tried to make a move on the tomb. Seeing the pink mare moving towards Erdrick’s tomb, the giant spun in the opposite direction, whipping Applejack across the shrine. Applejack landed with a groan and looked back to the giant to see it reaching for Pinkie.

“Pinkie, look out!” Her warning came too late and the earth elemental’s fingers wrapped around her. Pinkie Pie squeaked as the fingers squeezed her.

“Hey… Not so tight…” Pinkie struggled to say as the giant held her up to its face. As it stared at her with its emotionless face, Pinkie smiled at it nervously. It raised its other hand and reached for Pinkie’s exposed head, but before it could do anything to her, there was the sound of cracking bricks. The giant stumbled, loosening its grip on its Pinkie. The pink party pony wriggled free and hopped to the ground. Looking back to the giant, she saw that Applejack had bucked one of its legs with her powerful hind legs, sending cracks running across the surface.

Its attention now on the orange Earth Pony, the giant hobbled towards her with its hands outstretched. With its leg crippled, Applejack easily avoided its advance. With it distracted, Pinkie tried to make it to the tomb once more. However, the giant’s head suddenly whirled around to see Pinkie running towards the amulet. It dropped backwards, blocking the tomb with its body. Pinkie Pie came to a sudden stop and narrowly avoided being smashed when the giant clapped its hands together.

“No use in distracting it. It automatically focuses on the pony closest to the grave,” Applejack explained, noting the guardian’s behavior. “And there’s no talkin’ to it. We’re gonna have to take it down. Pinkie, Ah need ya to keep it busy while Ah lasso it.”

“On it!” Pinkie Pie acknowledged as she dashed in front of the giant as it pick itself up from the floor. She waved her front hooves in the air and made silly faces at it. “Yoohoo! Over here! Blah!”

The emotionless construct brought its fist down where the mocking pony stood only to have her quickly sidestep and laugh at it. It swiped at her again, but missed once more. This time, the orange pony’s rope wrapped around its wrist. Pinkie jumped clear as Applejack ran around the giant and then in between its legs, tangling it up with the rope. The guardian struggled to free itself, Applejack holding fast onto the rope. She dug her hooves into the ground but found herself slowly being dragged across the floor. It would break free in seconds unless she did something.

Before the golem could snap its restraints, Pinkie Pie jumped at it and started to pound away at its brick chest, sending bits of clay and stone flying. Applejack let the rope drop from her mouth as she watched in amazement as her friend reduced the giant to a pile rocks.

“Pinkie Pie, that was amazin’! How did you do that?” Applejack marveled as she looked upon the remnants of the fallen guardian.

“Meh. I grew up on a rock farm, remember?” Pinkie Pie causally stated as she shook the dust and debris off of her coat.

“Oh, right,” Applejack replied, remembering the Pie Family Farm before they both returned their attention to Erdrick’s grave. “Well, let’s grab it and be on our way. Ah bet the others are already waitin’ for us.”

Before they could move towards the tomb, they heard the sound of rumbling and looked back to see the rocks reassembling. They stepped back in alarm and watched as the grave’s guardian once again stood before them without any sign of damage.

“Huh, so it can pull itself together,” Pinkie Pie stated as she Applejack stared up at the giant which started to march towards them, ready for round two.

"Looks that way" Applejack assessed.

“And no matter how many times we knock it down, it’ll just get back up?” Pinkie Pie guessed, backing up as the golem drew near.

“Most likely."

Pinkie Pie turned to Applejack and asked, “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“Bail?”

“Bail.” Both mares ran out of the shrine through the fissure and raced back to the trail. As the ponies made their way back down the mountain, a bat-like creature that had been watching the whole time took off and flew to the north.

*****

The city of Trottingham was located on the Griffish Isles in the Northern Celestial Sea, positioned between Equestria and the Griffon Kingdom. Though it laid within Equestria’s borders, it had a substantial griffon population and was an important trade city between the two nations. Due to its relative geographical isolation, the ponies of the city retained a classical Equestrian accent that is rarely heard outside the Canterlot elite. However, most of social elite of Canterlot have only adopted the accent to sound more sophisticated, but in reality it only made them sound like obnoxious snobs.

When Princess Twilight and Spike arrived at Trottingham, the city’s architectures reminded them of Canterlot’s, just not as fancy. Like the capital, it had cobblestone streets but lacked the ivory and golden spires and towers. The buildings were made of either gray stone or red bricks, giving the city a medieval look. If anything, it reminded Twilight and Spike the lower sections and back alleys of their hometown.

In the oldest part of the town was a castle that dated back to the Classical Era. It was the last known location of Erdrick’s sword, having been passed down the lineage of the Unicorn Royal Family. Though the castle once housed a noble family, they left it to take up residence in Canterlot once Celestia decided to move to the capital and make it her permanent residence after she left her childhood home of the Castle of the Two Sisters after she was forced to banish Luna to the moon. Like the old castle in the Everfree Forest, Trottingham Castle slowly fell into disrepair.

In recent years, archaeologists had begun to excavate the old castle to recover the precious artifacts and relics of a bygone era so that all could learn from them and appreciate them. When Twilight and Spike arrived at the castle, they found the archaeologists fast at work in the depths of the castle. An Earth Pony excavator was kind enough to take the time to speak with them.

“I thank you for your time,” Twilight said to the mare as she and Spike followed her through the courtyard to the dig site where they saw more ponies and griffons hard at work.

“The honor is mine, Your Highnesses,” the mare said in return. “Now, can you describe the sword?”

“It is made of metal called orichalcum. It a special type of metal that can cut through just about anything and never corrodes, rusts, or tarnishes. The crossguard is in the shape of an Alicorn and has a ruby in it and another in the pommel.”

Hearing this, the archaeologist's eyes lit up with recognition and she said, “That does sound like something our team uncovered a few days ago. Please wait as I ask around.”

“Thank you. Thank you very much!” Twilight was overjoyed and she shared a hopeful smile with Spike. They were that much closer to stopping the Dragon King and saving Rarity!

As they watched the diggers talked among themselves, Spike had a question he had been meaning to ask. “Mom?”

“Hm?”

“Earlier today, when the Dragon King tried to control me, I was able to break free. If he is the King of Dragons and is able to command any dragon, why couldn’t he control me?”

“I’m not sure. That would be a question for Aurum,” Twilight told him while thinking hard about the question. “Maybe a dragon with a strong enough will can resist his control.”

“Maybe I’m just that awesome,” Spike boasted, puffing out his chest with pride.

“But that can’t be right. We saw him command hundreds of dragons at once, all of them much bigger and older than you. Even Aurum feared him.” Hearing this, Spike’s swollen head deflated. “I have a theory, but I can’t prove it.”

“What is it?”

“Well, I gave your egg life with my magic. My life force is apart of you. Maybe the part of me that’s in you is what makes you resistant to the Dragon King’s spell.”

“Maybe.” As both of them thought about Twilight’s theory, the Earth Pony mare returned from speaking with her fellow archaeologists.

“Great news! The sword you described perfectly matches the sword a member of our team found!” the mare announced. “He took it to his home to conduct further research.”

“Wonderful! Where can we find him?” Twilight asked, both she and Spike listening expectantly.

“His name is Tenny Field. He lives in Hawk’s Nest just across the strait,” the mare told them, pointing in the direction of the town. Hearing this, both Twilight and Spike had a sinking feeling in the pits of their stomachs. Seeing their horrified expressions, the mare asked, “Is something wrong, Your Highnesses?”

“No. Thank you for your time. Come on, Spike,” the dazed Twilight called to Spike as she walked away from the dig site, the dragon following her in stunned silence. As they came to the castle’s balcony, they looked at the mountains across the body of water that separated the Griffish Isles from mainland Equestria. Mother and son sat down and stared at the mountains, knowing that the dragons had attacked the town just last night. Behind them, a bat-like creature was hanging from the axe a suit of armor was holding. With their backs turns to it, they didn’t notice as it took flight and flew away to the north.

“Spike?” Twilight slowly asked.

“Yeah?” he responded, already knowing what she was going to say.

“This morning, the Dragon King said that he had the ‘weapon’. He has it, Spike. He has the sword.”

Comments

[DanvilleBengal]

Just like in "Return of Harmony" where Discord knew exactly how to disharmonize Twilight and her friends, I knew that DragonLord Ryuo would already have plans in place to see how the Elements and Spike would be doing, hence the security monitors that seems a lot like bats.

I knew that there was gonna be a doublecross, and even more so, it seems that it's gonna to be Twilight and Spike that makes it to the Dragonlord's stronghold. I wouldn't be surprised if that turns out to be what was known as Hawk's Nest... Don't get me wrong--the other teams and their goals are quite important as well, but the more I think about this, it seems more like just a wild goose chase. Ryuo's captured Rarity, knowing that Spike's coming for her come Tatarus or high water. Also I think Ryuo knows how powerful all of the Elements are including Spike, so the whole 'search all of Equestria for these relics" plan is just another way to split them all us. It's simple divide and conquer--Ryuo could care less about what the ApplePie or the FlutterDash teams do, his main objection is Princess Twilight and Prince Spike. To him, it would be the equivalent of two birds with one stone--he can rid his enemy of one Princess, and gain a potentially lethal and limitless weapon to turn against his friends, family, and country in an effort to assert dragons of their superiority as well as make the pony race extinct...

Also I see the Renny Field Easter Egg in there--or should I be saying Lady Crimson, since she's a immortal vampire now and obviously not his daughter. Too bad that there would be a time where she actually came back to actually help Spike on something, but that could be just retreading already tilled ground if there was a story that Lady Crimson wants to take revenge for Dracula's demise. Hey--that sound like another Legend of Spike tale, and it would be one where Luna would be a major character since she would have a feeling what could be happening especially if it seems like Dracula's back...