Learning to blacksmith was originally his mom’s idea.

Sam needed to do something for his senior project in high school, he couldn’t decide so she threw that out there and he considered it. Alongside his interest in history the idea fit him very well, the school approved it and he began to learn at the beginning of his junior year.

He was talented, his teacher said as much, the boy had a knack for it and in the first six months he could make full on pieces of armor. He passed his senior project when the time came but he never stopped working with metal, eventually he didn’t need a teacher anymore and started working on his own.

It was when he made his first sword that a friend of his jokingly suggested they learn to use it and have a duel, well this offhand comment took hold of Sam. Between college and work he used whatever time found in between to attend classes that taught the method of historical European martial arts.

He trained whenever he could, he fought aggressively and with great speed. Early on the instructors had to pair him with more experienced sparring partners to compensate for his style of fighting. It was common to have a crowd gather to watch when the young man went up to spar, he didn’t always win but it was guaranteed to be exciting.

He very quickly grasped the basics, as he moved up the chain he became even better than before, learning to pair patience with his ferocity. He incorporated different sorts of moves and techniques, feints, half swording, ripostes, all served to make him one of the best in the class he attended.

His mother and father never once laughed at him for learning it, some of the people he talked to thought it was a waste of time and others thoughts it was a cool waste of time but never his parents. On the contrary they supported him in every way they could even showing up sometimes to watch, his father would cheer and his mother would yell,”Knock em’ on their ass sweetie!”

His parents, they were the ones who laid the foundation that solidified into his strong righteousness. From a young age they did all they could to try and teach him right from wrong, good from evil. Many of his views of the world came from it and he sometimes wondered if having that trait was actually a good thing...

Sam was startled out of his thoughts by a cool breeze that seeped in through his armor, he drew in a sharp breath. The pervasive air rustled the trees about him and a few loose leaves fell to the ground, they had a slight tinge of purple and brown around their edges.

Fall was coming and with it change.

Shaking his head he looked back down, with one last tug of leather his sabaton was fastened to his foot. He grunted as he stood from his kneeling position, the chainmail rattled slightly with his movements but the plates fit so well that there was no noise produced when they moved together.

Wearing armor always created an odd feeling in Sam, like he was in another century, ready to fight another war. This time though it was different, he had gotten geared up with a purpose and now it felt like he was in his own time, ready to fight his own war.

Reaching out over the large rock beside him he grabbed hold of his helmet, lifting it up he paused for a moment. The second this was on he would become a different person, someone who could kill without hesitation or mercy, he had to be able to, otherwise he would die.

With a last breath of air he pulled the helmet down over his head, for a split second he entered complete darkness only for his vision to return through the visor. His view was narrowed and odd, the first time he’d ever put a helmet on he felt clumsy and unable to function, but as with all things after enough practice he functioned just fine with it on.

He took a few breaths allowing his lungs to adjust to the altered air, satisfied his armor was on tight he mentally nodded to himself. Sam pulled his sword, which was in its scabbard, off the rock and clipped it to his left hip. The weight felt nice after not having worn it for so long.

He looked off in the direction he was to go, for a second doubt began to spring in his mind. Images of this different ways he could die, pain he’d endure, consequences of his failure... His gauntleted hand absentmindedly drifted up to his chest and over his breast plate, right where his cross was under the metal.

His fist clenched as he drove the doubt from his mind a final time, he was going to go through with it even if it killed him. Without another thought he began to walk, past the rock and into the trees beyond. His metal clad feet crunched on the rocks and leaves with each step taken.

As he walked the ground became more rocky, grass slowly turned to whatever weeds could get through the gravel. There was a noticeable change in the trees as well, those that grew were thin and fragile, they had very few leaves on their branches and they slowly became less numerous.

Before long that which he sought appeared in the distance, even with the little trees blocking his view he could make out the large hillock. It’s details presented themselves more clearly the closer he came, it’s sides were crumbled with sediment and creeping vines, the top was rounded with a circle of green grass. For about fifty yards around the forest had been clear cut, leaving the hill with a clear view of anything that came by.

Here, between the Everfree and Ghastly Gorge, was the Ponyville diamond dog hideout.

He crouched down behind a tree at the edge of the clearing and scanned the rocky hillside, eventually he began to pace along the perimeter in search of the entrance. It wasn’t long before he spotted it, on the north side of the desolate clearing was a tunnel that he assumed led into their cave.

On either side of the entrance stood two diamond dog guards, Sam paused and studied them the best he could from afar. They were tall and the claws they sported were no laughing matter, though the armor the two out front wore looked poorly made and he could tell their spears were anything but reliable.

On top of that they were both asleep, one had impressively balanced himself on his spear and the other lay on the ground against the hillside. Sam raised an eyebrow,”They must be cocky if these are the ones they assign to guard their front door.”

Raising up he braced himself and walked forward into the full light, the dogs didn’t even react as he drew his sword. He walked across the rocky ground without difficulty, as he approached his enemies he felt his pulse speed up and his heart began to thump in his chest.

He was steps away from the guard leaning on his spear.

Placing both hands on the handle of his sword he lifted it till the tip of the blade was angled upwards at the guards neck, his breathing started to quicken and he hesitated. Sam could feel perspiration forming on his brow, he swallowed thickly as he mentally prepared himself to actually kill.

Without any sort of warning the dogs eyes cracked open, Sam’s breath hitched. In a matter of micro seconds the dog gasped and his eyes opened in surprise, time seemed to slow as the guard reflexively tried to step back.

The young man stepped forward and thrust his weapon up, the blade moved swiftly through the air and the tip sliced with ease into its targets throat. The metal tore into his windpipe like a knife in hot butter, blood immediately began to seep from the wound and down the guards chest.

Sam looked into his enemies eyes, he could see multiple emotions flash all at once, fear, shock and confusion.

The two stood there in silence looking at each other, the dog slowly brought a hand up and weakly grasped the blade, strength visibly left him with every second. He opened his mouth but no sound came out and with that final futile attempt to make some kind of noise the guards grip on the sword failed and he collapsed backwards.

Sam’s stance slowly relaxed, his eyes were drawn to the red smear at the end of his sword and he swallowed.

He had done it, he had killed and he didn’t really know how to feel about it. He didn’t regret it, but neither did he feel good about what he’d done, it was... odd.

“Ah, uh, wha...” Sam whipped to his right, the other dog was beginning to wake up.

The guard looked up from his spot on the ground and his eyes widened with fear when he saw Sam standing over his dead companion. The dog drew in a breath and quickly went to pull himself up. With speed Sam shot across the tunnel’s opening and kicked, his foot connected with the guard’s side.

He was flung into the rocks with a yelp, in a swift movement Sam raised his leg up and brought it down stomping on the side of the dogs head. A sickening crunch sounded as the beast’s head was split on the stones, blood and pink matter seeped out of the thin opening in the dogs compressed head and onto the ground.

Sam stepped back to avoid the forming puddle of dog brain.

”It’s not as difficult as I thought it would be...” He slowly forced himself to turn away from the horrific scene, stepping back he sheathed his sword and brought his hands up. Lifting his helmet off he took a deep breath of fresh air and enjoyed the coolness that now caressed his face.

His eyes were drawn away from the bodies of his fallen foes and into the darkness that awaited him in the tunnel, as he looked into the deep blackness he was reminded of that night in the alley nearly two months ago. The blackness was just as thick as it was then, a sort of inkiness swirled about within it.

He narrowed his eyes and for a second he felt he could almost hear muffled screaming, his mouth twisted in anger and he growled to himself. He slid his helmet back down and walked forward into the black...

...His steps echoed as he slowly found his way through the dark stretch, he became very aware of how loud they were, it even started to feel like his breathing was loud. Before long every movement he made seemed like he was banging pots and pans wildly.

Amidst the cacophony of noise he perceived he was making the lack of any other real sound was disconcerting and filled him with a certain mind eating dread.

His outstretched arm slid along the wall to his right so as to feel the way, this was necessary as Sam couldn’t even see his own hand in front of his face in this intense and foreboding dark.

His mind subconsciously looked for patterns in the black attempting to distinguish his surroundings, all it achieved was to put him more on edge. Black figures that formed in his imagination went to and fro in the dark all around him, he gasped more than a few times when these figures looked like they could be real.

His progress was slow and before long the young man’s mind became active, expectedly his recent actions were at the forefront of his thoughts.

He’d killed two living, breathing, thinking creatures. He did it all out of his sense of justice, his ideas of right and wrong had dictated that they deserved to die. His mind was having trouble deciding, was he really worthy to have decided their fates and condemned them to death?

They were horrible, they kidnapped ponies, raped mares, enslaved any creature they could and most likely killed others as well. Yet they still, like everyone else, had families and friends, lived entire lives, had childhoods and he put an end to all of that.

He really wasn’t sure how to feel, yes he felt bad but he had no real regrets, though he felt like perhaps he should. Any normal person would feel sick over having killed and if he were to express his lack of real guilt to anybody they would probably think of him as a psychopath.

Sam worried, would they be correct?

Sam’s train of thought crashed when his foot landed on a patch of uneven gravel and he slipped, his hand grasped at the wall as he fell forwards. He just barely caught himself. With a frustrated grunt the young man hoisted himself back up, god this dark was terrible, it was the worst pitch black that he’d ever found himself in.

Now he knew how the fellowship felt going through Khazad-dûm.

He sighed and looked up, a hint of flickering light shone up ahead and his eyes fixated on it, he felt a rush at the sight. He started to walk again, his pace quickened and soon he was practically running blindly through the dark. As he got closer he could tell the light was some kind of fire.

The orange glow grew brighter with each step taken, his mind took its time catching up with him and when it did he ground to a halt.

“Hey, what was that?”

Where there was light there were going to be diamond dogs,”I heard somedog coming this way, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, sounded like it.”

Sam’s eyes widened, he watched the flickering fire for a second and in its glow the long faces of two dogs appeared. One of them squinted towards him and sniffed, it was obvious they couldn’t see him and he intended to keep it that way for the time being.

“Pack?! Sore?! You up ahead?!” The one closest to the torch yelled.

His companion stepped forward allowing Sam to see he had a makeshift helmet on,“You know you aren’t off duty yet right?!”

Their voices echoed by Sam and bounced along the tunnel walls,”Hmmm.” The helmeted dog stepped forward and sniffed again,”I’m smelling something weird, I think there’s something else in here.” He looked back at his friend,”I’m gonna check it out, you keep close behind okay?”

The other dog nodded, they both raised their spears and began to to walk towards Sam, the human drew his sword with care so as not to make a sound. He gripped it with both hands and pointed it towards the helmeted dog.

The diamond dogs marched forward with squinted eyes trying to see anything, when they got close Sam drew in a deep breath, the front dog stopped and raised his arm signaling to his partner,”You hear that? Sounded like-“

“Rahhh!” The steel clad young man let out a beast like cry and charged out of the dark at the helmeted dog.

Catching the dog totally off guard he had no time to defend himself, Sam rammed the sword halfway into his stomach. He wasn’t able to stop his momentum and lost his grip on the sword, he slammed into the shocked diamond dog and together they fell to the ground.

He lifted his head up off he dogs chest and looked down at the beast beneath him with disgust, the smell of its breath was like rancid meat.

Sam growled and grunted as he placed a hand on the heaving chest of the dog, he pushed down and rolled himself over onto the ground. The now sputtering dog watched with horror as Sam reached over to grip his embedded sword. The wounded dog let out a scream as Sam pulled on the sword, ripping even more of his belly open and using the leverage of the weapon’s hilt to lift himself up to a kneeling position.

He looked up and over his shoulder at the second dog, which was lowering his spear and pulling it back in preparation of a thrust.

Wasting no time Sam brought his other hand up to grip the swords pommel and wrenched the instrument upward with him as he stood. He spun around in time to have the tip of a spear hit his left shoulder, the blow made him grunt and he was forced a step back as his armor absorbed the blow, a dull ache immediately formed in his shoulder.

He grit his teeth underneath the helmet and gripped the handle of his sword, he brought it around his side with a step and a swing. The dog jumped back in response and landed with his legs splayed apart, he quickly brought his spear forward and back into an attack position.

“You fucker! You killed him!”

Sam stood with sword in hand, he gave a single nod in response and slid his left foot forward, his body shifted along with it and he assumed a defensive posture.

The dog panted, his eyes darted between his friend on the ground and the metal man standing above him. He swallowed and narrowed his eyes,”You’ll get what’s coming to you!”

He ran forward spear outstretched, he steadied the polearm as he came and aimed it right for Sam’s helmeted head. Sam shifted his sword over to his left as he easily sidestepped the spear point, his whole body turned to the left as he moved to the right.

He swung the sword upwards from its low position, the length of the blade bit into the charging dogs belly, Sam pulled himself further to the right sliding the blade along his foes red tunic. It sliced past the thick fabric and into the flesh beneath.

As Sam brought the sword away the dog dropped his spear mid charge, it clattered on the ground and rolled to the side. The dog took a few more steps before shakily coming to a stop, he slowly turned around and faced Sam with complete horror in his eyes.

Sam lowered his blade, the dogs belly skin had been sliced clean through and now hung open. He could see the intestines within pushing on the bottom lip of skin, the flesh of his lower stomach bloated outwards and threatened to spill his guts out over the ground.

The dog began to shake uncontrollably, the sight of his own intestines proving to be to much for him, he tried to move only for his belly flap to burst outwards. Sam cringed as he watched his enemy collapse into a pile of his own innards.

He turned to the other dog who still lay in the same spot, blood had pooled around his still form and Sam could see that he was dead.

He shook his head and looked away, he stared down the tunnel with narrow eyes.

Time to press on. He slid his sword back into its sheath before he began walking forward, reaching out he grabbed the torch as he passed it and pulled it up out of it’s sconce...

...There was a fork in the cave ahead, it split two ways and Sam had no way of knowing which went where.

He raised his torch up attempting to shine the light a bit farther, the only difference he could make out between the two was that the left one was slightly smaller. He pursed his lips and blew the air out of his nose, he gave a sigh of defeat and followed his gut instinct.

Samuel walked into the left tunnel, as he moved further into the deep he noticed that his path curved left sharply. The flickering torchlight revealed the path ahead as rounded the corner and he came upon a long stretch of unobstructed tunnel. At it’s end was a thick wooden door with thin metal bars across it.

He marched for the door with caution, as he came closer he could see light through the cracks in the wood and knew there was most likely going to be a fight on the other side. He unsheathed his sword and readied it for use in his right hand, throwing his torch to the side he reached out and grasped the door’s handle.

In one fluid motion he unlatched the door handle and pushed it inwards, he let go of the door as it swung open and brought his left hand back to the bottom of the sword’s hilt. He leaped in with the blade extended and pointing forward ready for combat.

The room before him was fairly large, the ceiling was the same height as before but the walls were pushed out at least ten feet further on both sides and the length of the chamber was about that of a football field. To his right and left the walls had rows of doors like the one he entered through each about seven feet apart.

There was a torch between each of these doors, that was where the light had come from. Lowering his sword Sam studied the doors further, they had little portcullises in the middle which one could look through from this side.

It dawned on him, these were holding cells and this was a prison.

“Good god...” This was where they kept ponies.

He went to turn when he was slammed from behind, he dropped his sword and it fell to the ground with a clang. He felt two immensely strong arms wrap around his sides as he was driven forward into the ground. He landed hard, all he could see through his helmet was rock and dirt, he felt what he assumed was a diamond dog sit up on his back.

This dog felt huge.

“Didn’t see me in the corner did you, you little shit.” He felt the weight shift along his back, a hand grasped the top of his helmet and clawed fingers reached down over his visor.

His head was lifted up on an awkward manner, Sam’s arms reflexively splayed out as his chest was lifted and back was strained. The claws made a terrible nails on chalkboard like sound as they attempted to tear into his face, they passed over the visor which just barely kept them from puncturing his eyes.

Sam slammed his arms into the ground in order to gain control again, he slid them underneath his chest and pushed up. The dog almost lost his balance and nearly fell backwards, Sam lifted a couple inches only to fall back down under the weight.

The dog gave a smug chuckle, the young man felt another hand grab the top of his head and lift him up again, without warning the hands thrust forward. Sam’s head crashed into the ground with a bang, his head vibrated with the impact and he heard a ringing in his ears.

The hands lifted his head back up and held him there,”You’re gonna die you know that right?” He was slammed back into the ground, a painful throbbing started up on the side of Sam’s head. He didn’t even have time to recover his senses when the dog lifted his head again.

He felt an immense panic as he was lifted back up, it was clear dog wasn’t going to stop. A rush of adrenaline mixed with his panic swarmed in his mind as he was again slammed into the ground, Sam summoned all his strength and rolled to the left. With as much force as he could muster he threw his left arm up.

The dog on his back let out a yell, Sam didn’t hit him but the movement was enough to topple the beast. Sam wasted no time in rolling away to the right, he erratically pushed himself up and looked over at the huge diamond dog. The creature was struggling to pull itself up.

Samuel saw his chance and hurled himself on top of the monster of a dog, he landed on its stomach making the dog grunt and the man quickly forced himself up. Sliding over the dog’s stomach he sat himself up on its chest, his left hand shot out and roughly wrapped around the neck of the monster.

He squeezed down eliciting a gasp from the dog, the beasts arms came up and grabbed at the hand choking him. Sam leaned over his enemies face as he drew back his right hand, he yelled as he threw a punch. The metal fist connected with the dogs snout and Sam felt the dogs nose push in with a crack.

The dog beneath him yelped, with a sudden strength the arms of the beast left Sam’s arm and latched to his sides. With ease he was thrown up and away from the dog, Sam grunted when he landed on his back. Wasting no time the man rolled and lifted himself up.

Sam spun around only to find himself face to face with his enemy, the dog must have gotten up at the same time Sam did. They stood there not three feet apart breathing heavily and staring each other down, the dog reached up and wiped the blood from his nose.

“Well you broke Rock’s nose, proud of yourself?” He huffed out through breaths.

Sam didn’t respond, his eyes darted to his sword and back to the dog. There was no way he could get to the sword quick enough, he was going to have to fight without it. Sam slowly brought his fists up in a defensive stance and slowed his breathing in an attempt to calm himself.

Rock narrowed his eyes and bared his teeth, suddenly he swung his hand out in a wide sweep, claws extended. The swing made a whoosh as it passed through the air, the claws passed through the area Sam’s head just was, he had ducked as soon as he’d seen the hand move.

Sam rushed forward under the massive arm, he took a full step and brought his right hand down. Clenching it into a fist he sent it catapulting back up, it smashed into the underside of Rocks jaw and threw the monsters head back.

Sam jumped out from under the dog and took a few steps back, bring his hands back up he watched the dog groan. Blood ran from his mouth and nose in small streams. Rock brought both his hands up and grabbed at his aching jaw,”Ahhh!” The monster dog yelled in anger and looked at Sam with wild eyes,”You’re fucking dead!”

Surprise filled Sam as the dog, quicker than he thought possible, charged forward and batted aside Sam’s arms. He reached out and wrapped his claws around Sam’s neck, the dog forced Sam back a few feet and slammed him against the wall.

The young man grabbed at the strong hands around his neck, he didn’t know what to do, the hands squeezed without mercy. They couldn’t get through the armor but being in such a position was not good. The dog slowly lifted him up along the wall putting all his strength into trying to strangle the human.

Sam looked at the dogs bloody face and into his crazy eyes, a light went off in Sam’s head. He let go of the hands on his neck and reached out, he grasped at either side of Rock’s head and squeezed.

The dog smiled,”Gonna have to be stronger to do that you pathetic mutt.” Sam narrowed his eyes and almost smiled.

“Not for this I don’t.” He slid his thumbs through the tuft of fur at the top of Rock’s head and down his forehead, the thumbs stopped and hovered right over Rock’s eyes.

Rock gasped as he realized what was happening, he didn’t react quick enough and Sam’s thumbs dug straight into the soft flesh of his eyes. Rock screamed louder than anyone Sam had ever heard, he let go of Sam but Sam didn’t let go of him as he slid down the wall, his fingers dug ever deeper.

Blood seeped out around the intruding thumbs and the screaming got louder, Rocks knees shook violently and he brought his hands up to hold Sam’s arms. Rock slowly lowered, collapsing against the man from the pain and terror of losing his eyesight.

Sam gave one last push into Rocks head before removing his fingers with a pop and stepping to the side, he watched his enemy fall to the ground. The once confident dog rolled back and forth on the floor groping at his face, choked sobbing came from the now pitiful monster.

Sam grunted as he walked away, crouching down he grabbed hold of his sword with both hands and picked it up from the dirt. He stood up and turned back to the still suffering dog, Sam paused for a moment, he felt a twinge of sympathy for the beast without it’s eyes.

This once powerful and dangerous dog who most likely stood at the top of the chain was now reduced to to this.

Sam sighed and huffed as he walked back over.

He placed a foot on either side of the dog, looked down and slowly raised his sword, he angled it at the dogs sternum. The stroke was swift and the sword dived straight through his chest and into Rocks heart. The diamond dog gasped, Sam twisted the sword and yanked it back up, blood erupted from the wound left behind and Rock gave one last sigh before growing still.

Sam sheathed his sword and cocked his head, his eyes scanned the dead dog with purpose, he hummed when he spotted what he was looking for and bent down. Reaching down he grabbed hold of the keys strapped to Rocks trousers, with a pull they came off. The keys jingled as he stood up and stepped away from the corpse.

He paused and twisted his mouth, which door to open first?

Sam decided to start from the front and work his way around in a counter clockwise manner. He made his way back towards the entrance and to the right hand wall, he slowly walked up to the first door. He stopped and stared at it with some trepidation, he didn’t know what he was going to see but he knew it wasn’t going to be pretty.

He looked down at the key ring and lifted it up with a clatter, the two keys on it were very different. The bigger one was wide and toothy and a smaller one was short and angled.

He guessed that the big one was a universal key for each cell door and grasping hold of it he slid it in to the slot, with a twist the mechanism clicked and Sam gave the door a shove. This door was particularly heavy and creaked loudly as it swung slowly inward. the light revealed a small room. If it could be called that.

The floor was rough and walls depressingly void, as the door let in more light Sam’s breath caught in his throat and his eyes widened.

Three naked mares lay up against the walls, they were streaked with dirt and tear marks were present on their cheeks. Each one had a collar around their neck that connected to a chain coming from the wall, miscellaneous plates and cups were scattered around the poor ponies.

The mares jumped with surprise as he stepped in, they had been asleep, he figured they couldn’t hear the fight through the thick door. All three of them looked up at him at the same time, fear and confusion filled their faces. He lifted his hands up and grasped his helmet, with a lift he revealed his sweaty face.

“I’m here to save you.” It was somewhat cliche, but the effect those words had were felt immediately. Each mares eyes widened the one to his right shakily tried to stand up, her chain making a racket as she moved.

Sam lowered his helmet to his side, he couldn’t help but notice how the claw marks Rock had made looked. He must have frightened the already traumatized ponies,”Here let me help you.”

He reached out to the mare and she did like wise, grasping his hand she pulled herself up with the leverage. She patted herself down trying to dislodge some of the dirt, with a thick swallow she straightened herself out and looked at Sam with a raised eyebrow.

Her coat looked like it could be a light blue underneath the dirt, her mane was almost completely unrecognizable,”I’m, uh, I’m Colgate...” He realized with some horror who the mare was, he’d seen her multiple times in the past.

He gave a small smile,”I’m Sam, uh here.” He awkwardly held up the keys,”The small one should unlock your collar, do you want me to get it for you?”

She gave a choked laugh and a weak smile formed on her lips,”If you don’t mind...”

He nodded and kept quiet, raising the key up he fitted it into the collar and unlatched the terrible device. The second he pulled away she reached up and ripped the collar away from her throat before promptly throwing it to the ground, Sam saw the red marks on her throat, having that thing bite into her neck must have been more than painful.

“T-Thank you Sam, I uh, am kinda confused though.” She rubbed at the red marks beneath her chin,”What’s going on?

He stepped back,”What do you mean?”

“Well, uh, are you with a company of soldiers, er, maybe a rescue team?”

He shook his head,”No, I’m alone.”

Her jaw dropped and her eyes narrowed,“Wha?! How’d you get through the guards?!”

He shrugged,”I killed em’.”

She closed her mouth and let out a breath,”Well that’s... impressive to say the least.”

He crouched down and began to unlock the other mare’s collar, she was quiet and simply watched as he messed with it,”There weren’t really that many guards actually, just one in here and a few in the tunnel leading here.”

“Yeah, makes sense.” Colgate shook her head,”I heard some of the dogs talking the other night, apparently they made a big kidnapping. Their leaders been keeping most of the diamond dogs in the main hall celebrating and...” Her voice got low,”Raping whoever the poor pony is.”

Sam paused as the collar of the mare before him fell down, he knew exactly who the pony was.

“They’ve been cycling the guards in and out pretty frequently, trying to give each dog a turn.” Colgate continued,”I don’t think there will be another change in shift for awhile, there should be enough time to get most of us out.”

Sam nodded,”Alright, would you be able to give me some help in unlocking the rest of the cells out there?”

The mare nodded and shakily walked to the door,”Of course, I’ll do what I can to help.”

Standing up Sam moved over to the third pony and crouched down, his eyes met hers and he instantly recognized her. Her red hair was faded and her yellowish fur was darkened, but he knew beyond a doubt that it was Roseluck. He carefully brought his hands up and began to undo the lock.

“Why aren’t any of the others saying anything?”

“They’ve been here a lot longer than me... I was only picked up a week ago, they were here when I arrived. The other new arrivals like me should be able to help us free the rest too.”

“I see.” He stood up again and looked back at Colgate,”So do you know anything about the layout of this place?”

She nodded,”This is where they keep the newer mares, the stallions are on the other side of the room.” She stepped up from out of the door and into the light of the main prison hall, she pointed to the left,”If you keep going down the prison you’ll find the ponies that they’ve quote unquote broken in their own cells.”

Sam stepped out beside her, the mares in the cell behind slowly began to stand up and move towards the door,”They’ll all be there, even the stallions that are supposed to be mining. All of the dogs that would normally keep things running are in the main hall so they put everypony in here.”

He nodded and turned to the mare,”Where is this main hall?”

“Well they’ve dragged me there a couple times to... it’s back the way you came, you just continue following the main tunnel for a couple hundred more feet.” She shrugged,”I think though you can also go throughthe back of the prison here, there’s a series of chambers and tunnels where the dogs sleep and such, it’s supposed to link up with the main hall as well.”

”Okay.”

He looked down and pursed his lips, he began to walk forward towards the next door,”This is how I want this to go, we go to each cell and unlock everyone, send them out here into the middle of the room. As we go we’ll grab everyone who’s able to help out and eventually when everyone is out you’ll have to lead the group out of the caves.”

He stopped and turned to her,”Can you do that?”

She nodded and furrowed her brow,”What about you?”

“I’m going to head to that main hall, I’ve got to try and save that pony.”

“Bu- there’s so many of them! You won’t stand a chance!”

He placed the key into the door before him,”Yeah.” The lock clicked,”I know.” Sam pushed the door inwards...

...Samuel tightened his grip on his sword, through his helmet he could see light through the door ahead. The sound of celebration echoed through the tunnel, joyous shouts, singing, cups clinking and plates cracking, even a few howls reverberated alongside it all.

He ever so slowly walked closer to the door, said entrance was much like the prison’s wooden one, missing only the metal bars that the prison used. Sam lowered the sword as he approached, when he reached the entrance the young man leaned forward and pressed his head to the door.

His narrowed eyes peered through a sizable knot hole in the door, he saw many different things at once and it took a few moments before his senses were able to make heads and tails of it all. On both sides of the chamber were tables that an uncountable number of dogs sat at eating, drinking and discussing whatever it was they discussed.

At the back of the hall was a raised chair, an imitation throne, a diamond dog smaller than most he’d encountered sat atop it. He was the first dog Sam had seen who wore a semblance of practical armor, even if it was incomplete. He was talking to another taller dog who stood beside him, the only difference between that dog and the rest was the club at his side.

In the center of the room was some kind of big table, it was close to him so he couldn’t really see it very well. He focused his vision on the blur and his heart fell as it became clearer.

There was a dog at the side of the table, he had no trousers on and his right arm was crooked, it looked like an old break that never healed right. Beneath him, lying facedown on the table was Rainbow Dash, she was completely nude, sweat soaked and tears continually fell down her face from angry magenta eyes.

Her arms were tied behind her back along with her wings, her legs had been strapped down and pulled apart to allow the dogs complete access, a gag lay across her mouth. She tried to fight back as hard as she could and with all her might she tugged at the restraints with what she could muster, outwardly all it looked like was uncomfortable squirming.

A fire started deep within the young man’s soul, he slammed his eyes shut and held them there. Shakily he backed away from the door his steps slightly off balance. His breathing became erratic, images of the prisoners he’d encountered flashed before him, Roseluck and Dash rose to the front of them all.

Roseluck’s blank stare, Dash’s struggling tears.

The fire grew, its flames licked at his senses, an illogical and completely foolish plan of attack formed in his mind. The appeal of it grew every second, he brought his left hand up and gripped the forehead of his helmet, all he wanted to do was kill. He had never felt like this before, his mind was seething with rage.

A voice clearer than the rest spoke through the noise,”Hey, she looks like she’s finally starting to break!” A symphony of laughs followed suit.

Something deep within Sam’s soul broke, in a second all that he’d done that day, the killing, smashing, stabbing, slashing, all came to him. He suddenly regretted none of it, he was completely justified, he and every other creature on this planet had the right to condemn this scum to death.

His hand lowered back to the shaft of his blade, he opened his eyes and red flashed before him, he drew a deep shaky breath and let it out.

Sam looked down, without a yell, shout or any other sound he charged the door. His shoulder slammed into it with a tremendous crash, the door swung open with a burst and created a magnificent sound as it impacted the wall beside him.

He didn’t stop charging, he shot straight through the chamber running directly at the dog thrusting into Dash, as he ran his sword came up over his right shoulder. The dog was barely able to turn towards the sound when Sam swung the weapon down at his head.

Before the diamond dog with the crooked arm could even comprehend what was happening the blade struck the top of his head at an angle. It cleaved straight through and out the other side, the flesh that had been sliced flew into the air, the dogs body was thrown back from the force of the blow and landed with boom.

The other dogs in the room began to shout and jump up from their seats, Sam wasted no time, his vicious anger drove him forward. He turned to the left, his eyes honed in on a dog lifting himself up from one of the drinking tables. He ran and lowered his sword at his new foe.

The dog wasn’t even out of his seat when the blade entered the back off his neck and tore its way out the front, as soon as the sword had entered it was drawn back out. Sam’s most recent victim grabbed at the hole in his throat, blood gushed out between his fingers and he fell forward onto the table making horrible gasping sounds.

The other dogs at the table jumped back in fear and drunkenly began trying to run.

Sam was about to give chase when he heard a cry from behind, he swung around with his sword held in a low position to the right.

The dog charging him had his fist cocked back, he was surprised at Sam’s sudden movement and threw the punch in a panic. Sam swung his angled sword upwards to meet the blow, the metal easily sliced right into the base of the dogs wrist.

The fist shot away from its owner as the blade passed through, the dog collapsed to his knees and screamed at his now missing hand, Sam flipped the sword mid swing and brought it back down from above. The tip of the blade cut deep across the dogs face, blood immediately seeped out of the thin line and the monster brought his remaining hand up to hold the wound.

Sam turned his attention away from the pathetic excuse for a sentient being dying before him, the diamond dogs were in full panic now, confusion was abound and most of them were either running or trying to. He looked over to see another dog coming at him from the far end of the room.

”No you fucking don’t, filth.” His adrenaline pounded in his ears as he again charged, he swung his sword over to his left side and angled it for a swing. The dog didn’t expect a counter charge and almost fell as he tried to stop, Sam kept coming and without any hesitation swung his weapon as soon as he was in range.

The blade ripped the dogs throat from one side to the other, a profuse amount of red ichor came out like a waterfall and splashed on the ground below. The dog was thrown back to the side as the blade dragged at his neck, he fell to the ground gurgling on his own blood.

Sam kept charging, he was headed for another disgusting animal.

The sword was on his right side again and Sam angled it for a thrust, the dog he was aiming at had his back to the man and he was trying to run away. Sam quickly caught up to the drunken stumbling dog and ran his sword into his back.

It severed its way between his ribs and forced the monster to stop and fall to his knees. Sam stopped and wrenched his weapon to the side, the blade cut its way out of the dogs side leaving a gaping blood soaked wound in its wake.

The dog fell screaming in complete and utter agony.

Sam slowly stepped back from the mutilated monster, his bloody sword suddenly felt heavy and its weight dragged his arms down. His breathing was hard and labored, he had gone berserk, wreaked havoc and now he was paying the physical price for it.

He slowly turned his head, his senses were returning and he started to take in the events unfolding around him.

Most of the dogs had cleared out of the room in fear, those that remained were dead. Tables lay overturned, mugs were strewn all over, food was splattered across the ground, the main hall had very suddenly become a goddamn mess.

Sam turned his head to the center of the room and found Dash’s wide eyes fixed on him, swallowing thickly he slowly marched his way over to the distraught mare. Reaching out he grabbed hold of the ropes on her legs, she panicked at the feeling of his tugging but slowly calmed when she realized he was undoing the knots.

As soon as her legs were free she stretched them out into the air, he stepped back and went around her side. Leaning over the table he went to work freeing her wings and hands from the rough ropes. As the last knot holding it all together came undone she threw out her hands and flared her wings, he almost fell over trying to avoid being hit.

She very quickly rolled over, she eased up on the speed as she sat up, she winced as her back straightened. Bringing up a hand she ripped off her gag and tossed it with disgust,”Good Celestia, I’m free, I’m fucking free...” She breathed heavily and placed her hands on her knees, looking up at Sam she raised an eyebrow,”Not to sound to ungrateful but, who the tartarus are you?”

He opened his mouth to answer, suddenly her eyes widened and she pointed over his shoulder,”Behind you!”

He spun around only to have something hard slam into the side of his face, he stumbled backwards from the swing and barely caught himself on the table. With ears ringing he looked up from his bent position, the dog with the club stood before him, eyes narrowed with anger.

“You killed Splint, destroyed our celebration!” He took a step towards Sam,”Who the fuck are you?!”

Sam swallowed while keeping silent, his adversary flared his nostrils and bared his sharp angled teeth,”You’ve killed enough of us, you’ll suffer before you die.” He growled out.

The dog howled a baritone cry, the club shot up in the air and Sam moved as quick as his tired limbs would allow. The club came down with a whoosh, bringing his sword up the cornered man twisted it in midair and deflected the incoming weapon away.

He hoisted himself up and jumped back as the dog stepped forward and took another swing at him. Sam almost fell over again, the club just barely clipping him. He continued to back up as his foe took swing after swing, the dogs madness was not unlike Sam’s had been.

Sam realized with fear that with his lack of energy he couldn’t fight back.

Sam wasn’t able to get his sword up or find any semblance of balance, the flurry of constant near misses kept him from doing so. His head shot back and forth, his body was like a swivel moving right and left with each swing of the dog’s swift arm.

Suddenly his tactics switched and he lowered his aim, the club slammed into Sam’s right arm, then his left. He couldn’t move quick enough to defend himself or dodge it, another blow hit his left shoulder and Sam cried out. The feeling of the spear blow from earlier flared up alongside the new pain.

Upon seeing the metal man’s pain the dog brought his hand up and back, he grunted as he swung with all he had. The club collided with great force against Sam’s chest, the exhaled as the air was forced from him. He couldn’t breath now, much less keep his balance and with a soundless yell fell backwards.

Sam landed on his ass, he kept himself from falling all the way over but was left completely exposed.

The dog above him glared down at the fallen warrior, a sickly smile formed on his face, the sound of stretching leather creeped into Sam’s ears as he squeezed the handle of his club. Sam watched as the weapon that would defeat him raised up, he knew he couldn’t get his sword up, nor did he have the strength to get into another brawl.

His heart raced, what would he do? The club started on its way down, Sam seeing no way to stop it, prepared to intercept the attack.

The club stopped in mid air, the dog started to shout as a pair of light blue arms wrapped around his throat from behind, Sam’s eyes widened as he watched Rainbow Dash attempt to strangle the dog. He dropped his club as he grabbed at the pony’s forearms with his hands, he pulled and ripped at her fur, his claws drawing blood.

“C’mon dude! Before he throws me off!”

With a great heave the Sam lifted his sword, he shouted as he shot up and thrust the blade at the dog. In the split second before the sword pierced him the dog looked at Sam over Dash’s arms, his eyes were filled with a despairing anger.

The flesh of his right thigh gave way to the invasive metal, it tore through the tendons, muscles and veins, right into the femoral artery. Sam’s thrust came to a stop, blood was starting to rush down his leg like an ocean current. He slowly pulled back dislodging the sword from the wound and dropping it to the ground.

Dash released her arms and backed away from the swaying dog, she looked down at the blood pooling around his feet.

“You...” He swayed to the right, his left leg finally gave out and he collapsed like a stack of bricks.

Sam watched the body slowly relax into the ground, with a wince he gasped and grabbed at his left shoulder pauldron. He shook his head and grunted, he groaned as he placed a hand on the floor. His legs shook as he tried to push himself up, seeing his trouble Dash stepped forward over the dead dog.

“Here, let me help.” She reached out to him, he gladly took the offer of help and grabbed hold of her palm. She hoisted back and helped provide the leverage he needed to stand up on his feet,”There you go, you okay?”

He nodded as he found his footing,”Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little thirsty.”

“Okay good, you know you sound pretty familiar.” She placed a hand on his shoulder, he winced but she’s couldn’t see it behind the visor,”Feather quill? No... that, human?” She cocked her head.

He nodded.

Her eyes widened,”Oh, I... didn’t expect... uh.”

“I understand, now come on, let’s get out of here before the rest of them realize what’s happened and come back.” She pressed her lips together and gave a thumbs up...

...They kept a steady but somewhat lacking pace as they pushed through the main tunnel for the entrance, Dash wasn’t able to move very fast with her injuries. Sam felt better but he was still tired, the man was leading Dash along as fast as could without hurting her.

He had a bad feeling, he was in the home stretch now, he’d saved Dash and the rest of the ponies, his goal was achieved. But he couldn’t shake the feeling.

“Hey, it’s Sam, right?” Dash spoke up as she stepped over a large rock.

He kept his vision forward as they walked,”Yeah.”

She guiltily sighed,”I know it’s not the best time but, I wanted to say sorry, for the shitty way I treated you before all this...”

Sam shook his head,“Don’t worry about it.” He paused for a second and looked over his shoulder, it sounded like something was coming, he wasted no time and continued moving the pace beginning to pick up,”You know if I were a pony like you and had something that defied my worlds natural order appear before me, I’d be hostile too.”

Her breathing grew heavy as she’s struggled to keep up, her legs and arms aching,“Y-Yeah but it still wasn’t cool of me, when we get out of here I wanna make it up to you.”

He let out a breath and paused again, the sounds were louder now but Dash still hadn’t noticed. He once again sped up,”No need, all you have to do for me is get out of here and survive. I’ll be happy with that.”

Dash nodded,“Alright... Hey, look! Up ahead!”

Without stopping Sam looked up, light poured in from the outside world and it’s glow filled him with hope. He began to run, Dash must have felt it too as she was keeping up behind him the whole time. Every step brought him closer to the light of the sun, he could hear birds chirping now, it was invigorating.

He winced as he exited the dark unpleasant diamond dog tunnels, he looked up at the blue sky through his adjusting eyes with reverence. Dash came up beside him, her breathing was labored but she visibly relaxed as the warmth of the Celestia’s sun washed over her fur,”Celestia the sun, I never thought I’d miss it this fucking much.”

“Neither did I.” He looked over at her,”How are you feeling? Are you going to be able to go much further without a rest?”

“I don’t know, my legs hurt and I can’t use my wings... but I really wanna get away from here.”

He nodded,”Okay we-“

A series of howls erupted from behind, the two spun around to look back and could see more figures then they’d could count charging at them from the darkness. Sam moved quickly he grabbed Dash’s shoulder and pushed her back, he reached down and drew his sword.

He looked over his shoulder at her as he readied to fight,”Run, try to find some help if you can, but just get away!”

She looked from the tunnel to him with shocked eyes,“Wha- What about you?”

“Look, we don’t have much time, if we try to run together they’ll catch up and get us both since you can’t move fast, so that’s not an option. Instead I’m going to hold them off here long enough for you to get away, now go!” On any other day she would have questioned, belittled and probably not followed any, never mind his, authoritative command, but not this time.

She nodded as she slowly backed away, he looked forward as she began to run,”I’ll find someponys, don’t worry, I’ll get help!”

He couldn’t hear her, he’d already focused himself on the dogs coming up the tunnel. He placed his left foot forward, right foot back and held his sword at stomach level.

As long as he could keep them from pushing him from the entrance he stood a chance, the dogs were only able to come down the tunnel two at a time. If they came at him with anymore than that then they would crowd up to much to be an effective fighting force.

The first two Dogs began to approach,”You killed them! Now we kill you!” With two ear splitting howls they charged forward on all fours.

Sam grit his teeth and narrowed his eyes, his foes wore no armor, carried no weapon, he had a chance at surviving this.

He then gave a shout of his own and charged forward with sword swinging...

...He couldn’t tell what time of day it was, the light suggested it was late, possibly even sundown. The air was growing chilly and he involuntarily shuddered.

His arms were stiff, his legs ached, he couldn’t even feel his feet. Breathing was a chore and his chest stung if he took to deep a breath.

Sam was in pain, a lot of it.

His gauntlets were slathered in a thick redness, the sabatons on his feet were glued with blood and specks of flesh. His sword looked like it was stained red, it now shone dully whenever light glanced off of its narrow blade.

Dead dogs were scattered across the floor of his surroundings, blood pooled in every crack and crevice of the tunnel. Arms, legs, fingers and all different manner of limbs lay alongside their original owners.

He stumbled over one of the many maimed bodies as he slowly walked out from the tunnel, each step took an amazing amount of effort on his part and the second his foot hit the ground the ache in his leg would pulse with pain.

Every moment was agony for him.

He couldn’t really remember the past half hour, images of his swinging sword, screaming dogs and splattering blood pervaded his mind. Other than those images it was a blur, he seemed to remember it being a hard fight at first but eventually led to the dogs simply trying to get by him as he cut them down.

He couldn’t be sure though, what was sure was that he was still alive and they weren’t.

He was in the middle of the clearing when his legs gave out. He fell to his knees with a heavy thud, raising his hands up he placed them on either side of his head and pulled his helmet up. He cast it took the side and bounced away with a few loud clanks.

His nose dripped sweat and his eyes struggled to stay open, it took what energy he had left to pull the chainmail coif back. His hair was soaked, it was matted onto his head and barely budged as he attempted a halfhearted shake.

“Sam!”

He looked up through squinting eyes, off in the tree line he could see an entourage of ponies approaching. As they came closer he recognized the bulk of the group as Twilight’s guards, this was the first time he’d seen them fully armed and ready. Mac and Applejack were among them too, in fact they ran faster then the rest of their companions.

A whoosh of air blasted him in the face as a streak of purple landed beside him. He looked over as Twilight knelt down and reached out to grab his face,”Sam, Luna’s moons, Sam!”

He weakly smiled as though in a trance,”I did it, I... I saved the missing ponies.”

He felt another pair of hands grip his other side,”Sam what in tha fucking hell did ya do!?”

He turned to Applejack and watched Mac come up behind her, concern plastered over his usually stoic face,”My Celestia...”

Sam tried to speak but failed, his smile drooped and his eyes fell shut. The world went black, all sound ceased and he slipped from consciousness.

Author's Note

Say, what happened to Razor in all this madness?

Let me know what you guys think of the action sequences, I’ve done my best to keep it detailed while not being to much and while trying to keep the flow going.