Lockheart

Eyes cracking open, accompanied by a splitting headache worse than any he had ever known before, Spike once more regained consciousness and found himself still being airlifted across Equestria. Moving his head with the slowest motion he could manage, to avoid the Pegasi around him noticing, he did his best to survey his surroundings and get an idea of just where he currently was. The first thing he took note of was the height of the sun. It was fairly high in the sky, indicating the time was somewhere in the afternoon.

“Guess I’ve been out for a while,” thought Spike. “And if we’ve been flying nonstop, we must be getting close to our destination by now.” Looking ahead to where the Pegasi were flying him, the young, strong drake’s eyes widened as the large, mountainside kingdom of Canterlot was well within sight. The purple dragon was close enough that he could count all the castle’s towers, make out some of the larger buildings in the city and was able to see a couple of trains making their way to and from the Equestrian capital via the tracks going down across the mountain pass.

“Canterlot… Princess Celestia…” mouthed Spike in silence, any trace of fatigue gone as his heart started to beat faster and fear-induced adrenaline began pumping through his veins.

“Hey, the dragon’s awake!” one of the soldiers called out to the others, seeing Spike’s head up and his eyes wide open. His fists were clenched tightly as was his jaw, his sharp teeth visible as the tension he felt put his body reflexively on the defensive.

“He’s trying to escape!” cried out another, everyone becoming alert and panicked before Spike himself even realized this himself.

“Huh?” he mumbled, hearing the commotion of wings flapping all around him as the armed Pegasi surrounded him with spears while the ones pulling chariots with Unicorns on them moved the magic users into position to provide support as well.

“Not sure if I should feel flattered that I’m seen as such a scary threat now or annoyed that now can’t even sneeze without getting a dozen spears pointed at me,” thought Spike, seeing the fear in all their eyes. “Well, I can’t very well not try to escape them and, I doubt I’ll be able to do anything even remotely this fun in the foreseeable future either. Might as well enjoy myself while I can.”

Letting out a beastly growl as he flexed his biceps, Spike struggled against the ropes both real and magical that were binding him. They were many and quite strong, but while in the air, without a means to get a proper footing, Spike was able to yank the ponies holding onto him, causing some to lose their grips on their ropes or break the concentration they had on their magic. Spike’s restrained body gained more free movement to further break free and even lash out at the Pegasi stabbing their spears at him.

“Those ones are just regular metal,” noted Spike, recalling the unusual tint present on Bronze Star’s weapon along with the stinging pain it caused while cutting through his scales like they were decorative sequins. Freeing an arm, Spike shielded his face with it and then swung it like a beating stick at the Pegasi to fend them off as he pulled with his other arm, legs, and tail to get them free as well.

“That’s quite enough,” announced a Pony overtop of Spike. They dropped down onto his back with a heavy, metallic thud and proceeded to grasp the crown of his head in one hand while they pressed the blade of a knife against his throat. Instantly, Spike’s struggles stopped and he froze in place while he started to sweat. “Worm, if you aren’t sure if this is a blade that can cut you, I can assure you it can and I’m certain you are at least intelligent enough to know this is one gamble not worth taking. Princess Celestia may want you alive, but force me to have no choice but to put you down and I’ll gladly take the honor of slaying a beast such as yourself. I might even be able to mount your head on my wall as a trophy. I think I have enough favor with the princess to make such a request.”

Spotting the green armor on the hand that had a knife at the ready to slit his throat and already aware of the owner of the voice, Spike uttered their name with calm irritation. “Bronze Star.”

“Oh, it delights me that you haven’t forgotten my name,” he chuckled. “I always fantasized about having a nemesis that I’d best time and again and always hear them curse my name while retreating with their tail between their legs. But, you were hardly a challenge to defeat and are far from worthy of being my arch enemy.”

“Sorry to disappoint you,” snorted Spike as the bindings were reestablished on his body and he was once more unable to move, not that he dared try to do anything beyond uttering defiances while a firm yank of an arm was all that was needed to end his life in an instant.

“Don’t you worry,” he boasted. “Some day I’ll find my destined nemesis and when we battle, oh how glorious I will look as I best them in battle while their pathetic mug turns pale white with fear.”

“Well, when that does happen, I doubt I’ll be rooting for you,” snarked Spike as he looked ahead at Canterlot. They were now close enough for Spike to start to make out the outdoor side of the stained glass murals of the Royal Sister’s throne room. He could also see flightworthy Ponies soaring around the city or coming and going from it. Despite being able to see Spike just as easily as he could them, none seemed at all curious about why a small squadron of soldiers was hauling a dragon so close to Canterlot. Not even the ones looking his way paused in wonderment at such an eye-catching thing. Spike turned his attention over to the Unicorns riding the further along the outside of his captors and saw their horns were glowing while not using it on him. “A cloaking spell, probably,” figured Spike.

“You’ve lived among ponies for quite some time before going rogue,” recalled Bronze Star. “Ever been to Canterlot?”

“I was born there and spent a good chunk of my life in the city,” answered Spike. “Not that it’s any of your business.”

“I’m just curious,” he explained. “Did your feral dragon instincts kick in and are screaming at you to attack it and raid its treasury for all its gems and gold or has living with ponies dulled that part of you as much as it has your savage fury cause I’m certain a wild dragon half your size and strength would have been able to put up a better fight than what you managed.”

“You really wanna know?” Spike asked Bronze Star. He didn’t have to answer for Spike to already know he did. Staring at the city, the castle in particular, Spike could feel his body tensing up again as an image of Princess Celestia became visible in his mind’s eye. This time, however, rather than feeling fear at the thought of her, his emotions had shifted to burning anger and complete hatred. “Yeah, I’d like to attack Canterlot, but not because of some innate dragon desire that craves treasure and will do whatever it takes to add it to my hoard. No. I’d love nothing more than to bring the whole damn mountain down on the place, simply because it is Celestia’s home. I lost my home because of her, so why shouldn’t I return the favor? There are more reasons, all related back to that damn Princess you all love so much, but that is certainly the most important one of all.”

“And you’d have as much success at doing that as you did at escaping us,” mocked Bronze Star. “Not that you’ll ever get the chance to even set one scaly foot in Canterlot ever again since that isn’t where we are taking you.”

“It’s not?” questioned Spike. “But we’d have to go into the city to reach the gem caves.”

“We are taking you to the gem caves, but not the ones ponies used to mine in,” he told Spike as their flight changed trajectory and they began to veer away from the grand city and proceeded to fly their dragon cargo towards the backside of the mountain. “Princess Celestia had another mine put in, one specially for you worms to dig in. After all, it wouldn’t be safe for the pony miners to work alongside such dangerous creatures.”

“More like Princess Celestia wanted to hide the fact that she was using dragons as slave labor to procure great wealth at relatively no cost,” countered Spike with venom in his words. “Even if most ponies are fearful of dragons, I’m sure more than a few would be outraged that their holier-than-thou princess could be behind such an atrocious act.”

“She does what she does for the benefit of ponykind,” argued Bronze Star. “But, you are right. Some ponies would see it as something bad, which is ridiculous, if you ask me. I guess some ponies can even feel empathy towards squirmy, dirt-eating worms, if you can believe that.”

“Would you stop calling me a worm already,” snapped Spike, more than done with that Pegasus’s condescension. This only encouraged him to press the blade tighter against Spike’s neck to instantly take out all the fight in him yet again.

“If you want me to stop, then try and make me,” he dared the helpless drake. Despite Spike not being able to see his face, he could easily imagine the shit-eating grin he had on. “Heh. Just what I thought.”

Spike didn’t utter another word for what little remained of their flight. They reached the mountainside opposite the one Canterlot resided on. On this end, the terrain was much rougher, and steeper. Without even a trace of level ground to be seen, it was a small wonder why it had remained untouched. There were only a handful of trees visibly growing there, and a few more toppled over after their own roots hand caused the unstable rocky ground below it to break off from the mountainside and cause it to lose its support. Save for some large birds of prey perched in their nests, no other animal life was visible in the area.

As they continued to draw nearer, Spike tried to spot the gem cave they were making their way towards, however, no matter how close they got, he couldn’t see anything but the rocky, jagged mountainside ahead of them. He expected them to adjust their course at some point in their flight, yet they never did and just kept flying closer and closer, not attempting to slow themselves down and not looking the least bit concerned at what they were about to slam into. When they were mere meters away and still not breaking, Spike braced himself, ready to crash into the side of the mountain, however, instead of making contact, they all slipped right through the wall of the mountain and ventured into a long, cavernous passageway that twisted and turned quite a lot as it also sloped downward towards the mountain’s base.

“Even more concealment,” commented Spike, a bit irked with himself for not seeing this coming. He looked back at the way they came in while it was still within sight. From the inside he could clearly see the large round hole connected the cave to the outside world and figured it still appeared like a wall of solid stone to anyone on the other side of it. “So that’s how this place is kept secret.”

“That, and there isn’t much reason for anyone to bother with this side of the mountain,'' added Bronze Star as he continued to ride on Spike’s shoulders as they continued well into the belly of the mountain. The deeper they went, the danker the cave became as moisture dripped from stalactites overhead. The Pegasi had to fly lower in order to avoid hitting their heads against them, though after a certain distance in, the dangerous overhang had been cleared away and soon after the walls and ceilings became unnaturally smooth and metal rods and plates were set up in places to help further reinforce the passageway. Jars filled with twittermites provided much-needed illumination for the nearly pitch black cave as the way forward started to become less curvy and began to open up and become more spacious.

“As an added precaution, the first half a mile through the cave was left unaltered,” added Bronze Star as the drake took in the sights. “From this point on, the cave has been reinforced and renovated into the biggest gem mine in all of Equestria, perhaps even the world. All the construction was done by the combined efforts of some of Canterlot’s most skilled and tight-lipped metalworks and your fellow worms.”

“I wasn’t aware I was on the audio tour, Mr. Curator,” remarked Spike.

“Just doing the kindness of filling you in on a lil history of this place,” he told him. “After all, it’ll be your new home from now on and for the rest of your life and given the natural longevity of your kind, that could be for quite a while.”

Spike snorted and rolled his eyes as they continued onward. Taking a small, curious whiff of the air, Spike’s eyes widened while his nose twitched and inhaled more deeply. The normal dank, dingy cave smells hit his sinuses along with the odor of dirt, but he barely paid any of that much mind, not when something far more mouthwatering was in the air that quickly started his saliva glands into production. “Rubies, emeralds, sapphires and more,” thought Spike, his nostrils flaring up each time he snorted the air and could do nothing to stop himself. “I’ve been in some active gem mines before, but if I can already smell the treasure from here. That riding me like a horsie wasn’t kidding about this place. If I didn’t already know this was Hell, I would actually think I was going to heaven.”

“Heheh,” snickered Bronze Star, seeing drool leaking out from Spike’s maw. “Look at you, worm. You’re already drooling with excitement to stuff yourself with dirt.”

Mood ruined by that comment, Spike shrugged in annoyance again and turned his head to look away from the source of the Stony smells. Not able to do anything to plug his nostrils, Spike could only restrain his urge to smell as they finally made their way towards the heart of the mine. The cave opened up greatly, into a large central room that was connected to a dozen different tunnels each numbered like the face of a clock with 12 as the passageway they had just arrived from. Along with the tunnels, the ones that were marked 3, 6 and 9 had large metal double doors covering them. They each also had a pair of thick steel beams wedged into place on them to keep them shut tight and would require either a fair bit of raw strength to move them or above average skill with levitation matching. Either way, trying to get into any of those rooms was going to take quite a bit of effort and time on anyone’s part. Looking behind him, Spike saw that the passage he had come in from also had those metal doors and bars, though the latter were removed and placed to the side to allow them to end without any trouble. All the other passages had nothing blocking one’s access into them.

This large, central room was illuminated much better with large pale green crystals placed protruding from the ceiling and walls. Their placement was far too neatly arranged and uniform to have been naturally formed as they appeared. The light they radiated mitigated the natural darkness of this place devoid of all sunlight, almost making it feel like they were not so deep beneath the surface. The floor was smooth with polished rocks half buried in the dirt to help the ground feel firmer to walk upon. While Bronze Star and the Pegasi airlifting Spike proceeded further into the room, the rest of the group remained by the doorway, their added support not required currently.

All around the walls of the room, Spike saw a dozen Pegasus soldiers dressed from head to toe in white armor that covered their bodies from head to toe. Each of them was a Pegasi as indicated by the folded up wings on their backs. Their helmets covered over their heads completely, with even a black visor in front of where their faces were. It didn’t appear to hamper their vision as they all were quick to turn directly to the arriving party and track them perfectly across the room to where three figures cloaked in foreboding blood red cloaks were talking, but stopped upon seeing what was approaching them. When Bronze Star’s group reached that trio, he gestured to the Pegaua carrying to and, together, Spike’s body was gently placed on the ground, though not yet freed of his bindings. The lead Pony rose up from his draconic carriage and stepped to the front of his group.

“You arrived sooner than expected,” commented one of a trio of robed Unicorns as they exchanged respectful bows with Bronze Star upon coming face-to-face with him. The others got on one knee before lowering their heads to display their respect to the three. Spike merely glared, doubtful he’d come to like them any more than any of the other Ponies he had recently become acquainted with.

Pinned to their robes were golden badges with Celestia's sunny Cutie Mark engraved on them. Below the sun the word, "Warden" was also carved in a fancy, lacey-lettered font. They each had on some black tinted goggles that were similar to the visors the soldiers had on, though the first to talk had his pressed against his forehead rather than over his eyes. The other two had them resting around their necks. The first of the trio had a Cutie Mark in the shape of a curly-horned red demon, the second had a black, pointy witch's hat, and the last, a smiling skull.

“Small wonder. This one barely put up much of a fight at all,” explained Bronze Star, lightly stepping a foot on Spike’s snout to showcase his lack of bite. “It was hardly worth sending so many for one so weak, save for the part of transporting such a heavy beast so far a distance. That being said, we are rather tired from our overnight flight to reach Griffinstone before first light and then make our way back here. We could all use a well-deserved rest.”

“Then see to it that you do,” another of the Unicorns replied as she knelt down to look at Spike on the floor while he gazed back up at her, his eyes focused on her horn. She poked at the space between his nose and also uncomfortably close to his eyes. Spike couldn’t hold back a low snarl as she intentionally provoked him and smirked, seeing his rising anger while he remained unable to do anything about it. “We and the guards can handle the worm from here.”

“Much appreciated,” Bronze Star said with a nod, letting out a yawn as he allowed some fatigue to finally show now that his mission had come to an end. Turning, he started to walk back the way he came, giving his troops a wave to follow his lead. “Great work everyone. You all deserve some food and rest.”

They all eagerly cheered and chatted with their job done. Spike watched, craning his neck around to see them join the rest of their group who all then vanished down the corridor they had traveled to reach this cavern. Not a single one bothered to even give him a final glance before they were all gone from sight, not even Bronze Star as he let out another deep yawn while he was still in sight.

With the Unicorns no longer restraining him with magic ropes and the real ones not being held by anyone, Spike could have easily broken free of the bindings, but the guards stationed around the room already moved in to ensure the drake had no delusions about escaping. They had their spears pointed at him to discourage him even lifting his belly off the dirt floor. Spike looked at the color of the metal on the tips of their weapons, noting the familiar discoloration they shared with Bronze Star’s own weapons and wasn’t the least bit surprised such weapons would be utilized in a prison full of thick-scaled inmates.

“Let’s see what kind of worm we were brought this time,” commented the third Unicorn as he walked around to look Spike’s body over, reaching down to rub and grope and feel up his body like he was inspecting a piece of meat. The other two did the same, feeling up his back, arms, legs, tail, and his spikes. When they had enough of this side, one of them used their magic to flip him around like a pancake on a spatula. As Spike did a one-eighty in the air, he felt a bit of relief to not be such on his stomach, but landing with a heavy thud, flat on his back, didn’t make this position any more appealing.

“Hmm…” the lady of the trio mumbled as she pressed her palm against Spike’s gut, feeling the firm abs hidden beneath a thick layer of scales and a thicker one of chub. “He’s a chunky boy, but beneath that he’s got quite some muscle mass.”

“Makes sense since he was supposed to be a domesticated dragon. But that pudge won’t be sticking around much longer, not after a few weeks working the mines.”

“Provided he can even last that long. If he was as easily captured as Bronze claimed him to be, he might fall to pieces in a week’s time, if not sooner.”

“If you’re gonna chat about how pathetic you think I am behind my back, can you at least do it while you’re not right in front of me?” asked Spike, already fed up with everything Bronze Star had mocked him with and was in no mood to have to hear even more.

“Did either of you address the worm to speak?” the male red-eyed Unicorn questioned the other two, their amused, teasing tones suddenly most hostile.

“I didn’t,” the gray-eyed male replied.

“Nor did I,” added the yellow-eyed female.

“Then the worm has already violated a rule here,” the first Unicorn announced, his horn crackling with electricity.

“How could I violate a rule when I wasn’t even told about them yet?” Spike pointed out.

“And it dares to keep gabbing!” the female Unicorn replied, her horn glowing yellow as her eyes, as it began crackling with electricity too.

“He’s just asking to be punished now!” the third added, grinning all too happily as he said that. He joined the other two in charging up his magic with electrical energy. Spike stared up at the trio, his view of them upside down while he was on his back, but it didn’t make his situation feel any less dire as they all did a two finger point at him to aim their magic and sent jolts of electricity at him, that effortlessly passed through his protective scales to burn his flesh underneath and cause his body to twitch and spasm in pain for several lengthy seconds before they finally stopped and looked down at him, waiting for his pain to subside and his heavy panting to slow down.

“Learn your lesson?” they asked Spike, looking down at his twitching, smoldinger body. Still taking long breaths, Spike merely gave a tiny nod, not risking further punishment with a verbal one. “That’s better and now you know one of the rules. There are more, but, like with this one, we find it much more enjoyable to let you worms learn about them this way. Pain is the best teacher, after all, and no doubt you’re gonna learn tons!”

They cackled mockingly at Spike and the poor joke they made at his expense. Spike could feel his anger rising, but, like with Bronze Star, he knew to not let their provocations get the better of him. He let them laugh all they wanted, till they saw it wasn’t provoking him at all and they were quick to stop with a fair bit of disappointment now on their faces. “Seems this one is a bit smarter than the average worm.”

"Guess our playtime with him is over," the female sighed, sounding disappointed about that.

"Back to business then, though, not like we don't enjoy initiating a new dragon into the mines," one of the males pointed out.

"Then let's get introductions out of the way," the Unicorn with goggles on their forehead stated next. "For starters, I'm the first warden of this lively prison mine, Lock."

"I'm the second, Shock," the female continued. “A pleasure to make your misery.”

"And last, but certainly not least, Barrel's the name," the second male finished. "Got that memorized worm or are three names too much information for you to retain? I hear that a worm’s body might get huge, but their pea-sized brains don’t. Tell me, is it true?"

“Lock, Shock, and Barrel,” Spike answered simply. “I know I can at least remember that much. Should I introduce myself now, or would that be a waste of my breath?”

"Oh, we know you go by, ‘Spike,’ though worms hardly have the need for such a thing in here. Just a brand to remind you and everyone else who you belong to, Princess Celestia." Hearing that, Spike wasn't able to hold back a snort and a growl. The spears were thrust closer to the drake’s body, not enough to make contact, but enough to cause his muscles to tighten and ready itself for violence.

"Guess the worm isn't a fan of the princess," teased Shock as she and the others moved closer to Spike's right shoulder. "I can't imagine why, when he gets the glory of working her mines for the rest of his days. A lowly creature like this really couldn't ask for anything better in life than to serve one so great and flawless as she."

"Give him time and he'll end up like all the other worms, quiet, docile, and solely focused on gobbling up dirt to find gems and help Canterlot prosper," joked Lock. "Now, to emblazon her shining sun right onto his scales." Lock's horn glowed as he prepared the spell, a light shining off the magical conduit protruding from his forehead. Tapping it onto that spot on Spike’s, the scales on that area started to shine and the three of them looked it over while Spike craned his neck around to see it as well.

“Now, the brand you,” Lock said next, however, before he could proceed, they all saw something start to take shape in that spot. It was black mark that slowly formed into a six-pointed star. “Well, lookie here.”

“Twilight,” thought Spike as he stared at her Cutie Mark on his shoulder.

"He already has a brand?" Shock question.

“One of Princess Twilight's Cutie Mark," Barrel pointed out. "This worm was assigned to her before it became too unruly for her. You think she branded it herself?"

"Maybe, but if it was under a concealment spell," Lock figured. "I'm guessing Celestia must have put it there when he was much younger. She probably put it there in the event it got lost or something. Using it like a dog tag for a dumb mutt that gets lost chasing after squirrels or something."

"That is just like the princess to be ready for anything and everything. From the betterment of Equestria to looking out for those she teaches and inspires," Shock praised the princess. “Well, if that step’s done, we just need to add the tracking spell." Her horn glowed this time as she placed her palm onto the mark on Spike's shoulder. Though her hand felt cool against his scaly hide, Spike could feel heat up against the spot her palm was pressed and he saw the six-pointed star mark glow a bright red emitted. As Shock removed her hand, the heat faded and along with the glow.

"So long as that spell is on you,” Barrel explained. “We'll be able to know exactly where you are in the mines and, no matter how quiet you might be or how dark a hole you might try to dig yourself into, you won't be able to hide yourself either."

"Please tell me orientation is over," hoped Spike in silence, peering over at the mark on his side with disdain. He brought his claws up, tempted to try and pick at it like a scab, but swallowed his disgust and just chose to ignore what felt like a stain he couldn’t wash away no matter how hard he tried.

"Hate to break it to you, but we haven't even gotten to the best part yet," Lock grinned, reading through Spike's expression. "Next up, we're gonna need a cum sample from you."

Hearing that, Spike's eyes widened as much as they could get. Seeing the Unicorn trio moving their way to his unguarded crotch, Spike suddenly found himself unable to just lay there and take it. With all his might, he just exploded off the ground, pushing and shoving the three Unicorns and then the guards surrounding him out of his way before they could react to his panic.

"What a strange worm," laughed Barrel, watching Spike fight and struggle against all the guards rushing after him to thwart his escape attempt. Some grabbed at the ropes still fastened to his appendages while others stabbed at him with their spears, aiming for nonlethal attacks while the Unicorn trio did nothing more than watch the spectacle play out before them. "Usually this is the enjoyable part for them."

"I guess domesticated worms are shy in that regard."

"My cock is not for you bastards to use and play with," thought Spike as he continued to fiercely fight his way towards the exit, the mark on his shoulder glowing bright as he attempted to make his escape. All he could think about was Pinkie Pie, Gabby and the CMC, all the members of his harem and the only ones he wished to share his pleasure with. His eyes watered and his heart ached as he yearned to be with them again and embrace their loving and gentle touch. "It's for them and only them!"

"He's definitely more impressive than Bronze Star made him sound," commented Shock. "If he can dig as well as he can thrash about, he'll make a fine worm."

"Think we should intervene?" asked Barrel, watching as Spike swung an arm to bash away one group of the soldiers while his tail swept across a line of them at his blind side. "He's getting close to the exit and he's roughing up our guards quite a bit. He’s moving around too much for them to attack without risk of harming him more significantly than we’d want. He might actually get away if nothing is done. Should we bring in Zero?"

"You're kidding, right? If the big guy still has any lingering blood lust from the last time he was doing his job, we'll be lucky if he doesn't cleave this one in half," replied Lock. "Besides, isn't it always more fun to dole out the punishment ourselves?"

"Of course it is," answered Shock as their horns glowed bright as they focused on Spike, two firing magical chains that wrapped around the dragon's wrists and stopped him in his tracks. The third did the same to his tail to keep that still too.

Turning to see what was holding him back, Spike saw the three wardens with their glowing horns and then the magical chained clamped tightly to his limbs. Muscles bulged as he attempted to overpower the magic being used on him with pure brawn, however, despite each arm being restrained by a single Pony, their powers were proving far more impressive than what he experienced from the sizable squadron of Unicorn soldiers who had restrained him earlier.

Unlike the Unicorns from before as well, a large sphere of magic emerged from their horns just before their magic turned off. Spike watched as the spheres followed the trail of magical bindings to his arms and tail end before every trace of it vanished. For a moment, the large purple Dragon could only assume they had merely let up on restraining him, but quickly saw that wasn't the case as he suddenly felt a tremendous weight pulling him down by his wrists the instant he started to relax his arms. His tail experienced the same phenomenon and dropped instantly to the ground like it had an anchor attached to it. Despite nothing being visible, it was like massive balls of steel were chained to Spike's arms, their total weight too much for the musclebound drake to lift for very long and quickly he found himself dropping to his knees with a heavy thud, just to allow his hands to rest on the ground. As he panted and gasped for breath, Spike couldn't feel the weights anymore. Moving his claws across the ground on either side of him, he couldn't feel any sort of weights resting on the ground or anything making it difficult for him to move them. Lifting one up to wipe the sweat from his forehead, it remained as light as it normally did.

Returning his gaze to the three Unicorns, they were smirking, clearly amused by his confusion and struggles and inevitable exhaustion. "I can't believe I panicked like that," Spike thought, turning his head to hide his embarrassment. "Then again, I've experienced a ton of things in the last few weeks I've never even considered before my body finally matured. On the plus side…" Regaining his composure, Spike glared fiercely at his captors. Right as he did, the drake was able to feel the weights on his arms and tail return, his raised one dropping like a lead balloon to his side and remaining stuck there while the magical restraints refused to go away. "Now I've got a little idea of just how strong the opposition is here."

"The way those weights on your arms work is quite simple," explained Shock as the trio approached Spike. "Get too tense and more weight than you can handle will force you to the ground. Calm yourself and it goes away."

"Why tell me how it works?" questioned Spike. "Now I know I just need to stay calm and it won't affect me."

"Provided you can stay calm while trying to escape," pointed out Barrel. "Your kind are aggressive and violent by nature. I can see the hate in your eyes just from looking at us. Your blood must be boiling and your heart racing. No doubt you're feeling the effects of the magic even now."

Spike snorted, the Unicorn's assumption correct as Spike once more felt the pain of the weights making even lifting his claws off the ground incredibly taxing to do. Though he knew, simply averting his gaze would have calmed him down, Spike just kept slowly breathing as he kept his current foes in his line of sight.

"As you can see," added Lock. "We can easily restrain a worm like yourself, but that shouldn't be any surprise since while this is a mine it's also a jail for your kind too. Now, there's still the matter of your flames and fangs. Care to open wide so we can take care of them now?"

"You want my flames, here they are," retorted Spike, doubtful further resistance would amount to anything, but the way they callously smirked at him made it all too tempting to pass up trying while he still could. Taking in a big breath, Spike lurched forward and exhaled flames right at Lock, Shock and Barrel. Unsurprisingly, they were quick to react with Barrel putting up a shield in front of them to protect them from the heat and fire. Spike’s emerald exhaust split in two and flew harmlessly at either side of the trio of Unicorns. The shield appeared to block out even the heat from reaching them as they didn’t even appear to have broken a sweat.

Shock acted next, firing her magic right into Spike's mouth and down his throat. Right away, Spike felt an intense chill in his chest that started to make his whole body tremble. His flames quickly lost their intensity and died down till the dragon found himself only able to exhale warm smoke at best despite repeated attempts to spew flames or even embers out. When Shock's use of magic ended, Lock took his turn, using magic on Spike's jaw that forced his maw shut. Attempting to open it again, he found it to be another tiring struggle to attempt it wider more than a couple inches before the magic activated and forced his trap snapped shut.

"And like that, you're as helpless as any other worm," mocked Shock as they now moved right up close to Spike, still unable to rise up from kneeling while he remained so tense.

"Do you see now that there really is no hope for escape from here?" asked Barrel, poking and prodding at Spike's face fearlessly.

Snarling and bearing his teeth, Spike continued to put up a brave front, while he could only think to himself, "I am so screwed." Looking down at the trio, their focus now on his crotch, Spike's angry expression contorted into one of awkward discomfort. "And they really do intend to jerk me off too."

"Down goes the pants," teased Barrel, pulling them down as best as he could while Spike was still forced to kneel.

With them out of the way, Shock then grabbed his underpants to do the same. "And his tighty whities too!" she cackled, dropping them to Spike's thighs, fully exposing his cock and balls to the trio of malicious Unicorns.

"Oh, wow, quite the specimen we've got here," cackled Lock, lacking any hesitation or shame as he gripped Spike's cock, barely able to get his hand all the way around it. "Nature and biology have served this one well."

"He's got a lotta heat coming off his genitals too," teased Shock, taking hold of Spike's dick as well. "You could probably roast a marshmallow just by holding it close by."

"This worm's got some nice nuts too," added Barrel, holding one in each hand as he gave them a gentle squeeze. "Plenty of heft to them. Definitely very virile and I doubt it'll take much coaxing to get him to cum."

"Though probably not too willing," commented Lock, looking up at Spike, trying his best to mask his discomfort and repulsion to them touching and fondling his private parts like they were mere toys to them. "Meaning he'll probably do his best to resist us."

“That just means we get to play with him all the harder till he blows his load," Shock grinned, flicking Spike’s dick with her finger. “Barrel, you’ve got the bottle ready?”

Barrel nodded, retrieving a bottle hidden in his cloak that he tightened over the tip of Spike's cock and used a bit of magic to hold it firmly in place. "Heheheh. All nice and secure. You'd best enjoy this while you can too," Barrel warned Spike. "Cause, this'll be the very last time you get to enjoy the pleasures of the flesh. Probably not how you imagined your last time wpi;d be, but it'll likely also be one of your best sexual experiences too."

"So, are you ready, big guy?" Shock asked Spike, smirking alongside her two cohorts.

Spike responded with a simple snort. His arms remained useless as the invisible weights responded to his burning aggression, leaving him achingly helpless as they teased and rubbed his cock into an undesired, erect state. Grunting and groaning, Spike wanted to resist, but his defiance only served to coax them on while also making each tingle of pleasure he experienced feel all the more euphoric.

"Damn," swore Lock, seeing Spike's thick tool at full mast as Barrel whistled in equal amazement. "We've initiated a lotta of worms since we first started out here, but it still amazes me just how they can put the biggest of stallions to shame."

"It's not that surprising," pointed out Shock, her horn glowing as her hand started to crackle with electricity. With every touch to Spike's cock, the magical sparks sent more than a small tingle of pleasure from his dick to the whole of his body. Moaning and squirming, Spike continued to try and resist the bliss, but even with a strong spirit, the flesh was weak and far more willing to comply with such stimuli. "They are naturally larger creatures, but the ones we've got here aren't even close to reaching their fully grown state, though we'd probably have to wait more than a lifetime for one to fully mature and, so far, not a single one has managed to endure this place for more than a decade or two before they expired. That does include any who were jailed here before we were assigned Wardens here by the princess herself."

"Not like a fully grown worm could even fit in here," Barrel pointed out, his own horn glowing a silvery hue that shined down over Spike's length. It covered Spike's cock with a delicate, tickly sensation like a dozen feathers were gliding up and down his length without pause. The oversized drake snorted and giggled as he struggled further to not give in to his captors. His toes curled and he pulled and jerked his arms about, only for them to slam against the ground after he managed to barely raise them up off of it. Spike accidentally almost flopped forward onto the three Unicorns, but Lock remained vigilant to keep him upright. With his horn glowing red, he used it to ensure Spike remained in place while his two cohorts continued to tease and pleasure Spike's cock with a combination of magic and their own diligent digits.

"Looks like we're getting close," observed Lock, seeing pre oozing out of the tip of Spike's cock with the frequency of a dripping faucet. "Just a bit more and we'll unleash the floodgates.

"Time to up the wattage then," cackled Shock, the intensity of her horn’s glowing increasing, reflecting how the shocking stimulation on his genitals was his length was a skyscraper in the center of a thunderstorm. Barrel up the power on his own arousal inducing magic, not bothering to give a warning like Shock had. Feeling that increase in his forced pleasure flooded through his being, the aroused drake gritted his teeth tightly as it ached him to resist such aggressive bliss. The gap where one of his fangs had fallen out was visible as was the emergence of the tip of a new one already coming to take its place. Sweating and groaning, Spike could feel his climax fast approaching, but he continued to fight against it with what willpower he could still manage.

"Heh. Look at him writhe and squirm!" laughed Barrel, peeking at the bottle that was oozing a steady stream of crystal clear pre. A full centimeter of lust had leaked from the dragon’s nuts already with more running down the side, but the bulk of the container was still waiting to be filled by the quickly approaching climax. "He must really be enjoying this if he doesn't want it to cum and lose all that euphoria."

"N-No," Spike answered back, all the muscles in his body tight as they tensed and flexed. Between that and the overstimulation of arousal, Spike could feel his stamina depleting rapidly, exhausting him and weakening his mental fortitude to hold out against his tormentors. Despite this, he continued to try and fight on. "Do what you want with me, but I won't let you take my seed. I don't know what you intend to use it for, but it can’t be for anything good."

"Of course it's for good," countered Shock. "And what greater good is there than the betterment of Equestria and Ponykind. Princess Celestia has big plans and a worm like you should feel honored to be able to give every bit of your body to such a worthy cause."

"More like exploitation and enslavement of my kind for your own fucked up amusement," groaned Spike, coughing up smoke while his flames remained doused within him. "And you won't get away with this for much longer. Your reckoning will come! Of this, I swear!"

"You're not the first worm to say something along those lines," replied Lock, his horn glowing red as his magic traveled around to Spike's backside, toward his rear. It slipped between his cheeks up and then into his anus, doing so without Spike any the wiser as he remained focused on holding back his orgasm. "And every time it's nothing but the last lingering snarls of a defiant wild beast before they are tamed. This time is no different. Now, be a good, obedient beast of burden and cum for your masters. Do it now!"

Spike continued to resist and defy, trembling like a shaky building on its last legs before collapse. All he required was one final push to send him into ruin and, as he felt something clench at his prostate and then hammer on it fiercely, the dragon instantly experienced a terrible mix of bliss and defeat. The combination of shock and pleasure was too much of a blow for the dragon to recover from. All his restraint slackened as his pupils shrank and his head craned back. Crying out and roaring at the same time, Spike felt his body reach the pinnacle of pleasure as his heart throbbed in his chest and his cock pulsed, twitched and finally blew its full load. One huge glob after another of piping hot dragon seed gushed into the clear bottle, coating the sides it splattered onto with a thick creamy white hue before running down to the upturned side while more of Spike's seed continued gushing out without pause.

"Think he's gonna be able to fill the whole bottle?" asked Barrel as the trio stopped using their magic and watched as the container of dragon cum continued to add one pint after another with each throb of his dick.

"Almost there," noted Shock, gazing between the filling bottle and Spike's churing nuts. "Even for a dragon of his size, half a gallon can be a lot, but his nuts did have a fair bit of heft to them, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he could."

"Come on, big guy," encouraged Lock, feeling up Spike's balls, their heft less now that their contents were being drained into a bottle, but they were not quite empty yet. He gave them a squeeze like that would help force out the last bits of seed they contained. "You can do it."

"Like I want or need any encouragement," snorted Spike as he took in some heavy breaths once his sexual high began to lessen. Looking down at their perverse milking method, he scowled with a look of defeat, watching the entirety of the bottle's insides turn a creamy white from his nut butter filling it to the brim and then even start to ooze out as it started to overflow.

"Even more than full," chuckled Barrel, pulling the bottle free from Spike's cock with an audible POP! He then took a cork and tightly squeezed it over the narrow opening of the container to seal it. Even after that, Spike’s cock twitched and throbbed a half dozen more times, oozing seed onto the ground in front of him till a spunky puddle was formed. "That's another piping hot bottle full of build-a-worm. We'll have to remember to store it with the rest once we finish up here."

"I'm still not done?" groaned Spike as his cock softened up while it was wiped clean of the excess seed with a cloth by Shock while Barrel tended to the spoogy puddle on the floor.

"Just two more little things to do and you'll be all set," assured Lock. "And these two are simple and quick."

"But I doubt I'll hate them any less than everything else you've done to me," thought Spike, watching as Lock's horn glowed red while he affixed a golden ring onto his cock, slipping it down to the base of his flaccid length and gave it a little twist as the Unicorn's fingers radiated a similar, sinister glow.

"And that's done," stated Lock. "With that little spell, that cock ring won't be going anywhere. As for what it does, well, how about we give you a little demonstration~"

"No, you don't have to," Spike tried to say, but the three Unicorns were already grasping and rubbing on his cock, showing it wasn't a suggestion.

They teased and rubbed at his dick relentlessly, urging it hard again like they were trying to force a quickie out of him. Even with their best efforts, a brief cooldown was required, after Spike’s bottle-overflowing orgasm, before his limp noodle would react to anything. Still helplessly restrained and weary as fatigue set in after the loss of his sexual high, Spike remained motionless as he stared down while they aroused his floppy member into standing erect again. It took a few minutes, but the tingle of bliss returned to Spike’s crotch and his dick twitched and pulsed as it began to harden. As it did, the ring on the base of his dragonhood started to glow white hot as it also tightened around his thickening length. It burned and squeezed on the sensitive, scaleless flesh on Spike’s dick like a flaming hot vice. He cried out weakly as the pain counteracted the pleasure he was feeling and softened his dick once more before the ring went back to its cool, slightly snug, dormant state.

“And you’ll have that to look forward to each time you even so much as have an erotic thought,” warned Barrel with a grin and cackle. “Think of it like a more extreme version of No Nut November, only this is going to last for every day for the rest of your life!”

Spike just snorted, glad only for that step to be quickly completed and only one more remained before he would be done dealing with this crazed trio. “Just get onto the final step already.”

“Can’t blame us for wanting to enjoy ourselves,” retorted Shock. “It’s not every day we get a new worm to play with. But, you’re right. We’ve got a mine to run and can’t waste too much time messing around with the newbie. We’re already running late from having to wait for you to show up, so we’ll have to work the other worms extra hard to make up for it.”

“That’ll certainly piss them off… at you,” laughed Lock as he turned to Barrel. “You got the jar ready?”

“Aren’t I always ready with them,” he pointed out and retrieved a mason jar from his cloak. “My name is ‘Barrel’ for Celestia’s sake. I’ve got it right here.”

“Then open it up and let’s get to extracting,” Lock told him next. “We emptied out this worm’s nuts. Now we gotta empty out his skull too.”

“My skull? You mean my memories,” recalled Spike, flinching back at the thought of having his mind wiped, but the magical chains prevented him from budging.

“Not so eager to hurry this along now, are you?” cackled Shock as she used magic to force Spike’s head lower, to be level with theirs. Barrel unscrewed the jar’s lid and held it close as Lock tapped onto Spike’s forehead with his horn. Spike’s pupils dilated as he felt countless memories of his were flooding to the surface. Some were fairly recent while others were from before he and Twilight had even moved to Ponyville. Some were of events he constantly thought back to while others were ones that had been long forgotten. There were so many and they flashed across his eyes like he was watching his life fast forward before his eyes in a chaotic and random order.

“M-My memories,” muttered Spike, his vision of the present partially blurred by his uncontrollably recollections coming into view like photographs were being shoved in front of his face one after another. He could faintly watch as Lock’s hand extended to the crown of his head in a grabbing gesture. Tears welled up in his eyes and ran down his face uncontrollably. He wanted to move, to fight back, but any strength he mustered was no match for the magic he was up against. Spike then felt that Unicorn’s fingers sink into his head, like it was a basin of water, sinking not into his skull physically, but, rather, his mind. His face scrunched and contorted even worse than when they had been teasing his genitalia prior.

“Ready to say goodbye to your memories, worm?” teased Lock, seeing the overwhelming despair on the drake’s face.

“If they remove all my memories?” thought Spike, his body shaking with more intense terror than he had ever known before. “What is going to happen to me?”

It was a hot, cloudless sky in the middle of the Appaloosian territory. Tumbleweeds blew on the wind and buffalo were stampeding down the trail in the middle of a large, flourishing apple orchard. The town of Appaloosa was already awake and lively with Ponies going about their day, but in the distant, fairly far out of town, there was a small flash of magic as Starlight appeared there with Nat and Cid alongside her.

“So this is where we’re supposed to meet up with our allies?” asked Nat as he peeked behind a rock to gaze over at the town.

“It’s what we were instructed to do,” answered Cid. “Honestly, everything happened so fast that I’m still trying to process what the hell even happened, but after seeing what those damn Ponies did to our home and almost to all of us, I don’t see any reason not to question what we’re told.”

“Any idea how long till they get here?” wondered Nat as he stretched and yawned. “Cause, I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t mind a power nap first and foremost.”

“Same here,” agreed the Changeling, letting out a yawn as he rubbed his eye. “I had to stay and bear witness to what happened to our home. What little sleep I managed to get afterwards was brief because all I could see whenever I closed my eyes was that horrific fiery inferno immolating our home. Luckily, they shouldn’t arrive for a few more hours and this is only if they actually choose to come.”

“Choose to?” the Dragling questioned. “You mean they might not show up?”

“Well, we were only capable of sending word out to them. There wasn’t any way for them to reply back to let us know ahead of time with an answer. So, the best we can do now is wait a while and see whether they show up or not. I’d hardly call it an ideal job to wait for someone with no idea how long they could be or if they ever will show up, but at least we can also see this as some downtime.”

“Well, since we’ve got all day,” yawned Nat again. “Let’s head on into town and find somewhere to get some more rest, preferably in comfort. A town like that has gotta have an inn for travelers, right?”

“Aren’t you forgetting some things?” questioned Cid.

“Um… oh, uh, money, right?” he answered, reaching down to his pants pockets and found he lacked pockets… and pants… and anything other than his birthday suit. “Also, I’m still completely naked.”

“Which will make you stick out like a sore thumb the second you walk into town, though your appearance alone, naked or otherwise would cause the town to panic even if you were fully clothed, though I doubt I’d be given a warmer welcome, being a Changeling, after all.”

“But that’s hardly any issue for creatures like us,” Nat pointed out as he focused his magic and green flames rose up from his feet, engulfing him. “Since we can just change our appearance, clothes included.” When they dissipated, he now appeared like Sunburst again, though clothed differently than in his typical wizard’s robe. Instead, Nat was wearing a pair of blue jeans, a collared blue plaid shirt with a red bandana tied around it, and a pair of spurred boots. “Looks like my magic is working just fine again after whatever spell she performed that shorted it out.”

“Well, that solves one of those two problems,” pointed out Cid. “But you still don’t have two Bits to rub together, not to mention, there’s still a third issue we haven’t addressed yet.” With his thumb, he gestured at Starlight, still standing in place, smiling blissfully and as nude as Nat had been prior to donning his disguise.

“Oh, right, Starlight,” he admitted, looking embarrassed. “We can’t let her walk into town naked like that either.”

“One of us will just have to snatch some clothes for her from town,” figured Cid. “It shouldn’t be too hard to do.” As he finished saying that, green flames once more enveloped Nat and he returned to his naked Dragling self as another heavy yawn escaped him. “But you’re too tired to maintain your disguise…” Cid felt another yawn coming from himself and managed to stifle it. “And I don’t think I’d do much better. For now, we’d best forget about heading into town and find a safe place to hunker down and recover our strength.”

“Is there even anywhere around here we can go take a rest at, other than the town?” questioned Nat as they both gazed into the distance for inspiration. They scanned around, seeing mostly flat land and cactuses heading out into the horizon.

“Maybe over there,” Cid suggested as he pointed to a rocky region in the distance. “Maybe there’s a cave or something we can use for a hideout.”

“I’ll settle for even a bed of rocks at this point if it means I can enjoy some Z’s,” commented Nat as the thought of resting only made him feel his fatigue all the more. “I just wish it wasn’t so far.”

“Allow me,” offered Starlight as her horn glowed and the trio vanished in a flash, only to reappear right in front of the rocky formation they aimed to walk to.

“Oh, wow, she’s good,” gasped Cid, staring in disbelief at where they now were and gazed into the distance where they had been a moment prior. “You charmed quite the powerful Unicorn.”

“Heh,” smirked Nat, looking boastful. “Well, I did have a little help pulling it off, including lil Nat down here too.”

“And I’m sure it’s an extravagant tale that will inspire Changeling kind for generations to come,” replied Cid, lacking any interest in discussing how he wooed Starlight and looked more eager to hurry things along. “But, for now, let’s just see if there’s a cave or something around here we can rest in.”

“How about over there?” pointed Nat as he spied a narrow opening in the rocks nearby. They walked over and peered into the darkness before Cid slipped in to get a better look. “What do you think?”

“Eh, not my first choice in a shelter,” he admitted. “But I’m too tired to care one way or the other. It’s vacant and that’s good enough for me and there looks to be about enough space for us both to fit.”

“Then that’s good enough for me too,” Nat breathed a sigh of relief that rest was within their grasp. He started to slip in, but stopped and looked back at Starlight. “Uh, what should we do with our Unicorn friend?”

“I doubt she’s been up all night like we were,” figured Cid. “Have her keep watch while we sleep.”

“You heard the Changeling,” Nat instructed Starlight. “Stay here and keep watch. If anyone or anything approaches, give it a good zap with your magic and then come report it to us.”

“As you wish it,” she obeyed with a bow.

“Heh, I’m too good at this,” he bragged smugly and hurried inside, finding Cid already on the ground and beginning to doze off. Joining him down there, he found some semi-comfortable dirt to lay back on and and closed his eyes. A few big breaths later, he was out like a light too.

The Ponyville Express hustled down the train tracks. Thick, gray puffs of smoke exited the smokestack of the engine in the front as coal was shoveled in every few minutes to keep the fire in it hot and burning. The passenger cars were mostly full, with Ponies riding the rails to reach their destination at some point on the train’s lengthy journey.

In the backmost passenger car, Pinkie sat at a window seat alongside Applebloom on one of the further back benches. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo sat on the bench opposite them. Applebloom held out a piece of scroll paper that she and her fellow crusaders had eagerly begun reading and rereading since they first boarded the train. Pinkie watched them fixate on what was written on it, reading portions of it herself that weren’t blocked by their heads. Despite having already taken every single word to heart after their first few times through the parchment, they couldn’t stop going over it again and again, however, it wasn’t for what the scroll contained. They were far more fixated on just seeing the writer’s distinct penmanship, despite the fact that it was notably messier than normal. There were also a fair number of ink stains upon the edges of the paper, including a few made when ink-coated claws pressed down on a corner. Despite the messy areas, the writing was enough to evoke a bittersweet joy in all four of them.

It’s Spike, the one who loves you more than a cake made of rubies, sapphires, and even emeralds. Sorry for no greeting at the start, but in the event that this letter were to fall into the wrong hands, I don’t want to risk your safety by identifying you, but I can say with the utmost certainty that you are who treasures this Dragon’s heart more than all the gemstones in Equestria and for that, I am eternally grateful to have been able to experience true love and affection.

Sadly, the time we spent together, as brief as it may have been, may, in fact, be the last we will see of one another. Choices I have made and loyalties I have accepted and denounced have led me down my current path and forced me to make some of the hardest sacrifices of my life, the least not being to leave you behind. Even as I write this, I miss the feeling of you wrapped in my embrace, the greatest treasure any dragon has ever hoarded and would gladly relinquish my life if it meant I could enjoy one more night with you.

With all that said, I must be honest and confess that I have been instrumental in several treasonous acts against Equestria, the biggest easily being in the aid I provided in the fall and capture of the Crystal Empire. I have no excuses for what I did and while I do feel guilt for the part I played, I do not regret my actions, only that I have kept them from you all until now.

If you despise me for this, I understand and don’t blame you in the slightest. I made the decision to stray from the path set out for me by both Celestia and Twilight and there is no means for me to return to it, nor do I have any desire to resign myself to their standards and expectations of me any longer. The punishment for doing so was made clear and while I did attempt to flee those consequences, a danger to my allies came to my attention and to ensure their survival, I had to forsake my own. Shortly after writing this letter, I will be captured and taken away. What will happen after that, I cannot say, only hope to survive and possibly find a means to escape.

Which brings me to the true reason I am writing this. Now that I have confessed to you, my sins, I leave you with a choice of your own. You can choose to ignore this letter, forget about me and move on with your life. Honestly, that would definitely be the better of the option and the one I would hope you would pick because, if what I’ve already confessed to being a part of sickens you even a little, I’m afraid that will only be the tip of the iceberg with what is yet to come. If you decide on this, I will happily accept your decision and wish you the best from the bottom of my heart and continue to love you even if you might now retch at the mere thought of what a terrible and evil monster I turned out to be in the end.

But, if you are somehow crazy enough to look beyond all that and still wish to be with me, then take the Ponyville Express down to Appaloosa. I’ll arrange for some of my allies to meet up with you and take you to meet those I have chosen to join. And from there… Well, I honestly don't know. I have no idea what’s in store for me or if escape will even be possible. You really should pick the first option, rather than place all your hopes on a long shot like this. However, if you feel like risking it all for a lowly dragon like myself, I want to just say one more thing.

Thank you.

Spike

“Spike…” they each sniffled as their eyes welled up with tears and their lips crinkled into awkward smiles. Their hearts ached as did their whole bodies as they yearned for their sexy dragon master. To embrace him and be embraced by him once more, despite their parting still so brief and fresh in their memories.

“Uh, I think we might be causing a bit of a scene back here,” commented Sweetie Belle as she peeked out from their group huddle to see the other Ponies around them were looking their way and whispering stuff to one another. “Maybe we should put that away till we’re alone.”

“Y-Yeah,” agreed Scootaloo as she and the others wiped the tears off their faces and attempted to regain their composure. “We’ve got no time for tears, not while Spike is in trouble.”

“I still can’t believe he’s been captured,” nodded Sweetie Belle.

“What about all that stuff about the Crystal Empire and whatever else he’s been involved with?” asked Scootaloo in a hushed voice. “That isn’t some petty offense. This is like petrification levels of punishment.”

“But does knowing he’s involved make you love Spike any less?” Pinkie Pie asked her and the other CMC members.

“Of course not,” Applebloom retorted. “While I might not know why he helped these ‘allies’ of his, he sounds like he trusts them and, at the very least, I need to see them for myself before I can decide on the matter one way or another.”

“But if we do go and we don’t like what we see, then there won’t be any turning back,” pointed out Sweetie Belle. “No way are they just going to let us walk away with what we know. They could keep us as prisoners… or worse. Are we really all okay with taking such an impossibly big risk?”

There was a moment of silence as they all considered what they wanted to do. “We were really fired up at the start,” admitted Pinkie. “So much so we didn’t give going after Spike a second thought.”

“And now we found out that there was so much more to him than even we realized,” added Scootaloo. “If things hadn’t turned out the way they did, we would still likely be ignorant to what he was really doing behind everyone’s back.”

“We still have time,” commented Applebloom. “To turn back, I mean. We don’t have to get off the train in Appaloosa and meet up with whoever is gonna be waiting there for us.”

“It could be for the best,” nodded Sweetie Belle. “And, like Spike said, we would be better off… but…” Unable to help themselves, they unrolled the last bit of Spike’s letter to read those last few lines and found their hearts aching anew. “But, I don’t want to give up on Spike. Even if this is the wrong choice, even if we’re branded as traitors to all of Equestria or even the whole world. Spike chose to walk away from the path that had been laid out before him and went his own way and look at what he became.”

“Yeah, a big, buff chad that gets me leaky just thinking about him,” murred Pinkie Pie.

“No, I mean, yeah, I think we all get like that,” continued Sweetie. “But also happy and free. Like he’s…”

“Finally who he’s meant to be. Who he wants to be, in spite of everything that might get in his way,” finished Scootaloo as she leaned forward craned her neck around to gaze at her wings, their size much too small for a Pegasus of her size and not nearly strong enough to grant her flight no matter how much effort she put into trying. “Yeah, I get it.”

“And he’s risking so much for it,” added Applebloom. “And, now, he’s risking all that for those he’s been working with. I doubt he would be willing to do that if he didn’t truly believe in them and what they were doing.”

“And if Spike can do that for them, then what does that say about us if we aren’t willing to do the same for him?” asked Pinkie Pie. “I looked down at Twilight for being so afraid of going against Celestia to be there for Spike and yet, I was starting to have second thoughts about what we were doing.”

“Same,” agreed Scootaloo, getting nods from the others whose expressions showed that the feeling was mutual.

“Maybe we’re not so different from how Spike was,” commented Sweetie Belle. “Stuck on a path and too afraid to leave it over the disapproval of others… like Celestia, or my sister Rarity. I can’t imagine how she might react if she knew what we had been doing and were doing now.”

“Applejack!” gasped Applebloom.

“Oh, yeah,” giggled Pinkie Pie. “She’d go nuclear if you ever said you preferred anything over apples. I can only imagine the meltdown she’d have if she found out you were involved in all of this.”

“We might just find out cause here she comes,” sweated Applebloom as she pointed to an orange Pony wearing an all-too-familiar Stetson entering into their passenger car from the one ahead of it. From the sight of the hat alone, all four didn’t need a second glance to know it was Applebloom’s older sister making her way unknowingly towards them. They all dropped to the floor in a mad dash to get out of sight before she noticed them and quickly they all snuck under their seats, squeezing themselves tightly under and stifling even their breathing to remain silent as they hoped and prayed they wouldn’t be discovered.

“Why is Applejack even on this train?” questioned Scootaloo, daring to only speak barely over a whisper.

“On her way to Appaloosa to look for Spike,” Pinkie Pie reminded her.

“She was going there, wasn’t she,” sighed Applebloom, not daring to risk taking a peek from her hiding place to see if her sister was still there. She merely listened, hearing creaking floorboards and could only imagine her sister was getting ever closer to them, one slow step at a time. “It makes sense she’d take this train to get there too.”

“Guess this was another thing we overlooked in our haste to see Spike,” added Sweetie Belle. “But why did she decide to come to the last passenger car now of all times? It’s been a while since we left the Ponyville Station after all.”

“So, when I get to Appaloosa,” muttered Applejack to herself as she finally reached the seats that Pinkie and the CMC were hiding under. She had a hand rubbing at her chin as she continued to ramble on to herself. “I’ll meet up with Braeburn and see if anyone’s seen Spike. Being a large purple dragon, he’d definitely stick out like a cow at a pig convention.”

“My big sis does tend to wander around when she’s lost in thought,” explained Applebloom after AJ walked past them. “She was doing this plenty yesterday too, while she was making her preparations for her search. She must be extra anxious if she’s still going at it even now.”

“And if that doesn’t pan out,” went on Applejack to herself. “I’ll ask the Buffalos. They were always on better terms with the dragons than Ponies have been, so maybe Spike could have gone to hide out with them. Though, even if he did, I doubt he’d stay there for too long. And, with the Dragon Lands not too far off, it’s very possible he made his way over there to obtain better protection with his own kind. It’d definitely be safer for him there than anywhere else that’s easily within Celestia’s reach.”

“We just have to keep quiet and wait a little while longer,” whispered Applebloom. “Knowing my big sis, she’ll keep this up for a while longer and then sit down somewhere to take a load off. We’ll be in the clear then.”

“It definitely wouldn’t be a wise idea to enter the Dragon Lands on my own,” Applejack figured, turning around and stopping beside their seats again. “Dragons and Ponies don’t have the best of relations and, if Spike has been telling them about what he’s been through then there’s no way in Tartarus that they’ll be happy seeing a Pony in their midst, especially one that’s out here looking to take Spike home with her.”

“How much longer?” asked Scootaloo, looking ready to burst out of her hiding spot. As Applejack’s boots came into sight, she managed to scrunch herself back further as did the others. “I’m losing all the feeling in my legs.”

“Me too,” added Sweetie Belle and Pinkie Pie nodded in agreement.

“She should start moving back the way she came,” assured Applebloom. “So long as-”

“Though the real question would be if I should even do anything if Spike has made it to the Dragon Lands,” AJ contemplated as she paused from heading back towards the passenger car she had come in from and instead moved to take a seat overtop where Pinkie Pie was hiding out. “As much as he should come back and make up with Twilight, with the way things have been carrying on, him leaving to be with his own kind might be the most peaceful resolution for all parties involved.”

“So long as she doesn’t finish up and decide to take a seat,” groaned Applebloom, seeing the back of her sister’s legs in front of her now. “And, of course she did.”

“Assuming she doesn’t get up for the rest of the trip?” questioned Sweetie Belle, restraining her irritation for the cramped situation they all found themselves in. “How long are we gonna have to stay like this?”

“Uh, well,” pondered Apple Bloom as her eyes darted up and down as she tried to give her best guesstimation. “If there aren’t any delays then… maybe about another hour… give or take a few minutes… I think.”

“Well, we were ready to do whatever it takes for Spike before,” commented Pinkie Pie, attempting to help restore the group’s morale before it all ran out. “A little prolonged crampedness is no big deal.” Hearing her words of encouragement, the other girls nodded in agreement and found their resolve got reinforced. “For Spike,” Pinkie Pie whispered to the others.

“For Spike,” they all answered back as silently as they could.

“Hmm,” pondered Applejack, pulling an apple out of her gear. She then took a bite out of it and munched it up a bit before swallowing. She then looked down at her booted feet. “Seeing as I’ve got some down time till I get ta Appaloosa, I might as well take advantage of it.” Raising up her arms, she stretched to loosen her muscles. After that, she bent down to undo the laces of her boots and slipped her socked feet free of them. Letting out a sigh, she rubbed and massaged her covered soles, pressing her thumbs into them as she worked out their soreness.

“Whewie! Are my dogs barking!” AJ exclaimed as she felt the relief coming off her stompers after that. “That’s quite a load off. Feels like my workload only gets bigger every year. Even if this isn’t really a vacation, I’d best enjoy whatever downtime I can get. I best make sure to pick up something nice for Big Mac and Applebloom for picking up my slack while I’m away.”

“I better make sure to get something extra nice for Big Mac too,” thought Apple Bloom, imagining her big brother back on Sweet Apple Acres and trying to handle the work of three on his own.”

With another heavy sigh of relief, AJ returned her socked feet to the ground and let out a heavy yawn while Apple Bloom and the others did all they could to keep from breathing. Just one reflexive sniff and the horrid odor of Apple Jack’s sweaty feet had them all ready to gag. Their eyes watered and a deep need to vacate to cleaner air almost forced them to reveal themselves, but sheer force of will kept them in place.

“Do it for Spike. Do it for Spike,” the dragon’s harem kept repeating in their heads as they did their best to endure the hour they still had to wait to reach their destination far south of Ponyville.

It was nearing the afternoon by the time Celestia returned to Canterlot, her eyes baggy from the weariness of the all-nighter she pulled. Her mood was fouled by the less-than-satisfying results of it as well, however, she forced herself to regain her elegant and serene persona as soon as the city limits were breached and others could see her.

The city’s citizens were well into their daily routines when they spotted their princess and her troops flying after her. Looking at one another, they didn’t know what to make of the sight they were seeing and most inevitably just started to wave and cheer at the airborne group like it was a parade. Celestia and all her soldiers smiled and waved back, though this only lasted till they reached the much more secluded castle grounds.

At once, Celestia’s forced smile melted away, morphing back into a narrow eyed scowl. Reaching the courtyard at the castle’s side, she landed in it and looked around, making certain the location was completely deserted. She then turned to look up at her troops still fluttering in the air, fearful expressions on them as if approaching their princess any further would be tantamount to flying into the Sun itself. Blitzkrieg, the Commander of Celestia's forces, was the only one bold enough to even fly relatively close to her while she was in such a short-fused state. The Pegasi pulling her chariot kept their heads low and became as meek as possible to ensure they drew as little attention to themselves as possible while maintaining their position, mere yards off the ground.

Rolling her eyes in annoyance over her two fliers, Blitzkrieg jumped off her chariot and landed on her own two feet, bending her knees into a crouch to prevent injury from such a jump in heavy armor. Getting back up, the commander then stepped closer to her princess and bowed her head before speaking her mind. “I know that things did not go exactly as you wanted,” admitted the Earth Pony commander to her princess. “But our efforts were hardly for nothing. We were finally able to test out those boxes in the field and it is no stretch to say that they were an overwhelming success beyond anything we could have hoped for. With just the handful we brought, we were able to demolish the entire Changeling hive in an instant. This should be a great time of rejoicing for not just us, but all of Equestria.”

“And how many Changelings did we wipe out in our attack?” questioned Celestia, turning to glare at the red-haired Pony who was treading a minefield to lift the Alicorn of the Sun’s mood. “From what I could see, not a single one.”

“We don’t know that for certain,” Blitz attempted to point out, but Celestia just glared at her with increased annoyance. Her eyes and horn glowed green, the magic-altering brew not out of the Princess’s system yet. With how intense her horn was radiating power, it looked likely Celestia was going to blast a hole through the next Pony to even remotely tick her off. Sweating fearfully, Blitzkrieg was shaking as she stared at Celestia in the glow of her own altered magic. Her foot started to lift off the ground in an attempt to retreat, however, managing to gather her fleeing courage, she stood her ground and continued to speak. “I mean, with how hot that fire burned, it’s possible there was nothing left of the Changelings, not even their bones.”

“Even with how perfectly that new toy of ours performed,” remarked Celestia. “Traces should have remained. At the very least, I would have expected Chrysalis to have found a way to survive and vow an eternal vendetta before attempting to make her escape to recover from yet another defeat.”

“Perhaps she wasn’t at the hive at the time,” suggested Blitz. “Or, uh, maybe she truly didn’t survive. We made it all the way up to the base of the spire without incident. As powerful as the Queen of the Changelings is, even she wouldn’t stand a chance if she was caught completely off guard by such unyielding flames.”

“And the complete lack of any resistance on the part of even a single Changeling throughout that operation?” Celestia asked next.

“I think you said it best yourself,” reminded Blitzkrieg. “The Changelings would be far too frightened to make a move against a force as large as ours, especially with our means to counter their magic-nullifying barrier. They would have not dared to make a move against us when only death was guaranteed for them.”

“I did say all that,” admitted Celestia. “But I said that more as a means of bolstering morale than saying what I truly believed. Chrysalis is a monster of a ruler and when promising to lead her drones to vast supplies of love to quell their insatiable appetites lacks in assuring absolute obedience, the wrath she’d guarantee to any who would dare question her authority does. Meaning, the only reason we were not met with any resistance was because there were no Changelings around to patrol the area. There probably weren’t any in the hive either. In all likelihood, they had vacated it before we even got there.”

“Then we blew up their hive for nothing?” asked Blitz.

“No, it was far from a pointless exercise,” Celestia assured her commander with less irritation in her voice. “As you said, we were able to test out the capabilities of the boxes in the field. On top of that, the Changeling hive is also no more. Even without inflicting casualties the loss of both a stronghold and a home is a heavy blow for anyone. It is possible they already have some other dwelling to use, but wherever it may be, it will definitely be a huge downgrade from their hive. So, on those points, we can at least see this venture as anything but a failure.”

“Yes,” agreed Blitzkrieg, nodding her head over and over. The Ponies hovering in place overhead breathed a sigh of relief at her uplifting attitude. “No matter how you look at it, this was indeed a great victory for us and all of Equestria.”

“Heheh,” chuckled Celestia lightly. “It was a victory indeed…” It was at this moment they all realized they hadn’t escaped the storm of Celestia’s fury, but were merely within the deceptive calm of its eye. “A victory that was handed to us!” she snapped, frightening her Pegasus troops into nearly spilling the Ponies they were carting through the air to fall to their doom. Struggling to overcome their own terror, the Unicorns attempted to use their magic to steady their carriages and their winged drivers. The Earth Ponies riding without any magical aid held on for dear life and muttered prayers that this wasn’t the way they were going to go out, despite witnessing Blitz manage such a jump mere moments earlier.

“This attack may have been in response to the fall of the Crystal Empire, but there was not nearly enough proof to know for certain that the Changelings were behind it,” she pointed out. “If they weren’t then they should have had no reason to expect an attack from us.”

“But wouldn’t that only serve to prove that they were involved in the attack and expected us to retaliate and fled as a result?” Blitz pointed out.

“Of course, but even if they were planning to vacate before we attacked, there is no way they could have anticipated us attacking them as soon as we did,” continued Celestia. “Aside from that special Changeling essence we used to counter their ability to nullify our magic, something they should have had no knowledge of, it should have taken up at least a week to fully prepare our offensive. How long do you think it would take for them to properly depart before then while hauling as much of their stored supplies as possible?”

“I am not sure,” admitted Blitz. “From the drills and studies performed in Canterlot, it’d take us at least two weeks to depart the city with every last citizen and a vast majority of our stored resources. So, I’d say it might take the Changeling hive about half as long considering their numbers and the size of their home.”

“That was my projection as well,” agreed Celestia. “And, in the event cataclysmic, world-ending danger is upon us, how would our response differ then?”

“We’d flee with all the citizens we could gather and only take the most essential supplies,” she answered. “Of course, it’d depend on exactly how much time we’d have for such an unimaginable danger to reach us.”

“But in such a scenario we’d do our best even if we only had a single night to act upon. Naturally, if we had already been preparing to evacuate, under less urgent circumstances, at first, that would at least give us a head start should we become aware that our situation had suddenly become much more dire. Wouldn’t you agree?”

“Naturally it wou-” Blitzkrieg answered, pausing once what Celestia was inferring through all this finally hit her. “Princess Celestia, you don’t mean to say that-”

“That they were attempting to evacuate the hive as we anticipated,” Celestia said in a deadly serious tone that pierced through her troops’ armor and chilled them to the bone. “But, at some point they became aware that they were in more imminent danger than they anticipated, even in spite of their defenses, and rushed their departure before we arrived. And if that truly is the case, then that leaves us with one final riddle we still must unravel.”

“How in Equestria did they know they were in such danger that they had to escape more hastily?” replied Blitz, turning pale at the implications such a thing meant. “You don’t think that-”

“I don’t want to assume anything,” the Princess of the Sun stated sternly as she looked at each of her airborne soldiers, seeing the fear in their eyes from merely making contact with her. Each of them looked disheveled, as if they had actually been through one hell of an all night battle, despite it being one they never even had to draw their weapons out for. “But, I will personally look into this matter and seek out the truth. For now, you all are dismissed, but do not make yourselves too comfortable. An investigation will be conducted to get to the root of this matter and when I discover the truth, there will be no mercy for the guilty. Did I make myself clear?”

“Crystal!” answered all of Celestia’s troops in unison. They then all dispersed, heading back to their chambers to rest and avoid witnessing even more of their princess’s fury. The only one to remain was Blitz, abandoned by her Pegasi as they hauled her empty chariot away with them at a breakneck speed, along with all the others. In no time at all, Celestia and Blitzkrieg were all alone.

“And, dismissed,” finished Celestia as she watched her fearful soldiers zip out of sight before she turned to head into her castle, not even bothering a second glance over at her commander as she took her leave as well.

“Um, m-my Princess,” Blitz stuttered as she hurried after her. “May I just say one final thing?”

“If anything is greater within me right now than my anger, it would have to be my weariness,” remarked Celestia, taking a breath before turning back to Blitz. “But, you may.”

“If I can speak freely for a moment, how can you possibly think we or anyone else would choose to betray you and warn the Changelings of all creatures? I doubt there is a Pony in Equestria who doesn’t know the horrors of those insects at least to some degree and know we would sleep much more comfortably with them completely exterminated. With us finally taking measures to make such a thing a reality, who would be insane enough to interfere with that?”

“Who indeed?” asked Celestia. “If it is a traitor amongst us, I could hardly imagine the reasoning behind their actions. It could very likely be that there are Changeling spies hidden among us and that is how the intel got leaked.”

“I would certainly believe a spy showed our hand faster than I believe it to be an inside job,” stated Blitz.

“I would love nothing more than for that to be true too,” agreed Celestia as she knelt down to gaze strongly into her subordinate’s eyes. “Sadly, the world we live in is one that often takes a sadistic joy in doling out the worst possible outcomes imaginable. My longevity has allowed me to bear witness to a great many of them, enough that I have dedicated my life to ensuring the security of Equestria against such a fate.”

“A selfless act that we are all forever within your debt for,” vowed Blitz, bowing her head lower to her princess, only for the raiser and lowerer of the Sun to press her fingers to her commander’s chin and tilt her head back up to keep their eyes locked.

“And should this incident, we now find ourselves in, prove to be another danger to Canterlot and even Equestria as a whole,” she went on, gazing deeper and deeper into Blitzkrieg’s eyes. Blitz didn’t move, finding herself paralyzed with fear and only able to stare back into the black abyss of Celestia’s pupils like they were dragging her into them. “I will do whatever it takes to extinguish these fires. And I do not care if the danger comes from a Changeling spy… or a treacherous Pony in our very mits.”

“Y-Y-You certainly can’t actually believe any of us would be so foolish to do such a thing,” trembled Blitz, watching as Celestia’s horn glowed and she could feel each strap and buckle on her armor being undone, allowing each piece of metal fall off her body and clatter onto the ground till only her helmet remained on. Celestia then lifted it off her head, never breaking eye contact to even blink with her.

“I would be a fool not to consider every possibility until I have evidence to prove the contrary,” the Princess of the Sun explained, carelessly dropping the helmet at her side and then clasping Blitzkrieg’s cheeks, she moved her head closer till they were almost nose to nose touching. “Of course, like Chrysalis has her ways to ensure her drones stay in line, I have my methods with my subjects. For a time, I believed admiration alone would suffice, but in time I came to learn that that alone was not always enough. So I sow in a healthy touch of fear and just like that, I know a Pony like you could and would never so much as raise a hand against me. You love me too much.”

“More than anyone else,” nodded Blitz, blushing heavily while her heart pounded like a drum in her chest.

“You fear me greatly too,” added Celestia, rubbing her hand over Blitz’s cheek, making her swoon for her princess.

“Nothing else even comes close,” she confessed.

“And to control both one’s love and fear,” finished Celestia, pressing her lips to her commander’s she passionately made out with her. The red Pony’s eyes rolled into the back of her head as all the strength in her body felt like it was being sucked out through her maw. As the kiss ended and Celestia stepped back and no longer supported her with her body, Blitz collapsed to the ground in a smiling daze. Smirking at the sight of the Pony before her, Celestia wiped saliva off her lips and turned to leave. “I become a God to them. Well, Blitz, dear, I can say with absolute certainty that it wasn’t you. If there is nothing else you’d like to say to me, I really would love to take some time to rest.” Blitz could barely mutter nonsensical gibberish as she was left behind in the courtroom with lewd thoughts of Celestia running rampant in her head.

“I may have gone a bit too far back there,” thought Celestia as she ventured into her castle, chuckling at her display of dominance. “Perhaps a side effect of the Changeling essence. It is sticking in my system a tad longer than I anticipated, so it might be prudent to lessen the concentration in the future.”

“Greetings sister!” announced Luna, catching Celestia off guard while she was in the midst of contemplation.

“Oh! Uh, Luna?” gasped Celestia, turning sharply to face her sister. “What are you doing here? I was not expecting you. Normally you’re asleep, enjoying some well-deserved rest after ensuring the rest of Equestria has gotten theirs.”

“I do intend to get some shut eye soon,” she agreed. “But I have great news that I simply couldn’t wait to share with you.”

“News?” yawned Celestia, raising her arms up to stretch them. “What news?”

“Looks like you could use some time under the covers as well, sister,” commented Luna, seeing the great fatigue on Celestia’s visage. “You must be even more worn out than I to have remained awake from throughout both the day and night.”

“I’m fine,” countered Celestia with weary defensiveness in her voice. Shaking her head, she attempted to fight off her exhaustion, if only a minute amount. “Now, what is this news you couldn’t wait to gift me with?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” she answered, all too eager to see the look on her sister’s face when she heard. “I found him! Spike! I’ve discovered his whereabouts.”

“Y-You did! You found him?!?” exclaimed Celestia, that shock making her more alert in an instant. “I certainly did want to find him swiftly, but I know the Dreamscape is vast and to find one sleeper in particular is like seeking a needle in a haystack.”

“I am even more aware of the difficulty than you and it did take me quite some time, but it seems like luck was on our side tonight,” Luna boasted pridefully. “I infiltrated his dream and discovered where he had run off too without him even being aware of my presence. After that, I immediately sent out a squadron to capture him and on the last communication they sent me they were on their way back with him. I imagine by now he should be in the Dragon mines or he should be arriving there shortly.”

“And with his capture, the threat he posed has been quelled,” sighed Celestia, smiling and nearly nodding off as the relief almost relaxed her enough to slip off to sleep while she was still on her feet. Luna was quick to act and take her sister’s hands in her own and look up at her with eagerness that was unlike the Princess of the Night while the Sun was so far from its evening descent.

“Well,” wondered Luna next, gazing into the half-closed, baggy eyes of her elder sister. “What news do you bring me?”

“I have no news to tell you,” Celestia answered with a heavy yawn, her vision blurring for a moment as whatever adrenaline she had keeping her alert and awake was already all depleted. Just struggling to remain standing was beginning to give her a headache and her sister’s excitement was only worsening it. “And even if I did, it can wait till later.”

“Oh, you can stop acting like you weren’t up to something,” countered Luna. “You’ve been keeping me out of the loop on all sorts of things since we were both fillies, so I know when you are being secretive about something. You weren’t just trying to have me search for Spike last night. You also wanted me distracted while you flew off somewhere with a chunk of our military. So, exactly what were you up to? You went to attack the Changelings, didn’t you?”

Groaning and grumbling, too tired and short-tempered to argue with her sister, Celestia just yawned and confessed. “If you must know so badly, I did. I led those soldiers to the Badlands for a surprise attack on the entire Changeling Hive to wipe that swarm off the face of Equestria once and for all in one spectacular fiery inferno.”

“Oh, wow,” remarked Luna, doing her best to feign total surprise at that reveal, though there truly was some as she listened to her sister’s words. “Then you really made use of those boxes. I didn’t think you’d make use of such destructive force on such a wide scale, even if it was on the Changelings.”

“A large-scale test was going to be needed at some point,” retorted Celestia. “And the Changeling Hive did provide an ideal target. The Badlands are barren for miles from both plant life and animals, barring the Changelings themselves. Those pests also possess no allegiances to any other creatures. That Queen Chrysalis and her Changelings have even been allowed an invitation to the summit at all has been but a courtesy, one that she has thankfully always turned down. In truth nobody would miss those vermin if they were to go away forever. Rather all would be rejoicing. Sadly, there won’t be rejoicing for anyone today.”

“Which is something I don’t understand,” replied Luna. “You said you destroyed the Changeling Hive, yet even as tired as you are, I’d at least expect you to be grinning with self-satisfaction. Instead, you’re wearing the sour puss of someone suffering a loss. What exactly happened out there?”

“We went and blew the Changeling Hive to Tartarus and back, but no Changelings were home,” she answered, just blurting it out to make this talk speed by to its conclusion. “I don’t know how they knew to leave as quickly as they did, but I’ll find the one at fault and they will be made to regret it, dearly.”

“Still a partial win that you were able to destroy their hive,” commented Luna. “And don’t forget that Spike has been apprehended, so that’s two big wins for us out of three and even if you don’t count your efforts as much of a victory, at least I was successful even if you weren’t.” Saying that last part, the Princess of the Night couldn’t and didn’t want to hold back a smug smirk as her sister pushed past her to trudge her way towards her bedroom with an ugly groan escaping her maw as she did.

“And I’m simply tickled pink for you,” Celestia retorted while not even bothering to turn her head to face her sister. “But I’m afraid if you feel like celebrating your little triumph, you’re going to have to do it without me. Right now, I merely want some beauty rest before I begin my search to see who I have to make pay.” Nearing the door leading out of the room, Celestia brought her hand to her chin as one more thought crossed her mind. “Since we did capture Spike I’ll have to remember to notify Twilight that he’s been ‘taken care of.’ At least with one mess taken care of, that’s one less thing for me to stress about.”

Luna’s smile remained even after her sister had left the room, but those words she ended with made her shudder with fear as well. “My sister hasn’t remained in power over Equestria for well over a thousand moons merely because she’s an Alicorn,” the Princess of the Moon thought as she folded her arms against her chest and gripped at her elbows. Her heart was pounding wildly in her chest and she was even shaking a little, plenty of telltale signs that she was fortunate Celestia had missed witnessing. “She’s as cunning and intelligent as she is powerful and still vastly more terrifying than even a monster like Chrysalis could ever hope to be.”

Pausing from her worries, Princess Luna took a deep breath to calm herself and then she proceeded to a nearby table and poured herself some tea into a china cup. Plucking a couple sugar cubes from a bowl that rested beside the teapot, she dropped them in and swirled them around in the flavored water till they dissolved completely in it. Puckering her lips, she exhaled some cool air onto her tea before bringing it to her lips to sip some.

Her lips curled back into a smile as the warm tea ran down her throat and felt like a magical curative potion as he melted away her fear and evaporated it. Putting her cup down in front of her, Luna pressed her fingers to her chest and felt her heartbeat. It was calmer and steadier, but it was clear not all her tension had melted away yet. “There shouldn’t be anything to link me to the Changelings evading her,” she told herself as she reviewed all her actions for any sort of slip ups she might have made. “By acting through the Dreamscape there isn’t even a trail leading back to me. I should be in the clear, but I mustn’t underestimate my sister and what she is capable of. The only ones who even know of my involvement are Spike and that one called, “Sting” and they would only incriminate themselves if they would tell on me, not that they would gain anything at my expense.” As comfort drove off any lingering worries from her mind, Luna sat back further in her chair as she sipped more from her cup and expressed a mellow smile. “She banished me once for what happened while I was Nightmare Moon. If she found out about my involvement here, I can’t imagine she’d choose to be nearly as merciful with me this time.”

“I got it!” announced Lock as he pulled his horn away from Spike’s cranium and drew out a long, glowing green wisp of light that linked the two together. Taking a step back, the Unicorn gripped the string of light tightly in his hand and gave it a firm yank. There was a snapping sound that made Spike’s insides churn as he gritted his teeth and shut his eyes tighter.

“Hurry and put it in here,” Barrel told his fellow warden, holding the opened jar as close as he could to Lock’s clenched hand.

“I’m trying,” he grunted as he attempted to drop it into the container, but it resisted, coiling around his fingers as it tried to avoid falling in and return back to where it came from. Its efforts proved futile as Lock used his other hand to untangle it and finally force it into its new home. Barrel affixed the lid back on and then grinned with the same sadistic joy of a child watching a bug in a jar.

“It’s always fun to see a lively one squirming about like this,” he chuckled, the wisp-like thing rammed at the jar’s walls with all the might it possessed, but couldn’t even manage to jostle it in the fiend’s hands.

“Looks like we got a pretty strong memory on our first try,” commented Shock. “They’re always the more lively ones.” She then turned back to Spike who had calmed down and was looking at the jar and them with confusion. “What’s with that look?” she asked him as she released the magic she was using to keep him down at their level.

“M-My memories,” answered Spike as he got up and rubbed his head. “You said you were going to take them, but… I still remember everything.”

“Everything, but this,” laughed Lock along with the others. “It’s always fun to see the look on a pitiful worm’s face when they think we’re giving them a total mind wipe upon arrival.”

“But don’t think it’s over that easily,” added Shock. “This is a daily thing that you and all the other worms have to do. You’ve got years of memories stored up in that noggin of yours, so it’ll take quite a while to get to them all, but you’ll turn this jar into a neat-looking lantern after a couple of months.”

“It turns out taking out memories is a rather lengthy process,” explained Barrel. “Gotta give your head time to adjust after each session. Pull out too many at once and you risk causing a total mental breakdown. Think of it like playing that game with the tower of wooden bricks. If you pull out a load-bearing one and the whole thing crumbles into a mess, though, in your case, you’d even up as a drooling vegetable and trust me, we’ve made more than a couple of oopsies before.”

“So, what did I forget?” inquired Spike, looking at his memory as it kept bashing at the jar’s wall as it attempted to make its way right back to him.

“We don’t know or care to know about the memories of a worm,” mocked Lock. “Us telling you about it isn’t going to help you to recall it either. Memories are not like knowledge. Learning about something is different than actually experiencing it.”

“Well, what’s the point of doing this then?” questioned Spike.

“It’s part of our jobs and one of the ones we enjoy doing the most,” teased Barrel, holding the jar close to Spike while he remained too powerless to even attempt to snatch it away. “But it’s also a direct order from Princess Celestia herself to completely empty out the skulls of all your worms and when the Princess gives you an order you don’t question, just do.”

“And how many have you done that to already?” asked Spike hesitantly, his stomach twisting in knots. “Empty them of their memories, I mean.”

“Well, none yet,” admitted Shock. “We oopsied quite a few while we were still new to the job and still make a mistake from time to time, but we’ve got a few that have jars that look ready to overflow. I’d tell you more, but seeing your fellow worms will be far more horrific for you than anything we could ever say about it.” Snickering, Shock turned back to Lock and Barrel. “So, which one of you wants to take this worm to hole in the ground that’s gonna be his new living quarters?”

“You know you’re the one in charge of this one,” argued Lock.

“Not that I don’t find this one amusing to mess with,” retorted Shock with pouting lips. “But I’ve had to deal with the last four worms brought in. It should definitely be one of your turns.”

“We’ve still got plenty more to keep an eye on,” pointed out Barrel. “We do have four mines to oversee compared to the three you’re in charge of. And, besides, you just lost a worm the other day, so you’ve already got a vacancy open.”

“Ugh, fine,” she groaned, rolling her eyes and waved for Spike to follow her. “Come on, worm,” she spoke with less enthusiasm. “There’s still a bit of time before your labor begins. Let’s go meet the worms you’ll be living with for the rest of your life, however long or short that’ll be. Behave yourself and this will proceed without incident. Don’t, and I certainly hope you do, and I’ll be forced to administer a proper punishment.”

“Forgive me if I disappoint,” replied Spike, following behind her slowly and carefully to avoid giving her any excuse to be any crueler than she had already been to him. Looking around, there was limited lighting from glowing gemstones, but it was enough for Spike to be able to walk forward without tripping or colliding with the wall. Spike’s ears also perked up to remain attentive and they picked up at the faint sound of something thumping repeatedly. His first assumption was that it was his heartbeat made audible by the tension he was feeling against the eerie silence of the passageway they were walking down.

“You’re a fair bit smarter than most of the dragons that have come through here,” she commented. “Or at least far less stubborn and defiant, but you didn’t have a typical draconic upbringing, did you?”

“I was raised by Ponies since I hatched,” he answered her. “I haven’t even been around other dragons much more than a time or two and very briefly at that.”

“Is that so?” she replied with a smirk spreading across her face. “I guess that makes you kinda like a Pony covered over in lizard scales.”

“Uh, that might be one way of looking at it,” he admitted hesitantly, unsure how accurate a description of him that really was. “I can’t say I got along too well with other dragons when I met them, but I was a lot younger and I’ve grown a lot since. I’m sure I’ll be able to get along with them better now, especially considering the circumstances.”

“‘The circumstances?” Shock repeated as she held her head back and laughed. “You think because they’re gonna be in a shitty situation with you that it’ll make getting along easier? Oh, forget what I said about you being even remotely intelligent because if you think being imprisoned in a living Tartarus will help you see eye to eye with them, you’re sorely mistaken. When it comes to prisoners, they don’t bond with one another over and see it as them versus the guards keeping them there. To them, it’s every worm for themselves and they enjoy nothing more than venting all their hate and frustration on whatever they can, or rather, what we allow them to and new worms tossed into the dirt pile are easily their favorite punching bags that make the most amusing sounds when hit.”

“B-But aren’t we all unable to be aggressive while magic is restraining us?” pointed out Spike as he lifted up his arms and flexed his muscles to help make the weights appear momentarily to force them back down to his sides.

“Yeah, but such a spell can easily be turned on and off with ease,” she explained. “And who are we to deny such savage beasts some minor enjoyment? Plus, getting to watch the carnage is great entertainment for us jailers as well and I can’t wait to see the kind of greeting they’ll give to a pony-raised worm. I’ll bet they’ll hate your guts so much they’ll rip ‘em right outta you.”

“Y-Y-You’re just trying to sc-sc-scare me,” trembled Spike, sweating and backing away from Shock and the path towards his new and terrifying living quarters. “No way would they really do that to me and no way you’ll allow them to actually kill me. I mean, I just got here after all.”

“Hey, shit happens from time to time,” she admitted with a shoulder shrug and an uncaring look on her face. “And when that happens you just gotta deal. No sense getting upset about it, right?”

“Easy for you to say,” argued Spike, as he placed his arms defensively over his belly. “I like my guts where they are, on the inside.”

“A pity that might no longer be up to you,” she snickered, enjoying the mental torture she was inflicting upon the drake. “Now, come on, time to meet your end like a worm.”

Trembling, but gathering what little lingering courage he had, Spike gritted his teeth and stepped forward, continuing down the corridor. Shock’s smirk diminished, seeing the purple dragon manage to keep his head after all that. Taking steps forward, he resumed his way down the tunnel and Shock continued to walk it too, staying a few steps ahead of her prisoner. “You got more guts than I gave you credit for,” she confessed. “You might actually make it a full week here.”

“Say whatever you want, but, true or not, you won’t make me lose my head again,” defied Spike, still very visibly nervous, but he was doing his best to fight his fear.

“Lose your head?” she repeated, rubbing her face as her smirk was quick to return as some other sinister thought came to mind. “Funny you should say when your predecessor met such a fate.”

“S-Sure he did,” replied Spike, looking away from her as he attempted to tune out her further attempts to scare him.

“Oh, it was quite the messy scene,” she went on. “Too brutal even for my disturbing tastes and that’s saying something. In fact, we’re almost to the one who did the deed.”

“You mean he was killed by one of my new roomies?” asked Spike, managing to take calming breaths to ease his tension away. The thumping noise he had heard near the start of this trek had only gotten more audible the further they traveled. Spike still wasn’t sure what it was, only that it seemed to be something very heavy and metallic. It didn’t do anything to lessen the dragon’s suffocating anxiety as he began to imagine all sorts of grotesque tortures it could have been associated with.

“No, it was not any of them,” she shook her head. “Our special sentry’s residence happens to be down this passageway too. In fact, we’ll be passing by their room shortly. You can take a peek inside if you’d like. I’m sure he’s feeling even-tempered enough that he won’t instantly attack you and rip you limb from limb with his bare claws.”

“Now you’re just trying too hard to frighten me,” countered Spike, managing to work up more of his nerve. “As terrible as this place is, I doubt Celestia is the type to senselessly kill something she has a use for and, going through all this trouble here, I’d say that includes the worms down here.”

“You’re right about that,” Shock confessed. “But, just as the sunlight never reaches down here, neither does the Princess of the Sun. Sure, we have to give her the occasional report, but us wardens are truly the highest authority here and we’re not above losing a few worms if it can stave off the boredom that is rampant down here. I could always order you to do it, but why not show some balls and do so willingly?”

“Let’s just see whoever this is already,” Spike finally caved, seeing he had no choice but to humor her.

“Now, that’s a good wormy,” she cackled, leading Spike a bit further down to where the passageway split and one path led right into a cavern. Spike’s unending curiosity for that strange metal sound finally reached its peak as it rang out louder than ever and undoubtedly near. There was no doubt in the purple dragon’s mind that it originated from the abode of the jail’s special sentry. “They’re right in here. You can go take a peek, even say ‘hello’ to them if you’d like. I’ll just wait out here, eager to see the look on your face. Hopefully, the head it’s on will still be attached to your body when I see it.”

With a snort, Spike made his way down the side corridor and into the cavern. With much bigger and brighter crystals, it was much easier to see and the sight before him made Spike stop right at the entrance and just stare in complete awe one moment before the thick scent of sweat forced him to clutch his snout to prevent him from breathing in the rankness.

“What is this?” thought Spike, looking around, first spotting a series of metal bars that each had a heavy ball connected to both ends. They were all gathered in a pile in one section of the room. Each was at least about half of Spike’s height and looked to possibly be just as, if not heavier than the drake. In another spot of the cavern there was a huge heavy sack that was hanging from the ceiling. There were a number of claw marks that cut through it, causing the sand contained within it to leak out and add to the mound on the ground below. Nearby were more sacks that also contained sand, but they had a lot more tears in them and were emptied to the point of looking too deflated for use and simply tossed to the side and discarded.

“Dumb bells… and a punching bag,” thought Spike as he continued to scan the room and see more things that resembled exercise equipment like he had used while training with Bulk Biceps, though several times bigger in size that even the musclebound Pony would have struggled to use them. Risking another breath, Spike once more winced at the stink, but it only helped further confirm what he suspected. “This is… a gym? I guess whoever lives here likes to work out.”

“Clang! Clang! Clang!” that metal thumping was now completely clear to Spike’s ears. Turning towards the source, Spike finally understood what it was as he spotted a large slab of stone that was being used like a bench with a large creature laying on it as they raised up and lowered an enormous barbell that made him palms sweat and his muscles ache just imagining having to lift such an intimidating chunk of iron himself. As the barbell was lowered onto its rest, the metal hitting metal sound made Spike tremble, making him tense up like all that weight was coming down directly onto him and crunching his bones into a fine powder.

“I doubt I could even budge something that heavy,” figured Spike, as he wondered who or what could lift such a monstrously heavy barbell and with such ease at that. It wasn’t a mystery for long, however, as Spike took several baby steps forward until he was near enough for his eyes to start to make out the shape of the creature who was working out. It was another dragon, at least from what he could see of its yellow-scaled lower body. Its top half was still out of sight in the darkness and the barbell further obscured his view of the strong creature.

The clanging of the barbell was quick to stop, as did Spike’s approach, as he froze in place and became unable to move another muscle as he watched the scaly body builder finish his exercise. The dragon left his enormous weight on its rest and proceeded to sit up on his workout bench, not uttering anything at all. It just sat in place and took in several heavy, deep, and noisy breaths, each one oozed with intimidating menace. Spike remained quiet as he stared unblinking at the dragon’s body.

“H-He’s huge!” thought the purple dragon, feeling very small despite all the growth he had gone through recently. “Bigger than me or even Tamati and not even by just a narrow margin either.”

Standing at least as tall as Spike while piggybacking upon Tamati, this drake still didn’t compare to the towering size of fully grown dragons Spike had seen before, but of the matured teens and young adult dragons, this one was at the taller end of the bell curve. Still, his superiority in the vertical was hardly the most intimidating thing about this dragon. Far from it with the muscles he was sporting. To call him ‘jacked,’ ‘ripped,’ or ‘swole’ didn’t do justice in describing the sheer massiveness of his biceps or the thickness of his shoulders. Though the darkness did make it hard to fully make out the chiseled definition of his muscles, Spike was able to use his imagination to fill in the gaps and clearly see that this dragon was several hundred pounds of pure muscle.

“I’ve always thought of Tamati’s muscular build being as strong as anyone could get,” thought Spike. “But this… what this dragon has, it’s just insane. Unnatural. What crazed, single-minded determination did he have to possess to end up so freakishly buff as he is?”

“H-Hello,” Spike suddenly called out to the dragon and immediately slapped his palms over his trap to keep himself silent. His eyes were bulging and his body was getting drenched in sweat as his terror peaked. The magical weights on his arm suddenly kicked in and made his arms drop down to his sides and send the fear-filled drake to his knees.

With a snort and a low growl, the dragon turned his head to face Spike. Like a pair of spotlights, his eyes were glowing a bright blue that aimed directly at his uninvited guest. Beyond locking his gaze onto Spike, however, the dragon still didn’t get up from his spot or do anything to indicate he was going to become violent and aggressive.

“Why did I open my big yap?” Spike questioned himself and couldn’t figure out what had compelled him to do that. Slowly and carefully, Spike rose back to his feet, doing all he could to calm his heart and get the magical weights to dissipate again and ensure nothing was hampering his mobility, in the event it was needed and he felt more than certain it was. His hands clamped back down onto his mouth, still concerned that more might slip out due to fear or whatever possessed him to say anything at all in the first place.

Spike didn’t choose to immediately turn tail and retreat the way he came just yet, however. His survival instincts were divided, unsure if remaining perfectly still was the best option for self-preservation or if fleeing would be better or, instead, be the action that’d encourage the larger dragon to chase him down. Before he could debate that issue, his muzzle pushed through his claws to blurt out some more words. “H-Hey. I-I’m Sp-Sp-Spike… and… you are?”

“What are you doing, Spike?!?” Spike shouted at himself internally as he freaked out. Turning around and digging his claws into his skull, like he could torture the answer out of himself. “Now is not the time to panic and do stupid, self-destructive things. Now is the time to get your ass out of there while you still can.”

“Sun…” uttered the dragon slowly as he began to rise to his feet and showcased how much more height he possessed over Spike, easily an extra meter and a bit more, but fear amplified it to seem more like it was several stories of pure muscle encased in scales. “Rise…” he continued to say while standing at his full height, nearly scraping the ceiling with his curved horns.

Turning his head to see the yellow dragon, Spike had to crane his neck back quite a bit to keep his fellow drake’s head in the center of his view. The dragon stared right back at him, their eyes locked and Spike found himself unable to even blink to end their staredown. Heart pounding and ready to burst out of his chest, Spike finally found the answer to if he should remain still or run as his feet started to move him hastily back the way he came from.

“Sunset,” continued the dragon charging after his fleeing visitor, his size and bulk doing nothing to diminish his speed as he zoomed after Spike, cracking the ground with his stomping feet and causing tremors in the process too.

“Yeargh!” wailed Spike as he ran back towards Shock while the dragon was right on his heels in heated pursuit. The vile Unicorn merely smirked, delighted at the look of pure terror on Spike’s face as he ran with all his might to avoid an undoubtedly gruesome end that was practically on top of him as he returned to where the passageway split.

A duo or snores echoed out from Cid and Nat’s shelter as they took their much needed rest. Outside and standing watch, Starlight Glimmer continued to scan the area around their little hole in the wall, keeping one arm across her chest to cover over her breasts and the other much further south to conceal her crotch. Turning her head from left to right and right to left, she kept an eye out for anypony who might be passing by, but only saw the occasional tumbleweed rolling and bouncing as the wind pushed it. She then leaned an ear toward the mouth of the cave, the Changeling and Dragling were fast asleep in and listened as they breathed and snored with enough volume that it was surprising that they didn’t awaken one another.

“Okay,” she breathed, and began to slowly and silently creep over to Cid and Nat, seeing them awkwardly snuggling against one another in their cramped resting place. It was a humorous sight to behold, but Starlight didn’t smile. Rather, her eyes narrowed as her face twisted into a frown. Leaning in closer, she examined the two, taking note of their unique features. “That one is clearly a Changeling and the other… I’m still not entirely sure. He has parts that are clearly Changeling in origin, but others… that are worryingly draconic. I doubt I’ll care for the answer, but I’ve heard enough to know that there are others involved besides them and that other one that left with Trixie. Most likely, it’s the rest of the Changeling Hive, but could there be others besides. Well, me too, though only almost, but I was lucky.”

Nat muttered nonsense in his sleep, causing Starlight to step back and put up her guard in case he suddenly opened his eyes. When he just let out another noisy snore while Cid rolled over onto his other side, the naked, purple Unicorn sighed and relaxed herself.

“Still, that was far too close,” she whispered to herself as she recalled her earlier encounter with Nat; Seeing this strange creature appear as a phony Sunburst, her rage setting in and then the shock and awe as he then took on a far sexier version of her more-than-just-a-friend. After that, her memory went into a haze where she only had a very faint recollection of what occurred next, accompanied by the powerful sensations of some annoyingly wonderful sexual bliss. Then, there was a tingling that came when she charged up her magic energy and concentrated it into her horn, followed by a bright flash and her mind fog dissipated instantly after. Everything became clear to her again and she found herself before this strange creature, this seemingly mutated Changeling. Starlight also found herself completely naked, though that was far from the most pressing concern she was facing at present.

“I don’t know exactly what was the cause for it,” she whispered to herself, her body shaking with anger as she built up her magic through emotion alone. “But, for some reason I unleashed a surge of magic that dispelled whatever enchantment he was using to disguise himself and control me. Were my clothes also destroyed by my magic or was I undressed prior? No way to know, but I could hardly care less what happened during my time under this one’s influence.” Clutching tightly at her pussy, Starlight gritted her teeth as the magic in her horn was bright purple and searing hot with hatred.

“I feel sick,” she thought, feeling her stomach twist in knots at the mere thought of his seed inside her body. Just the vague recollection of such a violation to her body made her want to wretch and scream, but her need to remain silent managed to help her suppress her revulsions. “To have dropped my guard and allowed this bastard to take advantage of me.” Moving her arm from her chest, she gestured a gun with her hand, extending her index finger at Nat while she held her thumb straight up. The magic in her horn flowed down through her head, across her neck, over her shoulder and then to her arm and into her hand. It all accumulated on the tip of her index finger, sparks of excess from the overflowing magic leaking from it. With just a squeeze or her hand, she could have unleashed it all onto Nat and Starlight didn’t need to guess if the radius of the blast would reach over to Cid as well. “Killing you once wouldn’t be enough to satisfy me, though killing this other one would help a little."

Though her three fingers quivered and came close to pressing tightly to her palm to unleash the shot, Starlight let out a deep sigh as she released her stress and the magic in her hand dissipated some, but didn’t fully go away. “I should kill you. Both of you,” she thought, the words in her head still full of disgust and loathing, but she didn’t allow it to blind her from something that was far bigger and more important than her own self-satisfaction. “But, you’re both a part of something more than just raping and abducting me and if it means getting to the bottom of it, I’ll just have to suffer with you two a while longer.” Despite saying those words, Starlight had to keep taking deep breaths to cool herself when her hatred for them reared its ugly head again.

“If you took on Sunburst’s form,” she continued to analyze. “Then that pretty much guarantees that you were involved in the takeover of the Crystal Empire. As for why you came after me, I can only guess at the reason. Were you simply aiming to take out another powerful Unicorn or were you really after Twilight, an Alicorn Princess, and ran into me instead, so you had to improvise. Maybe you wanted both of us, but things got more complicated when Trixie showed up and threw a wrench into your plans. Heh. She always has the worst timing, for better or for worse.” Starlight managed a little smile, making a mental note to thank her friend later. “Now you’re planning on meeting up with some others in Appaloosa before joining with the rest of your group. This actually works out in my favor. Applejack was on her way there to look for Spike. If I can meet up with her before these two find whoever they are waiting for, I can give her all the intel I’ve managed to gather and then continue to work as a double agent and help bring these fiends down from the inside.”

Kneeling down near Nat, Starlight held her palm over his head and focused her magic on his cranium. As she did, her horn shined a light on the wall ahead of her, acting like a projector. “Now, while these two are still sound asleep, let’s see how much info I can draw out of their memories.”

Placing her hand just over his forehead, Starlight’s magic radiated on him and seeped into his mind. Shortly after doing so, a beam of light fired from the Unicorn’s horn and began to project an image on the cave’s wall. “Memory projection,” she thought. “And I told Twilight I’d never find a use for such a spell. I’ll have to remember to thank her as well. With this, I’ll be able to see and even hear his memories.”

As the image started to become clearer, audio started to play in her head as well, very staticy at first, but it became crystal clear at the same time as the image did and Starlight got to experience the horror of viewing her earlier raping from his perspective now. Seeing the lustful expression on her sweaty, panting face while his cock pistoned her pussy caused Starlight to scrunch her face and sneer with such disgust and agitation. Most of it was out of how horrible he was for forcing himself onto her, however a still significant amount also came from the fact that even though she was allowing it to happen to not reveal she was no longer under his control, she didn’t hate it as much as she wished she did.

“Ugh, seriously,” she grumbled as she moved her hand away from his forehead to end the transmission of his memory. “I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised that that would be among his surface memories. I am a prime specimen of womanhood that anybody would love to get into bed with.” She snorted a bit. “Anybody, but Sunburst, though for this one to even transform into a version of him akin to my sexual fantasies, perhaps all hope for us is not lost after all.” Pausing to consider this for a moment, Starlight then turned her focus to Cid instead. “Perhaps it’d be better if I started with this one instead.”

Viewing the Changeling’s memories this time, the first one, on the surface of his mind was the image of many soldier Ponies doing something around the black, spikey spire that was his home. Moments later, she witnessed the whole thing go up in a massive explosion of flames that left Starlight speechless as she stared at such intense destruction with horror plastered on her face.

“I shouldn’t be so shocked that it had to be something intense to wipe out such a huge structure in its entirety,” she thought, feeling the heat and perspiring from just hearing and seeing those powerful flames. “But even against the Changelings this feels like overkill, even if the place had already been evacuated. And, the armor those Ponies had on. They were from Canterlot. So, does this mean that this was Celestia’s doing and she has a weapon like this at her disposal.”

As Starlight pondered this, Cid’s memories moved onto another, this time of the Changelings and Draglings hurrying with their evacuation plans. It was dizzying chaos for Starlight to view as the camera (Cid) was hustling about, his eyes darting about and his head turning one way and then another as he worked frantically. Starlight saw more Changelings and creatures like Nat running about doing the same.

“This is an earlier memory,” figured Starlight as she watched as best she could. “Back when they were preparing to leave before the attack. They knew about it in advance, but how could they?”

The memory kept going on with Cid still running about, but the image on the wall finally became steady as the Changeling stopped and looked up at the huge, hulking black dragon that had Starlight stupefied at what a fearsome beast he was and wondering what his role in all of this was, before the words, “Master Tamati” sounded in Starlight’s head and instantly gave her the answer. She tried to listen in more on their conversation, but it was hard to make out much while the chatter and noises of all the others rushing around them applied too much audio on top of their own to be able to understand much of what they were discussing.

“So, this guy is the one in charge?” she muttered to herself. “Did he align himself with Chrysalis and the Changelings or is he the leader over even her? If he really is in charge, then does that mean he was the one who led the attack on the Crystal Empire? And, those other creatures… that look like a Changeling mated with a dragon… is that really what they are? And what is the point of all this? What is he hoping to achieve? Take over Equestria like every other vill-”

“...Spike…”

“Wait?!? What did he just say?” worried Starlight, certain she heard the name of her lost, purple-scaled friend leave the lips of the black dragon, though the background noise made it hard to tell and she still couldn’t hear him well enough to piece together anything else he said. “Surely he must have meant ‘spike’ like the point on an object or something. Certainly that wasn’t a name he was saying… and even if it was… it could have easily been another Spike. I bet that’s a common dragon name. It might even be spelled with a ‘y’ for all I know. And it’s… it’s ridiculous to even entertain the thought that Spike would ally himself with a dragon like this, let alone the Changelings of all creatures. Spike would never do that, even if he was upset with how he was being treated. Certainly he wouldn’t.”

Despite her saying that and more to convince herself that Spike’s disappearing act and this mess were two entirely different situations that just happened to be occuring at the same time. She wanted so desperately to believe that, but the dreadful possibility, no matter how small, that they were connected in some way had her feeling sick all over again. “There’s no way,” she kept telling herself in the end, not wanting to believe it. “There’s just no way that Spike could be helping them. These guys are our enemies. He was already in trouble for simply entering a rebellious phase against Twilight. If he’s somehow involved with them, then I don’t know if it’ll even be possible to protect him anymore.”

“H-Hey, M-Media,” grumbled Nat, still asleep, but he looked to be waking up. “More pancakes please… with extra love on the side too.”

Sitting up, he yawned and rubbed his eyes before looking ahead of him and saw only the wall of the cave. Leaning a bit, he managed to spot Starlight’s backside as she was still standing guard at the mouth of their shelter. He was unable to see the restrained look of worry on her face as she hoped he hadn’t been awake enough to notice her sneak back out. To her relief, she continued to hear Nat’s mumbles while he still wasn’t fully aware of where he was or what he was even doing.

“Hey, you’re not pancakes,” grumbled Nat as he turned to look down at Cid who had woken up too, thanks to all the stirring going on beside him.

“Last time I checked, I wasn’t,” yawned Cid, his joints lightly cracking as he attempted to loosen up. “Ugh, damn my back is stiff.”

“Well, lying on the ground will do that to ya,” joked the Dragling, and got an eye roll from his friend.

“No kidding,” he answered flatly and sat up and leaned to peek outside. “It doesn’t look like we’ve been out for too long. Maybe an hour or two, but I’m definitely feeling far better now.”

“I know I’m feeling better,” replied Nat with a snicker slipping out. “I dreamt that I got to pound that pretty Pony’s puss all over again. Ha! Definitely an unforgettable first.”

“Because it was so good or because you only managed through it by the skin of your teeth?”

“Sh-Shut up!” snapped Nat, turning away from him with a huff. “What about you? Have any good dreams?”

“Just nightmares of the panic the hive was in and the horror of watching our home go up in flames,” he answered. “We avoided the worst case scenario and still we lost so much, but wars are not often won without some big sacrifices made. At least this one wasn’t a price in our lives, but our home was still an important piece of all of us. Tamati might have a new place for us to go to, but it won’t ever be the same. I won’t blame Tamati for bringing it about. Eventually, I’m sure our queen would have pushed them too far and they’d have retaliated in kind, but, still, I never imagined they would come down this hard on us.”

“Well, we did capture the Crystal Empire this time,” Nat pointed out. “If they weren’t and didn’t retaliate in some way then I wouldn’t be able to imagine how we hadn’t already conquered all of Equestria.”

“Yeah, but most other cases just involved painful friendship lasers or some other Pony bullshit,” replied Cid with a chuckle over how ridiculous that sounded to say. “This attack was different from them defending themselves. They went on offense here and in a much scarier way than any of us could have expected. We knew we’d be in danger, but not that they could so easily have wiped us out in an instant. We were lucky this time, but who knows about the next.”

I guess… we can only do our best,” Nat admitted, not sure what else he could say as he thought back to the blackened and charred remains of the Changeling Hive and shuddered at the thought of everyone still being inside when it went up. “And that starts with getting back to work… right?”

“Yeah,” Cid nodded, getting up and carefully slipping through the narrow gap to the outside with the Dragling following after him. They walked up to Starlight, seeing her still standing guard for them despite her lack of attire. “I doubt who we’re meeting is there yet, but we’d best be prepared for them ahead of time. Think you’ll be able to maintain a transformation if you shapeshift?”

“After a bit of rest, of course,” he nodded, his body quickly engulfed in magical green flames before they dissipated and he once more took on the form of Sunburst in his regular wizard’s garb. “See. No problem.”

At the sight of Nat once more taking on that form, Starlight couldn’t keep her composure and scowled while clenching her fists tightly. She was quick to realize her mistake and relax herself again and to her great fortune, they hadn’t been looking her way at that particular moment to take notice. She just silently took a breath and kept telling herself, “Save it for later, Starlight. Save it for later.”

“Not bad,” admitted Cid, looking over his impersonation of Sunburst while comparing him to his own recollection of the Pony from memory. “But, have you ever just made up a Ponysona?”

“A Pony-what?” asked Nat.

“That’s just what Changelings call the unique Pony form we take, that isn’t just us impersonating somepony. They’re helpful since we can just invent a character or just be ourselves, rather than risk being someone who does exist and risk acting or behaving like they wouldn’t. It’s helpful for long-term infiltration missions, since, no matter how great any of us might be at doing an impersonation, the longer we’re in disguise the greater the chance we’ll be found out. It’s also incredibly awkward in the event that the real deal suddenly shows up.”

“Heheh. Is this from someone who experienced that for themself?” chuckled Nat, quickly trying to think up one for himself. Cid didn’t answer beyond folding his arms and snorting. He then waited and watched to see what kind of Pony Nat was about to turn into. “Uh, let’s see. Should I be a Unicorn or a Pegasus? Oh, an Alicorn would be even better.”

“If you do that you’ll be found out the second you walk into town,” Cid explained, rubbing the side of his temple in annoyance at such an obvious mistake to make. “Just be an Earth Pony or a Pegasus, if you wanna still be able to fly. Unless you’re decent with magic in general, you’re better off avoiding being a Unicorn.”

“Anything else? I should know about this?” asked Nat, losing some enthusiasm once the rules and guidelines started to limit his creativity.

“Well, don’t forget to pick out a name,” explained Cid. “Something Pony-sounding and simple so you won’t forget it. Also, you should at least have a basic back story, like where you’re from and how you got your Cutie Mark. Typically, a small, lesser known town is preferrable. I know a few you can pick from. As for a Cutie Mark, you can either create one based around who your Ponysona is or the other way around. Just keep in my to-”

“I wonder if I can just go back into bed and let him handle all of this?” wondered Nat as Cid kept on talking.

The swarm of Changelings and Draglings were very quiet after the initial shock of what they could only assume was Celestia’s attack on their hive. Only able to imagine what had happened and how much damage had been done, they were left to quietly whisper among themselves and discuss their theories and thoughts. Tamati remained silent as they continued onward, only uttering a sincere, “Sorry” to Sunburst as Princess Cadence finished applying one more bandage to his back that had been been jabbed by the pointed tip the dark dragon’s quill pen while he had been using it at a flat surface to write upon.

“It’s… fine,” assured Sunburst, giving a bit of a pained smile as he rubbed his back to try and help soothe the stinging a little and then opted to ask the question everyone was itching to ask their leader. “Uh, so are we there yet?” Looking back and gazing down below, he saw the gatekeeping mountains that cut off this section of Equestria from the rest, if it could even really be considered an official part of the land the Ponies called home. With rough rocky terrain and pools of lava dotting the landscape, this area seemed even less inviting for Ponies than even the badlands that the Changelings had considered their territory before now. “Cause, we’re in the Dragonlands now and I’m not sure how welcome Ponies are in these parts and I doubt Changelings are any more welcome here either.”

“It won’t be much further and we’re actually making better time than I had expected,” remarked Tamati, taking a big whiff of the air that was hotter than it would be on a brutal Summer day in a more temperate climate. There was also a mix of sulfur and ash in the lower atmosphere that Ponies, Changelings and even the Draglings had started to cough and gag on, but it just placed a nostalgic gleam in Tamati’s eyes. “Mmm~ Feels good to be home after being away for so many months, working on this project of ours. I almost forgot what fresh air mixed with magma and ash tasted like.”

“Yeah, it’s great,” coughed Chrysalis. “But could you tell us already where we’re going?”

“Blackstone Castle,” he answered her and pointed into the distance at a plateau standing in a bubbling lake of lava. It was still too far to make it out clearly, but there did appear to be structure resting on top of it. “That’ll be our new home and headquarters. It’s plenty big for us all, though it’ll probably need some fixing up, but at least it’s much further out of Princess Celestia’s reach for her to retaliate on us so easily again.”

“Forget the Ponies,” Shiny remarked as a couple dragons swooped by them, giving the group a far from friendly glare and just went on their way. “What about the dragons here? Shouldn’t we have to worry about them since, well, as Sunburst put it, dragons don’t particularly like Ponies.

“Most dragons don’t tend to like anybody, even other dragons, but, yeah Ponies are more or less disliked by dragons as much as you probably dislike them, well, with at least a couple of exceptions like myself. Changelings… uh, well I don’t recall us ever really encountering any.”

“Probably because I’ve seen no reason to bother leading an invasion to this domain,” explained Chrysalis. “We feed on love and while dragons might have plenty of it where gold and gemstones are concerned it wouldn’t sustain us nearly as well as one’s love for another. One’s infatuation with treasure also has more of a bitter, displeasing taste to it as well.”

“And who would wanna be stuck being still as a stone for hours on end while feeding off love like that?” asked Biggs as he scratched at his nose. “Gives me an itch just imagining it.”

“Also, you might end up getting eaten if the dragon gets peckish,” added Wedge. “Heh. Or smothered under their bulk while laying on top of them.”

“I guess the best I could assume then,” concluded Tamati after hearing that. “It’ll probably vary from dragon to dragon, depending how much they like or dislike bugs since they’d probably just assume you are some oversized, mutant horse flies or something. Uh, no offense.”

“None taken,” retorted Chrysalis, sounding a bit bitter, being compared to mere insects. “But I take it you must be a dragon who really loves bugs if you’re so willing to fuck us as much as you have.”

“Heheh, got me there,” he chuckled and rubbed his head.

“Uh, but back to the matter at hoof,” Shiny chimed in as another dragon swooped by just over top of them, making everyone save Tamati cringe back and put up their guard in case it dove down on top of them. It didn’t, letting everyone breathe a sigh of relief. “If they don’t like us, shouldn’t we be worried about suddenly being attacked?”

“The ex-stallion does have a point,” agreed Chrysalis. “Night’s long gone so we don’t even have the night sky to hide in and there isn’t even a single cloud to use for cover. I can only assume those drakes that flew by us simply chose not to attack us on a whim, but what will we do, should any of them try? We’re all exhausted from flying all night and I doubt we’d be much good anyway when we know what immense strength and power they can possess from witnessing your own might.”

“You flatter me,” bragged Tamati as he flexed his biceps to show off. “But so long as you’re with me, you needn’t worry.” Spotting another dragon rising up from below, this one was orange and while strong, had slimmer, longer build than himself. Flapping his wings to gain altitude quickly, he looked ready to plow through Tamati, Chrysalis and everyone else if they didn’t make an effort to avoid him as they paused their flight to give him the right of way. The only one to not do this was their leader, Tamati, himself. Still flying on a collision course with the other drake, he began to brandish his claws and bore his many large, sharp teeth into an angry grimmance. His red eyes glowed as he let rage-filled thoughts run across his mind. Radiating with intimidation, he glared down at his fellow dragon, making eye contact with him. That single look was all it took for the orange dragon’s face to turn pale enough that it almost seemed yellow. With a fright-filled whimper he dove downward as fast as he could manage and put as much distance as he could between himself and Tamati, never once looking back.

“I take it you’ve got a reputation here,” commented Cadence as she and the others joined up with Tamati who had folded his arms and looked more than a bit pleased with himself.

“Well, to make a long story short, dragons used to make fun of my old name and I violently made them not do that anymore,” he explained while cracking his knuckles. “Now there’s barely a dragon who will dare even call me Tiamat anymore for fear of how many bones of there’s that I might break. Most were too fearful to even look me in the eye and I’m happy to see that my absence hasn’t made me any less a source of everlasting fear in their eyes. So, like I said, so long as they know you’re with me, you shouldn’t have much to worry about unless someone has a death wish that I’d be more than happy to grant.”

“I’d say you crossed the line by a mile in defending your honor and just become a bully and a brute,” stated Sunburst, a bit nervous to say such things.

“And?” asked Tamati, leaning in to hear what other thoughts Sunburst had to say on the matter.

“I-I-I can’t say I much approve of bullies,” he stuttered, but found some minute courage to keep speaking, though fear was making his voice become increasingly squeakie with every word to slip out of his maw. “But, I suppose this does work to our advantage, so I should probably stop talking.”

Tamati stared at Sunburst for a bit, then just bellowed out a laugh and got him in a headlock that could have easily crushed his throat and separated his body from his head if the powerful dragon hadn’t remained aware of his strength and used as little of it as he could to not harm him. He then softly dug his knuckles into Sunburst’s head to mess with his already unkempt mane. “For a nerd, you’ve sure got spunk,” he told Sunburst.

“I hope that’s something you like,” he squeezed out of his squashed head.

“If it wasn’t, you wouldn’t be here to know,” Tamati stated as he released his head. “Get it?”

“Got it,” Sunburst nodded.

“Good,” finished Tamati as he folded up his wings to allow himself to drop and with super hero flair. He landed atop the plateau by the front gate of a large castle covered in onyx black stone. Staring up at it, he clenched his fists and his more jovial attitude changed to a sterner stoic.

“So this is Blackstone Castle,” said Chrysalis as she and the others landed moments later and looked up at what was to be their replacement home. From the outside, it was a big place like their master had told them and he didn’t just mean that for creatures of their height but even for his own impressive stature. The castle was quite plain and basic in comparison to the ones located in Canterlot, the Crystal Empire, and Ponyville with how sparse it looked and how barren everything was around it. “Well, it’s not the Changeling Hive and the landscape is a touch drab, even for my tastes, but it does suit me far better than that gaudy dump that Celestia lives in or that eyesore that that pretty princess and her chump of a mate shacked up in.”

“Pretty princess standing right here,” Shiny chimed in.

“Actually, I believe she meant I’m the ‘pretty princess’ and you’re ‘chump,’” Cadence attempted to specify.

“Ugh,” groaned Chrysalis as she rolled her eyes. “If you’re gonna fight over my insults you can both be pretty princess chumps then. Ugh, you try your best to insult people and this is the thanks you get.”

There was a tall, round tower at each corner of the four-sided structure and a fifth, even taller one in the center. While three were still standing fairly well, the front right one had begun to fall apart with a chunk of the wall mission while the back left one had completely collapsed and damaged a sizable section of the castle below it. Narrow windows visible on the second and third floors with some shards of glass still remained on them. There was a large, iron door in the front, just past the aged and rusted gate that looked equally weathered. One side was opened a quarter the way for just about anyone to come and go into the castle with ease.

“I know you said that the place was going to need some work,” restated Sunburst as he ran to take a look at the structure’s sides and found the eastern wall had partially collapsed so anyone could just walk into the first floor or fly into the second floor. The Changelings and Draglings also took some time to check out the very questionable condition of their new home with increasing concern over the integrity of the structure. “But this place looks like it could collapse if it suffers much more damage. Was it this bad when you were last here?”

“I’d say for a castle that’s older than dirt, the fact that it’s mostly still standing is quite impressive,” said Tamati, his usual snark not present in his voice as he just kept on looking at the castle. Everyone looking at the castle was now looking at their master as he stood there, worryingly tense, even shaking slightly. “Though the tower in back was still standing last I was here, so it’ll require a fair bit more work than I originally thought.”

“Have you ever seen dad like this?” Media asked Sting quietly, nervous herself to see him lacking any of his typical machismo.

“No,” Sting shook his head and turned back to the castle. “Though he has been acting a bit odd whenever it came to the subject of where we’d be leaving the Hive for.”

“So, did he not want to come here?” she wondered. “If so, why couldn’t we have just gone somewhere else?”

“No idea. Only father knows the answer to that,” replied Sting before a fierce roar erupted from inside the castle, the power behind it froze the blood in everyone’s veins. Even Tamati was sweating, and took a startling step back.

“Uh, i-is there something else you haven’t told us about this move yet?” questioned Cadence.

“Are you deaf or just stupid?” snapped Chrysalis. “Obviously he has. Now, tell us. What in Tartarus is in that sad excuse for a castle that’d even make a dragon as mighty as you turn pale?”

“Remember when I said about dragons calling me ‘Tiamat’ and making fun of me for that?” he asked them.

“Yeah,” nodded Shiny. “You beat the crap out of them so nobody dares call you that anymore.”

“I said almost nobody calls me that anymore,” he corrected her. “There is one who still does and they live here.”

“Wow, a dragon that even scares you,” sweated Sunburst before his eyes widened in realization. “Wait, but isn’t that-”

“It is,” Tamati interrupted the Unicorn as he held his arm out to stop him. Drawing in breath to gather his courage, Tamati then took what felt like a very long walk to the front door, his feet feeling like they were too heavy even for him to lift and made the trudge forward all the more difficult. The others followed right behind his slow steps, both nervous and curious over what all this was about.

“Just who or what’s in there?” Shiny inquired from Sunburst. “You do know, don’t you?”

“Possibly the only creature in this world that Tamati might fear and never be able to defeat,” he replied with some dread on his face too. “A foe that would be no less terrifying for any of us to face.”

Slipping into the castle, Tamati continued on a couple of steps more. He then raised a hand to the side of his face and called out, “Mom, I’m home!”