It was a week after Flicker and Twilight were reunited and Starlight met Flicker. Flicker wanted to meet Flurry Heart and get to know Cadance more so Twilight decided for the three of them - Spike included - to go to the Crystal Empire.

However the rest of Twilight's friends decided to join, because Rarity was thinking of making some crystal fashions and Starlight wanted to visit Sunburst again. As for Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Flutershy, well, they couldn't say no to a fun trip. Especially one to the Crystal Empire, which they grew fond of ever since their first visit (even though said visit wasn't that pleasant a trip at times).

Once they reached the station Shining Armor, Cadance, Flurry Heart, and Sunburst were there waiting for them.

"Well hello, who are you?" Flicker smiled upon seeing Sunburst.

"Sunburst, Flurry Heart's Crystaller. Who are you?" Sunburst smiled back.

"Flicker Sentry, Twilight's boyfriend." Flicker extended a hoof and Sunburst shook it.

"Sentry? Are you related to the guard Flash Sentry?"

"Well, yes and no. Did Shining Armor or Cadance ever tell you about a magic mirror in the castle?"

"Well actually Princess Celestia did, she told me that it opened onto another dimension every-" Sunburst widened his eyes and pushed his glasses up. "You're from that other dimension?"

"Yeah, it's a dimension full of human versions of everypony here." Flicker explained. "Humans are basically furless bipedal creatures who always wear clothes. I'm the human version of Flash Sentry, Twilight had to visit my dimension about a few years ago and we ended up falling in love. I then came here the last time the portal was open to see Twilight again, and since our feelings were still strong I decided to stay here. My parents joined me here as well, and I changed my name to Flicker to help avoid confusion."

"Wow...I have to admit, your devotion to Twilight is impressive." Sunburst was stunned, but also smiled.

They then headed for the castle. After they got settled in Rarity asked where crystals could be found.

"Well from what I remember reading, the original crystals were mined from the mountains a long time ago." Sunburst said.

"I think I read that too." Twilight agreed. "But we don't know what else is in the mountains."

"Oh don't worry, the guards and I have been exploring the mountains a bit to make sure that they're safe for other ponies to visit." Shining Armor said. "It turns out they are, there aren't any creatures living there and as far as we know the caves are safe enough to enter."

"And I'll pack plenty of provisions just in case." Rarity promised.

"Wait a minute Rarity, you won't be able to dig the crystals from solid rock easily." Spike pointed out. "I'd better come along to help you with that."

"Would you? I was thinking of asking you to help but I wasn't sure whether Twilight would be okay with it or not."

"You're right, I'm not okay with it." Twilight said. "I don't want anything to happen to you Spike. At least Rarity is able to perform spells she can defend herself with."

"What could happen? I mean Rarity will be with me anyway and Shining Armor himself said that there aren't any creatures we have to worry about." Spike shrugged.

"Well...okay, but only if Shining Armor escorts you there." Twilight gave in.

"I was thinking of going with them anyway." Shining Armor chuckled.

"Good." Twilight said with relief.

So a bit later that day, after packing plenty of food and other supplies, Shining Armor escorted Rarity and Spike towards the mountains.

"Okay, I think you'll be able to take if from here." Shining Armor said as they neared a place Spike and Rarity could easily climb the mountains from. "I'll be back before dinner to pick you up, so be sure to come here before then."

"Will do, thank you Shining Armor." Rarity said.

"Yeah, thanks bro." Spike smiled.

"No problem." Shining Armor smiled before leaving.

Spike and Rarity then made the trip up to where the caves were located, Rarity using her gem-finding spell to find the best cave to start with. Upon finding it they went inside and started to collect crystals.

"These crystals are magnificent, I just know I'll be able to make exquisite gowns with these." Rarity smiled as she studied a crystal.

"Rarity, you always make exquisite gowns." Spike chuckled as he brought some more over.

"Thank you Spikey-Poo, but I do want these particular gowns to be especially lovely." Rarity said. "Now that I have a Carousel Boutique in Canterlot I must keep up with expectations. After all Canterlot ponies are very particular about what they wear."

"Don't I know it." Spike rolled his eyes.

"That's right...you did grow up there along with Twilight. I know Twilight didn't socialize much back then, but I never thought about what your life in Canterlot was like."

"It was okay, I mean most of the ponies there were snobs so I didn't socialize that much either." Spike shrugged. "I mean I was friends with Twilight's friends plus Celestia, but that was it."

"Ah, well it's the Canterlot ponies' loss-" Rarity cut herself off with a scream as she unexpectedly slid down a slope!

"Rarity!" Spike cried, automatically leaping after her.

They both landed unharmed in a part of the cave, but unfortunately it turned out that Rarity's slide had been caused by the rocky floor that she was on crumbling beneath her. And because of that the rocks that had been loosened crashed into the entrance to the part of the cave, trapping them since there were no other openings. Well save one in the ceiling, but it was much too high to reach.

"Oh dear..." Rarity said, realizing that they were in a very serious predicament.

"Hang on, I'll try to dig us out." Spike went to the wall near the entrance and started digging.

Unfortunately, the wall was so hard that he barely made a dent before needing to stop due to tiredness.

"Great...out of all of the caves we could've end up in...we end up in the one with walls too hard...for even me to dig through." Spike panted a little.

"It's okay Spike, we'll find another way out." Rarity reassured herself as well as him.

"Hmm..." Spike looked around and up. "Really wish I was a flying dragon right now. Just my luck I had to be a land dragon."

A.N. I don't know for sure if there are land dragons along with flying dragons, but I figured that Spike and the others would assume it due to Spike not having grown wings when he went on that rampage in Ponyville.

"Wouldn't mind being a pegasus just for a moment either." Rarity half-joked. "Or truthfully I would love to be an alicorn."

"You'd be a beautiful one too." Spike blushed.

Rarity blushed a bit too, but didn't say anything. She knew that Spike always had a crush on her, and Spike knew that she knew, so there was no need to say anything.

"Wish I could think of a way to save us..." Spike then sighed, not having found a way they could escape through.

"I wish I could think of a solution as well, but I'm afraid it looks as if we'll be trapped here for a while." Rarity agreed. "We'll just have to wait for Shining Armor to find us later."

"Right..." Spike said, though truthfully he had doubts.

Not that he doubted Shining Armor mind you, you see to Spike looked as if they were buried deep in the caves. What if not even Twilight could locate them in time because of that?

"Well, we might as well make the most of a bad situation." Rarity spread a picnic blanket out. "No gems here for us to gather, but I wouldn't want you to tire yourself out digging them out anyway. Fortunately a lady is always prepared and I did take the liberty of packing a deck of cards as well as my knitting supplies."

"But what if it takes our friends a long time to find us?" Spike asked.

"We'll ration our food just in case. Good thing I prepared for your big appetite and packed a lot of food." Rarity shuffled the cards. "So, Go Fish or Bridge?"

"Go Fish, I haven't learned Bridge yet."

"Very well."

So they started playing. A bit later on Spike decided to play a bit of solitaire while Rarity did some knitting.

Then lunchtime time came around. Rarity split a sandwich in half, gave one to Spike, and then poured a little apple juice into two cups.

However, while Rarity wasn't looking, Spike hid his half of the sandwich back into the basket and poured his share of the drink back into the thermos. The same thing happened around dinnertime.

Also around that time Shining Armor came back, but there was no sign of Spike or Rarity. Shining Armor used a locator spell to try to find them, but they weren't anywhere nearby.

"I've got a bad feeling about this...they couldn't have lost track of time, Spike learned a lot about punctuality from Twily." Shining Armor said to himself worriedly. "Plus Rarity owns her own business, so she knows better than to be late for an appointment. I'd better look for them, and if I don't find them before dark I'll let the others know."

Sure enough he couldn't find Spike or Rarity, because Spike had been right about them having been trapped deep in the mountains. So Shining Armor was forced to go back for reinforcements.

Obviously, no one was happy about the situation. Least of all Twilight.

"Oh I knew we shouldn't have let them go out there!" She started to panic. "What if they encountered a dangerous creature nopony else knew about or-"

"Twilight, Twilight, remember." Cadance interrupted before breathing deeply and slowly.

Twilight copied her, calming down a little but still remaining very worried.

"I know sis, I'm worried about them too." Shining Armor said. "But it's now too late to continue searching, so first thing in the morning we'll all go look for them."

"Count me in!" Rainbow Dash saluted.

"And you can always rely on me Sugar Cube." Applejack agreed.

"I'm sure my Pinkie Sense can locate them." Pinkie Pie smiled.

"I'll do my best to help." Fluttershy promised.

"I'll come too, Flurry Heart will be okay without me for a few hours." Cadance said.

"In that case is it okay if I stay behind and look after her?" Sunburst offered.

"Of course, thank you Sunburst."

"I'll stay and help him since Flurry Heart can be a hoof-ful even with her magic limited." Starlight chuckled.

Sunburst blushed a little, but not out of embarrassment.

"Thanks Starlight." He smiled.

So the next morning Shining Armor, Cadence, Twilight, and most of Twilight's friends went looking for Rarity and Spike...

...Who were just waking up. Rarity woke up first, and noticed that Spike had wrapped the picnic blanket - which they had used for a bed - around her leaving little of the blanket for himself.

"Oh Spike..." She murmured, touched.

"Hm...?" Spike groaned. "Wha- Oh...good morning Rarity."

"Good morning Spike...are you okay?"

"Huh? Oh yeah...I'm fine..." Spike slowly started to get up.

"Spike, I may not be the Element of Honesty but I can still tell when others are lying." Rarity said with gentle sternness. "Look if you need more sleep then go ahead, I'll wake you when our friends find us."

"No no, I'm okay." Spike insisted.

Rarity didn't believe him, but she didn't want to argue either so she dropped the matter. So she prepared breakfast, and again Spike returned his share of the food and drink without Rarity noticing. They then passed the time with another card game - this time Bridge, Rarity decided to teach Spike the game - until they heard voices.

"Hey Spike! Rarity!" Rainbow Dash called down as she and Twilight flew into the cave through the hole in the ceiling.

"Oh good, you found us!" Rarity waved.

"Yeah, thanks to Pinkie-" Twilight stopped because she noticed how weak Spike looked. "Spike are-?"

Spike fainted!

"Spike!" Twilight cried, grabbing him and flying out of the cave and back towards the Crystal Empire.

Worried, Rarity quickly packed up the cards and picnic blanket and Rainbow Dash flew her out the hole.

"What's wrong with Spike?" Cadance asked worriedly.

"I dunno, he fainted for some reason." Rainbow Dash shrugged, also concerned. "Rarity did anything happen to him while you two were trapped down there?"

"No...I mean he did get a little tired when he tried to dig us out but otherwise he was fine until this morning." Rarity said. "Unless..."

She looked into the picnic basket and dropped her mouth open slightly. There were uneaten half-sandwiches in it.

"He never ate his share of the food." Rarity realized.