Mirage and the Quest for the Bamboozle Gem

The elevator shook gently as Princess Cadance led Twilight, Rarity and the Legends down into the mines in order to help them find the aforementioned Bamboozle Gem. The mines went very deep underground, so much so that the journey down to the bottom seemed endless, making everyone feel like their minute long wait had lasted well over half an hour. While things felt time consuming and rather uneventful, the group was least able to entertain themselves by looking around and examining all the various types of crystals, gems and ores that jetted out of the rocky walls of the mines. Some of them were new to Legends and they could only guess what they could possibly be.

"Forgive me for asking, but why exactly do you need the Bamboozle Gem?" Cadance inquired. "Assuming it's actually here in Equestria."

Mirage turned to face the mare and answer her question. "We need it for a hop-up that Rampart-"

"Sorry, what I meant to say is… what does it do, exactly?" Cadance interrupted Mirage's sentence as she corrected herself.

"Oh, of course." Mirage held his hand out as he was ready to give what he assumed was an obvious answer, but his mind drew a blank, leaving him standing there with his jaw left agape. Even after all of this searching, he never was told why the Bamboozle Gem was a necessary part of the hop-up. It could've been used for anything. It could be a power source, a casing, or perhaps it could even be a hoax, a mere prank to give Rampart a good laugh. Mirage shook in despair, hoping that it wasn't the latter possibility.

"Well whatever the case, I am sure that I should come in handy for Rampart." Cadance said, choosing to end that conversation then and there.

Their descent slowed abruptly, coming to a halt as the elevator made it safely to the ground. The doors opened up, allowing safe passage for the group to enter into the mines. The view was beyond comprehension, making the surface world of the Crystal Empire seem like nothing but a wasteland in comparison. No one, not even Crypto could hold back from smiling in awe.

"Sacre bleu! Zis is most miraculous!" Wattson said with an overwhelming amount of joy in her soul. "I have never seen such beautiful works of nature before."

"You Crystal Empire folk really know how to choose a good place to live." Wraith said with a chuckle in her voice. She was rather jealous of the residents of the Crystal Empire. The scenery of every location within the kingdom was something that she was very envious of.

"Call it luck, but I can never take this for granted." Cadance said in reply. The princess looked around for the nearby mining tunnel to her left. "I think if we go down this way then we should find this gem of yours in no time."

"Seems like our best bet." Crypto nodded and followed closely behind Cadance. "Do you happen to know what the Bamboozle Gem looks like, your majesty?" He asked while looking around for anything that caught his eye.

"Not by name, no." Cadance replied. "I don't even recall anypony talking about a gem such as that. But who knows, maybe it's nearby. It could be right in front of us for all I know."

"I'll be sure to check around. I have my ways." Crypto reached behind his back and grabbed a hold of his drone. From there he tossed it into the air and activated it's systems, allowing it to hover in the air before hitting the ground.

"Your drone?" Cadance inquired. "What do you plan to do with that?"

"I've analyzed and recorded all known characteristics regarding the Bamboozle Gem from the internet and placed all the information into Hack's systems. With it, my drone will be able to scan the area and pick up anything at least similar to what we're looking for." said Crypto.

"Wow, you guys get all the crazy gadgets, don't you?" Cadance was blown away, although she was always eager to learn about everything that the humans had to work with.

"Ugh, such petty machinery." Crypto looked over and saw Rarity scoffing at him, ultimately disgusted and appalled by the human's unorthodox methods.

"Oh yeah? And what do you plan on doing?" Crypto spoke with a hint of sassiness in his voice.

"While you have fun playing around with your toys, we unicorns have something far more helpful: magic!" Rarity taunted Crypto with her horn pointed at him. The pointed appendage illuminated for a split second as Rarity charged just enough magic to cause it to sparkle and glow. "I can just use a spell to search for the gem you are looking for. After all, I do remember Twilight informing you about the fact that I am the best at finding gems."

"Calm yourself, Rarity. This isn't a competition." Crypto crossed his arms and shook his head. "You can use your magic, I'll use my drone. Working together will make things go by a whole lot faster compared to fighting against ourselves."

"Erm, I suppose you are right about that." Rarity said, raising her hoof to her forehead and expressing her extreme sorrow simply for everyone else to feel bad for her. However, no one showed any sort of sympathy for her, as they all knew how overly-dramatic she could get if things didn't go her way.

"Perhaps, but we aren't going to get anywhere just standing here and talking about it." Mirage was growing more and more impatient and time went on, so much so that he took the role of team leader and began walking down the tunnel by himself, all the while dining to himself about why he was the best Legend. "Bamboozle, Bamboozle, the rest of you are snoozles."

"I always missed Mirage's optimism." Rarity said with a sigh. Wraith looked over at the mare with a confused expression, as if she knew Rarity wasn't telling the whole truth. "Not all of it, but enough." Wraith and Rarity exchanged laughter as they shrugged their shoulders in agreement.

The rest of the group followed behind Mirage, surveying the area and looking for the gem. Crypto controlled Hack from a distance, looking in places that the others couldn't see, like small crevices and tight cracks in the cave walls. The rest of the group searched for it near ground level. Many natural rarities were found, like rubies, diamonds and gold, enough to make anyone rich in an instant. However, nothing seemed to resemble that of the Bamboozle Gem. They went as far as to lift smaller rocks to see if the gem was buried beneath the ground. Twilight and Cadance even used their magic to move massive boulders, but as much as they tried to find it, nothing seemed to work in their favor.

That is until Crypto's drone began beeping.

"What did your drone find, Crypto?" Wraith inquired, turning on her heels and facing the drone.

"Haeng-un-ui nal, I have picked up signs of the Bamboozle Gem. We are close… very close." Crypto tapped a button on his earpiece and switched to drone view, piloting the drone from a first person perspective. He switched his monitor to a thermal detector which allowed him to scan the area and see through walls. Without too much trouble, Crypto spotted the white gem sticking out of the wall nearby. "There, by Mirage. I can see it."

"Really, you found it?" Mirage turned to where Crypto pointed and found the Bamboozle Gem hanging right in front of him. "Bingo, come here you jolly find." Mirage lowered his hand and grabbed a hold of the gem. With a mighty tug, he pulled it out of the cave walls with ease… or so he expected. In reality, the gem wouldn't budge. "What the?" Mirage attempted to pull the gem out of the wall a second time, but there weren't any differing results. He then tried a third time. Then a forth… then fifth. Nothing happened.

"Mirage, I don't think zat brute strength alone will be enough to pull zat thing out of ze wall." said Wattson.

"Come to think of it, I don't suppose that we brought a pickaxe with us, did we?" Wraith inquired, looking over at Princess Cadance.

"Oh my goodness, I have completely forgot about that." Cadance pressed her hoof against her forehead in shame. "To think that I have led you all down here just to forget about the most essential tool for mining. I must be getting old."

"Zat is quite alright, princess. I am more zan certain zat we can find another way to free zis gem sample." Wattson said in a hopeful tone. "We just need to think zis through." The electrical engineer began surveying the area, searching for something that could help them.

"Perhaps my magic could be used to help." Twilight offered, pointing to her horn with her hoof. "I'm sure with enough force I could pry it out of the rock wall with a simple grapple spell."

"That's actually a pretty good idea." Wraith said in agreement, all though she couldn't really think of anything else to do at the moment. "Twilight, how about you, Cadance and Rarity use your combined magic to free the gem while Mirage uses his bare strength to help."

"I don't see that going badly." Cadance replied.

"Well as long as I don't get my hooves dirty, I guess that could work out." Rarity added.

"Wait a minute!" Mirage detested. "Why do I have to be the one to pull it out?"

"You want the gem? Then do your job." Crypto grinned at the bearded man, laughing to himself while watching his rival suffer - that is if he could even consider something as miniscule as this a reason for suffering.

"Alright, girls. Charge your magic and let's help them get their gem." Twilight announced. The three ponies charged up their magic within their horns and pointed them straight towards the white, shiny gem. Mirage then stepped in front of them and got a firm grip on the gem. He seemed confident at first, but soon became worrisome and hesitant.

"Hey, uh… y-y-your magic won't hurt me, will it?" Mirage inquired, fearing the worst.

"The worst possible result would just be that we pick you off the ground. So there's nothing to worry about." Twilight said in a reassuring tone, though it hardly left an impact on Mirage who was by this point scared half to death.

"Ok, I guess that's good." Mirage wiped the sweat off his brow before reluctantly gripping the gem with all his might. "R-R-Ready when you are, girls." His voice cracked several times once he spoke.

"You heard him, now!" The three ponies each shot magical beams from each of their respective horns. Their combined forces caused the beam to cross each other, creating a much more powerful grapple spell. The beam hit the Bamboozle Gem soon after, encapsulating it with the beam's tricolored aura. The ponies, plus Mirage, all pulled against the gem, forcing it out of its confines. It took some work, but with relative ease the gem came clean out of the rock wall, floating in mid-air and completely freed.

Mirage held his hands out and the mares all released the gem from their magic hold. The gem fell into Mirage's grasp, shining brightly for him and all the others to see. To Mirage's surprise, this sample of the Bamboozle Gem was quite big in size, yet very light in weight, almost as heavy as a basketball. Nevertheless, Mirage was ecstatic. He had found the gem that he sent to retrieve and could now return to Rampart in order to claim his sweet reward.

"Crypto, are you sure that this is the one?" Mirage asked for reassurance, hoping that it wasn't simply a false claim, or else all this work would have all been for nothing.

"The readings match that of other gem signatures, this is indeed the one we are looking for." Crypto said in reply. "I'm actually quite surprised. I didn't think it would be this easy to obtain. I don't even think it's been half an hour since we came down here."

"Well don't jinx it!" Wraith said with a mild anger in her tone. "The last thing we need is another obstacle to climb over."

"Right." Crypto apologized for his foolishness.

"Are you looking for the special mineral, too?"

Everyone turned around in an instant, looking towards a pegasus pony in the distance. They all squinted to see the identity of the pony through the darkness. It took the others a bit longer to recognize who exactly it was, but Rarity found the answer rather quickly.

"Derpy?" Rarity spoke in shock. "What in Equestria are you doing here?"

"I have been looking for a special mineral that somepony told me I could find here." Derpy explained. "I see you found quite a shiny looking thing, yourself. Is that the same one?"

While the others were left confused as to which gem she was implying, Mirage immediately struck a defense stance and shunned the pegasus mare away. "No, you will not get this gem. This is mine, and mine alone. Finders keepers, losers weepers." Wraith and Wattson both glanced at Mirage on the verge of laughing aloud while Crypto simply placed his hand against his forehead in disappointment.

"Wait, what gem are you talking about?" Twilight inquired, wanting to know if Derpy was really referring to the Bamboozle Gem, mostly just to prevent an unnecessary fight.

"I am talking about a rare mineral called Muffin Marble." Derpy said with a smile. "It is supposed to be an edible, softer inorganic material that mimics the taste of muffins, but fills you up with only one bite, making it last a lot longer than normal muffins." Just describing it alone made her stomach rumble with hunger.

"Muffin Marble?" Wraith said with a grin, slowly turning towards Mirage. "Well, I don't think you will be needing to fight anyone for your gem, now will you?" Mirage looked back with a nervous smile, rubbing the back of his head and coughing as a distraction for himself.

"Where in the world did you hear about something as crazy as that?" Crypto asked Derpy. The mere thought of an edible rock baffled him greatly, as it sounded like something that of a fool would believe.

"I read about it in a couple history books. Apparently the Earth Ponies would ration it between the tribes whenever there was a massive famine. I also read that it tastes even better when paired with berries, the same way muffins do!" Though the idea was still hard to believe, Crypto couldn't argue with a valid source such as that. But then again, what if she instead read a book about mythology? Whether or not Derpy was telling the whole truth, Crypto shook it off his concious and paid it no mind, figuring that there was no benefit to prove her wrong and potentially crush her dreams.

"Well then, if you aren't looking for the Bamboozle Gem, what makes you think that you will find it here?" Mirage inquired.

"Well, I don't know for sure. I just picked the first place I saw and decided to just hope for the best." Derpy reached behind her back and pulled out her mining tool. "With me and this pickaxe, nothing will stop us."

"Derpy… that's a shovel." Twilight said with a snicker. Derpy scoffed in disbelief, only to look down at the object she held and thoroughly analyze it. Seeing the spade in question, it was then that she realized that she was wrong and Derpy immediately blushed in embarrassment.

"Is that it, now? Huh… that would explain why I haven't been doing any actual mining." Derpy could do nothing but smile nervously as the others all laughed with her.

The mission had seemed to be a success; the Bamboozle Gem was now in Mirage's possession, the group was unharmed and all they had to do now was send the Legends back to the Outlands. Seemed like a pretty easy job. Wraith was about to lift her hand up and rally for everyone to follow her, but she suddenly had a vision. A warning about a future event.

Wraith cried out in pain as her brain began feeding her many blurred images. Her eyes began to glow and change color, turning into a paler tone. The others looked over to her and gasped, wondering what was happening to her. The other Legends knew that she was having a vision, but they still ran to her side to comfort her, nonetheless.

"Wraith, what is it?" Wattson inquired. "What is it zat you are seeing?"

"Ergh… the w-w-wall." Wraith snapped back to reality with a gasp for air. Her eyes returned to normal and her sanity came back to her full control. She flicked her head towards the direction of where the Bamboozle Gem was pulled out and shouted a warning. "Everyone, get away from the wall!"

Within seconds, the crack split across the rock wall, crumbling in on itself and tumbling down towards the rest of the group. Wraith used her powers to open a portal for the other Legends to walk through while Twilight used her magic to cast a shield spell for the other ponies to take cover from the falling rocks. Crypto and Mirage ran into the portal and were spat out near Wraith's and Wattson's position. The debris smashed against Twilight's barrier, but her experience with magic proved to be more than enough to overcome the force of the collapsing cave walls.

The sounds of falling rocks faded into echoes and nothing but dust surrounded the group. Twilight lowered her barrier and checked to make sure that everyone was okay. To their luck and surprise, everyone was accounted for and unscathed.

"Is everypony okay?" Twilight inquired, wanting to simply get a verbal confirmation that no one was hurt.

"I think we are all ok." Wraith said, helping Crypto to his feet while Mirage and Wattson aided Princess Cadance. "Thank goodness I was able to see that coming."

"Yeah, all nine of us look good to go!" said Derpy.

"Nine?" Rarity questioned. "There are only eight of us, including you."

"Nine." Derpy replied with certainty. "I know I counted correctly."

"But, if there are nine, then…" Twilight turned around and was bet with a large boulder standing right before her. Looking up in curiosity, she saw something that no one could've expected. "Golem!!!"

A large creature made entirely out of rocks came from behind the collapsed wall and towards the group. It's intentions were immediately read as hostile as it picked up a nearby boulder and chucked it at Princess Cadance. The princess used her magic to cast a magical wall in front of her and redirect the trajectory of the boulder.

"Did your vision warn you about this?" Mirage exclaimed to Wraith.

"I wish it did." Wraith replied, trying to keep her cool. "Everyone, stay calm and find a way to stop this thing."

The group nodded and did their best to stop the golem. However, they didn't have much of a chance to do anything as the hostile creature lifted its rocky fists high into the air before slamming them against the ground. The sheer force of the impact caused lots of the rocks from about to fall down towards the others. The group was split into two smaller teams as the debris blocked their path to each other.

Wattson, Crypto, Twilight and Rarity slammed against the rocks to try and meet up with the others, but neither their strength nor magic could move the debris away in order to clear a path. They had to find another way around, and fast.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the rock wall, the rest of the group was left to deal with the golem. Mirage did his best to fend off the creature, but the rock-made beast laughed at the bamboozler, knowing its victory was near. The golem slammed its fists against the ground once more, causing the ground beneath them to split open. Mirage, Wraith, Derpy and Cadance fell into the depths of the cave, plummeting further deeper into the dark and empty void beneath them while the golem simply watched from above with a feeling of success.

The rock-made monster nodded with defiance, proud of what it had accomplished. It turned around to retreat back into the mines, but a shiny gleam of light caught it's attention. Turning to inspect the object, the golem was surprised to see the Bamboozle Gem, which Mirage had dropped during their short battle - if they could even call it a battle. The golem placed it in its hands and walked away, heading further into the mines, no doubt to find another victim.