Chapter 23: Four Problems

The Next Day in the Badlands…

Rainbow Dash and Spike were just entering the Badlands, a place full of lava and mountainous perils that await those who do not use caution, ashes and dark clouds filled the sky from the Volcanoes, if Logan were here, he would describe it as a perfect “World 8” setting.

“Well Spike are you ready?” asked Dash

“Eeyup!” said Spike

“Are you ready to go on an awesome danger-defying quest to go get a key to save Equestria?” asked Dash

“Aye Aye Captain! Yeah!” said Spike

“I can’t hear you!” said Dash

“Aye aye Captain! YEAH!!” yelled Spike

“Ooooh Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? What was that?” asked Dash putting a hoof to her ear

(Sorry couldn't resist...don't look at me like that, you know i was trying to lighten the mood)

“I AM READY FOR A TOTALLY AWESOME ADVENTURE!!” boomed Spike

“There we go! Now onward!” said Dash

“FOR EQUESTRIIIIIAAAA!!” yelled Spike as he went to start the ascending stairs

“This key is going to be a piece of cake!”

20 Minutes later…

Both Rainbow Dash and Spike were out of breath for some reason, which seemed quite odd to the pair of them

“I don’t get it, how can I be tired already?” asked Dash

“Yeah, and I’m fit for a dragon (pant) how am I so drained?” said Spike

“(pant) I have no idea” said Dash

“I know why” said a voice

The pair looked to their left to see a teenage dragon all tuckered out and about 3 times the size of Rainbow Dash and one thing was clear is that he was dead tired to do anything.

“Um Hi Mr. Dragon dude” said Dash casually

“Name's Balok” said the Dragon

“I’m Spike, and this is Rainbow Dash” said Spike

“A Baby Dragon and a Rainbow maned Pony? Such a pair I have never been seen around” Balok

“Yeah well, we’re looking for a Key, it’s a cyan colour and sparkly” said Dash

“He has it…” said Balok

“Who has it?” asked Spike

“A week ago, a really strong evil was released into the world from his prison in the Badlands which we never dared to go near. But a few days ago a huge Black Dragon with similar evil appeared and suddenly every dragon just felt drained and couldn’t go far, we tried to reach the Ponies in a nearby village but this is as far as I got” explained Balok

“Well Spike here can connect to Princess Celestia all he needs is parchment and a quill” said Dash

“Yes, there a pony village nearby should have what you need but you must hurry or the Dragons here could die from lack of energy” said Balok

“We’ll get right on that” said Spike

“Good Luck” Balok waved goodbye

Rainbow Dash and Spike left for the Pony village and hoped their friends are having better luck with their keys

Fillydelphia…

If anything looked peaceful, it was the town. Much like Ponyville itself the town was small and the Grass was green and to Logan it reminded him partly of home and of a movie he saw once, there was just something about the place that brought a nostalgic feeling.

Both Fluttershy and Logan however, couldn’t fail to notice something seemed off…it was too peaceful from a glance but the air had something stink something horrible! Not the actual air but the feeling air as their off feeling was proven correct as Shadow like beings were marching the town as if they owned the place.

“Shy, I don’t think those shadowy guys are friendly and I say we stay out of their sight” said Logan

“What why?” asked Fluttershy

“Those have to be the Entity’s minions, they seem like normal goons rather than something major but if they are then they’ll know about all of us and as much as I would love to kick ass the wise part of my brain tells me we shouldn’t do that” said Logan

“Um…what do we do then Logan?” asked Fluttershy

“Well we could NOT draw attention to ourselves and try blend in with the crowd and see if we can find a sign with the Emerald of Harmony or we could go fists flying like Bruce Lee but let’s face it that wouldn’t work” said Logan

“Why not ask what Navi?” suggested Fluttershy

“Yo Navi! Paying attention in there?”

…

“Navi? NAVI!”

…

“WE NEED YOUR HELP NOW!”

…

FOR FUCK’S SAKE THIS ISN’T FUNNY!”

…

“Screw you then, me and Shy can do this ourselves”

…

“How did it go?” asked Fluttershy

“Bloody bastard’s ignoring me! We don’t need her anyways…” said Logan

“Oh…well I’m sure we can do juuuust fi-“ started Fluttershy

TRAP!

Suddenly Logan and Fluttershy, were hung by their hind legs and the Shadowy beings were all around them in an instant…

“Bugger!” said Logan

“Well, Well, Well! Boys have we found a nice catch today” said a Shadow being that clearly was in charge

“Yo dude you mind letting us down?” asked Logan knowing the answer

“Nah, our master has told us all about you Logan, and I think I nice execution tomorrow morning will reward us quite greatly right boys?” said the leader

“YEAH!” said the underlings

“Oh over my dead-“ started Logan

SLAM!

Both Fluttershy and Logan were hit the head knocking them both out as the Shadow beings took them somewhere away from the town without anypony else being none the wiser.

Navi had arrived at Fillydelphia after getting some fresh air but Logan and Fluttershy were nowhere in sight, where could they be? They had to be somewhere around here.

“Logan? Fluttershy?” called out Navi

…

“LOGAN! FLUTTERSHY! WHERE ARE YOU?” yelled Navi

…

Navi was confused where they would be when she felt the Emerald moving away from her somewhere out of town it seemed and she knew something was wrong so she followed the signal…

Crystal Mountains…

Twilight and Applejack bypassed the Crystal Empire to get to the mountains in where it was always cold and right now a Blizzard was going onto the path to the mountains but the further Twilight and Applejack went, the more futile their efforts looked after and hour of going towards the mountain.

“Either Ah’m imagining things or we ain’t moving a Celestia-damned inch” said Applejack

“The mountain isn’t looking any closer and I swear the Crystal Empire looks close as it did an hour ago” said Twilight confused

“Ah say we head back and ask Cadence” said Applejack

“I don’t understand it, we aren’t moving a single centimeter closer to the Crystal mountains, why is that?” said Twilight confused

After a few more minutes walking another white flash of blizzard showed up and they decided to head back to the warm Crystal Empire.

Somewhere in the Desert…

“Oh this is sand is simply a disaster!” whined Rarity as her hooves were all fall of sand and some present in her mane

“This sand is so much fun! You can make trails behind you but it’s sad I can’t bounce around in it!” said Pinkie happily

Rarity and Pinkie Pie were wandering the desert for 2 hours straight under the hot sun and nothing but sands everywhere, Rarity was being the usual drama queen thanks to the sand running her fashionable self and that it’s so damn hot! Pinkie however didn’t seem to be complaining and was being her usual happy Pinkie self.

“Seriously, who places a magical key to save our fair land in the middle of a desert?” Rarity continued whining

“Ooooh! I love guessing games! Can we play? Can we Play?” said Pinkie

“No” said Rarity

“Awwww…” said Pinkie disappointed

“Oh my stars! An Oasis!” said Rarity

“Last one there is a rotten egg” said Pinkie racing down the sandy hill

“IT. IS. ON!” said Rarity going down the hill

But for the pair of them it turned out just to be a mirage and still no key in sight anywhere but things could be worse…right?

Let's hope not...