Chapter 31

“We’re almost there!” Shouted Daring over the wind as the S.P. Cloudstreak was flying over the snowy landscape. She was currently at the helm of the ship, steering it towards the slowly approaching temple. We all looked at it as we got closer, and I would be lying if I said that it wasn’t beautiful. The entire temple looked like one from ancient times, with two spires on the sides, and a middle one towering over the smaller two. There were also what seemed to be large glass panels on the front of the building, though on closer inspection, it was revealed to be made of ice instead of glass. The entire building was a deep blue that blended in with the surrounding countryside, making it hard to see unless you are right in front of it. As we got closer, I was able to make out what appeared to be an entryway, though I also saw a couple of darker spots near it as well.

“Whoa, that is a lot of blue.” Said AJ.

“It looks so fascinating, I wish I brought some paper to write down some notes.” Stated Twilight.

“It l-looks a-awfully b-big.” Shivered Fluttershy.

“This is so much better then reading any of the books combined!” Stated Dash.

“I wonder if we can wake the human up? Oh, if we do, then I can throw it a party!” Declared Pinkie, throw streamers in the air.

Everypony was quiet at that, just looking at the pink party pony. “What?” she asked, confused as to what she did wrong, if she did anything wrong. She then looked at me and saw my tired and non-amused expression on my face. “Oh, right, forgot the whole…blood and sacrifice…thing…” she said softly, her mane deflating a little. I just shrugged it off, too deep in thought to care at the moment. When everypony woke up this morning, Twilight and Daring took it upon themselves to tell everypony (Except for Rarity, who was still asleep) what Dash and I learned in the Adventurer’s Room. Needless to say, none of them took it lightly

“Hey, you ok Drak?” asked Twilight. “You’re still not thinking about last night, are you?”

I shook my head and said, “No…well, maybe a little.”

“Drak, I thought we agreed this morning that we won’t be worrying about that for now, and we can try to find out how you came here after we saved the others.” Said the purple unicorn, concern in her eyes.

“I know, I’m just…I’m just…I don’t know.” I said, unable to make up my own mind. I then felt a small tug, and looking down, I saw that Fluttershy was looking me in the eyes again, like the time before we boarded the Cloudstreak, only this time her eyes were filled with compassion, not anger or fear.

“Drak, you promised us that you won’t think about it anymore until we get back home.” She said, keeping her hoof on my hand.

I sighed as I bend down to look her at eye level, and with a sigh, I said, “I did, and I’m not thinking about it, I just…I’m just worried, is all. Worried for Ditzy, the fillies, everything.”

“You shouldn’t have to be worried, Drakie, all we have to do is just go in there, beat up that Ahui-whats-its-face, save our friends, and then when we come back, I’m going to throw us the biggest smallest party ever!” Exclaimed Pinkie, who somehow popped up behind me, wrapping me in a hug.

I was surprised at first, and then I started to chuckle a little, and said, “You know what, I’ll hold you to it. You promise me that you will throw all of us a special party when we get back?”

“Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” She said, crossing her heart with her hoof, then flapping her wrists like a bird flying, and ending it off by placing her hoof onto her eye. I blinked in confusion, and then Twilight said, “That’s the Pinkie Promise that Pinkie made herself. When anypony makes that promise, then they will never break it.”

I was silent for a moment, and then I shrugged, not saying anything. We were all quiet for a while, and then we all heard the sounds of hoof steps walking up some stairs, then the door to the bunks opens, and out pops a somewhat sick looking Rarity.

“So, you feeling any better, Rares” I asked.

She looked at me and said, “No, I f-feel…h-horrendous d-darling.”

“Well, next time, don’t drink so much, silly!” Said Pinkie, giggling. Everypony else giggled as well, with the exception of the white unicorn, who just stared daggers at us. We then felt the airship suddenly stop, and then Daring comes up to us and says, “All right, we’re here, let’s get a move on everypony.” We all nodded, and with that, we began to leave the airship.

Daring landed the ship a good few hundred meters away from the entrance, and once we got in sight of the temple, we soon found out why. Standing outside was a couple of Earth ponies, dressed in what looked like tribal gear, as well as holding a couple of spears. We all hid behind a snow bank, and then Daring began to discuss her plan.

“Ok, so this is what we are going to do.” She said, and then she began to point at us while telling us what we were going to do. “AJ, Fluttershy, and Pinkie, I want the three of you to make a distraction, and while you three are distracting the guards, I want the rest of us to sneak up behind them and take them out. Everypony got it?” We all nodded, and then proceeded on with the plan.

The guards were both shivering in the cold, not used to these temperatures. One of the Earth ponies, the one with a tan coat, said, “Geez, when is Ahuizotl going to begin the damn ceremony? I’m freezing my tail off in this weather.”

“I know.” Said the other one, who had a bright yellow coat. “I still don’t understand why he brought us out here, it’s so much warmer in the jungle.”

“Do you think that the thing will even work?”

“Doubt it. If it does work, then the other ponies who made this would have gotten it to work a millennia ago.”

“Also, why would we need guards here, I mean, it’s not like anypony will be coming out here in this cold weather.”

The yellow one was about to agree with him, and then he saw a few shapes move across the closest snow bend, and said, “You may want to hold your thoughts on that one.” The tan one gave a curious look before he looked in the direction his friend was looking at. When he saw the strange ponies, he readied his spear, expecting trouble.

The two guard’s ponies waited for the three mares (at least, they looked like mares) to approach them, and once they were within a couple of meters from the guards, they stopped. At this distance, they were able to see that they were indeed mares; two of them were Earth ponies, while the third was a Pegasus.

“This place is under lockdown, and no pony is aloud to enter.” Stated the tan guard. The yellow one nodded in agreement, before he lowered his spear at the three strangers.

“Whoa there, partner, we mares are just a little lost, is all. We’ve been wandering this here place for a good few hours now, trying to find our homes, but then this big blizzard came along, and when we were finally out of the worst of it, we had no idea where we were.” Said the orange Earth mare.

“Yea, and we are all really hungry, as well as thirsty, and we were hoping that a couple of big, strong stallions like the two of you would like to help us poor mares out.” Said the pink Earth pony, giving them the bed eyes. This caused the guards to relax a bit, and then the yellow one noticed that the Pegasus seemed to be a little more closed in then her friends, staring away from them, hiding behind her long mane.

He lowered his spear, deciding that they weren’t a threat, and walked up to her, before saying, “Hey, gorgeous, how about you let us strong stallions help you poor mares out. After all, you do look quite cold out here in this weather.” This caused the mare to emit a small squeak, before she turned her head slowly. When he saw her eyes, he thought that they were eyes from heaven, and his mind began to wander. Since he left the normal temple from the jungle, he hadn’t had any action, of either kind, and at the sight of these mares, he was already thinking about a plan to try and get them into his bed.

“Um, a-are you sure, I mean, we are v-very c-c-cold, and…h-h-hungry.” Shivered the Pegasus. The yellow guard gave her a sweet smile, before placing a hoof on her cheek, making her blush.

“Of course, we can bring you girls inside, and if that isn’t enough, we could always huddle for warmth.” He said, bringing his muzzle closer to her lips. “And I promise to be gentle.”

Their lips were mere centimeters apart now, and just when he was about to make his move, he felt something hit him between his legs. Something hard.

He paused for a second, his mind trying to register what just happened, and then a sudden burst of pain spread from his nether regions and to his brain. He didn’t cry out, rather he gave a small whimper of pain as he sank down in the snow, covering his crotch with his fore hooves.

The tan guard barely had time to noticed what just happened when a rainbow streak flew by him, hitting him in the back of the head and making him drop his spear, followed by a tan streak which hit him in the side, sending him flying towards Pinkie and AJ. He landed with his face in the ground, facing the two earth ponies. He then got up slowly, and shaking his head to clear it, he turned around and saw a couple of Pegasai, one with a cyan coat, and another with a coat similar to his, as well as a grey scale mane, making her look a lot like…

“Daring Do!” He growled, lowering his head as he got himself ready to charge them, when he suddenly felt a pair of hooves connect with the back of his head, bringing a flash of white in his sights before he fell down face first into the snow again. He looked up in time to see the strangest sight of all: a tall bipedal creature, holding what looked like to be a large stick. For some reason, the creature looked familiar to him, then he recognized what it was. It looked like the human that they all had seen inside the temple; only this one was very much alive. And by the looks of its eyes, it seemed be very pissed off. As the human raised its stick, the last thing he thought was ‘So, somepony did figure out how to wake up a warrior.’ Then the stick came down, and he blacked out.

I took a deep breath once I knocked the guard unconscious, and I said, “Nice buck, AJ.” When I didn’t hear a response, I turned around and looked at the others to find them all looking at me with a little alarm, with Daring looking a bit annoyed. Curious and confused, I asked them, “What?”

“You didn’t wait for my signal, Drak!” Exclaimed Daring, shaking her head in dismay. At this point, Twilight and Rarity were coming out of the hiding spot that we were hiding in, looks of shock on their faces.

“Well, if I waited any longer, Daring, then that colt would have kissed Fluttershy!” I yelled back, the anger burning in my eyes. We were all hiding behind the guards, and the three mares were doing a good job of distracting them. We even had to stifle a few giggles when Pinkie gave the guards a lewd look. However, it started to get a little uncomfortable when the other guard walked up to Fluttershy. I tried to calm myself down, saying that he wouldn’t dare to try and make a move, but I was mistaken, and once he placed his hoof on her cheek and started to pull them together, I was unable to keep myself together, and I quickly leapt out of hiding, much to the dismay of the others, and ran up to the guard, where I swung my staff in an upward stroke, getting him right in the nuts.

“Still, don’t you think hitting him there was a bit…brutish?” said Rarity, wincing a little when she saw the groaning guard there, still whimpering in pain.

I shook my head. “No, I believe he deserved it.” I said, walking up to the groaning stallion. “So, anything you would like to say for trying to kiss my marefriend?”

The pony was quiet for a second, and then he whispered, “B…b-buck y-y-you.”

“Well, that was a stupid thing to say.” I said, raising my staff up to knock him out. Before I could bring it down, though, AJ came in between us with a determined look in her eyes.

“Whoa there, partner, relax, don’t let him get to you!” exclaimed AJ, trying to calm me down. However, I had already set it in my mind to do harm to him, and I tried to say as much to my country marefriend.

“But AJ, you saw what he was about to do.”

“Yes, and Fluttershy wouldn’t have let a small thing as a kiss bother her, as long as she knew she was going to be fine.”

“It w-was k-kind of s-s-scary, though.” Fluttershy said softly.

“See, she wasn’t comfortable with it!”

“That don’t make it right for you to just go and hit him were the sun don’t shine.”

“Trust me, hitting him there was the least amount of pain that I would have inflicted on him given the chance. And when I find this Ahuizotl, I’m going to give him an even worse beating.”

“Now, don’t go back to that, partner! Daring already warned you to keep a cool head, otherwise she is going to make you wait at the airship.”

During our argument, the stallion was slowly trying to get himself up. With a small groan, he raised his hoof to place it on the nearest elevated object that he could find.

Unfortunately, the object that he placed his hoof on was AJ’s cutie mark.

With a gasp, AJ suddenly bucked her legs reflexively at the unexpected touch, hitting the guard straight in the jaw. With a loud crack, the guard’s head was snapped back, and he careened head first into the ground, knocking him out instantly.

Everypony was quiet for a few seconds, looks of shock and surprise on their faces. My mouth was hanging open from what I just witnessed, and then, with an audible gulp, I said, “Ok, I’ll keep a cool head, just as long as you don’t do that to me. How the hell did you get so strong, anyways?”

AJ blushed a little, before she nodded, saying, “W-well, w-working on an apple f-farm really works out those thigh muscles.”

“I’ll say! You nearly knocked him out into next week!” Said Dash, a huge grin on her face. This caused the rest of us to laugh, while AJ continued to blush in embarrassment.

Once we were all calmed down, Daring said, “Well, if that is all done, would you guys mind getting a move on?” We nodded, all of us a little bit in a lighter mood from the recent scene, and then we entered the temple.

When we opened to door, we were expecting a big room to meet our gaze, but instead we found ourselves staring at a big hole, with stairs leading down into the darkness.

“Echo!” Shouted Pinkie, her voice bouncing off the frozen walls of the tunnel. We all looked at her and she said, “What? I’ve always wanted to try that.” We were all silent for a moment, and then we began to descend the stairs, both Twilight and Rarity lighting the way for us. I was about to us my own spell, but decided against it, thinking that their lights would be enough for now.

Everypony was silent as we walked down the tunnel, even Pinkie stayed quiet for the moment. A total of ten minutes passed without a natural light at the end of the tunnel. As we continued deeper, I was beginning to sweat for an unknown reason, and said, “Um, is it normally this hot in an ice cave?”

“Not that I know of.” Said Twilight, starting to sweat as well. I looked at the others, and everypony else were sweating just as badly as us. I even went so far as to take my hoodie off and wrap it around my waist, though it did little to relieve the heat.

“Uck, this is so dreadful! The sweat is getting into my coat, and is completely ruining my mane.” Stated Rarity, desperately trying to keep her mane the same as it was before we entered the tunnel, with little success. We continued to walk a little bit more, and then we began to see a small light at the end of the tunnel

Suddenly, Pinkie began to slow down her walking, and soon she was dragging her hooves just to keep up. We all began to worry about her, and then AJ said, ”What’s the matter, sugarcube? You alright?”

Pinkie was quiet for a moment, and then she said in a soft tone, “No…must…not go…towards…the…light.” Once she said that, she was unable to contain herself and began to laugh at her own joke.

We all stared at her, not sure what to make of it, and then Daring asked, “Uh, is she always like this?”

We all just nodded, and then Dash said, “We just usually ignore it, though”

Daring was quiet for a moment, and then she shrugged, and turning towards Pinkie, she said, “Pinkie, please don’t do that when we get closer to Ahuizotl, otherwise you might give away our position, ok?”

“Okie dokie lokie.” Whispered Pinkie, and then she zipped her lips. Literally. We ignored the pink pony’s antics and continued to the light at the end of the tunnel. As soon as we reached the bottom, we were blinded for a second by the intense light, and when our eyes adjusted, we couldn’t believe our eyes.

There, right before us, was an underground jungle. There were tall lush trees and giant bushes, as well as large vines that seemed to sway in the ominous breeze. I was wondering how there could be wind in a cave, when I remembered reading something like this in one of the books at the library. The book said that different wind fronts of different temperatures usually make it windy, which is one of the things that the Pegasai do to keep the place cool during the changes of season, though it was hard to understand exactly how they did it. The area was lit up by hundreds of crystals that were attached to the ceiling, making it look like it was always high noon.

“Wow, never thought I’d be in an underground jungle.” Daring said.

I looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “Your not disappointed to be back in your element, are you?”

“Hell no, in fact, I prefer it like this, compared to the freezing winds outside.” She said, a large grin on her face. “How about we stop here for a few and gather stock of what we brought with us.”

We all nodded, and so we settled down for the moment to rest and figure out a plan. The items that we brought with us were some food, water, medical supplies, and rope. While it wasn’t ideal for a long journey, we hoped that it would last us long enough for us to save the girls.

We hope.

As we were taking stock, Daring began to tell us what to expect with Ahuizotl and his minions.

“Alright, so the first ones you guys need to know are the tribal Earth ponies, like the ones that we took out outside of the temple. They are a bunch of tribe members that he was able to convert to his side, and they are rather decent in a brawl, though not very well coordinated. Just stay out of their reach and you should be fine. Next are his cat minions. He has four of them, not five like in the book. I still don’t understand why my publisher made me put a house cat in my stories. Anyways, the ones that he does have are a tiger, cheetah, panther, and lynx. They are normally easy if we can take them out one by one, but most likely Ahuizotl will send them at least two at time, and they are unusually well coordinated with their attacks when they are together. The main thing about them is their strength, speed, agility, and reflexes.”

“So everything?” AJ asked, causing me to chuckle slightly.

Daring sighed. “Yes, basically, they are well balanced. Finally, we have Ahuizotl himself, and he is no pushover, as much as I make him one in the stories. He is way bigger then all of us, even you, Drak, and he may not be the fastest one here, but I believe he is the strongest one here, as well as being surprisingly agile, and he will surprise you with his tail hand, so be careful when fighting him, though if it does come down to it, I don’t want any of you to fight him, especially you, Drak.”

“What? But, why?” I asked, confused.

“Well, several things. One, you don’t know him like I do, so you don’t know how he fights. Two, I’m going to want somepony to deal with the cats, and if we have two of our heavy hitters on the big guys, then there won’t be enough of us left to deal with the rest. And finally, you’ll get easily distracted, especially with the way you have been acting recently.”

I was quiet for a while, before I nodded, understanding the reasoning behind it, even though I would really rather fight Ahuizotl myself. After a few moments of silence, I said, “Fine, but I’m not going to like it.”

“Duly noted.” Stated Daring. “Now, I’m going to go and see where in this place the treasure that he wants is, and then-”

Before she could continue, we began to hear some rustling in some nearby bushes. We all froze at the noise, and then Daring motioned us to stay quiet before slowly walking towards the bushes, ready for anything. Once she was in a reachable distance, she quickly pounced into the bush. The bush shook for a second, and then it was still. A few seconds later, a very embarrassed Daring came out of the bushes, tipping her hat over her eyes to prevent us from seeing her blush.

“So…what was that?” Asked Twilight, confused.

“Well, I thought it was an enemy, but…” said the tan Pegasus, before she grew silent, her blush growing more.

“But what?” Asked Pinkie, getting curious herself.

Daring said nothing, just blushing so hard that her entire face was turning red. Suddenly, the bush rustled again, and out popped a rather large dull green lizard, at least a meter from head to tail, and half a foot tall, its tail taking up at least three fifths of the length.

Fluttershy was immediately in front of the new creature, inspecting it with curiosity. “Hi there. What are you doing here?” she asked in a calming tone. The lizard seemed to raise an eyebrow at her, titling its head to the side. “Did the big mean Pegasus scare you?” She asked. Surprisingly, the lizard shook its head, causing me to blink in surprise. Then again, I have seen weirder things since I got here, so I shouldn’t have been that surprised. We all remained quiet, knowing that Fluttershy was the best one of us to deal with these kinds of situations.

“Are you lost?” She asked. The lizard shook its head again.

“Well, what do you need then?” She asked, confused.

At this, the lizard turned to its side, and suddenly, two things sprouted from it’s back, making Fluttershy give a squeak of alarm.

On its back were what appeared to be two primitive webbed wings. Each wing seemed to be at least two and a half feet across, with the edges of the wings a bright red color. The right wing, however seemed to be only half opened, and upon closer inspection, we were able to see that there was a rather large gash on its wing, preventing it from opening properly.

As soon as Fluttershy saw the wound, she zoomed back to our bags and got out some of the medical supplies, before she zoomed right back and began to try and help the winged lizard.

“Fluttershy, don’t go wasting our medical supply on an animal.” Said Daring, but the yellow mare didn’t bother to listen to her, for her entire attention had been dropped to healing the poor animal in front of her.

“Don’t bother, Daring. Once Fluttershy sees a animal in pain, she will do whatever it takes to heal the animal and make it all better.” Said Twilight, a small smile on her face.

“She wouldn’t be the Fluttershy that we love and care for if she didn’t.” Said Dash, also smiling. Daring was quiet for a second, and then she slowly nodded, saying, “Well fine, but I would rather if she didn’t get so close to an strange animal, I mean, even I haven’t seen any like this one before.”

“Hmm, I think it’s a flying lizard.” Said the purple unicorn. We all turned towards her, and we were somewhat surprised that she seemed to have a book with her. We were silent for a moment, and then I asked, “Um, why did you bring a book with us, Twi?”

She just smiled at us and said, “Well, I brought several books, some on the animals of Equestria, present and past, and others about ancient languages. I thought that it might be helpful if we run into anything else.”

“Well, it’s better then when Rarity brought all of those scarves with her when we all went to the Crystal Empire the first time.” Said Dash, getting a quick glare from the white unicorn.

“So, anyways, according to my book, the flying lizard is considered to be a creature that symbolizes freedom of right and flight. That’s really all it says, though, since the book also says that they are supposed to be extremely rare.” She said, looking intently at the book.

“Um, Drak. Could you come over here please?” Asked Fluttershy. I nodded and walked up to her, leaning down so that I could be closer to the lizard. As I approached, the lizard seemed to get a little nervous, and tried to skitter away, but winced as it pulled on the wing that the yellow pony was tending to.

“Now, now, you have to stay still, otherwise I won’t be able to fix this.” She lightly scolded it. The lizard stared at her for a while, and then it slowly nodded.

“Ok, so what do you need me for?” I asked, curious.

“Well, I need to apply a splint for her wing, and-”

“What, how do you know it’s a girl?”

“Well, she told me.”

I was quiet for a moment, and then shrugging, I asked, “So, why does she need a splint?”

“Well, her main wing bone was fractured due to the gash, and I need to set it properly, but in order to do that, I need to open her wing all the way.” Said Fluttershy.

“So what do I have to do then?” I asked

“Well, I need you to give me your…s-spike things…” She said, stuttering slightly

I blinked in surprise. “Why do you need it?”

“Cause she says that if she has something to bite on to, then she will let me fix her wing.” Stated Fluttershy. I was a bit hesitant to lend her one of my Sais, and was about to refuse, when I looked into the lizard’s eyes. Some reason, something in my mind clicked, like we had this sort of connection. Without saying another word, I silently took one of my Sais out and placed it in front of the lizard handle first. She took the handle and bit down on it a little, before giving a small nod to the Pegasus. With that, Fluttershy took the lizard’s wing and unfurled it completely. As soon as it was open, the lizard gave a small cry of pain and bit down hard on my Sais. I winced as I watched Fluttershy do her thing, impressed as to how such a timid pony could do something so messy and…bloody. After a good minute, she finished placing the splint and bandaging it up, and with that, she gave a small pat on the reptile’s back and said, “Ok Rasi, your good now.”

I raised an eyebrow at this. “Rasi?”

“Yea, that’s what she told me what her name is.” Said Fluttershy, still petting the lizard. I shrugged and went to grab my Sais, but to my surprise, the lizard growled at me. I quickly pulled my hand back, surprised at her aggression. “Um, could you tell Rasi to let me have my Sais back please?”

Fluttershy nodded, and then whispered a few things to the flying lizard. The lizard hesitated for a moment, and then she slowly placed it back down on the ground, were I took it and placed it back I my belt. We were quiet for a while, and then I reached out to try and pet the lizard myself. Unsurprisingly, the lizard growled at me again, and I said, “Hey, I just want to pet you, is that to much to ask?”

To my annoyance, Rasi nodded, flicking her tail a bit. I was about to scold the lizard when Fluttershy said, “Please be nice, Rasi. After all he did help you, and he is a very nice po…I mean, human.” Rasi looked at the Pegasus then looked back at me, and after a few seconds of her staring at me, she slowly lowered her head a bit. I smiled a little and went to pet her, but before I could, we heard a large growl, and all of a sudden, a panther came into the clearing.

We all froze for a second, trying to figure out what just happened, before our fight or flight instincts kicked in. I quickly placed an arm around Fluttershy and pushed her behind me, drawing one of my Sais in the process, pointing the tip at the large cat. The panther didn’t move a muscle; rather it just stared at us, a look of cunning in its eyes. After a good few seconds of nothing, it lowered itself and prepared to jump at us, but before it could, Daring was already running at it, and as soon as she got in front of it, she swung around and placed a round house kick into it’s jaw. The creature wasn’t expecting such a hit, and was stunned for a moment. Fortunately, the moment was long enough for me to make my own move; running up to close the gape between us, flipping my Sais around so that the handle was now pointing out, and smacked it across the other cheek, making it flinch again. The panther was ready this time, however, and it used the momentum to turn around, its back claws slashing at me, and unable to block in time, I tried to dodge it, but its claws caught onto my shirt, as well as a bit of my stomach. I could feel the claws of the creature lightly scratch my skin, pushing me back. With a large ‘Umph!’ I landed on my ass, and placed my arms up to defend from the on coming onslaught, eyes closed, but when none came, I opened my eyes and noticed that the panther had already left. I was surprised that the panther just left me like that in such a vulnerable position, but was grateful nonetheless. As I got up, I heard the ponies running up to me, and when I turned around, I saw that they all wore worried faces.

“Drak! Are you ok?” Asked Fluttershy

I nodded. “Yea, I think I’m fine.” I said, looking down. When I saw the damage, however, I corrected myself. “My shirt, however, has seen better days.” The stomach of my shirt was badly damaged, and I could see that the scratches were already starting to bleed a bit.

With a sigh, AJ said, “Well, might as well take it off then, so we can bandage you and all.”

I nodded in agreement, but as I went to take the shirt off, I felt something obstructing its movement. Confused, I turned to see what it was, and to my surprise, I saw that Rasi was wrapped around my neck, shivering slightly.

I just stood there, waiting for my mind to catch up with me. A few moments later, it did, and with a cry of shock, I jumped in the air before I landed on my ass once again, panting in slight fear. As I fell, Rasi hugged me even tighter, her tail going around my neck, strangling me slightly. As soon as I landed, I could hear laughter, and turning around, I saw that Rainbow, Pinkie, AJ, and Twilight were all laughing at the scene before them, with Rarity slightly giggling as well.

As I calmed myself down, I began to get slightly irritated by their actions, and with a huff, I said, “What, she scared me, ok. I mean, when did she even get on my shoulder anyways?”

“She got on as soon as the panther appeared.” Said Twilight in between burst of laughter. I just rolled my eyes and turning to look at the lizard again, wondering how I didn’t even notice her getting on me. She looked back at me, blinking a few times, and I could have sworn I saw something akin to mirth in her eyes.

With a sigh, I said, “Well, you mind getting off, please?” to my dismay, she shook her head before she tightened her grip on me even more. With another sigh, I just gave up, not in the mood to try and convince her to move, and instead I asked, “Fluttershy, could you help me here please?”

Fluttershy, who was the only one not laughing, nodded, and then she walked up to me and began to talk to the lizard.

“Um, e-excuse me, Rasi, could you, maybe, um…g-get off of my coltfriend’s shoulder, please. That is, if y-you want to.” The lizard just shook its head again in response to the yellow mare.

“W-well, w-what could c-convince you to g-get off?” she asked. Rasi then began to speak in a bunch of clicks and thrums, and while none of us were able to understand her in the slightest, Fluttershy seemed to be able to understand her easily.

After a while, Fluttershy nodded and said, “W-well, I’ll see if he’s ok with it.” She then turned towards me and said, in a soft voice, “Um, s-she wants to stay on your shoulder, Drak, cause she feels s-safer.”

“Yes, I already figured that out, but will she get off of me?”

“W-well, she will, b-but…she wants to get back on once your done getting b-bandaged.”

I was about to argue, when I suddenly heard a loud chirp directly in my ear, making me wince slightly by its suddenness. Turning around, I saw that Rasi was smiling slyly at me, before nuzzling into my cheek. Not feeling up to arguing with a lizard, I sighed and said, “All right, fine, I’ll let you get on once I’m bandaged.” She looked at me a little uncertainly, and then she nodded before she slid off of me and back onto the ground. I then took my shirt off and sat down, letting Fluttershy to begin to bandage me.

‘I’m, getting a strange sense of déjà vu here.’ I thought to myself. Before I could think about it any more, we heard Daring shout to us, “Hey guys, I think you should see this.”

I turned around, or as much as I could as Fluttershy was fixing me, and saw that Daring was walking towards us, holding what looked like to be a small green crystal.

“While you guys were messing with that reptile, I decided to try and chase the cat. Unfortunately, I lost it, though I did find this crystal that he seemed to dropped” Everypony looked at the crystal, which seemed to be emitting a light hum of energy.

“Wow, that is a lovely crystal! I don’t suppose that you would like to give it to me for safe keeping?” Said Rarity, her eyes lighting up as soon as she sees it.

“Rarity, I think the better idea would be to let us see why the panther dropped it in the first place, and what kind of importance it is. Also, I thought that you hate green.” Said Twilight.

“Well, if it has to do with my hair, I mean, green isn’t so bad when it’s a crystal.” She said, blushing slightly.

“Sorry Rarity, but Twilight is right for this one. I think that the panther purposefully dropped this crystal for me to find it.” Said Daring, eyeing the crystal.

Twilight took the crystal from Daring and began to examine it. After a good few minutes, she sighed and said, “All I can tell is that it’s some sort of messaging crystal, but I don’t know how to work it.”

“Well, surely there has to be some wa-OW!” I began to say, but then Rasi interrupted me by ripping part of the bandages that Fluttershy was still placing on me, before she gently nipped at the cut on my stomach.

“Rasi! Don’t hurt Drak!” Exclaimed Fluttershy in shock. The reptile simply ignored her, and then proceeded on to the crystal, and when she opened her mouth, some of the blood that she took from me dripped onto the crystal. As soon as it made contact, it seemed to be absorbed, and then the crystal began to glow a little more, like the blood just powered it up.

“Blood magic.” Hissed Daring, to which Twilight solemnly nodded. We all stared at the crystal as it glowed, and then after a few second, a voice began to speak out of it. I could hear a strong Spanish accent as it spoke.

“Greetings, Daring Do. I, Ahuizotl, have a proposition for you. As you may have found out by now, I have fillynapped your sister as well as your niece, along with some other fillies that happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Now, you may be wondering why I did such a dreadful thing, but it’s all quiet simple. I’m sick and tired of constantly losing to you, always having you interrupting my plans, always taking my treasure, always getting in the way. I began to think to myself ‘How in Equestria do you get the most daring adventurer off of your heels once and for all?’ Well, after a bit of pondering, as well as a bit of research, I discovered that not only is the great Daring Do an orphan, but she also has a younger sister, Ditzy Do, who she loves with all of her heart, and would do anything to make her live a happy life. Well, I looked far and wide for her, and then I find out that she lives in a quant village called Ponyville under the not so clever name of…*sigh*…Ditzy Doo. Anyways, when I found her, I also noticed that she apparently got pregnant with a foal due to some…accident. While I hold no pity for what happened that day, I’m still quite sad to see ponies drop so low as to rape a fellow citizen that is minding their own business, just to satisfy some inner lust, at least in such a brutal fashion. But anyways, back to the reason why I have them. I knew that you would be coming here next in search of the treasure here, most likely with some sort of knowledge of what this temple holds. I may as well refresh your memory, though. In this temple houses a human, one of the last of its kind on this planet. I intend on waking it up, and having it serve me as my champion, and once I have it, I plan on leaving my old temple and taking Equestria by storm, and who knows; maybe I’ll even start with this Ponyville to test it’s abilities. However, I seem to be missing a certain item to wake it up, and this item happens to be inside this temple somewhere, and I want you to find it and bring it to me. If you do, then I’ll let Ditzy and the other fillies that I’ve caught free. However, if you refuse, or don’t bring it within the next 24 hours, then I will start killing each and every one of them by the hour, on the hour, and I will be starting with your precious niece. And if you still don’t believe me after this amazing speech that I have given you, then this will most certainly convince you. Say hi to your aunt, Dinky.“ The crystal went silent for a moment, and then a new voice came up, one that was easily recognizable.

“L-l-leave me a-alone, you b-big m-m-meanie!”

“Oh, such a feisty one, this one is. While I admire your courage, right now, I want to hear you beg for your life so…”*SLAP!*“Start begging.”

“G-go to Tartarus!”

“Wrong answer, you little foal.”*SLAP!*”Now, how about you try-”

*CHOMP!*

“OW, you bitch!” We then hear the sound of metal on stone. “Now, this is what you get for biting my tail!”

As soon as he said that, we heard the most horrifying sound ever: the sound of metal slicing through something soft and wet.

“AAAAHHHHH!”

“Now, last warning, or else.”

“…”

“Well?”

Silence, and then…

“…A-A-Auntie D-Daring, I…I…I’m s-s-scared…get…*sob*…p-please…please g-get D-Daddy and…a-and the o-others…s-save…*sniff*…s-s-save u-us…I…*sniff*…I w-want to go…g-go h-home…I…I-I m-miss y-y-you…*sob*…p-p-please…s-save me a-and…M-M-Mamma…a-as w-w-well as t-t-the…o-others…*cry*…I…I don’t w-wanna d-d-die…”

“Finally. *sigh* you have 24 hours, I suggest that you get moving now. Happy hunting.” We then heard a low, evil laugh, one that didn’t stop, even as the crystal powered down, Dinky still crying in the background.

Everypony was quiet after what they just heard, the horror easily shown on their faces. Daring’s was a look of dread, fearing the worst for her family members. Dash’s expression was similar to Daring’s, though she tried not to show it as much as her hero did. Pinkie’s mane was entirely flat; her normally huge grin gone, and only to be replaced with a huge frown and teary eyes. Rarity seemed to be a little green around the gills, looking like she was on the verge of throwing up again. AJ and Twilight had looks of disbelief, like they seemed they couldn’t believe what they just heard. Fluttershy’s was the worst, for she had a look of pure terror in her eyes, before she finally fainted once the message was done.

Me, on the other hand, I showed no emotions. I wasn’t able to, the anger and hatred for this ‘Ahuizotl’ character only growing stronger with each passing minute, my whole body tense with the intense emotional pain. I knew that if I released my hold over myself even slightly, all that anger would get out. Daring noticed my expression, and worried, she asked, “Hey Drak, you ok? I thought that you would be more worried then that.”

I was quiet for a while, still wrestling with my emotions, before I slowly shook my head. “I’m fine.” I said. With that, I quickly got up, placed my shirt on (Thankfully Fluttershy finished bandaging me before she fainted) and walked a small distance away, before I knelt on the floor, closed my eyes, and began to meditate to try and calm myself down.

I began to control my breathing rate to relax myself, trying to think of other things besides the terrifying scream and the sound of Dinky getting cut, but the thoughts kept returning to me unbidden, more intense then the last one. I kept at this for an uncertain amount of time, and then I felt a small tap on my shoulder. I ignored it, keeping myself still and my breath as steady as possible. I felt the tap again, and I kept on ignoring it.

“Can you please tell us what’s on your mind, Drak?” Asked Twilight, her voice coming from behind me.

“You heard it yourself, so you should know how I feel about all of this.” I said with a small amount of venom in my voice.

“Still, I want you to tell me yourself.”

“No.” I said curtly, before I fell silent once again.

“Drak, please listen. Don’t hold your emotions in, it’s not healthy for you, or for anypony around you.” She continued, her voice moving around me. I could hear her hoof steps as she walked around me.

“I can’t.” I said, my concentration starting to fail me.

“Why can’t you? You were able to tell us about almost everything else about you.” At this point, her voice was now in front of me, her hoof steps coming to a stop.

I was quiet again, trying to figure a way out of my predicament, when she did something unexpected: she placed her lips on my own and gently kissed me.

I was surprised, not expecting such a thing at this moment. I did nothing as she kissed me, not kissing her back, not even opening my eyes, just staying frozen to the spot. After a good few seconds, Twilight removed her lips from me, and then I slowly opened my eyes. As I opened my eyes, all I could see was Twilight’s big violet ones staring back at me. I could feel the tears starting to form, and no matter how hard I tried, they wouldn’t stop forming.

“Please, Drak. Don’t hold it in. Just let it out…for all of us.” She begged, her eyes full of worry and slight fear. I stayed quiet, not trusting my voice to say anything. I then looked at everypony else, and they were all just as worried, waiting for me to say something. Fluttershy seemed to have woken up a while ago, and she seemed to be the most worried of them all.

With a sigh, I got up and said, “I’m…I’m sorry, but…I can’t. I just…don’t trust myself to release such emotions. I…I’m sorry.”

“Why not, sugarcube?” Asked AJ.

At this point, my anger had finally dwindled to bearable levels, and with a sigh, I said, “Look, can we just go now, I just want to save them and get this over with.” With that, I got up and began to walk to pick up my staff that I dropped when we were resting. As I was picking it up, I felt a tug on my leg, and looking down, I saw that Rasi was looking at me expectantly. I just stared back at her, knowing what she wanted, and said, “Not now, Rasi, I’m not in the mood.” With that, I picked up my staff and began to walk away, but before I could leave, I felt Rasi grab a hold of me and run up from my leg and up to my shoulder, wrapping her tail around me and getting herself comfortable. I looked at the lizard with a bit of anger in my eyes, and said, “I said no, now please get off of me.”

To my annoyance, the flying lizard just chirped loudly into my ear, before once again giving me a sly look. I just looked at her blankly and said, “You could care less about what’s happening, huh?” The lizard gave a shrug (somehow), and with a sigh, I asked the others, “So, where to now?”