Just Another Love Story

by Stormy Charge

Chapter 6 - Dawn of the Second Day

Dawn of the Second Day

Daylight broke over the land of Equestria as Princess Celestia raised the sun to greet another day. The sunlight crept over the horizon, quickly shedding light upon the land and scaring away the darkness of night.

On this beautiful morning, in a not so beautiful cave, a content white pony lay sleeping on the hard ground. Though he had had a troubled night before, he woke to the rays of the sun and felt rejuvenated from the other day. He was just as bright and optimistic as he always was.

He rose to his feet and stretched, shaking the sleep out of his body. He yawned sleepily, and then trotted outside the cave. Just under a small rock formation, his white saddlepack lay in the shade. He walked over to the pack and opened it, making sure all of the items were accounted for. After seeing that his inventory had not grown legs over night, he put his pack on and called out for his scaly companion.

“Rise and shine buddy. We gotta get moving again.”

He heard nothing from inside the cave. Spike was obviously taking his sweet time. After the way he crashed last night, Ivory wouldn’t be surprised. He walked back into the cave, still carrying his pack.

“Hey Spike. I don’t think Rarity will appreciate you sleeping on the job.”

He knew that was sure to get the dragon’s attention. But when he turned the corner where he and Spike had fallen asleep, he was nowhere to be seen. Ivory frowned and started to panic.

“Spike, where are you?”

He looked all around, but still didn’t see his friend. He looked down a dark tunnel in the cave… the only tunnel. Spike had to be in there. There was no other place he could have been.

“Unless… did he take off without me?”

Ivory felt a little betrayed. After he had shared his past with him… after Spike had apologized for acting so jealous…

“No, Spike wouldn’t do that. He’s down here, I just know it.” Ivory convinced himself as he walked down the lightless cavern. The sunlight from outside quickly faded as he walked farther into the mountain cave. “Spike?” He called out once to see if he could get his friend’s attention.

Just then, something caught his eye: a glittering red light. As he turned the corner, a blue light joined the red light. Then a green light and all manner of glittering colors speckled the cave. The glorious colors lit up the entire room, revealing an enormous collection of gems dazzling the surrounding walls.

Ivory Moon was left in awe at such a sight. He walked closer, almost disbelieving what he was seeing. “It’s so… beautiful.” He whispered, staring at a diamond in the rubble.

“And delicious.”

“Yeah… delicious… delicious? What?”

A familiar face peeked his head around a corner, cheeks stuffed with a sapphire.

“Spike! What are you doing here?”

“Well, I kinda got hungry in the middle of the night, so I wanted to see if there were any mushrooms in this cave.” He gestured to the huge gemstone stockpile. “And then I found this place! Isn’t it great!?”

Ivory gazed around the room. It was quite a sight to behold. Gems of all shapes, colors, and sizes nestled away in the side of a mountain, far from anyone’s view. If only Rarity could have been there to see it.

“This place is nice,” Ivory began, glancing at a ruby near his hoof. “But we have to get moving.”

Spike tossed a few more gems into his mouth, savoring the taste. But he knew that they had to continue the journey. As he started for the exit, Ivory Moon pointed to the gemstones behind him.

“Are you sure you don’t want to take any souvenirs?” He said in a lighthearted, joking manner.

Spike smiled and grabbed a handful of gems at his feet. “Well, maybe just a few.”

“How did all these gems even get here?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen a stockpile this big since I was in the Everfree Forest.”

“What were you doing in the Everfree Forest?”

“Um… it’s a long story. But it’s ok now. Twilight and Owlowiscious came to get me and save me from the…”

“Hmm? Save you from the what?”

“The… dragon.”

Their smiles suddenly faded. Their minds began to race as they wondered why else a gem collection would be here.

“Um… Spike?” Ivory whispered worriedly.

“Y-yeah Ivory?” He replied in the same worried tone.

“You don’t think that a d-dragon lives here… d-do you?”

“N-no… I mean, ye… I mean, I hope not.”

Then, they felt a hot wind breathing down their backs. They instantly started sweating from the heat, but were too afraid to turn around. They looked to each other, and then slowly turned around together. Greeting them a few feet away were two giant yellow eyes staring them down.

A great blue dragon glared at the two, his spines a dark shade of purple. His neck stretched out over the pile of shining gems and his wings outstretched to intimidate his foes even further. “What are you thieves doing in my cave?!” He called out in a yell that boomed and echoed down the solid halls of the cave.

Thinking quickly, Ivory Moon shook all the fear out of his mind and grabbed Spike. “Time to go.” He said taking off for the exit as fast as possible. A thunderous roar from behind told him that he wasn’t going fast enough. He threw Spike onto his back, but he landed backwards.

Ivory ran down the black cave, searching desperately for the sunlight to guide him out. Spike however, got a front row view for the blue monster giving chase. “Um… Ivory.” Spike said just loud enough for him to hear. “Do you think you can run any faster?”

Ivory turned back for a second to catch a glimpse of the dragon crashing through the cave. Panic grew in his eyes as he quickly turned back forward, just in time to catch a quick left turn. The gravel hurt as he skidded down the cave and quickly changed directions.

Finally, his eyes lit up with excitement. He saw sunlight down the end of the passage. The exit. He sped up to make a mad dash for the end and outrun the encroaching beast. But he was rapidly running out of stamina. The exit grew closer and closer until he could feel the sunlight on his face. “Spike! Is he still following?” he called out to his friend, still looking behind the pony.

“Just keep running…” Spike said without emotion.

Any other time, Ivory would have questioned why, but at this moment, he just pushed himself even more. The light at the end of the tunnel was growing fast and now the sun was in just the right place in the sky that Ivory had to shield his eyes.

The two burst out of the cave and turned around just in time to see a red wall of fire closing in on them at blinding speed. The earth pony’s eyes grew to the size of dinner plates and he leapt behind the wall without hesitation. The blazing attack left the ground charred and scorched where it had been fired.

Shocked that he had made it out of there alive, Ivory regained his train of thought and looked up the mountain. He remembered then, they had crashed last night near that seemingly harmless cave. But they still had to get to the top of the mountain.

“Spike. Start climbing.” Ivory said, pushing him up the wall to help him get started.

Spike looked back down from his place on the wall and said, “But what about you Ivory?”

“Don’t worry about me. Just go!”

Spike didn’t wait and just kept climbing, fueled by fear and confidence at the same time.

The entire mountain rumbled and shook, letting the two know that the dragon was closing in. He scanned the ground fast, searching for something. Anything. Just then, he spotted a medium vine growing out from the ground. It looked old and frail, but it was his only chance.

The blue dragon emerged from the cave, obviously not used to the light of day. He looked all around for the two. Then, his eyes met with those of Ivory. The dragon didn’t speak, his glare just intensify. The dragon raised his right arm and prepared to crush down upon the pony. But just as he swung down, Ivory jumped out of the way.

He made his way past the dragon and grabbed the vine in his mouth. It was a lot shorter than he had originally thought, but it was his only choice.

With vine in mouth he jumped off of the ledge, closing his eyes for fear that he might not survive this stunt. The dragon followed close behind, not letting the pony get away from him.

Then, Ivory’s not-so-brilliant idea went into action. The vine reached its full length and snapped Ivory back, under the ledge he had jumped off of. He prayed that the rope was long and strong enough.

He opened his eyes but once to see the ground below. Everything seemed to move in slow motion. He saw the grass below, and the rocks at the base of the mountain. Then he only saw light blue. He felt like he was about to throw up. But fortunately, the vine swung all the way under the ledge and landed him right where he had almost been crushed by the dragon.

He landed with a crash as he fell right back on his stomach, face planting on the hard rock. He winced from the pain, but his adrenaline was already pumping and he ignored the pain. He rose to his feet and looked up the mountain. Spike was almost to the top, and almost to safety.

But before he started climbing up to Spike, he quietly walked over to the edge. He peered over the ledge and to his relief; the dragon had fallen for his ruse. Even Ivory didn’t think that that would have worked. But he had thrown the beast off of his trail.

But now was not the time to celebrate. Without a word, the earth pony leapt back to the wall and searched for a way up. He found a way and started climbing instantly. He took advantage of every last drop of adrenaline his body could muster, catching up with Spike in a matter of minutes. By the time they were both on even ground, Ivory’s breathing was almost deathly.

Spike ran over to his friend and kneeled down. “Ivory, are you ok?”

“I’m… fine…” He replied between breaths of air.

“That was incredible Ivory.”

The pain started to creep in. His legs finally started shaking and he felt like his stomach had been trampled over. He didn’t want his life-threatening risk to be in vain. He ran to the wall and started scanning for a way up. Spike saw this and ran over to help.

The two started climbing fast, trying to get away from the dragon before his dim brain put the pieces together.

But the top of the mountain was within view now. Just a few more feet and the rest of the journey to the Gryphon Kingdom would literally be downhill. The two kept quiet to make sure the monster below didn’t hear anything.

Just as they were nearing the last ledge of the rocky wall, misfortune befell the two. Spike lost his footing and one of the rocks broke off of the mountain, tumbling down. Ivory hadn’t noticed, but Spike watched fearfully as the tiny rock bounced off of the wall going over the ledges out of sight.

“Spike, what’s taking so long bud?” Ivory said softly, leaning down from the ledge. The purple dragon just stared over the edge, waiting for something.

But nothing happened.

“Nothing.” Spike said, shrugging and finishing the climb. He pulled himself up the last ledge and saw not but ten feet of mountain left to scale. It had taken a while but the end was within grasp.

~WOOSH~ A blast of wind pushed the two off of their feet. They fell to the ground and looked behind them in shock and horror. The blue dragon had flown back up to them. Ivory thought that his trick would have worked. But it was all for nothing.

The dragon stared at the two with bloodshot eyes. He raised his right arm and folding his hand into a fist. Ivory jumped at Spike and grabbed his tail in his mouth. Just as the blue dragon released his brutal punch at the two, Ivory jumped as high and far away as he could to avoid the fist.

The earth shook when the monster’s hand met the mountain. The impact sent Ivory and Spike flailing through the air. Ivory tried to hold onto his partner, but lost his grip.

The earth pony landed on the top of the mountain with a loud thud. This time, he actually felt the pain as his stomach collided with the hard top of the mountain. He cried out in pain, but managed to get to his hooves one more time.

Spike was less fortunate as he fell right into the left hand of the dragon. He tightened his grip around the small purple dragon and stared directly at him. Spike struggled to break free, but it was no use. The foe was too strong. He turned his head back to Ivory and yelled, “Ivory! Help me!”

But Ivory was in pain. His adrenaline had run out and he felt burning pain in his hooves and stomach. It occurred to him then, that he couldn’t win. He looked at the Gryphon Kingdom in the distance. Thought it was just a spec, it was closer than it had ever been. Then he looked back at Spike, his only companion on this journey, in the grasp of a cursed monster.

“Ivory!” Spike called again. But Ivory just stared at the two missions. He had no idea what to do.

“IVORY!”

Finally, Ivory turned away from Spike and passed over the mountain, not looking back once. He disappeared behind the horizon determined to finish his mission.

*****

“This cage is so gross and gloomy! I’m thirsty! Can we take a break?” Rarity whined from inside the cage. But her attempts proved futile again. The diamond dogs didn’t even bat an eye at her efforts to be set free.

The cage was pulled over a slight bump in the tunnel, but it was enough to knock Rarity off of her feet. She lay there, looking down at the blackness. She’d never felt so alone in her entire life. She curled up into a ball in her mobile prison and cried lightly.

She thought back to Ponyville. Back to her friends. She though about how she would never see them again. And Ivory Moon. She thought back to the months they had spent together. His sarcastic sense of humor. His laugh. His sweet embrace. She wondered what he was doing right now.

But she was suddenly interrupted by her horn glowing uncontrollably. She shrieked as her horn pulled her to the left. She resisted the pull and looked in the direction her horn was pulling her.

The diamond dogs caught notice of this and pulled out their earplugs. The leader said, “What was that? Did you find gems?”

Rarity just looked up and thought. If she could get them to dig close enough to the surface… she would have a chance at escaping.

“Yes.” She said, gesturing left. “There is an enormous amount of gems in that direction. If you’ll just let me out of this cage, I will show them to you.”

“No!” The leader said, stopping the small dog from unlocking the cage. “How do we know you won’t run off?! No! You stay in there!”

Rarity finally had them where she wanted them. “Oh, if that’s how you want it. No gems for you then.” She turned her head skyward, but looked at him through the corner of her eyes, looking quite smug.

The other dogs looked nervously at the leader. While he just stood there, hating the pony more and more every second. After a few seconds of thinking, the leader finally caved. “Fine! Let her out.”

The small dog ran over to the back of the cage as fast as his little legs could carry him. He fumbled at the lock, but eventually the door creaked open.

“But don’t let her out of your sight!”

Rarity smiled and walked to the area that was flooded with gems. Before she even reached the wall, the scouts were already digging away the dirt. They were efficient at moving the dirt out of the way and made sure the others didn’t have to wait before being able to move through the tunnel.

Rarity walked through the tunnel, levitating a stick and marking the locations of gems, while other scouts dug up the stones. Rarity kept quiet as they walked through the tunnel that was slowly angling up to the surface. But she couldn’t help but ask one question to the leader.

“Exactly why is it that you need me in the first place?”

He looked hesitant at first, but eventually told her. “The Mother of All Diamonds!”

“The what?”

“The Mother of All Diamonds! The biggest, shiniest gem in the world!”

“How do you know such a thing even exists?”

“We hear rumors. And we have picture.” He said pulling a picture out of his vest and handing it to Rarity.

She couldn’t believe her eyes. The picture was so obviously just a close up of a regular diamond, made to look larger than it was. She knew these canines were morons, but this was a new level of stupidity, even for them.

But she kept quiet. She wanted to stay on somewhat good terms with the leader, and she had to be ready to make a run for it as soon as they breached the surface.

They continued up the tunnel, but the gems were growing scarcer. The leader was obviously losing his patience. “There are no more gems in this passage.” He said to his scouts. “Turn around.”

“NO!” Rarity yelled, scaring the leader… and herself. She thought quickly. How could she get them to continue digging? Then, an idea. She forced her horn to glow brighter than before and said, “I mean, the biggest gem is just a little farther.”

The leader saw her horn glowing blindingly bright. Luckily for Rarity, he fell for her trick and motioned for the scouts to continue digging. She sighed in relief. All she could hope for is the surface to be close.

Rarity’s face lit up just as the leader’s face looked shocked. The scouts breached the surface. Rarity took the opportunity, as she would not get another one. She took off for the exit. The sound of civilizations rustled just overhead. She heard the leader call out to the scouts, “Do not let her escape!”

She ran faster than she ever did that day. Looking around, she saw no ponies around, but gryphons instead. They had crossed over into the Gryphon Kingdom. The surrounding gryphons that saw her running by looked shocked and appalled by her appearance.

Just as Rarity turned a corner, she stopped in her tracks at the sight of two gryphon guards blocking her way.

“Stop right there, pony!” One of them yelled in a harsh tone. “What business do you have in the Gryphon Kingdom?”

Before Rarity could answer, the large dog caught up with her and grabbed her by the tail. “Let go of my tail!” She yelled turning around and biting his hand.

“Ouch!” He yelled, licking his wound.

Rarity looked all around, but she was boxed in. The way she came was blocked by the dogs, a wall to the right and hostile guards to the left, coming closer. She backed up as much as she could, but ultimately backed herself into a wall.

Without much effort, the diamond dogs had captured her again. The large dog picked her up this time and carried her back to the hole in the ground.

“Please, you don’t understand! Let me go! Please let me go!” Rarity yelled, kicking and screaming all the way back to the tunnel. But it was of no use. Her one chance at escaping, foiled. The scouts quickly filled the hole they had made in the ground, and the tunnel was lightless once again.

*****

Spike struggled to get free of the blue dragon’s grip, but he couldn’t do it. The dragon had him right where he wanted him. Spike had nowhere else to look but directly at the intimidating eyes of his oppressor.

“You thieves come into my cave. Steal my gems!” The dragon roared at the already terrified Spike.

Spike didn’t know how to feel. After what Ivory had told him about his past, he just felt… betrayed. Like Ivory didn’t need his help after all.

“I’m going to give you until the count of three to cough up my gems, or else!” The dragon said, squeezing him a bit tighter.

“One… two…”

Spike turns to you, the reader, and whispers, “I’m surprised this guy can count past one.”

Just then, a white blur jumped from the top of the mountain. Spike had closed his eyes preparing to be eaten, but the blur drew the attention of the dragon. It landed right on the dragon’s muzzle and turned around to Spike. The little dragon opened his eyes barely, and then yelled, “IVORY!”

Ivory Moon winked at his friend and turned back to the dragon and sarcastically said, “What’s the matter buddy? Got something in your eye?!”

As he said that, he turned 180 degrees, pulled his hind legs back, and released a powerful buck into the dragon’s right eye. He instantly leapt off of the dragon’s muzzle and dive-bombed straight for Spike.

The dragon cried out in pain and let go of his captive in a second to cover his eye. The blue dragon fell backwards, but the two didn’t hear a thud. Ivory grabbed Spike out of the air and then braced for the impact.

They crashed on top of the mountain and rolled a ways down until slowly stopping next to each other. They stayed motionless for some time, but then Ivory stood up. He nudged Spike lightly.

The baby dragon rose slowly to his feet, with Ivory’s help. He stared at his friend in awe. “You…” He started, still shaken from his face-to-face encounter with death. “You came back for me…”

Ivory Moon smiled at his friend. “You’re coming with me Spike. Like it or not.”

Spike almost teared up as his words had been returned to him. He felt foolish for doubting Ivory. But there was no time for that. The blue dragon rose above the mountain, covering his eye and looking more furious than he was before.

Ivory Moon saw this and turned away from the brutish fiend. “Come on Spike.” He said, letting Spike up on his back. “We’ve got a dragon to lose.”

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This is good please continue :applecry:

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