Animal Friends

by Elkia Deerling

Chapter fifteen: stories in the dark

When Spike opened his eyes, he thought they were closed. Darkness was everywhere, but that didn’t make sense.

For a moment, Spike thought he was dead; that the black void meant the end of his life. But he couldn’t remember fire, or a searing pain of iron fangs ripping his scales apart. He couldn’t remember his head looking down into a fiery abyss which was the monster’s throat, ready to swallow him whole.

That was because he wasn’t dead.

“Rainbow Dash? Rainbow Dash, where are you?”

Spike looked around, but couldn’t see a claw before his eyes. It felt strange to look in the darkness, for the last thing he remembered seeing was the belly of the beasts, bright like hellfire.

Then, a light erupted right next to him.

With a cry Spike jumped aside, tripped over Rainbow Dash, and tumbled to the ground.

But the flame which danced before him was a far cry from the wild, hellish flames the beasts had worn. This flame was cold and regular, burning steadily and without flickering in an outstretched claw.

The flame illuminated a face, as blue as the flame the wielder carried. The eyes were brilliant and sly, marking a face sleek and beautiful. Thin, sharp spines crowned the dragon’s head, and two graceful horns curved downwards and outwards, made for fashion, rather than fights.

“Ember!”

It was indeed Ember, former Dragon-Lady, standing in front of them. She breathed in, and created another steady blue flame, which she held between her thumb and her claw. Then, she put each of them on the tip of her horns, where they kept shining without flickering.

Spike scrambled up as quickly as his bruised legs allowed. “Ember! I thought you were dead! I thought Garble had murdered you.“ He hurried past Rainbow Dash and embraced Ember without shame, although he barely reached her shoulders.

“Whoa, whoa, calm down.” Ember pushed Spike away from her, but when she saw his startled face, she knew that wasn’t right towards him. With a softer voice she said, “I mean… Glad to see you too, Spike.”

A million questions bounced through Spike’s head. “What just happened back there? I thought those monsters ate us? How did you get here?” Suddenly, he stopped talking and let out a gasp. “Are we in the beast’s stomach?”

“No we’re not. Don’t be ridiculous,” Ember said. Her red eyes flashed to the ground, to Rainbow Dash, then they flashed back to Spike. “We’ll have time to talk later. Your friend is in bad shape, but I think I have something to help her. Let’s go to my hideout.”

Spike wanted to continue his barrage of questions, but then he realized Ember was right, and haste was necessary. He turned towards her. “She’s badly burned, Ember. One of those beasts almost touched her.”

“Let’s see.” Ember crouched down, and Rainbow Dash’s stained coat glowed in the blue light. When Ember saw Dash’s belly, she let out a gasp. “Oh my! That must have hurt!” She felt Dash’s forehead. Then she shook her head and turned to Spike.

“Is she…” Spike began.

“No she’s not, but we have to hurry,” Ember said, her voice firm as a general’s. “She must come back as soon as possible, or the fire will burn her soul away.”

“What?! Can fire do that?” Spike said with a yell.

Ember picked Rainbow Dash up as if she weighed nothing, careful not to touch the awful mark. “The Guardians’ fire can. Now let’s go!”

Spike could only guess at those words, and follow the blue light.

Together they walked for a long time. Ember’s gait was quick, and often Spike had to run to keep up with her, and not lose the only source of light he had. When Ember slowed down a bit he tried something. Spike blew a small green flame, caught it in his claw, and tried to balance it on the tip of his biggest spine. To his own astonishment, the fire didn’t die and kept lying on his head like a miner’s work light. He managed a small smile, and continued.

Their footsteps echoed in the space, and Spike saw why. Once again he was walking in a constructed hallway, with pillars at regular intervals and runes scribbled on the walls. The only difference was that this hallway was absolutely pitch-black. There was not a single red crystal shining, neither raw ones nor shaped ones. As they progressed, Spike noticed another thing which was off, something he couldn’t miss even if he would try to.

It looked as if the builders of the Gauntlet had become sloppy. Walls were half finished, crumbled, or just absent. The pillars became simpler and cruder. The hallway looked unfinished, and Spike wondered whether this would be a very ‘new’ part of the Gauntlet’s strange inner labyrinth. Half-cavern-half-hallway, it snaked on and on through the Gauntlet, the floor becoming increasingly irregular and painful to walk on.

Suddenly, Spike came to a halt, as the blue light of Ember vanished.

Very carefully he continued, not knowing what to expect. Did Ember go around a corner? So far there hadn’t been any in this hallway.

He sidled closer and closer. It had looked as if the ground had swallowed Ember whole.

“Ember, Where are y—“

Spike tripped, stumbled, and rolled down a slope. Rocks bounced against his back, and he felt as if he were tumbling down a set of stairs. He stopped right at the bottom, in a cloud of dust and stones, when a boulder broke his fall. He thought he saw stars lighting up, but then realized they were oil lamps and candles, scattered throughout the cave.

It was an enormous cave, with a central plateau in the middle. Stalactites hung off the wall, and Spike heard the sounds of water. Not just the sound of droplets dripping down the stalactites, but actual moving water, like a stream. There were a couple of stone crates and boxes, piled on top of each other in various corners. The whole cave really did look like a hideout, a primitive hideout of a bandit, fleeing from the law—or a fugitive. A fire burned in a pool of oil.

Rubbing his sore back, Spike got up, and climbed a small hill of loose rocks—almost forming a flight of stairs—to reach the plateau, where Ember stood. She had laid Rainbow Dash down on a massive stalagmite, of which only the base remained. The cut looked so clean that Spike wondered whether Ember had made it herself.

“Spike,” Ember said, when she heard the dragon’s feet on the stone, “get some water and some of those purple mushrooms over at the stream.”

Spike frowned. “Mushrooms? How did you get mushrooms down here?”

But Ember wasn’t about to explain. “Go get them. There’s a pile of jars near the water. Just follow the gurgling sound.”

Spike did so, and found, much to his surprise, an underground stream bubbling between the rocks. The water flowed through a low crack, and disappeared down in another, a few feet away. The water looked fresh and clean. But how was Spike going to carry it? He followed the stream , and then found what he was looking for.

Right ahead, illuminated in the flickering orange light of the oil lamps, was a pile of earthenware jars. Spike wondered whether Ember had made them herself, but then realized that she couldn’t get clay or fire or a turntable down here, so he dispelled the odd thought. Next to the jars were a couple of cups, made of stone as well. Spike reached in the jar, grabbed a couple of dried mushrooms, and filled one of the cups with water. As he walked back to Ember, his head became heavy with yet more questions.

Ember grabbed a few oil lamps and placed them close to Rainbow Dash, so she could see what she was doing. As the wound became illuminated, Spike let out a small gasp when he saw how badly Rainbow Dash had suffered.

“A third degree burn,” Ember muttered under a sigh.

The wound looked like a bloodstain on Rainbow’s blue coat. The skin on the mark was leathery, rimmed by a mixture of black ash and burned hairs. A few blisters sprouted like bubbles on the burn. Spike could almost feel the pain Rainbow Dash had experienced just by looking at it.

Ember once more touched the forehead of Rainbow Dash. “I don’t think it’s infected,” she said. “Spike, hand me the water. ”

Spike did so, biting his lips as he forced his gaze away from Dash’s grievous wound.

Holding the bowl between two talons, Ember blew a blue flame in the palm of her other claw, held the cup above it for a few seconds, and then splashed some of the water on Dash’s belly. “No cold water; a little warmer is better,” Ember said, more to herself than to Spike.

Immediately, the black rims became washed away, but the red color looked more intense than before. Ember stuck out a claw. “The mushrooms.”

Spike handed Ember the purple mushrooms. “Does she need to eat them?”

“Rather not,” Ember said. “But she may have to. They do have healing properties, but they might have an abrupt and strange effect on the mind.”

Spike didn’t like the sound of that, but said nothing.

Ember grinded the mushrooms and threw the powder into the bowl of water. A strong scent started to fill the cave, and Spike felt strange. He felt stronger and revitalized, and the pain in his feet felt vague and far away. For a moment, all the running, flying, fleeing, breathing fire, looking in the maws of death, and staying alive slipped off his shoulders. Sleep? What’s sleep? he thought with a smile. But at the same time, he had the feeling that the room spun in front of his eyes. Reaching out, he grabbed a rock to keep himself standing. “Strange stuff.”

Once more Ember splashed water over the wound, looking carefully what happened. At first there was nothing, but after a couple of minutes Ember saw that the red became fainter and shinier, thanks to the mixture she had made. “Good,” she said. “That will make a fancy war wound, pony. Nothing will make you look tougher in front of the stallions than that.”

Spike felt that he could ask her at least one question now, as Ember’s serious mood seemed to have lightened up. “Ember? How do you know all this healing stuff?”

“Well, I’m a dragon,” Ember said, without turning towards Spike. She grabbed the cup. “I feel it is my duty to know how to treat burns. As Dragon-Lady, I must know how to heal a wound, before I can go and heal a dragon nation; and to be honest, I think every dragon should know how to treat burns. What if you would accidentally hit someone during your combat training?”

“Makes sense,” Spike said, although the words swirled in his head.

“Can you get me some more water, Spike?” Ember said, handing him the bowl. “Oh, and as you do, stick your head in the stream for a couple of seconds; it will clear your mind.”

Spike saluted like a soldier, and then hobbled off towards the stream. He did as Ember asked, and although the water was icy cold and Spike quickly withdrew his head with a sudden gasp, he did feel the drowsiness of the mushrooms wave away. He trotted back as quickly as he could.

“Thanks,” said Ember. Then once again she performed the trick with the flame to heat up the water, but now she didn’t stop until it was bubbling and boiling. Once again she grinded mushrooms between her slender claws and tossed the powder in the water. Holding the cup close to Dash’s muzzle, she covered her mouth so the pegasus started breathing in the fumes through her nose.

One breath.

Two breaths.

Three breaths.

“It’s not working…” Ember said, and put the bowl down.

As soon as the bowl touched the table, Rainbow Dash shot upright, screaming.

Ember fell down, but quickly flapped her wings to dive off the plateau. Spike, once again, tumbled backwards off the rocks.

With a jump and a twist, Rainbow Dash was back on her hooves. Her eyes looked as if she was running for her life, bound in veins and with their rose color shining. She was breathing wildly, and her chest heaved up and down like a triathlon flier’s. She looked from the left to the right, and up, but couldn’t see the sky. Then, with a shock, she remembered where she was. The sanity broke through her confused mind, her eyes regained their normal shape and size, and she sat down upon the broken stalagmite table. It was then that the pain struck her.

“AH! It hurts!” Dash yelled, cursing under her breath. She wanted to clutch her stomach, but that hurt even more. Her belly felt as if she’d done a million sit-ups, then a million more because she had been slow.

“Is that normal?” Spike said, but Ember was already flying towards Rainbow Dash.

“Here, sniff this,” she said, and shoved the bowl underneath Dash’s nose.

Rainbow Dash didn’t need to be told twice, and inhaled deeply. Immediately, she felt the vapors drift to her head and through her stomach, where they stayed as a healing mist until she breathed out again. A few more times Dash breathed in the fumes, then she pushed the bowl away. “Thanks.” But then, her eyes went wild once more. “A DRAGON! Spike! Get behind me!”

“No, Rainbow Dash, wait! It is Ember!” Spike yelled, having recovered from his fall quickly.

Dash was already in bucking position. A second later and she would have dealt a blow. Now, however, it was just a blow of awkwardness that struck her. She turned around and faced the dragon. “Oh… eh… sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Ember said with a smile. “I would have blocked your kick anyway.”

To that, Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Yeah, sure.”

Ember chuckled again. “So your name is Rainbow Dash? Pleasure to meet you. My name is Ember, which you’ve already guessed, of course.”

Rainbow Dash returned the handshake with her hoof. “Nice place you got here.”

“Thanks,” Ember said. It was as if Dash was coming for a housewarming, and Ember thought it must be the vapors playing Dash’s mind like a piano. “I understand you have many questions, but let’s discuss those around the fire. You can drink at the stream, but I’m afraid I have not much left to eat.”

“That’s alright,” Rainbow Dash said, and tried to walk towards the sound of the water, a bit unsteady on her legs, and taking care to walk smoothly so her belly wouldn’t sting so much.

Spike already went to the campfire, together with Ember. Spike said down on a stone, but Ember disappeared into the shadows. She came back at the same time as Rainbow Dash, dragging two boulders along. Those boulders were each as big as her head, and Rainbow Dash would never had thought Ember’s thin arms would be able to carry such a big load, nor her graceful claws being able to have such a firm grip. Dash nodded in her direction as Ember put them down, and whispered, “Nice.”

Then they both took a seat, as if the rocks were bar stools, and looked a moment in the oil-fueled flames. The only sound was the dripping of stalactites.

“Why oil?” Rainbow Dash said at last; apparently the mushroom cloud hadn’t worn off yet.

“Wood has mostly rotten away in the temple,” Ember said, throwing some rocks in the blue-orange flames. “but there’s plenty of oil lamps if you know where to look.”

Spike veered up. “So it’s a temple then—the Gauntlet of Fire is actually a temple.”

“No,” Ember said. “The Gauntlet is on top of the temple, or rather, the temple is built underneath the Gauntlet of Fire.”

“Well, you seem to know our way around pretty well,” Rainbow Dash said, scooting closer to the dragon. “It was you who saved us, I guess.”

Ember nodded. “I saw you in the hallways, and I must say I’m surprised. I’ve had… a lot of time to explore the hallways, hidden doors, traps, stockrooms, archives and what more, but I have never seen the actual treasure chamber before.”

“Wait… you saw us?” Rainbow Dash said with a frown. “How?”

Reaching behind the biggest spine on her head, Ember pulled out a tiny red stone, quite like the crystals Rainbow Dash and Spike had seen. Only this one wasn’t transparent or gave off light. It looked the darkest shade of red, almost black, and glimmered in the firelight as if it hungered for it.

Then, Ember stood up, and without much ceremony she threw the stone into the fire. The thing started to sizzle, and then a haze of flame erupted from the stone, hovering a few feet above the fire. The haze took the form of a flame-rimmed mirror, and it showed a hallway like the one Rainbow Dash and Spike had trodden in, with pillars and shining red crystals.

“Wow!” Rainbow Dash and Spike said simultaneously.

Ember nodded. “I found it in one of the archives, together with loads of stone tablets explaining its properties. I can look with it through the Bloodstones you have seen in the hallways, and it can track things that live in the caverns. The tablets say it is a magically-infused Bloodstone shard, much like the stone in the Bloodstone Scepter.” She snatched the stone out the fire; the mirror dissolved into hot smoke. “This little stone here saved my hide more times than I could count, As I watched for Guardians or looked ahead for traps. Sometimes I would spend whole days looking at the different Bloodstones in all the hallways, trying to find the Tablet. I’ve made a good many maps thanks to my little friend here, but the temple is a real labyrinth. I can show you.”

And before Dash or Spike could ask more questions, Ember stood up, and flew to one side of the cavern. Piled up against the walls were many flat pieces of stone, covered in runes and scribblings. It was a place with particularly smooth walls and floors, and there, lit by the oil lamps all around, where several dozens of maps, carved in the stone. Rainbow Dash and Spike looked at them in wonder.

“I tried to make each map cover one floor,” Ember said with a sigh, “but it’s so confusing.”

When Dash and Spike looked closer, they could see little squares with crosses through them.

“The chamber’s I’ve explored,” Ember said, as she saw them staring. “Stockrooms, archives, shrines, everything you can think of.”

There were crosses everywhere. Rainbow Dash wondered what in Equestria Ember had found in all those chambers, while Spike’s mind boggled with the realization that Ember had been inside the Gauntlet of Fire for a long time, according to these maps.

“How long have you been here?” Spike said, still gazing at the maps.

Ember shrugged. “No idea. It’s hard to keep track of time when you can’t see the sun or the moon.”

But Spike made a rough guess, and reckoned it must have been months. “How did you stay alive? What did you eat? What did you drink?”

“Well… there’s loads of crystals,” Ember said. “And the stockrooms I’ve explored gave me an army’s worth of honey, rice, salt, sugar, beans, and even vanilla.”

Rainbow Dash looked at Ember with a strange expression. “Wait, you didn’t actually eat that stuff, right?”

“Of course I did,” Ember said, folding her arms. “Such foods will stay good forever, you know—when properly stored, I mean. You don’t want to know how many storerooms I’ve plundered with jars and jars of the stuff. But I’m afraid my supply is growing thin.”

“Do you have some gemstones?” Spike suddenly said, feeling a nasty knot in his stomach now that they were talking about food.

Ember looked at him, but her mind was elsewhere. “Yes, I do,” she said at last. “Wait a sec.” Ember jumped up and flew into the shadows. Rainbow Dash and Spike could hear her going through some stuff while they were observing the rest of the wall. Then Ember came flying back with a stone box in her hand; it had golden hinges and a golden lock. “Alright,” she said, her tone suddenly serious. “There’s Bloodstones inside. Once I open it, grab a few and put them in your mouth as fast as you can, ok?”

“Uh-huh,” Spike said, although Ember’s words left him in puzzlement.

She opened the box, Spike swallowed some Bloodstones with a content grin (he grabbed almost all of them), and then the box slammed shut. “Good,” Ember said.

“Why all the mystery over a snack?” Rainbow Dash said.

Ember secured the lock on the box, and made sure that it stood behind a boulder before she turned to Rainbow Dash. She spoke in a hushed voice, as if the stones had ears. “I think we’re being watched.”

“Huh? How? By whom?”

The name came like a guttural sound out of Ember’s throat. “Garble. Ever since he threw me into the Gauntlet, bad luck seemed to follow me. Lava streams started to rise, volcanic gasses started to form, roofs began to collapse. It was only once I accidentally stepped on a trapdoor and tumbled down into a part of the Gauntlet which had been shaped as a section of the temple—a part which was pitch-black—that my luck seemed to have turned. I think he can see us through the stones, and manipulate the Gauntlet somehow.”

Rainbow Dash stepped closer. “That would explain the sudden lava streams we had to fly from. Do you think those fiery monsters were controlled by him to?”

Ember let out a sniff. “The Guardians? Hah! In his dreams. No, the Guardians are protecting the Obsidian Tablet.”

“The what?” Spike and Rainbow Dash said together.

After a glance at both creatures’ confused faces, Ember sighed. “Let’s go back to the fire. It’s a long story.”

Without another word, they all walked back to the fire; Rainbow Dash flew, for it hurt her belly less. They sat down; Ember sighed once more, cleared her throat, and spoke up.

“The Obsidian Tablet has to do with the origin of the dragon race. It’s a really long story, but I’ll try to summarize it as best as I can.” Ember let out a chuckle. “We don’t want to die of starvation, now, do we?”

But the dark joke missed Dash’s and Spike’s ears. Ember sat straighter, and began her tale.

“Long ago, when the creation of Equestria was still cooling down, the dragon race was born. The dragon lands were nothing more than a few volcanoes, spilling its hot loads into the sea to form the surface of the Dragon Lands. One day, a volcano, mightier, bigger, and hotter than all the others erupted in a cloud of shadow, the Gauntlet of Fire. Its lava flowed like a golden river from its flanks, but encountered the Celestial Sea, which at that time didn’t bear that name yet. When the lava cooled down as quickly as this”—Ember snapped her claws, and a blue spark sizzled away—“it turned into obsidian. But then something extraordinary happened. The water and the lava mingled with the shadows and the dust, and it stirred something, some primeval force unable to describe. As the elements cooled down, an egg remained—a new life.”

Rainbow Dash and Spike sat at the edge of their seat, captivated by the story of Ember, which she told so vividly. Spike thought for a moment that Ember would make quite a good Ogres and Oubliettes game master.

“It was a dragon—the first dragon. First of its kind. No dragon knows his name, because no dragon had yet been named at that time. But we call him Meteor, the Firstborn. From whom—”

“Hey,” Spike cried out as he jumped up. “I’ve heard one of Garble’s dragons mention that name.”

Ember threw an angry stare at Spike. She didn’t even need to say something, as Spike got the message, slumped down on his rock, and shut his mouth.

“So,” Ember said after clearing her throat. “Meteor the Firstborn, made of the very essence of the volcano. He had bones of obsidian, wings of ash and dust, and a maw which could swallow the sun. But that was not what he did. For apart from his ferocity, he was wise as well. He knew that this world already had goddesses, who had sprouted from existence much sooner than he had: Celestia and Luna. So he made a pact with them. He would leave Celestia and Luna alone, if he could have all the land he could create in one single day. To this they agreed, and I guess it was out of fear as well, because Meteor was big, and could become a god if he wanted to, I’m sure of that. But he didn’t, and instead, he spent the whole day awakening volcanoes and spitting lava all over the Celestial Sea, thus creating the lands we know today as the Dragon lands.

“But he wasn’t done yet. After the day was over he had created the Dragon Lands, but he was still the only dragon, and felt that he needed a people to rule over, because he had the spark of godhood inside of him, which was hard to extinguish. So at the end of the day, Meteor took a break of all the land shaping, and created dragons out of the obsidian which had formed his egg; there was still some essence of life inside of it.

“That’s when things began to look bad. When Celestia and Luna flew towards the lands he created, they saw the dragons Meteor had given life. Each of them was at least half as big as he, filled with the same power and desire to become gods. The pony princesses got very angry because of that, and argued that they hadn’t agreed on such a thing. They wanted Meteor to destroy his creations, but of course, he refused.

“A long and terrible battle was fought, which blackened the skies with ash and made beams of magic like lightning flash through the skies. In the end, after thirteen days and thirteen nights, the sisters conquered Meteor.”

Ember let out another sigh, a sigh which hid something. Spike noticed it, and wondered whether Ember would have wanted something else to happen. A question for another time, Spike thought. In private.

Meanwhile, Ember continued her tale. “After the princesses destroyed Meteor, they couldn’t find it in their hearts to simply erase a whole civilization—for that was what the dragons started to build. Instead, they made them smaller, and regulated their power, until they were shaped like the dragons are today. From then on, the hate for all ponies has been passed down through generations of dragons, as you probably saw in Garble and his followers.”

Both Spike and Rainbow Dash nodded, but said nothing.

“The remaining, weakened dragons took Meteor’s bones and hid them somewhere, for fear that his deeds may be forgotten or his remains defiled by ponies. No dragon has ever found the bones of the Firstborn, and no dragon has heard so much as rumors regarding its location—false promises of power and dominion by fools. But the ancient dragons weren’t fools at all. They knew that the place where they honored their old god would in the end become forgotten by future generations. That’s why, as soon as they developed an alphabet, they wrote down the exact location on an obsidian tablet, which they hid somewhere as well.”

“And you think the Tablet’s here,” Spike said, who really could not contain his voice any longer.

Ember nodded. “Yes. And I think Garble is after it as well. Surely he must have been searching for a long time, and as he saw your progress through the halls, I’m sure he thinks the same as I do.”

Suddenly, Rainbow Dash jumped up with a flap of her wings, and hovered above the rocks. “Wow! That would make an awesome Daring Do book! But how do you know all this stuff? I thought dragons didn’t read books?”

To the name ‘Daring Do,’ Ember looked puzzled for a moment, but she could answer Dash’s second question. “I got some books from your friend, Twilight Sparkle, about ancient dragon culture. That way I learned some of the old language, even though the information had many gaps. But I managed to fill those up with all of the temples’ libraries. Lots and lots of libraries. It seemed that once they found out how to write things down, they really got the hang of it.”

They all managed a small chuckle, although the darkness was heavy. After that there was silence, and some of the oil lamps started to flicker and their flames died.

After a while, Spike spoke up. His voice sounded weak in the fading light. “So… What are we gonna do?”

To that, Ember sprang up, and snatched an oil lamp from the wall. “Well, Garble must not find the Tablet—”she filled it with new oil, relit it, and tossed it to Rainbow Dash, who caught the thing with her mouth; then she looked back—“so we’re gonna find it first.”

* *

How many hallways they passed, Spike couldn’t tell. They were walking much slower now, taking care not to fall in the cracks or sudden holes that appeared in the half-finished temple. After some time the floor started to increase in quality, and the walls became smoother again. Also, the Bloodstone chandeliers returned.

Ember halted, and looked at her company. “As you can see, before us begin the Bloodstones again. I managed to break them all in the previous chambers.”

“You think Garble can see us?” Spike said, the trembling of his voice amplified in the dark echoes.

Ember shook her head. “I think he reckons us dead. The last time you guys were around Bloodstones was at the end of the trapdoor hallway, with those Guardians on your tails.”

“Well, what’s there to worry about then?” Dash said with a snort.

Ember looked down into the hallway, then back at Rainbow Dash. When she spoke, her tone was vague. “I don’t know… It’s just that I never like the idea that someone can spy on me. Let’s just… let’s just be careful and mind our steps, okay?”

“Sure,” Dash said. Spike just nodded, his anxiety higher than ever.

They continued into the now more comfortable-looking and brighter hallways. Darkness became mingled with light, gloom with shine, shadow with sparkle. Spike looked at the Bloodstones, now knowing what they did, and felt as if Garble’s false eyes were always watching him. He looked back at Rainbow Dash, and although she did her best to hide it, Spike saw that her eyes darted across the hallway as well, although there was nothing to see.

Sometimes, when a side passage revealed itself out of the darkness, Ember stopped, pulled out the magical Bloodstone, and blew a small flame into it. After a couple of pensive seconds, she then smothered the living flame and went on again, certain that they would go the right way—and that there wouldn’t be any hidden traps.

It was at one of those moments that Spike realized he had no idea where they were going.

“Back to that treasure chamber,” Ember said, when Spike asked her about it. “The Guardians have probably retreated, and I would like to investigate that place a little more.”

Spike nodded, although he didn’t like the ‘probably’ at all.

Then, Ember’s eyes met Spike’s. “That reminds me, why did you come back to the Dragon Lands, Spike? And why in Equestria did you take a pony along? I haven’t even asked you about it.”

“Pegasus,” Dash corrected.

Spike met Ember’s gaze. “Well, we didn’t know that the Dragon Lands were messed up as they are now—no offense.”

“None taken,” Ember said. “It was better before Garble got the Scepter. You know, it was really going to look like a nice, peaceful trading venture of dragons and ponies, until—“

“Yeah, How did that happen anyway?” Rainbow Dash said, hovering closer to Ember. “I mean, Garble told us about it, but he made a big show about it, and I reckon he blew that story up.”

Ember let out a snort; a cloud of hot smoke escaped through her nostrils. For a moment she looked as if she was going to punch a rock right in two, but calmed herself down, although her voice trembled with rage. “The rat stole it from me. He snuck into my bedroom and grabbed the thing from its case. After that he ordered…” Ember paused. “He ordered my father to fly around the world forever, no doubt one of his sick jokes.”

Spike and Dash looked at her; if Ember cried, she didn’t show it, or her tears would dissolve into smoke anyway. “And then he threw you into the Gauntlet,” Rainbow Dash after an uncomfortable silence.

“Yes.” Ember let out another snort, but no smoke appeared through her nostrils this time. She had to stay strong for them, Ember knew that. Quickly, she decided to change the subject. “So why did you come here? I guess it wasn’t for a friendly neighborhood visit.”

“One of our friends is in danger,” Rainbow Dash said.

“What? Twilight’s in danger?” Ember’s voice was laden with sorrow.

“No, not Twilight,” Dash said. “Fluttershy.”

But Ember had never met Fluttershy before, so Rainbow Dash and Spike started to tell Ember all about her, leaving no detail untold. They felt better speaking about their friend, as if the mention of her name made the dark walls and oppressing air seem lighter and more innocent. Their minds went back to their mission, as they saw the scared face of their friend before them, right at that moment, when she’d bolted off and into the teleportation device to disappear from the world.

At first Ember couldn’t believe it, as they told her all the things that had happened on that strange evening. But nevertheless she closed her eyes and nodded. “We’ll find a way out of here, with or without the tablet. We’ll find a way out of here and get in touch with the resistance, because I’m sure there will be one. Perhaps they will be able to lend us their forges to craft your parts, although they themselves probably need them badly. I’ll see what I can arrange. You guys go and save your friend, and when all is well, we will start a rebellion together, and regain my right to the throne.”

Powerful words, and a powerful promise. The voice of Ember filled Rainbow Dash and Spike with ferocity, as if a dragon’s spirit flowed on Ember’s tones. She really does sound like a general, Rainbow Dash thought, and reckoned that she would be more than capable of starting a rebellion—or a war.

Onwards they walked, taking turns, sloping down or climbing up, descending stairs and crossing rooms. All the while they were silent now, preparing for the coming events. All of the halls and corridors looked the same, so Dash and Spike didn’t realize that the turn they now took was the one with the treasure room at the end, before the golden halls opened before them.

Even though they had already been in there, they still let out a cry. But then they flashed their eyes around, looking for the beasts that had hunted them right into Ember’s claws. Of them they saw no sign.

The room looked unchanged. Still the silent sentinels stood with the roof in their claws, and the magma flowed beneath the bridge. The only things that were different were some extra cracks in the bridge, and heavy black stains on the floor where the monsters had begun their hunt.

“Unbelievable,” Ember whispered. But when Dash and Spike followed her gaze, they saw that the former Dragon Lady wasn’t looking at the gold at all. With a flap of her wings, she jumped up and into the sky, flying towards one of the stone dragon statues. She motioned for Rainbow Dash to follow, which she did. Once they were at the same height, Rainbow Dash said, “Have you read about these?”

“I have,” Ember wasn’t looking in Dash’s eyes; she was looking in the dragon’s.

The eyes looked too detailed to be made of stone, and stared right back at her, cast in an everlasting frown beneath scaly stone eyebrows. Ember reached out and grabbed the slit pupils of the eyes, which stuck out like handles. “You get the other one,” Ember said to Rainbow Dash, and nudged with her head to the opposing statue.

When Dash took hold of the pupils, she discovered that they were handles. She looked at Ember, nodded, and then they turned the handles at the same time.

Immediately, a heavy crunching sound filled the whole room. Rainbow Dash flew back and landed next to Spike, who stood trembling on his legs. Whether it was because of fear or because of the shaking earth, Rainbow Dash could easily guess. For a moment, Rainbow Dash thought that a new monster would spring down on them from somewhere, as she could swear she saw some movement.

And she was right.

The two stone dragons began lowering their claws. Slowly at first, but then their movements became faster and smoother, as if the hidden mechanism had to warm up. They turned to face each other as if they were alive, as if they were discussing what to do next. Ember landed next to them too, looking in awe at the scene before her eyes. Dust and pieces of rock rained down from the statues’ joints and limbs, as they grabbed each other’s claws.

“The first king and queen,” Ember whispered, and then found that she was kneeling to the ground.

The statues turned their heads towards the wall, opened their enormous maws, and roared as loudly as if they were alive. The roar was immediately followed by an enormous crash, accompanied by the sound of cracking stone, as the statues smashed the wall in between them open, using their claws as hammers.

Ember had closed her ears, but Rainbow Dash and Spike were deafened by the sound. It took a good long while before they could hear again, and when they could, they heard each other’s cry of amazement.

Behind the two statues, whose fists lay broken on the ground together with their mighty arms, an enormous breach in the wall opened to yet another hallway, from which a blue light shone.

Ember wasted no time. “Come on!” she said, leading the way and jumping over the statues into the next room, but not before bowing once more to the two stone dragons.

Dash and Spike were too baffled to disobey; Dash had to scoop Spike up and carry him on her back.

In a flash of hope, Rainbow Dash thought that the blue light meant sky and light and freedom, but instead they were crystals, shining brighter even than the Bloodstones, and doing their best to illuminate the enormous chamber they occupied. Still, the center was clad in shadow, but they could see what lay before them: a set of black stairs. Rune-covered stairs led up and up and up, where at the top a blue light illuminated some kind of altar, nestled between two pillars of blue crystal.

Ember stopped at the bottom of the stairs, together with Dash and Spike. They stared up in the distance, then at each other. Even though they couldn’t see it yet, they knew they had found it. They knew they had found the right chamber. This is where it had to be. This is where the Obsidian Tablet would have to be.

They started to ascend the stairs in silence, looking almost reverently up ahead. As they climbed higher and higher on the irregular steps, Rainbow Dash noticed that they became flanked by huge, black pillars, as smooth as steel spear tips, arching over their heads. Rainbow Dash wondered how high the chamber must be, for the roof was clad in shadows.

As they moved, the ground suddenly disappeared into a black hole. The stairs seemed to loom over a large cliff, of which neither Ember nor Spike, nor Rainbow Dash could see the bottom. Spike swallowed, and focused instead on the top.

Step by step, the altar came into view. It was rimmed by sharp rocks, standing like spikes upright around the stones in a wide arc. The altar was filled with holes, as if it were also haphazardly finished by its builders.

They stopped.

Ember, Spike, and Rainbow Dash now stood so close that they could see something up ahead. Something big; a dark shape on the altar.They looked at each other, and felt suddenly afraid to speak. Their gazes were a mix of awe, fear, and eagerness. Their gazes spoke just one name, ‘The Obsidian Tablet.’

They knew they had found what they had been looking for, until the shape turned around, and looked at them with a single eye underneath a deep hood.

“There you are at last,” Chain Link said.

Spike jumped in fright, nearly falling off the stairs. Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and took off in the air, waving her shock away and making place for the wits she would need in a fight. Only Ember stood unmoved, albeit with eyes glittering in surprise.

“I’ve always had a funny feeling when I was around you, Chain Link,” she said to the figure in the dark.

“Then your instincts have not betrayed you, Dragon-Lady,” Chain link said, his voice as cold as the light in which he stepped. As he did, his chains rattled around him, almost as if they were alive and withdrawing from the light.

“Wait, you know this guy?” Dash said, not taking her eyes off her potential enemy.

“Yes. He was my first adversary,” Ember said. Then she turned her red eyes to the hooded dragon again. “Why are you here, Chain Link?”

The old dragon started to sway, almost unnoticeably, on his feet. “I am here because it is fated. You are here because it is fated. Spike the dragon and Rainbow Dash the pegasus are here because it is fated. It is meant to be.”

Dash was just about to ask Chain Link to stop speaking in riddles, when he continued. “I have come here to make a stand, as are you. I am still your first adversary, for I have never followed Garble and his false dragon code.” He paused, and cleared his throat; it sounded like grating stones. “Awesomeness… I don’t remember Meteor saying that word when he gave us the dragon code.”

“Yeah, it does sound kind of weird, when you put it that way,” Ember said.

Chain Link nodded; his chains clinked. “The dragon code has always been about fury and strength, taking only what we need from inferior races; a chaotic relationship. Forging alliances, conquering other peoples; all things that were not promised by Meteor the Firstborn. The ideals of the dragon code have always been given from father to son, transferred orally, for the sake of memory. This new ‘dragon code,’ Garble invented himself.”

A silence followed. Spike accidentally nudged a stone off the stairs—he couldn’t hear it hit a bottom. In the silence, Rainbow Dash’s battle-ready mind took a second to ask itself how old Chain Link had to be, when he claimed to have heard the dragon code from Meteor the Firstborn himself.

Chain link let out a gurgle, and spit on the ground. The floor became stained with red, and the stone sizzled where the drop had fallen.

“I don’t have much time,” Chain Link said. He paused once more, lowering his head as if he were thinking what to say. With a jerk, his pale, white eye pieced into Ember. “But I have doubts about your code as well, Dragon-Lady Ember. You opt for peace instead of conquest, which is better… I think. Trading with other races and lands instead of raiding…” He fell into silence again. “I am not sure it is what the Firstborn wants.”

Ember frowned. Wants… present tense?

Suddenly, Chain Link’s claws were revealed, as he took out what he had hidden from sight. It was the Obsidian Tablet. A piece of the blackest stone, polished to an infinite gleam. It was so clear that Rainbow Dash, Spike, and Ember could all see the runes scribbled on it, glowing blue with the crystals which shone upon the Tablet.

“This,” Chain Link said, holding the tablet right in front of him, “is the destiny of the dragon race. It contains the Firstborn’s will, his memory, his thoughts… his soul. It is destined to be handed down from Dragon-Lord to Dragon-Lord, who shapes it into his own dragon code.” He lowered the Tablet and let out a sigh like a silent stream. “But I have broken my oath by not giving it to Garble. For that, I should die, but it is not my time yet.”

He did a step back, back into the shadows, where he left the Tablet on the altar. They couldn’t see him anymore, but his voice still sounded.

“According to the voice of Meteor, which I have heard often the past millennia, the Obsidian Tablet will go to a dragon worthy of wielding it. And I am not sure who that will be.”

Rainbow Dash could feel the air growing cold. Everyone felt it, felt the tension in the air; the threat that lingered like a cold mist.

“And now I shall make my stand.”

Chain Link reappeared in the light. He had thrown off his robes, revealing sharp grey spines upon a greyer body full of sinewy muscles, covered by a layer of mail. His hands were long, and three fingers bore curved, jagged claws. But he didn’t use those.

With a flick of his wrist, a chain shot into his palm, snaked around his arm and shoulder, and then launched itself towards Rainbow Dash like a spring.

But Dash knew something was about to happen, and she dodged the chain with a somersault. She heard it rattle against the wall behind her.

“Come on, Spike!” Ember yelled, and did a step back. As soon as she had positioned herself, she breathed in, and let out a swirling torrent of blue flames, soon followed by Spike’s thin lance.

The air became filled with smoke and fire, and the altar was plunged into a tsunami of flames. After a second which felt like an hour, Ember and Spike stopped their attack, and waited for the figure of Chain Link to reappear through the smoke. Of course they knew that their attack couldn’t hurt him, for he was a dragon as well. But the blinding wave had given Rainbow Dash the opportunity to hide beneath the stairs.

She got the hint. Dash was there, hovering below the stone of the stairs as silently as she could, ready to pop up and buck the old dragon into the abyss, for she had seen that he had no wings.

Chain Link appeared through the smoke, holding a set of chains in his claw, made of mean steal with spikes and barbs, much like the stem of a rose.

“A futile attempt,” he said, as he raised his claw. “Not worthy of a Dragon-Lord.”

That was Dash’s cue. She heard the roaring flames go silent, and primed her wings for a burst.

But then things happened too quickly for her.

A hole burned through the stairwell above, an invisible hand squeezed Dash’s barrel tightly. Her belly erupted in flames.

“NO!” Spike shouted.

Chain Link stood on the stairwell, the barbed chain in his hands. It went through the stairwell, and he laughed. “The eyes of Meteor guide me.”

It took Rainbow Dash several second of agony to realize that she was snagged by a chain. The steel cut into her wound, and the pain started to control her body. Like a million, white-hot needles it traveled through her stomach, and Dash couldn’t quite find out if the chain was white-hot or whether her belly would burst open. She screamed, she screamed like she had never screamed before. She could feel how her strength got sapped away through the chain.

“Good,” Chain Link said, and he seemed to grow in size.

But then, just as in the lava tube, Rainbow Dash gave one last fight.

She didn’t know where she got the strength from. Adrenaline? Rage? Desperation? A near-death experience? She felt a spurt of energy go through her body. Dash started to shake, gritted her teeth, placed her legs against the stone of the stairwell above her. Then, she took off.

Luckily the chain wasn’t wrapped around her wings, so Rainbow Dash flapped them harder than the fiercest dragon. She went down, down, down, until the chain pulled taut, and another waterfall of pain shot through her body—but she tried to rush on. Dash heard a crack, and wasn’t sure if it was her bones making that sound or the altar above. It proved to be the latter. With a scream that cut through the darkness like the light of a lantern, Chain Link fell down.

Spike and Ember let out a cry, as they saw Dash and Chain Link tumble down into the darkness. They were long out of sight ere Ember had grabbed Spike, and was diving down after them. As they shot through the darkness, they passed up and under strange vertical columns, and dived through random holes in walls and plateaus, illuminated by occasional patches of blue light. But they didn’t pay any attention to that, for they realized with a shock that they hadn’t heard any sounds in the darkness.

No thump, no scream, no crash.

Nothing.

Then it appeared that they had reached the bottom of the abyss, as a large, uneven floor appeared below them, black and smooth and covered with crystals.

“There!” Spike yelled, stabbing a claw at the floor.

There she lay, but she didn’t move. Rainbow Dash was lying on the ground, motionless, covered by black splinters and shards of blue crystal in a big crater. A few feet away, still grasping the cruel chain, was Chain Link.

He stood upon his feet; the chain rattled in his claw. He walked to and fro, up and down, searching for his enemies. A shard of blue crystal protruded from his eye, and the milky white light it had borne was extinguished.

But then he stood still, as the flap of Ember’s big blue wings reached his ears. He turned them in the right direction, breathed in, and let out a gout of black flames.

She saw it coming, but Ember took no notice of it, for she was a dragon.

A big mistake.

As soon as the flames wrapped their tendrils around her, Ember felt that the fire was different. It was no ordinary dragon fire. She felt it burning, but no wounds appeared on her skin. It burned right through her soul, reaching her heart and her mind and scorching them with white-hot claws. Spike felt the same. Even though Ember tried to protect him, the flames seemed to go right through her body, reaching Spike’s. Like unseen X-rays they lit his muscles on fire, and he thought he might faint.

Ember felt her wings burn from the inside. With a scream, she fell down, and crashed to the floor.

“Meteor’s breath knows no mercy,” Chain Link said. His voice was no longer cold and sharp, but broken, and blood streamed between his teeth as he spoke. He had heard where the two dragons had crashed, and he started walking towards them, slowly but steadily, limping with one leg but using his tail to support himself. All of his chains had fallen off him, except the one he held, and the only rattle he made came from his claws upon the floor and his cruel weapon.

Ember had gotten the worst of Chain Link’s attack, but Spike was still conscious. He felt as if all his bones were liquefied, but he managed to crawl over to Ember’s face. “Ember! Wake up!” The weakness of his voice startled him for a moment. “Ember! Wake up!” he yelled again.

“It is of no use,” Chain Link said, who now knew exactly where they were thanks to Spike’s outcries. “Meteor’s breath consumes all.”

Spike forced himself not to look at the advancing dragon, and instead tried something else. He slapped Ember in the face, once, twice. She didn’t wake up.

“Ember! Please!”

“My doubts are justified, so it seems,” the blood-soaked voice of Chain Link said, dangerously close now. Still Spike didn’t look.

It can’t end like this.

A shadow fell upon them.

Not like this.

Then a thought struck him as fast as lightning: Ember’s healing skills. What healing skills did he know? Fluttershy had once taught him some.

Spike forced open Ember’s mouth, breathed in, and breathed out a small green flame. It danced upon the Dragon Lady’s tongue, and shot in her throat.

Spike could hear the rattle of chains. He could smell the rust.

With a gasp and a cough, Ember shot upright. She looked up, saw Chain Link’s raised fist, and rolled aside.

The dragon’s chain-covered fist slammed into the ground, leaving a big dent in the stone. He grumbled, spit a gobbet of blood onto the floor, and turned his head in the right direction. “You will not escape your destiny!”

Ember felt her head wobble. The flame of Spike was still burning bright in her lungs, transferring energy in a green haze. She looked upon her enemy, who now came rushing towards her. She didn’t know who of the three it was, and realized it too late. Chain Link slammed her to the ground, and Spike rolled away from her, his head bouncing on the floor. Just in time did Ember manage to grab Chain Link’s claws, which dug into her flesh. She let out a yell.

Blood flowed from Chain Link’s eyes and between his teeth, staining Ember’s diamond-blue wings. He looked like a dragon from hell, and his voice gurgled as he spoke. “You cannot scream away your destiny!”

Indeed, Ember saw black spots dancing in front of her eyes. She felt her head become light, and she wondered whether it had already flown away.

“EMBER!”

To the voice of Spike, Ember turned her head. Between the black spots before her eyes, she saw one of them closing in. She snatched it from the sky, and realized what it was.

But she had let go of her enemy’s claw, as she caught the blackness, and Chain Link seized that advantage. His curved claw burrowed itself in Ember’s shoulder; dragon blood painted the ground.

With her last remaining sliver of consciousness, Ember sprang into action. She curled her legs, pushed Chain Link off her, and gave out a yell as his claw ripped free off her shoulder.

Chain Link staggered back, but didn’t fall. Immediately, he flew into a charge in the right direction, because Ember was still sprawled onto the floor.

Waiting…

The eyeless face of Chain Link came into view.

Now!

She gave a vigorous flap with her wings. Chain Link’s mail vest flew up and over his head, and before he knew what happened, a shard of black obsidian stuck out of his heart, driven there by the momentum of his own charge.

Blood marked the black shard, and Chain Link fell to his knees. Even though his eyes were gone, he still looked down to the piece of obsidian, ripping apart his ancient heart. His lips curled up into a bloody smile.

“Killed by the Firstborn himself…”

Then he slumped down, and Chain Link, last of the ancient dragon race, returned to his ancestors.

Comments

[Luna Nightshade]

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Ember ... and some Daring Do Adventuring

[Elkia Deerling]

Jup. It gets pretty brutal, doesn't it?