Through the Fire and Flames

Chapters

Stormclouds Gathering...
And then there were five...
Meetings and partings...
Crashing the crystals...
Lullabies in the dark...
New friends and new foes...
Against the swarm...
Dully, the embers still glowed...

Stormclouds Gathering...

A tiny tendril of smoke crawled across the lip of the cave’s mouth, staining the rocks a slightly darker shade of black before fading into the sky. Celestia barely gave the stream a thought other than to note that this was the right cave after all. She had not really believed that finding another dragon would turn out as hard as it had, but it seemed they truly did give Equestria a wide berth. She glared at the partially obscured ceiling as she stepped through. It was far too small to suit her purposes, barely twice again as tall as she was. The creature that lived in here couldn’t possibly be…

Her train of thought ground to a halt as the tunnel turned a sharp corner and suddenly opened up into a huge cavern. Half of Canterlot could have fit inside, towers and all. Stalactites dripped down out of a swirling fog of black smoke that rolled like an angry sky, each one etched with pale violet gems that somehow glowed enough to see by. More than two dozen small tunnels like the one she had just descended led out at intervals around the cavern, letting the excess smoke out slowly. The entire far end of the cavern led down into a still tarn of water, no doubt leading into an underwater series of tunnels and providing the true entrance.

Nearly every patch of floor was strewn with glittering treasure, and nearly all of that worked gold and silver. Crowns, jewelry, bits, intricately worked chests overflowing with more wealth, thrones, rings, and more. In all that splendor, it was almost easy to overlook the lack of anything not forged by pony hooves. Celestia missed nothing, though she only noted the lack as an interesting fact. All her attention was focused on the creature resting in the exact center of the horde.

Shortly upon returning to her rightful kingdom, she had met another red dragon. It had dared try attacking her, and now its cave has hers and it a greasy smear. The differences between that pitiful creature and this one couldn’t have been greater. The dragon lifted itself from it’s recline casually, rearing up to almost three times the size of the other. Age was apparent in how it moved and the size of its claws and frill, but the years hadn’t affected its deadly grace. Its golden eyes locked upon hers, but with a look of calm rather than rage. And something else…

Celestia opened her mouth, but the dragon’s deep baritone rolled over her first. “I see you, Celestia. The rumors of your return are true, it appears.”

Celestia paused, pleased despite the interruption. Only one other mortal had greeted her with her true name since she’d regained her freedom. Promising… “Thou knowest thy true Queen. That will save time.”

The dragon chuckled, loosing another black cloud to drift lazily to the ceiling. “I serve no creature, and especially no alicorn. I allowed you to enter safely out of respect, not fear of your power. I am far too old for such things like death to scare me into servitude.”

Anger flooded through the alicorn’s mind, but she caught it before it could rage out of control. She would never cease her surprise that these mortals didn’t immediately fall to their rightful place when it was so obvious who she was. But this one spoke not out of fear or pride, just simple sloth. It had lived far too long under her weakling of a sister’s rule to hold the proper respect anymore. And something in his tone had snapped together a memory she had almost long forgotten. Oh no, this one is far too useful to kill. Better than I could have hoped…

“Thou speakest of age? Thy pitiful span is but a drop in the ocean to mine. And thou art not the only being with a long memory, Solrathicharnon.”

The dragon’s eyes widened in surprise, the first real emotion to have played across his face thus far, before narrowing again. “Have a care, Sunborn. I grew out of that name centuries ago.”

“A shame. Thy name carried more honor than thee hast believed.” Celestia stalked closer as she spoke, striding confidently onto the edge of the horde. Precious metals glowed red hot and ran where her hooves fell, but while he winced at every coin destroyed the dragon made no move to stop her. “I remember the day whence thou earned that name. From my prison, mine eyes made out thy face clearly when, with tear-stained eyes, thou vowed…”

“ENOUGH!!!!” the dragon roared, rearing back upon his feet in an attempt to intimidate her with his height. “Did you come here just to torment me with memories of the past? Speak your purpose or be gone from my cave!”

“Revenge.” Celestia didn’t shout the word, but a simple flare of magic caused the word to echo around the cavern. The dragon’s eyes widened once more and acquired a sharp gleam. He settled warily back onto his haunches, clearly interested.

“Revenge, and against all thy enemies,” Celestia continued, her own blank eyes matching the dragon’s own. Not Solrathicharnon. Solrath is honorific enough for this creature. “And all thou hast to do is this…”

…

My little pony, My little pony
Ahh ahh ahh ahh
My little pony
Friendship never meant that much to me
My little pony
But you’re all here and now I can see
Stormy weather; Lots to share
A musical bond; With love and care
Teaching laughter; it’s an easy feat,
And magic makes it all complete!
You have my little ponies
How’d I ever make so many true friends?

…

The silence rang, sharp in everypony’s ears as the last few notes faded into the air. They each seemed to be holding their breaths, as if by merely wanting it enough the music would start up again. Lyra stood up and took a bow, and applause burst forth all at once from every corner of the packed hall. Despite being designed for this very purpose, the floor trembled from the force of their pounding hooves. Lyra shifted her lyre and bowed even deeper.

Near the front, Ditzy Doo practically hopped in place from how hard she was stomping. “Encore! Encore!”

“That was the encore, Ditzy.” Raindrops said, placing a restraining hoof on her back in case she accidentally bounced into one of their neighbors. Her other hoof, however, was stamping just as hard as everypony else. “I don’t think they’ll let her have more than one.”

Cheerilee looked around at the crowd as the applause finally started to die down. “It’s usually only one, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were considering more with this response.”

“Even I wouldn’t want to follow that act.” Trixie said. “That was just… amazing!”

“I thought you were here for her first big concert.” Raindrops asked, looking askance at the blue unicorn.

Trixie pulled her hat partially down over her eyes. “Yes… well, I wasn’t in a good position to pay much attention to the music at the time.” Raindrops looked a little apologetic at that, for a moment at least.

On stage, Lyra was making her exit as the unfortunate pony in question, a dapper looking stallion with a grayish-brown coat and white mane, was striding up to a grand piano set up at the other end of the stage. He made his bow as the crowd murmured to each other, a couple even getting up and milling about. Lyra may not have been the only performer on the ticket for tonight’s show, but she was one of the two reasons this show was as crowded as this. Word of mouth had spread quickly after her first performance, and plenty of music connoisseurs wanted to hear this pony who could “out-play an angel”.

Trixie smiled and stepped out into the aisle. “Come on, let’s go congratulate Lyra!”

“Don’t you want to listen to the rest of the concert?” Carrot Top asked, glancing back to the stage. The stallion had sat down at the piano but wasn’t playing yet, apparently letting the quiet stretch out until he was ready.

Trixie shook her head and started quietly walking to the end of the aisle. “After what I just heard, I don’t think any performance could impress me half as much.”

The other looked at each other for a moment, but caught up to their friend just as she made it to the door leading backstage. The porter let them in quickly; Lyra had thought ahead and told the crew to let them back if they wanted. The backstage was a hectic mess, disconcerting after the respectful order of the audience outside, but they managed to avoid crashing into anypony rushing about. The dressing rooms were located close behind the stage, and they could hear the soft sounds of the pianist as they passed.

“… were just great!” Somepony was saying as they found the right room. Trixie didn’t even pause as she pushed the door open and hopped up onto her hind legs.

“All praise the Majestic and Lovely Lyra Heartstrings for her most excellent performance!”

“You sure know how to ruin a mood.” Lyra muttered, looking up from nuzzling her marefriend Bon Bon. She couldn’t suppress her grin as her friends piled into the room. “And I thought I told you never to call me that again.”

“And I told you not to knock the power an amazing title can add to a performance!” Trixie returned, but she backed off to let the others have their turn.

“Oh Lyra, you were wonderful!” Cheerilee exclaimed, giving her a tight hug. Ditzy replaced her as soon as Cheerilee let go, offering her own congratulations. Bon Bon looked a little miffed about losing her alone time with Lyra, but the warmth in everypony’s praise kept her from being annoyed for very long.

“I didn’t expect all of you to show up.” Lyra laughed when she got the chance. She leaned back in that uncomfortable-looking way of sitting she had and slipped an arm back over Bon Bon’s shoulder.

“You couldn’t have kept us away.” Ditsy said. In truth, it had taken some effort to find free time in all of their busy schedules to come all the way into Canterlot for the show, but it was well worth it. “Did you write those songs yourself?”

Lyra blushed. “Only the encore. The first piece is an old classic I adapted to be played on the lyre. It’s originally performed on the violin. But the second one was the same composition I played in my first recital here. Don’t you remember it, Trixie?”

“It would be hard to forget…” Trixie muttered, shifting uncomfortably. Raindrops stared at the far wall as if it had suddenly become incredibly interesting.

“Anyway, can you believe the audience out there?” Cheerilee said, easily diverting the awkward silence before it could ruin the mood. “All those ponies here just to listen to you! Isn’t it just incredible to imagine.”

“Not just me…” Lyra said, trying and failing to make to sound modest.

“Don’t sell your talent short.” The second reason for the huge turnout said as she entered the increasingly crowded dressing room. Princess Luna held out her hoof as they bumped into each other trying to bow in the cramped space. “No need for that. I just wish to congratulate you on a marvelous performance.”

“Thank you, your majesty.” Lyra stammered. “But the concert isn’t over. Don’t you want to listen to the other performers?”

“Oh, I’m still out there in my private box.” Luna explained. She met her student’s eye and winked. The others might not remember how the princess had split into three different ponies during the Longest Night celebration, but Trixie had a lot more personal experience with her mentor’s favorite trick.

“Your technique is truly flawless.” Luna continued. “I haven’t heard talent like yours in a long time. It’s truly a shame I missed your original performance.”

“You didn’t actually miss anything.” Trixie quickly cut in. “The music she played that time was actually…”

A unicorn in shining silver armor poked his head through the door. “Your majesty!”

“Is everypony in the theater going to barge in here?” Bon Bon grumbled, but soft enough not to draw offense.

“What is it, Emerald Thunder?” Luna asked, turning to give him her full attention.

“A courier just arrived with an urgent message for you. There’s a problem.”

And then there were five...

“Not bad. Not bad at all.” Princess Luna said to herself, leaning forward over the edge of her private box to better study the pianist. “A little too slow on the last crescendo, but otherwise a very nice adaption. Don’t you think?”

She half turned to the pair of guards standing on either side of the entrance, but they only murmured a quick “Yes, your Majesty” and returned to standing stiffly at attention. Luna shook her head and settled back down, levitating an apple off a nearby tray of fruit. She could remember when the melody had first been composed nearly four centuries ago. Of course, it had originally been a romantic piece, not the somber one modern musicians seemed to want it to be these days. She really needed to keep a closer eye on the classics…

Before she could delve too deeply into memories of the past, a sparkling blue cloud floated through the crack beneath the door. Both the guards jerked at its sudden appearance, but Luna waved them down with a single hoof as the cloud zipped up to her. It meshed into her mane and tail, giving her the temporary appearance of having gained an extra foot and a half of hair. Luna closed her eyes as the memories of her doppelganger melded with her own.

After a moment, she opened her eyes and stood up. “We are about to have a messenger.”

A sharp rap on the door immediately followed her words, opening to reveal a light beige pegasus wearing the pleather suit of the border patrol. Luna took a moment to study him as he dipped into an awkward bow. He was young and his suit was barely creased or travel stained, so he couldn’t have held his job for very long. The feint sheen of sweat still beading on the back of his close-cut mane showed that he had flown straight here after arriving in Canterlot. He bore no saddlebags, presumably having left them at the same station house where he’d discovered she was attending the show, so the message he carried wasn’t secretive enough to warrant hiding it from the messenger. But important enough for him to go straight to her without delivering it to an officer or clerk…

The pegasus tilted his head up and seemed to freeze when his eyes met hers. “Your Majesty… um… I’ve got a message… sorry to barge in on you… I mean…”

“Calm yourself.” Luna said in her most soothing voice, motioning to the bowl of fruit with her wing. “Do you want something to eat? You must have had a long flight, Cadet…?”

“N-no thank you, your Majesty!” he stammered, looking mortified at the thought of eating in front of the Princess. “Cadet Flare Twirl, your Majesty! Um… the message?”

Luna sighed inwardly at his fearful tone, but nodded for him to proceed.

Flare stood quickly and gathered his courage, squeezing his eyes shut to aid his memory. “A dragon has made its cave in the mountains just outside of Hippikes in northern Xenophon. From what little we can gather all it’s doing is sleeping, but it’s snoring a dark cloud of smog that we haven’t been able to stop. It’s already covered most of the city and was spreading to the surrounding towns by the time I left. Commander Ruby Spiral sent me to find you because she doesn’t have any other ideas and I probably shouldn’t have told you that, but this is my first solo mission and I forgot most of my planned report after the first night. And now I can’t stop talking and…”

A hoof tap on his shoulder shocked him into silence and he looked up to see the princess smiling calmly down at him. “Ease yourself, Flare Twirl. There’s no need to get it out all at once. Now, all this is about one dragon, right?”

Flare gulped and tried to stand up straighter. “Yes, Majesty. But it must be a very big dragon for it to make so much smoke this quickly.”

“Possibly…” Luna alleged, raising a hoof thoughtfully to her chin. “But all of the older dragons know that Equestria is not open to their kind. Why does this matter require my personal attention? Any number of weather teams should be able to clear away the clouds and one dragon ought to be easily persuaded to move along. Is the dragon behaving violently?”

“No, nopony has been able to talk to it because of the flowers.” Flare answered.

Luna blinked slowly. “What flowers?”

“The… did I mention the flowers?” Flare looked about to launch into a slew of apologies, but swallowed instead and moved on. “The cave the dragon has laired in is surrounded by a large field of strange purple and green flowers. I guess they’re releasing some kind of pollen or something because everypony that’s gotten close to them has fallen into a deep sleep. The pollen is mixing with the smoke, so none of the pegasi are able to get near the cloud without dropping from the sky.”

“What about the ponies living in Hippikes?” Luna asked, cutting in sharply. “Has the smoke affected than in any way?”

“The Commander evacuated the city as soon as she realized the danger, but anypony beneath the cloud is falling asleep. Oh, but it’s not permanent! You wake up as soon as you get away from the smoke with no more than a headache. It’s just… there’s no way to stop the smoke. Not even unicorn magic worked, since it was coming from a dragon.”

The princess’s eyes widened at that last bit and she started pacing around the small box. For the smoke to be potent enough to dispel magic from that distance, the dragon would have to be very old, almost ancient. Several hundred years at the earliest, and that’s unlikely. Pausing, she looked over her shoulder. “Has Ruby Spiral identified the flower? Is it native to the area?”

“Um, not that I know.” Flare said, racking his brains visibly. “No one from the local towns knew of them when the Commander asked, at least.”

“A coincidence, then? Or perhaps…” Luna nodded to her guards and they opened the door for her. “Thank you for your report, Flare Twirl. I will see to this matter immediately. Rest here in Canterlot for as long as you need.”

Flare hastily dropped into a bow, but sprang to his feet immediately. “Th-thank you, your Majesty. But won’t you need me to show you the way? It took me two days to fly here, and the Commander said I was the fastest in the squad…”

“I’m afraid you wouldn’t be able to keep up, Flare Twirl.” Luna replied, exiting the booth without breaking stride. She dismissed her guards with a flick of her wings; they would let the appropriate parties know of her departure and the reason. It should only take me an hour or two to reach Xenophon. And then…

Lost in her thoughts, the princess ignored the theater goers bowing around her as she exited the building and launched herself into the sky. Had she been paying attention, she might have noticed the pair of glowing yellow eyes that tracked her from the alleyway across the street until she was out of sight. A rasp of stone, and the eyes vanished as if they had never been.

…

“And this,” Trixie said, pointing dramatically, “is a statue of… a pony standing on her hind legs and holding a flag. There are stars all around her and she’s wearing a cape, so that’s cool…”

“We can see what it looks like ourselves, Trixie.” Raindrops deadpanned.

“I think it’s very interesting.” Cheerilee cut in, deftly maneuvering the conversation before the argument could form. “This might make for a very interesting field trip. Do you know what this statue represents?”

Trixie scratched her head and tried to think. “…Victory, I think? I don’t really remember, it’s been a long time since Luna taught me about them.”

Leaving Lyra to her alone time with Bon Bon, they had decided against listening to the rest of the recital and left the theater. Declaring that the night was too early to return to the rooms they had prepared in the palace, Trixie had led them off to see the sights of the city. It had quickly become apparent to her friends that Trixie didn’t get out much when she'd been living here, though.

“Where do you think the Princess was going in such a hurry?” Ditzy asked. They had left the theater just in time to see her soar off out of the city.

“It must be very important for her to just leave like that.” Carrot Top agreed. “But I’m sure she’ll be able to handle whatever it is.”

“Of course she can take care of it. She’s the princess!” Trixie stamped her hoof, miffed that they were interrupting her tour.

“Anyway, this one is a bunch of fillies standing on each other’s backs. I guess it represents friendship or something like that…”

“Hey, what’s with that cleared area over there?” Carrot Top asked, pointed at a big open region devoid of statues next to the royal maze. “It looks like the grass is newer over there, like it’s been recently replanted.”

Trixie glanced irritably at the field and suddenly burst into nervous energy. “Why don’t we head over here? The Royal Libraries are all along this part of the gardens. You’ll like that, won’t you Cheerilee? You’re a teacher…”

“It looks like the pathway curves around it, so there must have been something there.” Raindrops shaded her eyes to peer better. “Say… is that where…”

“Oh this is fairly interesting!” Trixie practically shrieked, telekinetically pulling her friends along with her as she charged the nearest building. “It’s the Stat Swirl the Bearded wing! I spend a lot of time in here when I was studying under the princess! Did you know that he was one of the strongest spell casters of the classical era?”

“Hey, look! There are statues over here too.” Ditzy said, pointing ahead of them at two shapes on either side of the building’s entrance.

Trixie brushed that aside with a shake of her head, dropping her magic from the others. “Those are just the guards on duty tonight. This is one of the most securely guarded sections of the archives. I’m sure they’ll let us in if I ask, though. I am Princess Luna’s apprentice, after all.”

“Um…” Raindrops said, flying up and tapping one on the head. “These are statues, Trixie.”

The other four slowed as they got close enough to see clearly. The two guards, both pegasi, were indeed made entirely of grey stone. They stood with shocked expressions on their faces, a long spear help crooked in their foreleg’s unused. They were both turned to look behind them at the door to the library. A door which was hanging slightly ajar. In their shocked silence, they heard a thump and what might have been a muffled curse from inside.

Cheerilee was the first to break out of her surprise. “There might be more ponies inside!” she exclaimed, making for the door.

Raindrops flew into her path and stopped her short of going in. “Wait! We don’t know what happened to the guards. There might be a cockatrice or something loose in there or something. You can’t just go in unprepared!”

“All the more reason to go now!” Cheerilee argued, though she made no attempt to brush past her. “What if somepony is trapped and needs our help?”

“How would a cockatrice have gotten loose in Canterlot?” Carrot Top asked.

Drawing a deep breath, Trixie stepped forward and put a hoof on Raindrops’s shoulder. “She’s right; we can’t just leave anyone inside if they’re in danger.” Concentrating, a blue nimbus of magic formed around each of them in turn. Within moments they had all faded from sight and any sound they’d make while walking was similarly muffled. Trixie channeled one more time and small ball of magic appeared in front of each pony, visible only to them.

“I’ll be able to keep track of everypony with that.” Trixie voice said, apparently coming from nowhere. “Stay close to the spheres so we’re all together. And if anypony sees anything, speak softly so you don’t attract too much attention.” With that she slowly pushed open the door and led the group cautiously inside.

The corridor inside was sparsely lit by torches along the walls, lines with doors and dark tapestries. Another petrified guard, an earth pony this time, stood in the middle of the corridor. He appeared to have been running at something.

“Over there… ah…” Carrot Top muttered, realizing that pointing when invisible was useless. “Down the turn on the right. I saw a shadow move on the wall!”

Trixie guided the group around the corner. Halfway down this hallway was a room with an iron gate instead on a wooden door. The gate stood wide open and the large lock looked like it had been half melted away. The sounds were coming from in there.

This corridor had a lot more petrified guards in it, along with one who appeared to have been a librarian, and Trixie felt one of her spheres move closer to that one. “They’re all pegasi and earth ponies.” Ditzy’s voice said. “Where are the unicorns?”

“In here!” Cheerilee said in a strangled whisper from the open door. Trixie rushed over, prepared to tell them off for not staying together, but what she saw when she stepped through the portal killed the words on her tongue.

Most of the bookcases in the room had been shoved over and a few were smoldering, leaving a stench of burnt paper in the air. About a dozen unicorns, three in soldier’s armor, sat in a huddled group bound and blindfolded. A large pedestal stood empty in the center of the room, the deep grooves in the top hinting that something large had been displayed there recently. But it was the creatures laboring around a large hole in the floor on the other side of the room that arrested their attention.

They appeared like large snakes, the smallest of which would have been taller than Princess Luna even reclining. Their scales were burnished gold and red in hue and appeared to glow softly in the dim lighting. They each had a broad chest about two feet down their necks from their heads, from which sprouted two strong-looking arms. Their arms were tipped with three sharp talons, which they used to grab things. Their faces were more like a lizard’s than a snake’s, and their eyes were all a solid color. Each creature wore a golden breastplate and skull cap, along with dozens of pieces of jewelry. Bracelets and rings and loops of long necklaces, all worked gold like the armor.

Two of the creatures guarded the group of prisoners, while the rest were gathered about the gaping hole. The top of what looked like a giant hourglass disappeared down the pit as they watched, handled by the creatures as carefully as a newborn. Another one slithered back and forth along the lip observing the process. This one was slightly longer than the others and it had twice as many arms, with five armbands of gold on each arm and a worked headdress of shining spikes. Where the other creature’s eyes were solid emerald, this one’s shone bright gold.

“What are they?” Carrot Top asked in a terrified whisper.

“We have to rescue them!” Raindrops said at the same time, trying to slip into the room from above.

“Just hold on or they’ll know we’re here!” Trixie hissed, stepping slowly forward. “Everyone just wait right here. I’ll try and loosen the ropes without them noticing.”

She inched forward carefully, trying to step on as few scrolls as possible. Her spell might muffle her steps, but it wouldn’t render the books invisible as they were knocked about. She got right up to the pedestal before deciding she was close enough and peered at the prisoners. They were all bound by a single length of rope held by only one of the guards. Both the creatures had their attention on the group working on the hole, swaying slightly as if in anticipation. It was clear that the prisoners would soon be following that hourglass down the pit soon enough.

Trixie muttered under her breath and stared intently at the rope. One of the oldest spells she had ever learned came readily to mind and the rope glowed softly, moving to her command. Starting with the one at the end, she slowly untied the knot and slipped the rope away from her legs. The unicorn gasped in fear, but otherwise kept her head and remained quietly in place. The two snake things didn’t even shift, focused on what was happening with their companions. Two more scholars, then one of the soldiers, another scholar, then…

The sixth prisoner shrieked when the rope loosed from his legs and jumped to his feet. “I… I’m free!” he shouted, stumbling blindly away and immediately crashing over a fallen pile of books.

Trixie cursed, ripping the last bonds free quickly while simultaneously tearing off everypony’s blindfolds. “Run for it!”

The guards had spun around when the first one had shouted, but Trixie gave them no time to do anything. The rope whirled around the two of them in an instant, pinning their limbs to their sides and dragging them off to the side out of the way.

A half dozen of the snakes slithered out of the pit faster than Trixie would have thought possible, but the one with the four arms waved them back. “Protect the Hourglasss with your lives!” she hissed in a commanding voice, moving forward on her own.

"Get the civilians out of here!” one of the soldiers ordered, turning around to meet her advance. His horn glowed bright silver, but sputtered out almost immediately. The guard clutched his head as if in pain and stumbled.

The snake creature clutched at something amongst her necklaces and held one of her other arms in his direction. A sickly green light shot out from her talons an enveloped the unfortunate unicorn just as he was looking up. He froze in place as the color seemed to bleed out of him all at once. The green light faltered a couple times as the petrification completed, and she glared down at whatever it was she was holding, giving it a little shake.

Trixie pressed herself against the pedestal despite knowing she was still invisible and shuddered. “All right, that’s enough of that. Time to get out of here.” It was then that she noticed for the first time that the other hadn’t waited at the door like they’d been told.

“Come on, hurry! This way!” Cheerilee shouted over by the door. A panicking unicorn almost jumped out of her skin feeling an invisible hoof land on her back and propel her towards the door. On the other side of the room, one of the snakes trying to untie their companions jerked violently backwards as if it had been kicked in the face. Trixie distinctly heard Raindrops snicker as she flew away from the creature’s wildly swinging arms.

“There’ss ssomething invissible in here, High Preisstesss!” the creature that was kicked howled, clutching at its head. Its golden skullcap was visibly dented and hanging off at an odd angle.

“Jusst get out! I will handle thiss!” the leader hissed, rising up on her coils and closing her eyes. The slits of her nose flared as she breathed in deeply and she suddenly spun, lashing out with a claw. Ditzy cried out on pain as she was knocked from the air to crash against a fallen bookcase. The creature hissed in triumph and closed in on the crash site, using her sense of smell to keep track of her quarry.

“NO!” Trixie shouted. She charged the snake from behind, but it spun faster than thought and caught her about the neck. Furious, Trixie started to channel the largest lightning bolt she could, but shuddered as a tremor ran though her body. Her eyes widened in shock as she felt her magic dim and vanish completely.

The snake creature smiled in triumph and then seemed to remember her original prey. Lashing her tail at the bookcase, she discovering the pegasus had slipped away while she was distracted.

At least she got away… Trixie thought, slipping into unconsciousness.

“High Priesstesss, we have to go now!” One of the creatures shouted, leaning over the edge of the pit and waving at her. She gave one last disgusted look at the fleeing ponies and slithered into the hole, taking the blue unicorn with her.

Cheerilee stared in horror at herself as the invisibility spell vanished. “Trixie!” she cried, rushing to the edge of the hole. But just before she arrived the ground lurched and she fell. Scrambling the last few feet, she found the pit filled with stone and dirt packed tight. The creatures had collapsed the hole behind them, cutting off any hope of pursuit. Nearby, a lonely pointed hat decorated with stars lay amidst the dirt and scrolls.

Meetings and partings...

Ditzy ran her hoof along the brim of Trixie’s hat slowly, but otherwise hid her nervousness behind grim determination. “What do you mean, you aren’t going after them?!”

Dapple Cross glared back at her, but quickly discovered why trying to stare down Ditzy Doo was harder than most. He coughed nervously into his hoof and turned away first. “Those things were able to handle all the soldiers in this building with ease. I have no intention of meeting them again without overwhelming odds in my favor.”

“But they’re getting away!” Ditzy yelled, causing the guard to step back a pace in surprise.

“And it will only get harder to track them the longer you wait.” Cheerilee pressed, standing her ground on the unicorn’s other side.

If Dapple was unnerved by the two mares flanking him, he managed to hide it well. “And how do you propose I’m supposed to do that, eh? Dig through the dirt like your friend over there?”

A loud crack split the air as if to punctuate his words as another stone broke under Raindrops’s hooves. Grunting softly to herself, she levered the two halves out of the impression she’d managed to carve out of the rubble. The impression was barely deep enough to reach her wings, and there was no sign of the end yet.

Dapple Cross winced at the noise and turned angrily to the jasmine pegasus. “And will you stop that! There’s no way you can dig through all of that debris…”

The only reply Raindrops gave was another grunt before turning back to her work.

“At least she’s trying.” Ditzy said heatedly. “Why aren’t you helping her with your magic?”

“None of us can use our magic right now.” A grey-coated unicorn with a brown mane tied up in a bun walked over to the group. She adjusted her wide glasses before continuing. “Whatever that creature with the four arms did to us was similar to forcing us to overchannel.”

She stumbled slightly, but caught herself before she hit the ground. “Uhh… I’m alright. The captain here is putting on a brave show, but I doubt he could use magic any more than the rest of us right now.”

Dapple Cross grimaced and stood up straighter. “I thought I told all you civilians to get out of here. Is no one going to pay any attention to what I’m saying? Those creatures might come back here!”

“Why? They got what they were after.” The grey unicorn eyed Ditzy and Cheerilee coolly. “You all are the bearers of the Elements, aren’t you?”

Cheerilee glanced curiously at Ditzy before answering. “That’s right. How did you know that?”

“My name’s Money Penny,” the unicorn answered with a brief nod, “and I’m a secretary in the Royal Castle. I’ve heard all about you. Was that Trixie Lulamoon or Lyra Heartstrings who was taken?”

“It doesn’t matter who she was, because I told you all to leave this building!” Dapple growled, glaring at each of them in turn before turning to stare out the door. “Where is Flash Verse? He couldn’t possibly be taking this long to get to the nearest patrol house…”

“Trixie.” Cheerilee said, completely ignoring the captain. Dapple Cross ground his teeth and stared bloody daggers at the doorway.

Money Penny nodded to herself. “Should have guessed. You’ll need an expert, but in the absence of one… Regal Tome, is that you over there?”

Dapple Cross’s effort to clear out the building hadn’t even succeeded in removing his fellow victims. Several of them were attempting to clean up the worst of the ruin of the library, though they all were a bit out of practice working without their telekinesis. One of them worked apart from the others, searching through the papers scattered all over the floor and occasionally stuffing one into his saddlebag. He looked up sharply when his name was called and hunched defensively over his bags.

“Yes? I was just about to leave as soon as I found the last of my research. I am still allowed to visit the libraries, after all, although after this I’m not sure if it’s worth the effort anymore…”

“You wrote in your last appeal that there were caves beneath the castle you wished to investigate.” Money Penny stated, calmly cutting him off before he could launching into a full tirade. “Do you know how to get into them?”

A sparkle of hope flashed though his eyes before he tempered it down with caution. “I know of a couple entrances, but the Princess has denied all my requests so far. What do you…?”

“You can get us under the castle.” Raindrops said, climbing out of her hole and walking over to the unicorn. Her tone made it clear she hadn’t asked a question.

“Now wait just one minute!” Regal Tome cried, backing away from the advancing pegasus. “I have no desire to get anywhere near those… creatures ever again! Why should I do anything other than leave right now?”

“Because I can make sure the Princess will at least consider your appeal if you help.” Money Penny said, leading the others over to the unicorn. Regal looked around the slowly closing circle of mares around him, but before he could respond three ponies burst into the room at a gallop.

“What happened? We heard Trixie was in danger!” Lyra shouted, Carrot Top and Bon Bon right behind her. The three of them met the rest of the group in the middle of the room and cast worried looks around at the destruction.

“I found them in the gardens coming to find us.” Carrot Top explained.

“YOU!” Bon Bon and Regal Tome shouted at the same time, and then looked surprised they had copied each other. Bon Bon recovered first and growled at the surrounded stallion. “What are you doing here?”

Cheerilee cut him off before he could defend himself. “He knows how to get into some caves beneath the castle. From there, we might be able to track the creatures that took Trixie.”

“Now stop right this minute!” Dapple Cross barked, stomping his hooves hard on the stone floor and looming over them with all the height at his disposal. “This foolishness has gone on long enough! I don’t care how worried you are about your friend; this is an attack and will be treated as such! I demand that all you civilians clear out!”

Huffing slightly from the outburst, he glared around the room, daring anypony to challenge him again. Several of the scholars in the back dropped what they were cleaning and made for the door without a backward glance. Regal Tome looked like he wanted to join them, but he was trapped in the circle of suddenly angry mares. The others all bristled, Lyra even drawing herself dangerously, but before any of them could respond Money Penny stalked forward and planted herself right in front of the soldier.

“How quickly you forget that if it weren’t for these civilians, all of us would be down in those tunnels instead of their friend. Or worse…” Her eyes flicked momentarily to the petrified soldier in the center of the room, but flashed back quickly to Dapple’s own. “They have already proven themselves better than you against those creatures, so I don’t see you have any call to demand of them anything! The way I see it, we all owe them our lives and I for one intend to repay that debt.

“Besides,” she turned and calmly surveyed the group one at a time as she continued, “they’ve already faced down the Tyrant Sun before. I hardly think anypony in the castle is better equipped to handle this crisis. But if you still intend to try and stop them, may I remind you that there’s only one unicorn in this room that can use her magic right now and she’s firmly for the rescue mission.”

Dapple Cross ground his teeth hard enough to crack a tooth, but he could clearly see when he was beat. Stepping back, he glowered down at the secretary. “The Princess will hear of this.”

“I’ll make sure of it.” Money Penny responded and turned her back on him.

“You are just a secretary?” Cheerilee asked, arching an eyebrow.

“Well… perhaps not just…” Money Penny smiled. “Now that’s all settled, you should get going.”

Dapple held out a hoof to stop the group and pointed to the statue. “What about that? You’ll just end up like that if you go down there. Or do you have some kind of protection that we didn’t?”

“The Elements!” Carrot Top said. “They protected us against Corona’s magic, so they should be able to stop this spell easily.”

“The Elements are kept in a vault up in the castle. I know where it is.” Money Penny started for the door, but her legs gave again and she almost fell. Surprisingly, Dapple caught her before she hit the floor and held her up until her legs steadied again.

“We don’t have much time…” Ditzy said worriedly, “They’ve already got a huge lead.”

“Then you go ahead.” Bon Bon said with a determined expression. “I’ll get the Elements from the vault and bring them to you. This way you won’t lose any time.” She walked over to Lyra and touched their foreheads together. “You’ll be careful until I get there, won’t you?”

Lyra smiled and gave her a quick kiss. “Of course.” She turned back to the group, practically bouncing on her hooves in anticipation. “Well, we’ve got a plan. Let’s go!”

Regal Tome snapped out of a thoughtful silence and cleared his throat. “What? Oh… um, let’s see. The closest way into the cavern is on the other side of the gardens…”

Stumbling only occasionally, he led them out of the building and into the night air.

…

The first thing Trixie was aware of was a dull pounding in her head. After that, a number of sores and aches assaulted her senses as if they’d been waiting for the perfect chance to strike. Her bed, though warm and a bit lumpy, felt like it was swaying back and forth. Groaning, Trixie tried shifting to a less painful position and discovered that her legs wouldn’t respond like she wanted them to.

“I don’t know what I drank last night,” she mumbled, “but whatever it was, there had better be more of it left…” Her bed jostled her and she lapsed into silence. Quiet was better for her aching head anyway. There was a bad itch along the back of her neck, but she couldn’t get a hoof up to scratch it. It was as if… her hooves were tied.

In a flash her memories of the last few hours returned and Trixie opened her eyes wide. She immediately closed them again, trying to block out the light from her sensitive eyes. Then she opened her eyes, realizing that the light wasn’t as painful as she expected it to be. Cautiously, she took in her surroundings.

She was underground, in some kind of huge tunnel. Enormous purple crystals lined the every wall she could see, and she could see, and that was because the snake things were glowing. Trixie blinked several times at that, but the soft yellow glow emanating from their scales didn’t suddenly come from a more reasonable source.

There were about eight or so of the creatures in a clump around the one holding her. Trixie tried to look at that one without moving her head to much, just in case it didn’t know she was awake yet. She was trussed up and thrown over its shoulder like a sack of grain. It looked a bit taller and more heavily muscled than the others, but that might have just been because of how close she was to it. Its arm felt… warm to the touch. Dimly Trixie thought that snakes shouldn’t feel warm, but the crack of something getting slapped hard interrupted her train of thought.

In front of the group, the snake thing with four arms was looming over another snake thing, which was rubbing the side of its face. “Why would you take it back to the lava flowss?” the four armed one hissed in anger. “Did you think we could return the ssame way we arrived? Did you think you could protect the artifact like we protect gold? Are you really sso sstupid you couldn’t remember the ssingle part of the plan you were a part of?” One of the creatures hands dipped menacingly into the swath of jewelry about her neck.

The snake on the ground hissed fearfully and prostrated itself in panic. “Pleasse no, Priesstesss Marilith! I beg you, mercy! Not the sstone!”

“High Priesstesss,” another snake interrupted, slithering out of an opening in the wall behind her. “I’ve sstopped the workerss from taking it any farther. It will be back with uss sshortly.”

Trixie shook her head, which was still feeling a little thick, thank you for asking, and tried to get her thoughts back on track. She shouldn’t be gaping like a filly seeing Canterlot for the first time; she needed to work out some way to escape. She looked to the side and stared into the eyes of the snake thing holding her. It smiled widely, revealing rows of very pointy teeth.

Ok. No need to panic. Just act normal…

“Hi.”

The snake thing grinned wider. “Hi!”

…it won’t go down in history among the great exchanges, but first contact has been achieved. Now to keep it talking, perhaps get it to lower its guard…

“Could you loosen these ropes for a second? There’s an itch on my neck that’s just-”

The snake thing ignored her and turned back to the front. “The pony iss awake!”

Merde…

Marilith jerked her attention away from her cowering minion and dropped her arm from her necklaces, much to the relief of said minion. She slithered slowly over to them, the rest of the snake things making a path.

“Thiss one recovered fasster than the otherss.” She hissed, tilting Trixie’s chin up to stare her in the eyes. “Sshe either has more magic than I ssusspect, or sshe’ss ussed to having no magic…”

“Why don’t you just devour her and get it over with.” The snake thing that had interrupted earlier said in a bored tone, sidling up to them in a manner that even for a snake was unmistakably a swagger.

“I might, Behir,” Marilith said softly, acid dripping from each word, “if ssomeone hadn’t been ressponssible for lossing the resst of the captivess. Thiss one hass to lasst now.” If Behir was intimidated by the menace in her tone, he didn’t show it.

Deeply concerned with the direction of this conversation, Trixe racked her brain for anything to say. “You won’t get away with this!”

The snake things stared at her with varying degrees of surprise and irritation. Trixie felt her face growing red by the second. The first thing to pop out of her mouth and it sounded like a line from a bad Con Mane book…

Marilith smiled and leaned in close enough for Trixie to feel the heat from her face. “Get away? We already have! And there’ss nothing you or any of thosse pathetic ponies up above can do about it!”

…alright, apparently spy action thriller was the theme today. Perhaps she and Marilith could exchange favorite titles over tea later. Trixie shook her head and tried to get something a bit more dignified though the muddle that was her thoughts.

“What are you?” What are you?! That was the best she could come up with? What had these things done to her mind to make it so stupid!

“Ssalamanderss.” The High Priestess said with a grin that showed far, far too many teeth for comfort before turning sharply away. “We’re moving on. Backwardss, thankss to all your sstupidity!”

The swarm moved at her gesture, making impressive speed over the uneven ground. Trixie lay her head against her captor’s shoulder and sighed. First step, recovering her scattered wits. Second, figure out some way to escape this insane situation before she was eaten like a box of chocolates on Hearts and Hooves Day.

She sucked in a sharp breath and gritted her teeth. Scratch that, step one is to deal with this sun blighted itch, then heal, then escape…

Crashing the crystals...

Raindrops sneezed and brushed ineffectually at the dust in her eyes. “So, is there some reason you’ve brought us here?”

“You didn’t expect the cave’s entrances to be out in the open, did you?” Regal Tome responded, trying and failing to use his telekinesis once again to move a pile of crates out of his way. Lyra sighed and picked it up with her own magic, setting it behind the group with the rest of the junk.

“Thank you. This building used to be a waypoint for mining ore, but fell into disuse when richer deposits in the east were discovered some four hundred…” Regal’s voice droned on as the others tuned him out. It seemed Regal Tome’s natural state was lecturing ponies, as he’d been doing almost nonstop since he’d brought them to this abandoned storehouse, seemingly picked at random. The building was buried inside with scrap and other rubbish, and everything layered with enough dust to suggest no pony had been here in their lifetimes. The few windows were so grime-encrusted that no starlight could get in, so Lyra was providing the light. It was slow going, having to clear a path through all that rubble. And it didn’t help that their guide had clearly never set hoof here himself.

“It’s actually more common that you’d think, building new structures over old.” Regal continued, shoving his way through a tangle of cables and completely ignoring his audience’s lack of interest. “I wouldn’t have even known about the caves if I hadn’t overheard an intern talking about them several months ago. I theorized that the crystals might have similar properties to those found in the north; a fact that the Princess would find immensely interesting, I’m sure. Perhaps enough for me to be allowed back… aha!”

Regal overturned a stack of boards and uncovered a rickety door set into the wall. The door was secured with a lock that was more rust than metal, and it snapped off with just a touch of his hoof. He pushed the door open to reveal a low tunnel carved out bedrock slowly sloping downwards.

“Now we’re getting somewhere.” Cheerilee said, then gestured the other to follow her. “Come on, girls!”

Regal Tome eyed the portal as if mulling over something and held out his hoof the stop Lyra as she was about to enter. “Um… Ms. Heartstrings?”

Lyra looked him up and down. “You don’t have to come down with us if you really don’t want to, you know. You can wait here until those things are gone.”

“Uh… yes, well…” Regal cleared his throat and avoided looking her in the eye. “See, I just wanted to get off my chest… um no, what I mean to say is… look, I just wanted to say that I really am sorry about what happened with the Zebra spell book. I never imagined anything like that happening and… well, I apologize.”

Lyra blinked and smiled, turning into the tunnel to follow her friends. “It’s all right, it’s in the past. You just make sure Bon Bon knows how to find us down here, OK?”

“Um, yes! Of course. You can count on me!” Regal Tome said, sounding both nervous and relieved. He watched the five of them from the doorway until they disappeared into the darkness.

The tunnel twisted and turned, the roughly hewn walls seemingly following no path other than down. After about five minutes the tunnel let out into a large channel, this one running straight as a line, which was wide enough for the five of them to stand side by side comfortably. Wooden beams held up the high ceiling at regular intervals. An old iron track cut through the center of the tunnel and seemed to be in good repair compared to the door up above.

Raindrops trotted forward and tapped the rail thoughtfully, peering down each way they could take. “So now that we’re down here… has anypony figured out how we’re actually going to find Trixie?”

“Now that you mention it…” Cheerilee scratched her mane in embarrassment. “I was just focusing on getting down here.”

“There are only two directions, so we could flip a bit.” Lyra suggested, before remembering she wasn’t carrying any money.

“Does anypony have a coin?”

Carrot Top walked to the edge of the circle of light cast by Lyra’s horn and gestured down the tunnel. “Well, the library is back in this direction, so why don’t we head this way and see if it branches more to the right later on?”

The others blinked at her, and Carrot Top shrugged self-consciously under their attention. “I’ve got a good sense of direction…”

“Great!” Cheerilee applaud, “They we’ll follow your lead! Get us as close as you can!”

Carrot Top nodded and set off along the track, her friends close on her tail. All except Ditzy, who sat for a moment staring up at the ceiling. She blinked as the light dimmed and straightened up, running after the group to catch up.

…

Ravid blinked lazily and shifted on the low stone she’d found, sinking into it just a little bit more to find that extra smidgen of comfort. The High Priestess and the others were late, but that suited her just fine. It was unlikely they could have run into any serious trouble, not with nearly half of the nest working together. Once again she congratulated herself on the quick thinking to volunteer to guard the escape route. All of that heavy digging could wear on a snake’s fragile disposition, after all.

“Ma’am!” a salamander hissed, sliding up to Ravid and shaking her as if she were asleep. “There’ss ssomeone coming!”

Ravid glared at the hand until the soldier dropped it hurriedly. “Iss it the High Priesstesss?”

“No, but-”

“Then it’ss probably nothing. Thesse tunnelss are abandoned.” She pulled her golden cap down as if to cover her eyes and settled back down. Her bracelets jangled dully and she wondered idly if she should get some new ones. She’d have to check when she returned if there was another raid planned soon…

“Ma’am, I can ssmell them!” The soldier insisted.

Ravid’s head arced up and she glared at him. “For the lasst time, there can’t be any…” She paused and flicked her tongue between her teeth into the air experimentally. Her eyes widened as her extra sensitive tongue tasted more than stale air and old stone on the breeze. “There are poniess coming.”

“That’ss what I ssaid…” the soldier started, but Ravid paid little attention to him as she shot passed him and stared around the curve of the tunnel. There, the glow of a bright golden light was just starting to come into view further down the mine. And from the wrong side! What were ponies doing along the escape route? What were ponies doing down here at all?!?

“We were promissed they wouldn’t interfere.” She hissed, glaring at the steadily approaching light.

“Promissed what?”

Ravid spun and stared at the three salamanders who were under her command. She had not bothered remembering their names, if she had been told them to begin with, but she assumed the one in the middle who was looking sheepish was the one who’d asked. She suddenly realized that the soft glow coming off their scales would be just as visible to the intruders as their light was to her.

“There’ss no time for that; they’ll be here any minute! We’ll sstop them in the cavern up ahead like we prepared, even if they are coming from the wrong way!” Gesturing furiously to get them moving, she mentally cursed her loose tongue. She also spent several choice phrases on the intruders. It was going to go even harder on them if they forced her to spend what little free time she had left dealing with them instead of relaxing…

…

“Look at this.” Cheerilee said, stepping up to a strange rock lying long the wall. “What do you think happened to it?” The stone was deeply pitted on the top to the point that it was practically a bowl, but unevenly. Swirls like frozen waves on the ocean’s surface ringed the impression randomly. Cheerilee traced a hoof along one of the paths and found it as smooth as polished glass, despite the outside looking like eroded sidewalk.

“Um… there’s a light ahead.” Carrot Top said, almost at the same time. The group immediately forgot about the strange boulder and focused forward.

Up ahead, the tunnel looked like it was going to open up into a larger area, the first change since they had started down it. It was well outside of the light from Lyra’s horn, but a dim glow illuminated the portal from the other side. From this distance, none of them could make out what was on the other side.

“Carefully.” Cheerilee reminded them, but they hardly needed the suggestion as they huddled up. Bracing themselves, they closed the distance quickly and poked their heads over the threshold. As one, their jaws dropped.

The tunnel had opened up into a large cavern and every inch of the walls was covered in deep indigo crystal. It caught the light shining off from Lyra’s magic and returned it twofold, bright and smooth enough to see one’s reflection in scores of polished surfaces. The wall seemed to have a phantom light of their own briefly lighting up and fading in waves. Bursts of crystal rose out of the ground, forming corridors and conflicting pathways that kept them from seeing very far beyond where they were. The tracks they’d been following continued right into those glittering structures and vanished around an outcropping.

“It’s beautiful…” Ditzy breathed, and the sound of her voice broke the trance they had fallen into.

Lyra trotted to the nearest wall and laid her hoof against the smooth surface. “If this was what Regal was after, I totally understand why he wanted to come down here.”

“Why do you suppose nopony comes down here anymore?” Carrot Top wondered, craning her neck to stare up at the high ceiling.

Cheerilee picked up a particularly impressive shard from the ground and held it up to the light. “I can’t imagine. It’s almost a shame Regal Tome isn’t here, he probably knew.”

“Let’s not forget why we’re down here.” Raindrops said dryly, peering down the path the track wound down. “Are we still going this way, Carrot Top?”

Carrot Top shook her head and pointed down another path. “We need to head this way a bit.” The others fell in behind her as she led them into the maze of crystal. The path twisted and turned and split every couple of minutes, but Carrot Top confidently picked her course. The crystals glittered and flared around them as they passed.

Cheerilee slowed down to pace with Ditzy, who was walking with her head down a bit back from the group. “Are you doing OK, Ditzy? You’re not worrying yourself too much about Trixie, are you?”

Ditzy flinched and tried to smile, but it just came out forced. “No, I’m not. I mean, I am worried for her, I didn’t mean that! It’s just…”

Cheerilee rested a hoof on Ditzy’s shoulder. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“It’s fine…” Ditzy sigh, gathering herself and raising her head to look her friend in the eye. “I’ve got a handle on it. We’ve got to save Trixie.”

“Are you sure that-” Cheerilee started, but Raindrops’s shout cut her short.

“Hey, keep up you two! We found more tracks up here!”

The three of them were standing in a wide open area, crisscrossed by quite a few rail tracks leading out through different paths. Several of them were still filled with chucks of crystal shards and all of them were in surprisingly good condition. The others were standing around one of the carts and looking out over a track on lifted rails traveling out over a sheer drop.

“Are you sure we have to go this way?” Lyra was asking.

“It’s heading right towards where the library is.” Carrot Top answered, testing the carts wheels carefully. “It’s kind of strange that these aren’t all decrepit. Do you think those creatures had anything to do with it?”

“Maybe.” Raindrops said, still looking at her two trailing friends. Suddenly her eyes went wide and she charged towards them. “Look out!”

Cheerilee spun around and noticed two things very quickly. The first was that those phantom lights weren’t in all the crystal walls, and in fact were only nearby as if they had followed them. The second and far more pressing thing was that the nearest jut of crystal was tilting over them in an alarming angle. The two of them were paralyzed with shock for the vital seconds they needed to get out from under it.

Fortunately, Raindrops wasn’t similarly frozen. A jasmine blur tackled the two of them and carried them out of the path just before the enormous crystal smashed into the ground. The three of them quickly untangled themselves and leapt up in time to see a reptilian face hiss at them from the gap left by the fallen crystal.

“They’re in the walls!” Raindrops screamed, right before rocks and crystals started to fall around them. They tried to dodge, but they could barely keep ahead of the carefully aimed debris. Carrot Top and Lyra tried to run to their aid, but a pair of giant crystals toppled into their path and cut them off.

“You have to do something!” Carrot Top cried, trying to hop up over the pillars to see what was happening.

“I can’t catch all of those. There’s too many!” Lyra desperately racked her mind and gritted her teeth. “Get back, I’m not sure if this is going to work!”

A golden sphere grew out of the air beside her, resolving into Lyra’s harp which fell into her waiting hooves. Not bothering with technique, Lyra ran her hoof violently over the strings while simultaneously channeling a quick spell through the instrument. The sound of the chord grew louder and louder until it was almost painful and the air seemed to thrum. Everywhere, the crystals lining the walls broke and shattered, including the fallen pillars that were blocking her friends. Several of the snake things were revealed, rolling on the ground and holding the sides of their heads.

Lyra smiled in satisfaction as the sound died away, but it was quickly replaced by a deep rumbling. The ground started to tremble and crack as the ceiling, which had been supported by the crystalline structures for too long, started to bow down.

“It’s collapsing!” Lyra shouted, gesturing frantically for her friends to get clear.

Raindrops and Cheerilee started running, but Cheerilee ground to a halt when the realized Ditzy wasn’t with them. Turning back, she saw the grey pegasus was looking around wildly without seeming to see anything, her breathing coming in loud gulps that could be heard over the rumbling. She cried out wordlessly and charged down a random tunnel, getting further away.

Raindrops turned back at Ditzy’s scream, but Cheerilee waved her back. “I’ll go after her! You just get the others out of here!”

“No! Cheerilee!” Raindrops shouted, but the magenta pony vanished down the tunnel after Ditzy. Gritting her teeth in frustration, Raindrops spun around and flew as fast as she could. Large bits of the ceiling were starting to fall, but she bulled through the worst of it without flinching. She picked the two startled ponies up as she shot out of the avalanche and knocked them into the mine cart. The cart shot out under them along the track at a breakneck speed, barely keeping itself on the track.

“What are you doing?!” Lyra shouted, but Raindrops held her down and tried to shield the two of them from the falling rocks as best she could with her wings.

Suddenly the rail convulsed as a large rock smashed down upon it somewhere behind them and the whole track wavered violently. The cart overturned and spilled the three of them out over a deep pit. Carrot Top tried to grab the edge of the cart, but only succeeded in hitting the side of her head on the edge and scrambling her wits. She thought she felt something grab her, but then everything collapsed into sound and darkness.

…

“What do you mean, only the Princess can open it?” Bon Bon demanded incredulously.

“Er… just that?” The guard replied. “It’s a magically sealed lock. Only Princess Luna knows how to unlock it.”

Bon Bon stared up at the admittedly impressive looking safe’s doors and back to the guard standing protectively in front of it. “And the Princess isn’t in Canterlot, you said.”

“No, ma’am.”

“So there’s no way to get the Elements out, is there?”

The guard blinked and seemed to suddenly see the flaw in his logic. “Well… now that you mention it…”

“WHO THOUGHT UP SUCH A STUPID THING?!” Bon Bon shouted, smashing her hooves violently onto the marble floor.

The guard actually backed up step before remembering which one of them was wearing the armor.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know…” Money Penny said softly, thinking furiously. She still seemed a bit weak from her ordeal and kept putting a hoof to her forehead.

“Lyra!” Bon Bon shouted, spinning around sharply. “They’re going to be waiting for us to bring the Elements! We have to warn them…”

“That’s enough!” Dapple Cross said, gesturing to the guards which had followed them into the room. They lowered their spears to block Bon Bon from leaving. “Your plan had failed, so I’m taking control of this situation before any other civilians get in danger. We’ll form a rescue party as soon as we can.” He turned away from the two mares and started issuing orders, sending guards running off at a gallop.

“Not soon enough.” Bon Bon muttered through gritted teeth. “They need help now!”

Money Penny laid her foreleg over her shoulder and gave her a reassuring hug. “I’m sure they’ll be alright. They are the Bearers of the Elements, after all. I bet they’ve already got Trixie and are coming back as we speak.”

Bon Bon smiled at the effort to cheer her up, but a small spot of worry burned in her heart anyway. Somehow, she just knew it wasn’t going that way at all.

Lullabies in the dark...

Ravid frowned down at the golden armband in her claws. A long crack split the band nearly in half all the way around the center. Grimacing, she applied a little pressure to the fracture and traced it slowly with her foreclaw. Salamanders had the innate magic to mold metal and stone, and the soft gold moved like putty under her attentions. She was almost halfway done repairing the band when it popped, her claw cutting straight through the material stretched thin from too many repairs.

Snarling, she threw the band as hard as she could. It bounced several times over the piles of rock and crystal before smacking into the side of one of her soldiers, who had finally succeeded in digging enough of the debris out of the way for the last soldier to crawl out. He looked up, but one look at her face and he swiveled back to work, trying to avoid her attention.

Ravid rubbed her now bare wrist and glared at the rubble. “Usselesss, worthlesss trassh…”

“You sshouldn’t throw that away, Ravid. It might be a long time before you get another.”

Ravid spun around and glowered. “What are you doing here, Behir?”

“The High Priesstesss ssent me to check on you.” Behir swept his gaze lazily over the ruin that had been the cavern. “It sseemss you couldn’t even handle an empty cave on your own.”

They were down at the bottom of one of the many deep trenches that branched off from the crystal junction. Ruined timbers from the cart track lay scattered around piles of jagged stone and fragments of gems. Ranging all the way up to the ceiling far above them was a loose wall of stones in a steep slope, covering the cavern’s entrance from sight.

“I hardly did thiss mysself!” Ravid spat, rising up and trying to loom over the smug salamander. “Poniess came down from the other sside and ambusshed uss! It wass one of them that caussed the cave-in. I thought dealing with enemiess wass your job!”

“Only thosse who threaten the hourglasss. Thiss iss your messs.” He sidled up to the slope and cautiously tapped it. The gravel shifted alarmingly and several pieces tumbled down, but after a moment the structure settled. “It appearss we can’t go thiss way anymore. It’ss a miracle thiss hassn’t collapssed already. Sstrange, it doessn’t look like thiss fell naturally…”

“Are you lisstening to me?!” She grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around so she could stare him in the eyes. “I ssent thosse worthlesss ssoldierss up along the wallss to check and they didn’t ssmell any blood. The poniess musst have gotten away! The cave-in might be only on thiss sside, and they could be anywhere! You have to-”

“Do nothing.” He interrupted, darting his head forward so sharply that she had to bend almost back over herself to avoid getting hit. “You, however, will have to tell Marilith that the main tunnel we worked sso hard to prepare iss gone.”

Ravid gaped at him for a few moments, and then swallowed around her suddenly dry mouth. “I... I don’t have to tell her right away, do I? There musst be ssome other tunnelss we can find. There’ss no need to take thiss out of proportion…”

“Don’t worry, her pendant appearss to be empty for the time being.” Behir smiled condescendingly at her and slithered along the edge of the cave-in. “Sshe let one of the handlerss get away from punisshment earlier. Marilith won’t be turning anyone to sstone until we return.”

“You could have mentioned that at the beginning…” Ravid hissed, glaring at his back. “Where are you going?”

Behir gave her a look that said he couldn’t believe even she could be this thick and gestured to several small tunnels branching off from the trench. “To find the alternate route, of coursse. Before the entire colony arrivess and findss your failure.” He slipped into one of the tunnels, utterly confident that she’d follow.

Clenching her claws so tight she could feel scales popping, Ravid sat glaring at the tunnel as his glow steadily grew fainter and fainter. But she knew that he was right, melt his scales. Slashing a command to the rest, she slid into the tunnel at a speed to overtake his lead. The rest of the salamanders quickly followed, leaving the trench cloaked in gloom.

…

“Ah, yes! That’s the spot right there!” Trixie sighed.

“That’ss the fourth itch sso far.” The salamander, whose name she had learned was Grick, said as he scrapped lightly at the back of her neck.

“Well, these bonds are making me a bit stiff.” Trixie waved her bound legs to demonstrate. “I’d get the itch myself if you’d just loosen the ropes…”

“A nice try.” Grick chuckled, shifting her to a slightly more comfortable position on his shoulder.

“It’s not like I can get away…” she grumbled, studying his expression out of the corner of her eye. She hadn’t really expected that to work, but she knew he’d only grow suspicious of her if she didn’t even try to plead or trick him. The best trick up a magician’s sleeve is the ability to talk the audience into believing anything, that’s what her grandfather had taught her. If this salamander thought that was Trixie’s best, he’d be completely blind-sided when she actually applied herself.

And more importantly, her headache was almost gone. It had been steadily slipping away for a while now, and while she hadn’t dared try anything yet, it shouldn’t be much longer until she felt well enough to try her invisibility spell. Of course, getting away from her captors was only the first part of her problems, but she’d burn those bridges after she got free.

Up ahead, Marilith turned around a bend and suddenly screeched in anger. “Again?!”

The rest of the swarm followed and discovered that yet another tunnel was completely caved in. They had heard a deep rumbling echoing though the tunnels earlier, not long after that smarmy one had been sent off, and since then they had kept running into blocked tunnels.

Marilith glared at the piles of rocks as if they were personally insulting her parents. “We’re going through.”

“What did you ssay, High Priesstesss?” One of the salamanders asked.

“I ssaid, thiss time we’re going through!” Marilith roared, rising up on her tail to tower over the unfortunate speaker. “Carve a hole through thiss NOW!” She jabbed her arms at several salamanders, including Grick surprisingly, and violently gestured them to the rubble.

“Why did she pick you?” Trixie asked as he cautiously set her down on the ground. “Don’t you have to guard the dangerous prisoner?”

Grick grinned again and patted his heavily muscled forearm. “Not many ssalamanderss are built for digging like I am. We may live underground, but we take tunnelss, not make them.”

He turned away and started clawing at the pile of rocks, but Trixie wasn’t paying him any attention anymore. Unless the shooting pain in her back was something completely different, he had actually set her down on a sharp rock! She almost couldn’t believe her luck! Quickly she scanned the others and found that none of them were paying her any attention. Slowly she worked the stone up off the ground and into her hooves. Careful to squirm as little as possible, she began to saw the rock against her bonds.

Apparently she wasn’t still enough, because Marilith, who’d been glaring around at her minions as if hunting for something to chew them out for, suddenly narrowed her eyes at her and slithered over. Trixie went still and gave her best innocent-yet-terrified stare. The second part wasn’t as hard as it should have been.

“Struggling won’t do you any good down here.” She gloated, crossing her arms and showing all her teeth in what might be confused with a smile, if you were sadistic. Or blind.

Desperate to distract the priestess, Trixie’s gaze fell upon the giant hourglass that they had stolen from the library. The four salamanders that’d been carrying it were crawling around it now, making sure the thing was undamaged and brushing loose dirt off it. “What do you want with that?”

Marilith followed her eyes and grinned in pure pleasure at the sight of the artifact. “You poniess never even ssusspected the power of this hourglasss, elsse you’d have never left it in ssuch an unprotected place! The ssandss it containss hold the power to revert anything magically enchanted back to itss original sstate. With thiss mighty magic, our Queen will finally be revived!” Several of the nearby salamanders raised a cheer at that, but warily.

Trixie tried to suppress a grimace. She was monologueing! Again! Still, you never knew what piece of information was the one that you needed the most…

“Your Queen?” she asked, trying to put as much interest into her tone as she could manage.

“The Terror of Queen Medussa!” Marilith cried, spreading her arms wide and clearly striking a pose she must have practiced in a mirror to pull off so confidently.

So, we have a title to the spy novel now. Not that I’d complain if a suave stallion swooped in and took them all out for me… Trixie smiled woodenly and nodded, but Marilith hardly needed the encouragement to continue.

“Centuriess ago, Queen Medussa led our forebearerss in gloriouss conquesst, and the nationss crumbled before her army. But your princesss tricked her, turned the Queen’ss own magic back onto her ssomehow and trapped her in a marble prisson. But we have kept her ssafe and ssecret, hidden through our declining generationss, waiting for this day to arrive. Ssoon we will sset her free, and none will sstand before her gaze!”

“Um… High Priesstesss?”

Marilith hissed in irritation at being interrupted and spun around to face the unfortunate salamander. He swallowed reflexively and gestured in a rush behind him. “Th-the tunnel iss packed with hard ssoil behind the rockss, High Priesstesss. It will take hourss, if not dayss, to clear it. We don’t know how deep… it’ss... packed…”

The salamander faltered as Marilith slid closer, her face growing darker with every word. One of her claws searched through the necklaces around her neck, and by stretching her neck Trixie could just make out what looked like a large pearl hanging from a delicate gold chain before the priestess’s claw closed over it.

Suddenly, Marilith thrust another claw out at the unfortunate messenger and a familiar blue nimbus surrounded her talons. An identical aura wrapped around the male’s neck and lifted him into the air. He clawed at his neck, choking as the magic clenched his throat tight. Marilith slashed savagely, and the salamander was thrown the length of the tunnel to crash into the wall on the other side. He slumped to the ground, but no one made a move to help him. Every one of the salamanders was lying belly down on the ground with their eyes averted.

Marilith surveyed them for several moments, then nodded and snapped her claws, signaling them to rise. “That wass a very good point. We will have to find a new path.” she said as if nothing had happened. “There wass another branch a wayss back that wassn’t blocked. We’ll move out in five minutess.”

Feeling sick to her stomach, Trixie tried several times to get around the shock locking up her tongue. “That… that was my magic!”

Smiling with unmistakable glee, Marilith leaned in close until she was almost nose to nose with the unicorn. “My ancesstor disscovered the pearl not long after our Queen wass imprissoned, but I wass the firsst to learn it could be ussed for more than gaining Medussa’ss Blesssing.”

One of her claws closed around Trixie’s horn and the world seemed to twist. For a moment a round shape among Marilith’s necklaces glowed blue, but then the return of the headache blotted out Trixie’s ability to concentrate. The priestess might have said something, but whatever it was was lost on her. Then Grick was there, lifting her up onto his shoulders and carting her off like a limp sack of grain.

Escape seemed more distant than ever, but Trixie gritted her teeth in determination. Somehow, magic or no magic, she would get away from that maniac! Shifting slightly, she felt the half cut bonds that Grick had forgotten to check and plotted.

…

Cheerilee grunted and stepped back warily, careful for the loose chips and shards that slid under her hooves. “There’s a little bit of a gap up here, but I don’t think we could fit through it.” Truthfully, she didn't think there was anything on the other side anyway, but there was no reason to bring that to attention.

Carefully, she walked around their clear space and frowned thoughtfully. From what she could make out, they were in a rough oval about twenty five paces wide and maybe half that tall. Probably less than that in places, but there was no way for them to tell. The ceiling appeared to be one huge unbroken crystal that had gotten wedged against one side of the tunnel they had fled through. From what she could feel of the jagged piles of rocks comprising nearly all of the walls around them, it was the only thing preventing them from being buried alive. The last bit of wall was smooth stone, without even a single crevasse to offer escape. For the time being the entire structure felt stable, but there was no telling how long that would last.

But the worst part was how dark it was. Because it wasn’t just dark; it was the oppressive kind of dark you can only find in the deepest parts of the world, where light has never fallen naturally. It seemed a solid thing, and Cheerilee had to fight against the need to push through it with her hooves like water. It was a constant weight on her eyes as well, a dull ache that spread from the back of the eye and throbbed with the need to see.

Realizing she had lost herself in gloomy thoughts again, she trotted to where she last remembered her friend had been. “Hey, Ditzy? How are you holding up? You haven’t said anything for a while now…”

“It’s all my fault…” Ditzy said softly from somewhere in the darkness.

“Oh, Ditzy…” Cheerilee said soothingly, “Of course it isn’t. Anypony would have panicked back there with everything collapsing like that.”

“It’s not just that!” Ditzy cried suddenly, surprisingly loud in the stillness. “I-I tried. I was actually trying…”

Cheerilee quickly crossed the distance to where she had left the pegasus, but found the spot vacant. Where had she gotten to? “Don’t worry about it. I understand. You don’t like enclosed spaces do you?”

She froze as a soft sound reached her ears. The sound of a pony trying her best not to cry and barely succeeding.

The darkness made Ditzy’s voice even smaller and more hopeless. “I thought… that I could do it f-for Trixie. She needed us. And as long as I didn’t think about it… b-but it’s worst for me. Because of my… my… and then rocks were f-falling everywhere and I couldn’t think. I just ran and… now we’re trapped. We-we’re never getting out of here.”

A sob racked her frame as her voice raised an octave in despair. “I’m never going to see my-!”

Ditzy cut off with a gasp as Cheerilee suddenly wrapped her forelegs around her in a crushing hug. She held on all the tighter as tears spilled onto her shoulders and the pegasus collapsed into her embrace. The two of them sat together for a few minutes, and then Ditzy realized Cheerilee was humming something softly. And then she started to sing .

“Little foal, be not afraid
The darkness presses on all sides
Like an unwanted stranger, there is no danger
I am here tonight.

“Little foal, be not afraid
Though falling stones and crystals crash
Hides away, your tear stained face
I am here tonight

“And someday you’ll know
That nature is so
The same stone that draws you near me
Holds the rivers and land, and forest and sand
Makes the beautiful world that you see
In the morning.”

Ditzy’s sobs slowed as the lullaby washed over her. Encouraged, Cheerilee raised her voice and held on all the tighter.

“Little foal, be not afraid
Though stone walls mask your beloved moon
And its candlelight beams, still keep pleasant dreams
I am here tonight

“Little foal, be not afraid
The dark makes creatures of our fears
All that terror demands
Is not real, understand
And I am here tonight

Ditzy’s cries were almost gone by now, though tears still fell slowly. Cheerilee swallowed softly and lowered her voice to a near whisper. This next part almost always choked her up whenever she heard it.

“For you know…
Once even I… was a little foal
And I was afraid
But a gentle somepony always came
To dry all my tears, trade sweet sleep the fears
And to give a kiss goodnight

“Well now I am grown
And these days have shown
Fear’s a part of how life goes
But it’s dark and it’s late
So I’ll hold you and wait
‘til your frightened eyes do close.”

Launching into the last chorus, Ditzy surprised her by joining in. Their voices seemed to push the oppressive atmosphere far, far away.

“And I hope that you’ll know
That nature is so
The same stone that draws you near me
Holds the rivers and land, the forests and sand
Makes the beautiful world that you see
In the morning

“Everything’s fine in the morning
The dark will be gone in the morning
But I’ll still be here… in the morning.”

The last notes of the song faded into the air around them as they sat together. After a while Ditzy leaned back and wiped at her nose. “How did you know?”

“Hmm?” Cheerilee blinked, waiting for her to explain.

“That song.” Ditzy sighed, emotion heavy in her voice. “My mother used to sing it to me every night.”

Cheerilee smiled. “Mine as well. It never failed to make me feel better, no matter how scared I was.”

Ditzy giggled, the sound wonderful in Cherrilee’s ears. “But I remember it being about rainstorms when my mother sang it.”

“I didn’t think that rain was the problem.” Cheerilee said offhandedly, and the two of them broke off into giggles again. It felt good to laugh, and every peal made the darkness less and less scary.

Out of nowhere there was a crack of breaking stone and the rubble around them seemed to shift alarmingly. Ditzy clutched her friend tight again. “Is… is it coming down?”

“Shh…” Cheerilee whispered, but before she could say anything more there was a great whoosh of dust and suddenly there was light!

Pouring out from a large crack that had appeared in the smooth stone wall, the flickering light of a large torch lit up their little cave. A creature poked its head into the crack and stared at the two of them. It was covered in dark gray fur and its face was oddly scrunched. It wore a studded collar around its neck and a red vest, whose pockets seemed to be filled with gems of various colors. Its two large paws gripped either end of the crack and pushed it a little wider, allowing the creature to pass through.

“You ponies are so noisy!” The creature said in a gravelly voice, its green eyes glowing slightly in the gloom.

…

Luna banked a little to adjust her path more to the north. At these speeds, even the simplest of turns could slam a pegasus into what would feel like a solid wall of air, if one was not careful. But fortunately she didn’t have to change her course very far. Up ahead, a rolling black cloud covered the sky in a great sweeping mass. The whole thing had an evil air about it that she instinctively shied away from as she crossed under it, not wanting the smog to touch her if she could help it. Right under the center of the cloud she could make out a mountain rising high into the skyline, and the thick stream of black smoke spilling out from its peak.

The whole cloud was much larger than she had feared, and she strained to catch a little extra speed. The sooner she dealt with this dragon, the sooner the cloud could be dealt with. Something about it just felt… ominous.

Author's Note

I knew from the beginning that I wanted a song in my story, and when I stumbled across this one I just fell in love with it. It's name is "Lullaby for a Stormy Night" by Vienna Teng, and spread it around. More people need to hear it. It's just so heartwarming and... and... and I barely have words. It just makes me feel good. A few minor changes to the lyrics to make it fit better, but I tried my best to keep with the feel of the song.

New friends and new foes...

“The smog spread faster than we anticipated.” Commander Ruby Spiral explained, standing to attention before the opening of her tent. “The Wing teams were attempting to contain it, but I suspect all they accomplished was to shift the pollen apart from the clouds and get caught themselves. We had no warning when the pent up clouds suddenly dispersed and rolled over base camp. The whole fiasco was over in minutes. Luckily we had successfully evacuated the last of the surrounding towns earlier that day, but the cloud has been spreading unchecked since.”

“Fortunate for us then that the pollen doesn’t seem to remain potent for long.” Luna said, flexing her wings as if to brush imagined particles from the feathers. “I was well into the cloud's shadow before I first sensed the pollutant in the air. While the black cloud itself remains a problem, the area of induced sleep appears to have stopped.”

Ruby Spiral shook her head. “If we had just moved the camp further out, then… at least those who are affected by the pollen remain in a stable condition. There’s no need for food, water; it’s as if the stuff’s tailored specifically not to harm ponies. Just shut us down for a while.”

“Yes…” Luna said, sounding almost lost in thought. “I have considered that this plant didn’t come about naturally. It’s too… convenient.”

“So it doesn’t affect you the same way?” Ruby asked, and didn’t seem surprised when the Princess shook her head. “I wish I could go with you, Princess.”

“You’ve done your job, Commander. Now it’s time for me to do mine.” She turned away, lifting off the ground with a firm shove. Ruby Spiral watched as the Princess rose into the air and seemed to shimmer. Within moments the alicorn was gone, leaving the Commander staring up into the clear, starry sky.

“Well… I guess I can treat this like a small vacation…” Ruby said to herself thoughtfully, picking up a plate of cake that hadn’t been there a second ago. She stepped back into her tent and let the flap close behind her.

...

Luna blinked and focused her eyes, coming back to the here and now. In front of her, Commander Ruby Spiral lay on her field desk where she’d fallen, several reports still pinned to the table beneath her. She snored softly through her nose but otherwise made no move to wake. Checking her condition one last time, Luna spread her wings and lifted off, circling the camp slowly. There was nothing she could do for the ponies sleeping below until she dealt with the smoke.

Several minutes later she crested the top of the mountain. Below, the mouth of a large cave sat nearly completely covered in a lush carpet of vibrant, bell-shaped blossoms. A thick stream of black smoke poured up from the lip of the cave, but Luna only had eyes for the flowers. Alighting before the field, she called upon her power and the temperature around her dropped drastically. The suddenly arctic chill descended over the flowers in an instant, freezing them into solid statues. Luna nodded to herself and stepped lightly around the stems into the cave’s entrance. The preserved plants could be studied later, when there was time.

The cave turned after a short walk and opened up into a huge cavern. Stepping out into the open space, the plan Luna had been preparing slowly faded from her thoughts. She had come prepared to deal with a dragon that had just grown to adulthood and was looking to find a new territory for itself.

This wasn’t a young dragon. This one was old, over half a millennium old, at the least. He lay in the center of the cavern curled into a tight ball much like a sleeping cat, but he wasn’t asleep. Instead he glared at her as she entered as if he’d been expecting her. The thick stream of smoke curling from the side of his mouth suddenly ceased like a switch had been thrown and he slowly uncoiled his neck into the air. The pile of coins he lay upon was pitiful, barely making a thin layer between him and the ground.

“I see you Luna.” The Dragon growled in a voice like a rumbling avalanche before she could recover from her hesitation. “After all this time, I finally see you…”

Luna regained her composure and stood straighter, adjusting her approach on the fly. “This is a surprise. I was expecting to find a young dragon, one who did not know that this land has been denied to your kind for generations. Why have you come here, when you should have known that you could not stay?”

The dragon chuckled deeply, completely ignoring the threat implied in her question. “After all this time, is that really all you have to say to me? Do you not recognize me, Starborn?”

Luna frowned. “I have met few dragons over the years. I do not remember ever meeting y-”

The dragon’s head shot forward and for the first time Luna got a good look at his eyes. He’s blind!, she thought, leaning back slightly in surprise. His golden eyes were clouded, the lenses almost completely covered by cataracts. Or… nearly blind.

“Surely I haven’t changed that much.” The dragon continued, somehow still watching her as he pulled his head back and stood up. “I may have only been an adolescent when we met, but you left quite the impression. One of the last things I ever saw, so that’s another thing I owe you.”

“Who are you? How do you know me?” Luna asked. A dark suspicion had crept into the back of her mind, but that couldn’t be.

The dragon smiled. “I’ve been… convinced to go by the name Solrathicharnon again. Seems appropriate.”

Luna thought fast. The name meant nothing to her, but… In ages past, dragons collected syllables like they collected gems. Their names were a way to brag about their accomplishments. So in their old tongue…

“He Who Swore Revenge Against The Sun?” Luna translated.

“For a full day I glared into the sun, until my world went dark!” The dragon suddenly reared onto his back legs and roared. “I swore revenge against all alicorns for what you did one thousand years ago, pitting my fury against the only one I could find! For the murder of my family!”

Solrathicharnon leaned forward quickly and loosed a giant cone of fire directly into the Princess’s face.

…

Raindrops flew back down to her friends and shook her head. “I don’t see any way to get over the rubble.”

“Well, we aren’t going to give up!” Lyra declared, glaring up the uneven slope to where the crystal caves had been before the cave-in. “Somehow we are going to get Ditzy and Cheerilee out of there.”

“Are you sure you can’t just use your magic to clear a path?” Carrot Top asked, rubbing her head once again. She had hit it pretty badly when they were thrown clear of the mine cart, but she seemed to be getting over it quickly enough.

Lyra considered the slope once more, but sighed and backed off a step. “No, I’d probably do more harm than good if I tried. The whole thing could collapse if I start and we can’t risk bringing it down on their heads if they’re trapped.”

“I’m telling you, I saw them run down a different tunnel.” Raindrops gestured to one of the several different openings in the walls around them. “We should be trying to see if any of those other tunnels connect around back.”

“But what if they did get out and are trying to find us?” Carrot Top put in worriedly. “They might head back here and we’d miss them. We probably should wait.”

Raindrops stomped her hooves irritably. “And they might not be able to get back here. You can stay and wait, but I think we need to search for them!”

“Calm down!” Lyra said, stepping between the two of them. “We can’t split up any more than we already have!” She sighed, sitting down with a plop. How did Cheerilee make leading look so easy?

“Sorry, I’m just a little frustrated, you know?” Raindrops scuffed the dirt a little, and then suddenly chuckled. “We really didn’t plan this very well, did we? We just charged straight down into the first hole we could find and hoped for the best. And now more of us need rescuing than when we started.”

That drew a laugh from her friends, but it was a rueful one. Lyra found herself staring at the wall of stones again. I may have to risk clearing path through that after all. We can’t go after Trixie without the others. Of course, we don’t even know where she is right now anyway, or how to get her away from those creatures if we could find her. Raindrops is right, we are in WAY over our heads…

She was about to voice her thoughts when the earth just beneath her hooves shifted. She jumped back in surprise as an enormous dog-like creature launched himself from a hole in the ground that clearly hadn’t been there moments ago. The creature was a head taller than Lyra and heavily muscled, with bluish fur and arms so long they pressed against the ground as it stood up.

“Found you.” The creature said, looking at them each and gesturing at the hole it had come from. “Quickly, go down the hole, before others find us.”

The three ponies looked at each other in stunned silence for a few moments. “Um… who are you?” Lyra asked cautiously, eyeing the hole less more of the creatures popped out of it.

“No time for questions. Ponies go down the hole now, before salamanders hear and come back!” The dog made as if to grab Lyra, but she jumped out of his reach.

“Girls?” A familiar voice asked from out of the hole. “It’s alright, they’re not going to hurt us, I think.”

They were down the hole in a flash, squeezing against each other in the tight fit before it opened up into a large space. Cheerilee and Ditzy met them in a rush as they fell out of the passage and they spent the next few minutes in a group hug, laughing in their relief at being reunited.

“Argh, quiet ponies! Others could hear you!”

Lyra blinked and finally focused on the area around her. They were in an unnaturally circular cave lit by torches set into the walls, and several tunnels branched out at either end. The small passage they had come through appeared to have been somehow filled in with dirt, although where the dirt had come from was a mystery. There were two more of the dog creatures next to the first, one wearing a red vest instead of grey and the second about half the size of the others. It was the one in red who had spoken and he had his paws over his ears.

“There. Your pony friends have been found. Now get out of our caves!” The three dogs pointed towards the tunnel across the cave from them.

“No!” Ditzy said, untangling herself from her friends and rushing up to the creatures. “We still have one more friend to find. You have to help us find her!”

“That isn’t what we promised!” the red-coated one replied, narrowing his eyes. “We find ponies and you go away. Now go!”

“What are they?” Carrot Top asked Cheerilee softly, but the big one heard her anyway.

He flashed forward and growled right in her face. “Diamond Dogs. And you are trespassing!”

“T-trespassing?” Carrot Top sputtered, stepping back and bumping into the small one, who had somehow gotten behind her.

“Yes, these mines belong to us!” he said, reaching up and pulling a sliver of purple crystal from Carrot Top’s mane. “And when the ponies and the salamanders are gone, we can get to work fixing them…”

“Salamanders?” Raindrops asked, trying to keep up with the rapid shifts in the conversation.

“Those snake creatures that took Trixie.” Cheerilee explained, striding forward to the one in red. “Please, the salamanders are the ones who have our friend. It’s the whole reason we came down here in the first place. We won’t leave until we rescue her!”

“Perhaps…” the one in red growled evilly, as the other two ran over to stand at his sides. He pointed sharply at Lyra. “You, pony! Do you know how to find gems?”

Lyra thought quickly, but came up short. “I’m sorry, but I don’t know how-”

“Bah!” the red-coated dog interrupted, waving a paw at her in dismissal. “Then you ponies are no use to us! Leave these tunnels!” The three dogs turned and loped off into the opposite tunnel.

“Wait!” Ditzy shouted in desperation. “Uh… we’re not the only ones down here!”

The three dogs froze just past the entrance to the tunnel and the big one turned back. “More ponies?”

“Um… yes, the whole royal army. They were to come down after us with the elements.” Ditzy said.

The small dog pulled his ears down sharply in irritation and whined. “Not more ponies! It’s not fair! Salamanders take tunnels, ponies running everywhere. We found these mines! The jewels are ours!”

“We can tell the royal army to leave, if you help us.” Cheerilee offered, smiling woodenly. The others put on their most helpful smiles and nodded in unison.

The dog in the red vest scrunched its face in thought for a few agonizing seconds before slapping a paw over his face.

“Fine. Fine! We will take you. But nothing more! We lead, ponies get friend.”

“Yes! Thank you!” Lyra bounced, hopeful for the first time in what seemed like ages. I can’t believe that worked! Go Ditzy!

“Quiet!” the red-coated dog growled again. “We sneak, so no noises! Salamanders don’t dig like diamond dogs. We have blocked tunnels, forcing salamanders back to where they came from. This way!”

The dogs dashed off down the tunnel and the five friends hurried to keep up. Finally, Lyra thought, we have something like a plan. Hold on, Trixie, we’re coming!

…

Luna barely snapped out of her shock in time to leap to the side, the flames catching a bit of her tail and burning through the enchantment. A dragon’s fire breath could burn through magic, but to have seared through one of hers… It’s true. He must really be as old as he says. Which means that…

Luna shook her head and banished the feelings of guilt that threatened to well up within. This dragon may be a physical remainder from the darkest time in her life, but she could deal with the memories after she stopped it from killing her.

Solrathicharnon tried to track her with the cone of fire, but she easily swooped into the air and circled around behind him. She charged her horn and blasted a beam of pure force into his back. The magic slammed into his spine just below his neck… and was absorbed. Luna blinked, once again nearly paralyzed with shock. That… should not have been possible! How could he be that resistant to magic?

The dragon spun in place as Luna let loose a swarm of the magic missiles, hundreds of the beams lighting up the cave. They slammed into his arms, chest, and head and were completely absorbed, the dragon barely noticing the onslaught at all. His arm shot out through the stream of pure magic and slammed into the Princess, crushing her into the cavern wall. Great cracks spread out from the impact as the dragon leaned his whole weight into it.

“I have waited so long to have you in my grasp!” Solrathicharnon gloated, but a look of surprise dampened his victory as he felt himself being pushed back! Luna shoved off the wall, easily matching the dragon’s strength. With a snarl, Solrathicharnon swiped his tail along the wall before she could shove him back enough to escape, catching her in the side and flinging her across the cave.

Luna caught herself in midair and suddenly there were dozens of her, flying off on every direction. Solrathicharnon spat fire, catching one or two at a time which dissolved into a blue mist, but most of them swooped and ducked around his attacks. The dragon frowned, then spun around and slammed his hand down upon the earth behind him. The Princess slowly appeared under his claws, having turned herself invisible when she’d made all those clones.

“I may not see much, but I can see magic clearly.” Solrathicharnon growled, preparing to breath flames onto his
trapped opponent. “And you shine like the moon in an empty sky. Your little illusions can’t fool my eyes.”

“When did I say they were illusions?” Luna said, glaring up at him through his claws.

The dragon blinked in confusion, and that’s when the clones attacked. Rather than casting more magic, the first two simply bucked the dragon in the back of his head. Solrathicarnon bellowed in surprise and pain, the force of the kicks tipping him to the side and directly into the path of three more clones. They slammed into him with their hooves, knocking him further away from the first Luna and crushing him into the wall. The remaining Lunas whipped up a torrential gale to press him against the wall and hold him there.

The first Luna rose up from the ground with the support of two others. “You cannot win this fight, Solrathicharnon. I have the measure of your endurance now.”

“I will have my revenge!” the dragon roared, straining against the wind.

“I… understand your grievance against me, but this fight is decided. Stand down and you may yet survive.”

“Not after all this time…” he growled dangerously and suddenly spun, slamming his arms against the wall above him with earth-shattering force. The wall and a good part of the ceiling above him blew apart, raining slabs of rock and stalactites down upon the alicorns. They were forced to break off their assault to dodge the debris and within seconds Solrathicharnion was among them, lashing out with his arms and wings and knocking them sprawling from the air.

Luna concentrated and dissolved all her bodies into mist, flowing herself back together into one. The ones who had fallen to the dragon’s fire… she could feel the loss of diminished power, but refused to let it show on her face. Time to end this.

Magic crackled around her horn as she sent a powerful bolt of lightning arcing though the air as the dragon centered on her again. He leapt to the side, but the lightning curved after him and caught him on the shoulder. Solrathicharnon bellowed in pain and clutched his shoulder, which was bleeding slightly. His resistant scales had stopped the worst of the attack, but even they had limits.

“The fight is clear.” Luna declared, gathering even more power into her horn as the two of them circled the cave, glaring at each other warily. “Did you really think you could win against me in a fight? I have dealt with far more powerful foes that you.”

“Of course I don’t think I could win a fair fight.”

Luna almost missed a step, but caught herself and narrowed her eyes. What trick is this?

“I’ve had a thousand years to plan my revenge.” The dragon growled, one claw still clutching his injured shoulder. “Do you think just sitting in some random cave and attacking you head-on was all I could come up with? My plan is a thing of beauty, although I’ll have to replace the parts about attacking by surprise now. This was just to delay you.”

“Delay me? From what?”

“Your sister says hello.”

That stopped Luna in her tracks.

“We could keep fighting, but I know I can’t win that way.” The dragon continued to pace, but even in her shock Luna had no openings for him to exploit so he kept his distance. “Still, I could drag it out for hours. And by then, whatever your sister wanted you away from Canterlot for will be over. It might already be over. I’d rather I kill you on my own terms anyway.”

With that the dragon spun around and shot into the air with a great burst of its wings, vanishing into a network of tunnels at the back of the caves. Luna galloped forward to follow him, but hesitated. He might be lying about Corona, but dare she risk it?

Giving one last look at the caves, she turned and launched herself towards the exit of the cavern. Of course she couldn’t risk it. Pouring every last bit of her remaining energy into speed, she burst from the cave and streaked through the air towards Canterlot.

Against the swarm...

“Do you see her?” Carrot Top asked, trying to peer over Lyra’s shoulder through the small hole the diamond dogs had clawed out of the wall.

“Not yet…” Lyra answered, trying to keep her spot as the lookout. “There are more of them than I thought there’d be. And I don’t see that… wait, there she is! I caught sight of her when that big one moved just now!”

“Let’s go! Come on!” Carrot Top said, bounding away from the wall. But her energy leaked away when she saw the way the dogs were glaring at her.

“More salamanders are coming soon.” The small dog giggled, rocking side to side with excitement. “We wait and catch all salamanders at once.”

The big dog nodded and slapped his paws together. “Soon we fight. But only when ready!”

“How you holding up?” Raindrops draped a wing over Ditzy’s back and gave her a reassuring squeeze. She could feel the grey pegasus trembling a little.

“I just… I just can’t stand this feeling...” Ditzy said softly, squeezing her eyes tight. “This isn’t the same as getting buried in letters or being in a crowded room. There’s nowhere to go if I get trapped down here…”

Raindrops nudged her softly and tilted her head up. “I’ll let you in on a little secret, if you promise not to tell the others.” She waited until Ditzy looked her in the eyes to continue. “I’m scared too. We all are, especially after what happened in that crystal cave, but I’ve been nervous every since we first came down here. I’m used to having the sky above me, to be able to fly as high as I wanted whenever I wanted to.

“But the trick is not to let the fear stop you. We’ve come so far already and the end is nearly here. Soon we’ll rescue our friend and then we can leave these caves behind forever. You and I just have to hold on a little longer, ok?”

Ditzy swallowed and nodded, standing a little straighter than before. “Thanks, Raindrops. I think I can handle it a bit now. After all, Trixie’s waiting for us.”

Raindrops frowned and was about to say something when the dog with the red vest suddenly straightened up and tilted his head to the side as if listening to something. After a moment he giggled and clapped his paws together. “Here they come! Let’s go! Time to fight!”

…

“We’re nearly back where we sstarted!” Ravid complained, staring around at the sloping tunnel with barely contained irritation.

Behir glanced at her and bit back the snappish remark that came to mind. “I wass ssure there were other branchess down thiss path…”

“Are you ignoring me again?!” Ravid slipped quickly into his path and slithered backwards, keeping in his face as they moved. “I am getting tired of your lack of resspect! Jusst becausse you’re Maralith’ss favorite, you think you’re ssomething sspecial. I’m the one who’ss next in line for… what are you sstaring at?”

Ravid glared at him, but he’d stopped paying attention to her when they’d turned the last bend and entered a roughly circular cavern. It was the place where they’d first tunneled into the mountain beneath Canterlot, swimming out from the deep lava flows and began clearing out the tunnels all those months ago. Something about the cave felt off, but Behir couldn’t put a name to what. Ravid sputtered as he brushed past her, but quieted down when she finally noticed what had caught his attention.

The center of the cavern was crowded by the rest of the salamander army. Behir could make out the shape of the hourglass and the prisoner near the middle of the group, but only as a passing interest. All his attention was fixed on the slowly approaching form of the High Priestess, who looked like she was preparing to rip bedrock apart by force of will alone.

“I will guard the rear, High Priesstesss, you ssaid.” Maralith hissed, venom dripping from her fangs. Behir hadn’t been aware she could do that. “The tunnelss will be ssafe, you ssaid. You can count on me, you ssaid. Where iss the exit, Ravid?!?!”

Instinctively Behir slipped quickly out from between the two females and took the time to study the cavern with more care. That’s what’s missing, there’s no glow from the lava flows. There should have been a deep crevasse in the center of the cave leading down to the molten river that had brought them here. But for some reason the crevasse had disappeared, without leaving even an outline in the hard-packed dirt of the floor.

“I… I… I…” Ravid sputtered, unable to muster anything in the way of defense in her shock. Any other time Behir might have enjoyed watching her get taken down a peg or three, but something was still nagging at the back of his mind. Hard-packed dirt? Wasn’t the floor mostly clear in here?

“I ought to flay you alive.” Maralith continued in her dangerously low tone. “I ought to make an example of you right now, but I sstill need you to sshow the way out. We couldn’t take the lava sstream with the hourglasss anyway, and the tunnel we were ssuppossed to take wass gone.” She paused as she took in the look of terror that flashed through Ravid’s face. “The other tunnel iss sstill ssafe, issn’t it?”

Ravid threw herself flat on the ground while pointing an accusing claw at those behind her. “It’ss all Behir’ss fault! The guardss he left with me were usselesss!”

This is the same cavern, isn’t it? There should be more exits, but I can only see the one we came through and that one over there. Probably where the others entered from or we’d have seen them before now… and those boulders along the wall are awfully regular…

“Behir!”

He started and returned his attention to the here and now. The High Priestess had turned her ire towards him and he appeared to have missed hearing a question, judging from the impatient way she was flexing her claws. Ravid had risen to a crouch and while still appearing shaken, she’d gained a predatory gleam in her eyes that suggested she’d diverted at least some of the blame his way.

“My apologiess, High Priesstesss.” He said smoothly, casting back over what had been said to try and find what he missed. Something else jumped out and clicked with the puzzle forming in his head. “I’m ssorry, but did you ssay that your tunnel had vanisshed?”

“Don’t try to change the ssubject, Behir. Thiss plan hass been falling apart ssince the fight in the library. I want to know why all our planss are failing one after another!”

Smooth, dirt-packed floor. The cave-in. Tunnels mysteriously filled up with earth. The missing crevasse. Behir sucked in a quick breath as he realized what was happening too late. “High Priesstesss, we have to get out! We’ve been led into a trap!”

“Nonssensse. The only creaturess who could…” Maralith eyes went wide as she trailed off. “Oh no.”

…

“Why do any of you even listen to her?” Trixie asked as Maralith started shouting at the group of salamanders who’d just entered the cave. “I understand why you’d all be too afraid of her to do anything, but she hasn’t really done much that screams ‘I care for my subjects’, if you catch my meaning.”

“Sshe’ss not ussually this bad.” Grick said, crossing his arms. “Ssure, sshe’d throw a tantrum now and then, but sshe’ss alwayss had what’ss best for the colony in mind. Actually, sshe was pretty calm right up until after…”

Trixie cocked her head to the side and saw him staring at her thoughtfully in the dim glow of her captors’ scales. “After what?”

“…after the raid on the library.” Grick continued, and Trixie had spent enough time talking to him to notice the slight edge of humor in his tone. “Now that I think of it, the High Priesstesss hassn’t ever ussed the pearl on anything other than Queen Medussa’ss sstatue…”

Trixie blinked at him a few times, then rocked up as straight as her bonds would allow. “I don’t act like that!” she shouted indignantly. Several of the nearby salamanders looked at her oddly. “I mean, I don’t anymore. I’m getting better. Don’t look at me like that!”

Grick’s grin froze as the ground beneath them suddenly rumbled alarmingly. The two of them looked up as a roaring sound poured out of the tunnels, just before a wave of earth that completely filled the two channels from top to bottom. Maralith and the newcomers leapt clear of the entryway just before the wave hit, the dirt slowing to a stop with surprising suddenness at both entryways. They slithered quickly into the larger group, which formed itself into a tight ring with the hourglass in the center.

“What’s happening?” Trixie started, but Grick reached down with one arm and pressed her down against the ground. He curled around her several times and leaned protectively over her, creating a near solid reptilian wall for her to hide behind.

“We’re under attack! Sstay down, I’ll make ssure none of them get you.”

“None of what?!” Trixie asked, rocking back and forth as if trying to see out from between his coils. Actually she was trying to work through the last few strands of her bonds, but he didn’t need to know that. “Who’s attacking?”

“Dirt dogss.” Grick spat, and then a lot of things started happening at once.

All around the cavern, large boulders nearly the size of good-sized houses which had been lying innocently against the walls suddenly popped out and started rolling towards the huddling salamanders. Each one uncovered a smaller tunnel from which a number of large, brutish shapes emerged. The creatures wielded long wooden spears, which they propped up along the sides of the rolling boulders defensively. Clearly more of the… dirt dogs were behind the stones, pushing them forward in an impressive display of strength.

“Crussh them!” Maralith snarled, and her army surged forward to intercept the attackers.

Trixie would have missed what happened next if the first victim hadn’t been one directly in her line of sight. A large hairy paw broke out of the ground just in front of where she huddled under Grick and grabbed the nearest charging salamander around the end of its tail. The paw pulled sharply back and dragged the tail under the ground, causing the unfortunate salamander to fall flat on its face and half burying it in the ground. It was only a minor inconvenience for the soldier, but all around the cave salamanders were falling victim to the same trick and their advance had stalled. Several tried jabbing their claws down into the holes after their agitators, but the holes were filled back up with dirt almost faster than they’d been made.

Meanwhile, the boulders had cleared most of the distance to them and Trixie could tell that the dirt dogs were going try trapping them in a giant ring. At least I hope they’re just going to trap us. They might just roll the things right over us. Worried, she was about to ask Grick if they should try and make a break for it when a flash of magenta caught her eye.

Uncaring if Grick noticed her loosened bonds or not, Trixie hopped up and pressed herself against his scales, trying to find that unexpected but extremely welcome sight again. Where did… there! I knew it! Cheeri… wait, what am I looking at?

Cheerilee was running around the edge of the cavern, just behind the approaching boulders. And riding on her back was a slimmer version of the dog creatures, wearing a bright red vest and waving around a stalactite like some kind of sword.

The creature laughed as Cheerilee reared back and swept its stone sword around, urging the other dogs forward. “FOR PONY!”

…

You know, this is oddly familiar… Cheerilee mused as she galloped. “I have no idea how you talked me into this.”

“Come on, pony. Just let me have this!” the dog cheered, clearly too excited to care about her opinion on the matter. “High ho, pony, away! Launch spears now, Dogs!”

“No spears!” Cheerilee shouted, rearing back and nearly throwing the dog off. Around them, the armored dogs who’d been about to attack hesitated and looked between the two of them for orders.

“If we don’t attack, salamanders will crawl over rocks and get away!”

“You might hit Trixie! You can’t do anything that might hurt her before we get her out!”

“Bah” the dog growled, bouncing petulantly on her back. “No crushing them with ceiling. No dropping them in river. No throwing spears at them. What do ponies know about fighting salamanders? Diamond Dogs fight salamanders. If Dogs do not fight, salamanders will win!”

Cheerilee was saved from falling back into the argument she’d already gone through with him before when Raindrops swooped down from above. “I’ve found her! This big one has her trapped near the center.”

“Then get her out! We can’t hold them back much longer apparently!” Cheerilee shouted, and the pegasus launched off. I really hope this works…

…

Trixie looked up as she sensed Grick suddenly stiffened around her. “What?! What’s happening now?”

“I’m not ssure… ssomething new iss coming…” Grick was interrupted by a jasmine blur that shot past his head, clipping him hard enough to knock his golden cap clear off. He hissed in anger and leaned to track her, when a grey form came at him from the side. Ditzy knocked him with her hooves as she shot past and rose straight up before he could react. He spun his head around like an owl after her, which was when Raindrops came around again and knocked him from behind as she passed.

Trixie’s heart leapt into her throat at the sight of her friends at long last, but concern for them quickly outweighed her joy. What are they doing? The two of them swooped in again and again, always coming in from a different direction than before, but they didn’t seem to be trying to accomplish anything. Grick had begun swiveling his body in anticipation of their attacks and was slowly rising up to meet them. Her friends were doing their best to avoid his claws for now, but it seemed like only a matter of time if they didn’t do something different. And something was odd with the way Ditzy was flying…

Her train of thought was interrupted by a shifting of the ground beneath her hooves. A large dirt dog with bluish fur popped out from a hole that hadn’t been there a moment before and held a paw over his mouth in the universal sign of be quiet now! Trixie realized that Grick, in his eagerness to catch the two flying aggressors, had all his attention focused in the air and wasn’t watching her at all. The dog grabbed her about the barrel and pulled her down into the hole it had popped out from.

Or at least it tried to. At the last second Grick’s tail lashed out and wrapped around her back legs tighter than a vise. For a painful few seconds Trixie was pulled in both directions like the rope in a terrible tug of war, and then Grick’s claw shot past her face and grabbed a handful of the dog’s fur just behind its head. Grick pulled the big dog out of the hole like it weighed nothing and tossed it out and away with the same motion.

“That’s not going to work!” Grick roared, clutching Trixie tight to his chest and slithering away from the dog. Several of the nearby salamanders turned and lashed out at the dirt dog, but it quickly disappeared straight down into the earth in a cloud of grit.

Grick held her close and swung his head in every direction, looking for more threats. “Don’t worry, I won’t let thosse creaturess get their filthy pawss on you. Sslaverss and worsse, the whole lot of them.”

“Thanks for caring,” Trixie said, “but my friends seem to be with them, so I think I’ll be joining their side anyway.”

The salamander paused at her tone and looked down at her, which was when Trixie reached up with her unbound hooves, gripped him tightly, and slammed her forehead into his.

Grick reared back, dropping the blue unicorn from his senseless claws. Trixie landed hard, cradling her own head tightly and peering up at him between her clenched eyelids. He wavered for a few seconds, then slowly collapsed backwards over himself and lay still. Trixie rose unsteadily, her cramped limbs barely supporting her as she pressed one hoof over the bruise she could already feel forming on her temple.

“Nobody wins with a head butt…” she muttered, then shook her head to clear most of the pain and galloped towards the nearest boulder.

…

Carrot Top bucked the nearest salamander as hard as she could; catching it under the chin and lifting it clear off the ground and into the air. The creature sailed back over the top of the boulder and landed back in the middle of the swarm. She paused to catch her breath, but two more salamanders were already clawing their way up the boulder. From her spot she could see the snakes were nearly to the top of all the rocks, although the diamond dogs’ spears had so far managed to keep them from escaping the circle just yet.

“Now, Lyra! Give the signal to roll!” Carrot Top shouted down at her friend.

Lyra nodded and plucked out a simple string of notes on her lyre. The music echoed around the cavern and at the sound the dogs bracing the boulders dropped down and grabbed the rocks near the bottom. At the same time, all the boulders were spun in place, pressing against each other to keep from rolling any further forward. Carrot Top kept her place by running backwards, but the two salamanders crawling up towards her weren’t prepared for the sudden motion. They barely managed to leap clear before they got carried under the heavy stones. Carrot Top scanned the mess of confusion below her, finally catching sight of what she’d been desperately hoping to see.

“Trixie, this way!” she shouted, trying to catch the unicorn’s attention. Seeing her friend turn towards her, she hoped down from the boulder and shook the nearest dog she could find. “Pull out a path! Our friend is coming this way!”

The dogs shrugged and gripped the two nearest boulders, pulling them back just enough for a pony to slip in between. A salamander tried to take advantage of the gap, but the dogs’ spears kept the thing at bay. Then Trixie was in the gap, squeezing past the salamander and ducking under the spears. She slammed into Carrot Top and Lyra and the three of them hugged each other tightly for a moment, just glad to be together again.

“Thank you.” Trixie said simply, squeezing them tightly.

“Don’t mention it.” Carrot Top replied, tears of relief in her eyes.

“We’re not out of the frying pan yet!” Lyra said, pulling back from them. Dispite her words she just couldn’t wipe the huge grin from her face. She lifted her lyre and played out the signal that Trixie was clear. But just as the notes faded away, the two nearest boulders were enveloped in a blue aura and lifted clear off the ground.

“Trixie? What are you doing?” Carrot Top asked, pulling her friend away from the rising boulders. For the first time she noticed that Trixie was barely standing on her own and she lifted her halfway onto her back to carry her better.

“That’s not me. It’s…” Trixie was interrupted at the two rocks suddenly were hurled away from the stone circle. Dogs scattered everywhere to get out from their path as they slammed into the caverns walls hard enough to shatter the boulders into fragments. From the sudden gap in the walls slithered a large salamander covered in golden jewelry. One of the creature’s claws was buried in her necklaces and the other three were held out to the sides, glowing with cackling blue auras.

“… trouble.” Trixie finished, and then Maralith attacked.

…

“The wall'ss down! Presss forward!” Behir shouted, urging the soldiers to swarm the gap the High Priestess had created. He didn’t know what those musical notes had been, but they must have been a signal for something. This trap was already more than anything the filthy dogs had ever tried before and it disturbed him greatly that they’d been caught in it so easily. The sooner he was out of this stone ring, the easier he’d breathe. With the ring breached, they could…

His plans were interrupted as the ground beneath his coils suddenly dropped away. Acting on instinct more than thought, he launched himself at the nearest boulder and sank his claws into the stone. Fortunately the boulders had stopped rolling, and Behir looked back at what was happening in the center of the ring. The dogs must have been lying in wait under the ground because the crevasse had suddenly been reopened, dropping the trapped salamanders back down into the waiting lava below.

So they don’t plan to fight us after all, just toss us out of the caves. Behir’s revelation was interrupted by the sight of a familiar crystal object slipping down the side of the crevasse, the four salamanders who’d been in charge of it having been swept away and already fallen into the river.

“NO!” Behir screamed, diving from his perch in a panic. He collided with the hourglass in midair and twisted, wrapping his tail tightly around the artifact. He stretched as far as he could and dug his claws into the rock wall, barely slowing his descent. The hourglass swung in his grip only a few feet above the lava.

“I won’t accept failure!” Behir gasped through his clenched teeth, the strain of holding onto the heavy artifact nearly too much to bear. Slowly, ever so slowly, he started to inch his way back up the cliff wall.

…

“That’s the signal. Come on!” Raindrops shouted, flying straight up. Ditzy nodded and looked one last time at the chaos around them. Those last few notes meant that Trixie was safe and it was time to push the salamanders back into the underground lava. Ditzy knew that their part was to fly up and start breaking apart the stalactites to drop on them, but she just had to see Trixie first. The stress was really starting to break through her resolve, but seeing her friend would help tremendously.

She gasped as she finally spotted Trixie, with the leader of the salamanders bearing down on her. “No, Trixie! I’m coming!” she shouted, not noticing that Raindrops had already vanished into the stalactites above.

Ditzy dived down towards the gap, hoping to come at the big salamander from behind and distract her somehow. If Ditzy had been thinking more clearly, she’d have remembered that this same tactic hadn’t worked before. If she’d been paying closer attention to what was happening around her, she might have noticed that the salamander was all alone and that Trixie wasn’t. But Ditzy wasn’t thinking very clearly at the moment. Her fear had transformed into tunnel vision, narrowing down her focus into what was right in front of her.

And so she didn’t even notice that she was flying too close to the ground until the scaled arms reached up and dragged her out of the air.

Ditzy screamed in panic as the salamander’s tail wrapped round her wings and pinned them to her sides. The creature pulled her up against the wall where she was hiding and clamped a claw over her mouth, silencing her before she could draw any more attention. The serpent leaned forward and grinned evilly at her captive.

“I guesss one hosstage iss much like another.” Ravid whispered. “Anything to get me out of here ssafely…”

…

“You won’t escape me!” Maralith shouted, swinging her arms around in a wide arc. All around her, dogs were lifted up in blue auras and tosses every which way, landing in growing heaps against the walls. Trixie didn’t think she’d noticed yet that nearly all of her army had fallen into the crevasse behind her, but Maralith was proving to be too much of an opponent for the dirt digs on her own.

“Since when could she do that?” Lyra shouted, backing up so that she was next to her friends.

“Don’t let her touch you!” Trixie warned, groaning as she pushed away from Carrot Top and tried to stand straight. “She can steal your magic right out of you with a pendant around her neck. Fortunately for us, she doesn’t have a lot of self-control and she’ll probably just attack head on.”

“Predictable, am I?” Maralith hissed, locking her eyes on the three of them and smiling widely. Her claws glowed brightly and she faded from sight. Trixie gasped, instantly recognizing her personal invisibility spell.

“Did you think that all I could do wass take power?” the High Priestess’s mocked, her voice seeming to come from everywhere. “My pendant givess me accesss to all your pretty little sspellss. And you have quite a few interessting oness, don’t you? You musst have sspent yearss learning them all and now you will ssee each and every one of them ussed againsst you! I can’t wait to ssee the terror on you face…”

“Lyra, she’s right over there.” Trixie said, pointing just a little to the side of the mint unicorn. Lyra immediately spun and bucked the indicated spot and Maralith reappeared, landing solidly on her back and clutching her midriff in pain.

“H-how…” she managed.

“First, I can see through my own invisibility spell.” Trixie said.

“Second, if you are invisible, you shouldn’t talk so much!” Lyra continued, sounding like she was implying something else.

Trixie graciously ignored the imagined subtext. “Get the pendent away from her, before she-”

There was a blinding flash of light and Trixie reeled back, shielding her eyes. Gah! Should have expected that… Now, she isn’t smart enough to be very clever, so she’s coming up behind me right… now! Trixie spun around and squinted, meeting the surprised salamander’s charge with her horn right as Marilith dove upon her. The pain of the impact drove both of them to the ground, Trixie just barely doing better than her opponent. Carrot Top took the opportunity to slam Marilith in the head, driving her away from the two of them.

In a flash there were half a dozen copies of the High Priestess spreading out in every direction, but Trixie just sighed and blearily tracked the one which kept looking over her shoulder at the others. Clearly merely have access to her spells didn’t translate into knowing how to use them properly. Fortunately for her splitting head, she wasn’t the only one who’d spotted the real one.

“There! That one!” Cheerilee shouted, leaping over the nearest prone and groaning dog. The dirt dog in the red vest leapt off her back and swung his stone weapon, catching Marilith across the chest. More than a few of the delicate golden chains about her neck snapped as she flopped hard onto her back with a strangled scream.

“WHY!” Marilith choked out, scrambling back and letting the illusions fade. “WHY DOESN’T ANYTHING WORK?!”

“Because you’re not actually very good at this.” Trixie said, as her friends and the dogs closed in on the Priestess. “And no hack could ever match the original!”

Marilith swiveled, realizing for the first time how outnumbered she actually was. She waved her arms and the air was suddenly filled with a rain of falling rocks, but the illusion was barely half-formed and easily seen through. Whatever power she had drained was clearly running out. But the illusion lasted just long enough for Marilith to slip out from the closing circle of enemies and slither at top speed back towards the crevasse and escape.

…

No! Ditzy thought as the salamander dragged her towards the crevasse in the ground. This can’t be happening! It can’t!

“Sstop sstrugling!” Ravid hissed as they reached the edge of the pit. “If you attract the attention of thosse creaturess I sswear… hello, what’ss thisss?”

She stopped as a scaled arm pulled up over the lip in front of her, straining to find purchase. She leaned over the side and stared right into Behir’s face as he clung to the wall, fighting to hold up the weight of the hourglass on his own.

“Ravid?” he wheezed, nearly out of breath. “Hurry, give me a hand here. I don’t know where all the other ssoldierss are, but I can’t hold it much longer…”

“Oh? But what will you give me for my help?” Ravid cooed, holding tightly to the thrashing pegasus and making no move to her comrade.

“What?!” Behir spat. “You’re being like that now?! We’re under attack, you fool! Everything we’ve done sso far will be for nothing if you don’t HELP ME-”

“Let go of her!” Both salamanders looked up at the shout to see Raindrops descending upon them from above, riding down an enormous stalactite she’d broken off the ceiling. She slammed the stone pillar into the ground between them, smashing it into a thousand pieces flying in every direction. Ravid launched herself backwards at the last moment, avoiding the worst of it but still taking plenty of stone slivers across the face and arms.

Behir roared in panic and scrambled to find purchase as the ground crumbled beneath him. With a burst of strength he hefted his arm up and snagged Raindrops’s hind leg as she shot past in pursuit of Ditzy’s captor. Raindrops struggled in his grip, unable to escape his tight grip and losing the battle to remain airborne. Slowly the two of them fell back down over the edge towards the waiting lava below.

Seeing her friend dragged away flipped Ditzy over the edge into blind panic. She writhed like a wild pony, thrashing against Ravid’s clutched with strength born of pure terror. First one, then two of her legs slipped out and wailed upon the salamander, who couldn’t keep up with her wild attacks.

“Why you, sstop that! Do you know who I-” She was interrupted as one of Ditzy’s hooves caught her in the mouth hard enough to smash several of her teeth clear out. Ravid screamed and threw the pegasus away, clutching her mouth and rolling on the ground in pain. Ditzy didn’t even spare her a backwards glance as flew out and over the edge of the crevasse. The only thoughts filling her head were ‘get away’ and ‘my friend is in danger’.

She shot straight down and dived towards her friend, who was straining to remain aloft with all that extra weight. Raindrops only had time to gasp in surprise as Ditzy grabbed her about the forelegs and arced back up, the speed she had come in at temporarily swinging the three of them up easily against gravity like a pendulum. Even still, Ditzy only barely managed to get herself and Raindrops high enough to clear the far edge of the pit when they reached it.

Behir wasn’t so lucky. Holding tight onto Raindrops’s legs, he slammed back first into the stone wall hard enough to drive the breath from his lungs. He managed to let go of her legs and grab weakly at the stone as the feeling left his extremities, barely holding himself up in the tiny crater his impact had created. Released of the weight, the two ponies spun end over end and crashed against the nearest boulder in a heap.

“What the… Ditzy! Are you alright?!” Raindrops exclaimed, rolling out onto her hooves and checking over her friend for injuries.

“Just… tired…” Ditzy gasped, blinking through the sweat and dirt half covering her face. “I’m glad… you’re… safe…”

Raindrops grinned from ear to ear, but a bloodcurdling scream cut her off before she could answer. She turned to see the big salamander with four arms screaming in fury as she sped up to the crevasse and launched herself over the side as fast as she was able. Wondering what was happening now, Raindrops lifted Ditzy onto her shoulder and stepped up to the ledge.

The shock of the impact had finally caused Behir to lose his grip on the hourglass. It tumbled end over end against the wall, bouncing out into the air over the flowing lava below. Marilith screamed as she fell towards it, straining to reach it with every fiber of her being.

She almost made it too.

Mere seconds before her outstretched talon was going to touch the artifact, it splashing into the molten lava. Cracks spider-webbed all over the glass surface from the heat and impact, and the wooden casing went up like a torch. Marilith slammed into it a moment later and the entire structure of the hourglass bent and broke open, exposing the sands inside.

There was a blinding flash of light and a scream like the winds roaring over an endless desert, and suddenly a swirling vortex shot up out of the crevasse. The golden tornado spun like a chaotic top, seeming to pull at everything around it without generating any wind at all. The top of it slammed into the ceiling of the cavern and started ripping bits of it apart. Stones and other debris that were unfortunate enough to get caught in the vortex vanished immediately to… somewhere. They just suddenly weren’t there anymore, though Raindrops couldn’t see anyplace they could have gone.

Just as Raindrops was about to move back from the pit to a safer place, the tornado vanished as if it had never been there. The entire cavern seemed to hold its breath in the sudden stillness, as if waiting for the tempest to return again. Straight down, right where the vortex had been centered, a clean hole cut straight down through the lava to the bottom of the river bed below. A single bright pearl attached to a charred cord lay in the middle of the circle. Of Marilith and the hourglass, there was no other sign.

Then time seemed to reset itself and the lava flowed forward again, closing in the circle and burying the pearl from sight.

Behir blinked and seemed to come to his senses all at once, looking around at the scattered forces around him. “Retreat!”

He leaped off the edge and all around the cavern the other salamanders followed suit, diving down into the molten river below. Ravid glared pure hatred at the two ponies from across the gap before following the others. The salamanders submerged and the lava swelled a little as they swam away against the current, disappearing through a cliff in the stone wall.

Raindrops dropped tiredly to her haunches and breathed a deep sigh of relief, too exhausted by events to do more at the moment. “It’s over.” She said, and for the moment, it was.

Dully, the embers still glowed...

“I’m so glad you’re all right!” Cheerilee shouted, dashing over to Trixie and enfolding her in a tight hug. “Are you hurt? What did those creatures want with you?”

“The big one wanted my magic, but other than that I was pretty much ignored.” Trixie replied, blinking tiredly but unable to stop looking between her friends beaming faces. “Is everypony down here? Where’s…?”

“We’re right here!” Raindrops said, trotting over to the group. Ditzy slipped off her shoulder and fluttered her wings, lifting up and dropping down onto the blue unicorn. Trixie laughed and struggled to get up from her friends’ embrace.

“Thank you…” she whispered, and then looked up at each of them in turn with tears in her eyes. “I mean it. I’ll always remember this. Thank you.”

Lyra blushed and scuffed her hoof self-consciously in the dirt. “You act like we would have just left you or something.”

“We’d never!” Carrot Top said fiercely, helping Trixie to her hooves.

“Of course I know…” Trixie said softly, and then shook her head and chuckled. “Lyra, you are a wonderful musician. But the next time you have a concert in Canterlot, I think I’m going to give it a miss, alright? I haven’t had the best experiences at them.”

Their laughter was cut short as the dog with the red vest shoved his way into the center of their group. “No more of this hugging and talking! We had a deal, ponies! Several of them! It is past time we got what we wanted!”

“Ah… about that…” Ditzy said sheepishly.

Trixie looked about her as the others traded embarrassed glances. “What? What did you promise them for their help? And why do I get the feeling that I’m not going to like it?”

“Ponies promised to leave!” the dog interrupted, pointing at the far wall with a sharp jab. Several dogs had already dug open a channel leading upwards.

“Is that all?” Trixie blinked. “Gladly. I can’t wait to get out of here… thank you for everything, dirt dogs.”

“Dirt dogs?!” the dog shouted, every hair on his head bristling in indignation. “You insult us?!”

“But I-“

Cheerilee gripped her confused friend and pulled her back. “Come now, she just met you. It’s not like she meant anything by it.”

“But… wha… graah!” the dog gripped its ears and pulled them in frustration, before slouching down with his paws spread out. “Fine. Fine! Just go! Take them and go!”

That last bit he barked at a number of the large armored dogs, who circled the group and prodded them in the direction of the tunnel. The six friends needed no further assistance; they were just as eager to get out of the caves and into the open air. Despite the dogs’ continual insistence for silence they talked amiably as they walked, filling each other in on the details of their adventure.

“Here’s what I don’t understand,” Cheerilee said. “Why would any of the Salamanders follow this Maralith if she was always acting like that?”

“I said the same thing!” Trixie laughed, drawing further growls from their hairy escort. “Grick said something about her acting different than usual, so it might just have been the pearl affecting her mind or something.”

“So do you think they aren’t really bad after all?” Carrot Top asked, tilting her head questioningly.

Trixie paused to think for a moment, and then shook her head firmly. “No. This Queen Medusa they were talking about sounds pretty bad and they wanted to set her free. Even without Maralith driving them I don’t think they’d be very nice.”

“Salamanders are dirty, stinking thieves.” The small Diamond Dog put in. “They make nothing for themselves, just take. Diamond Dogs have fought them for as long as we remember. Filthy snakes take tunnels, Diamond Dogs drive them off, over and over and over…”

“I see…” Trixie interrupted, putting a stop to that. That dog in particular had a very whinny tone of voice. “But anyway, all I did was get carried around like a sack of grain. You guys… dodging falling rocks, riding an out of control mine cart, surviving a cave-in!”

“You make it sound like we planned any of that…” Raindrops trailed off, cocking her ears forward. “Hey, does anypony else hear that? Like drumming or something…”

“That is what I’ve been saying, but ponies never listen!” The dog with the red vest spat, gesturing to the other dogs sharply. “In tunnels, sound carries far. Ponies are never quiet!”

The two other dogs wearing vests instead of armor jumped at a spot on the floor and clawed at it ferociously. Within seconds the cloud of dust and grit had cleared, revealing a neat hole opening into a tunnel directly beneath them. Without warning the six friends were shoved through the portal and tumbled into a pile underneath it.

Spitting dirt out of her mouth, Trixie climbed out of the pile and looked up. In front of her stood a double column of ponies, mostly earth ponies, all wearing the armor of the Canterlot elite. A row of eight unicorn soldiers stood in a tight clump in the middle of the column, providing light for the party. A bewildered looking Dapple Cross stood at the front, directly in front of a nervous Regal Tome and Money Penny. Bon Bon, who had proven remarkably resistant to the idea of remaining behind where it was safe, was all but climbing over the backs of the soldiers in front of her to get a better look.

The two groups just stared at each other for a frozen moment in shock at the suddenness of it, but then the moment was shattered as the red-vested dog poked out of the rapidly closing hold above them.

“There are your ponies! Now get out of Diamond Dogs’s tunnels!” The dog disappeared back into the ceiling with a pop and the hole closed up after him.

Trixie blinked and turned back to her friends. “Wait, what exactly did you promise them?!”

…

“Let me get this straight.” Princess Luna said, carefully looking up from the report hovering in front of her. “There is a large, highly skilled force encamped directly underneath Canterlot in a series of unmapped tunnels of which we had no knowledge of, who think that said tunnels now belong to them?”

Money Penny sifted slightly under the look her princess was giving her, but remained professional. “It appears so, although the Diamond Dogs don’t seem to want anything other than to be left alone.”

Luna pondered the dilemma as she returned to the report. She had covered the distance back to Canterlot in nearly half the time it took her to reach Xenophon, straining herself to her limit and beyond. But even so, she had arrived only after the drama had completed, and everypony involved had returned to the castle.

She’d come in with the full of her power at the ready, prepared to take up the fight with her sister. But instead she had found that Corona hadn’t even been present. Had the dragon been lying? It stretched coincidence that this robbery should occur simultaneously with his threat, but there just wasn’t enough information to make the connection. What was the goal?

Her eyes were drawn to the top of the report, detailing the original theft in the archives. The hourglass dated back to the times of that wing’s creator, Starswirl the Bearded. Luna had never known that the hourglass was anything more than a decoration, an affection her sister kept around to remember her friend by. It was disturbing that an object of such power could have been lying around undetected for so long. We shall need to set up an investigation, to see if there’s anything else my sister had collected without my knowledge.

“It is unacceptable for any force to be encamped around Canterlot,” Luna began, returning to the problem at hand, “but… it cannot be overlooked that they helped us in our time of need. They are owed a favor.”

Money Penny paused in the transcript she was preparing. “Do you mean to give them the tunnels after all?”

Luna shook her head. “No, that is unacceptable. But the existence of these tunnels honeycombing the mountain beneath us presents a security problem that these Diamond Dogs could be the solution to. Perhaps they would be willing to work with us. We should need a liaison to speak with them; a military mind… perhaps Dapple Cross, to make up for his behavior in the crisis…”

“Dapple was just doing what he thought was best!” Money said quickly, then clamped her mouth shut as she realized she’d just snapped at the princess.

Luna blinked and turned her attention fully upon her secretary. Money Penny was allowed a little freedom with her suggestions, as the princess had found she had a solid head on her shoulders, but this was the first time the white mare had talked back at her like that.

Money Penny started blushing furiously and buried her face in her scroll. “I mean… I only meant that he didn’t have all the information we do now. He was just doing what he thought was… best.”

Luna smiled softly and turned back to her paperwork, to save her secretary any further embarrassment. “Very well, but he is still the best pony for the job. He might impress the Diamond Dogs with his attitude. If they fight as well as the record says, I would prefer they fight with us instead of against.”

Especially now. Right now, we cannot afford to have our attentions split. Luna’s eyes drifted up to an open window in the ceiling above her, and her thoughts turned to her sister. Wherever she may be…

…

“Well, that wass jusst horrible.” Ravid complained for the thirty-seventh time. Behir kept count.

What is it going to be this time? Even odds she’ll claim I didn’t do my part properly. Odds are one in four she goes off again about how she’s next in line to lead. Two in seven she curses that grey pony that smashed her in the face, but that’s what she complained about the thirty-sixth time, so bad betting there. One in eleven for bemoaning how tired she is of travelling…

“Why didn’t anyone think to try and recover the pearl before we left?” Ravid continued, oblivious to Behir’s mental gambling.

…and a rogue outlier takes the winnings. “Magical as the artifact wass, it wass sstill just a fragile gem.” Behir tried to explain. “Without our natural protection, the lava ssurely would have desstroyed it.”

“You could have at leasst tried! Ass the new leader of the nesst, it was mine by right. Aren’t we almost there, I’m tired and need to resst…”

Behir wondered idly if he’d ground his teeth enough to make them as flat as a pony’s yet. Two days of this! But nearly over, if I can just weather a few more minutes… His thoughts were derailed as one of the soldiers he’d sent ahead slithered around the bend and bore down upon them quickly.

“Ssir.” Grick said, halting before the two of them. “There’ss a problem.”

“What iss it now?” Ravid whined. “And you sshould give your report to me, not him!”

“Go on.” Behir urged in a tight voice, ignoring his companion for the moment.

Grick looked uncertain, and then decided the safest bet was to address the space between them. “I traveled right up to the edge of the colony, but there were no guardss at the entrancess. And… I could ssee ssunlight pouring out from the entrance.”

Behir blinked at the news, then broke out of his shock and shot off down the tunnel. He heard Ravid and the rest of his forces struggling to follow, but none of them managed to catch up to him before he reached their ancestral cave. He blew past the old doors and pulled up short in horror at the opening to the great open space in the middle of their home. The sunlight wasn’t coming from a hole in the ceiling of the cave. Indeed, the sky through the gaping crater about them showed a starry night.

“Ah… I have been expecting you.”

Dimly he was aware of the others piling into the arena behind him, but Behir only had eyes for the painfully bright alicorn lounging on a large stone dais in the center of his home. Even in his horror, his mind gathered in all the other little details automatically. The frightened salamanders peering out fearfully from their private caves scattered around the bowl of the cavern. Several great holes that had been smashed through the walls randomly, as if a great beast had rampaged in and out of them. The shambles of the royal abode that Maralith had lived in behind the podium. A scattering of bodies that must have been the few soldiers left behind to guard the colony. All of this he took in, but the sheer enormity of that dais arrested his attention like iron to a magnet.

“What have you done?” he whispered.

He would have sworn the salamanders next to him couldn’t have made out what he said, but Corona fixed her gaze on him. “Oh, dost thou meanest this?” she asked, kicking aside a broken piece of rubble with her foreleg.

Corona was standing in the shattered remains of what had been the petrified statue of Queen Medusa.

“I had no intention of allowing you to use the power of the Hourglass to return your Matron to life. I knew telling you of the artifact’s properties would stir you into action, but its powers were for my use and mine alone. With it, I would have returned to my former glory in an instant. But instead I find that you are incapable of recovering the Hourglass at all. It seems I have gotten ahead of myself for nothing.”

The alicorn stamped her hoof down sharply on a chunk still in the shape of a claw and ground it into slivers. Most of the salamanders around Behir, Ravid included, hissed as if struck at the action. But Behir could sense that this was only a show, and the other talon was about to descend.

“Fortunately,” Corona continued, “I have need of any allies I can find, at the moment. I can always expunge the rest of you once you no longer serve any useful purpose. But I am a fair Queen, and I will offer to you the option of choice.

“Serve me of your own free will, or you may address my companion.”

She turned her attention to their left and Behir followed her gaze, already dreading what was coming. But even his darkest fears didn’t prepare him for the sight of a great red dragon looming suddenly out of the nearest ruin in the cavern. No… it is HIM! Suddenly, Behir was very conscious of his golden skullcap and bracelets. Around him the other salamanders were shaking like leaves and Ravid was actually crying.

“Hello, little thieves.” The great dragon breathed, moving ever closer to the huddled mass. “It’s taken a long time, but we finally meet. Are you prepared to pay for what you have taken, little thieves?”

At this moment time seemed to slow for Behir. In his mind’s eye the possible futures spread out before him, though there were woefully few of them, and somehow he knew the entire fate of his race hinged on this moment. So Behir did what he did best; he weighed his options and made a choice.

In an instant he turned to face the blazing alicorn and threw himself prostrate on the floor.

Keeping his face pressed to the floor, he still managed to roll his eyes enough to watch what was happening around him. All the other soldiers were falling to the ground as well, hurrying to follow his example. Ravid’s eyes were still streaming, but a look of rage and humiliation had suffused the fear in her features. A soft hiss slowly built up from the caves around the cavern as the other salamanders saw their army submitting.

On the dais, Corona smiled in triumph. “You have chosen wisely. Leave them be, Solrath. They are no longer thy prey.”

Outrage flashed across the dragon’s great face like quicksilver and he whipped his head towards the alicorn savagely. “What did you call me?” he growled dangerously. “My name is Solrathicarnon!”

“And thou failed to delay my sister for more than ten minutes.” Corona countered, not impressed in the least. “Perhaps thou canst earn back the rest of thy name, Solrath, if thou canst prove I have not underestimated thee as well.”

The two titanic forces glared at each other for a full minute, but it was the dragon that turned away first. The newly christened Solrath barred his fangs over the cowering salamanders before disappearing into the hole again. The sound of breaking stone boomed out after him as he vented his rage. And Corona laughed, a great echoing laugh that drove shivers deep into Behir’s bones.

What have I gotten us into? he thought, but for once he couldn’t come up with an answer. All he could hear in his mind was the deep echo of that laugh…

Author's Note

And with this I bring this story to its overly drawn-out conclusion. I apologize for making you all wait so long for this, and I thank you for sticking with me til the end. I think I'm going to leave off grand adventure style stories for a while now, I don't think I have the knack for them like I do comedy...

To the Lunaverse, I give you Solrath and the salamanders. Use them well.