//------------------------------// // Chapter 16 - A Dazzling Escape // Story: Old Mare Luna // by Leondude //------------------------------// The dungeon Luna, Discord and Settler were laying in was a dark, damp place, with walls made of dark grey bricks and had streaks of dried blood staining them. There weren't even any steel bars or doors, just brick and mortar from top to bottom. Behind them was a small window very high up, which was the only source of light within the dungeon. It would be so simple to climb up there if it weren't for the fact that everypony's magic was disabled by the small black crystals attached to them. Having nothing better to do, Settler decided to sing a little song. Nopony knows the troubles I saw Nopony knows my sorr- But before he could finish that lyric, Discord grabbed Settler's mouth to stop him from singing. "Settler, I know the situation we're in is hopeless, but could you sing something a little less depressing? I've only just snapped out of that phase, you know." "What do you suggest?" he asked. "Something like this." Discord snapped his fingers in an attempt to summon a harmonica before realizing he was still covered in those magic-sapping crystals. So instead, he cleared his throat and inhaled while preparing for his little ditty: When I was a little draconequus and the sun was going down... Luna just groaned, for she was not in the mood for singing. In fact, she wasn't in the mood for Discord's antics, period. "Please tell he isn't..." Luna said to Settler before Discord's singing interrupted her. The darkness and the shadows, they would always make me frown... "Yep, he is," Settler replied. I'd hide under my pillow From what I thought I saw But Granny Discord said that wasn't the way To deal with fears at all She said, "Dissy, you gotta stand up tall Learn to face your fears You'll see that they can't hurt you Just laugh to make them disappear.” When Discord was singing that last note, he, Luna and Settler were quickly whisked away from the cell by some luminescent magic before being transported to separate guillotine frames placed on a tower in front of a crowd of ponies. Some of those ponies were under Grogar's control, others were just felons who enjoyed a good show. Grogar himself then walked up to the podium to address his subjects. "To those who still have their free will, allow me to show you why you should never abuse such a privilege in this time of ours. These two had the choice of joining me and they refused, while this puny pony accompanying them willingly went along with their little rebellion. For this, they have been sentenced. To death!" The crowd cheered as Grogar slowly raised his forelegs up in the air before putting them back down. Grogar then walked behind his captives and charged up a powerful spell that would instantly destroy them in a spectacular fashion. Luna, Discord and Settler closed their eyes as they prepared for the inevitable. But instead, they heard a slash. Discord quickly opened one of his eyes, with Luna and Settler slowly following suit, and noticed Grogar's throat has been slashed wide open, with one of his guards holding a bloodied spear. As Grogar lowered his head, the magic in his collar dissipated as his wound quickly healed. He then quickly used his magic to telekinetically grab the guard by the neck and choke him. And then some other "guards" quickly ran up to Luna, Discord and Settler and unlocked their restraints. As they were being freed, the so-called guards whispered into their ears. "Follow us if you want to live." Seeing no reason not to, they complied and ran. The guard Grogar was choking however quickly morphed into a dark green metamorphosed changeling with a pair of red horns and purple eyes. "Ah...Pharynx," Grogar said sinisterly, "I take it things did not go well between you and your queen." The bells on Grogar's collar glew a brighter yellow as he used his magic to break Pharynx' neck, slowly twisting his head off and crushing the decapitated body into a crumpled mess. He then dropped the head and turned towards where his captives should have been, only to find that they had escaped. Meanwhile, Luna, Discord and Settler were following the disguised ponies that saved them as they headed due west. Eventually, after a long trek, they hid away in a forest. And that's when the ponies took off their disguises and revealed themselves to Luna, Discord and Settler. One was a yellow earth pony with a poofy orange mane that had yellow streaks, another was a pinkish-purple earth pony with a dark purple mane that looked liked bananas and had green streaks in it, and the third one was a blue earth pony with her mane done in a ponytail and having dark blue streaks. The three of them had the same purple eyes. After seeing their faces, Settler can't help but ogle at the three pretty mares standing before him. "I know I'm a spoken-for stallion but helloooo nurse!" The blue one blushed and chuckled at the compliment while the pinkish-purple one just rolled her eyes. The yellow one, on the other hand, strutted seductively towards the excited stallion before making her way behind him and giving him a swift kick in the horseapples, something which made Discord wince as he immediately covered his own unmentionables with his hands and crossed his legs. Settler groaned as he knelt down, his forelegs trying to reach his unimpressive stallionhood. "Do you think I deserved that, Discord?" Settler asked. "That honestly depends on the context." "In this context?" "Maybe." The yellow one then trotted back towards her fellow earth ponies. "How many times has it been that we meet somepony who turns out to be a creep?" The pinkish-purple one asked. "I dunno," the blue one replied, "But I think he's kinda cute." "Didn't you just hear him say he's spoken for?" the yellow one asked the blue one. "Yeah...what does that mean?" the blue one replied. "It means he's married." "Oh...right..." "It's okay, darling," Settler grunted as he got back up from his debilitating injury, "Out of you three fine fillies, I think you're the cutest." The blue one blushed again as the pinkish-purple one rolled her eyes again and the yellow one did a facehoof. Meanwhile, Luna turned her head towards Discord. "Discord?" Luna whispered. "Yeah" Discord whispered back. "Did you say your friend here had marriage problems?" "Yes, and I, being the kind soul that I am, fixed them in my own special way." "I'm starting to understand why he had those problems in the first place," Luna said. "I was thinking of castrating him during one of my sessions, but I felt that was overkill." "Care to tell us something?" the yellow pony asked Luna and Discord, noticing the conversation they were having behind Settler's back. "Nothing much," Luna replied, "Just talking about the two greatest miracles in recent Equestrian history; the earth pony you assaulted still being married, and Discord being responsible for the marriage not ending yet. Now that's out of the way, would you care to introduce yourselves?" "We're the Dazzlings." "With dazzling looks like yours, I'm not surprised you'd call yourselves that," Settler quipped before laughing, which earned him another sudden decrease in his chances of having foals, courtesy of the yellow pony.