Simplified

I don't exactly know what hour of what day it is, but it feels like I've been here for a while. I've wish I could pass out from the pain in my shoulders, just a number of times so that the mental fatigue keeps me from experiencing the discomfort in a full day's cycle. Unfortunately, that's not how life works sometimes. The pain has to be excruciatingly painful for me to check out like that, but sadly the pain falls short of that milestone.

Meanwhile, I'm sure that my day can't be nearly as bad as Sir Fencer's. While he's volunteering to be the victim of our circumstantial method of escape, I can't imagine him going back home to proudly admit what had taken place throughout the course of the past few hours. I know I don't want to admit how I had to watch him use our bathroom breaks as a means of obtaining enough sodium content to weaken the enchantments of our chains. And sadly, our water supply, the small bucket of sediment-rich water that they give us has fallen victim to a few stray streams. And while the two grimaced at the idea before drinking for survival purposes, I outright refused out of disgust.

The prince's ears flicker, he notifies us to get back in place and hide our doings before our cell door opens. Sir Fencer sits quietly, looking just as defeated as ever. The prince assumes his pouting posture, ready to appear just as entitled to the finer accommodations life has to offer, and I just continue doing what I've been doing for all this time... suffering.

The door opens, it appears to be a brown pegasus this time. "Mornin' ya majesties!" His carefree demeanor towards our struggles is further amplified by his laughter before pulling out a moldy loaf of bread for the three of us to share. "Grub time."

His wings show great dexterity, grasping the bread and tossing it at us like he was expecting us to bend down and peck at it like a group of birds in a park. The prince gives the guard a glance before he leaps in to greedily hoard the loaf for himself. The piggish behavior exuded by the Ponyland prince gives the stallion amusement before he looks over to Sir Fencer, wondering why he's not fighting over the bread, or even moving.

I quickly come up with a way to distract him from getting too close to the captive stallion. "Hey! Excuse me!" I call out loudly. "This water is full of dirt and all kinds of sediments! Don't you guys have some bottled water or something!?"

The prince glances at me from down on the ground, pausing with his groveling display to see the pegasus inch his way closer to me. "Oh so you fancy, huh?" He takes note of the bucket and slides it over to my side. "I guess you don't know what good hospitality is, do you?"

I try to emphasize my point. "It's just that there's a bit... in there."

He shrugs me off while picking up the bucket, not even realizing that there's a bit of urine in the water. He guzzles the contents of the bucket to seemingly demonstrate how safe it is to drink. "See? It's water. And for you, it's the best we got. Maybe when your princess pays us, we'll give you the stuff from topside, you know, the chilled stuff with the sparkling clean taste. But you can chug on this till then."

"Hey!" He starts to walk away, but I quickly look to grab his attention as his attention starts to go back to the Ponyland pair. I quickly think of a way to dominate his attention for the time being. "Who the hell do you think you are keeping us locked down here, treating us like animals!? Don't you realize who we are, what we're involved with, are you all seriously this fucking dumb!?" The stallion clicks his teeth as he rushes over to silence me. "The way you treat us is the main reason why you pathetic creatures are all down here in the first pla─AHK!!!"

I double over from the impact his hoof made against my throat. While the blow is partially warded off on the account of the ring on my neck, the blow still lands painfully. I start coughing up smoke and flames again, unable to control the burning in my throat and lungs. He tilts his head at me with a smirk on his face. "Oh I bet that one hurt, didn't it?" He takes the bucket that he drank from earlier and slaps it across my head. "Yeah, that always shut you fuckin' water lizards up. You ain't nothin' down here. You best be rememberin' that." While seeming satisfied from his attack, I know he's deeply upset about what I said, and the matter in which I've placed him down morally-speaking.

My gambit pays off as he grumbles complaints about me during his exit. The pair stares at me while I'm still recovering from the attack I just tanked. They wait until Amor's ears flicker and lower, indicating that the grunt has departed from the hall altogether. The prince spits out the moldy bread with disgust and speaks to me. "You didn't have to take the fall like that, Spike."

"Hnng... dhhhh. (Had to.)" I can't quite speak, but my grunts get through clearly enough.

The prince, already having loosed some of his own slack, comes over to check in on me. "Anymore of this abuse and you might not breathe fire ever again."

"Is he gone?" Sir Fencer questions.

"There's no one else in the hall. We're clear for now." He replies.

I glance over to the bucket, seeing that their only source of hydration is all but chunky sediment drops left at the bottom of the bucket. "Srr... ry... frr... wrr... urrr. (Sorry for water.)"

The escort rises from his seat of chains spiraled underneath him and his tail. "Well it's fresher than what's been beamed at my face for the past few hours." He then shows admiration for my gambit. "It's a good thing you distracted him. He would've surely noticed the chains slacking. You've given us more than time there."

The prince knocks away the moldy bread as he proposes another idea. "Spike, I think our little method could work for your collar as well. Want us to try it to get that thing off of you?"

"Hrrd... prrrz. (Hard pass.)" I quickly refuse.

"Would rather have you breathing fire for us than keeping your pride for the time being." Sir Fencer adds.

"Rrrn grrrd. (I'm good.)" I state once more as my voice starts to recover.

"Well, guess pride is as valuable as one's name, I suppose." He says as he give his chain a good tug, finally snapping the rusted links from out of the wall. "Free at last." He mutters as walks over towards the door. He gives the lock a good look before sighing for a bit of a chuckle.

"What?" The prince questions.

"The security fastenings on the door is..." He shakes his head in disbelief. "It can't be that easy."

"It's that easy, isn't it?" My voice is gravely and rough from the abuse.

"Shoddy craftsmanship, the locks and tumblers are barely hanging on. This shit is rusted to almost breaking, it's only a matter of time."

"Or possibly effort?" The prince asks as he turns to his own chains, gathering his rusted bits before he takes a moment over them.

As I hear the trickling noise beside me, I pay no eyes to the prince's moment of release. "Effort helps time move a little faster too."

While he does smell like he's gone on himself, I ignore the odor for being more concerned over his efforts to use some of those chains to add weight to the hoop that my arms are chained to. He gives it a jiggle, seeing that the bolts keeping them in place is very loose. He feeds his chain into the hoop twice over. "Alright, I know it's gonna hurt, but put all your weight into us swinging. We don't have time to argue."

I reluctantly do as he says and go along with his plan. He helps me to bring my legs up over my head and wrap my feet around the chain I'm on. "Okay, what are we doing this for?"

"We both swing in the same direction, you'll find out." He says as he does the same for himself.

Prince Amor takes a little more effort to pull at his chains, but they do break from their severely-corroded links. Afterwards, he runs over to aid us in our endeavor. "Okay, I'm gonna rock you both."

"Uh, what for?" I ask.

I don't even get an answer before the I feel a jolt towards the ground. I have a brief moment of shock before everything above us breaks off and the both of us are sent back down to the ground. The prince takes note of the failed device. "So it seems that they misjudged the load management just a bit. They are really incompetent."

"And we're loving every bit of it." The escort says as he helps me back up. "I bet it feels good to finally put your arms down. I'm sure they ache like a first-timer's poor broken heart."

"Guess they really put the effort to keeping their facilities up to date." I say as I rub at my back from taking the impact.

"Not that they have the resources to do so, obviously." The prince points out. "Which means that collar on your neck is really more a relic. They don't have nearly the power like they pose themselves to have."

"That's a good thing. Guess we can risk to fight our way out." I suggest.

"Yeah, or we could keep with the stealthy approach and keep our wits about us. That's a better look than wearing yourself tired fighting an unknown enemy." Sir Fencer rebuts, freeing himself from the hoop that kept me bound to the ceiling. "They may be incompetent, but that doesn't mean we should play into that."

I nod in agreement, seeing as he helped get me free. "You are the brains of our group. I follow you from here."

He glances over to the door that keeps us holed up and looks back to me, "Sir Spike, I know you're without your claw nails, but can you gimmick that door open a bit?"

"You want me to yank on it?"

"Please do." He responds.

I walk up to the door, seeing the iron bars in the small window slot that allows our captors to peer into the room to check on us. I give the door a yank from there, my claws still stinging a little from the close cuts they endured by that one guy. I give it a good tug before feeling something come loose. I give it another effort, without even knowing that the second time would actually snap the door from it's hinges and cause me to backpedal into the wall. I end up slamming the door against the wall and floor from my being off balance.

From down the hall, we hear a shout from the distance. "What the hell was that!?"

"Shit!" I whisper to myself.

"Well that alerted someone to us." The prince says in deadpan. "Guess we're fighting the first bastard we see then."

I leave the door on the ground upon my recovery from the fall. "Okay... throat doesn't feel like it's getting attacked by everything all at once now. Can't muster a good breath, but I can fight in other ways."

"Then let's get down to business, shall we, boys?" The prince says as he and his escort stances themselves to take an ambush position beside the door.

"You know how to fight?" I ask the prince as I stand beside him.

"Better than most in my position." He says.

I give him a quick nod as we start to hear more than one set of hooves running down the hallway. "Well it ain't no point in asking now, guess we'll find out. Shall we?"

Amor snickers. "Party doesn't start till they walk in."

While the halls are so well lit for three of the specialists on assignment, the two that have familiarity with the museum's former purpose are fully aware of it's dark history. For the pair, it almost feels like going back in time. While Blue owns the property, and did her best to repurpose it, Kalimba sees much that brings back painful memories. All the zebracorn can think of is the many times she and the captain have walked these halls, looking to close deals and gather information, all while fighting for their lives each and every step of the way.

The halls are empty, the museum is closed to the general public, it's always been scheduled to close because of the Friendship Summit. Originally the day is supposed to be spent paying homage to the ones who suffered, but now it serves as a gateway to the olden ways. The holograms and displays are mostly shut off, voice-overs muted. But Blue herself opens accesses that are very much closed to all who visit.

The three other specialists walk quietly for most of the journey, that is until Gallus finally speaks out. "Not to be that creature right now, but what are we doing here in the museum?"

"Special access." Blue replies.

Tempest looks along the halls slowly, mumbling to herself. "So this is the remnants of the old Corrotto District, the infamous blight known as Canterrot."

"Canterrot?" The griffon tilts his head at the unusual name.

Padrig gives further context to the young griffon. "The Corrotto District used to house all the seedy elements of Equestria's underground. Anyone who knew the area are either locked up, dealt with, or bought out."

"Most of them bought out, others relocated elsewhere." Blue informs the others. "But there are still stragglers looking to rebuild what they've lost, holding on to old glories."

"Not that they lost much." Kalimba says as she looks to a series of holes in the walls, now plugged with concrete. "I know that I didn't."

Gallus continues to question the pair of mares over their past involvements. "So the ones who bought out, those happen to be you two?"

"You could say that we both had to pay something to get ourselves out." Blue answers.

"Be lucky that you don't have to find out how much you'd have to pay." Kalimba warns.

Tempest looks over to the zebracorn, seeing how lost in thought she is over the plugged holes in the wall. "I trust it was a costly price. Nothing in life comes without it."

Padrig also added yet another grim account, but directing his comment to Tempest. "You know, back then they used to sell changeling body parts. If they were still going on now, you could've bought yourself another horn."

"I don't need it. I've gotten comfortable with who I am now. This nub's a good reminder of two things, why you don't trust others offering to give you back what you've lost, and not to run blindly into the den of an ursa major."

"Pretty costly lesson." Kalimba states as Blue walks into a seemingly innocuous maintenance closet.

As the mare shifts around a few things and sweeps at the floor, Tempest gives her response to the zebracorn. "I learned from life, just like you did."

Blue closes the door and waits. A click sounds before she opens it back up to reveal that the closet has been completely replaced by a direct access to a large hallway. Both she and Kalimba are fully-aware of where they're headed to next. "Okay, let's head on through."

Gallus scratches his head out of bewilderment. "Wasn't this a supply closet just a second ago?"

"When you've been in the underground, you learn ways of getting around and out." Blue replies as she guides the entire party into the hallway leading into the large, cavernous part of the exhibit. There's a sole spotlight raining down to a statue in the middle, all surrounded by a bunch of plates crudely shaped into frowning faces. It's all they can walk on for the time being.

The loud clattering from the resting metal shifting underneath the weight of each ground-bound visitor unnerves the young griffon. "This is a creepy display."

"If you know, you know." Blue replies.

"Well I sure don't." Gallus says while he takes to the air instead of walking.

"Then be happy you don't." Kalimba warns once more as they make their way across the exhibit.

After a long and hardly-silent travel across the arena floor, the group comes to an opposing hallway with many other articles of evidence carefully displayed for visitors. Blue guides the group to yet another large door, one that doesn't seem to need any unusual approach, like the maintenance closet, to access. It's a vault-like access with a number of large locks that keep the way closed. "So, what's this one going to?" Tempest questions the mare.

Blue explains the door's unusually large size. "This would've been the tamer's access. They'd bring in all sorts of beasts and ghouls for the weekly competitions come Friday. Back then, they used to have something called the 'Beast of the Week', a title granted to the creature capable of beating the monster of previous weeks. The display in this arena, it's really more of a homage to the final winner of that title."

Gallus sees one of the newspapers highlighting the event, citing that it appeared as a spiral reaching high into the air of Canterlot, towering above the castle itself. "Whatever this thing used to be, it had to win pretty easily. I'm willing to bet the previous champ saw that and high-tailed it on out of there."

"You wouldn't be wrong." Blue mumbles as she starts her spell to unlock the vault-like door.

"So what happened to the challengers who lost?" Tempest asks.

"Circle back to the middle of the arena for a sec." Blue nonchalantly points back towards the display, namely the highlighted statue of a filly.

Gallus tilts his head, dumbfounded. "You serious?"

"If you don't believe her, then you can ask the previous captain about it." Padrig cosigns.

"Why him?" Asks the griffon.

Kalimba promptly answers. "He won two weeks in a row, even killing one of his own to keep himself alive. You see that well-lit statue of the filly in the middle of the room, he had to beat her that final night."

"And he lost, to a filly?" The griffon sighs with disbelief. "That don't make no sense."

Blue is quick to correct him on his viewpoint. "Uh, you forget that all those metal plates you flew over, the ones we were stepping on, those faces? That was all her at the time." While her horn is still active from the spell, she walks over to the same newspaper cutout that Gallus just looked at. "That's all her."

The griffon could only gawk in silence while Tempest came to her own conclusion over the matter. "Huh, guess long-legs was always quiet about his history of achievements. Just when I started to think he was just a ceremonial piece."

"Far from." Blue answers a second before the doors produce a loud clattering noise, followed by a loud clack. The door raises above, allowing just a minimum access for the party to walk under. "Okay. We're in."

Tempest watches as the pair lights their horns, Blue's aura produced an aqua light while Kalimba's produced a bright red. Both lead the way as Tempest questions the pair. "Where exactly does this lead?"

The zebracorn answers her question. "It leads to the underground tunnel system used to smuggle goods in and out of the district. There are all sorts of exits webbed into the Canterlot streets, even some local venues around the city are still connected, and there are a few leading even as deep as the abandoned gem mines in the mountain."

"That sounds like a pretty deep run." Gallus mumbles.

"Knowing these guys, they won't be that deep." Padrig states.

"How so?"

"They need some connection to the surface to operate. They don't have the resources to run a deep-ground operation. So they need to stay shallow, especially if they want to keep an exchange from being too slow, or even keeping a victim alive."

Blue grimaces as she mutters to herself. "Hang on, Spike. We're on our way."

Our fight came to a rather unceremonious end. There were four guards, if you can call them that, who answered to the sound of the old door being pried off of the rusted hinges. Sir Fencer quickly dealt with two of them by himself. To my surprise, Amor proves himself to be a fairly capable fighter, even for not having access to his magic. I had my own confrontation, one that I had to carefully gauge myself and play down to because of my strength. Either way, the three of us come out of the affair unscathed, and with a whole set of keys to use to get even further away from here.

I'll admit, this escape is really not all that I thought that it would be. I figured it would be much harder to pull off. But then again, we haven't even identified where we are in contrast to the surface. I suppose it's better to count our blessings than anticipate things to get easier from here.

A pony lies groaning at my feet while I express my thoughts for a moment. "You know... I never fought a pony in a straight fisticuffs before."

"Your jab could use some work." Sir Fencer offers his criticism.

"Telegraphed blows are often the easiest to counter." Prince Amor also adds his own critique of my fighting style.

"Hey, I beat the guy, didn't I?"

"You did something, not exactly that, but it's something." He says as he points to the stallion trying to raise his hoof to deliver a wearied blow. I jump at the sight of him still being active and instinctively punched him in the head, knocking him completely unconscious. "Now you've beaten the guy."

Amor jokingly calls me out. "It took you a minute and twelve seconds, a new personal best for you. Good job."

I roll my eyes at the pair. "Why do I feel like you two are picking on me?"

"Because we know you were holding back." Amor replies. "You just pulled a door from it's frame, and you're telling me you can't throw a punch that can one-shot a thug?"

I look down to my gargling victim, seeing how concussed he currently is. "If I don't hold back, I could end up doing worse than that, and I don't want that on my conscience. By law, I have to show restraint, it's within Equestrian Confrontation Guidelines for Dragons. And if I break those guidelines, what's to stop any other dragon from doing any worse? I have a position and an image to maintain."

Sir Fencer flippantly dismisses my concerns. "Yeah, whatever. Look, we're in a life-or-death situation right now. We're hostages on the run, which is almost a guaranteed death sentence for many. And judging from our accommodations, we're dealing with a group with absolutely nothing left to give. Can we say that they don't have family that'll miss them? No, but I can say that they shouldn't put themselves in these situations in the first place. You may not like it, but that's where we are now." He says before looking down the hall. "And now, I say we better run with our guts intact and get out of dodge."

While we start to free ourselves of our chains, I see that the pair are first doing away with their magic suppressors, their hooves are hard at work against their horns. "Hey, I don't think you guys should do that."

"You shouldn't if you don't know how to remove them." Replies the Ponyland prince. "The point is to resist using magic while doing so. There are these spikes that run the entire band. But if you get some into the groove of your horns... like... so..." An uncomfortable scrape softly sounds while he grimaces, but his work suddenly becomes that much easier, completely freeing himself from the magic suppressing ring. "Then you screw them off."

Sir Fencer doesn't even make a face when he does his, making his look incredibly effortless. "You two are way too used to this." I point out.

"I already told you why, it shouldn't be a surprise." The prince says as he levitates the keys to the cuffs on his hind legs, unlocking them.

The escort comments on the prince's efficiency at unlocking his chains. "He's becoming a natural."

As they free themselves totally of all bindings, I pull at the large iron ring on my neck. "Wish I could do the same for this piece of junk."

Sir Fencer looks at me, motioning for the prince to hold off on freeing me from my chains. "Unfortunately, your head doesn't screw off and on as easily. But we can use this to our advantage."

"By not freeing me?" I ask.

"We could pretend we're enslavers toting our bounty throughout the caves." I look back at the prince after he advertises the new plan. "No sadism intended, however."

"How does that help me? I'm still in this thing."

The imperial escort cosigns to the prince's outlook. "If you're in it, they don't look at you like you're not supposed to be free. Then they don't start asking questions, getting their friends involved, and things don't get violent." He pauses for a moment before correcting himself. "Okay, they may get violent but not too quickly."

"Really reassuring." I deadpan.

"I know you don't like being captured, neither of us do. But if we play along with this little charade, I can assure you our exit will be an easier one." The prince pleads. "I know we haven't had long to know each other, but I ask if you can trust me, Spike. Work with us and we'll get you out of this. My word."

I grit my teeth at the idea, reluctant as always but understanding that I wouldn't be in this position without them. "You guys are obviously the more experienced. I'll go along with it." I give the pair a stern look. "Just this once."

The escort then snickered. "If you're still upset about the ring, we could still weaken a bit by doing what we did a few hours─"

"Let's... not. Please?"

While going along their route to reach the Canterlot underground, the group of rescue specialists stumble across a large room with many cages and devices strewn all over the room. The room itself appears as large as an industrial warehouse, spanning a tripled length of the diameter of the arena floor itself. Large cages loom on either size of the party, who walked with extreme caution.

"These things are huge." Gallus comments.

Padrig looks up at the towering impromptu cells and shakes his head. "I'm willing to bet they kept all sorts of beasties in here."

"Of course they did." Tempest grumbles. "A lot of underground trade deals with other creatures."

"Actually, this is where they kept the defeated." Blue corrects the three.

"If they're the defeated, why keep them in cages?" Gallus questions.

"Some don't quite die after it's all said and done. So they bring the ones who didn't win here to be euthanized. Then they would sell parts of them on the black market, which at the time was topside in the town square."

"How do you know all of this?" The griffon inquires.

"My brother worked closely with some of the underground operations, however he did it as a means of getting in close to get the good stuff, the truly actionable intel."

"I bet he saw some shit, didn't he?" Padrig comments.

"We saw more than what anyone needs to see in a lifetime." Blue confesses.

"Experienced it too." Kalimba cosigns.

Along their walk, Gallus floats by a large cage with a large skull still sitting inside of it. "That had to be one big arimaspi."

"The body was sold for parts and meat. That's what was left of it." Kalimba briefly explains, much to the griffon's disgust.

"Eugh..."

"That's how they operate, anything for profit. This is pretty much par for the course." Tempest states as she notices the skeletal remains of a hydra sitting in a cage. "There's a place on the southern end of the continent, Klugetown. If you're a unicorn, they'll outright ask you if you want your horn or not. Some cases, they'll saw it off in your sleep and sell it right back to you come morning."

Gallus goes on to vent his disgust. "Places like that need to be exterminated."

Tempest quietly gives her dissent. "Some underground operations like that are a necessity to some fields. Especially the medical field, where certain medicines are created from key ingredients that can only be sourced in it's purity within a creature. Sounds cruel, but sometimes that's what it takes to make potions."

"I'd rather live with an underground market being quarantined to a single town far away than dealing with that hell being advertised on the city streets. That way it's easier for the populations who are capable of engaging in those trades to do so without scrutiny. Not to mention it saves those who don't want to be involved..." Blue looks over to Kalimba. "Or those too young to be exposed to it.

Gallus remains adamant in his opinions. "I just think it's hard to believe that Princess Twilight allows this to go on unabated. Like what's to stop them from coming back to other places and dragging them down that way?"

Tempest continues to justify the town's position. "Have you ever traveled to Klugetown, do you know the geography around it? It's surrounded by nothing but ocean to the east and south, and everything else around it is the Bone Dry Desert. There's no train running to that town, The visibility of walking is a six-of-ten on a good day because the wind is always blowing, nevermind the frequent sandstorms that pop up every three hours. Even by sea, it beats out Silver Shoals on tornadic waterspout activity. The only way you access it is by airship, braving the sea or pushing through the searing sands."

Padrig also adds to the argument. "Plus anyone who stuck around to the old Corrotto ways, they had a choice to either relocate there or assimilate to Celestia's new standard. There were some tens of thousands who took the offer to move. a few thousand even agreed to assimilate."

"What of the others?" The griffon asks.

The changeling gives his answer. "Well you know how there's a tolerance policy for those past-dwellers now?"

"Yeah."

"There wasn't one in the beginning." He emphasizes. "Celestia had a big axe to grind, and very few necks served as a capable whetstone."

The griffon holds his neck and gulps. "Yikes."

The changeling sighs in though. "She really had a bone to pick with the way her captain was treated. Didn't like that too much, and given that he got married to her last year, it no wonder why."

"I guess that makes sense in hindsight." Tempest says as Blue walks towards yet another door to unlock.

"Honey, if you knew what all he had gotten himself into, you'd wonder how he's still sane. Me and Kali have to ask ourselves that question many more times than not. We were all both victims and witnesses to it, one way or another."

Tempest sits patiently as the typically upbeat unicorn mare went about her work to unlock another access point. "I did hear it was pretty bad. Heard he couldn't look himself in a mirror for some time after that."

Kalimba closes her eyes, her memory still fresh to that time. "That's an undersell of an account."

The three of us continue our way out of the compound we're imprisoned in. We ran into a few encounters, but none that proved to be any worse than the first one. Along our route, we walk through a crudely-cut hallway, seemingly tunneled by some means of explosives. Along our journey, we do our best to keep our heads low and gain little attention to ourselves so that we don't run into trouble. However, a familiar voice causes us all to freeze upon hearing it.

"WILL YOU DOLTS SHUT THE FUCK UP!? I'M ON A LINK WITH THE BOSS!"

Just up ahead seems to be a room with a lot of commotion taking place. It sounds like someone is screaming incessantly, while the captor who preached his values to us is trying to have some sort of conversation with his higher-up. I quietly make a note of the situation as we both take to either side of the hall, looking to hide ourselves from the narrow door which the voices erupts behind. "Sounds like a serious conversation."

"Sounds like someone going through the worst right now more than that." Sir Fencer makes a note of the creature who sounds as though they're enduring an agony unlike any other.

"Shh!" The prince urges. "Let's listen for when they're about to leave. This might be our only way out, so it would probably be in our best interest to keep our ears peeled."

As we all do as the prince suggests, we hear the conversation taking place within the room. "We're still trying to get the budget together. Nobody wants to work when there's no funds circulating, no profits to be made." It's the voice of our rude unicorn captor, the one who kept punching me in my throat.

"And all of the accounts are cleaned out, you say?" This voice is an unfamiliar one.

"Every last one, sir."

"Well, should've expected them to rob me now as much as I've been robbed in life."

"Who's that talking?" I ask myself.

The prince once more whispers over to me. "Let's shut up and find out."

"The preparations need more time, sir. With no funds, we aren't able to get operations back up to speed. But with enough luck, our hostage should prove to be a lucrative endeavor. We were going to use that prince from Ponyland for our income, but they mock us and deny ownership of the prince. So now I guess we're stuck on hoping that stupid dragon is worth the payoff."

"A dragon you say?" His voice is awfully... feminine at times.

"Princess Twilight's royal 'Friendship Advisor'."

"Princess Twilight?" The other figure starts to laugh wildly. "Twilight Sparkle, ah yes. As strange as it is to admit, she and I are so close in mind that it's almost like she's my long-lost twin. It's just too bad her methodology is still subscribed to my previous outlook on life and it's dealings. So upsetting to see that none of my works have gone appreciated by her when she's supposed to be an avid acolyte to the process of scientific discovery."

Prince Amor's curiosity peaks with the mention of Twilight's name. "This guy knows the princess?"

"Shh." I call back to him.

He playfully fusses at me. "Oh don't start with my gambit."

"I gave her an offer she couldn't refuse. A billion bits should cover him if he's so pivotal to Equestria's international operations, and not to mention her long-time associate."

The voice appears to show some disapproval. "Ooh, I don't know why you even tried to run that one by her."

The captor sounds confused. "Sir?"

"You're an idiot." I can imagine the other party face-hoofing with that comment. "If you honestly think she won't send a specialist squad to reclaim her beloved pet dragon, you're sorely mistaken. It's happened to me before, so I speak from personal experience. Look where it's got me now. That should tell you the world of disappointment you'll be in pretty damn soon."

The captor seems to grow some hesitancy in his voice. "But... our operations."

The other figure sounds like he's resigned to disappointment. "Sadly a fruitless waste no better than my previous efforts. I was hoping you lot showed some competency in my wake, but you're just as useful as my previous lot of confidants." There's a sigh of defeat followed by an upbeat change in tone. "No matter, I have other means of liberation elsewhere. Consider this the end of your revelation."

Desperation sounds from the captor. "Boss! Please!"

"Do you even have a cold storage to put this one in after I'm done?"

"Uh..." The long silence gives away his unfavorable answer.

"Paaaaathetic." The sheer amount of disappointment in this other voice seems soul-crushing to me, if I were that other guy. "Well, have fun with your dragon toy. You might as well carve him up real good before the specialists get here. I'm sure they'll carve you lot up just fine. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be waiting for some not-disappointing news made by a group not comprised of pusillanimous vestiges of incompetence. I bid you adieu."

The whole hall is now silent, no screaming, no yelling, no other commentary, nothing. Amor's ears flick as we all know that's the sign to get back to hiding. Well all take either side of the hall while two stallions walk out from in the room. One of them being some other guy we don't know. "Uh, sir, what do we do now?"

The other being the same unicorn who kept us captive. "We stick to the plan. But we start cutting up that drake now. Maybe if we do away with his arm, that'll put pressure on that princess perfect-fuckface."

As they walk briskly down the hall, I feel a cold chill growing in the pit of my stomach. "What about the... um... other guy?"

As they converse, Sir Fencer casts a bubble of silence around us as we infiltrate the room they've just left from. "What about him?"

We barely get inside without them catching us as the other lackey looks back and point to the room. "We can't just leave him in there."

"Get him later. We got some prime dragon meat to ship out."

Sir Fencer closes off the door, finally leaving us to rummage through room. Meanwhile, I ask the question on all of our minds. "What the hell is this place?"

"Don't know. Don't care." He replies as he takes a wooden beam and lodge it where they seem to lock all the prisoners on the inside. "All I know is that their security measures are crude and barely functional, but this is the one that might actually work worth a damn."

"That could buy us some time on our way out." Prince Amor says with a nod of approval. "They'll be trapped in the same complex they've kept us in. At least that's to our advantage."

As the two go on, I take notice of a piece of parchment with some runes written on it. I also take note of how familiar it's appearance is to something I've seen before. "This scroll..."

Sir Fencer calls me out. "Find something you like? If so, buy it and get a move on. We don't have all day."

As I think more on it, I start to come to the conclusion that these guys might have been trying to perform the same ritual that those kids tried to do in the Everfree Castle Ruins. While I can't be too sure that's what's exactly going on, I can still take it with me for the purpose of seeing if this was what they were going for. At the very least, I can research more on it and give the information to Nondis. He might be able to do something with it. "Guess I found something on discount." I say as I roll up the parchment.

After I finish, I notice that the other two happen upon a stallion laying quietly on the ground. Prince Amor reaches out to the stallion before Sir Fencer loudly calls out to him. "Don't!" The prince's eyes widen as he catches a glimpse of something. I immediately come over to check, but even Amor pulls me back. "Sir prince, please keep him turned that way."

"What? I was just gonna check on that guy." I reply.

The prince's jaw is tight as he speaks. "Probably not a good idea."

He keeps me turned away as his escort checks in on the figure. "Slhhhh... Oof... Was that you screaming like that?" He walks past us to grab some tattered curtains used for decoration, ripping them off the beams and dragging the heavy cloth over the figure. Once he finished, Amor turned us around and we walked right past the draped motionless figure. "Don't even ask, just keep walking fellas."

As we make our exit, the prince ignores him and ask about the stallion's condition. "How is he?"

"Still warm, but... gone. He's a looker if you want to burn the midnight oil for a few days. Let's just leave him with some dignity."

I blink for a moment, not exactly ignorant to the prospect of death, but still not savvy to the solidified expressions made by those who endure a painful end. And judging from his comments, I would've been plenty scarred had I turned him over for myself. I suppose Amor caught a glimpse of that himself and thought to spare me from that sight. Neither of the two are phased by that, which makes me wonder how bad did they have it back in their homeland. The only answer I can come to is that if they aren't too disturbed by that, then they've lost a lot more than a few 'associates'. Even in incompetence, the creatures down here, they harbor darkness beyond my understanding.

I'm really looking forward to getting back home now.

My mind hasn't left that room for a bit. Just moments before, we heard a terrible screaming that seemed to go on and on until it eventually just droned out. Thinking about it, we became so concentrated on the conversation taking place that we never really noticed the fact that the guy had faded out. He died while we were listening, and there was little we could do given our own circumstance. We could either live long enough to escape, or put ourselves in danger of being killed or taken captive. Either or, someone had to lose. The shameful thing is that I can't help but feel thankful that it wasn't us. A heavy thought, but one I'll learn to live with eventually.

Along our walk through the caves, we happen upon an unusual sight. Walking out from the dungeon we were held in, we enter into what appears to be large cavern. The entire place is dimly lit with light bulbs powered by struggling generators. Some were out, but others were holding on. And the paths we walked were all lined with walls of tin and wood, sheet metal and crude rivets. A series of numbers are spray-painted onto various doorways, the 'doors' being tattered sheets. The place isn't as lively as the surface, but there is some activity taking place in the corridors that serve as 'streets' in this makeshift town square.

There's a bit of a bustle, no hustle though. Many of the denizens are working hard at varying exchanges. But while they're trying to make it seem busy, there's no real money flowing through the place. Many of the gems they use to trade are unrefined and uncirculated, raw gems with hardly any assessed value other than color. In the distance, I could see some workers performing a dig at a nearby wall with some pickaxes. One of them happens upon a small deposit of zircon, and the other shoves the other out of the way to lay claim to it. A brawl quickly ensues between the two and others gather around to place their bets on who comes out of it the winner.

As we're walking, we see another stallion inspecting the quality of the gem that another is trying to pass as currency. He takes off his spectacles and shakes his head, giving the buyer a stern denial of sale. The patron is adamant that his currency is good for something, but the negotiations fail regardless of his pleas. We pass by another who's roasting a carrot over an open fire, the fire is small. But as he turns away, another pony runs up to steal the carrot, but not before seeing the cook pull out a dagger made of what appears to be his own magic. The would-be thief scampers off while the hungry unicorn continues to watch over his impending meal.

Everything seems to be so impoverished here. And with all the bodies I've noticed moving around, there are no females present. There are changelings, but they are unreformed. There are a number of mules and earth ponies all doing the hard labor. Unicorns seem to run the various shops. Pegasi fly overhead to serve as overseers and managers to the construction efforts. All of this place surrounds one towering structure in a semicircle, a construction crane that looms high over all in the cavern.

Prince Amor disheveled his appearance further to blend in with the crowd. Sir Fencer bears his bruises and scars proudly, knowing that his roughened appearance would be par for the course. They both guide me as I trail behind them, still bound to my chains and collar. Many don't even pay us any mind as we walk through the streets. Instead, we're as though we've been part of the trade since day one. No one suspects a thing.

I make a quiet note of it. "Seems we're getting a good run."

"You're supposed to be a prisoner, keep your mouth shut please." Mutters the prince, who's keeping his ears open for possible encounters.

Sir Fencer makes his own comment about the place we've stumbled into. "So this is the world of the Canterlot underground? Pretty underwhelming."

"Everything is so crude and impoverished." The prince says quietly.

As I look around, seeing that we've stumbled into an area where there's hardly anyone around, I speak out quietly. "That ransom on my head, yeah they're gonna need every bit."

The prince scoffs at the scenery. "Actually, they could pay a little more for what they've had us go through."

The escort looks towards his prince with a slight smirk "So we're in agreement then?"

"Trashing the place on the way out, sign me up."

"How do we go about doing that exactly?" I question the pair. "This place isn't exactly the sparkling splendor of it's halcyon days. So how do you go about trashing what's already considered to be trash in the first place?"

The prince looks up to the massive structure hauling what appears to be a palate of goods to one location near the cavern wall. "What's the purpose of this crane?"

"Looks like to carry some large goods from one place to the other." Answers the escort.

"These homes are awfully shoddy. Tin roofs, spliced wood beams, thin walls, a wrecking ball would be the end of much of this place."

As the crane slowly lowers a crate of goods to a worksite by the wall they have spray-painted for work, I illustrate the obvious. "Well we don't have any doubt that thing works. Everything else might be shoddy, but at least they keep that thing in decent shape."

"Probably takes half of the budget to keep that thing moving too." Sir Fencer states in thought.

Now both the prince and I look to each other, a metaphorical lightbulb shines above both of our heads. "I've got an idea." I say to the grinning prince.

"And I'm all ears."

It doesn't take long to climb to the access platform for the construction crane. If anything, most of the way is unguarded and fairly easy to access. They make sure that it's easy for many of the workers to get to it if they ever need anything done, to relay orders and instructions, or even to call for an emergency stop. Nothing's up to code around here, so it wouldn't make any sense that this would be the one thing that adheres to construction guidelines.

But along the way, we do have a bit of a minor encounter. "Hey!" That encounter is quickly resolved by a hoof to the side of the head.

The dealer of said hoof is quite unamused by the lack of a fight. "Security is a lot looser than I thought this would be. They've really made it this easy."

As we walk onto the work site, we see a myriad of plans strewn about a number of wooden crates. While Prince Amor cleans up after his escort by tying him up, he looks to one of the crates and ask me. "Hey, what's in that crate over there?"

As I look to assist the prince in his endeavor, I crack open one of the lids with a crowbar to see a unexpected surprise. "So... there are fireworks in here. Why does this place need fireworks of all things?"

"There are some plans here on the table." Sir Fencer walks over to one of the plans, seeing a set of blueprints illustrating something that looks like a crudely-illustrated guide to creating demolitions. "Seems they want to collect the gunpowder in these fireworks to create sticks of dynamite for blasting operations."

"What for?" The prince asks.

As I walk over to the table, I see another set of blueprints underneath the ones Sir Fencer happened upon. I see a number of things that don't entirely make sense to me, a bunch of geometrical shapes that crudely outline seating positions, an open space at the center, a place for exclusive seating in press boxes. "Huh, seems there's also some plans for an arena of some sort."

The imperial escort adds up what we've discovered thus far while Amor hollows out a section in a crate full of fireworks to dump the unfortunate victim of Sir Fencer's left hook. "So according to what we can piece together, they're collecting fireworks to create dynamite, which they then use to make some sort of arena."

"Which is what would explain the crane being underground for some reason." I note as I walk over to another crate, this one being locked shut. I yank the lock off of the hinges and pop open the box, seeing an incomplete stash of improvised dynamite sticks. "But it doesn't make sense. All these fireworks would only be good for a crate or two, but I don't think they'd be strong enough to decimate some rock. You wouldn't get much out of this, especially for construction. And then there's the aspect of controlled demolitions for that matter."

The prince turns his attention to the plans laid out on the work bench. "Hey Spike, there isn't a law regulating the sale and distribution of materials mandated for demolition operations, is there?"

"Of course there is. Commercial grade T.N.T. runs north of the thousands and require a blasting permit, a proof of insurance for accountability, and a permit for transport. These guys clearly have none of that."

"What about fireworks?" He asks.

I take a moment to think about it, seeing that there could be more to their operation than just acquiring a bunch of fireworks. "...No. You just buy them at the local party shop. Now naturally they don't sell in bulk like this, but if you have the connections..." My mind quickly flash back to the times I was working around Pinkie Pie while she was planning some of her parties. She could often sweet-talk her way into deals of having lots of fireworks for a special event. In other words, they have a plug somewhere in the city that's giving them what they need. I go back to the box filled with improvised dynamite sticks. "They gotta have way more than this somewhere around here."

"How about that stack of crates they just dropped off earlier?" Prince Amor reminds me.

Almost on cue, a small explosion sounds in the distance. I see a small plume of dust and smoke coming from one of the walls they're have marked to work on. Over in the area, I see a pony already walking from the crate with a bundled assembly of the explosives. Sir Fencer rubs at his chin in thought. "Sir Spike, what's the probability of us setting off some of those from here?"

I look to my back, still noticing the restraints on my wings. "If I could fly, I might be able to drop some in that crate."

"Can't do that, they'll capture you faster than we can free you again." Prince Amor states. "Maybe we can do this the old fashioned way. We can hide you in one of these crates full of the fireworks. You'll get dropped off, you light one off, toss it into one of those other crates, and we'll see what happens next."

Sir Fencer picks up a three-inch shell and lobs it over to me. "How long is the fuse on that?"

I pull the fuse, seeing the length it has before reaching into the shell. "I guess around ten seconds for clearance, five seconds for launch phase before the big boom."

"You got anything left in you?" He asks.

"I take it that me coughing up a spark is all you're looking for here." I say as I find a crate to hide in.

The prince aids me in getting me prepped while his escort brings his focus to the construction crane "Just give us that, and we'll be sure to drop them a little something that will razzle them on our end."

"The ol' razzle dazzle?" The prince questions as he places me in a crate here in the loading bay.

"The ol' razzle dazzle." He replies. "It'll keep them more than busy enough to not come after us."

Something tells me Discord would love these two right about now.

Our plan quickly goes into motion. Before I know it, I'm quietly sitting in one of these crates being floated over to the work area. Down below, I can see a few ponies moving around and transporting the explosives into the areas they have designated for blasting. While the stuff they use isn't quite up to strength or precision for construction, it's still effective in clearing the rock they need to get the job done. I'll admit, it's been thought out fairly well, but the precision leaves a lot of dangerous factors on the table.

As the crane movement stops, I see my intended target. I motion to Sir Fencer, who's running the crane for the time being, to nudge me over to the left a bit more. While that's going on, I start to hear some screaming from down below. "YOU MOTHERFUCKERS ARE ABSOLUTELY FUCKING USELESS!"

I quickly hide my head in the crate again, already recognizing the voice as our captor from before. I'm sure he's at his nerve's end after getting trapped in the dungeon. He's out sooner than we expected, but he's very much thrown off by what has happened. The construction workers down below see that for themselves. "Uh oh, sounds like the boss ain't too happy today."

The group of eight workers gather around, wanting to know what all happened. "Hey boss, what's going─"

"WHERE'S THE DRAGON!? WHERE IS HE!?" I can hear his screams over everything else in the immediate area.

"You mean a purple dragon with green fins and scales, about five feet tall, retainer ring on it's neck?"

As I put myself at further risk, I motion to be lowered closer to the volatile unicorn stallion. "YES, THAT DRAGON! WHERE IS IT!?"

"Oh, I thought that you authorized a move. Two holders just took him on by, don't know where they headed though."

"DON'T KNOW WHE─" He knocks over a table with some construction blueprints. He also tosses a work bench out of a fit of rage. "YOU STUPID FUCKS! THAT'S OUR BILLION-BIT RANSOM WALTZING THE FUCK WHO-KNOWS-WHERE! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING LETTING HIM WANDER AROUND!? WHO AUTHORIZED THE MOVE!?"

"Just two stallions holding his chains. I thought they were some new guys working the guild shift."

As I motion for the crate to stop it's descent, I listen for the next time I hear the stallion to go off on a tangent. "Okay, let me explain something to you."

"Alright."

"We have little to no money."

"Yeah."

"Listen, yeah? We have almost no funds."

"Yeah."

"All our funds are already locked in with the whole making the T.N.T., right?"

"I guess so."

Another stallion, who staggers next to the captor out of breath, holds a clipboard in his possession. The angry unicorn continues his rant. "And we're currently behind schedule because of the hiring of the engineer who designed the master plan for the new arena, like we paid for the renders, the advertising, the crane, and all of that, right?"

"Yeah we did."

"And as of now, we are currently sitting in the red financially, right?" He doesn't give the worker a chance to answer as he turns to the stallion with the clipboard. "Secretary, am I right to say we're operating in the red?"

"Yes sir."

His attention's brought back to the worker. "How about you, that sounds right to you, doesn't it?"

"I suppose, sir."

He gets into the worker's face. "So that being said, who the fuck else would I hire?"

"Huh, I guess that does raise a good question."

"HuH I gUeSs ThAt DoEs RaIsE a GoOd QwEsTiOn─SHUT UP! SSHZZZZSHUT THE FUCK UP!" Even I was startled by that outburst, I think I almost saw him burst a blood vessel in his forehead on that one. But he takes a breather and soften his voice just for a moment. "Now let's think for a second, kids. We have three prisoners missing. We have, out of the brown rocky sky above, two new guys, whalking awound with a dwagon. Hwhat... is going on there?"

The math finally adds up for the construction worker. "Thuuuuuuuh prisoners are escaping?"

Now's a good time to light this shell. I give it a quick cough before the sparks ignite the fuse, much in a similar fashion how the stallion's anger has finally hit a breaking point. "Yes, the prisoners are escaping. Mmhmm, yes, they're doing that─GET THE FUCK UP AND MOVE, YOU USELESS BAGS OF OVERGROWN EJACULATE!"

As they're going on about that, I drop the shell into the crate and quickly motion for my escape. The secretary tries to reason with the stallion. "Boss, your blood pressure─"

"YOU WANNA LOSE SOME BLOOD!? I'LL FUCKING HELP YOU LOSE SOME!"

"Hey boss..." The secretary points behind the enraged stallion. "I think your rage just set off one of the sticks in the crate."

"THE FUCK You..." Everyone looks at the crate, seeing the small amount of smoke suddenly grow larger as the shell goes into launch phase in the box, undeniably setting off more than a few fuses. The stallion's eyes widen as he uses his magic to shield himself.

Everyone else jumps off the platform in a bid to save themselves. "GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE WAY!"

*BANG!*

The entire cave shakes and rumbles with the sound of a massive explosion, several others seem to take place shortly after the initial report. The five specialists are shaken up by the soundwave that rushes past them. Upon recovery, they strain to understand what is taking place.

"What the hell was that!?" The griffon questions as he regathers his senses.

"That sounds like a very ugly fight with human weaponry." Padrig stumbles back to his feet.

"Human weapons are the one thing Nondis and Alex forbade me from trading over." Blue argues with a wincing expression. "How would they even get their mitts on shit like that?"

Kalimba is the first to totally recover from the blast, she takes point as her magic glow intensifies, risking even more light through the caves. "Let's hurry!"

The others soon join her in the rush. The five gallop at full speed while they venture even deeper towards the source of the ongoing explosions. Tempest takes note of another issue starting to develop along their journey. "Is it getting a little smoky in here, or is it just me?"

"That's gunpowder alright." Gallus confirms. A whistling noise sounds before another explosion is heard. "Sounds more like fireworks now that we're a bit closer."

The five happen upon a sheet of tin covering an entrance. Kalimba blasts the obstacle out of the way to reveal a large cavern engulfed in smoke and bright orange flames. More explosions continue to pop off in various areas. What used to be a makeshift town square is suddenly blown to smoldering rubble. A number of stallions down below are seen organizing a mass effort to fight the fires that continue to erupt across the cave.

Both Blue and Kalimba show immense confusion over the chaos. "Uh..."

"What is all of this?" The zebracorn questions, stumped over the unusual scenery.

"What in Tartarus is going on down here?" Tempest joins the two underground veterans in displaying her confusion. "This is the fabled underground syndicate that we're looking for?"

Gallus looks up to the crane before he facepalms himself. "Guys... I think we found him." The griffons talons point upward, the other four look in the pointed direction to see a figure swinging freely on the damaged crane line.

I'm screaming like a madmare possessed as I continue to toss a number of shells out to various boxes of dynamite and fireworks. Various worksites are left in ruins as I finally indulge in a bit of my dragon habit of pillaging and burning, albeit without my flying around and watching it all burn down in the color of my flames. I don't think I've ever had a streak like this as far as I can remember, but I am having fun over ruining the plans of a bunch of kidnappers and criminals. If anything, I'm doing a service to society by engaging in this rather atypical behavior of mine. Not that I care, they were going to cut my arms off for ransom anyhow.

While I do engage in the chaos, I also make sure that there are no victims directly impacted by my bombing runs. And whenever I get the chance, I swing on the damaged line of this crane like I've lost all sense of care, posing and singing throughout the madness we've created down below.

Ms. Royal takes notice of my expression of unbridled joy. "Oh I see he's just living his best life right now."

Kalimba shakes her head with disappointment. "These underground thugs are getting worse by the year."

Gallus has a completely different line of questioning. "Okay, so we know we found Spike, that's good. But I really think we should get an answer to this one thing. What the fuck is a crane doing down here in the first place?"

Blue walks closer to the ledge from where they stand and shouts up to me at the top of her voice. "SPIKE!"

I look down to notice the five that have come to my rescue. I wave back at them. "OH, HEY GUYS!"

Gallus screams at me as well. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING UP THERE!?"

"OPERATION RAZZLE DAZZLE! THEY HAVE FIREWORKS EVERYWHERE!" I cheerfully reply to the griffon. "LIKE THEY HAVE THE GOOD ONES TOO! I'M JUST POPPING THEM OFF RIGHT NOW! IT'S NOT MY FAULT THEY HAVE THIS SHIT ALL OVER THE PLACE! I'M JUST HAVING FUN"

Blue expresses her relief, but also her concern. "WELL I'M GLAD YOU'RE HAVING FUN, BUT PLEASE COME DOWN SO WE CAN TALK!"

"OKAY!" I say before I realize I'm holding one more. "ONE SEC!"

I cough into the fuse of the last shell I had a hold of, tossing the impending fireball towards another stockpile of dynamite near another construction zone. After that, I quickly crawl up the load wire of the crane and sprint among the suspension beam. When I get back to the control bridge of the crane, I could see both Sir Fencer and Prince Amor dancing a waltz, the ensuing chaos serving as the music for their number. "Spike, join us for our little dance, will you?" The prince suggests with a giggling smile.

"Sorry guys, rescue committee's waiting down below. Twilight sent them."

The pair stops dancing as Prince Amor shows his eagerness. "Ooh, even better!"

The three of us finally unite with our five rescuers, who are puzzled over the other two that accompany me. Blue foregoes that thought momentarily and runs in for a hug. She's hugging me awfully tight, so tight that the bands still constricting my wings are growing even more uncomfortable.

Tempest however doesn't hold back on her question. "Uh... who are those two?"

"Yeah, I didn't even introduce you guys to each other and I'm just dragging them along with." I say as I finally shed myself of the billionaire realtor and pull the other two forward, pointing as I introducing them to one another. "Gallus Griffon, Tempest Shadow, Padrig, Mrs. Kalimba, Ms. Blue Royal, this is Sir Fencer and Prince Amor Ambrosia. They're from the Ponyland Empire."

Padrig's eyes buck open in shock over the pair's status. "Ponyland imperial family, holy hell, what are you guys doing in Equestria?"

"Just passing through, at least until we got captured." Prince Amor briefly summarizes.

Tempest gives the air a sniff, sourcing a rather unpleasant odor. "And why do you lot smell like gun powder and an unwashed bathroom?"

"Long story, don't wanna talk about it." Sir Fencer quickly answers.

Meanwhile, Prince Amor summons up a few of the blueprints we found near the crane. "We found a few things. Seems they were going to build some sort of arena. And I'm sure you're chomping at the bit to find out why it's such a mess here. Well let's just say that these lot are fairly decent at improvisation."

Blue takes a gander at the blueprints, sighing with disbelief. "Now this is just cute, using fireworks to make dynamite for construction. So how far do you think you guys set them back for?"

"Eh, probably some months." I say before another explosion startles all of us. That one seems to come from the place near the crane's base. A loud creaking noise sounds as the crane's weight falters from the damage it took from the explosion, tipping over with a loud thunderous collapse into what appears to be the very dungeon access we just escaped from. "...Scratch that, let's give it a year or two, tops."

The prince giggles as he proudly hoof-bumps Sir Fencer. "And there's the dazzle for the rest of that razzle."

"Well placed, your highness."

"Thank you, my esteemed and trustworthy escort. I learn from the best."

Gallus glances at the foreign pair as he speaks to me. "I see you've made some friends."

"Well they are just visiting." I shrug back at him.

"DRAGON!"

I groan as I recognize the voice screaming out to me. I turn around, seeing the unicorn stallion covered in soot and dirt, his mane disheveled, and his eyes bloodshot. He trots angrily towards us with a cough and a bone to pick with me. The prince makes fun of his short temper. "Oh, he seems slightly peeved."

"DRAGON! YOU SCALY FUCK! I OUGHTA TEAR THAT SODIUM COMPOSITE OUT OF YOUR FUCKING THROAT!"

"Another 'friend' of yours?" Tempest questions.

"Oh yeah, the best." I sarcastically answer. "He kept punching me in my throat and shocking the shit out of me."

"YEAH I SHOCKED YOU! BUT NOW I'M GOING TO MAKE SURE YOUR FUCKING HEAD EXPLODES!" As he gets closer, I realize his magic is active again. The ring is slower to receive his signal due to the distance, but as he gets closer, the signal amplifies, sending a painful shock throughout my body.

I scream out in pain as I start to grasp at the collar on my neck. Blue gathers over me as she calls out my name. "Spike!"

"THAT'S RIGHT, YOU FUCKING COCKSUCKER! I'M GONNA POP YOUR HEAD LIKE THESE GODDAMN FIREWO─" His words are interrupted by a seemingly stray blast of magic. It numbs him to his haunches, causing him to fall over and cancel out his spell. The pain in my body takes a reprieve as the collar goes dormant.

As I'm recovering from the pain, I see the zebracorn walk out from the midst of the formation and step up closer to him. He gets back up in time enough to see her approach quietly, obstructing his line of sight towards me. "Never thought I would be seeing you again."

"Who the fuck are you?" He asks, still pretty vehement over the blow he took.

"My appearance is a lot different from my previous life. But I shall kindly remind you of who I am." She says as her horn once more fills with magic. "I know you remember the night when you were rented off by my owner at the time, to beat me, just so he could reclaim me after his loss."

"Lady I don't even know..." He stops in the middle of his sentence as he takes a moment to think back on her words.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*** Seven Years Ago ***~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*pant... pant... pant*

Kalimba breathes laboriously as she lays almost helpless on the ground. The vision in her eyes fade a bit as she feels a bit of blood stemming from her nostrils, tasting some between her teeth. She looks up to her opponent, the stallion who lords over her with every possible advantage.

She gets up again, vowing to at least get a lick in. At this time she showed fighting potential, in her recoveries, her attempts to close the distance, and her speed. However, his teleportation gambit, combined with his firing magic bolts at her prove too much for her at the time. Even when she closes the distance, he would get out of her grapples simply by teleporting himself. And with no prior training in magic, it proved to be her glaring disadvantage.

Each time she goes down, she gets right back up and reset herself, only to be knocked down yet again.

Kalimba tries to stand again, but the rich stallion who wagered for her halted the match. Just as he did, he walked up to the zebra and stared her down with a growing smile of dubious intent. "You would serve me well, missy. I would love to have you as my... hmm, personal maid." He leaned into the panting mare and sniffed her neck. "You're a hard worker, and a die-hard fighter at that. I wonder what else you would be skilled at." He brushes a hoof against her cheek, taking measure of all her scars and bruises. "If I gave you time to heal, you would be such a prospect. Surely a life as this is not your calling. So come with me and we'll see about giving you a better life."

Kalimba, having freed herself from a similar situation earlier that night, outright rejected the stallion's offer, turning her head away from him. But her challenger laughed as he mocked her. "Poor thing, has a horn but don't know how to use it." The guild worker then pulled one of his eyelids down while giving the mare a wicked grin from ear to ear. Kalimba takes in his gesture, his expressions, the tone of voice he has as he continues to make a mockery of her. "A cheap brood should sell it for something better."

What followed was the stinging set of words that only reminded her of what she too saw herself as at the time.

"How about a nice bed to sell yourself in? You could call it a business investment."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*** Present Day ***~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The stallion's eyes expand as the mare that stood before him disappears from view. He mouths the words to himself. "No fucking wa─" His world is suddenly turned sideways before he can finish his sentence.

He tries to recover his position, but Mrs. Kalimba is aggressive with her assault. She teleports behind him before he can ignite his horn to perform a similar maneuver, sending a magic blast to his back. He recovers and goes in for a grapple as she lays a successful strike to his chest, but she takes his contact and shifts her weight to throw off his follow-through. He stumbles forward, creating an opening where she jabs the side of his neck twice and the front of his throat once. He coughs as he loses his breath, but she remains merciless. She telekinetically straightens his posture for him, only to deliver a few more sound blows to his chin, following her seven-hit barrage with a devastating somersault to knock him into a wall. But before she lands, she casts a bolt of her magic directly to his head, knocking him completely unconscious.

He makes a strained gurgling noise as he lays seized against the wall, his legs all stiffened to hold at his chest. She walks to him and speaks down on him one last time. "I guess I've learned to use my horn after all, no need for me to sell it." She gives him a final buck to the face before walking away and kissing her teeth. "So consider this my business investment... Idjiot."

As she walks by, Sir Fencer hums with interest in the mare. "Mm... she spoken for?" He asks me.

"I don't know, but she does have a son." I answer.

Having overheard the conversation, Mrs. Kalimba answers his indirect question. "I speak for my own self, thank you very much."

As she walks away, I take notice that there is a subtle but very attractive sway of her tail, one that both he and I both take a mental note of. I've at least accepted that she's out of my league, but the imperial escort is not as sober-minded. "Hummina hummina."

The prince jokes with the stallion. "Back on your leash, Sir Fencer. No barking up trees you won't see again."

After a few turns around the way, we come back to the museum exhibit, namely the ones with the metal plates. As we make our way through, Amor asks what the exhibit is about. I try to give a brief explanation about the necroterrorist without going too into detail about it. He makes a few comments about the criminal responsible, citing that he should be beyond executed, beyond charged, and beyond expunged. While the others issue calls of agreement, I stay tight-lipped over the fact that his doctor may be the same guy who's responsible for this exhibit.

We finally get back to the surface, reintroduced into the night scene of the Corrotto District. The prince's eyes expand wildly as he's overwhelmed by the immensely bright lights and moving advertisements. It seems the technology is far beyond his comprehension, most assuredly beyond that of his home country. Even his escorting guardian is just as in awe over what they were witnessing.

Down at the bottom of the steps are a waiting party. It consists of a few guards for security, Twilight, Shining, Cadance, and Flurry. They seem to be conversing with one another before the Crystal Emperor jolts to attention, calling for me as we walk down the stairs. "Hey Spike!"

Twilight hears my name and look to me walking down the stairs. That obviously isn't good enough for her, she teleports to my side and keeps me in a constricting hug. "Ooh, you dumbass! What the hell were you thinking doing that!? Do you know how much I worried about you since I got that stupid box!?" She buries her head into me even further as she expresses her tearful relief. "Thank goodness you're okay!"

"Yeah, it's been a rough going." I say before I feel something painful stomp on my tail. "OW!"

Hearing my discomfort, Twilight lets me go and we look back to see that Flurry had teleported on top of my tail. She doesn't seem too happy to see me. "When's my birthday?"

While I'm confused by her method of greeting, I politely grab my tail from under her while giving my reply. "The actual day, April 8th. But for you, it's whatever day you want it to be."

She tackles me by my neck, giving me a hug that almost rivals that of her aunt. "That's my Uncle Spike." She also takes notice of the metal collar on my neck. "What's this for? This better not be some changeling contraption to make you look and talk like my Uncle Spike."

She seems to have a strange affixation for changelings as of late. "Did I miss something?"

"Just a changeling taking your place, nothing too serious, it's happened before." Cadance answers as though it's a simple thought. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it."

I groan at her seemingly casual response. "What is it with ponies telling me that I should get used to being abducted?"

"Who was the one to tell you that?" Twilight asks.

"Your highness!" The very answer to that question finally shows his excitement for seeing the purple princess.

Twilight on the other hoof, visibly shows her disgust. "Ugh, you."

While maintaining space out of respect, he bows before her with a sultry smile. "Oh, for my heart aches at such rejection. Have I wronged your majesty in any way?"

Twilight sees the uninvited pair of Ponyland visitors and treats them as spies. "Guards, put these two away."

"IN A ROOM, PLEASE!" I interrupt before turning to Twilight. "No dungeons. Trust me."

She rolls her eyes and motions for the guards to get on with it. They do as ordered and escort the pair away. As the foreign prince passes her by, he resists his forward movement to address her. "Your elegance." The guards seem to exhibit struggle in getting him to move forward as he gives her praise. "If I am to be sent to a dungeon of your design, I would stay devotedly within it's firm yet comforting walls. For the crime that was committed, I am guilty of trespass upon your heart."

Twilight motions the guards to move a little faster in escorting them away. The prince having said his peace moves on without further resistance. Cadance smirks as she takes interest in Amor's proposal to her sister in law. "Oh my, romantic much?"

"Hopeless romantic is more like it." Twilight grumbles.

I shake my head as I try to plead with her. "Twilight, you gotta get out of your mood about the guy. He's a decent dude. He even helped me escape."

"Spike, if you knew what he believes in, you would understand why his presence is so detesting." She answers.

I turn back around and point to the museum from where we came. "Then why don't you teach him the truth instead of keeping him at a distance? You know, make a day of it. Hint-hint."

She quickly comes up with a reason not to. "It's not like I can. Have you seen my schedule?"

She knows damn well she can clear a day for this. As does her brother, who chuckles at her reaction. "Ex-cuses."

"SHUT UP!"

After our reunion, Twilight and Mrs. Kalimba work hard to remove the collar from my neck. Once they identify the runes that keeps it sealed, they apply a counter spell to dissipate the runes and unlock the heavy chunk of metal from off of my neck. The bindings that once kept my wings bound are destroyed in turn and I'm once more free to fly and breathe fire, although that latter aspect will take some time to get back into due to the damage my throat has suffered.

With the friendship summit at an end and my time in captivity along with it, I'm at last shipped back to Ponyville, this time on winged carriage for expediency. They even drop me off directly in front of the residence, just to be sure. As the winged guards take their leave, I walk towards my home with nothing more than an overwhelming relief of being back. And though my time in the Canterlot underground was short-lived and stressful, I did have some dragon fun at the end. I guess I could go back to the Dragon Lands with a story of plundering and pillaging, you know, for the older crowd that loves that kind of stuff. I know Lord Torch would be pretty interested, and Ember would probably ask more about it. But that's thought for another time.

I unlock my door and walk into the foyer, seeing a few extra bags lined up at the side of the door. Seems like Gabby brought in a lot of her stuff. Guess she's pretty serious about this moving in thing.

Funny, I thought she said it's only for a week. "Alright Gabby, I'm back."

"SPIKE!" That's not Gabby's voice. "Spike, that better be you!" Ocellus gallops down from the third floor.

Smolder shows up, but just dives down from the third floor, treating herself as a missile aimed for my chest. She tackles me to the ground and screams in my face. "You idiot, what the hell were you thinking when you decided to marathon your sorry ass from one town to the other and back!? What's your fucking problem!?"

Finally, Gabby pops her head in from above, politely gliding down to greet me. "Spike, welcome back!"

"Glad to be back." I say as I bring my attention once more to the two unexpected guests. "Hey, what are you two doing here?" Another thing starts to add up in my head, seeing that Gabby wouldn't have this much stuff packed up by herself. "And what's with all the bags?"

"Well... you see..." Ocellus begins before staring down Smolder. "Do you want to tell him or should I?"

"Fine." The dragon continues to hold me by my shoulders, shaking me violently as she tells what happened "I got a little upset over you getting kidnapped, dragon activity ensued, our place is a charred mess, and now Starlight evicted us from the place until we can afford to pay for the repairs."

"Which is also docked from our pay!" Complains the changeling.

Smolder intensifies her shaking of me. "What part of 'I'm sorry' don't you understand!?"

Yeah, I'll admit that my shoulders aren't exactly a pantheon of strength and comfort right now. If anything her repeated shaking is making the pain worse. "If you're complaining to her, why are you shaking me?"

"BECAUSE IT'S YOUR FAULT, YOU DUMBASS! IF YOU DIDN'T GET KIDNAPPED, I WOULDN'T HAVE TORCHED THE DORM IN THE FIRST PLACE!"

I finally explain to her why shaking me is a bad idea. "You know, they hung me by my arms for the longest time, my shoulders aren't in the best shape right now. So can we please not?"

Ocellus pulls the dragoness from off of me, getting a nuzzle in while doing so. "We're just glad you're back."

"I'm glad to be back too." I reply.

Smolder quirks a brow at me. "Hey, why is your voice so raspy?"

"And deep?" Ocellus asks while her head is still on my chest.

Gabby helps me back up as she makes her own comment about the state of my voice. "Is that really a problem, lets be honest."

"That's a huge problem if you're a dragon." Smolder answers. "What did they do to you?"

"It's a long story." And there are plenty of parts I don't want to talk about right now. "Plus you ladies have work in the morning."

Gabby tries to be careful while pulling at my arm, gently guiding me towards the kitchen to talk more. "I'm always a glutton for stories, Spike. C'mon, let's sit down so you can tell me something."

Ocellus quickly intervenes, pulling at my other arm. "Uh, now who are you to just walk in and start dominating shit like you ain't the third addition to our little thing?"

"Yeah, who do you think you are!?" Smolder demands as she pushes me from my back.

Gabby tries to turn the conversation against the pair. "Last I checked, it's almost midnight. Don't you two have work in the early morning?"

"Don't you?" Both Smolder and Ocellus ask in unison.

"My job is two to three blocks down from here, yours is across town." Gabby argues in favor of herself.

"So!?" Smolder intensifies her push as she expresses her discontent. "We have every right to hear from Spike what's happened!"

"We're the ones who's the most inconvenienced by you running away from your boyfriend!" Ocellus cosigns. "If you didn't call him up begging to stay here, he wouldn't be in the shape he's in."

"Oh sure, it's my fault that Galefor's being a possessive creep that I have to get away from!" Gabby defends herself.

I know that these three are going to be at it all night, but I might as well find some reprieve before this gets out of hand. As they're about to sit me down, a thought comes across my mind that causes me to jump back up. "Hey, ladies, I'll get to the story in a bit, just... let me go put something up in the basement real quick."

Smolder snarls back at me. "It better be quick, or I'm burning your kitchen down!"

"Please don't!" I call out as I separate myself from the group.

I walk down the stairs and turn on the light to a large room filled with a number of home appliances, items like the water heater, the washer, the dryer, the heating unit for the air, and the circuit breaker. I also keep a chest full of items down here, namely valuables and other miscellaneous goods that I've obtained throughout life. Since I've managed to keep a few souvenirs from this weekend, I'm thinking that I could just dump them here.

I drop three things into the chest of collectibles, the belts that were used for my wings, the collar that they used to keep me from breathing fire, and one of the scrolls I've snatched up. I dump all of the items into the chest, not thinking much about them other than being evidence of my not-so-great weekend, I should probably see them more like trophies of my triumph over the so-called Canterlot Underground. I know I had help getting out, but watching that place burn to the ground does good to the dopamine response. It also helps to see Mrs. Kalimba beat the shit out of that one guy so effortlessly. I bet that felt pretty good for her.

I guess the main thing that still echoes in my mind is the fact that one of the guys I heard screaming in the dungeon didn't make it. They probably tortured the poor guy to death.

"Some call it spite... but I know what's right..."

...What the fuck was that?

"Hey Spike!" Smolder's voice startles the shit out of me, I nearly jump out of my scales as she calls out to me from up the stairs. "What's taking you so long?"

I look back to the chest, hearing nothing else. I take a gander inside, seeing if something has changed or if I brought in anything strange. So far, it seems nothing is showing any kind of reaction, and I'm not hearing anything else. Though that voice did sound familiar, oh well. I take a deep breath, close the chest, lock it up, and walk away.

"SPIKE, HURRY UP!" Smolder screams down the stairs.

I hurry from out of the room, stomping back up the stairs. "Wow, you three are so impatient!"