Spike ambled down one of the caverns, barely able to gauge his steps in the extremely dim light. The drake could barely make out his claw as he brought it to his face, for the only light available emanated from a few tiny cracks in the ceiling.
Having fallen from the boutique onto the hard subterrain and knowing poor Sweetie Belle was injured, Spike was now on a mission. Sweetie Belle’s back hoof had been rendered useless by the fall, and the filly could not walk. It was up to him to get her out now.
They had tried everything they could to avoid being separated. Spike had tried carrying Sweetie Belle on his back, wrapping his arm around her to give her stability, even slowly dragging her. Each attempt was in vain, for the pain was simply too great for Sweetie Belle to bear.
Despite their situation and the pain, both could not refrain from blushing occasionally from all the physical contact.
However, to the trepidation of both, they ultimately decided it would be best for Spike to seek help on his own. It went against Spike’s instincts as a friend and now caretaker to leave Sweetie Belle behind all alone and defenseless, but it seemed like their best bid for escape.
The drake promised he would return with help. As they parted, a feeling of intense dread overcame the filly as Spike headed down the cavern with the most light. Being hurt and all alone in a place like this was not exactly Sweetie Belle’s or most ponies’ idea of a good time.
The dragon drew a line in the musty dirt with his tail as he walked so that he could retrace his steps.
Several minutes had passed since their separation, and Spike was now plainly lost in the dark, maze-like cave system. He wandered aimlessly in the extreme dimness, searching for any sign of an exit or other friendly ponies or creatures. He used his fire breath to create small bursts of illumination, but the transient flames were of little help. After a short while, his throat became too sore sustain them.
“Youch!” Spike uttered as he walked face-first into a stalactite, falling backwards before returning to his feet and rubbing his head. “Gotta be more careful.”
This occurred several more times, however, as the dragon continued to wander. His thoughts would sometimes turn to darker places.
What if I never find my way out? What will happen to Sweetie Belle? I have to get her out. I promised her I would!
A strange and unexpected feeling crept over Spike as he continued to think about the filly, a sensation he had only felt regarding one other stylish mare related to her he kind of had a thing for, who to his knowledge might also be in trouble, yet he couldn’t quite place a finger on it. There were too many other issues at hand to contemplate. For the moment, Spike simply needed to keep pushing on.
Spike ambled up a small rocky incline and then rounded a corner, and to his pleasant surprise, at the end of an elongated tunnel shone a bright light. The exact origin of the light was still nebulous to the drake at his current distance, but strong feelings of relief quickly overtook him.
“Please, please, please be the exit,” Spike mumbled.
His pace quickened as he trudged on towards the light.
Big Macintosh hammered away at the rock wall, slowly chipping away at the firm surface. A few hoof lengths away, Rarity mimicked the stallion’s actions; however, the mare’s diminutive strikes hardly dented the wall in comparison. The big red stallion, feeling penitent and completely responsible for her, was just fine with this.
It had been a couple hours since they had begun, and the two ponies had only excavated about five feet of the solid rock. Even with the stallion’s ferocious thrusts, the old, shoddy pickaxes did little to break apart the wall in front of them. They were still accompanied by the two guard dogs, who stood idly as the ponies labored on.
In the back of Big Macintosh’s mind, the formations of an idea were beginning to take shape.
As he worked, the stallion would periodically steal a glance to his left towards a large rock column nearby, which stood tall next to the guard dogs. The column stood wide near the roof of the cave;, however, closer to the ground it thinned out before widening again somewhat just above the ground.
Just one buck...
One of the dogs noticed one of the big red stallions’ deviations from his work, rising up and pointing his spear at the wall with a rather irritated expression. Big Macintosh quickly turned his head with pickaxe in mouth back towards the wall and hit it again with tremendous force and continued to do so. Rarity turned her head and gawked a worried expression, but feelings of confidence suddenly filled the stallion as he struck the wall.
Now is m’ah chance to save her. Ah just need a way to get behind it…
Suddenly, a thought struck the stallion. Perhaps it was a long shot, but it was worth a try. Rarity was a bit confused to have her expression returned with a wink
He spun and around, dropping the pickaxe onto the sooty ground. Rarity halted the digging but did not move.
“Excuse me, uh, Mr. Dogs, but Ah find myself in desperate need of relieving m’ahself at the moment,” the stallion briefly gazed toward the column before returning eye contact with guards, “Ah can’t work as effectively otherwise.”
The guard dogs, initially pointing their spears at the stallion, gazed at one another and then the column momentarily and muttered a few words in indecipherable canine before returning their attention to him. The guard dog on the right eventually nodded, and just as Big Macintosh had hoped, pointed his spear at the column to their right. It was clear they wished for the stallion to do his business out of sight behind it.
So far, so good.
Big Macintosh glanced over at a now clearly bewildered Rarity, before slowly trotting over to the left and out of sight behind the column. The stallion quickly positioned himself, with his powerful hind legs facing the middle of the column. Without hesitation, he raised his hind quarters and swiftly delivered a massive buck at the skinniest section of the column with all his might in the direction of the guards.
The column emitted a massive cracking sound;, however, the results were not what the stallion had hoped for.
Only a large crack had formed where the impact occurred, and the stallion’s heart sank as the two guard dogs abruptly jumped around the column with spears pointed directly at his head. Their anger was as they quickly came to realize the stallion’s true intentions. They inched closer to Big Macintosh, the big red stallion now powerless to defend himself.
He gulped. This is it. Now Ah’ve completely failed her and myself.
Big Macintosh closed his eyes.
Woosh! Clank!
He opened one eye, suddenly flabbergasted to peer at the two motionless dogs on the ground in front of him, knocked out cold. A large gem-sized rock lay on the side of each dog’s head.
The stallion was even in greater shock to notice Rarity to his left walking his way, a smile apparent on the mare’s face as she ceased her magic.
Rarity winked at him. “I had a feeling you were up to something.”
After a few moments of silence, Big Macintosh could not help but grin back in relief. “Well, it didn’t exactly go as Ah had hoped.”
He gazed down at the knocked-out guard dogs lying in front of him. “Thank ya kindly, it’s a good thing y’all are a smart unicorn.”
Both ponies blushed slightly, before Rarity approached the stallion and wrapped her front hooves around him in an embrace. “You had the wit and bravery to actually try something to help us in this seemingly impossible situation. I think you deserve more thanks, Big Mac.”
The ponies’ blushes’ deepened as Big Macintosh wrapped his own hooves around the pony of his dreams.
Their embrace was short-lived, however, as a deep rumbling sound became audible. The crack in the column spread rapidly, reaching up to the ceiling before the whole structure collapsed to the side.
The two ponies’ expressions changed back to shock and worry as they realized that the entire room they stood in might be on the brink of collapse. Without another word, the two galloped towards one of the exit tunnels, dodging several boulders as the cavern collapsed around them. In desperation they leaped over one last fallen boulder and into a tunnel as the area collapsed behind them, sealing them inside.
Spike approached the light at the end of the tunnel, making sure to continue dragging his tail along the ground. Feelings of hope filled the dragon as he trudged towards the light.
He rounded a corner, and there in front of him was the source of the light.
It was not the sun, but was instead a small room featuring a small torch-chandelier hanging from the ceiling in the center. Along the left wall of the cavern were three thatched beds, each a few hoof lengths apart. Across from him was an exit to another tunnel. Along the right wall…
Spike’s jaw nearly dropped to the floor, his tongue hanging out.
There lay three ginormous piles of some of the largest and shiniest gems the dragon had ever lay eyes on. Sapphires, emeralds, rubies…his belly rumbled, and desire suddenly supplanted the feelings of hope as some invisible force seemed to push Spike in the delectable gems’ direction.
Spike approached the closest pile of gems and licked his lips as he picked up a large and incredibly shiny emerald, but something in the corner of his eyes halted him from taking his first bite. There to his right sat a small black pull cart with four wheels, presumably for hauling these gems.
A light bulb seemed to go off in Spike’s head as he returned to rational thought. He couldn’t believe his luck.
I’m sure Sweetie Belle could fit in that… and a few gems.
Unexpectedly, Spike heard a deep rumble followed by the chandelier and everything else in the cavern beginning to shake with increasing violence.
The dragon had no idea what was going on, but fearing the worst with regards to Sweetie Belle, he dropped the gem and dashed over to grab the pull cart. He then sprinted out the way he came in, summoning more fire breath in order to see the line in the dirt despite the intense pain it caused his throat. He traversed the dark and now seemingly unstable tunnels and caverns with surprising efficiency. He needed to get back to the filly helpless and alone.
He had to save her.