Simplified

The stadium is rife with cheers and celebration, passionate fans chant and root for their hometown team in what many other places consider as the largest stadium in all of Equestria. The players on the field are sweating profusely, hard at work over the lively competition on display. The hometown team intercepts a play from the visitors and makes an enormous play to get them the first score of the game. The collected viewership goes into lunacy, the atmosphere is positively electric.

Meanwhile in the box seats, the group of royals cheer for the first goal made. While Cadance isn't as enamored with the sport, she's happy to watch both her husband and daughter cheer the team on with the pair also being fully decorated in team memorabilia. All the youth in the room are overtly excited to see the first score go in. All is well, save but one pony who's scowling down at her hooves.

Twilight taps her hoof impatiently, waiting for some word from her friendship advisor. The idea of him abruptly leaving the friendship summit upsets her deeply, she feels as though he's looking to try to get away from it all, especially with the manner of his departure. Even if it was a friendship emergency, she would still expect him to explain what the issue is. But leaving her in the dark only makes her feel just that much more apprehensive.

Rainbow, fresh from cheering for the goal, notices Twilight's sulking mood. "Aw cheer up! Are you still upset about Spike?"

Fluttershy also plays devils advocate. "He did said it was a friend emergency. Obviously he means well when he has to set off like that. You said it yourself that he said he'll be back."

The high princess of the land takes a deep breath as she looks on her own reflection in the glass overlooking the field. "It's not even the fact that he just left, it's like he didn't even talk to me about how he was going to leave. Like we don't have resources to get him to Ponyville and back in a hurry. Even if he's not trying to get out of this, I'm just..." The princess holds her tongue, trying to find the words to describe her feelings.

"Well it could be worse." Pinkie mentions. "It's not like he's gone out of his way to personally fly a marathon to and back from Ponyville, knowing well enough that trying to do that with the differences in altitudes miiiiiight end up killing him." Both pegasi and the purple princess stare back at the pink pony. "Hey, I never said he'd be dumb enough to do it. I'm just saying he could be smart enough to catch a train back."

A knock sounds on the door of the press box. Blue opens the door to reveal a guard dressed in silver armor with a star affixed to his chest. "Your highness. An urgent word?"

Twilight shakes her head as she departs from the group. "Please excuse me for a moment, everypony. I'll be brief." She walks out to the room, closing the door behind her with a prominent frown resting on her face. "Okay, what's the deal?"

"I'm sorry to take you away from your summit, your majesty. I know that you are in the midst of good times, but I have some unfortunate news." She raises a brow at the guard, waiting for him to finish. "Sir Spike has collapsed in the town square, his condition is serious."

Apprehension is gradually replaced with confusion, breeding worry as the seconds start to pass by. "What?"

The guard continues with his update. "Several eye-witnesses say that he seems to have been flying in from the south before coming into the area. Once he landed, he made a number of complaints about his breathing. It's been surmised that he may have passed out due to a combination of exhaustion and elevated arrhythmia. A few good citizens were quick enough to respond to his condition. Thankfully, they've done so well that a group of our royal medics could pick him up without complications. They're bound for the castle even as we speak."

While any fear for the worst is alleviated, the princess still shows terrifying concern for her advisor and adopted sibling. "How long has it been since he was picked up?"

"Fifteen minutes." The guard informs.

Twilight closes her eyes, only the jinxing phrase from Pinkie comes back to the forefront. She knocks on the door to be allowed back inside, but also addresses the guard while doing so. "Call in to the checkpoint. Have them check back with me directly as soon as they see or hear anything pertaining to Spike."

"Yes, your majesty." The guard responds with a bow of reverence.

The door opens and Blue can already see the change in the princess demeanor. "What's wrong?"

As the billionaire real estate mogul closes the door behind her, Twilight sighs as she explains the news. Everyone but the younger ponies grow silent. "Spike came back but he over-exhausted himself, passed out in the town square. He's on the way back to the castle now."

Groans and gasps sound throughout the room. "Has the checkpoint verified his arrival?" Cadance questions.

"Not yet." The princess replies.

"Well they should be calling back─" Just as Blue is speaking, Twilight's phone rings. "I guess that's then now."

Twilight answers the phone with a stern tone. "Colbalt, what's the word?"

"Updating you as we've been told to do, your highness. Spike suffered from over-exhaustion. His condition is stable, he's just being moved to medical for oxygen and recovery."

"Good. Fill me in on any further updates." Twilight hangs up the phone, her wings sagging off of her back as she feels so relieved. "He's back at the castle."

"Oh thank goodness, darling." Rarity rejoices with a sense of ease. "I suppose the hoof traffic for the game makes it a little hard for medical services to navigate the streets to get him back."

"But aren't there the pegasi units. Why didn't they fly him if the traffic was gonna be so bad?" Applejack asks.

"Low on oxygen, plus altitude, that doesn't make for a good recovery from strenuous physical activity. If anything, that might make matters gravely worse, especially since we're already at high altitude." Rainbow explains.

Blueblood ponders quietly as he looks back to the kids watching with their faces pressed against the window. "So I guess we have to leave now?"

"The kids have really looked forward to this." Blue suggests. "Maybe I can watch after them while you guys go on ahead."

Twilight lowers her head as she ponders the difficult decision of whether or not to cancel the remainder of the schedule at the immediate moment or just after the game. But seeing how excited the young foals are values greatly for the immediate moment. She raises her head with her final conclusion. "The kids already met with the players, so that's out of the way. We'll stick around until the final score. You guys can continue with the evening while I run to the castle and check in on Spike. If he's doing well, I'll rejoin you and we'll carry on with the summit. If not, then I'll call you and we conclude matters for the day."

At the conclusion of her statement, everyone understands the evening will likely continue unabated. Everyone carries on, albeit with tempered emotions. Pinkie nuzzles the princess, checking in on her friend. "You don't have to blame yourself, Twilight."

The princess closes her eyes again. "I know... But he could've at least let me help him."

My shoulders are still sore as I see the white unicorn stallion giving us all glances as he walks into the primative dungeon cell. My mind is awash with ideas, none of them having any good in them. I struggle a bit, trying to see if I can wriggle my way around a bit to get a little more comfortable. He takes notice of my motions and makes his way over to me. His horn lights up, the chain holding my arms up loosens, dropping me to the ground at last. I fall to my knees, relieved that the stress on my shoulders aren't as significant.

I ask him a question. "Who are you?"

He quirks a brow at me, tilting his head before a hoof suddenly strikes me at my throat. Suddenly my entire windpipe feels like it's on fire, my breathing greatly disrupted by the blow. Each time I cough, it feels like a painful incendiary reaction taking place, causing me to cough even more. I double over, spewing out spasmodic flames that have no body to them other than brief flickers and sparks. The captive Ponyland prince shouts in my defense. "Hey! What's your problem!?"

As I continue to struggle to breathe normally, I collapse to the ground, writhing as I grasp my captive knuckles at my throat. The stallion looms over me as he speaks. "So, you're probably wondering why I just did that. Well let me be the one to give you a bit of an anatomy lesson, one they don't have in most of the other books on the surface."

"Don't let him break you." Encourages the bruised escort to the prince.

The prince continues to call out the violent unicorn. "You thug! You know you could've killed him doing that! What's wrong with you!?"

He pays the pair no mind, continuing to walk circles around me. "Anyhow, dragons are originally considered to be water creatures by evolutionary standards. Not land dwellers, not sky-high fliers, but water creatures. Serpents of the deep who spew water at their adversaries. But through evolution, they develop habits that brings them to migrate from the deepest reaches of the ocean, to land bound creatures that fight off some of their predators with their newer variant for self-defense: superheated steam. You bunch become steam blowers, and it works out for a while until the rocs discover these tasty looking-creatures on land, walking about like bundles of fruit. So now your species has to evolve to fight off the rocs, and being land-bound doesn't seem to help much in that effort. So your kind evolves to finally take to the sky, bringing a whole new quirk to the fight: fire. But would you like to know why it is you dragons breathe fire these days?"

The stallion gives a strong knock at my throat, reaggravating the same place he struck at earlier. It hurts to breathe as I try to recover, the same incendiary reaction occurs that now makes my chest burn. I start to produce an unstable mixture of smoke and steam along with my sporadic flames. "STOP IT!" The prince screams loudly.

The stallion counters his own motions, circling me in a clockwise motion. "You dragons breathe fire not because you simply breathe in and out. It's more of a simple call back to your humble water-dwelling roots. See, when you have a dragon breathing down your neck, you realize how moist the air is when they breathe out. That's the call back to your roots. But when you breathe fire, it's not because you simply will it. You actually have an chemical in your trachea, just below that voice box of yours, an ignition switch if you will. And the source of that ignition, fine little composites of pure sodium your bodies have developed over that evolutionary process. It flicks like a lighter, and that water vapor acts as a fuel. A violent reaction occurs, the vapor is set ablaze by that sodium dust you let loose, thus coming through your throat as a continuous stream of exothermic chaos, otherwise fire."

He stomps on my chest, forcefully lifting my chin up to look at him as he lords over me.

"Now go on and ask yourself that question again. Why oh why did I just punch you in your throat?"

Shortly after the game's conclusion, many of the patrons walk along with pride for having watch their team wail on the team that ousted them. The game proved to be nowhere near close, and many started to leave to beat the traffic with the results already beyond decided. So the traffic of the town isn't as dense as it was just hours earlier.

But for the princess, that wasn't a concern for her as she took to the air and quickly darted for the castle. She barreled past the checkpoint, entering the medical ward, and checking in with the front desk before being escorted to the room of her number-one assistant. She sees the dragon laying in the bed, calling out worriedly. "Spike!"

He jumps at his name and shows surprise. "Oh, hey! What's going on?"

While she's expressing relief of seeing her assistant doing well, she continues to fuss at him over his decision-making. "Uh, you! You passed out from exhaustion! You seriously flew from here to Ponyville and back! You aren't conditioned for that kind of flight! What's wrong with you!?"

The dragon barely gets a statement in. "Nothing, I just─"

The princess barrels through his explanation as she continues her rant. "I know it was a friendship emergency for you, but that still doesn't give you the green light to just up and suddenly do things without telling me what you're going to do! I could've helped you get there and back, at least meet you halfway! Why didn't you tell me anything!?"

The dragon lowers his head with regret. "Sorry." He answers softly. "It won't happen again."

The princess sighs before calming down once more. "Spike, you know I worry for you, we've been at the hip for most of our lives. Why do you think I not care? I know I annoy you sometimes, but that doesn't mean that I still won't look after you."

The dragon clasps his claws into one another, looking down at himself. "I just made a mistake, won't happen again."

"Come here." The princess says as she approaches the bed and bring the dragon in for a close embrace. She hugs him tightly as she nags yet again. "Don't scare me like that ever again. You hear me?"

"Yeah, I hear you."

Content in seeing the young dragon in good condition, she takes out her phone and takes a quick picture of herself and the dragon together. He's surprised for a moment but goes along with it, holding a thumbs up to illustrate his spirited condition. As she finishes, she sends out the picture to a group message thread. "Okay, now everyone else knows that you're doing just fine. But you need to get some rest. I'm sorry to say it, but you're done for the night."

"Aw, really?" The dragon groans.

"Sorry, you know the rules. Doctor's orders." Twilight says as she walks out of the room. "Now take care of yourself, I'm going to get back with the others so we can finish tonight's activities. You're going to have a bunch of messages come through on your phone asking if you're okay, so you better answer them. I'll be sure to come back to check with you after the night's done, okay?"

"Sure thing." The dragon responds.

"Alright then. Goodnight, Spike." As the princess departs from the room, the dragon waits quietly for a moment before he picks up the phone and stares blankly at the screen. One question comes to mind as he reads the notification of a new message showing on his phone.

"How do I even use this damn thing?"

Times crawls by as find myself still occasionally coughing from the onslaught against my throat earlier. Most of the burning in my chest has subsided, but now it's become hard for me to blow even a simple flame without coughing and gagging. I'll admit if this is his method to get me to not cook him the next time he's in front of me, it's proving to be very effective.

As of now, he has an unusual metal contraption with some runes on it. The item itself appears to be cast iron, but the metal itself is pretty rusted. It seems that it's been sitting out unused for some time. The stallion who holds us captive, unscrews a few bolts with a ratchet. Once the bolt is free, he walks over to me with the rusted item in tow.

While I cannot breath fire, I'm back to being able to speak. "What's that collar for?" Although my voice is very sore and crackly.

He places the device on my neck, affixing it with a screw and the bolt he disassembled a moment ago. While he ratchets up the torque, he stares directly at me, watching my every move. The moment I look like I'm about to breathe heavy, he's got his foreleg lifted to give me one firm shot to the throat. The item is heavy on my neck as he retracts his tools from me. "Alrighty, one more things to test out."

He sparks his horn once, the runes on the collar activate, sending a painful shock through my entire throat, making me cough and gag like earlier, spewing out a combination of smoke, unstable flames, and boiling hot steam. The prince still offers spirited cries in my defense. "STOP IT, HAVEN'T YOU'VE DONE ENOUGH!?"

He ignores the prince's cries for concern, all while praising the effectiveness of the instrument on my neck. "I see the Tamer's Guild hasn't lost their touch, even after all these years."

The prince calls out to the dungeon keeper. "Who the hell are you ponies!?"

At last, he gives the prince a direct response, one with an antagonistic smirk on his face. "Oh come on, princess. You act like this is something new to you, they've been doing all sorts of this shit in Ponyland for generations."

"What others do and what I do are vastly different things!" He rebuts harshly at our captor.

The stallion continues to be dismissive. "Sure, buttercup, whatever you say."

"Could you at least stop torturing him and explain what it is you're doing?" Amor questions.

"I could do that, or I could do this instead." His horn sparks up for a brief moment, sending the same shocks through my throat and chest. I continue to exhibit an unbearable agony akin to a thousand branding irons sizzling against the inner walls of my esophagus. The stallion snickers at my misfortune. "I think this is more fun anyways."

"You're a monster." The young prince seethes through clenched teeth.

The stallion laughs at the prince's insult. "Me? A monster? Ma'am, you don't have a clue of a monster even looks like."

Becoming more and more annoyed at the stallion purposeful misrepresenting the prince's sex, he speaks up for him. "The prince─"

But his words are cut short when a whip, made of captor's own magic aura, cracks against his stomach. The escort eats the pain silently while being corrected. "I say stop talking, I mean it dipshit."

"Why are we even here?" Amor asks the brutal captor.

The captor gingerly walks towards the prince, very much with the intent to mock him. "Well you see, princess, ain't much in the way of girls down here. So I find a bunch of you pretty-boys and look to keep myself entertained. So I do my due diligence and help break in little princesses like yourself into taking all sorts of... responsibilities. But I know pretty girls like you need warming up to."

"If that was your intent, you would've already had your way with me." The prince replies angrily. "What do you really want us for?"

"Aw fine, can't have fun with any surface-dweller these days." He replies as he holds the princes chin up to him. "Ransom, sweet cheeks."

"Why?" Amor turns his head away in absolute disgust.

"Because." The captor forces his head back to him.

The prince opts to simply close his eyes. "Just saying 'because' is not an answer."

"Do I care?" He mockingly asks.

"You obviously care about money."

"Who doesn't?" He leans in closer to the prince. "There are three things that are key in this world, bits, bollies, and blood. For you surface dwellers, that would be bits, the gems that greedy bastard over there eats, and the bodies that you lay up with or step on after you're done."

"Oh wonders, I always hated you edgy types." Amor says with visible disgust.

The captor then defends himself. "I'm not edgy, I'm a realist. My world view isn't all bubblegum and rainbows like the shit that dragon subscribes to."

"Your world isn't his to live."

"It is now." He answers with a shrug.

The prince continues to verbally chastise the captor. "How you live your life is your problem."

While the captor continues to assert his viewpoint. "I live to bring others down in the depths with me, that way it's not just my problem."

"The world would be far better off without thugs like you."

"I beg to differ, princess." He walks away from the prince, carrying on with his views. "Our world was much better when we had a place up there. We had a thriving community, a world of pleasure and pain, a world that was real, with at least some modicum of fresh air. We had fight nights every Tuesday and Friday, all for the masses to see. We had a marketplace to replenish the limbs we lost, now others go around just as crippled. We had our taverns, but now we scourge to bring back the good stuff. We even had our Mecca, then they turned it to a fucking museum."

The prince rolls his eyes at the raving captor. "Well maybe it's in your best interest to move on from the past, especially since it's been enshrined into a play of the archaic."

The stallion chuckles as he licks his lips. "Strange, I'd thought you'd be on our side, princess."

Amor almost takes offense to the captor's insistence of them both sharing a similar side. "Why would I ever be allied with the likes of you?"

"Well you said it when you got brought in, you're a believer of the good Doc."

The prince pauses for a moment, seeming to rev up in anger as the stallion suggests his religious preference. "The good Doctor is not some cruel and callous thug who'd beat up a dragon for his sick and demented idea of fun."

The captor scoffs. "You sure our Doc's are the same?" He walks past the prince with a smile on his face. "Generations of advancement in all medical research doesn't come without some digging around, cupcake. 'It doesn't come at the behest of morality, ethics, and patience. It comes with morbid curiosity, hypothesis, even sadism to a fault.' Those were his words. And you think that our Doc wouldn't take pleasure in something like this?"

His horn glows once more, reintroducing the painful surges into my throat and body. I can't even scream over how much pain I'm in because of the constant coughing and the burning sensation in my lungs. "STOP THAT!" The prince continues to flash his rage towards our sadist captor.

"Only a pussy would think the Doc wouldn't love shit like this." He walks over to me, yanking me up by the chains around my wrists with his magic. "A helpless creature bound in chains, tools, and a number of measurements."

"My Doctor, in our doctrine, would help the sick and poor. He would aid the needy and give them life. He would even offer aid in times of need."

"The Doc did all of that for us, just in his own special way." The stallion recalls from his point of view.

The prince remains adamant that their beliefs are inherently different. "Your 'Doc' is not the great Doctor I know."

The stallion sits beside me, dangling my chains as he speak. "If that's what you believe, then you should be upset alongside us, princess. Your prophet, the one you hold dear, he was taken in by the surface dwellers and burned at the stake for his work. They immortalize an alternate perspective, never telling the full truth and only giving spotlight to those who went against him, hailing them as heroes, all while erasing every last bit of his contributions to modern society. You think Equestria was united with all it's creatures having a say now, he instilled that ideology first! Everything that you see out there is just a powdered reality made to look 'wholesome and safe' when it really hides the truth about life, that there is a death after! They illuminate the world they want while hiding the other side of the truth! Our Doc wrote the book on modern health science, your 'Doctor' is our Doc, the one and only!"

"Then... why won't you... say his name then?" The stallion slowly turns around, seeing me stress through the pain as I try to speak. "Why don't... you tell... the truth of... what all he did."

"Oh I'm telling the truth, alright. It's fucks like you who don't listen!" He flares his horn, unleashing yet another painful shock to me. With me unable to grasp at my neck, I'm left to suffer without any hope to nurse the pain.

"STOP!" The prince screams to the top of his lungs, his voice cracking a significant amount.

The stallion snaps his head back at the prince. "If the Doc was alive today, he'd send you a message like he did that one pretty lass he was fond of." He stands back up, starting to reminisce on the past. "That pretty little diva who showed her ass on the arena floor, what a sight she was. Heard she felt even better too, would've loved to get my shot at her back when I was beating her to a pulp, but Mr. Heroic got in the way of that. Too bad he had a brain to save her rather than let things go, but I still got paid a good bit. I wonder how she's doing now that there's nothing left for her, I bet she's poor and proper broken in a ditch somewhere." The stallion smirks in his thoughts. "Mmm... Now I feel like rubbing something. Guess I'll go be off for a bit."

The prince and his escort watches as the captor departs from the room, passing through the door with a lustful grin on his face. "Everything about you is warped. Your version of scripture is twisted."

"Yours is gentrified." He shrugs back at the prince before closing the door behind him. "But that's okay, we believe in the same guy. I'll leave you to believe your so-called truth, princess. Maybe after some time, you'll finally see things my way." The door closes with a loud clatter.

The escort looks at me with a pitiful expression. "They're really giving you the works. Hang on, dragon."

Meanwhile, the prince continues to show his anger at the captor. "Our Doctors are nothing alike."

Morning has broken in the splendor that is the city of Canterlot. The castle halls are as lively as usual. And to many of the staff's surprise, along came the dragon that once spited the thought of being trapped in the very halls he walks through, much less with a bright and brimming smile that's almost infectious to others. He greets every guard and maid with a pleasing demeanor, many assume that he had to have gotten lucky prior to passing out in the town square. Either way, the dragon continues his tour of pleasantries all the way to the dinning hall.

"Ah, good morning Spike." Twilight greets warmly as the dragon enters the room.

"Morning Princess." He replies with a spirited enthusiasm.

"Formal much?" The princess snickers.

"I had a good night's sleep, did they do something to the mattress?" Asks the dragon.

Twilight oddly looks off to either side as she grows slightly confused. "Uh... no, it's been the same as it ever was─minus the porn─but nothing's changed."

"Yeah, I had a great sleep." He emphasizes.

The others at the table snicker amongst themselves while Applejack notes his main reason why. "Probably from all that flyin' ya did last night."

"Yeah, word to the wise, don't ever do a town-to-town decathlon speed-run if you don't condition yourself for it first." Rainbow adds with a smirk. "You can leave that to the more experienced fliers."

"Duly noted." The dragon answers.

While the others continue about their morning, Flurry Heart sits across from him, intensely staring at the dragon before her. Shining notices his daughter's undivided glare to the dragon. "Flurry, what's wrong?"

The dragon smiles back at the young filly. "Oh, I guess you were pretty worried about me last night. I'm sorry little one, I didn't mean to scare you so much."

Cadance sweetly explain Flurry's intensity. "Yeah, Flurry's been pretty worried over you since she got the news. She wouldn't stop asking about you."

"We're all just glad you're okay, Spike." Twilight reiterates as she levitates a menu for the dragon to cboose from. "Order what you want, Spike, we'll go with your schedule today."

The dragon happily takes the princess' offer. "Sweet! Thanks!"

Just as the dragon starts to make a mental assembly of items to choose from, the filly looks to him with that same critical glare. "When's my birthday?"

An awkward silence ensues. It takes a while for everyone to realize she's addressing her query to the dragon across from her. "Oh, uh, Spike, I think Flurry's trying to get your attention." Cadance points out.

"Is something wrong?" The dragon asks the young princess.

"When's my birthday?" She asks again.

The dragon starts to become uncomfortable, wondering why she's insistently asking such a mundane question. "The way you're asking me, it's almost like you want it to be today."

"It's not." Her brows furrow downward, sharpening her glare. "You should know my birthday."

The dragon hesitates for a moment while the others start to look towards him. "Yeah I know when your birthday is. It's─"

"Why is my name Flurry Heart?" She cuts him off before he can answer the question. "You should know this one, I always get annoyed when mommy and daddy tells me how I got my name."

The dragon takes a while to answer the question before he guesses an answer. "A snowstorm."

"And?" The filly tilts her head.

"Because of the love you share deep within your heart." He guesses quickly.

"Cute.... but no." The filly sternly replies.

The dragon notices the sideways glances he gets from the others, especially from the parents of the young filly. The dragon quickly grows defensive. "Sheesh kid, can't we just have a nice breakfast? I know that there's some uh... pomegranate pancakes coming your way."

The filly sighs as a silence lingers for a few uneasing seconds. Her horn starts to glow a bright gold aura as she gives the dragon an otherwise innocent smile, hiding the violent intent that grows within her. "Strike three."

Her magic shoves him down, pinning him to the table without any effort. The dragon panics as the others crowd around him. "What, what did I do─"

"Dispel." Twilight's eyes narrow as Flurry casts her spell on the dragon. A piercing pain grows throughout the dragon's body before a bright green flame envelops the dragon's body, a dragon who soon reveals himself to be an unreformed changeling.

Rarity expresses her surprise. "A changeling?"

"An unreformed one at that." Fluttershy also points out with some visible shock on her face.

The changeling, now caught, starts to act more like himself. "Sheesh, you really don't like pomegranate, huh kid?"

"Mommy says to never tell anything about myself to a changeling if I don't know them." Flurry quotes with a smile, earning a head rub from her dad.

"Very good job, Flurry." Cadance praises her daughter before directing her attention to the uninvited impostor. "Now you, where is Spike?"

Once more, the changeling resigns to be more of himself. "Look, I just got paid to be here. Something about avoiding some stupid summit."

Twilight appears heartbroken as she hears the changeling's reason for replacing her number one assistant. Rarity takes notice of the high princess' emotional vulnerability at his response and takes to questioning the creature herself. "Did Spike pay you to avoid us?"

The changeling happily answers the fashionista's question. "Yeah, he wanted to stay around Ponyville for a while. Something about shacking up with his girlfriend."

Twilight snaps out of her funk to replace her sadness with indignation. "Girlfriend?"

"Darling, a word." Rarity pulls the princess to the side for a quick suggestion before the alicorn's anger get the better of her. "I know this may seem out of the blue for you, but call Ocellus."

The alicorn gives an incredulous reaction to Rarity's suggestion. "Ocellus? Why her?"

"They're dating." She whispers.

"They're what!" Twilight shouts, getting everyone's reaction. "Okay, fine."

The princess rushes to her phone, accessing the aforementioned changeling's number through speed dial. She answers on the other end. "Good morning, your majesty!"

"Hi there. Um... How are things?" Twilight ensures that the impostor in the room remains unaware of any and all contacts.

"They're good your majesty. Is there something wrong?" She replies.

The princess covers her phone as she speaks quietly. "Actually, I was wondering if you had seen Spike anywhere in town."

"No, not really. I think he might've tried to come down here last night to help Gabby with a situation, apparently she and her boyfriend had a fight and she opted to move out. So I think he's letting her stay at his place for a while."

"Interesting, I do know those two were dating at some point." Twilight quietly mentions.

"Yeah..." The changeling responds with pause.

"Can you check in with her and see if Spike is over that way?" The princess requests.

"Sure. What's the issue?"

"Spike's not present for his appointment here at the summit."

"That's weird." She mulls for a moment. "Sure, I'll check in on him."

"Thanks. Let me know any and all updates."

"Yes, your majesty."

"Thanks again. Talk to you in a bit." Twilight quickly hangs up on Ocellus and directs her discontent to the changeling currently pinned to the table by her powerful niece. "As for you, you'll tell us everything you know."

"Sure, where do you want me to start?" He replies with a smirk.

The dungeon cell is quiet as the three of us take further evaluation of our circumstances. As for the time being, I finally get to where I'm not coughing as much. The other two are strangely shifty-eyed. It's the escort who's really taking a thorough visual deep-dive of our environment.

I wonder if they're cooking up something. "Hey." My voice is immensely raspy.

Prince Amor snickers in thought. "I'll admit I've never been so glad to hear a dragon speak so little in my life."

"Why?" I ask.

"Well, I've never been around them much. Alive anyways." He admits.

Alive? Wow, I guess Ponyland really a poacher's playground for ponies, and a graveyard for dragons after all. "Unpacking that later. But you seem awfully calm for being held against your will."

"Well it's not quite my first rodeo, this is more like the sixth time in my life." The prince explains.

I laugh at the ridiculous amount of times he's been abducted. "How do you end up like this six times?"

"Well when your father owns everything as an emperor, or you have brothers who are power hungry and want to get rid of you, you find yourself in these situations a lot."

I retract my laughter, feeling a bit guilty for having done so. "Sorry, I guess I shouldn't have cracked up on you for that. Your family dynamic isn't very healthy, is it?"

He doesn't even show anger, instead he laughs back at his own circumstance. "About as healthy as terminal stage cancer. I've lost three guards, an advisor, and a fiancée to stuff like this."

Now I really feel like a dick. "That's rough bud."

Instead, he seems fairly dismissive of his loss. "It was an arranged marriage with a distant cousin anyways. Unfortunate as it is, no real love wasn't lost."

"What's going on over there with you guys?" I ask, both curious and concerned.

"Eh... Long story. But I think our priority now is to make sure that we don't let them see us get down on our luck." He says with a slight smile of encouragement.

"Doesn't that make the situation worse, since they're all torture-happy and shit?" I ask, glancing down to the iron collar on my neck.

"Well it could be worse, if it wasn't for the fact that my guard is a renowned escape artist."

The escort groans with minor annoyance. "Your majesty, how many times have I told you not to say that out loud?"

"You should be proud of it. It's a skill not many have in these times." The prince proudly brags.

"Doesn't mean they won't hear us and respond to it." He says with a lowered voice.

"I'm still keeping an ear out, Sir Fencer." The prince assures just a second before his ears flick. His expression quickly shifts from optimistic to serious. "Someone's coming from down the hall. Let's get back in place."

While I can't do too much, the pair seem to have loosened their entrapments. They move back to their places and make their chains appear tighter that what they actually are by sitting on the slack they've seemingly created for themselves. Our captor enters the room once more. "Well bad look on you, princess. Seems your darling dad won't fork over some fundage for your safe return. Guess you're stuck here for a good while." He says while eyeing the Ponyland nationals. "But as for you, dragon, apparently you're the royal friendship advisor to the princess topside. I guess there's more value to you than just chopping your shit up and selling to the highest bid."

His eyes narrow at me with a greed akin to a banker looking at his stock options. "So you're using me for your stupid ransom now?"

"I'd hardly call a billion bits a stupid ransom." He answers with a greedy smirk.

I scoff at his proposed bounty. "That's stupid for the sole purpose of knowing she's not going to pay that much for me."

"You'd be surprise what 'friendship' will do to a princess of her ideologies." He happily argues.

"You know, if they find out I'm missing, which they've probably done by now, they'll just send out a search party."

"And look where?" He asks confidently. "No one knows these caves like us. There's traps and ambushes around every corner. Goons around these parts are so thirsty for glory they'll run headfirst into the spears of the guard like it's a privilege to die. Your guards aren't trained enough for that, are they?"

Okay, now I'm starting to think this guy is dumber than he poses himself to be. "You don't think she'll send special forces, do you?"

"With no lead, she won't know where to send you." He states. "And lets just say that I'll be giving her a strongly worded message, one that'll inform her of how time sensitive this matter really is. If she wants you back, then you'll be paid for in full."

"You'd be crazy to think that a million bits is worth my life, much less a billion."

"And you're far too naïve to think she won't be desperate." He says as he wheels in a tray of assorted tools.

While he may be stupid in thinking that Twilight won't look for an alternate quickly, I can say he's smart enough to know how to torture someone, if not smart enough then sadistic enough. "What's that for?"

"Just a lovely little photo session, we're gonna make post cards you and I." He pulls out a large tool, appearing to be some industrial sized pinchers. "And you're the feature."

Yeah, I think I'm in trouble. "What are you going to do to me?"

"Nothing bad. Just a little trim. Call it a spa day."

The changeling breathes heavily as the young alicorn princess' horn smolders from a number of magic bolts casted at him, the wall behind suffer a number of scorch marks. Shining holds his daughter with incredible concern for her apparent rage issue, all stemming from the dragon who's whereabouts are unknown.

"STAY STILL SO I CAN BLAST YOU!"

The changeling squeaks out a plea. "Please put that thing in a restraint. She's gotta have some stupid alicorn rabies or something!"

"Flurry, calm down." Cadance orders, looking to help her husband retain the young and very vengeful princess.

Twilight hears her phone ring and promptly answers after reading Ocellus' name on the screen. "Hello?"

The background of the phone sounds heavy with wind rush as the creature on the end sounds to be in a rush. "Hey, princess. Gabby said she hasn't seen Spike since last night. She said he mentioned something about there being three minutes left for the last train out. If that's the case, then he missed the train and had to fly back."

Twilight mutters a thought. "So that was Spike that passed out in the town square last night!"

The changeling overhears the comment and screams into her phone. "HE WHAT!?"

Twilight winces over the sudden volume increase, she tries to reason with the horrified changeling. "Ocellus, I know this is a lot to take in, but─"

"SPIKE IS MISSING!?" The changeling concludes with a scream. "WHAT HAPPENED!?"

Twilight facehoofs as the overtly anxious changeling. "I'd explain if you let me─"

A loud banging sound is heard on the other end. It sounds as though she broke a door open. The changeling starts to bark at her roommate. "SMOLDER!!! OUR BOYFRIEND WENT MISSING!!! M.C.B., NOT A DRILL!!!"

Twilight's eyes buck open as she realizes what Ocellus just said. "Our?"

"You're shitting me, right?" Smolder questions in the background.

"I'm on the phone with Twilight now! She hasn't seen Spike since last night!"

"Of all the... FUCK!" The dragoness shouts out violently. "We're on the way!"

While it endears Twilight that the pair seems to care considerably for her assistant, she also realizes that two irrational individuals making a break for Canterlot would not be an ideal approach. "Alright, I may not know the dynamic you three are apparently sharing, but I don't need you two to act out of sorts right now! Please remain calm, I'll just put together a search and rescue team. You two just stay put until this situation gets resolved."

Again, Twilight's eyes buck wide as she hears something fragile breaks in the background, accompanied by a screaming dragoness. "UGH! WHY DIDN'T WE JUST DO WHAT HE ASKED US TO DO!?"

The princess tries once more an attempt to instill calm and rationality. "Girls, now's not the time to put blame on yourselves. Just keep calm and let things develop, we'll find out something in the next few hours. Promise."

Unfortunately, the increasing chaos ensuing in the background indicates that the opposite is happening. Ocellus shrieks and addresses the princess briefly. "Princess, Smolder's having a situation right now, I'll need to call you back."

Twilight stares blankly at the air as the phone call ends. She promptly follows up her blank stare with a question of inquiry over her assistant's love life. "What kind of relationship does that dragon have!?"

The impostor, having overheard the conversation and screaming that took place, expresses envy. "Sounds like he's living the life to me."

Twilight looks to snap back at the unreformed changeling, but the young alicorn vents her aunt's anger for her. "SHUT! UP!"

"Flurry, calm yourself!" Shining urges his daughter.

"NO!" Her magic changes from it's golden aura to the more potent black and purple manifestation. Shining soon finds himself holding only the air as Flurry teleports to zap the changeling at point-blank range. "WHERE! IS UNCLE! SPIKE!?"

The changeling starts to fear the young princess, sweating at the possible violence the young princess seems capable of. "Geez, y'all got a muzzle for this thing? I know some guys with some good tranquilizer if you need some for this one."

Unwary to him, his insults only grows Cadance's own violent impulses. Shining notices how his wife flexes her wings and steps in for the changeling's sake, giving him a stern warning. "Okay, you. Look at me right now. You don't know my wife, so you don't know how much of her my daughter has."

"What do you mean?" The impostor questions.

"I mean she has the dangerous part." He stresses slowly, careful to elaborate on his wife without triggering her intona frenzy. "I suggest you start talking before she gets volatile."

"How volatile?" The changeling asks in a cold sweat.

"Considering her mother's temperament... Yes."

It's been a while since the last visit of our captor. While I had my concerns to start off with, it seems that he did honor his description of what he would be doing to me with that tool of his. However, his usage didn't come without some close shaves. In fact, I'd even argue that he purposefully did that just to prove a point. Some of the nails he clipped off of me were far too close, nicking and cutting me to the point of minor injury. The good news about it is that I didn't lose much in terms of blood, but the bad news is that he's got a box of my claw nails with enough of my blood to be tested and convince Twilight that I am in captivity. That might motivate her to move a little faster.

As far as how I'm doing, my voice is getting even worse over time, I can't even speak in the same register that I'm so used to speaking, it feels like I can only talk an octave down. My chest still feels a bit of a burn from earlier. My shoulders are suffering from ligament pains, and my wings feel so tight against my back. I absolutely hate it here.

The other two seem to be fairing well against the circumstances, unlike me. Sir Fencer, who's probably gone more of a beating than I have, is busy at work stretching out the chains that holds him. Prince Amor isn't as strong as his escort, but he is very perceptive when keeping a lookout. He's doing all he can to make sure his escort can get free so we can all get out of here.

I will say, he's got some serious optimism. "So, good news, he only shocked you once this time." I rest my case.

If only I could feel as good as he can about this, much less me feeling as good as he does with his untortured self. "I wish I could feel like you instead."

Sir Fencer gives me words of encouragement, not quite matching the foreign prince's level of optimism but further fortifying it. "I'm sure we both have that in common, but look at the bright side. You're not doing too bad for being a first time captive."

"Who knows, maybe a few more times and he can be professionals like us." The prince announces with a slight giggle.

I roll my eyes at the pair. "If that's what you call a marketing scheme, I'm sure someone else will buy into the bullshit, but I guess I'll take the compliment."

Sir Fencer continues with his attempt to pull at the chains, probably on the verge of getting enough slack to give himself a fighting chance, at least from what I can assume. He makes a note of their condition. "Well, these things sure look a bit modern compared to everything else here." But as he pulls, there's one link that reveals itself to be quite rusty. He continues to pull, revealing the same result for several links going onward. "Oh well nevermind, seems these chains are rusted to worse going towards the bitter end. And I should be able to pull this much to begin with."

"Maybe they didn't have the budget to replace it all. Probably why they put that ransom on me as high as they have it." I reply to the amused escort.

"These ponies are absolutely half-assed." He gives his chains a quick tug, revealing an increasing number of rusted loops, some so bad that they've completely corroded in spots where there seems to be little metal left. "And to top it all off, I'm not supposed to be able to pull that much out at once. Seems the gear catch on the stock is gone too."

"What do you figure our chances?" Prince Amor asks his escort.

"These chains are critical-failure imminent. They may be enchanted to prevent breakage, but even that's weak. A bit of salt will bring it to a very reduced state. And I think a few pulls here and there will break a few links. Hell, smashing the damn things against the ground will do it."

My stomach rumbles as he mentions the word salt. "Hey, it's been a while since we've ate something. You think they have to feed us sometime soon?"

"They haven't given us anything in a few days other than water. We might get a loaf of bread to split between us." The prince explains. "As far as thinking of ordering something with a lot of salt content, you can kiss that idea goodbye."

I shake my head, disappointed that even my outsider's chance of an idea is so easily struck down. "If only I could breathe fire, I would be able to melt these chains."

The two look at each other and nod in silence. The prince looks back over to me and asks. "So if that's the case, then we'll have to use a sodium alternative. So Spike, think you'll be willing to help with a contribution of some sort?"

The first thing I think of is my throat. "I don't think I can help you with that."

"Perhaps you misunderstood me, we have no intention to pilfer off of your internals." Amor states. "See, our bodies create waste, and that waste excretes over ninety percent of your body's dietary sodium."

It took a while for me to understand, but I do remember taking inventory of a few books Twilight had me tote around for her magic classes, some included bodily anatomy and physiology. As soon as I realize what their plan is, I wince in disgust. "Your majesty, are you suggesting we'd... please no."

"When situations are dire, you learn to survive by any means." Sir Fencer replies with a hapless shrug.

"I don't think you're willing to accept that indignity, dude." I argue with him.

He scoffs in return. "I'd much rather that than sit here in a cave with no discernable way out other than a body bag. That guy just said that his majesty and I are practically worthless. And in these situations, worthless means you're more than likely going to be used in some 'amusing' ways. And I'm sure we don't want to see how amused they can get."

I grimace at the thought of the idea, but also at the plan that's being proposed. "Isn't there something else we can do?"

"Well you can help me aim with your feet then." The escort answers. "You're already on your knees, you might as well. You step on everything else under the sun, might as well."

I shudder at that idea, and submit out of reluctance. "Ugh... fine. I'll go along, but this doesn't leave the room."

The prince chuckles as he makes a joke of it. "That's quite unfortunate, really. I was thinking that we can look back on this as a diplomatic bonding exercise."

I close my eyes, wishing that I had stayed with my carnal mind back in Ponyville. Had I done so, I would be dealing with an upset princess and whatnot, but at least I wouldn't have to bear with the unimaginable comfort of having to escape this dungeon by any means necessary. I would much rather deal with the torture of not being able to finish all over Gabby instead of offering a golden finish to our time in captivity.

I truly hate Canterlot these days. "I'm never doing another friendship summit again."

Hours go by since Twilight announced the abrupt end of the Friendship Summit for this month. All were sent about their way on the account that this emergency development has caused a significant interruption in everyone's mood. And with one of the ones who help made their friendships as fruitful as possible being abducted, operations were made to shift into a recovery mission. Shortly after this announcement, a box came to the checkpoint of the castle by means of an anonymous figure. And within the box was a note etching out a list of demands, along with a set of cut claws that were traced with blood. As one could figure, it grabs Twilight's attention immediately.

It takes her only a half hour to establish a recovery team comprised of five operatives. Three who work within the guard's special forces, and two who have yet to show. The three specialists who showed on what would be otherwise their day off, took the time to heed the princess' call with expedience.

Twilight stands before her throne, looking towards the empty seat holding the box of bloody claws nails. She worries deeply for her number-one assistant, but firms her resolve before maintaining an air of calm, looking down to her three operatives. "Okay you all, here's the situation."

"You don't have to say it, your highness." Says the first. "Your pet dragon, as big and strong as he is, is currently in a bind." The first operative is none other than a mare of the Storm King's former employ. A plum colored unicorn, her horn broken close to it's base but still brimming with unstable magic. The mare, Tempest Shadow, stands with every intent to reclaim the dragon that's absent.

"And you're going to need as many of us as necessary to get the job done." Says the second. "We're all equipped to handle this situation as discreetly as possible." A reformed changeling, one with a light green coloring and yellow fins atop his head, is but another foe-turned-friend after a similar invasion seven years prior. Once in a faction of changelings who vied for power outside of the hive's influence, Padrig has worked in tandem with the old royal family in their efforts to keep peace in what is considered the Canterlot underground.

"Discretion is the better part of valor in this case, Padrig. That much we can all agree." Twilight sagely nods in agreement.

"Just tell us who to follow, your majesty. We'll take it from there." Says the third. "We'll get Spike back no matter what it takes." A griffon of familiar pedigree, already established in the guard's ranks as one of the more talented grapplers and fighters. While far from being the first griffon in the guard's employ throughout it's storied history, Gallus is blazing a trail of his own prestige, all while serving as an element bearer. Only one guard before him has served with such an honor to his name, and he looks to ascend to the same rank that very predecessor once held.

The princess continues with her briefing. "Now I'm sure you're wondering where the other two are at this moment, but I should at least illustrate their qualifications to you. They are veterans in underground surveillance and operations, one could even say they've gone to absolute extremes to produce actionable intel. Those will be the two you follow. While Padrig has operated in the underground a number of times during clean-up operations, these two have long-term knowledge and more valuable connections to the underground, they can guide you in and out safely, and both are tremendously powerful in their own ways. Both are capable fighters, so they can manage when things get tight. As you can assume, this matter will be time sensitive as we don't know what they may be doing to Spike as we speak." She turns her attention to the box on the smaller throne beside hers. "And I don't intend to find out should things get worse."

Tempest raises a concern. "Your majesty, with all due respect, a time sensitive mission with limited intel is a tad difficult to execute. It's one thing chasing you and your friends around Equestria while you lot leave a trail a mile wide, it's another operating in the shadows. It can be a pretty cruel world."

"She knows that much." The three operatives turn around, seeing a zebracorn appearing from seemingly nowhere. "And I can easily tell you that these underground thugs are not nearly the same breed as the ones I've dealt with before." The mare who often wears her mane in a prominent curl has it braided back. Her eyes of crimson shine fiercely as she shows a rather cold disposition, one matching Tempest's own. And already being exposed to the Canterlot underground from the age of ten, she's grown quite used to seeing the cruelty that is produced, even experiencing that same cruelty in various fields. A survivor of not only those instances, but the far graver encounters of necroterrorist himself. While she often wears dresses to hide her legs, she appears much as herself, the scars all over her body being a telling indication of her past. "I am Kalimba, Kalimba Mavembe. We shall make our work quick."

Gallus identifies the mare easily, pointing out what she's often seen doing around the castle. "Are you serious? You? Aren't you like a low-level dignitary? I've only seen you do basic office work."

"Gallus, was it?" Yet another mare appears from nowhere, showing up right beside the griffon with a confident smile. "You should know better than to judge a book by it's cover. Maybe you need to read past daily appearances and see the truth right in front of you." A mare of extreme influence, both in finances and implementations on society's advancements. Her negotiations with the humans have yielded technological features yet seen by many in the world of Equis. But despite her wealth, she harbors the dark secrets of many other influential figures who have participated in the underworld's doings, both in past and present. Also a survivor of her own encounters with the necroterrorist, she holds the infamous position of being the only one to have served to do their bidding, betray them, combat them, and come away with her life remotely intact. Blue Royal deactivates her field of magic, revealing herself and Kalimba after having waited in the room for over half an hour.

"Uh, aren't you a little too rich for stuff like this?" Gallus questions the mare.

"Honey, there are three things the underground runs on." She replies. "And two of those things, I've got plenty of."