Since the actual way into the archives had been unfortunately destroyed a long time ago, Hawk, Amaryllis, and Twilight carried their friends through the discovered hole in the ceiling. Thiemo suspected, while desperately keeping his eyes shut as Amy carried him on her back towards the ceiling, that gryphons had probably come here after Luna had found this place. The skeletons, therefore, were the remains of the expedition that had tried to uncover this place. They probably had locked themselves in down here when they tried to blast their way free with some explosives. Just brainless vultures who only cared about ancient treasures. He would have loved to see their faces when they found out that knowledge instead of gold was waiting here for them. Or whatever valuables they had hoped for.

Softly, Amaryllis landed, and Thiemo immediately fell from her back and onto the hard ground. “I’m not flying that bad,” she commented dryly, knowing very well that it wasn’t her fault. They were the last two to come up since he insisted on keeping watch so that nothing would happen. Luckily, they had bought that lie. Or at least they acted like they did. He was fine either way.

“Do you think it was right to seal the entrance again?” Lyra asked as she turned around nervously. “What if it didn’t work?” They had locked the stone, which was completely powerless now, back into the archive again and sealed it. Index didn’t even have the energy to close the doors herself.

Twilight, who was preening her wings, nodded. “Imagine what would happen if the knowledge would fall into the wrong hooves or hands. I am not even sure we should tell anyone about this place.” Lyra stared openly into her direction and wanted to protest, but Twilight immediately held a hoof in front of her mouth. “I know what you want to say, Lyra, and you are right. But my mother has surely held this knowledge secret for a good reason. I want to talk with her about that first.” The once aggressive unicorn let her head hang and nodded sullenly.

Thiemo, who had taken out the lamp he took from the dead gryphon, stepped towards them. “And what shall I do with these things?” With his free right hand, he pointed at the pauldron he wore and the two swords at his belt. “Aside from them being historical treasures, I think Luna has the right to them, right?”

“I don’t know if that is such a good idea,” Night Hawk spoke up. “She surely has a lot of horrible memories related to them. I mean, they belonged to someone that meant a lot to her and was murdered.”

“Maybe we should discuss that later.” Estoc stepped forward and nervously looked around. “I don’t know if with the stone, the undead are gone as well.” For a few seconds, it was completely silent as everyone listened into the darkness around them. There was the splatter of water in the distance, the breathing of ten living creatures, and the quiet steps of bones that moved over stone ground. “Okay, move.”

The group did as they were told and continued their way into the deep, unknown cave, Night Hawk at the front and Estoc at the end as before. Thiemo, meanwhile, was busy grappling with two other things. For one, there was the magic in his body. It was an unfamiliar feeling, like an unknown fluid was flowing through his body and was just waiting to escape. Almost like a full bladder. But that was what came along with new things – he had already gotten used to his tail as well. The second thing was what followed the first. Until now, he had always had to drain energy from his surroundings. But now he tried to use his own. Of what use was it if he couldn’t use it?

Suddenly, Hawk’s wings shot up, a sign for them all to stop. Immediately, they all looked around. “Two, directly in front of us,” she mumbled.

“A few more behind us. But they don’t seem to have noticed us yet.” Estoc’s horn began to glow. “If only I had my equipment.”

“Can we go around them, Hawk?” Heart asked, worry evident in her features. “We will only attract more if we fight them.”

“Ah thought these things shouldn’t be moving anymore.” Applejack spun around and narrowed her eyes to slits. “There are a few more, Ah think.” Thiemo considered the situation. They had no magical aura but were still moving even though the source was gone. However, without knowing exactly how black magic worked, there were an infinite number of possible answers for that. Carefully, Thiemo placed the lamp on the ground and changed his view. Just as Hawk said, two skeletons were wandering through the darkness a few meters ahead of them. The bones of what used to be the wings of a gryphon hung in the air like little antennas. Their skulls were pointed towards the ground, though they didn’t seem to be following any certain direction. His head turned towards the direction that Applejack was looking at. Out of a hallway to their left came three more skeletons, in a much worse condition than the rest. Their bones were brittle, and many seemed to be missing some. Two more skeletons followed them. Unlike the others, they seemed to have spotted the group already and crept up on them. They hadn’t noticed that they themselves were spotted already. Thiemo said nothing, instead pointed at himself, Estoc, and the two stalkers. The captain nodded that he understood. Hawk nodded as well and pointed at Heart and the two in front of them. Questioning looks wandered towards Twilight and Applejack. The farmer couldn’t see how many there were, but grinned confidently. Twilight seemed a bit worried, but then Amaryllis joined them. The changeling princess tapped against her horn and readied herself.

Thiemo raised a hand with three fingers. “On three.” His lips formed the words without saying them.” Three!” Twilight immediately created a magical light that illuminated the entire area. The two gryphons behind them didn’t seem surprised, instead using it as a signal to attack as well. They jumped towards Rarity, Aura, and Lyra, only to be blocked by Estoc. The stallion threw himself against one of them, only to collide with the other one as well. Thiemo drew his swords from their scabbards. In the back of his head, his experience in the past told him that a club would be a better choice, but he couldn’t change that now. He threw the short sword over to Estoc, who caught it in his magic and swung it around just in time to parry the claw of a skeleton that was aiming for his back.

Thiemo brought himself between Lyra and the other gryphon and raised his sword as the gryphon raised its claw. The flat side of the sword struck the shoulder of the undead while the claw only hit some cloth. Both opponents jumped back a bit, but the gryphon had more mobility with his four legs and used the gained momentum to immediately attack forward again. So the first thing that Thiemo saw as he looked up again was the beak of a gryphon heading towards his face. By instinct, he threw himself on the ground so that the gryphon flew over him directly towards Lyra, who he had tried to protect. The mare screamed as the skeleton landed on her. The human jumped quickly back onto his feet. Just as the gryphon was about the peck at her, Thiemo grabbed him around his neck with one hand and pulled him down from her. In that moment, he realized one thing. They were only skeletons. Compared to a living gryphon, their weight must have been almost zero.

He turned around to the fallen opponent, and in the corners of his eyes, he saw Estoc. The captain had trimmed the ribs of the gryphon with his sword and seemed to have the upper hand. The skeleton was only dodging one quick strike after another. Would he have had a talisman or two, he would have been long finished now, or at least it would look better. The golden beam that shot past very close to his face caught him out of his thoughts. He saw the gryphon going down again, now with a large hole in its skull. “Thanks, Lyra,” he said to his saviour, who only nodded, wild-eyed in panic, as the fight went on around her. The different coloured magical auras turned the whole thing into some kind of a disco, at least for him. They were only missing a beat, but Thiemo had one in his head now.

The gryphon was still moving, but Thiemo quickly swung his sword and thrust it through the newly created hole in the skull, pinning it to the ground. The undead kicked around with all fours, but without muscles, the bones couldn’t build up enough force to free himself. Content, he looked over to Applejack. The strong mare was dealing forceful kicks. Every time her hindlegs made contact with one of the three skeletons, they lost a few parts of themselves. Amaryllis and Twilight alternately fired magical missiles and covered the farmer’s back to ensure she couldn’t be attacked from behind by the other two skeletons.

Hawk seemed to struggle more than the rest. Blades, just as Thiemo expected, were not that effective against the bony undead. She threw one knife after another with her wings at her opponents, but they just stuck in their bones, which didn’t seem to bother them much. In that moment, Heart shot towards one skeleton next to him and slammed her hooves against the hilt of one knife that was stuck. With the momentum, it pierced completely through the bone and split it in two. Thiemo noticed that this was now the second skeleton they had cut all limbs off of. They exchanged high-fives before looking to the others as well. With the experienced duo as additional cover, he turned towards the gryphon on the ground again. His claw had found the hilt by now, but he was still lacking the power to pull the sword out of the ground.

Thiemo took a deep breath in and out, lowering his heartbeat just like he had learned. He listened into himself. He had used this power before, and he could do it again. It was there – he could clearly feel it. Or he never had to go to the toilet this urgent in his life before, but that was rather unlikely. No, it was definitely magic he felt in his body. Like a wild river that just needed to be tamed. With all his force, he directed the river into his right hand.

The gryphon on the ground was still kicking around, but that would come to an end now. Thiemo took a big swing and brought his fist down on it. It smashed through the ribs, then the spine until it came to halt, buried into the ground up to his wrist. The lower part of the gryphon stopped moving immediately. The claws still tried to grab his face, but Thiemo reacted quicker. He pulled his right hand back, grabbed the two forelegs of the gryphon, and ripped it straight from the body with one strong pull. All that was left behind was a curling torso with a pinned head, and a hurting right hand. “I think I broke my pinkie.” Again a beam shot past his face, this time a purple one.

“More are coming!” Twilight shouted as she ran past him to help Estoc. The stallion was dealing with no less than four skeletons now. He dodged one strike after another and used the sword to parry those he couldn’t evade. Nevertheless, some bloody streaks were on his flanks. Hawk and Heart both flew above the new group of skeletons that came from the hallway. All in all, there were nine skeletons that kept the group busy on both fronts. And it wasn’t becoming fewer. Thiemo pulled the sword out of the ground and kicked the helpless skeleton aside.

“How large can a gryphon expedition be?!”

“Not that large!” Estoc gave as an answer as he joined him. “But over the centuries, many gryphon clans fought battles in this area.” So they were on a gryphon graveyard?

“Great…”

“Ten, no problem. Twenty, fine by me.” Thiemo threw a quick glance back. “A hundred?! You can’t be serious.” He couldn’t count exactly how many it had been. The group had sought refuge in flight as more and more undead were attracted by the sound of the combat.

“We should have gone around them,” Heart moaned. The mare was still completely exhausted from the battle, and her wing was injured, so she was running like the rest of the group now.

Some gryphons came closer to the group, so Twilight and Amaryllis were still shooting magical missiles into their direction. However, while running, their accuracy was even worse than usual. None of them had ever been trained to fight. Lucky hits, like against the ceiling from which some stones would then fall off and smash multiple skeletons, were rare. Most of the time, they just blew up dust. But if they struck, the hit skeleton was catapulted a few metres back into the rest. Lyra ran next to Hawk at the front. She did the same as the two princesses, only with much better accuracy. She cleared the way of all that suddenly appeared in front of them.

“Eye level, twenty degree!” Hawk barked, and Lyra fired into the darkness. A few bones that were illuminated by Twilight’s floating light followed as they were scattered over the ground.

Aura clung around Applejack’s neck as she jumped over the torso that was in her way. “We almost made it, sugarcube! Just hold on tight!” Thiemo looked up front again and also jumped over the torso. In front of them, ever more skeletons came from the little hallways and cracks. It was like the cave was made out of the skeletons. The heavy breathing of his companions and their hoofsteps were long drowned out by the clank of bones.

“Exit! I see an exit!” Hawk flew forward, out of the sight of Thiemo and the others. “It’s a door!”

Now it came into sight for Thiemo and the others as well. It was not just any door. It was gigantic, about ten metres high and made out of massive wood. A thick lock was on it and kept it shut. The small lock, not much larger than a normal one, almost looked like a joke. “Twilight, can you get that open?” Rarity asked worriedly.

“I don’t want to crush any hopes,” Estoc began and kicked with his hind legs after a skeleton, “but hurry up! We are running out of time.” With a bit of magic, he levitated another one aside and threw it into the arms of another skeleton that was about to jump at him.

Hawk tapped Thiemo’s shoulder. “We’ll handle them, you get the door open.” She quickly flew over to Estoc. Luckily, the cave wasn’t broad enough so that the full horde could collapse on them at once, but it was enough to keep them busy. Amaryllis and Lyra kept firing as best as they could, but now they had to ensure to not hit the two soldiers.

“Alright, everyone take a step back.” Twilight’s horn began to glow, and the large door was slowly covered by her aura. She closed her eyes and immediately the leaves of the door began to rattle, but that was all they did. “They aren’t moving,” the alicorn grumbled. She let her magic stop and fell to the ground. “No chance.”

“Looks like that’s a job for good old force.” Applejack set Aura on the ground and put on her hat.

“You want to move that thing on your own?” She looked at Thiemo like he had just said something stupid. “Oh! Of course.” The farmer leaned her shoulders against the right leaf, and Thiemo placed his hands directly next to her. “On three.” Thiemo tried to use the force within him again. “Three!” They pushed with all their force, but the large old lock didn’t bend.

“Guys! Hurry up!” they heard Hawk shouting over the sound of splintering bones.

Twilight readied her magic again. Thiemo pushed with all his force, but it wasn’t enough. The lock simply held place. “Rarity…” Applejack groaned. “Help us!” Thiemo couldn’t see it, but the white mare hesitated for a moment, then a bright blue aura mixed with Twilight’s. “Push!” Suddenly, two smaller hooves appeared between Thiemo’s legs.

“I’m helping too, Dad!” Aura declared and leaned with her whole weight against the door. In that moment, something actually did happen and the first rays of sun fell into the dark cave.

“It’s working!” They gave everything they could again, and finally the lock bent a little and the door gave way. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. Applejack slid off, Twilight gave up in exhaustion, and Rarity had long stopped as well. A look behind showed Hawk and Estoc struggling with freeing their forelegs from sharp claws while Lyra and Amaryllis were protecting themselves, rather than the others.

Quickly, Thiemo took a few steps back. “Out of the way.” All he had to do now was to magically propel his legs, throw himself against the door, and open it further. He just had to hit the crack between the two doors – that was all. The soft snow behind him should catch him. Pain would only occur if he failed. Exactly. He gulped and concentrated. With a loud roar, he begun to sprint and noticed immediately that he flew through the air. He was heading towards the door and brought his shoulder in front.

Just as planned, he hit the desired point, and the lock actually gave way. Also just as planned, he landed with his face in the snow and slid a few meters. For a few seconds he remained calm, almost unable to comprehend that one of his plans actually worked as intended. He tried to stand up, but a piercing pain went through his entire body as he tried to move his right arm. The shoulder was at least dislocated, if not broken. His left arm helped him up on his legs again, and he searched for his sword in the snow. It laid a few meters in front of him and left a clear mark. He took a deep breath and looked around while letting the sun shine down on him. Large, white clouds, wide sky… with a large dragon flying in circles around his friends who were still fighting the undead.

He dropped the sword almost immediately after rechecking that his eyes weren’t playing a joke on him. There was really one of those over-dimensional lizards flying in the sky, apparently on the search for its next prey. Quickly, he scrambled backwards and went back to the others. Twilight and Applejack were covering their eyes with a foreleg and had just stepped outside to see where they were.

“Dragon!” Thiemo just shouted and pushed them back into the cave again. Alicorn and earth pony were buried underneath him as he shouted again, “Dragon!”

The two looked at each other confused, then Twilight’s eyes began to glow. She freed herself from the unwanted weight and ran outside. “Spike!” she shouted at the top of her lungs, so loud that Thiemo would have wanted to cover his ears. “Spike, we are down here!” For a few seconds nothing happened, but then a deafening roar and the sound of gigantic wings that were coming closer could be heard. The earth shook as the gigantic purple dragon landed in front of the entrance. For a few seconds he eyed the situation, then one of his gigantic claws went through the entrance. Thiemo saw him not only picking up Estoc and Hawk, but also two or three skeletons. Calmly he pulled them back out and opened his claw in front of his enormous mouth. Estoc and Hawk were unharmed, while only bonemeal was left of the skeletons.

“Out, out, out!” Lyra urged them and pushed them all with her magic. And not a second too late. Just as they were outside, a surge of fire came out of the dragon’s mouth, and a hot wave of green fire shot into the cave.

He kept the fire up for a minute, then the flames died. Thiemo threw a curious look back. There was nothing left of the skeletons. “Everything alright, Twilight? We were getting worried,” a thundering voice sounded.

The alicorn took off into the air and landed on top of the dragon’s snout. “Thanks, Spike. You are the best little brother one could wish for!” She gently rubbed her cheek against the area between his eyes. Thiemo sighed and dropped down into the wet grass. The snow a few metres around the exit had melted.

“Dragon.” He laughed, a tinge of hysteria colouring the sound. “Dragon.”

Author's Notes:

Well, who thought he would pop up? Be honest ;)
Spike will just be a sidekick in the chapter 4, which is only 3 acts away, but he will be very important later on.

Also I said a while ago, in one of my blog posts, that I'm a huge fan of human in Equestria stories.
That didn't change of course. So today I stumbled, totally by accident, over this: Bad Mondays

Thanks to Gron for translating this chapter.
Special thanks to JBL for proofreading and editing.

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