Quest For Harmony

by destinedjagold

Chapter 104 - Statue

Spike wasn't sure if taking the stairway that spiraled downward towards a dark abyss was a good idea. He and the three crusaders braced themselves not to fall off from the crystalized rail-less stairway. The purple baby dragon glanced up, staring at the slowly closing floors. He's been wanting to get back to the surface, but fought his best to ignore such urge.

Finally, as the floors closed, the darkness instantly swallowed the four souls.

---

“We've been walking for while now!” Scootaloo whined, her loud voice echoed around.

“Oh, stop yer whining!” Apple Bloom said, already too annoyed by her friend's wails and the loud echoes bouncing around. “Yer killin' mah ears!”

Scootaloo grunted as they followed Sweetie Belle, who was leading the way with her glowing horn to provide light in the front of the group. Spike walked behind the group, holding a green lance, where its green faint light was enough to cast enough light.

They have been walking for almost fifteen minutes now. The spiraling stairway seemed to go on forever inside a vertical-like crystalized cave, where the walls reflected their light.

Spike wondered how Twilight and Jay were doing. Now that he thought about it, he never actually thought that he'd end up having an adventure of his own. Well, not really on his own, but still. It was kinda different to have an adventure without the brown earth pony stallion accompanying him.

He hoped that Jay would be okay, and hoped that this ancient crystal heart artifact would be able to save him. He then wondered what to do with the heart. He sighed. He'll just have to trouble with that later when he and his companions crosses that bridge.

Suddenly, he blinked and stopped. A very familiar magical sensation was reaching him. It has been a long time since she sent him a letter, which made him feel weird. He withdrew the magic on his lance, turning it into green smoke and faded in the air. As he breathed out green fumes of flame, the three young mares, who were already dozens of steps ahead, stopped and turned their heads at Spike, who was unrolling a scroll.

“Who's it from, Spike?” Sweetie Belle asked, sounding a bit excited and curious at the same time. “Is it from Kronz again?”

“Not really,” Spike said as he shook his head and walked down the stairs to meet them. “It's from Twilight. I guess she's already cured of that blue flower curse...” He's happy that Twilight is okay now, yet he's not really sure why he sounds like he didn't care. ‘Maybe I'm just tired...’

“Hey Spike. I hope you're doing well there in Unicornia. Miss Zecora made me take a weird purple bubble bath, saying that it'll cure my Poison Joke situation. I didn't believe her at first, but hey, she's an expert on herbal medicine, as far as I've heard around these parts. Anyway, I really can't believe that she got me cured! I am able to use magic again! Isn't that great!? I'm using telekinesis to hold the quill while I'm writing this! So anyway, after I'll take a recipé from her, I'll quickly return to Unicornia. Phew, Zebrica is so so hot! I don't think I've sweated like this in my entire life! Again, we'll soon be heading back to Unicornia. Send my regards to my big sister, by the way. Hahah.”

“Useless information is useless,” Scootaloo sighed as she and the others resumed walking down the stairs.

Spike rolled the scroll back and put it inside Apple Bloom's saddlebag. “Well, at least she's okay now. Maybe we can ask for her help when she returns from that tropical region.”

“Well, Twilight is a powerful unicorn,” Apple Bloom spoke. “Ah bet she can lend us a hoof if things here get outta hoof.”

“Pfft... Puh-lease...” Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “We've kicked timberwolves, manticores, hydras, unicorns, pegasi, and even moving crystal statues! I don't think there's anything that the three of us can't handle!”

‘The three of us...’ Spike thought, failing to notice that his ears drooped lamely as he frowned. ‘More like the three of them...’ He sighed as kept up with them, walking behind the group. Unknown to him that Sweetie Belle glanced at him with sad eyes before returning her focus on the stairs ahead of her.

---

The humming fluorescent lights of a busy room flickered. Monitors faintly turned black. Soon, the entire room became dark as all the light source died. But then a loud mechanical hum echoed faintly from somewhere as the lights and monitors came back to life.

The scientists paused for a moment, muttering what was going on until a few seconds later, a maid came inside the room, announcing that the powers were out, but the generators quickly provided electricity for the entire mansion.

Outside the mansion, that short death of power was enough for a lone guy to quickly reach the mansion from the guard house. He thought that maybe there are security cameras around the mansion. He didn't find any outside the mansion's walls, so he assumed that the focus were more inside the wall, and inside the mansion.

Hiding underneath a tall bush by the main stairway leading to the massive double doors of the mansion, Xilfer took a peek outside, scanning his surroundings. Despite the gloominess, the ground had a few electric lanterns lighting up the place.

‘Hm... If I were a rich guy's generator...where would I be...’

He kept that thought in his head for a minute or two until he sighed and took out his phone.

---

Kronz was too busy typing with his laptop that he failed to notice his phone vibrating on the table right next to his laptop. Thankfully, Claire, who was seated on a sofa and watching television about the latest news of the island, noticed the flashing of lights on the corner of her eyes. Turning her head, she saw Kronz's phone was flashing with lights.

“Kronz,” she said, “I think you got a message...”

Blinking, Kronz stopped what he was doing and glanced at his phone. “Huh,” he said as he grabbed his phone and read who it was from. “F-from my bro...”

Hearing those words, Claire felt happy, yet a cold shiver ran through her body. “J-Jay?”

Kronz shook his head as he opened the message. “Nah. It's from Xilf—” he cut himself off as he turned his gaze to Claire. “W-where is Xilfer, anyway?”

Claire blinked. “Uh... Now that you mention it...” she slowly turned her head towards the door. “I think...he left?”

Kronz shrugged and read the message.

---

“Finally!” Scootaloo wheezed as she hopped to the crystalized ground and lied down, panting.

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom sat beside their friend, breathing heavily to recover their strengths.

“Phew...” Spike wiped his sweating forehead with a claw. He chuckled weakly as he sat on the steps, rubbing his aching feet with both claws. “Remind me not to walk down these stairs ever again...”

“You know what the worse part is?” Scootaloo groaned, pushing herself into a sitting position. “Walking back up...”

The four souls groaned tiredly at that news. They are more likely to walk back up after they retrieve the crystal heart down there.

“Well,” Apple Bloom said, staring at the large pony statue with flared wings, facing a closed door on the crystal wall. “At least there's only one way we have to go from here.”

Spike, wondering what she meant, followed her gaze and saw a tall pony statue with wings and a horn. “I-is that...” Spike said, standing up. “...an alicorn?”