My Little Pony: How the Magic of Friendship Grows (Season 1)

by Majestical4729

20. Return of the Moles

Author's Note:

Return of the Moles serves as the twentieth episode of the series.

Summary: When Spike got trapped in a deep underground cavern, Princess Twilight Sparkle instructed the Heroic Ten to find a colony of moles to help rescue him.

Featured Characters:

Echo, a big brown bat who uses echolocation and relies on hearing more than sight like big brown bats in real life. Falcon Dive was separated from him for many years until they reunited shortly after the Heroic Ten's graduation in How the Magic of Friendship Grows, Part Two.

King of the Moles, the current ruler of the moles' underground kingdom, and descendant of Princess Celestia's old friend, a previous leader of the moles. At first, he was portrayed to be stern and strict and very unwilling to go adobe ground, due to the mistake his colony made during Celstia's reign which led them to their hiding. But after hearing what Sunshine Rays and Luster Dawn said, he changed and became warmer to others, and willing to help others above the ground.

In the throne room at Canterlot Castle, Princess Twilight Sparkle was pacing around, waiting for something.

"Oh, where are they?!" the alicorn asked out loud, just before the door opened.

"Your highness, your guests are here, and they've been checked, and none of them are imposters." Gallus informed.

"Thank goodness they are! Hurry, let them in." Princess Twilight Sparkle instructed.

"Of course, your Majesty." Gallus replied, allowing the Heroic Ten to enter.

"Your Majesty." the ten creature bowed before Twilight.

"Luster, you and your best friends are doing the right thing to be so respectful towards royalty like me, but right now, I'm afraid there is no time for bowing." Twilight informed.

"Wait, there isn't?!" Luster asked in a shocked time.

"Next time, she I summon you all for an emergency, we can skip the usual, formal greetings." Princess Twilight Sparkle told the Heroic Ten.

"Then why didn't you say so when you sent that letter?" Evergreen asked out of curiosity.

"I...was too overwhelmed by my motions to think of that." Princess Twilight Sparkle sheepishly admitted.

"That's alright, that could happen to any creature!" Alkali remarked.

"It's better late than never, and the correct word is 'can', as in 'that can happen to any creature', because it still can happen." Volcano corrected.

"Back to the main point, the reason I summoned you all is..." Princess Twilight Sparkle began, before announcing after a short halt, "My Royal Advisor and Friendship Ambassador Spike, is missing!"

All ten creatures gasped in unison to hear the news, before the series' theme song intro played.

"Royal Advisor Spike missing?!" Krona asked.

"How can that be?!" Buffer added.

"I don't know, but one thing I do know, is there is no way to get contact from him, as I can send him letters, but he can't send any to me." Princess Twilight Sparkle explained.

"Why won't he be able to contact you?" Yellow Bright asked.

"He might have lost his quit and have no way to write," Princess Twilight Sparkle figured, "And something else I do know, is Spike is supposed to come back to Canterlot from Klugetown last night, but he didn't."

"Then why didn't you send your guards out to find him?" Sunshine Rays asked.

"I did send my guards out, but they found no clues of here Spike could be." Princess Twilight Sparkle explained, resulting in another gasp being heard as the Heroic Ten gasped in unison.

"How can there be...no clues at all?" Nature Bloom asked.

"Are they sure that there are 0 clues?!" Falcon Dive asked.

"They found nothing that can lead to Spike, nor a theory to what could have happened." Princess Twilight Sparkle responded.

"Maybe the guards aren't good enough!" Krona could not help but say, making the other Heroic Ten members express shock.

"Don't say that, Krona!" Buffer told her at once.

"We are horribly sorry to every creature that statement Krona just said can insult..." Nature Bloom apologised.

"That's alright, I mean, at least you were honest and let us know what you were thinking. And by the way, that is not the most insulting as saying that some creature is bad!" Princess Twilight pointed out.

"Next time Krona, just say that the guards, or whoever you are talking about, needs to be even better!" Nature Bloom informed.

"Got it, and sorry about the insult!" Krona sheepishly apologised.

"Back to the main point, Royal Advisor Spike went missing, and there aren't any clues to where he could have gone?!" Volcano asked.

"That's what we've been saying for a while." Princess Twilight nodded.

"Should we hire a detective?" Luster suggested.

"Rarity is out of the question because she's currently too busy, and might get too worried about Spike. I got a lot of duties to do today, so I'm off the list, too. And even if I did hire detectives, Spike might know nothing about them to know that they aren't imposters. So that leaves all ten of you to be suitable candidates for the mission." Princess Twilight Sparkle explained.

"But, what can Spike know about us to know that we aren't imposters?!" Sunshine Rays asked out loud.

"You can tell him what you all gave him as birthday presents for his last birthday, although you gave it to him late, a few days after the day you graduated?" Princess Twilight Sparkle reminded.

"Right..." Luster chuckled in embarrassment as she remembered the late presents-giving.

"I remember I gave him a Power Ponies comic set, because he is a fan of Power Ponies, according to his wife Rarity." Falcon Dive declared.

"I gave him a notebook to write things down so he won't forget them." Sunshine Rays added.

"I gave him a very soft, smooth blanket because I figured that a busy creature like him can use good sleep, so...why not give him a blanket that is very comfortable?" Nature Bloom contributed.

"I gave him a stop watch to time things, because I thought it would be helpful." Evergreen contributed.

"I gave him a Treasure Chest I made from a fallen tree, a skill I learnt at one of the School of Friendship field trips. Back to the main point, I made him a Treasure Chest because I know that he loves to eat gems, and since gems are valuable treasures, a Treasure Chest will be the perfect container to contain them!" Alkali recalled.

"Krona remember that she gave Royal Advisor Spike a dumb-bell to practice being strong!" Krona declared.

"I gave Like some earmuffs to protect his ears from loud noises, or to keep them warm in cold temperatures." Buffer explained.

"I gave Spike a supply of scrolls, quits and ink bottles because I know that since he's the Royal Advisor and Friendship Ambassador, he will need to write a lot of letters!" Volcano stated.

"I gave Spike a crystal that I learnt to make at my old school during a science experiment, because crystals shine, and I thought they can get him to look on the bright side!" Yellow Bright claimed.

"I gave him a set of notes that tell him what makes him a hero before he became your Royal Advisor those years when he lived in Ponyville with you." Luster informed, "Like, the time when he stood up for King Thorax at the risk of his own reputation in the Crystal Empire, or the time he..."

"I know that he's a great dragon friend, Luster." Twilight interrupted, "And we cannot give up on making sure that he is alright. If you ten find him, you can tell him what you gave him fr his last birthday, and he most likely will be convinced that you are the real you."

"Because no creature except him and us know what we gave him for his last birthday!" Yellow Bright said.

Princess Twilight Sparkle cleared her throat, causing Yellow Bright to correct his latest sentence, "And Princess Twilight Sparkle, the Ruler of Equestria who succeeded Princess Celestia, and was around to hear what the Heroic Ten said that they gave Royal Advisor Spike on his previous birthday..."

Princess Twilight Sparkle giggled, "No need to put things that way, Yellow Bright. But let's not get off-topic once again, you need to find Spike, and make sure he's alright! And bring him back to Canterlot!"

"I believe I have an old friend who can help, your Majesty." Falcon Dive claimed.

"That is wonderful Falcon Dive, if whoever that friend is isn't busy at the moment." Princess Twilight Sparkle replied.

"But that friend has got to be willing to help!" Sunshine Rays remarked.

"Don't worry, I'm talking about Echo." Falcon Dive replied.

"You mean Echo the big brown bat?" Evergreen asked.

"Yup, my childhood friend and classmate, who...got separated from me when his family moved. He reunited with me after we graduated that day, by approaching me not long after our moment of fame was over." Falcon Dive nodded.

"He sure was happy to see you again after all those years of separation!" Alkali commented.

"And we never lost touch again!" Falcon Dive added.

"And I remember you said that Echo uses echolocation, like common bats." Volcano recalled.

"He totally does! And by the way, whenever you ask him if he had seen something, you should ask him if he had heard something, because he relies on listening more than seeing!" Falcon Dive informed.

"And since he uses listening..." Buffer began.

"In this case, echolocation, he does not need things to be in the line of sight to find them! So even if Spike is hidden among opaque objects, Echo can still locate him!" Luster finished.

"Unless there's vacuums, because vacuums prevent sound from going through! Sound needs a medium to travel, as the sound energy is transferred from the one end to another by the particles of the medium colliding with each other!" Volcano explained.

"Are the chances of having vacuums in the place, really that much?" Yellow Bright asked.

"Anyway, I think Echo will be more than helpful enough to help you find Spike. So please, get Echo, and all the help you can get! And contact me about what yo find out!" Princess Twilight Sparkle instructed.

"We're on it, your Majesty!" Luster saluted.

---

The scene changed to show the Heroic Ten and Echo arriving in Klugetown.

"We're here every creature, Klugetown, where Royal Advisor Spike was last seen and known to be in." Luster declared.

"Can you locate him, Echo?" Alkali asked.

"I will try my best, but I don't think it's easy with all the extra noise!" Echo answered.

"I see...I mean, I hear...what you mean..." Nature Bloom responded.

"No kidding, it's as noisy as a marketplace!" Sunshine Rays commented.

"That's because this is a marketplace! Klugetown is both a town for creatures to live in, and a huge town for shopping!" Volcano explained.

"Do you think we should ask the creatures here if they saw Royal Advisor Spike recently?" Yellow Bright asked.

"Are you kidding, Princess Twilight Sparkle said that there are no clues at all to finding where the royal advisor had gone to! Asking is so off the list!" Falcon Dive responded to Yellow Bright's question.

"But it never hurts to ask!" Krona pointed out.

"I have to agree with Krona, plus, not asking might cost us a clue." Buffer added.

"Alright, before we really go into the search for the royal advisor ourselves, we're going to ask around for help, as in, ask the creatures we run into whether they saw the Royal Advisor these 2 days or not. We'll split up, and regroup here at the Train Station by 1 afternoon." Luster instructed.

---

"Excuse me, have you seen Royal Advisor Spike these 2 days?" Evergreen asked an Earth Pony, while levitating a photo of Spike for him to see.

The Earth Pony shook his head, which meant that his answer was 'no, he had not seen Spike'.

"Well, thanks for answering anyway!" Evergreen quickly responded, before turning towards an elderly female Klugetown resident that resembled a pig, "Excuse me, have you seen Royal Advisor Spike these 2 days?"

"Royal Advisor Spike?! Why would he be here in Klugetown if he lives in Canterlot, far away?!" the Klugetown resident asked.

"Anyway, thanks for your answer." Evergreen quickly took off, before noticing Echo above her, asking the Klugetown residents who live in the upper floors of th ebuildings.

"Excuse me, but did you see Royal Advisor Spike these 2 days?" Echo asked, while flapping his wings and holding the photo of Spike with his right foot.

The Klungetown resident shook his head, leading to Echo's response, "Thanks, anyway!"

"Echo knows what they do without seeing?!" Evergreen asked herself, softly.

"Of course I know what they do, without even seeing it!" Echo flew down and landed right in front of Evergreen.

"Echo, you heard me?!" the Kirin asked.

"Of course I did, bats can hear sounds a lot softer than what most common animals and creatures can!" Echo replied.

"But what about knowing what others are doing when you're not even seeing?" Evergreen asked

"Bats use echolocation to identify where things and living creatures are, so even when the living creature is running, the bat will know where the former's going, and what the former's doing!" Echo explained, "So bats can also detect movements!"

"That's really interesting!" Evergreen commented, before asking, "But, can you detect what time the clock is showing?!"

"Unless there's a vacuum sealing up the clock's face, yes, I can." Echo answered.

"Echo, Evergreen, you two better continue asking, because so far, no creature gave me a helpful answer." Falcon Dive told them, as he flew down.

"Wait, you got zero clues so far, too?" Evergreen asked.

Falcon Dive nodded, "Every creature I asked gave an answer of 'no', or 'why would he be out here?', not what were looking for." Falcon Dive explained.

"Don't like to say this but, if we don't get anywhere close to finding Spike, we're going to let Princess Twilight Sparkle down." Evergreen sadly said.

"WHAT?! No, we cannot let the princess down! She trusted us! We have got to find Royal Advisor Spike! We must!" Falcon Dive declared.

---

Soon, the Heroic Ten and Echo regrouped at the Train Station, at the exact time 1 o'clock in the afternoon.

"So, did any creature find something useful?" Luster asked.

"Krona didn't find anything!" Krona reported.

"Well, I did find out that some creatures last saw Spike on his way to the Train Station here..." Buffer stated.

"And, is that all?" Sunshine Rays asked.

"No, there's more, some creature else said that he saw Spike flying away from the Train Station, around 15 minutes before the train arrived." Buffer added.

"Why would the royal advisor fly away from the Train Station, when he was going to take the train home, anyways?" Krona asked.

"Are you sure that's him?" Yellow Bright asked.

"Well, some creature said that Royal Advisor Spike himself decided to fly up to see if he can spot the train, because he is getting tired of waiting and not knowing when the train is going to arrive'. So that's why the royal advisor flew away from the Train Station." Buffer explained.

"Anything else?" Volcano asked.

"They say that the royal advisor was seen flying away, but not coming back to the Train Station." Buffer answered.

"That is strange." Luster said.

"And I doubt that Royal Advisor Spike will want to fly all the way from Klungetown to Canterlot under the hot sun!" Sunshine Rays added.

"Who'd be crazy enough to do something like that?!" Falcon Dive asked.

"Anyway, if Spike flew away from the Train Station and did not come back, maybe something happened to him after he flew away!" Evergreen figured out.

"And that something...unfortunately, isn't something very good..." Yellow Bright added.

"Alright, we know that Spike flew away from the Train Station to see if he can spot the train coming, and did not come back, but which way did he go?" Luster asked.

"The opposite direction of the train from Klungetown to Canterlot is heading." Buffer answered.

"Then that's the direction we should go in!" Luster declared.

---

"I can't believe the Royal Guards said that they did not find a single clue! I mean, we found some very effective clues!" Alkali remarked.

"The clues we found are useful, Alkali. But maybe they aren't useful enough..." Volcano figured.

"What do Volcano mean, clues aren't useful enough?! They're getting Krona and friends somewhere!" Krona asked.

"We only know that Spike flew away in this direction and disappeared! He might have changed his direction or even landed somewhere..." Volcano explained.

"And this area is huge!" Nature Bloom commented.

"Finding the royal advisor will be finding a needle in a haystack!" Falcon Dive commented.

"And that is indeed, an idiom." Volcano responded, "Finding a needle in a haystack means extremely difficult to find."

"Stand back, every creature. Let me try to hear if I can find Spike or not." Echo announced, before producing some sound waves.

"Interesting, Echo's using echolocation! I never got to see an expert echolocation user using the said process until now!" Volcano exclaimed.

"Volcao, you better keep quiet so Echo can focus!" Falcon Dive hushed.

"Oh, right. Sorry...just can't help myself..." Volcano apologised.

"I hear something." Echo said, before sending out some sound waves into the ground, "I hear...the royal advisor breathing! And not just any breathing, he's breathing in a way that I can tell that he's scared! Scared that he will never get out!"

"Out? From where?!" Alkali asked.

"The underground caverns, he's trapped somewhere down there!" Echo answered.

"But, how did the royal advisor get down there in the first place?" Krona asked.

"Don't know, but he's somewhere deep. Very deep underground! And he's injured!" Echo informed.

"Take us to the sight that is perpendicular to where he is, Echo! If you can." Luster pleaded.

"Sure thing. I always wanted to help out like you ten!" Echo replied, before flapping his wings to lift himself off the ground and fly towards the location.

---

"Royal Advisor Spike is...down there?" Nature Bloom asked, as the creatures gathered around a hole in the ground.

"Indeed, about 500 meters down, as accurate as I can get." Echo nodded.

"What are we waiting for?! Let's go rescue him!" Falcon Dive asked, preparing to swoop in.

"Falcon, wait!" Echo quickly called, stopping the griffon.

"The tunnel down can get narrower and narrower, you can get stuck like the royal advisor is right now!" Echo warned.

"And it is already bad enough to have one creature trapped down there!" Buffer added.

"Two creatures getting trapped?! I don't even think that you want to think about that!" Volcano contributed.

"But the holes look wide enough for me to fit through!" Falcon Dive commented.

"Looks can be deceiving!" Sunshine Rays warned.

"Sunshine's right, you know. There are many times when looks can be deceiving, like for example, what may appear to look like a larger piece of land, can actually not be larger?" Evergreen stated an example.

"So what appears to be a hole you can fit through, might not be a hole that you can fit through for real!" Yellow Bright concluded.

"Maybe if we made the hole bigger, we can all fit though!" Luster figured.

"Don't look at me! I may have eaten gems before, and cleared up a boulder with my jaws, but there is no way I'm crazy enough to taste dried soil!" Volcano protested.

"Don't worry about that Volcano, I'm not even going to ask you to use your jaws like the time you cleared that boulder! Besides, you took a long time to clear that boulder, there is no telling how long you will take to clear 500 meters times an area, amount of soil!" Luster assured.

"You might take weeks to clear that much!" Alkali exclaimed.

"That is way too long." Evergreen commented.

"Princess Twilight isn't going to be alright waiting for weeks!" Krona commented.

"And I don't even think Royal Advisor Spike can survive that long without for and water! Sorry if I was too negative, thinking about something like that!" Buffer apologised.

"That's alright Buffer, even I know that there is no way positively thinking that he can survive without living thing needs for weeks will work! Reality is still reality! What you think is still what you think!" Yellow Bright assured.

"What if we all try digging down 500 meters?" Nature Bloom asked.

"And because there is 11 of us, we can get the work done in 1 out of 11 times the time compared to when just 1 of us works!" Luster added.

"Let me calculate..." Volcano began, "Let's say 1 of us takes 110 hours to dig down 500 meters. If all 11 of us do it, we will get it done in 10 hours, which is 1 out of 11 times the number!"

"Let's see how long it takes for al 11 of us to dig down 1 meter. We can use that time to assume how long it will take for us to dig down 500 meters!" Luster suggested.

---

The scene changed to show what happened once the 11 creatures reached 1 meter down.

"We took...25 minutes to dig down to 1 meter!" Luser gasped.

"So, we can use 25 minutes per meter to see how long it takes for us to reach 500 meters!" Alkali figured.

"25 times 500...12500 minutes! That's...12500 over 60 hours...208 and 1 over 30 hours. That's 8 and 2 over 3 days." Volcano calculated.

"But that is still too long." Evergreen commented.

"And Krona does not think that any creature can survive without food and water for that long!" Krona exclaimed.

"And what is even worse is, there is no way we can work that long without sleeping and eating! We have got to rest and eat and take breaks so we won't suffer from the effects of having a lack of them! And if we did take some breaks, we're going to take even longer to reach 500! And that can mean double the time! Or even triple, or quadruple!" Volcano informed.

"Well, we don't have days to get Royal Advisor Spike out! We got to do it today!" Luster declared.

"But you heard Volcano, at the rate we're going, we'll never make it!" Sunshine Rays told the unicorn.

"Maybe Princess Twilight Sparkle can think of something, or know some creature who can help us!" Luster said, taking out a scroll and a quill.

---

Back in Canterlot, the royal guards opened the doors for an exhausted Princess Twilight Sparkle, who trotted to the dining table after morning's work.

"I can't believe that Still got afternoon to take care of, even when I've been doing lots of work since ages!" the alicorn said to herself, just a second before Luster Dawn's letter arrived.

"A letter from Luster!" Princess Twilight Sparkle said, before using her magic to unfold the letter and silently read what it said.

---

Back with the creatures...

"The princess is busy! Are you sure she has time to read and write a reply?" Sunshine Rays asked Luster.

A second after the sentence was finished, the reply letter magically came to Luster, who asked, "You were saying?"

"Just forget and get over that..." Sunshine Rays plainly answered.

Luster used her magic to unfold the letter and read out, "Dear Luster, you and your best friends have done well in locating Spike is, even though you can't get to him at the moment."

"She's got a point, knowing where the royal advisor is but not being able to get to him, is better than not knowing where the royal advisor is, and not being able to get to him!" Yellow Bright commented, before Luster continued.

"I am glad that you informed me about the situation rather than try to dig your way to him yourselves, knowing that you will not make it in time."

"Of course we will not make it in time! There is no way any creature can dig down 500 meters in less than half day!" Volcano stated before Luster was given time to carry on reading.

"I believe that I know some creatures who can help him, only if they can be found."

"If they can be found? What does that mean?" Nature Bloom could not help but ask.

"Most likely it means that we have to find them?" Sunshine Rays answered.

"These creatures are called the moles," Luster read, before being interrupted again.

"Moles?! Heard that those little mammals are blind!" Krona could not help but exclaim.

"Krona!" Nature Bloom hushed.

"Sorry, just honestly saying Krona's thoughts out loud!" Krona apologised while whispering.

"They have the special ability of digging up huge volumes of dirt in a single second." Luster read.

"Wow! And I thought sea ponies are the most amazing creatures there are as the best swimmers Equestria knows that they can talk to and have!" Alkali commented.

"Can we just let Luster read the rest of the letter, uninterrupted?" Buffer asked.

"Whoops! Sorry, just can't help but say our thoughts out loud!" Alkali apologised.

"They are the best at digging and making underground tunnels, and that makes them the best creatures for the job. Long ago, during Celestia's reign, and centuries before the return of Nightmare Moon, the moles were helpful allies of Equestria, helping to build tunnels throughout the kingdom, and their leader was great friends with Princess Celestia. But, the moles disappeared after the attack of Conquer, an evil sorcerer who wanted to conquer every place he knows! Princess Celestia had never seen the moles ever again since then, and gave up the search. I found this information this morning when I was cleaning up the restricted section of the Canterlot Library, and you will never believe how well-hidden it is! Back to the main point, the moles are known to reside in Moles' Mountain before their disappearance. That must be where you should start your search." Luster read.

"Moles' Mountain?" Evergreen asked.

"How do we find that place?" Sunshine Rays added.

"And what's that at the other side of the scroll?" Yellow Bright asked, causing Luster to flip he letter and look at what was on the back.

"It's a map to Moles' Mountain!" she cried.

"It looks very...old." Volcano commented after taking a look.

"Must be because the moles disappeared centuries ago!" Nature Bloom reminded.

"In that case, will visiting their centuries-abandoned home be a good idea?" Sunshine Rays asked, "I mean, what clues can we find there?!"

"I believe that the site is still a good place to start the search despite the fact it was abandoned for hundreds of years, because that's the only site known to have last traces of the moles! I mean, if the moles left that place, they must have packed up their things and left! So that must be the last place they were before they disappeared!" Volcano explained.

"The dragon's right, every creature." Echo told the others, "We start our searches at the place with the last traces."

---

The scene changed to show what the eleven creatures see when they arrived at Moles' Mountain; nothing except a natural, trees and plants growing all over the place habitat for birds, reptiles and small mammals.

"This isn't so bad, full of plans and animals, everything better than the ghost town Mount Aris was when Princess Twilight Sparkle and the Council of Friendship first visited there when they journeyed beyond Equestrian to save it from the Storm King!" Nature Bloom commented, "No offence to those who take Mount Aris very seriously."

"None taken! I'm not even offended! Though, I do take Mount Aris seriously as I lived there for longer than I have not been living there!" Alkali responded.

"It's also your birthplace?" Volcano reminded.

Suddenly, Evergreen tripped on something hard, catching every creature else's attention as she fell onto the ground.

"Evergreen! Are you alright?!" Yellow Bright asked in a concerned tone as he rushed to help his Kirin Best Friend up.

"Hey, that's one of the few times I've ever heard your tone being a concerned one instead of a joke." Sunshine Rays commented.

"As if that's important." Krona plainly responded to the comment made by Sunshine.

"I'm alright besides getting dirt on my knees." Evergreen assured, "But I tripped on something hard."

Alkali dug up the dirt, revealing a stone in the shape of a cooking pot.

"A cooking stone pot!" the hippogriff exclaimed, pulling the object out of the soil.

"Don't you mean a stone cooking pot? A cooking pot made of stone, and not a cooking stone pot, a pot for cooking stone?" Volcano asked.

"I doubt that all these animals will use stone cooking pots, and most likely, they will not even make stone cooking pots! Because they do not need to cook their food! They can just eat it!" Nature Bloom stated.

"Then, who could have made the stone cooking pot?" Buffer asked.

Luster thought for a while, before gasping, "The Moles!"

"Of course! Like us creatures, the Moles lived in a village!" Falcon Dive exclaimed, "Or a town...or a...settlement?!"

"Or maybe you should use the word 'colony' and avoid having to make a hard decision." Volcano figured.

"This cooking pot is a sign that says the Moles used to be here, alright." Luster declared, levitating the pot.

"But not a sign of which way they could have gone!" Sunshine Rays responded.

"Echo, can you find any other clues left behind by the Moles around the area?" Luster asked.

"I will try my best." Echo nodded, before he began using his echolocation.

"I hope that the clues aren't destroyed from the many changes." Volcano told his best friends.

"What do you mean by destroyed by the many changes? There's just many more animals and plants all around here! How can a change like that destroy the clues?!" Falcon Dive asked.

"Other than plants and animals, there might have been climate change, bringing in some natural disasters like storms or forest fire caused by lightning." Volcano explained, "Any natural disaster might destroy a clue, especially when the clue is left centuries ago, unlike dinosaur fossils that are a lot deeper underground and secured from most natural disasters, because they were left behind millions of years ago, way longer than centuries!" Volcano explained.

"So you're saying that there are a lot of chances that most of the clues are...destroyed?" Nature Bloom asked.

"Something like that." Volcano nodded.

"But we need those clues to find the Moles!" Evergreen cried.

"So they can dig Royal Advisor Spike out!" Krona ended.

"Every creature! I found a tunnel! An underground tunnel!" Echo called, causing the Heroic Ten to rush over to where he was, looking at a hole in the ground.

"How come this hole didn't get covered up in several centuries' time?" Volcano asked.

"Maybe not all clues get destroyed?" Buffer suggested.

"The tunnel goes down very deep, and there is a long tunnel that goes horizontally at the bottom!" Echo informed.

"How does Echo know that?!" Krona asked.

"Echolocation. Helps me know where things are, how they move, and even map a cave." Echo explained.

"It's pretty cool to use listening after all!" Falcon Dive commented.

"Can't believe it took a long time for us all to believe that." Sunshine Rays plainly replied.

"If this tunnel goes a long way down and a long way away from the mountain, it most likely is the tunnel that the moles took when they left!" Luster figured.

"But are we sure that this really is the tunnel? I mean, what if it's a decoy? Or..." Nature Bloom asked.

"Decoy! Who do you think will want to make a decoy?!" Yellow Bright asked.

"Maybe we should still go down this tunnel." Nature Bloom changed her mind.

"But, not every creature can fit!" Krona pointed out.

"Echo, can you tell which direction the horizontal tunnel leads to?" Luster asked.

"Sure I can! Echolocation, remember?" Echo asked.

"Right...echolocation." Alkali responded.

"We better hurry, because the day will be ending in less than one eighth of a day!" Volcano alerted.

"That's 3 hours!" Evergreen figured.

"Can you just tell us directly and not leave a math puzzle for us to solve to find out what you mean?" an annoyed Sunshine Rays asked Volcano.

"What?! Is it so wrong to get your brains all thinking?" Volcano asked, before they moved on, following behind Echo, who was flying the rest of the way.

---

One and a half hours passed by and the 11 creatures finally reached the end of the line in an isolated-looking land full of plants and soil.

"My echolocation tells me that there is a lot of caverns and tunnels underground here. Matter-of-fact, an entire kingdom down there!" Echo reported.

"That must be the moles' kingdom!" Luster gasped, before happily explaining, "We found them!"

"But we need to convince them to help us fast! Because we took 90 minutes to get here!" Falcon Dive informed.

"Can you tell us in hours and minutes?" Volcano asked.

"Are you trying to test my Math?" Falcon Dive asked the dragon.

"Better not be unable to answer such a simple question like how many hours and minutes there are in 90 minutes!" Volcano responded.

"Fine! The answer is 1 hour and 30 minutes!" Falcon Dive plainly answered.

"We had les then 3 hours before!" Nature Bloom recalled.

"If we took 1 hour and 30 minutes to get here..." Evergreen stated.

"And took the same time to get back..." Krona added.

"The day will probably be over!" Buffer concluded.

"The sun will set, and it will be too dark to see!" Sunshine Rays cried.

"Couldn't Luster just do the basic light-the-way spell?" Yellow Bright asked.

"I can, but I doubt that it will be strong enough and last long enough to get the work done!" Luster replied.

"Then we got to get to the moles, fast!" Falcon Dive declared.

"Good news, speaking of moles, I'm picking up some of them very close to us! Right underneath those short plants!" Echo pointed his wing to the area of soil and said plants.

"Wait a second, those plants in the soil look familiar..." Krona commented.

"That's because they are familiar! They are root vegetables! Plants that grow underground! Several examples are carrots, turnip, radishes, yam, potatoes..." Nature Bloom listed before Luster cut her off.

"Thanks for the information, Nature Bloom. But we don't really need it right now!"

"And I thought I was the only creature to keep on telling you all some very interesting information!" Volcano commented.

"At the times when they are not really needed!" Falcon Dive sarcastically remarked.

"Sounds like the moles are pulling the root vegetables down towards them, as their way of harvest!" Echo informed.

"But we harvest vegetables by pulling them up!" Yellow Bright reminded.

"Looks like the moles don't want to come up above the ground!" Evergreen commented.

"Are you sure 'looks' is the right word? I mean, they are underground, we can't even look at them!" Yellow Bright responded.

"I wonder what it's like underground instead of underwater." Alkali remarked, "Maybe we should go down and take a look!"

"But the soil is solid! While water is liquid! They may both be states of matter, but they are very different!" Volcano warned.

"Right...solids have fixed volumes and fixed shape, while liquids have fixed volumes, but no fixed shape." Alkali stated.

"Because?" Volcano asked.

"Solid particles are held together by very strong forces of attraction, the particles are packed close together, in a regular, orderly manner, and the particles cannot move freely, so the solid has a fixed volume and fixed shape. Liquid particles have strong forces of attrition, weaker than hose in a solid, and the particles are close but are packed in an irregular manner unlike those in a solid, plus the particles can move freely unlike those in a solid, so liquids have definite volumes but not definite shapes." Alkali explained.

"Good to see that you've remembered the entire thing!" Volcano commented.

"This is not the time for these additional info that is not so useful nor needed! We got to get to the moles right now!" Luster declared.

"Looks like there is no other way except dig." Sunshine Rays commented.

"Then digging down it is!" Falcon Dive exclaimed, and was about to drill his way down into the soil, but was stopped by Luster who used her magic to pull onto his tail.

"Sorry Falcon, it's just that. We have to get to them, but without destroying their properties! Like their tunnels and caverns!" Luster informed.

"Yeah, destroying others' stuff is not best!" Krona declared.

"And it mostly will never be the best!" Buffer added.

"Then how else are we going to get down there?" Nature Bloom asked.

"I believe I can help with that." Luster replied, before teleporting all 11 creatures down into the tunnel.

---

In the underground tunnels, a few moles were loading up the root vegetables into some wooden wagons, a second before the 11 creatures appeared right before them, surprising them, causing them to scream, "aah! Intruders! Intruders!"

"Intruders?" Nature Bloom whimpered.

"They mean us." Sunshine Rays plainly informed.

"And the meaning of intruders is some creature who intrudes, which means enter a place without permission." Volcano defined.

"That's right! No creature except us moles are allowed in here!" a guard mole told the 11 intruder, pointing a stone sword at them.

"A sword made of stone?! That's..." Falcon Dive was about to comment, but was prevented by Sunshine Rays.

"Not very important to us!"

"Nor good!" Krona cried.

"Listen, we mean no harm. We were sent to find you to get your help!" Luster cried to the guards.

"And who did send you here?" another guard asked.

"The Ruler of Equestria..." Luster replied half way, as she was cut off by the guard who asked.

"Princess Celestia?!"

"Actually, Princess Celestia retired ages ago. Her graduated star student Princess Twilight Sparkle rules Equestria now and is the creature...or should I say, alicorn, who sent us here." Luster informed.

"Because her royal advisor and friendship ambassador, who are the one same creature, Spike, is trapped deep underground!" Yellow Bright added.

"We located him, but cannot reach!" Echo contributed.

"We need some creature who can go very deep underground!" Buffer went on.

"And Princess Twilight Sparkle believes that you moles are the creatures for the job!" Evergreen told the moles.

"That's why she told us to find you to get our help!" Nature Bloom ended.

The guard moles looked at each other, before turning back to look at the 11 outsiders, telling them, "In that case, you have to meet the King of the Moles. And tell him about it."

"Just talk to him?!" Falcon Dive asked.

"Talking can actually be a lot harder in this case, when you are trying to get the results you hope to get." Volcano informed.

"We already came this far!" Nature Bloom cried.

"Just 1 good conversation and everything will be over, Nature!" Evergreen assured.

"Come on! How hard can talking to royalty be when we already did that lots of times with Princess Twilight Sparkle, the Ruler of our homeland, Equestria?" Yellow Bright asked.

---

The scene then showed the King of the Moles, with the expression of some creature strict and stern, loudly saying, "NO!" to the 11 creatures' request.

"No?!" Sunshine Rays asked.

"But, why?!" Luster asked.

"The moles can never show their faces to the outside world, nor any creature out there, ever again!" the king shouted.

"There is actually no need to shout like that, your majesty." Buffer responded.

"Because we all can hear you loud and clear!" Echo added.

"Back to the main point..." Krona started.

"Why won't you want to help save Royal Advisor Spike, your majesty?" Nature Bloom asked.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle believes that you and your subjects are the right creatures to help!" Evergreen added.

"Out of all the creatures she knows!" Falcon Dive contributed.

"I already told you creatures, that the moles will never let themselves into the outside world, nor help any creature ever again!" the king declared.

"Alright, now I'm starting to get waxy!" Sunshine Rays growled.

"You are nothing like wax." Yellow Bright commented.

"Actually, the word 'waxy' has more meanings than one. But I do not think that I will like to define what Sunshine meant in this kind of scenario!" Volcano cried.

"That's 1 of the few times you are unwilling to define words! And matter-of-fact, it's the first time I ever see you not willing to define words!" Alkali remarked.

"Enough with the small talk! You creatures should be going right away." the king ordered.

"Before we go, your majesty. Can we please know why you and your subjects are so unwilling to show your faces outside your underground kingdom? I mean, according to history, your subjects loved helping Princess Celestia and her kingdom!" Luster asked.

"That was a long time ago, and we're no longer the same kingdom we were back then." the king replied.

"What if we promised not to tell any creature else why you and your subjects stay in your kingdom and never leaves it? Not even our closest friends, families, nor most trusted allies. Not even Princess Twilight Sparkle." Luster asked.

"You all better keep that promise..." the king warned, sending shivers down the visitors' spines.

"We promise." Echo answered, before the king explained through a story.

"Long ago, the moles lived in Moles Mountain, which is just about a kilometre away from Equestria. Princess Celestia and my ancestor, the King of the Moles of that time were great friends, giving each other tips or even just chat as friends. As a result, they allowed their subjects to work together, or mostly, help each other, until one fateful day, the King and his subjects were digging a large underground storm shelter for the ponies like Princess Celstia asked for, when they heard some creature calling for help underneath them. They dug the creature out, but the creature turned out to have very evil intentions, as he was none other than the evil sorcerer, Conquer! Conquer was defeated by Princess Celestia and her ponies, but the moles could not help but feel extremely guilty for releasing Conquer in the first place,, causing all the trouble. Unable to show his face, the King decided that he and his subjects should move far away, and hid themselves underground, so no creature will see them ever again."

"So that's why the moles disappeared after the attack of Conquer!" Krona exclaimed.

"I cannot believe this!" Sunshine Rays marched up, "All because of that mistake, the King of the Moles of that time, thought that he and his subjects should hide forever?!"

"Sunshine?" Falcon Dive asked.

"It was more than a mistake! It was a disaster!" the king argued.

"Just because your intentions of helping others caused trouble just that once, doesn't mean you should never help others again!" Sunshine Rays announced.

"We don't want to make that mistake ever again! It made us feel so guilty!" the king cried.

"You know what? I made lots of mistakes, too. Even after I became a famous heroine of Equestria and Beyond." Sunshine Rays admitted, "Once, I was too busy being moral to remember being nice, patient, diligent and all kinds of other virtues! I winded up being rude and scary to the public, and became some creature detestable!"

"That time when she was trying to stop creatures from smoking!" Buffer informed.

"But I fixed everything with the help of my best friends, and made up for that mistake. Don't you see? Hiding from your mistakes and hiding your faces after making a mistake that every creature knows, do nothing, and can even make it worse than before. But showing your face to to fix the damage and make amends is even better! Plus, think of how much better you will feel once every creature sees you and your subjects helping others again? Like real heroes would?" Sunshine Rays asked.

"But what if we wind up releasing a criminal again? Or make another big, terrible mistake?" the king asked.

"Then try to help every creature stop that criminal! Fixing the mistake is what counts!" Sunshine Rays replied.

"But the moles can do nothing about Conquer right now." the king commented.

"I know. But you can save Royal Advisor Spike like real heroes! And help others again to make amends! Big or small, your help is appreciated, and when you make mistakes...you should try to fix them and not hide from public because of it!" Sunshine Rays finished.

"Wow, what a speech." Yellow Bright commented.

"May not use much of examples, but I still believe that a speech like that can get an A grade!" Volcano remarked.

"And one more thing. If you ever felt uncomfortable from making a mistake, you can trust the Heroic Ten to be there for you! To help!" Luster announced.

"Now will you please help save the Ruler of Equestria's royal advisor?" Nature Bloom politely asked.

"And friendship ambassador?" Krona added.

"They are the one same creature." Evergreen informed.

The king was silent for a while, before making his decision, "The moles will be happy to help Equestrian, once again."

---

The sun was about to set as Luster teleported every creature right above Spike's position.

"He's down there, about 500 meters deep." Echo confirmed after using his echolocation to check.

"Alright, moles! Let's get digging!" the king ordered his subjects, causing them to dig down into the ground like a machine.

"I'm going down there, too!" Luster announced, before leaping into the tunnel.

"So the royal advisor will know that the moles are friends." Evergreen filled in for Luster.

"Wow! They are the best diggers around!" Alkali exclaimed as she watched the moles drill a tunnel deep underground.

"They are moles, after all." Volcano commented.

"They're like a natural digging machine at this speed!" Yellow Bright exclaimed.

"Talk about speed, I may be fast, but not at digging!" Falcon Dive added.

"And not at learning how to follow the rules even when some creature is in need." Sunshine Rays stated.

"They've gone pretty deep. Do you think they got the royal advisor, and are on their way back up?" Buffer asked, looking down into the tunnel.

The next second, the ground shook as the moles appeared with Luster and Spike, coming out of the ground from a new hole they made nearby.

"They made it!" Krona exclaimed.

"Thanks for going through everything you went through to save me, Heroic Ten. You all really earn your team title." Spike complimented.

"But...it was the moles who dug you out! Not us!" Nature Bloom reminded.

"But if it weren't for you creatures to come and find us, and reason with us, we will never have done that in the first place!" the king pointed out.

"I bet Princess Twilight Sparkle will be happy to see you all helping other creatures once again." Luser informed.

"Indeed she will, and to learn the valuable lesson that we learnt from you heroes." the king replied.

"What lesson?" Sunshine Rays asked.

"That we should try to fix and make amends when we make mistakes that the public knows, not try to hide forever after making such mistakes. And we must never let such mistakes make us think that we should never help others ever again." the king stated.

"I believe I can get that to Princess Twilight Sparkle. Once I get home..." Spike responded.

"Don't worry, we'll get both the royal advisor and the message to the princess." Luster assured.

"On the train!" Sunshine Rays added.

"What?! More waiting?!" Falcon Dive complained.

"Falcon?" Evergreen glared.

"Alright...if every creature insists..." Falcon Dive replied, as they all started their walk to the Train Station.

---