Sword, Shield, and Scabbard

by Shadowslash101

Nightmare or Reality

Chapter 5

Nightmare or Reality

“You’ve got to be joking.” Rarity complained at the two Diamond Dogs. They’ve stopped at a fork in the hall, and Spot and Fido seem to have lost their way. “You’re the canines who dug this tunnel, and you don’t even know how to navigate through it?”

“Quiet down, Pony!” Spot ordered her. “I’m trying to remember the route to the outside.”

“This is absurd!” The White Unicorn scoffed. “To think that we were following the right guides.”

“C’mon, Rarity.” Eli smirked. “Just give them a chance.” Rarity stared at him with a disdainful glare.

“I’m really starting to not like you.”

“Alright, Ponies!” Spot grabbed their attention. “We remember the way now. Follow us!” Spot and Fido led down the right turn, and after exchanging a brief look, the ponies followed the Diamond Dogs through the hall. Though the light of that torch Fido held deemed bright, the hall still was as dark as they came as the group ventured through the cavern. Silence lingered about as the only sound that could be heard was their steps and the drops of water from the ceiling. “Hold on…” Eli spoke up finally. “Is that water I hear?”

“Yes, Pony!” Spot rolled his eyes over the Earth Pony’s ignorance. “Some caves have running water through them.”

“I know, but it sounds like a lot of water since it keeps falling so fast…” Eli explained, and everypony listened to the speed of the dropping water droplets hitting the floor. It was fast; so fast that there might be a water source nearby.

“Are we under a lake?” Rarity grabbed Spot’s attention.

“Actually near one. There’s an underground river system in these caves that lead into the Endless Crevice, then through Equestria’s lands and somehow back here.” Spot explained. “We’ve tested that and we were right!”

“So if we find it, it’ll lead us to the outside and we’ll escape!” Rarity squealed excited to escape from this dreadful cave system.

“We’ll take you through the safe path, and we’ll be back in your home safe-and-sound.” Spot told them, being defiant.

“But which way is faster? The underground river system, or the ‘safe way’?” Rarity inquired to know.

“The underground river is the fastest way out.” Fido’s mouth was immediately covered by Spot’s paw.

“Sh!” Spot shushed him.

“Then the underground river it is.” Rarity trotted ahead. “C’mon, Eli.” The green earth pony grinned at Rarity’s control over all of this. It may at times be hindering, but she knows what she’s doing.

“Well, lead us there, ‘friends.’” He gestured them to move ahead of him. The Diamond Dogs followed Rarity with very scared looks.

“I’m warning you now, Ponies.” Spot told them both. “You’ll regret all of this.”

“Well, once we get to my boutique, you’ll thank me later,” Rarity assured them both, “And we have names too, and we’d appreciate it if you call us by them!”

Spot thought this over carefully, “Very well. What shall we call you both?”

“Call me: Lady Rarity,” The White Mare insisted, “And call him: Eli.”

“I can introduce myself!” Eli told her from the back. “Thank you very much!”

Meanwhile, “Spike…” Something shook the baby dragon as he began to regain consciousness. “Spike, are you alright?” Spike opened his eyes and found Helpful gently shaking him. “Spike?”

“I’m okay, Helpful…” The baby dragon sat up and rubbed his head. He looked around and, with the aid of the moonlight from above through a deep hole, Spike could see that they were still underground, but there was no ceiling, they could see straight up toward the moon. There were several wooden beams going across, like there was some ceiling there ages ago. He also noticed that there was a pool near them in the chamber. That may have been where they came out from. The pool seemed like it was disturbed a second ago, maybe from Helpful pulling them out of it. “Where are we, Helpful?” Spike asked his friend as he continued scanning his surroundings. He also noticed that there was a big door at one side. It was several feet high, and a yard wide. It looked pretty thick, and it had a red cross on it with a Fire Ruby in the center. “I don’t know, Spike,” Helpful told him, “But I think you should see this.” Spike to Helpful and his friend pointed toward the center of the chamber and he saw that a sword was stabbed straight into the stone floor, making cracks and crevices around it. There was also a chain wrapped around the sword that stuck it into the floor. The sword was a fair length. It had a dull red color and the blade was curved backward. The handle of the sword was completely bare, and the counterweight was a small amethyst. “Whoa!” Spike exclaimed in excitement as he started toward the sword. “What is that?” Helpful only shrugged as he followed his friend. Spike gave it a close examination. The blade seemed razor sharp—sharp enough to cut through rock, obviously. Spike grabbed the handle of the sword. “Uh…Spike?” Helpful grabbed his attention.

“Yeah, Helpful?”

“I don’t think you’ll be able to pull that sword out.” He tried giving the baby dragon a comforting smile. Spike unhanded the sword and looked at Helpful weird.

“Well, I know it’s being held down by chains, but I think I can break it loose.” Spike pounded a fist to his chest. “Give me a hoof, dude!” He grabbed the sword again.

“Spike, I don’t think you understand.” Helpful sat down as he watched Spike try to pull the sword free.

“Almost…got it!” Spike grunted as he pulled with all his might, but the sword wouldn’t budge. Helpful just sighed and held his head up with his hoof to wait for his friend to remember what they were doing earlier.

Meanwhile in the mine tracks, the train of carts began to slow down not too long ago, but the speed was still pretty fast. Prince Merciful, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Snowy and Sunny were still riding through the loops and quick turns. Not only that, but they’ve gone so far into the mines that the walls were solid jewels. “The Canterlot Mines?” Sunny recognized it before anypony else.

“You mean the place that Twilight was sent into during the wedding of Shining Armor and Princess Cadance?” Fluttershy asked her curious as she held onto Snowy tight for comfort from the fearful experience.

“What?” Sunny asked her confused.

“It’s a long story!” Rainbow Dash shouted over the noise of the carts to answer Sunny.

“We’ve been riding this track for a long time now, Mercy!” Applejack conversed with the Alicorn. “You reckon that we’ll soon be stopping?”

“I can’t say for certain, my dear!” Merciful answered her. “I believe that Discord has us in a trap!”

“Is he after the Elements of Harmony?” Rainbow shouted toward him from behind the train, but the Draconequus appeared in front of the entire train, scaring almost everypony. A megaphone appeared in his lion claw, and he cleared his throat.

“Now really, everypony?” He shouted through the megaphone with a huge volume, echoing through the cavern. “All this uncertainty about me is making me sad!”

“Well, you did eat all of the Water Sapphires--snapping Fluttershy--you put us in a mine cart train and send us through this crazy ride for hours,” Applejack shouted back for him to hear irritated, “And to top it all off, we’ve lost Helpful and Spike because of your tomfoolery!”

“Applejack!” Mercy tried to calm her.

“Well, excuse me for trying to help you!” Discord shouted back at them cross. “Since you don’t need me, I’ll just pack my bags and leave!” Discord snapped his fingers and then a strait jacket appeared on him with a reporter’s hat on his head. A suitcase, held up by the handle, also appeared. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to make an appointment with the press director. I’m getting a job interview from the Equestrian Times newspaper.” His voice changed to a Manehatten accent, making everypony stare at him. “Y’know what? Forget about it! I’m out!” He snapped his fingers and he disappeared, but as he did, Applejack could barely see something far ahead of them.

“Hey, guys!” She grabbed their attention. “I think I see something ahead!”

“Really?” Pinkie Pie replied back. “What is it?”

Merciful raised his hoof over his eyes so he could see what was ahead. “Applejack! Hold fast to me!” He ordered as he held Applejack close.

“Uh, okay!” She held onto him tight.

“Everypony else, prepare to fly!” The others did as he ordered, no question. Something was wrong, and they had to get ready. Pinkie Pie held onto Rainbow Dash while Sunny and Snowy sat onto Fluttershy’s back and held onto her.

“What’s ahead, Merciful?” Sunny finally asked him.

The Alicorn’s horn glows a dim, black light. “An impediment!”

“What? What’s an ‘impediment’?” Rainbow Dash inquired to know, but before anypony could answer, the train of mining carts immediately crash into a track block and everypony flew forward. Merciful flapped his wings and he and Applejack flew above the sharp gems from below. Rainbow Dash held onto Pinkie Pie as she flew the Pink Mare up high. Unlike the others, Fluttershy was too scared to fly and she screamed in fear as she fell toward the jagged gems below. Luckily, Merciful used a levitation spell to save their friends. Once they were lifted back to their height, Fluttershy regained flight and steadied herself.

“Weeee!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed in delight. “Let’s do that again!” The others just rolled their eyes.

“So that’s an impediment…” Dashie took note as she looked back to the mining track block.

“Indeed, and since Discord has left us in here without aid, we’re blind for the time being.” Merciful explained. “We’ll not be able to--!”

“Hey, guys! I found a map!” Pinkie Pie interrupted the Alicorn from below. They all looked down to see Pinkie Pie standing before a board on a solid, smooth pathway. Dash looked at her then at her hooves that she thought still held onto Pinkie, and then she tried to figure out how she escaped her grasp and end up right on that pathway. The group flew down to where the Pink Mare was and Merciful examined the map. “It seems fortune has smiled upon us.” The Alicorn smiled as he gently peeled the map off the board with his magic. “If my calculations are correct,” He turned the map around for everypony to see him point out their location, “We are right here.” The others just gave looks of confusion.

“Um, Merciful, I think you got it wrong.” Sunny told him as kindly as she could.

“By whatever do you mean, Sunny?” He asked her confused, and then Pinkie Pie jumped in-between Merciful and the map after he turned it toward him.

“I think we’re on the place where the big, red ‘X’ is painted with the words ‘you are here!’” She pointed out for Merciful to see. She turned around to face the Alicorn, but his stern gaze told her to behave. She began to shyly frown and walk back to Rainbow Dash. Merciful looked at the map again. There was a big, red ‘X’ painted on it with the words ‘you are here.’

“Curse these modern maps.” Merciful growled in irritation as Sunny came up to him.

“I’ve been told these mines lead to Canterlot above us.” Sunny explained to him. “We’ll just need to follow the map.”

“Indeed, Sunny.” Merciful agreed with her with a warm smile. “The map says that we just need to follow this path to the city.” The Alicorn started forward to lead them. “Follow me, please.” The others followed him, and after some time of walking and a few unexpected detours, they finally find the exit, but also find a surprise.

“It’s a dead end?” Snowy shouted in shock. The exit was blocked with bricks and rock. It was sealed off by some building project probably years ago.

“H-How are we going to escape now?” Fluttershy asked, nervous of being stuck underground forever.

“Don’t panic.” Merciful tried to comfort them.

“You think you could blow this wall out, Mercy?” Applejack asked the Alicorn.

“We would be risking lives here, Applejack.” Merciful explained to her, thoughtfully. “This wall could be a part of somepony’s home, or a critical part of the castle. As much as I am aware, I don’t think that force would be a proper approach.”

“So how do you propose we escape this mine?” Sunny asked him confused and irritated of their misfortune.

“Hmm…” Merciful thought for a brief moment. He walked over to the wall, and his horn glowed magic as he tapped on it twice, and the bricks immediately shifted from place to place, opening the wall with ease. “Ah! Old magic never fails.”

“I’ve never seen that before!” Pinkie Pie jumped over to him. “Where’d you learn that, Mercy?”

“It was a spell given to royals so when we were attacked, we could escape through the walls.” Merciful explained to her as they exited from the mine shaft into a janitor closet.

“Somepony’s gonna be surprised once they find what’s behind that wall someday.” Sunny joked as she followed them out, and Merciful closed the wall with his magic. Fluttershy opened the door and they entered into the light of Canterlot Castle.

“Convenience!” Pinkie Pie thought aloud as they all walked into the ball room.

“It seems that the mines run directly under the castle.” Merciful observed as they started to spread out into the wide room. “The door we exited from must have been a last-resort escape in case of capture.”

“And we just used it as an entrance.” Applejack added to Merciful. A Royal Guard entered the room and gasped in surprise, he wasn’t expecting this group here once he entered.

“Prince Merciful?” He took off his helmet and bowed to him in respect. “What are you doing here so late, Your Highness?”

“Well, in case you have forgotten, tonight is the night before the Winter Solstice.” The Prince answered. “Everypony is permitted to travel through the castle and stay awake if they wish to see the first snowflake of winter.”

“I remember, Your Highness, but you were in Ponyville this late evening. How were you able to travel here so quickly?” He asked in him in the most humble respectful way a Royal Guard could. Merciful exchanged a brief look with Applejack and the others.

“It’s a long story.” Merciful answered him. “I must speak to Twilight Sparkle now. Awake her if needed, and bring her to me.” The Royal Guard nodded.

“Yes, Sir!” The Royal Guard dashed off to fetch Twilight.

Meanwhile in the Diamond Dogs caverns, the group of four unlikely allies found the Underground River. Eli knelt down to the dangerous rapids below them, much too fast for any of them to ride on safely. “So this is the Underground River huh?” Eli asked Spot and Fido as he stood up. They both nodded.

“Looks really dangerous.” Rarity remarked as she stared at the huge splashes of water from the rocks against the flow.

“That’s just the beginning.” Spot told them both. “Further on you enter an abandoned mine and after that, you get pulled underwater and soon you get shot out of a waterfall.” Spot explained to them as Fido made a visual aid of the explanations.

“Well, Rover could have already have found us gone, and he might have sent his minions to find us.” Rarity explained to them as she looked back to see anything following them.

“Right then, I’ll go first.” Eli volunteered, but the mare stopped him.

“Ladies first, Eli.” Rarity insisted, forcing the stallion to sit down and stare at her disdainfully. The unicorn walked toward the edge of the foothold and stared straight toward the water below her. She sighed. “For Spiky Wikey!” She deeply inhaled and jumped into the water. Spot and Fido jumped in as well. Eli walked over to edge a little uneasy at first. “Okay… I can do this…” Eli told himself. The rapid flow of the water just made Eli a little too nervous to jump into it. He feared for his health. He inhaled deeply and closed his eyes as he jumped into the water. The feeling of water was a new thing to him. It was different and weird, but it also felt soft and kind, however, the pull told him otherwise. He was flying through the water and the speed kept him going at dangerous momentum. His head finally broke through to the surface for air. He gasped whatever he could into his lungs so he could contain consciousness, but the water pulled him down again.

He soon swam back up for another breath of air and he spotted tracks above him. That meant they were getting close to going under. The water pulled him under again, and once he broke out to the surface, he heard screaming ahead of him. “Rarity!” He recognized the voice. He swam himself further up and he felt the pull of another current taking him away, and it went in circles and circles until Eli hit a rock. He held onto it in the dark, and he groaned in pain as the pull of the strong current continued to pull him away. The current pulled him around the rock, but he still held onto it. As he swung around it, he bumped into something soft, and it let go of the rock and screamed like Rarity. His grip loosened too, and out of reflex, Eli held her close and they both spun inside the current. They continued spinning around and around until the water got over their heads, and everything went black…

Meanwhile, Helpful the Selfless had fallen asleep from watching Spike’s futile attempt, and dreamt himself inside of Everfree Forest. The trees still as big and green as ever and the animals all ran and played around him. This was a very peaceful dream, only there was something missing. “Helpful!” Fluttershy’s voice shouted out to him and he turned around to see all of his friends: Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Spike, Snowy, Sunny, Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash, coming swiftly toward him with big smiles. Helpful dashed toward them and hugged Fluttershy to the ground and the others gathered and hugged them too.

Later, they were all playing tag in the forest, and instead of having all those shadowy patches of darkness hindering their eyesight, the sun shone enough for the shadows to be gone. Everything was too good to be bad. Helpful was running from Fluttershy, who was tagged, and he laughed as she chased him through the forest. Finally he lost her in the brush and once he ran off deeper into the trees, taking a right turn, he gasped in shock of a path of blood on the grass. He followed the path of blood toward a large cave. The blood path grew wider and fresher than earlier and he was growing anxious on what was going on. He followed into the cavern, nervously. “H-hello?” He spoke up for anything to hear him. He then heard splatting coming from deeper into the cave. He followed the sound and he soon found him inside a large chamber, illuminated by millions of candles. He spotted a teenage dragon that wore a knight’s helmet in front of a table. The dragon may have been facing away from Helpful, but he saw that the black-scaled, green-combed dragon was working on something as he chopped his sword onto whatever was on the table. Blood dripped from the top of the table, forcing Helpful to freeze in fear.

Just what sick, twisted horror was this dragon doing? They’ve never killed and torn apart their prey’s bodies like this, but the question still stood: who was this dragon chopping apart? Helpful soon noticed that there were purple feathers littered all around the dragon’s feet. “T-T…Twilight?” Helpful stuttered to himself. The dragon then stopped chopping and reached forward, and Helpful could hear a snapping noise. The dragon then turned around and threw something at Helpful’s hooves. He gasped in surprise, and he saw that the something that dragon threw at was Twilight’s horn! He looked up to the teen dragon, whose face was covered by the metal mask from a knight’s helmet, and he could see that the sword he held in his left hand dripped with fresh Alicorn blood. It was a red cutlass. Now this dream had gone from peaceful to horrendous! “Who in the name of harmony are you?” Helpful growled in anger.

“Don’t you remember me?” The teenage dragon asked him in a voice mixed by two, one sounded deep, and the other sounded like Spike, but slightly deeper like it was older. First Discord, and now this nightmare version of a teenage dragon was asking if he remembers him. What had he forgot from his foalhood? “No!” Helpful shouted in a voice that sounded like depression and fury mixed together. The thought of Twilight’s death was almost overwhelming. “I don’t know you!”

“Maybe this will. Do you know what an Ifrit is?” The teenage dragon asked again, and thousands of memories invaded Helpful’s mind. They were all centered on a battle against an enemy that his father, King Raziel, sealed away forever. He remembered that enemy was the very hate and evil that escaped from the Underworld; Scorch, the Black Ifrit. “No…” Helpful backed away from the dragon. “You can’t be! This is a dream! You’re not free!”

“Yet, but I will be soon.” Scorch tilted his head to the right, and he raised his arms. The flames on the candles blazed and grew into an inferno that enveloped the ceiling. The Ifrit lowered his arms and the flames fell upon them both and he laughed in insanity. “No!” Helpful shouted awake from his dream, startling Spike.

“What! What is it?” Spike jumped back from the sword and looked at Helpful, scared that he did something wrong. Helpful looked around himself. He was back in the sword chamber from earlier, meaning he only had a nightmare. He sighed as he shook it off. “Nothing, Spike.” He lightly chuckled. “Only a bad dream.” Spike looked at Helpful oddly.

“You have nightmares, Helpful?” He took a few steps toward him and sat down before his friend. He had a concerned expression. The Pegasus nodded.

“What do you have nightmares about then?”

“Very horrible things.” Helpful shuddered from the thought. Spike stood up again with a smile.

“Well, when I had nightmares, Helpful,” Spike explained, “Twilight would read me a book to help me go back to sleep…when I was younger, that is.” He chuckled as he poked his two fingers together, embarrassed. Helpful chuckled.

“That’s okay, Spike!” Helpful assured him. “It’s actually nothing new for anypony else who was younger and had nightmares before. Besides, back then, my father told me a very specific way to get rid of nightmares.”

“Oh really?” Spike asked, wanting to know. “What was that?”

“He told me, when I go to sleep, think of the good things that happened in my day, and it works! I go to sleep and never got nightmares!” He grinned at the joke.

“Well, I should try that sometime.” Spike nodded, and then he yawned. “Oh, boy… I’m sleepy.” Helpful smiled at the fact that Spike was still very young and needed to sleep. Before Helpful comply, the sound of splashing and coughing from the pool caught their attention, and when they turned around they saw Spot and Fido emerging from the water. They quickly dashed over and helped them out. The Diamond Dogs sputtered and coughed as they were pulled out. “Are you guys okay?” Helpful asked them, concerned.

“I bet they’re here to take us down, too!” Spike growled as raised his fists up. “C’mon! Come get some!” Helpful only sighed as Spike remembered what they were here for finally. He pulled the baby dragon back from the canines so they could breathe. Spot was the first to sit back up, and shook off the water, splashing it all around. Helpful tried shielding Spike with his wing from the downpour only getting himself soaked. Spot looked around, curiously. “Uh…” Spot stood up as he spoke. “This doesn’t seem to be the Endless Crevice.” Fido also sat up and shook himself, and Helpful successfully shields Spike while getting soaked. Then he folded his wing, dripping from the soaking water. He then shook himself to dry, and Spike ducked from the deluge. He gave Helpful a stern look and his friend smile back, innocently. “Wait a minute.” Spot said and he gave a hard look. “You’re those two from earlier!” He pointed at them and stepped back to Fido.

“Where’s Rarity!?” Spike snarled as he waddled toward them, angry, and Helpful pulled him back by the tail. Spot looked around them. Rarity and Eli weren’t anywhere to be seen.

“She’s probably dead.” Spot told him. “Got caught in the water and drowned.”

“No!” The baby dragon snarled in disbelief. “You have her locked up somewhere! Where is she!?” Before Spot could taunt him further, splashing and coughing came from the pool, and it caught their attention. It was Rarity and Eli! They survived and needed help out of the water. Eli was carrying Rarity out the water as he swam to the edge. “A little help?” Eli coughed as he laid Rarity on the floor. Spike and Helpful immediately gave him a hoof, and pulled him out. Rarity was unconscious and Spike was listening for her breathing. Nothing. “Oh, shoot! She’s not breathing.” Spike told them as he knelt down and put his claws together, placing them on her chest. He began pushing downward, counting at each thrust he made. When came to the fourteenth, Rarity’s eyes shot open and she coughed sputtered. Spike ceased and patted her shoulder with a smile. “Are you okay, Rare?” When her breathing returned to normal, she nodded as she sat up and hugged Spike. “I’m alright, Spike. Thank you.” Spike blushed as he embraced her loving hug. When Eli regained enough strength he stood up and smiled, relieved to see the Rarity was still alive. Helpful noticed him standing and turned toward him. “You alright there?” Helpful asked him, curious. Eli nodded.

“Yeah, been through worse.” Eli chuckled as he turned back to Spot and Fido. They didn’t seem so thrilled for Rarity’s recovery. “Well, you two seem ecstatic.” He said with sarcasm. Helpful looked over to them and gave a confused look.

“Uh…they don’t...” Helpful told him as he turned back to him. “What’s your name? Mine’s Prince Joyful, but my friends call me ‘Helpful.” He offered him a hoofshake, and Eli accepted it.

“Eli,” He blinked at him, “Did you say ‘Prince’?” Helpful nodded with a cute smile.

“Don’t look it, do I?” Helpful laughed as he turned back to Rarity and Spike. The baby dragon was helping the unicorn onto her hooves. “How you feeling, Rare?”

“Relived that I’m still alive,” Rarity smiled warmly, “Thank you, Helpful.”

“I don’t think you should be just thanking Spike and I.” Helpful chuckled. Rare gave him an odd look.

“What do you mean?” She asked him.

“Well, Eli here, was the guy that helped get you out of that pool!” The Pegasus chuckled as he playfully slapped the earth pony’s shoulder. Eli gave a surprised look as he almost lost balance. Helpful’s pretty strong, for a prince. Rarity nodded.

“Of course, tha--.”

“Your mane’s messed up.” Eli pointed out, rudely. Rarity then look gave an odd look and she raised a hoof to her mane, and felt it. The curls were gone! Not only that, but it was soaking wet, and it most likely looked horrid. “Oh, no!” She exclaimed in shock as she looked back to her tail to see it ruined. She sighed. “This’ll take all morning to fix!” She stomped a hoof on the floor.

“Don’t worry, Rarity.” Spike told her. “I still think you look beautiful!” Spike told her. Rarity smiled at the baby dragon as she nuzzled him, lovingly.

“That’s so sweet of you, Spike.” Rarity told him. “You can let go of me now, Spiky.” The baby dragon then let her go and stepped back. Rare stood straight and firm. “Now! We should be at the Endless Crevice, correct?” She turned to Spot and Fido.

“Well, Rarity…” Spot replied. “We don’t know.”

“Come again, dear?”

“We’re not sure where we are.” Rarity scanned the chamber around them and above.

“Well, then…” She made an odd look. “Where are we exactly?”

“Seems like some ancient chamber.” Helpful replied.

“Yeah!” Spike agreed with his friend. “There’s a sword over here too!” He ran back to the sword for Rarity to see. They followed him as he ran across the chamber, and then take hold of the sword. “It seems that it has an ancient reliquary!” He yanked on the sword again. The group watched and Eli noticed that one of the chains was beginning to give. Helpful sighed, again.

“Spike, I really don’t think--.” Helpful’s sentence stopped as Spike broke the chains and pulled the sword loose. The baby dragon laughed as he pointed it up in the air, but then, the Fire Ruby on the door shone and the door opened up. Everypony noticed this, including Spike, who couldn’t keep the sword up, and it hit the floor with a clang. “Wha… What is that?” Rarity asked, unsure of else to say.

“I don’t know.” Helpful told her and then a harsh wind blow out from the door and lifted them through the open ceiling, safely pat the wood. They all shouted as they were launched into the air above Everfree, and they landed in a clearing. Helpful was the first to get up, as he saw that Spot and Spike landed on Fido, and Rarity landed on Eli. Rarity looked up, slowly, and groaned as she met Eli’s eyes. They were both surprised to be on top of one another like this. “Uh…” Eli spoke, and then Rarity sighed as she stood up and walked off from Eli, looking for Spike, and confusing the stallion. “Spiky Wikey?” She called for her dragon and then she spotted him, still holding onto the sword and moaning as he up on Fido’s belly. He rubbed his head. “Ow…” Spike groaned as Rare dashed toward him concerned.

“Are you alright, darling?” She asked him as she ran. Helpful then came to Eli and helped him back up.

“You okay?” He asked him. Eli nodded.

“Thanks.” Eli thanked his new friend as he turned his attention to Rarity caring for Spike. Helpful noticed this.

“So how did you and Rarity meet?” He asked him as he looked over to the scene.

“Long story, pal.” Eli told him as he sighed.

“Ugh… I don’t feel so good, Rarity.” Spike told her as he rubbed his belly and slid down to the ground.

“Don’t worry, Spike.” Rare assured him. “We’ll take you back to the castle so you can have nice look nap.” She reached out to pat his head, but then it she felt a searing hot pain from touching it, and she quickly took her hoof back. “Ouch!” She sucked on her hoof, briefly. “Spike… You’re burning up!” Spike only moaned again as he tried using his new sword to hold his weight. He held his belly as he belched out fire, however, no message came from the flame. “What’s happening?” Spike asked as he burped again and fell on the ground in pain.

“Spiky!” Rare exclaimed in shock as he fell. “What’s wrong?” Helpful then galloped to them and pulled Rarity back from the sick dragon.

“You need to stand back!” Helpful warned her. “The sword he took was cursed!”

“Cursed?” Rarity gave the Pegasus a shocked look. “What do you…?” Her sentence trailed off right when the clouds above started to cover the moon, growing darker each moment. Fido and Spot both awoke and stood back from the baby dragon after noticed his conundrum and dramatic weather change. Spike belched fire again and tried standing himself up. He looked over to Helpful and Rarity, and they were shocked to his eyes were pitch black. “What’s… What’s happening to me!?” Spike cried and then he burped another time and Rarity screamed.

“Spiky Wikey!” She shouted for her loved one. Eli couldn’t believe it either, but this phenomenon was happening. Spike was undergoing some drastic change. He scales then turned black as his eyes, his green comb then grew longer and sharp. His stature began to grow as his moans of pain grew deeper, like he was growing older. He burped once more and this time a knight’s helmet appeared from the flames, and a shield appeared when he belched again. Shakily, Spike then reached out with his new arm, his sharp claws extending further out, and he gripped the helmet before him and placed it on his head. His green comb stuck out from the metal. The newly formed dragon then ceased his painful moans and he calmly grabbed his shield and equipped it on his left arm, and he reached out to grab his sword. He stood up. Now Spike was taller and strikingly more menacing than a few moments ago. “S…” Rarity tried to speak. There were tears in her eyes. “Spiky…?” The dragon immediately turned his gaze toward Rarity and Helpful, his eyes covered by the grate of his helmet. “Spiky Wikey?” Rarity called him again, hoping that he was still the same, but to her shock, the dragon roared in fury.

“Rarity! Run!” Helpful pulled her back for him to face the dragon. “Now!” Rarity did as he asked and Eli followed her, but a ring of fire stopped them in their tracks.

“None shall escape, putrid slaves!” The dragon snarled at them. Fido tackled the dragon into the ground and Spot then waved at Rarity and Eli.

“C’mon, ponies!” He called for them as Fido then dashed toward them and Spot grabbed them as they passed and sat them on his back as they jumped through the fire wall and escaped.

“No!” The dragon snarled in anger. He gave chase, but Helpful’s speed was greater and he knocked the dragon back.

“Don’t think so, Spike!” The Pegasus shouted as the dragon fell on his back. He jumped up and pointed his sword at the Pegasus.

“You dare to stop me?”

“I know you’re in there, Spike!” Helpful shouted, hoping that his friend’s still there.

“Hah! Your friend is no more!” The dragon scoffed as he twirled his sword a bit. “His body is now my vessel.”

“Who are you?” Helpful asked him with an angry frown.

“I am Scorch, the Black Ifrit.” The dragon introduced himself. Helpful’s expression turned to shock.

“No!” He shook his head in disbelief. “You can’t be the fire demon!”

“Oh, but I am!” Scorch laughed, amused at Helpful’s display of shock.

“You…” The Pegasus then charged at Scorch with his wings outstretched, the black tips glowed a bright orange! “Monster!” Helpful then tackled Scorch into the ground and out of rage, clobbering Scorch. “Bring! Back! Spike!” Helpful shouted as he bashed his hooves into the dragon’s steel helmet, and then the inside of Scorch’s helmet glowed red with fire, and Helpful jumped back, surprised right before he had his face burnt off with dragon fire. Scorch then ceased the blast and sat up like a marionette doll, making Helpful nervous. He stood up and grabbed his scimitar on the ground. The Pegasus took a few steps back as Scorch walked toward him. He was scared. None of his attacks seemed to have affected the demon, and he just stands back up without a sign of pain. Scorch then cackled as he raised his sword and charged at the stunned Pegasus, but luckily, lightning exploded between the two, knocking the demon back in surprise, and a second lash of lightning followed and curved upward into the demon, knocking him back even further. It then curved downward into the hole, sending the demon through the wood and pounding him into the stone floor. Helpful followed, flying after the lightning and Boltage flew out from inside the hole. “You okay, buddy boy?” He asked as he landed on the grass. Helpful stopped to greet him. “Boltage!” He said in surprise. “How’d you get here?”

“Where there’s a storm, there’s a Storm Charger.” Boltage laughed. “You don’t get out much, do you?” Helpful scratched the back of his head.

“Let’s just say I’m learning.” Helpful told him. “Was that you earlier?” Boltage nodded. The prince’s eyes opened wide, concerned for Spike’s body. “Did you kill him?” He ran over to the edge to find that Scorch’s body was in one piece, but he wasn’t moving, like he was unconscious. Helpful sighed of relief. “Thank you, Magi.” He turned back to Boltage. “We should get out of here, and report to Celestia what’s happened.” Boltage nodded in agreement.

“Gotcha!” He turned around and flew off toward the castle at a speed Helpful could follow. Helpful followed him, and sighed bored by the speed.

“Why are we cruising?” He asked the Storm Charger, who looked at him surprised, but before he could speak, an explosion from behind caught their attention. They turned around to see a beam of darkness being unleashed from the hole. They gaped in shock as when it ceased the cloaked being appeared in the air. He had no wings, nor a horn, and yet he was still flying in the air like them. The clocked being raised a sleeve toward them. “You…” He said with a dark, creepy voice.

“Who… Who are you?” Helpful asked him, nervous.

“I go by many names…” The being lowered his tattered sleeve; his cloak swaying in the air with wisps of dark shadows flickering and flying around it. “Bearer of Chaos, Destroyer of Wills, the Devil…” Helpful blinked twice, confused. None of these names sounded familiar to him. He turned his attention to Boltage briefly to see that he wasn’t recognizing these names either. “The what?” Boltage asked him.

“I see…” The cloaked being turned his head in thought. “So much has changed... Changed so much…that you have forgotten me…” He then raised his sleeve toward them again. “Then I shall tell you!” Bandages and cloth lashed out from the sleeve, and wrapped around Helpful and Boltage in surprise. They fell onto the ground hard, and grunted in pain. The bandages covered their faces so that they couldn’t speak. “I am Kronos, Lord of the Titans!” He waved his sleeve and shadows seeped and swerved around them, and they eventually covered them and vanished. Kronos then softly lowered himself from the air and turned back to the hole. He looked downward to see Scorch’s body twitch and move. He was reawakening. The Black Ifrit stood and looked up to see his master. “M-Master!?” He stuttered in surprised. “You… You’re supposed to be exiled!” He being only stared at Scorch coldly. The Ifrit then reconsidered his response. “Wha-what I mean is…” He knelt down to him. “All hail Emperor Kronos, the greatest of us all. Our god!”