Chapter 9: The Warning

“The rings!” cried Rainbow Dash as the golden circles clanked and rolled around on the hard stone floor.

The unlucky thief didn’t have it off so well. The feathered fiend had received a nasty shock for his efforts and now lay moaning pitifully on the cold floor. The friends moved over to find the criminal and retrieve their prize.

“A griffin!” said Twilight in astonishment.

“Ugh…” moaned the griffin in pain.

He was a male griffin and quite skinny. The feathers adorning his head were a deep grey in color whereas the rest of his body was velvety black; however, the tips of his wing feathers were the same grey as his head. He twitched sporadically as he lay moaning on the ground.

“How did he get in here?” Rarity wondered.

“Slick!” A harsh feminine voice yelled from behind the Royal Treasure Seekers, “What kind of a bone-headed move was that?”

They quickly twirled around and found two more griffins standing behind them.

“Get back over here and give them the rings back,” the female griffin commanded.

The one called Slick lay in pain upon the floor, not doing much else than moaning and twitching.

“Sly, go and get him up,” the female sighed with annoyance and turned to her muscular companion.

Sly, the strong male griffin who stood by the female, went to pick up his injured pal. His head feathers, in stark contrast with Slick, were pure white while the rest of his body was a rich brown. The tips of his wings seemed to be crooked and bent and he had a small scar on his hind right leg.

Sly whisked himself into the air and over the heads of the ponies, landing gently upon the ground but yet still pushing up a cloud of dust. He hoisted his friend onto his own back and slid the rings toward the equines. Sly then proceeded to carry his friend back over to the female griffin, legs barely trembling beneath his burden. He tossed Slick was onto the hard earth with a thud and the black griffin groaned again.

“Come on Slick, get up!” The female griffin gave him a sharp kick.

Slowly, the injured creature found his feet and stood up. He wobbled for a few seconds and then straightened himself out while glaring at his female compatriot.

“Ugh…Did you have to kick me J?” Sly’s whinny voice bounced through the cave.

“Quit whining you baby,” J, the female spat back, “You made a dumb move and now you’re paying for it.”

This female griffin was unlike any the Royal Treasure Seekers had ever seen. While her grey body color was nothing out of the ordinary, her golden head feathers and gold tipped wings made her really stand out.

Even shocked by the three griffins in their midst, the ponies eventually found their voices when Applejack managed to speak.

“Excuse me but…who are y’all?”

The griffins turned to face the ponies and the female, J, once again spoke up.

“We’re just a couple of treasure hunters trying to make a living.”

“Treasure hunters?” accused Rainbow harshly, “More like treasure thieves! You tried to swipe our rings!”

“Whoa! Cool your engines, Sparky,” J’s fierce blue eyes bore into Rainbow Dash. “My boy Slick here made a bad move and it looks like he paid for it. Let’s just call it even and you can be on your merry way.”

“Call it even?!” Dash flew right up to J’s face. “Oh no! Not until we know what you’re doing here and who you are.”

“Rainbow,” Spike grabbed the cyan pegasus’ wing and tugged on it, “I think you need to relax for a moment.”

Turned back to the young dragon and opened her mouth to reply, but then exhaled and closed it. She looked back at the griffin trio and then back at Spike and nodded her head in agreement. Of course, that didn’t stop her from giving the griffins a long, hard glare.

“Wow, your friend has some temper,” chuckled J. “But I suppose it’s only fair to at least tell you our names. I’m J. This is Sly”, she motioned toward her brawny companion, “and that numbskull over there is Slick.”

“So, what were you doing in these caves?” asked Twilight curiously.

“Hunting for treasure of course!” J replied back. “Didn’t I already tell you that?”

“Well yes, but how did you get in?” Rarity followed up.

“We followed you,” answered the twitchy Slick.

“So you were the ones making all that flapping noise behind us,” gasped Fluttershy.

“Slick, I told you to let me do the talking,” J growled quietly to the black one.

“But what could you have possibly wanted to follow us for?” pressed Twilight.

“I’d think that one would be obvious,” J rolled her eyes. “You’re after Sun Cloak’s treasure and so are we.”

J held out a small sapphire and a crooked smirk grew on her face when the Royal Treasure Seekers looked at it with mouths hanging open.

“Now let me get this straight,” Rarity said, still not prying her eyes from the sapphire, “you have one of Sun Cloak’s gems and instead of solving his puzzle you followed us to the finish. That sounds an awful lot like cheating to me.”

“Whoa now,” J yanked the crystal away from the friend’s sight, “this Sun Cloak fellow never said anything about not following other teams and he sure didn’t stop us so if anything it’s your fault for not paying better attention. If fact, you should all be thankful that we’re here to teach you about being wary of the other teams.”

“Alright I’ve heard enough of this!” Rainbow flared her wings threateningly. “So you cheated and tried to steal our rings and now you want us to thank you for it? Oh no!”

The cyan pegasus snorted and stomped the ground like she was about to charge.

“Hey! The ring thing was all Slick here,” J held out her talons in a non-threatening manner. “If I would have had my way we would have followed you in and you would never have even known we were here.”

“Come on J!” piped up Slick defensively, albeit a little groggily. “Those were the last rings and we need them to get the treasure.”

“Are you still that stupid?” J spat at Slick. “There are seven teams and each team needs a set of rings. So, when this team here,” she pointed her sharp talons at the ponies, “puts their gemstone in the far wall and leaves, three nice shiny new rings are going to pop up for us. Got it?”

“So what was your plan exactly?” Rainbow burst into J’s chiding remarks. “You were just going to follow us all the way to the treasure and nab it at the end?”

“Pfft…That’s not how we roll,” J waved a talon through the air flippantly. “Nah, we just sort of play it by ear and see how things go. Now, if you would be so kind as to leave so that we can get our rings and be on our way that would be great.”

“You’d like that wouldn’t you?”

Dash glared at J. J glared back and smiled deviously.

“Hush up RD,” chided Applejack. “They got us. We need to leave in order to solve the next puzzle and the only way to do that is to put our gem in the door and head on out.”

Rainbow let out another snort and grudgingly turned toward the far end of the room. The others also moved to the exit and Spike placed their ruby in the small notch the stone. The gem began to hum what seemed to be some form of melodic tune and the rock slid away to reveal a dark ramp leading rapidly toward the surface. Spike plucked the ruby from its resting place and the friends walked into the final tunnel.

“Don’t be too sad now,” shouted J to the departing group. “I’m sure that we’ll see you again. Whether or not you’ll see us depends on if you’re as perceptive as you were today or not!”

The griffins chuckled softly as the rocky door closed behind the Royal Treasure Seekers. The dark tunnel began to light up with the same disconcerting green glow from before.

“Ooo! Those nasty griffins!” fumed Dash. “How did griffins even get into Sun Cloak’s hunt in the first place?”

“Come on everypony,” Twilight said calmly, “it’s very late and we haven’t slept yet. Plus, I think these tunnels are starting to get to everypony. Let’s just get outside first and then we can set up camp and discuss these things properly in the morning.”

The suggestion sounded good to the now exhausted group and they began their climb through the upward sloped passage. It led straight and true to one last stone door with a notch. A simple placement of their ruby and the way ahead was cleared as pale moonlight spilled into the tunnel. The group happily climbed from the darkness and onto wide, open land once more.

“It’s delightful to be in fresh air once again,” purred Rarity happily, “those tunnels were not only dark, but stuffy too.”

The friends looked around at their surroundings, but could see no sign of Saddleback, only small hills full of rough and tumble bushes and a few scraggly trees.

“I guess we’ll just have to make camp somewhere around here tonight and find Saddleback in the morning,” stated Twilight.

The sleepy ponies began preparations for camp. They let the saddlebags they had been carrying drop to the ground and fished around for the necessary supplies.

“Step back everypony,” commanded Rarity.

A very compact white square floated out of her saddlebag, propelled by magic coming from the prissy unicorn. It landed gently on the ground and then began to unfurl itself into a mass much larger than should be physically possible. It unfolded into an elegantly designed tent, big enough to fit the entire party.

“This is something new I concocted just for the occasion,” said Rarity with delight. “I figure, why rough it when you could have something much nicer?”

The group didn’t complain and, in fact, didn’t seem much in the mood for talk whatsoever. They simply entered the tent without thinking and began to doze off as soon as their heavy heads hit their pillows.

* * * * * * * * *

Sunshine broke over the horizon, but the tired ponies snoozed soundly as the sun began its trek through the heavens. The morning was nearly over when Pinkie Pie first began to stir and Applejack soon joined her pink friend. The two began to make breakfast from the supplies they had brought but, with Pinkie helping, it was anything but quiet. Soon, the entire group found themselves awakened from sweet sleep to the smells and sounds of breakfast.

“Actually, when you think about it, it’s more like a brunch,” Pinkie commented.

“I reckon you’re right ‘bout that Pinkie,” Applejack replied while stirring a bubbling pot over a small campfire. “We’ve slept near half the day away. I should kick myself for sleepin’ so late, ‘specially when we’re out here helpin’ the Princesses and all.”

“Good morning! What’s for breakfast?” Rainbow Dash yawned and stretched her wings.

“Now Rainbow, I know it’s early but a proper lady should always ask what she can do to help before simply nabbing a bite to eat,” Rarity corrected her friend.

The cyan pegasus and white unicorn looked at each other and yawned. They had clearly just gotten up.

“So, is there anything you girls need help with?” asked Rarity.

“Well that’s mighty kind of ya’,” began Applejack, “but I think we’ve done near everythin’ that needs doin’. Why don’t y’all just take a seat and we’ll git breakfast…err…brunch set out.”

Pinkie Pie and Applejack went about setting up a table right outside the tent and soon filled it with hot cereal and some fresh water along with plenty of fruit and a couple of small gems for Spike. The four ponies took their places. In no time, Twilight Sparkle, Spike, and Fluttershy joined the others for a tasty brunch.

“So, what’s the plan for today?” Rainbow asked with a full mouth.

“For starters,” opened Twilight after swallowing down a bite of oats, “we need to get back to Saddleback so that we can find our bearings. Once we’re done with that, I suggest that we head back to Canterlot where we can listen to Sun Cloak’s next message away from prying ears. After last night’s encounter with the griffins, I don’t want to hear the next puzzle until we’re in a safe location.”

“Speaking of the griffins, does anypony know what happened to them?” quizzed Rarity.

“As soon as I put my head down, I was out cold. I have no clue,” Spike mumbled between crunchy bites of precious stones.

“I heard the rock door open and then some flapping over our tent,” replied Fluttershy. “So, I guess they’re gone.”

“Good riddance!” breathed Rainbow with passion.

The group slowed down their chat long enough to enjoy a few more bites but eventually Spike interrupted the silence.

“How exactly do we plan to get back to Canterlot or even Saddleback for that matter?”

“Well, it’s much easier to see from the sky,” Twilight thought aloud. “So, Rainbow Dash-”

“I’m on it!” Dash interrupted her scholarly friend and bolted into the sky.

The pegasus made a decent sized cloud of dust in the process, which made the others cough and covered the rest of their uneaten food.

“Hey! I can see the rock quarry!” she shouted down at the group who was attempting to dust their brunch off. Dash came down for a landing and, once again, knocked a dirt cloud into the food.

“It looks like we’re a good distance past the quarry, so we need to move in that direction.” She pointed her hoof toward the horizon with confidence.

“Pff…pff…” Rarity spit out dirt. “Do try to be more careful when you…pff…take off.”

Pinkie stared down at her dusty food and giggled. “Looks like brunch is over, let’s get going!”

“We need to pack up first and then we can head back toward town,” Twilight suggested.

The group packed up their gear and cleaned up what was left of the food while Rarity put her elegant tent back into a cube, the size of which should not be possible.

“Ok, everypony make sure to double check that we’ve got everything with us,” reminded Twilight.

“We’ve already checked and double checked. Let’s get going!” Spike replied impatiently.

“Alright then, Rainbow Dash, lead the way.”

* * * * * * * * *

The quarry came into view, over the dusty hills and scraggly brush, after a good walk. The friends soon found themselves back on the quarry’s hard, rocky surface and stood in its cool shade. Saddleback could be seen down the large dirt road and the party was more than happy to reach civilization after their time under the earth, but they weren’t the only ones at the quarry that day. A group of four ponies, three earth ponies and one unicorn, were presently upon the grounds. They appeared to be staring at the ground and having a rather heated debate. Pinkie Pie wasted no time in making her presence known, much to Rainbow’s chagrin.

“Hello over there!” called the pink pony while waving.

The foursome, quite startled by the peppy voice, looked and found the seven Royal Treasure Seekers.

“Afternoon to ye!” a grey speckled stallion yelled back in a thick Irish accent.

“What’cha doin’?” asked the curious Pinkie.

When the four didn’t respond, Pinkie Pie moved up closer to them. She began by introducing herself and all of her friends to the other ponies. Reluctantly, her friends stepped forward when their name was called. When the introductions had been made, the foursome stood blinking and looking quite dumbfounded at the smiling Pinkie Pie.

“Well,” the speckled stallion finally said, “I’m Professor McKracken from the University of Hoofington and this here is me class. They’re on an archeological and geological expedition for course credit.”

The Professor was quiet for a moment. He glanced at his students and nodded his head at them. When his students didn’t quite seem to understand, the Professor continued.

“Why don’t ye introduce yerselves to this fine group?”

One of the students, a mare with a light cream coat and beautiful grey eyes, lit up at the Professor’s suggestion.

“Well howdy! Name’s Rocky Road. It’s a pleasure to meet y’all.”

Next, the only unicorn in the group, a stallion who had a white coat and a deep blue and purple mane, spoke.

“My name is Gemwalker. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

Finally, the last student spoke up. He was also a stallion, but had a light brown mane with streaks of black and a pale green coat.

“Hey. I’m Diggs,” he mumbled and didn’t really make eye contact.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you all,” spoke Twilight. “I didn’t know that U of H had any kind of credit programs like this.”

“Yes, well,” Professor McKracken agreed, “it’s a new and excitin’ area that the University seemed quite pleased to incorporate. In fact, this is my first time leadin’ a group and it’s gone remarkably well. But, if ye don’t mind me askin’, what is a large group, such as yeselves, doin’ out here in Saddleback?”

“Oh! Us? You see…” stammered Twilight, “um…well…”

“We heard about this place and decided to come check it out for ourselves,” Rainbow Dash intervened. “Just a quick visit, nothing big.”

“Ah! I see! Tourists then,” stated the Professor. “We’re actually out here on much more important business. I’m sure you’ve all heard of this Sun Cloak. Well, we originally began our research expedition at the base of Canterlot and happened to run into this massive cave system. Long story short, we solved his first puzzle quite by accident. Of course, our group was larger at the time as everypony got an automatic ‘A’, and those here are the ones who decided to tough it out ‘till the end. Anyhoo, we have reason to believe that right here in Saddleback may be the answer to the next clue! Isn’t that excitin’?”

The Royal Treasure Seekers were stunned. Wide eyes and open mouths from the group made the Professor smile a bit awkwardly. Pinkie didn’t seem very startled, however, and quickly responded.

“Wow! That’s super duper terrific!”

The U of H teacher seemed to regain his composure after the encouragement and continued to speak.

“We have reason to believe that right here in this very quarry lies the answer, but we’ve yet to find anythin’. So, if you’ll excuse us, we need to get back to work.”

He turned toward the in his group unicorn and gave a command.

“Mr. Walker, if you would please continue with what you were doin’.”

“It’s GEMwalker,” corrected the unicorn.

“Quite right, Mr. Walker,” replied McKracken, oblivious.

Gemwalker growled and murmured under his breath, but still began to use his magic. His horn glowed as he made a brief search around the quarry.

“I just don’t see any jewels around here,” he relayed.

“But your gem findin’ spell worked so well back in the Crystal Caves,” mused Rocky Road.

“Gem finding spell?” whispered Rarity to herself.

It was then that she noticed Gemwalker’s cutie mark; it was eerily reminiscent of her own. Like hers, it was three gemstones. The only difference was that his mark held red crystals while her mark featured blue ones. But Rarity remained silent about it.

“Well, we really must be off, but good luck!” wished Twilight with a wave good bye.

The Royal Treasure Seekers began to head toward town when Fluttershy turned back toward the struggling team.

“I don’t know if it will help much,” she said in her soft voice, “but when we were here yesterday we saw something unusual around those bushes right over there. You could check it out…if you want.”

The shy pegasus then gave a sheepish, but warm, smile and turned back around to follow her team into Saddleback. As soon as she turned away, the U of H students went over to investigate the new lead.

* * * * * * * * *

“I heard that,” Applejack leaned over and whispered to Fluttershy as they walked back through town.

“Oh…you did?” the pegasus responded guiltily.

“Yeah, I did. I promise not to tell the others, but why’d you let ‘em know where the entrance to the tunnel was?”

“They’re just a group of college students. I figured that helping them wouldn’t hurt us at all. Plus, they looked so lost, just like we were, and I couldn’t stand to see them like that.”

“All right. Helpin’ out some students doesn’t seem so bad to me. And, when I think about it, I guess they’ll have some mighty nice stories to tell their folks. Nice goin’ Fluttershy.”

After a few more minutes of travel, the group finally made it through Saddleback and stopped for a rest next to the large wooden “Welcome” sign.

“So, what’s our plan Twilight?” asked Spike.

“Alright, the trip here took us most of the day by air and now we have to walk.” Twilight was levitating a map in front of her. “I’d say that we have roughly three days of travel to get back to Canterlot. On the way we can listen to Sun Cloak’s message and try to figure out where to head next before we reach the city.”

“Three days of walking? Oh, what fun,” Rarity said, oozing with sarcasm.

“I agree! It’ll be like one looong hike and I love to go hiking. Especially when there’s-” Pinkie began to talk way too fast.

“Thank you, Pinkie,” Rarity quieted her ecstatic friend.

“I say: the sooner we git a move on, the better,” stated Applejack as she hopped back to her feet.

“Ok then everypony, let’s get going!” Spike insisted and began to lead the charge.

“Um Spike,” Twilight stopped him in his tracks. “Canterlot is this way.”

“Heh heh,” the dragon chuckled nervously, “…right.”

The first day on the road was rather dull as the group slowly climbed over dusty hills and past scraggly bushes and trees. Soon however, the city of Canterlot became a visible dot resting upon the high mountain. However, it was still a solid two day march away and the group had to put up camp for the evening. The sky was beautiful and clear that night, full of bright stars, but the party didn’t have much time to notice seeing as they were all fast asleep.

The following morning began just as uneventful as the march the day before. They had another breakfast of hot oats and picked up camp quickly. Still, not a cloud seemed to be in the sky and the bright morning sun beat down upon the ponies.

“Hey…Twilight?” huffed Fluttershy while breathing heavily. “Could we…maybe take…a break?”

“Yes…Please,” Rarity panted. “I’m just…dying in this heat.”

“Ok everypony…let’s take…a breather then.” Twilight agreed.

The group quickly collapsed upon the warm ground and a shadow soon appeared above the friends.

“Yes! Some shade! Thank you, cloud!” Rainbow yelled her thanks into the heavens.

But the shadow passed too quickly to enjoy. In fact, so quickly that it made Spike a little nervous.

“Um, Rainbow,” he gulped as he pointed to the sky, “I don’t think that’s a cloud.”

Without warning a bright orange flame engulfed the party. Luckily, Sun Cloak’s yellow barrier sparked to life just before any damage could be done. The ponies screamed and huddled closely together as Sun Cloak’s warning echoed through the air.

The flame quickly subsided and the yellow shield dissolved. A black dragon landed solidly on the ground and stood before the shaking ponies. He was smaller than most dragons of his age, being only around three times larger than an average pony. His eyes were a fierce green and he had a large scar along his right eye.

“Poniesss,” hissed the beast, “I could almost smell the unicorn’s strong magics on you and have come to give you a warning.”

He paused for a moment while he gave the group a good looking over before continuing.

“You will no longer participate in the treasure hunt if you know what’s good for you because I will claim the treasure for myself. Do not get in my way!”

Even though he glared menacingly toward the ponies, but did not see Spike who was blocked from view by the equines. The black creature spread his leathery wings and was about to take off when Rainbow Dash spoke up against the threat.

“We’re not afraid of you,” she croaked.

The dragon folded his wings and glared at the bold pegasus.

“A-And besides,” stuttered Dash under the stare, “you can’t have the treasure unless you have a special gem and you sure can’t take ours; we’re protected.”

“I do not need to take yours,” replied the great beast camly, “I have my own.”

At these words the dragon displayed a small purple amethyst between his gnarled claws.

“But how did-?!” shouted Rainbow Dash in shock.

“Dragons have long known of the Crystal Caves below your precious Canterlot,” said the dragon as he fingered his amethyst greedily. “It was only a matter of finding an entrance large enough for me to get in. Now be away with you! You little pests!”

“Hey!” Spike jumped into the forefront to defend his friend’s honor. “No one talks like that to my friends!”

The black monster was taken aback as he stared wide-eyed at the miniature dragon before him.

“Another dragon…how interesting,” the black dragon stroked his chin in thought.

“That’s right pal! And you’d better back up or I’ll…I’ll…”

“Calm yourself young one,” growled the dragon.

Spike cringed and stopped talking. The black creature continued to stare at Spike and he craned his neck to get a better look from all angles. Slowly, he nodded his head, took his amethyst, and stuck it firmly between the scales on his torso.

“I am Grallix of the Frostbluff Peak,” said the dragon calmly, “and it would seem that you share my humiliation, young one.”

“Humilation?!” Rarity cried out indignantly. “Why whatever do you-?”

“SILENCE!!!” roared Grallix aand smoke poured from his mouth.

He then glared at the ponies before continuing.

“Little one, it would seem that you have been shunned from your kind and forced to live amongst these…these…ponies. I feel your pain young one. I have the misfortune of being small, even though warrior’s blood runs through my veins. I am a dwarf and am looked down upon by our race.

I have had my own hoards wrenched from beneath my claws and have been forced to slave away for others. When I called upon it, my strength failed me. I will accept no more of this. That is why I seek after the unicorn’s strong magics. I invite you to join me, young one. Together we can right these wrongs and be rulers among our kind.”

Spike looked back at Grallix in shock. The black dragon stared back with almost kind eyes, he seemed to be sincere.

“I…” Spike started but then paused to think, “…No. You have it all wrong. I haven’t been shunned and these are my friends. I’m sticking by them no matter what. And threat or no threat, we have been asked by the Princesses to find Sun Cloak’s treasure and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”

The older dragon’s expression changed, ever so slightly, to one of confusion, but then became stern once more.

“Very well young one, have your way. I will let you all go, but be warned. If you choose to continue upon this course of action then you had best hope that we never meet again. I may not be able to harm you, but I promise that I will make your lives miserable.”

As soon as his threat was hissed, Grallix opened his powerful wings and flew into the sky. The ponies watched in horror as he careened toward the peaceful town of Saddleback which they had left only a day before.

Next Chapter: Chapter 10: The Stand Estimated time remaining: 5 Hours, 5 Minutes