Twilight and the group trudged through snowy trails.

“Any way we can pick up her scent?” Rainbow asked.

“Not in this storm,” Shining replied.

“We have to keep looking, I can sense her going in this direction,” Twilight said and the group made their way to continue their search.

As they walked through the trails Rainbow decided to breathe fire to warm her hands.

“Be easier if Discord was here,” Rainbow said.

“Yeah, in hindsight that would be true,” Twilight said as they trudged on.

Rarity and Spike after their make-out session walked on through the town together, walking a little closer to eachother.

“To think that the occurrences that led to what we are now, it took me too long to see it,” Rarity said.

“Yeah, you're a dragoness now and I’m a grown-up, fates on my side,” Spike said.

“Now now dear, we should take things slowly, learn the processes of dragon relationships from Ember before anything,” Rarity said as she nuzzled Spike’s neck.

“Agreed, and… we’ll have to work on how you’re going to continue your clothing production line afterward, I mean, once this is all fixed you’ll imagine ponies will complain about the dresses being too big,” Spike chuckled.

“Speaking of which… how will I remain a dragon when we fix this?” Rarity said.

Spike looked away in thought “Good question, maybe when Twilight gets back we’ll-”

“Hey!” Spike and Rarity heard familiar voices and saw a group of familiar dragons running towards them.

“Guys?” Spike said.

“Who is that?” Rarity pointed at the drake who blushed.

“Um… my name is Razer… keep it memorized,” He said trying to sound tough at the end.

“Later, where is Twilight and the others?” Pinkie asked.

“They left to pursue a lead on Ignia,” Spike said.

“Not good…” Pinkie said grimly.

“What’s wrong Pinkie dear?” Rarity asked.

“I had a Pinkie Sense that warned me of danger,” Pinkie said.

“But Pinkie… you were in Ponyville, how did your sense detect them being in trouble?” Rarity asked.

“My Pinkie senses’s been acting strangely ever since I became a dragon, it’s like my dragon senses have somehow enhanced them, new Pinkie senses have been popping up left and right,” Pinkie said.

“Still, it seems a tad farfetched to go this far on a sense,” Rarity said.

“Has my Pinkie sense ever stirred us wrong?” Pinkie said.

“Hmm…” AJ was thinking.

“Well….” Rarity was also thinking but Pinkie interrupted them before they could speak.

“We have to move! My dragon Pinkie senses are picking up danger in a distant city,” Pinkie said.

“You mean Winterbrooke?” Spike asked.

“Yes!” Pinkie said.

“We should at least alert Sunburst we’re leaving then,” Spike said.

“I already have a note that you can send him,” Pinkie said producing it.

“...Of course you do,” Spike said before sending it to Sunburst.

“Alright, come on!” Pinkie said.

“This better be accurate Pinkie, or my hoard is done for!” Razer said.

“Ahem,” Fluttershy coughed.

“A-and her friends,” Razer added blushing a little.

“Ah agree with Razer though, we better be headed in the right direction,” AJ said.

“We’ll see,” Pinkie said.

An hour later

Tirek grumbled some more as he finally finished the runic pages and he stacked them before sighing.

“Finally done,” Tirek said with a back crack he turned towards Ignia who was sleeping.

“If only I could drain a runic dragon's magic, I’d show her…” Tirek said before staring out at the snowstorm to kill time… until he saw something.

“Huh?” Tirek squinted and he saw fire… odd, looking closer he saw some other dragons… with oddly familiar colors.

“Great… them…wait a minute…” Tirek glanced at Ignia and grinned “I just found a way out,” Tirek said before he lit his horns and fired a weak bolt out of the cave, he glanced at Ignia, she was still asleep… good, he fired some more out of the cave.

“Rainbow stop breathing fire on your hands, you might hurt yourself,” Twilight said.

“Yeah right, i’m a dragon remember? I’m fireproof,” Rainbow said.

“Maybe not a hundred percent, you never- huh?” Shining Armor looked up and saw a bolt of magic flying through the air “Take cover!” Shining said, mistaking this for an attack.

The other two dragons took cover as well but when they looked out they saw none of the shots were headed for them.

“Wait a minute, where are they aiming?” Rainbow asked.

“And whose firing?” Twilight asked.

“Hmm…. there!” Shining pointed at a barely visible cave.

“Hmm… yeah, I see it!” Twilight said.

“Would have missed it… you don’t think those shots were a call for help, do you?” Rainbow asked.

“Only one way to find out,” Shining Armor said before he went out through the snow, Twilight and Rainbow following.

As they snuck up to the cave, they peeked in and saw Tirek in there.

“Tirek-” Rainbow exclaimed only for Twilight to cover her mouth and point towards a sleeping Ignia.

“Oh, sorry,” Rainbow whispered as they snuck in and approached Tirek.

“About time you came! Get me out of here,” Tirek whispered harshly.

“Alright, we just need to detain Ignia first,” Shining said before he got low “Rainbow, you snag her legs and tail, I’ll go for her mouth and arms,” Shining whispered.

“On it,” Rainbow said before they snuck up to the sleeping dragon, as they made it to her the two surrounded her and Shining mouthed a countdown to Rainbow who nodded.

Twilight watched, expecting to have to intervene at some point… neither she nor Tirek noticed the papers Tirek wrote out floating off of the ground and moving towards the exit…

“Three… two...” Shining said, and at the same time Twilight noticed something out of the corner of her eye, she turned and saw the floating paper and the footprints going outside.

Eyes widening she spun to them.

“IT’S A TRAP!” Twilight exclaimed but she was too late.

“ONE!” Shining and Rainbow dove onto the sleeping dragoness… and crashed onto the floor in a heap, the illusion dispersing.

“You're a sharp one pony,” Ignia said from the exit as the invisibility rune deactivated.

“You!” Twilight ran at her but Ignia used a hand sign.

“Zuke,” Ignia said and a magic bolt materialized and fired striking Twilight and sending her flying backwards.

“Twiley!” Shining cried before seeing Ignia turning her attention to the ceiling.

“Zuke, Zuke, Zuke,” Ignia fired several bolts that hit the ceiling and caused a cave in.

“WAIT! What about our deal?!” Tirek demanded.

“I lied,” Ignia said before firing another shot and finishing the cave in, blocking the group in there.

“NO!” Twilight cried.

“We gotta go after her!” Shining said as he tried to dig his way out but it just caused more rocks to fall.

“Stop! The cave is unstable!” Twilight said.

“Then we’re stuck… not good,” Rainbow said with dread.

“We gotta get out somehow, she’s getting away!” Shining said.

“There is no out for us now… best to just wait until the erasure happens…” Tirek muttered.

“What? Erasure?” Rainbow asked.

“You sound like you know what’s going on,” Twilight said.

“Course I do, I made the spell,” Tirek said.

“Talk, what is she planning,” Shining demanded.

“Ask nicely and I’ll-” Tirek said before Rainbow came up to him and snarled.

“How’s this for nice?” Rainbow growled.

“Ok ok! She’s planning to mindwipe the pony dragons into forgetting they were ever ponies!” Tirek said defensively.

“What?” Twilight said with wide eyes.

“Yes, she’s planning on erasing the very concept of ponies, to truly make a world only ruled by dragons, she’s going to brainwash every pony into thinking they were always dragons, and you know why that sucks for me? I can’t absorb dragon magic as well as pony magic, I’ll be powerless for life!” Tirek complained.

“Not important, we have to stop her before she uses it!” Shining said panicking a little.

“This is bad, very very bad,” Rainbow said starting to panic.

“No panicking, we can fix this,” Twilight said.

“Oh princess Twilight, ever the optimist…” Tirek grumbled.

“We’ll think of a way, now help,” Twilight said before breaking his chains.

“What do you want me to do? I’m so weak right now a foal could beat me,” Tirek said.

“I don’t know, but we have to think of something,” Twilight said.

The train arrived at Winterbrooke and the group made their way out.

“Whew, sure is cold here,” AJ said.

“Then we better hurry,” Pinkie said before her tail twitched and she sneezed “Oh no,” Pinkie said looking towards the mountains.

“What is she doing now?” Razer asked.

“Give her a moment,” Fluttershy said.

“The mountain… their that way, and in trouble! We gotta hurry!” Pinkie said.

“Lead the way,” Spike said, having shrunken down and he was on Rarity’s back.

The group headed that way into the mountains.

An hour later

“How… long have we been in here?” Rainbow said, panting from the declining oxygen.

“An hour…” Twilight panted.

“I’m feeling dizzy…” Rainbow said.

“An enclosed space like this is losing oxygen quick, we’re lucky that there’s enough air for the four of us, but it won’t save us in the long run…” Twilight said.

“To think… this is how I die?... trapped in a cave with my hated enemies,” Tirek said bitterly.

“No picnic for us either…” Rainbow said.

Pinkie led the others across a trail and they paused when Pinkie did and she sniffed the air.

“What do you smell?” Fluttershy asked.

“My sense is affecting my smell too… there! That way!” Pinkie said pointing at a pile of rocks on the mountainside.

“Where?” AJ asked.

“Follow me!” Pinkie said and she led them through the snow to the side of the mountain, upon reaching it they paused at the side.

‘Looks like a pile of rocks to me… yer not saying they're buried under there are ya?” AJ asked concernedly.

“No… I sense them… behind it! GUY’S IT’S PINKIE!” Pinkie called into the rock pile.

“Guuuuuys!” Pinkie’s voice came through the rock pile startling the barely conscious dragons.

“Huh?...” Twilight looked at the rock pile.

“Have I reached the hallucination stage of low oxygen? Cause I could have sworn I just heard Pinkie’s voice,” Rainbow dizzily asked.

“I did too,” Shining said and he responded.

“Is there anydragon out there!?” Shining called back.

“Is… dragon…. There…” A faint voice sounded from behind the rocks.

“You were right! Hopefully we still have some time!” Rarity said.

“Listen! We’re going to dig you out!” Pinkie said.

“No! It’ll make the cave collapse!” Twilight called back as loud as she could.

“Then what will we do?!” Pinkie asked.

“We need to find a different way in,” Spike said.

Looking around Spike saw the side of the mountain wall and he hopped off of Rarity’s back and he ran over to it.

“Guys! Dig here!” Spike called.

“What? Why?” AJ asked.

“This is mostly dirt over here, look!” Spike said pointing to the wall.

“He’s right, I similarly dug my cave,” Razer said.

“Of course, we dig the side of the cave out and form a connecting cave! Spike, you're a genius,” Rarity said.

“No prob,” Spike said before he started digging and the others started digging as well.

Tirek looked ready to pass out and the others looked near the same way.

“Ugh… It’s getting harder to breathe” Rainbow wheezed.

“Just hold on…” Twilight said.

It had taken a few minutes but they had dug a small cave in the wall.

“Now dig to the left!” Spike said and they started doing so, wishing he could help “I need to be big so this can go faster,” Spike said.

“We have this,” Rarity said to reassure him.

“Come on!” Razer said as he tore through the dirt.

“Everydragon! Can you hear us!” Fluttershy called.

No response.

“We’re running out of time!” Spike said, determination fueling him as he lifted a big rock out of the way…. And he grew to his adult size “Yes!” Spike said.

“I’ll never get used to that,” Razer said.

“Come on!” AJ said and the two male dragons nodded before helping to dig.

Shining wheezed and collapsed forward, he reached out and grabbed the unconscious Twilight’s hand.

“At least… we die… together… Twiley…” Shining said before his head hit the ground, and his vision started to fade…. Before he heard a crack.

“Huh?” Shining looked up and he saw the wall cracking… and it broke down and Pinkie and the group dug through.

Immediately he felt wind entering the chamber, and sweet sweet oxygen.

He gasped and rolled onto his back taking in big gulps of air.

“Guys!” Spike called running over to them.

“Get them outside, they need air!” AJ said and they picked up the disoriented dragons.

AJ spotted Tirek and decided to bring him too.

As they made their way outside, the others started breathing and coughing fire, Pinkie saw Twilight wasn’t waking up, however.

“She needs mouth-to-mouth!” Pinkie said before doing so, after breathing some air into her lungs and doing chest compressions Twilight woke up with a coughing fit.

“Ugh… guys? Are we-” Twilight asked groggily before Shining rubbed her head.

“It’s alright, your alright,” Shining said.

Twilight smiled that they made it, as she was getting up she noticed a large chunk of ceiling cracking and chipping.

“Huh? Look out Fluttershy!” Twilight cried and Fluttershy looked up to see a large chunk of ceiling fall, having been destabilized by the digging.

“LOOK OUT!” Razer said shoving Shy aside and the rock struck him on the head and split “Grah!” Razer fell to the ground and a trickle of blood came down his face.

“He saved me… Razer!” Fluttershy cried as she ran over to him and she shook him “We gotta help him!” Fluttershy cried.

“Town is nearby, we gotta hurry!” AJ said.

“When we get there we need to send a message to Celestia, it’s a matter of life or death!” Twilight said.

“What do you mean?” Spike said helping AJ lift Razer up.

“Ignia is going to destroy Pony kind, completely!” Twilight said as she hurried out of the cave.

“Well, things just got more complicated…” Spike said as they ran after her, dragging their unconscious companion with them.

Razer was wheeled into a hospital room as Twilight frantically wrote out a message and had Spike send it.

“She’s insane… how can any creature hate ponies so much that they’d try to erase them completely?” Rarity asked Tirek who’s been cuffed to two dragons.

“How should I know? I chose to stop associating with her when I figured out her plans to eventually eradicate ponykind, I need pony kind so I can harvest their magic!” Tirek said.

“What do we do? She’s bound to be far away by now,” Spike said.

“I don’t know, but now that Celestia is aware we need to find out

“For now, we need to take Tirek back to Tartarus and-”

“Wait wait wait, I can help,” Tirek said.

“Why would you help us?” Twilight asked.

“Like I just said, I can’t let her erase pony kind or I will have no pony magic to harvest!” Tirek said.

“...You helped her make the runes to brainwash Ponykind right?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah?” Tirek said.

“How many more runes do you know?” Twilight asked.

Author's Note

I'm slowly but surely getting the mojo back.