Lotus sucked in a deep breath as a small, purple-scaled creature emerged from the shadows. Everypony shifted nervously, gripping their weapons tighter, staring at the stranger warily. It stood at the edge of light, staring back.

“Who are you?” Twilight asked, fascinated rather than scared as she examined the lizard-like being.

It was unlike anything they had encountered so far and not only because it hadn’t tried to eat them right away. Standing upright on two legs, the creature barely reached Twilight’s chin, but its formidable claws and sharp fangs warned against taking it lightly. Its bright green eyes examined the mare in turn, their pupil slits narrowing even further. The creature shot its tongue out with a small hiss.

“My name’s Spike,” he said in a surprisingly foal-like voice. A few seconds later he added, “And you kind of ruined my trap, you know.”

“Your trap?!” Rarity exclaimed, shaking her sword. “I broke my leg because of it!”

Spike winced, shuffling from one leg to another.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” he said, revealing his sharp teeth in a horrible attempt at what Twilight guessed was a smile. “I didn’t expect anypony to be here, really.” His eyes narrowed. “You aren’t here for me, are you?”

“No,” Twilight assured him, exchanging a quick look with Midnight, who was just as perplexed. “We’re just looking for something.”

Spike nodded and fell quiet, his eyes moving from one pony to another as Twilight considered her next move. After reading so much about the horrors awaiting her in the tunnels, she wasn’t prepared for the possibility of meeting someone friendly. Was the creature trying to lull them into letting their guard down?

“Why, I wonder why you would make a trap in the middle of the tunnel anyway?” Rarity gave Spike a withering stare.

“For hunting,” he shrugged, looking away. “Sometimes a biter or two gets stuck there. They’re pretty good when fried.”

Rarity scrunched her muzzle in revulsion, but Twilight wasn’t really surprised by his diet — she had guessed by his sharp fangs and claws that the creature in front of them was a predator. It did nothing to reassure her about his intentions.

“Don’t worry, I don’t eat ponies,” Spike said, probably noticing something in her expression. “Honest.”

“Good to know,” Twilight nodded, staying on guard.

However, the more she thought about Spike, the more questions she had. As far as she could tell, the creature was just as intelligent as a pony. Also, it clearly knew about ponies and spoke their language, despite living deep inside the mountain. Was there more of his kind around here? What even was his kind?

Twilight couldn’t recall any information about the creature in numerous books she had read about the tunnels of Canterlot Mountain, but that was hardly a surprise. Most ponies had never ventured as deep as her party just had, so while biters and shriekers were relatively well-known, what lay deeper down remained a mystery.

“Are you here alone?” Twilight asked casually.

Spike tilted his head.

“Why do you ask?”

“Just curious,” Twilight said, forcing an apologetic smile. “We weren’t expecting to meet someone like you here.”

“Well, I’m probably the only one of my kind around,” Spike said. “But I wouldn’t say I’m here alone. There are plenty of monsters who would try to eat you.”

“Oh, we’ve met some of them,” Midnight chuckled, playing with his magical staff meaningfully. “They broke their teeth on us, so to speak.”

“Well, I’m not like them,” Spike said, throwing his arms up. “I would never eat a pony!”

That did it for Twilight. Having come to a decision, the unicorn gestured for her companions to lower their weapons. It wasn’t that she trusted the creature completely, but she judged they would take care of him on the off chance he turned hostile.

“We were about to stop for some rest. Would you mind staying and answering some of my questions?”

“Are you sure it’s wise?” Rarity intruded and pointed at her back limb. “I broke my leg because of him.”

Twilight gave her a nod and turned to Spike, awaiting his answer while holding her breath.

“Sure, I would love to talk,” he grinned with his toothy smile, sending shivers down Twilight’s spine, and walked toward the group. “It’s been ages since I last had a good conversation.”

Rarity cleared her throat loudly, getting everypony’s attention. “How about we tend to my broken leg first?”

Twilight blushed, cursing herself internally. In her excitement, Rarity’s injury had slipped her mind. While Midnight kept his eye on Spike, the rest tended to Rarity’s injury. Or at least tried to.

“We need to make a splint,” Lotus suggested.

“I know that, but we don’t really have anything we could use,” Twilight sighed, searching through their duffel bag. “I have the healing potion, of course, but I’d like to leave it for an emergency.”

Rarity scoffed. “I don’t know about you, darling, but a broken leg certainly feels like an emergency to me!”

“Is it broken though?” Lotus murmured, examining Rarity’s hindleg up close. Twilight wished she knew some medical spells to see through her skin, but unfortunately she had never learned one, so she had to rely on Lotus. “Can you move it?”

Rarity cried out in pain when she tried, tears welling up in her eyes. She shook her head with a grimace. “I don’t believe I can...”

Twilight sighed, levitating the bottle with the healing potion. Her eyes went from it to the mare sprawled on the ground, and she shook her head in dismay. It seemed like they had no alternative, unless they chose to abandon the mare or carry her along. Neither was really an option.

“Here you go,” Twilight grumbled, offering the bottle to Rarity.

Nodding in thanks, Rarity gulped it down in one go.

A grimace of pain distorted her face. She screamed, wriggling on the floor in agony, but Twilight prevented the others from intervening, watching the scene with a detached expression. Mending bones with this potion wasn’t a pleasant experience, but at least it was a quick one.

Soon, Lotus helped the disheveled Rarity back on her hooves. The mare was panting heavily and her left eye was twitching.

“You could have warned me that it would hurt this much,” the mare said in an accusatory tone as she tried to restore her mane into a semi-resemblance of her old manestyle. She gingerly stepped on her back hoof. “It seems to have worked splendidly though. Thank you, darling.”

“Don’t mention it,” Twilight said. She turned to Spike, who was standing a dozen feet away from the group, twiddling his claws. “Would you mind coming closer?”

“Nah, I’m fine over here,” the creature answered, settling on the floor right where he was standing.

He didn’t look like he belonged underground, Twilight thought. Typically, the creatures native to here had some similarities like the lack of vision or bright color, but Spike was the opposite. Reptile-like appearance, intelligence… Twilight’s eyes widened as a wild guess popped into her head.

“Are you a… dragon?”

Spike narrowed his eyes, giving the mare a strange look.

“Yes,” he nodded. “How did you know?”

“A dragon?!” Rarity recoiled as if expecting Spike to breathe fire on her. “You said there were no dragons down here, Twilight Sparkle!”

“I’m the only one as far as I know,” Spike said, frowning at Rarity. “Hey, I’m not going to hurt you, pony.”

“It’s Lady Rarity for you.”

Spike rolled his eyes. Before the situation could escalate, Twilight began introductions. She had to use her real name, since Rarity had revealed it so carelessly. Not that it would make any difference, considering the situation.

“You’re not an adult dragon, are you?” Twilight asked, her ears perking up. “How old are you? Why do you live here all alone? How do you know about ponies? W—” Midnight interrupted her by putting a hoof on her shoulder. “What?”

“Give him some time to answer, Twi,” the stallion chuckled, nodding at the dragon sitting on the floor slightly befuddled.

Twilight blushed. In her excuse, it was hard not to get carried away when having a conversation with a real-life dragon. She could learn so much!

“Sorry, I’m just so excited,” the mare flashed an embarrassed smile at Spike. “Let’s start this again — how old are you?”

After talking with Spike for a while, Twilight and the rest had learned a lot about the dragon. He was young — six years younger than Twilight herself — and, according to him, he was the only one of his kind in these tunnels. However, Spike hadn’t always been living here.

“So you used to live in Starswirl Academy?” Twilight shot her eyebrows up at his revelation. “But I’ve never even heard about you.”

Spike nodded. “Yeah, I was kind of a big secret, you know? The ponies were studying me as a dragon. I lived there for as long as I can remember, but I rarely even left my room except to take part in another experiment. At least Professor Butterfly, who was in charge of studying me, taught me how to read. Otherwise I would have died of boredom.”

Then Spike told the ponies about his time at the Academy. He’d had no friends except for Professor Butterfly, but it had been good enough for him. He used to spend most of his free time reading anyway, reminding Twilight of herself, but rather than studying, Spike was interested in fiction.

“…It was a pretty good life,” Spike finished with a heavy sigh.

“How did you end up living here then?” Rarity asked, arching her eyebrow.

“I’m getting to it, Lady Rarity. Soon after Professor Butterfly had passed away, they just put me in a cage,” Spike said, wincing as if he’d eaten a lemon. “She was the only one who really cared about me as a friend, rather than a rare specimen to study…”

“Oh my, that’s awful,” Lotus murmured as Rarity lowered her gaze to the floor.

“I’ve heard about Professor Butterfly. She taught alien biology, but it was before my time there…” Twilight shook her head in dismay. “I would have loved to meet her.”

Spike nodded with a sigh before continuing his story. The rest of it was pretty short — the next day after he had been put in a cage, Spike had escaped by melting the bars and slipping away at night. Apparently, the ponies had underestimated his abilities when they had chosen a cage for him.

“Sometimes I think about getting back,” Spike admitted. “Even though they’ll lock me up again, I just hate it here. It’s so dark and lonely… and not one book to read…”

Twilight felt a stab of pity for the small dragon. She could understand him better than anypony else. Though she tried to maintain some level of skepticism towards Spike’s story, it was quickly slipping away under a whirlwind of emotions. First of all, he knew too much about the Academy to be making it up. And secondly, how could those ponies have been so unreasonable?!

They’d had a great opportunity of studying a real dragon who had been willing to cooperate, but they had washed it down the drain because of their narrow-mindedness. Twilight’s tail swished angrily behind her. If only they had followed in Professor’s Butterfly hoofsteps…

It was something Twilight had never liked about the Academy. She had only managed to get in there thanks to King Hearth’s personal involvement, but how many talented unicorns had never gotten the chance just because they were lowborn? The king had been one of the few who had understood the problem.

“I’m sorry, Spike,” Twilight said, throwing a wondering glance at Rarity. “I wish I could help you somehow, but I’m not even sure we’ll be able to leave these tunnels with the luck we’ve been having lately.”

Everypony stared at her in surprise, their expressions sagging.

“Not that I’m giving up, of course,” Twilight said more firmly, her face hardening. “We’ll do our best.”

“Maybe I can help,” Spike offered. “I know these tunnels pretty well, you know.” He smiled. “Besides, I don’t want you to ruin my other traps.”

Rarity narrowed her eyes.

“It’s very generous of you to offer your help, dragon. Is there any catch?”

“Eh, no,” Spike said, looking slightly hurt. “You can tell me about yourselves, I guess. I’m kind of dying of boredom here.”

Giving Rarity an annoyed glance, Twilight smiled at Spike. “I’d be happy to.”

Soon, the group was ready to continue their journey.

As soon as Twilight had explained where they needed to go, they moved out, following Spike’s direction. She did not say what exactly they were looking for though. While Spike seemed like a good dragon, the future of Equestria depended on their success, so Twilight didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks. The dragon walked ahead with confidence, but unfortunately his short legs could only move him so fast, so their pace had slowed down considerably.

They still made some good progress though.

Spike hadn’t been kidding when he’d claimed to know the tunnels well. While Twilight had had to decide which turn to take every time the tunnel split, Spike always seemed to know where to go. A few times he warned them about the dangers they would have encountered, had they made a wrong turn. Some of the things he had described was making Twilight’s blood curl.

The others walked in silence as Twilight and Spike talked. The mare had told him about herself just like she had promised, though she had omitted mentioning the king’s involvement in her life or her recent position as the Court Mage. It would have led to questions Twilight didn’t want to answer.

After Twilight was done, Midnight told him about himself as well. Rarity and Lotus, however, remained quiet. While Lotus had never been a big talker, it was uncommon for Rarity to be silent for so long. Letting Midnight take her place near Spike, Twilight slowed down to walk beside Rarity.

The lady gave her a questioning look. “Yes, darling?”

“You’ve been pretty quiet lately. Is everything alright?”

“Oh, it’s quite alright, Twilight,” she lowered her volume to a whisper. “It’s just the idea of trusting a dragon doesn’t sit well with me. He’s a dragon, Twilight!”

Twilight frowned. “You shouldn’t judge him just because he’s a dragon.”

“Really, Twilight? Have you ever heard the stories about dragons?”

“I have, but he obviously doesn’t act like them,” Twilight countered. “Have you ever heard of a dragon who reads books?”

“No,” Rarity admitted. She lowered her voice even more. “But if you think he’s so trustworthy, why didn’t you tell him everything?”

Twilight winced. “I’m just being careful.”

“I can hear you, you know.”

Both mares stared at Spike’s back in shock as he continued to walk forward. Twilight’s cheeks burned hot with shame. Rarity, however, while she had seemed slightly embarrassed at first, quickly recovered, pursing her lips tightly.

The next ten minutes passed by in a tense silence, until Twilight had gathered enough courage to apologize.

“Don’t worry about it,” Spike grinned. Twilight returned a timid smile. “I wasn’t expecting you to trust me right away. I don’t really trust you either yet, but I like most of you so far.”

Rarity huffed, guessing whom he had meant, but made no comment.

Slowly, Twilight returned to her conversation with Spike. The dragon was asking a lot of questions about Equestria in general. Most of his own knowledge had come from fiction books and they weren’t exactly reliable, so Twilight was happy to tell him what little she knew.

Modern Equestria had never been her field of study back in the Academy days or even before that. Most of what she told Spike she had picked up from conversations with the king after he had made her his Court Mage. Twilight frowned, having reminded herself of King Hearth’s condition once again.

Luckily, Lotus was able to fill in the blanks from her own perspective.

“Me and my sister Aloe used to live in a small village near Stonehill with our mother,” Lotus said with a shadow of a smile. “Most of the ponies there were farmers, but our lord had freed our mother from that duty in exchange for her gathering some valuable plants for him.”

Lotus’s mother had taught them to look for rare plants in the large forest that grew nearby. Together, the family had been able to find much more than the lord had demanded, selling the rest in Stonehill. Thanks to that, Lotus’s family had prospered.

“You were lucky to have such a good lord,” Rarity said.

Lotus drooped her ears. “If you say so, Lady Rarity…”

“Did I say something wrong, darling?” Rarity shot her maid a quizzical look.

“N-no, sorry,” the mare shook her head. “It’s just you’re much, much better than he was. We’d been lucky enough to get on his good side, but everypony else in the village hated him.” Lotus sighed. “A lot of ponies didn’t like us either because of that. That’s why Aloe and I had never had any friends except for each other.”

“It sounds like you had it pretty rough,” Spike stated. “Kind of like me.”

“Those damn stuck-up nobles,” Midnight muttered angrily. “I saw a lot of them back at the Academy. They treat everypony like trash. My family is nobility too, but we’re poorer than some of the common folk, so those bastards never liked me either.”

Twilight arched her eyebrows, glancing at the stallion, but made no comment. Before that, she’d had no idea that Midnight had had any trouble with the others. Though, to be fair, she had never paid enough attention to anything but her studies.

“I can assure you, not all of the noble houses are like that,” Rarity pointed out. “House Belle always treats all ponies fairly, be they nobles or commoners. Isn’t that right, Lotus?”

The mare nodded, flickering a smile. “Of course, Lady Rarity.”

“Stop!” Spike yelled, grabbing Twilight’s tail.

A surprised gasp escaped her lips and her leg twitched as if to buck, but she suppressed the natural urge. She stopped, frowning at the dragon, and he finally released her tail.

“Look!” Spike said, pointing at something ahead.

Twilight’s head snapped in that direction, but she saw nothing worth her attention. Just a typical tunnel, stretching into the darkness. She checked her friends behind her, but they had the same puzzled expressions that was likely showing on her own face.

“Don’t you see it?” Spike asked, growling in annoyance. “There’s a stoneworm hiding there!”

Twilight’s heart skipped a beat as she searched the tunnel again. Her eyes widened when she had finally noticed something suspicious. There was a strange patch on the wall’s surface, slightly darker in color than its surroundings. It was the only thing that was different about the place. But was it really a mysterious stoneworm?

“I don’t see anything,” Midnight said, a hint of doubt in his voice. “What even is a stoneworm?”

Spike winced. “It’s a nasty creature. Go and check for yourself if you don’t believe me.”

“Eh, no, thanks.”

The group had to backtrack to the latest turn to go around the suspected stoneworm’s lair. As they moved, Spike explained to the ponies more about the dangerous creature. It had an amazing ability to eat through rock, so it usually dug a hole in a wall and waited for its prey to pass by to spring into action.

“I’ve never heard of a stoneworm,” Twilight said, trying to imagine such an amazing creature. “Not even in any books.”

“Well, that’s how I call it at least. Maybe it’s called something else in your books,” Spike explained. “One of them almost caught me once. They’re hard to spot even if you know where to look.”

“So, kind of like giant Quarray Eels,” Twilight muttered, having recalled reading about them at least. “They live down in the deep ravines.”

“Oh, I’ve heard of them. But the stoneworm is not that big. The one that attacked me was the size of a stallion, though much longer.” Spike shuddered. “I wouldn’t have survived if it wasn’t for my firebreath. Ponies like you don’t stand a chance.”

Twilight felt a brief twinge of indignation after Spike’s dismissive remark, but remained quiet. While it stung, it was likely true. Rarity, however, had no intention to be silent. While the others were gazing at the walls of the tunnel in fear of another worm like that waiting for them, she caught up to Twilight and Spike in the lead.

“Why wouldn’t we?” she asked sharply. “A unicorn’s magic can be just as powerful as your firebreath. All the dragons who invaded Equestria in the past were defeated by it.”

“Well, you weren’t the one to defeat them,” Spike said, giving Rarity a wary look. “Besides, I found some ponies’ remains who had been killed by the stoneworm. They were unicorns too, but it didn’t help them much.”

Rarity had nothing to answer to that. After Twilight gave her a hard look, the mare pursed her lips and retreated back to her place.

“Do you mean a group of skeletons not far from the place where you found us?” Twilight asked and Spike nodded. “I was wondering what had happened to them…”

“Yeah, it looked like a stoneworm’s job to me,” Spike said. “I found the signs of his old lair near those skeletons.”

“Huh, really?” Twilight raised her eyebrows. “I guess I must have missed it. But we were in a hurry, so I couldn’t examine everything thoroughly.”

“It’s pretty hard to find,” Spike explained. “But I had a lot of time and nothing else to do, so…”

As they continued making their way through the tunnels, they had avoided even more dangerous encounters thanks to Spike’s knowledge of the underground. That had only proved his good intentions in Twilight’s opinion — if he had wished them ill, he could have just stopped helping them. By Twilight’s estimates, they had covered as much distance following Spike as they had throughout all of yesterday!

That meant they had to be close to the Amulet by now.

“We need to stop,” Twilight said soon. When the rest looked at her in question, she added, “I need to cast my search spell again to see how far away we are from our target.”

“That spell, darling?” Rarity winced. “We barely survived the last time you did that, remember?”

Midnight approached Twilight with concern evident on his face. “Are you sure it’s the only way to find what we’re looking for? We can ask Spike if he’s seen something like that, you know.”

Rarity furrowed her brows, giving Midnight a hard look, but Twilight was seriously considering the idea. There was a risk that Spike would try to claim the Amulet for himself once he had helped them find it. After all, dragons were known hoarders.

Spike, however, had been helpful to them so far. He had given Twilight a good impression based on their conversation. On the other hoof, she had trouble reading other ponies’ intentions, not to mention dragons. Besides, she had just met him today.

“I can totally help you find whatever it is,” Spike said, flashing a toothy grin. “I’ve seen pretty much everything in these tunnels.”

Twilight sighed. It was hard to make a decision. What was the biggest risk? Casting a search spell and dealing with whatever was drawn by her magic or trusting in Spike, the nice dragon they had met in this unfriendly place?

“You’re not actually considering it, Twilight,” Rarity said, swinging her tail in agitation. “Are you?”

Twilight gave her an apologetic look. “I think it’s our best option,” she said. “You didn’t want me to cast the spell yourself, remember?”

Rarity winced, but nodded. “Yes, but—”

“I think Spike is a nice dragon, Lady Rarity,” Lotus interrupted and recoiled from the sharp gaze that swiped at her. “Sorry.”

Rarity’s features softened. “Don’t apologize, dear. You know you’re free to express your thoughts to me.” Her eyes passed Spike, who was staring at the floor with his spikes downed, before returning back to Twilight. “But I still don’t like your plan, Twilight.”

“Do you like fighting a horde of monsters, then?” Midnight asked. “Because that’s what’s going to happen if Twilight casts this spell.”

Rarity shook her head. “I don’t want that, obviously.”

“Then there’s no alternative,” Midnight cut in. “I think Spike has done enough to earn our trust.”

“I agree, sorry,” Twilight looked Rarity in the eyes. Finally, the mare slumped.

“Fine, have it your way,” Rarity said. “I hope you’re right.”

Twilight nodded and faced the little dragon with an encouraging smile. “So, Spike, we’re looking for an artifact called the Alicorn Amulet. Have you ever heard of it?”

Answering his confused look, Twilight described what she knew about the Amulet. A lot of books had detailed descriptions or even pictures of it that she had memorized, so it wasn’t difficult. Spike listened to her thoughtfully.

“Holy guacamole,” he muttered once he had realized the Amulet’s power. “It must be priceless…”

“It is,” Twilight said, tensing up slightly. “And we know for sure it was hidden somewhere nearby.”

Spike’s eyes narrowed. Twilight wasn’t an expert in dragon expressions, but she didn’t like his right now.

“Why do you need such an artifact in the first place?”

Twilight shifted from one hoof to another, unsure of whether she should share their ultimate goal with him. However, after having revealed so much already, there was no point in hiding the rest. So, ignoring Rarity’s stare, Twilight briefly explained their situation to the dragon.

“Whoa, you must be pretty good with magic if you were the Royal Mage,” Spike said, giving Twilight an appraising look. The mare nodded with a slight blush on her cheeks. “So you need the Alicorn Amulet to get revenge on that Everlight dude?”

“That’s the plan,” Twilight confirmed. “Equestria’s future depends on it.”

“That does sound pretty important,” Spike said. “I’ll help you, but I have one condition.” He chuckled when Twilight and the others exchanged wary glances. “It’s nothing big, really. I just want you to take me to the surface.”

“What?” Rarity stared at the dragon in surprise. It clearly wasn’t what she had expected. “Why?”

Twilight herself was taken aback by his proposal. A torrent of thoughts flashed in her mind as she imagined the problems it would cause. Everlight’s ponies were looking for them as it was and with a dragon, even one as small as Spike, they were bound to draw some unwanted attention.

Even magic wasn’t the answer. She didn’t know any illusion spells to mask Spike’s appearance, even if dragons weren’t magic resistant in the first place. There was no way they could take Spike with them. The risk was too great.

“Why do you need our help?” Midnight wondered. “Can’t you go by yourself?”

“I can, but what would I do there?” Spike said, shaking his head. “I don’t know much about the pony world. One day somepony will find me and I’ll be locked into a cage again. I need your help.”

“But we can’t take you with us,” Twilight said, looking into Spike’s eyes. “You’re too noticeable. I’m really sorry, but you know how important our goal is.”

“But I’m sick of living in this hole!” Spike exclaimed, throwing his limbs up into the air. “There’s nopony to talk to save for some occasional dogs, and they hate me!”

Twilight briefly wondered about the talking dogs, but she stashed that bit of information for later, focusing on the present.

“I have the amulet in my lair,” Spike revealed as the ponies gasped in surprise. “I’ll give it to you only if you agree to take me with you.”

“Don’t you dare!” Rarity scowled, taking an angry step towards Spike and pointing her sword at him. “My sister’s life depends on that Amulet!”

“Calm down, Rarity,” Twilight snapped, yanking the sword out of her magic and throwing in on the floor. The lady glared at her as her face reddened, but Twilight ignored it, looking directly at Spike. “Look, how about I promise to return for you once we’ve dealt with Everlight?”

Twilight felt a pang in her heart as she noticed Spike’s eyes glistering with tears when the dragon shook his head stubbornly.

“I won’t hold out for this long,” he shot out desperately. “I didn’t realize how much I missed talking with ponies until I met you. I’ll go crazy in here!”

Midnight approached Spike and put his hoof on his shoulder. The dragon looked up to him.

“I understand how you feel,” Midnight said. “I do. But the ponies that are after us are dangerous. We don’t know if they’ll still follow us when we get back outside, but they’ll have a much easier time tracking us if we have a dragon along.”

Spike glared at the stallion for some time until his shoulders slumped in defeat.

“I wouldn’t want to put you all in danger… But would you swear to return for me once you’ve dealt with Everlight?”

“Of course,” Twilight nodded. “If we win, I’ll do everything in my power to make sure you’ll get a free life on the surface. Right, Rarity?”

Rarity appeared thoughtful for a moment, but then she stepped forward. Spike recoiled slightly, but looked back into her eyes.

“On behalf of House Belle, I guarantee you safe refuge on the surface in exchange for the Alicorn Amulet,” the lady said, giving the dragon a warning look. “As long as you follow the Equestrian laws, of course.”

A frown appeared on Spike’s face as he considered the ponies’ offer. Then he sighed heavily.

“Well, I guess it’s better than nothing,” Spike said grimly. “Follow me then.”

Everypony was exhausted after everything they had gone through today, but they were determined to reach Spike’s lair as soon as possible and so, dragging their hooves on the floor, the party made their slow progress through the tunnels.

“Where did you find the Amulet?” Twilight asked Spike at some point. “Lord Moonlight’s journal never specified an exact place, just that he got rid of it somewhere deep. He thought nopony would find it.”

The dragon chuckled.

“He would think that,” Spike said. “I found it in a lava lake.”

Everypony stared at Spike in shock, but the dragon just shrugged. “What? I like to swim there sometimes. It’s pretty warm.”

“You can withstand lava?” Twilight asked in awe. “This is incredible!”

“Thank you,” Spike grinned. “Anyway, one day I just stumbled on it lying at the bottom of the lava. I wanted to eat the gem at first, but it didn’t even budge, so I realized it’s not just some piece of jewelry.”

“You eat gems?” Rarity asked incredulously, putting her hoof to her chest.

“Yep,” Spike confirmed to her horror.

Both Twilight and Midnight, however, exchanged an awed look. It was the first time the two unicorns had heard that dragons were able to eat gemstones. Twilight was half-tempted to take Spike with them right now, despite the risk. If only she could study him more!

She frowned, remembering Spike’s past. If she did study Spike, it would be only with his permission. In their desire to study him, the ponies at the Academy had forgotten that he was a living, breathing creature with his own wishes and desires.

“Besides gems and meat, what else can you eat?” Twilight asked Spike.

“Pretty much whatever you ponies eat,” Spike said and sighed. “I miss pancakes…”

“Can you eat rocks?” Midnight asked. Twilight perked up her ears — that was a great question.

“Well, I never tried actually,” the little dragon said, shaking his head. Having said that, he scooped up a rock from the floor and threw it into his mouth. Twilight heard a crunch and then Spike coughed. “Ew, no. It tastes terrible.”

Soon Twilight was so engrossed in the discussion that she had lost track of time. It was a nice distraction from what she’d had to experience in the last couple of days. Midnight seemed just as interested in Spike as she was, and together they were bombarding the dragon with their endless questions about his kind. He was only too happy to answer.

Twilight stumbled over Spike when he suddenly stopped, sending them both sprawling to the floor. She stood up with her face red from embarrassment and helped Spike to get up, apologizing hastily.

“It’s fine,” Spike waved his arm in dismissal. He pointed to his scales with a grin. “We dragons are pretty tough, as you well know.”

“Why did you stop here?” Rarity asked, looking around the tunnel warily.

“Oh, my lair is here.” Spike nodded at the inconspicuous wall. “It’s just hidden.”

Twilight stared at the smooth stone surface, trying to spot an entrance. She quickly noticed that the wall looked far too smooth to be natural. Approaching it, Twilight tapped on it with her hoof, producing a hollow sound.

“Amazing,” the unicorn said. “How did you do that?”

A smug smile grew on Spike’s face.

“I just collected some boulders and melted them together with my incredibly powerful dragon flame,” he said. He picked up a boulder lying at the edge of the wall, revealing a hole behind it. “I left only a small tunnel for myself.”

While Twilight examined the wall more closely, calculating how hot the flame must have been to melt the stone itself, Midnight approached the small hole. He lowered on his knees and looked inside.

“It’s too small for us to squeeze in, Spike,” the stallion said with disappointment.

The dragon looked from the hole to Midnight and his shoulder slumped. “Oh. You’re right. I really wanted you to see my lair…”

“Well, just get in there then and give us the Amulet,” Rarity said, shooting nervous glances at the darkness beyond their light’s reach. “I’m sick of this place.”

“So am I,” Spike said, losing what was left of his good mood. “Well, just wait here, I guess.”

Having said that, Spike dropped on all fours and scrambled into the small opening, barely squeezing through himself. Twilight suppressed a sigh as she watched him go — she wanted to see his lair too.

Twilight briefly considered teleporting inside, but the book where she had learned the spell gave a strict warning against blind jumps, giving her some brutal examples of things that could go wrong with it. The unicorn shuddered, imagining herself stuck in the wall or splitting.

Brrrrr.

She shook her head to get rid of the horrible image in her mind.

“Do you really think he’ll give us the Amulet?” Rarity asked.

“Well, I trust him,” Midnight answered with a shrug. “I think he’s a good guy.”

“I agree,” Twilight said, giving Rarity a firm look. “I hope you were telling the truth when you guaranteed his freedom in exchange for the Amulet?”

Rarity scoffed, returning Twilight’s look in kind. “Well, of course, darling. A lady of my position never gives false promises. As long as he honors his side of the deal, I will honor mine.”

The group watched in both directions of the tunnel in case some hungry creature stumbled their way while they were waiting for Spike to return. Suddenly, Twilight got an idea. Closing her eyes, the unicorn cast a limited version of her search spell.

She cried out in shock, falling backwards, almost blinded by a powerful glow in front of her. Twilight extinguished the spell as her companions rushed to her, drawing their weapons. Seeing that nothing was attacking her, they began shooting confused questions at her.

“Sorry for scaring you guys,” Twilight smiled sheepishly. “I just checked if the Amulet is really here. I’ve never felt so much power before…”

Just as she said it, everypony turned to the shuffling sound from behind them to see Spike climbing out of the hole. He stood up, dusted off his body and walked toward the group. Twilight’s eyes immediately snapped to the item he held in his claws.

She could feel its power. It reverberated in her horn, making it tingle and sending shivers through her whole body. Stopping before her, Spike reached out casually and offered the Amulet to her.

Twilight lifted up her hoof and froze.

It was hard to believe that this artifact of awesome power was finally within her reach. With its help, she would be able to restore the rightful rule of the king, Twilight was sure of it. Not everypony was able to unlock the Amulet’s full potential, but she was certain in her ability to do so.

Nothing would stand in her way while she wielded it, not even Everlight’s entire army of henchponies.

“Well?”

Twilight twitched, pulled out from her thoughts. She stared at the Amulet. For some reason, the unicorn was reluctant to touch it with her magic, as if afraid it would burn her. She gulped and reached out with her hoof. A jolt of power went through her body, making Twilight’s hair stand on end.

“That’s a nice gemmm you have there, pony.”

A screeching voice made her heart leap. Her ears swiveled as she turned to the direction of the voice and stared into the darkness. Something moved and the ponies gasped as a bulky figure stepped out from the shadows. More could be seen lurking behind the first.

What in the hay were those?!

“Diamond Dogs!” Spike exclaimed, answering her silent question. “What are you doing here?”

The beast stood up, towering over the group of ponies and watching them with his narrowed eyes. A crude metal armor covered some parts of his body. In his paws he was gripping a rusty mace.

“We were following the ponies’ scent, yesss,” the dog said, licking his lips with his large tongue. “Very delicious smell.”

Goosebumps crawled on Twilight’s back at the implications, but she quickly suppressed her fear. A lot of things had been trying to eat them lately and none of them had succeeded so far. With her horn ablaze, Twilight glared into the creature’s eyes.

“You’re not getting anything from us, dogs,” she said firmly, trying to ignore the creature’s fangs. “Turn around and leave.”

The dog barked loudly, making Twilight recoil. It took her a few seconds to realize that it was laughing.

“You don’t tell usss what to do, purple pony,” the dog said, stepping towards the group. The other dogs behind him followed into the light — a dozen of them at the very least.

Before they got too close, Spike spit out a torrent of green flame, setting the floor in front of them aflame. The lead dog jumped back with an angry hiss.

“Ha! You missed!” the dog said, grinning wide. His pals filled the tunnels with the sound of their barking laughter.

Spike turned to the ponies, wincing. “It takes hours to recharge my flame,” he whispered. “I really thought it would scare them off…”

“Should we run?” Midnight asked, his staff pointed at the approaching dogs.

Twilight didn’t answer as she went over their options. The dogs had found them by smell, so it was pointless to run from them. But fighting them was not a good option either — they weren’t just the mindless beasts the group had faced earlier. There was just one solution…

Twilight’s eyes flickered to the Alicorn Amulet still in her hoof.

She hadn’t planned to use it without understanding how it worked first. According to the books, some of its owners had burned themselves out the first time they had tried to use the Amulet by unleashing magic too powerful for them to handle. Though Twilight had some experience with powerful magic, the risk was still there.

Using it right now was just as likely to doom them as it was to save them. Steeling her expression, Twilight locked the Amulet around her neck.

But I don’t really have a choice, do I?

Enjoy the new chapter.
Speaking of chapters, I'm having a bit of a writing crisis. I see so many flaws in my writing that it harms my desire to write. I try to fix them as I see them, but I don't know for sure if I'm succeeding.
What do you think are my most serious mistakes?