Spike walked up the huge staircase, on the sides were large statues of ponies holding spears and bows.  It seemed that Spike was entering an ancient ruin.  Who knows what could be hidden in there?  Spike's lantern flickered as he walked up the steps and the rusty bolts on the hinges squeaked softly.  The unnatural wind was blowing down the steps, and he could see light at the top of the stairs grow larger with every step.  His dragon heart pumped in excitement, he thought of all the riches and gold he could have, and how many gems he would be able to eat.  Most importantly, how much he would be able to rub it in his friends' faces after he was done.  When he reached the top of the steps, there was a large walkway with no walls, just huge bowls of fire on the edges, leading of more than 100 feet into the darkness.  The drop off the edge was deep, and he could hear rushing water below him.  The drop would surely kill him, and he got a cold shiver down his spines.

He started to trek across the narrow walkway, and tried to keep his balance, even though there was a lot of space for him to catch himself if he tripped.  He was about halfway through the walkway when he looked upon the ground to find some sort of pressure plate before him.  He was so curious to step on it to see what it would do.  To keep himself safe, he broke off a piece of loose rock from one of the bowls of fire and put it down on the pressure plate.  Nothing seemed to happen, which killed Spike's mood.  "That's it?" but as he said that, the plate sunk into the ground, and all of the bowls of red-hot fire, turned to a blue flame.  "Oh, this is better!" he said, getting excited.  Spike didn't know why, but even though he was putting himself in extreme danger, he wanted it to happen, he always wanted this kind of adventure, not just stacking books and tending to Twilight Sparkle.

There was a loud roar coming from the side where he entered.  His body pumped full of adrenaline, he felt like he was going to burst.  There was a stomping sound of footsteps, huge ones, and with every step, the ground shook, and large cracks in the walkway shot up towards him.  He thought it was the best idea to run towards the end, and the beast was following him.  Spike started to feel delirious.  He felt like this is what he wanted, but as he was running away, he realized what he was getting put in.  Adrenaline was finally through his veins and he ran very fast with his lantern flying everywhere.  He tried to get a look at what was following him.  He flashed the light repeatedly behind him.

It roared again, very loud, and he could tell it was right behind him.  He got one good look at it, and he couldn't believe what he saw.  Chasing him was a giant dragon, just like him.  It was the same species and the same color, so he had to physically beat it, no matter what magical powers he possessed. It had large scales, sharp fangs, talons, and a very spiky tale.

All he could do is run.  He was charging down the walkway and almost fell a few times.  Where the hay did the dragon come from?  He didn't hear anything or smell anything, so it was like the dragon just popped up out of nowhere.  He could see the end of the walkway, there was another entrance, no door, just an arch way leading down to another staircase.  He was just about to get there, when a huge wall of blue flame shot out from the ground, blocking the entrance.  "I'm fireproof, the guys who designed this didn't think this all the way through," he thought.  He dived through the flame, but a shot of pain spat through his whole body.  He was thrown backwards, toward the dragon.  He had to defeat it.

Engage Epic Fight Scene: Cue the Music!

He faced the dragon, cracked his knuckles, and charged the dragon, having no idea what he was doing.  He dodged the first swing of the enormous fist of the dragon, and it came crashing down on the thick rock. He ran through it's legs. The walkway exploded, sending rocks everywhere.  Some of the debris shot up into the dragon's face, hitting his eyes.  It roared in pain, and swung it's tail frantically at him.  Spike knew that the only way to get safely up to it's head was by it's tail.  He spun around and ran towards the dragon, and grabbed onto one of it's scales.  He dug his claws into it, and sprinted up it's back and got onto it's shoulder.  The dragon brought it's fist up to it's own shoulder where Spike was trying to climb onto it's head.  The dragon was not the smartest book, actually, it was plain dumb, the IQ of a two year old.  It swung its fist down onto it's own shoulder, crushing it.  It was easy to tell that it broke it's collar bone and shoulder blade.  A edge of a bonesplit out from its back.

Purple blood poured from the bone in it's split back, and it hollered in pain.  Spike was actually winning the fight. He climbed up onto the top of the dragon's head, and started lashing out at it with his claws, but he was only able to remove only half a scale.  He realized that the only way to beat it, was by using itself against it.  He hopped up and down on its head to get it's attention, and another fist was brought down on it's skull.  Spike dodged the fist and landed on it's snout.  He ran over to it's left eye and stabbed it with his tail.  Purple blood poured from it's eye, and the dragon started to stumble around.  The dragon's heart was beating fast, even faster than Spike's, and Spike knew that the fight was coming to an end.  All he needed was to take out the heart.

He hopped of the snout of the dragon and free fell down onto the curved angle of the stomach.  He punched his claws into it, and the dragon, thinking it was going to finish him off, punched his fists into it's own chest so hard that it broke it's own rib cage.  There was a hole looking into the dragon's chest and his heart was visible.  Now came the final, and nasty part.  Spike held his breath as he dived into the open chest of the dragon, and sliced up the heart.  He was covered in blood, dragon's blood, and when he finished, he needed to aim the dragon to fall in the direction he desired, so he can land near the exit.  While it was about to finally black out, Spike climbed up on the head, and grabbed one of the eye lashes.  The brain was still sensitive to touch, so he tugged on the eyelash and the dragon fell forward.  He was thrown off the head of the dragon and landed near the exit.  Just as he planned, he turned around to see what he did.  "I would have preferred not to get wet " he snapped.  He wiped himself off, and the map lit up, very bright in his pouch.  He pulled it out, and looked at it.

Disengage Epic Fight Scene: End the Music!

It said, "Congratulations, you passed the second riddle,".   He thought for a second, and then asked, "A riddle to what?" and then, a soft noise came from the bottom of the stairs, the sound of a door slamming shut, but from far away.  He realized that he dropped his lantern as he grabbed the map, and he picked it up, and charged down the staircase.  While doing so, he tripped on the eleventh step of the hundred of them, and rolled down the staircase.  When he hit the bottom, he found the lantern to be smashed.  "Oh, ponyfeathers, that's bad,"  then the map lit up again, and it wrote, "Have some help,".  The lantern stood up and rebuilt itself.  It even re lit itself, and a gust of wind blew towards him.  He walked over and grabbed the lantern.  He said, "Uh, thanks?" to the empty temple, his voice echoed.  He found the door that slammed shut, and this one was like the room in the mine.  It was old and wooden, but he could tell that the door was a replacement for another.  There was dynamite holes around the wall.  There must have been another door here, but somepony blew it up to get through.

He opened the door and almost lost his lunch to what he saw next.  On the ground was a skeleton of a pony, with meat still on it, and flies buzzing all around it.  "Oh, poor guy" he thought.  He cupped his nose and shoved around it, sticking to the walls.  There was tattered clothing around the skeleton,  Maybe there was something helpful he could find in them.  He stopped hugging the wall, still with his nose cupped with one hand, he set the lantern down and aimed it at the carcass.  He looked through the pockets, and found some more candles.  There was a wallet too, it's licence dated back just as old as the mine.

   The door lead to another dark hallway.  It was in a square shape, made of tile on the ground, and blocks on the top.  He turned the dial on the lantern to a more narrow and wide position.  He felt the wind blowing in that direction, so he knew it was going the right way.  He felt that the wind was his guide, and the map would show him hint's on the back of it.

His heart stopped pumping fast, and the adrenaline oozed out of him in small sweat drops.  They pooled around his feet as he would stop every few steps to watch out for any dangers.  He was very scared now, but still excited.  The wind blew harder with every step he took, and on the corner of the hallway, the wind stopped short.  He looked around, and found a door just like the one in the beginning, it had the same writing on it, and it spelled out:

State the answer to the Riddle of the Flame

"The fire was enchanted, and I had to face the fact that something's really can hurt me," he returned,

"Correct," the door spelled out, "Show the map,"

He pulled out the map, and the wind took that from his hands, and burned it up, and evaporated it.

"Hey! I need that,"

"Have a new one," the door spelled out, and a slot opened in the door and a new map popped out.  He took it, and the slot shut.

"Proceed, Adventurer," the door stated, and opened up.  The atmosphere didn't change to much from his point of view, but there was a difference in the temple.  There was vines hanging from the ceiling, and wild plants grew out from the the walls and grounds.  He looked at the map again and it showed a picture of an exit sign, which meant exit, an then a ladder.  Spike walked through and mad his way across the vines, and the bushes growing from everywhere around him.  There was moonlight shining down from a hole just as deep as the one he entered the mine in.  He put the lantern in his mouth, and climbed up it.  It took some strength , but he was able to climb out of the mine and temple.  He was out of the hole, and looked around to see where he was.

He was back in the Everfree Forest, and he could still see Canterlot, and the fireworks were still going off in the distance.  His friends were all still gathered around at the party, but he just had one of the best times of his life.

He was in need of another candle, he reached in his pouch and grabbed one out.  Something caught his eye, he pulled out another long stick, and instead of a candle in his hand, there was a stick of pure dynamite.  "This should come in handy," he grunted. There was still treasure to find, so he shoved off, looking at his map.  It said to run towards Canterlot, after exiting the hole in the ground, and that he would have to go back... What? The map wanted him to go back to the Gala?! Well, if the map says so, and if it would lead him to the treasure, then he would do so.