"Aaarrgghhh!" a large muscular Diamond Dog pounded against his egg-like containment cell, letting everyone know in the Airship that he was not content with being imprisoned. He was menacing and terrifying, with a literally red face and white fur that could knock anypony off their hooves. However, in his current state, he wasn't in any position to hold a threat. He continued to pace and grunt and thrash, much like an irritated animal, waiting to be set free. A mechanical voice, female, sounded above him and explained the journey he was taking as well as other accommodations. He honestly couldn't give a damn.

"Slaves 4875, 9045, and 9874, attend to Priority One," the voice broke its monotonous cycle of instructions and he saw three Ponies run past his cell with haste, "Priority One has broken sleep cycle, enforce compliance without fatality." It caught his interest for a second, but he had more important things to worry about, such as his own enslavement. He continued to hit the door with his paws, although he had a rather calmer approach, understanding that this wasn't something he could easily get out of. Another interesting event occurred, however, and the Diamond Dog noticed the containment cell across from him had opened spontaneously, a young Filly with a red mane stepping out of it cautiously at first. Wait…no, it was a Mare, indicated by her physique. He saw her immediately run over to a control panel once she knew the coast was clear. If a small thing like that could get out, surely he could! He continued to pound the door with a bit more insistence, but no use.

"Warning: temperature critical," the voice again stopped its instructions, "Structural integrity, thirty percent." The Diamond Dog looked at the Pony who ran away from the console, obviously the perpetrator of the malfunction. He looked up at the camera that peered down at him.

"Hey! Hey!" he shouted at it, understanding that now the Airship and any containment cell was a bad place to be. He looked out of the dingy cell window and saw sparks and jets of hot steam puncture through walls and pipes.

"Alert! Alert! Hull breach!" the mechanized voice only served to put more panic in the Diamond Dog.

"HEY!" he yelled again, louder, as he began using his shoulder to break down the door. Suddenly, explosions joined the sparks and steam, fire bursting out of various areas around the containment cells. The explosion behind the large Diamond Dog's cell was larger than the others and it flung his containment cell across the floor, throwing him about with it. It took him a second or two to get his bearings, but once he realized the door was no longer being enforced electronically, he merely gave it a punch and it went flying. Carefully, he climbed out and surveyed the damage the ship was taking, landing with a definitive thump. With no time to lose, he ran towards the nearest door he could find. It didn't take a genius to figure out that what the mare did was fatal and that at any moment this ship could be crash landing with everyone else in it.

"Priority One is breaching its cell, all slaves report to Priority One's cell immediately!" the voice rang out despite all the horns blaring out its inevitable death. It still had time to worry about that? He shook his head and continued to run, but halted when a slave got taken out by an explosive containment cell. The Diamond Dog couldn't waste time on contemplating how close he was to having the same fate as he ran towards the door, but another slave was on the other side.

"Prisoner loose in carriage nine, prisoner loose in-!" the slave had a similar fate to the previous one, dying in an explosion of flames and steam. The Diamond Dog recoiled from the destruction, shielding his face.

"Affirmative, slave nine-four-nine," the Diamond Dog grimaced at the voice, thoroughly hating it, "Spider-bots activating." Ah hell. There went the easy way out. As he continued to jump and run to the next door, Ponies who were still trapped in their cells were reaching out to him, their hooves waving about trying to get his attention. Continuing to ignore them, he spotted the young Mare who had started all of this. She was able to get the next door open, which certainly caught his interest. Maybe she knew a way off the ship? However, before he could reach her, the last section of the platform broke off as he landed on it, dropping him to the floor below. Still alive, he glanced back and was glad none of the other grated floors had dropped, else it would have landed him in hell-fire. The Pony had escaped to the next room, so he continued to follow her. The trail of open doors was his only hope to get off of this death trap. Once he got back up and into the next room, another series of explosions went off, the Pony running quickly to avoid them and ended up safe on the other side, beginning to work on the door again.

"Alert, hull breach, alert, hull breach!" the Diamond Dog was starting to get annoyed by the computer, but he had no time to rip off every single speaker in the slave ship. Besides, he also needed his gear, something that was vital to his survival and a precious gift from a friend long ago, so he needed all the time he had to search for it as well as finding a way off the transport. He continued to run through the doors that the Pony had opened for herself, screams and shrieks of pain coming at him from all angles. The Diamond Dog saw the Pony again, her back turned to him.

"Hey!" he caught her attention, "Where are you going? How'd you get off this thing?" The Pony ran off, terror clear in her eyes. The Diamond Dog couldn't blame her, he knew he wasn't exactly the easiest to look at, but come on! He tried to run towards her, but the platform in front of him exploded, again separating him from the Pony. Trying to reach her, he dropped down and again was pelted with sparks as the cells exploded. An odd creaking sound was the only warning he had when he turned around and saw the ship literally disintegrate, Ponies and pieces of machinery flying out while the Diamond Dog struggled to hold on. He had almost fallen out of the plane but luckily managed to grab onto a secure iron beam that was still attached to the ship. Quickly, he used his superior climbing skills to make his way back onto the ship, his heart beating a mile a minute.

"Fire in sector 6. Containment measures failed," he could still hear the ship's computer, annoyingly, "Priority One has escaped, secure Priority One!" Whatever this Priority One was, it was causing a lot of trouble now that it was up and about. He continued to scale up the ship, trying to get to more secure surroundings when the computer again spoke.

"A-graded prisoners report to escape pods," it said and he smirked, "Slaves rated B and below, await further commands. Priority One's safety has been secured."

"Escape pods? Now you're talking," he began racing towards the escape pods, no doubt where the Pony was going, so he again followed her. Suddenly, as he approached two disoriented slaves, a Sentry came out and instantly began firing at them, killing the slaves and narrowly missing the Diamond Dog. He dived to cover and waited until the Sentry stopped shooting.

"I can't fight this thing…I gotta get my weapons back!" he reasoned and began scaling the walls, outside of the Sentry's visual range. He got up to the next floor to avoid it and found a sane and calm slave trying to manage a console, most likely to try and save himself and the ship, despite the futility of it. The large Diamond Dog ran to the slave and grabbed him.

"Where's my stuff?" he asked when he pushed the slave against the console.

"What?" he asked, the slave sounding like a young Colt, probably younger than him.

"The stuff! Where's my gear? The stuff you took away from me!" he demanded, the slave's face covered so he didn't know what expression he was making, but he was sure he was terrified.

"I can't talk to you, it's against the rules," he replied scared, but the Diamond Dog punched the console behind the slave, leaving a very convincing and persuading mark, "Item storage, in the lower hull." However, once the slave had spoken, the computer turned on him.

"Slave 6B58 is assisting escaping prisoner," more alarms sounded around them, "Level 1 infraction. Command: terminate slave 6B58." Immediately, the slave's hooves went to his neck, a glowing red light appearing on his slave collar. He cried out in pain as the collar began to generate power and in a single flash fried the slave.

"Termination complete," the Diamond Dog could only stare at the dead body, confirming what the computer had said. Again, he had no time to waste on his actions and the death of the young man as he began sliding down a pipe to the item storage.

"Escape pod eight launched. Seven pods remaining," the Diamond Dog knew that there was little time to lose and ran to the crates, recognizing his vehicle. However, it was pretty locked up in that crate and again, escaping the dying ship was the prime objective.

"My ride! At least I can get my gear back," he reached inside and managed to knock the storage compartment, accessing his gloves and a few choice items. A mechanical voice whirred when he knocked the heavy gloves together.

"Shields active," he grinned, now protected somewhat against the Spider's bullets. The Diamond Dog whipped out a small circular device and tried to open it.

"Stratus inactive," the voice answered to his actions and he grimaced.

"Damn!" the Diamond Dog still slipped it in his vest, now reaching for a small baton-like item. However, when he flicked his wrist, it extended into a formidable staff-like weapon. It shrunk back on his command and he stuck it on his right arm, a slot made just for it. He felt satisfied with his find and concluded that, although it didn't sit right with him, to leave his bike.

"Okay…let's deal with that Sentry," he was breathing heavily, relieved that he had at least found the essential tools to his survival. He clambered back up and advanced on the Bot.

"Here we go, come on!" he ran towards it, avoiding some of the bullets by ducking behind machinery, but when he was close enough, he continued with abandon, his shields taking most of the damage. He whipped out his staff and began beating it when it ran out of bullets, destroying the Sentry easily with a few hits. However, once he got to the next room, he began to sweat a little.

"Spider-bots!" he surveyed the vast amount of Robots that were hanging from the ceilings," At least they're not active." He walked calmly and slowly, to make sure that they wouldn't take notice of him. However, it was for naught when they began to drop from the ceiling when he reached the middle platform.

"Activating Spider-bots," this computer was really getting on his nerves. This time, a melee-type Bot faced him and he whipped out his staff to deal with it.

"C'mon!" he yelled, charging it and again winning, fighting one more after, "That all you got?" Of course, his mouth always did happen to get him into trouble and this time two came at him at the same time.

"Aah, shit…" he proceeded to battle them with a little more difficulty, sliding under one and jamming his staff through its body while eliminating the other with a ferocious lunge at its head.

"Escape pod seven launched. Six pods remaining," the voice reminded him in a cruel, taunting manner.

"Crud! Six? Better get a move on!" he ran towards the door, again open probably due to the Pony earlier. However, he encountered another Spider-bot hangar bay.

"Oh no, you've gotta be kidding me!" he groaned, proceeding to run towards them and jumping up, swinging his staff with enough force to extend it even farther. It knocked both the Spider-bots into a vulnerable state and he smashed through them. Another Spider-bot dropped down from the ceiling and he growled, charging the staff with blue plasma energy before releasing it on the Bot and stunning it. The Diamond Dog didn't have time to waste with the Bots, but they just didn't stop, so he beat that Bot viciously until he swung the staff through the midsection of the entire Bot. As soon as that was done, he raced for the door before anymore could drop down and saw the Pony again, closing the red door behind her this time. He slammed his paw on the door hard to get her attention, to which she turned back and stared.

"Hey! Hey! Open the door!" he yelled, but she continued to stare, "OPEN THE DOOR!" The Pony began to walk backwards away from him and he bared his teeth.

"You mother-" the rest of his words were drowned out in the noise of the aircraft and the alarms from the Pony's side, but it was clear he wasn't happy with her abandoning him to his fate. He continued to pound the door, but to no avail, she left.

"Oh great. Now what?" he muttered. Calming down, he looked up and around, finding that there were scalable surfaces that he could work with. The ship was getting closer and closer to land when he looked down, and there were explosions near the front of it as well. He couldn't afford to cuss or rant and ran up the sides of the section of ship and the wings to get to the next carriage. However, Spider-bots again appeared much to his exasperation.

"Not here!" he nearly screamed, getting tired of all this bull. He proceeded to fight his way across the wings and finally made it to the front carriage of the ship. However, just as he reached a certain wing, the wing in front of him slammed into something, and as he looked back on it, noticed it was a giant statue that held what was once a flame of some sorts, a crown fashioned on her head and holding a book. They were getting too close to the ground now, so it was inevitable that they would have hit something by now.

"We're gonna crash," reiterating his thoughts, "I gotta get to one of those pods!" He quickly turned his attention back to jumping to the next wing and noticed that the escape pods were nearly in his reach, but another one launched.

"Escape pod four launched. Three pods remaining," that damn computer kept reminding him very irritatingly of his dwindling chances of surviving this. He reached a door panel that was structurally weak under all the damage the Airship had taken and began prying it off, but when he did so, the wind carried the panel into one of the ship's engines.

"Oh no," he managed to utter before the engine was blown to hell and the ship, now with only one engine supporting it, turned sideways. Now, he was hanging off the wing with most of it beginning to fly apart with help from the large Diamond Dog. The wing in front of him hit what looked to be like a large rectangular mountain and it flew apart.

"Holy Buck!" the Diamond Dog saw another strange mountain and knew that if he hit it, there was little doubt he would die, "C'mon, c'mon!" So, without further ado, he climbed up the wing quickly, just enough so that when the wing did hit it, he wasn't on the section that was strewn across the rectangular mountain. Without that immediate threat, he continued to make his way to the escape pods, and saw another eject, his heart dropping when he heard the computer announce that it was the second one, meaning only one was left.

"Only one remaining? Ohhh crud!" he continued to climb faster and faster, his life depending on it, "Come on! Come on you mutt!" The Diamond Dog almost lost his grip on the next pipe but held on, grimacing again when a blast of fire streamed against him.

"Move it! Come on!" he told himself, but the computer heightened his panic.

"Warning! Impact in 20 seconds," he yelled in frustration at the damn thing, but kept his focus on getting to that last escape pod, "Warning! Impact in 10 seconds!" Finally, he gripped a small bar that was on the escape pod and sighed with relief somewhat, but when he moved to open it, he found that the young Mare was inside. They were both surprised to see each other, but after shouting at her and threatening her, she didn't really feel any sympathy or compassion as her hoof hovered over the eject button.

"No! No don't do that!" he yelled at her from outside, seeing that the position he was in, despite being on an escape pod, was definitely almost equal to staying on the ship, "NOOOOO!" The escape pod ejected and rocketed them off the ship with speed that had him actually plastered to the pod. The ship crash-landed as expected, but he couldn't tell where since he was more worried about dying on the escape pod. They continued to rocket around the once-vibrant city of Manehattan until the pod hit a stone arch. It separated the Diamond Dog from the pod and the Mare finally and flung him through a window, slamming the Diamond Dog against a fallen stone pillar. He stayed awake for a moment, watching debris and leaves flutter around the disturbance he caused. After everything he survived, he knew that laying here would leave him vulnerable, but he could feel the darkness creeping into his mind and allowed it to take over, his vision going black and his head lolling to the side as he fell unconscious. He may have escaped, but he would soon discover that he was far from being free…

Meanwhile, on the Ship

"Pri-priority One…" the computer's voice crackled on the broken console and a figure stirred next to it, in a giant bubble-like containment cell, "Ch-checking vitalssss…" A blue light scanned the figure in the cell and they cracked an eye open, showing that where white would have been there was black, with yellow pupils.

"Priority O-o-one stable," the computer managed to screech out, the figure awakening completely and sitting up in their prison, "S-s-sending distressss beacon." A small light started blinking on the cell, the figure staring up at it. With that, the computer completely turned off and the one last prisoner left alive on the Airship was left alone. That shadowy figure stood up and looked at their cell before flexing slightly, eyes staring up at the beacon in slight disappointment. Even if it was destroyed, the signal would have been sent already, so it didn't do any good to waste energy on the annoying device. The best thing to do would be to escape the cell and escape, thus leading to the recovery Bots finding nothing but an empty wreck that smelled of death and destruction. While trying to figure a way out of the cell, the figure's eyes spied a certain crate that contained a surprisingly undamaged small aircraft. It was familiar and the figure's mouth opened slightly in wonder, but closed a few seconds later in a small smile.

"So…he was here with me…the entire time," the figure sat down in a meditative pose and closed their eyes, "I'll be waiting then…Whitefang…"