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// Please Let Those Be Animal Bones 
// Story: Dead Man's Luck 
// by kurapica 
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 After they took our armor and weapons we were marched into the caves and through several dimly lit tunnels to a large makeshift cell that was just a large hole in the rocks and dirt with a single iron bar door to get in and out . When we got there my nose was assaulted to one of the most horrible things I've ever smelled and could immediately tell how bad the conditions of the prisoners was. One of the diamond dog guards opened the door and threw us in.

"You wont be needing to worry about the filth just yet, after we get the pack and slaves together it's the whip for you two." the guard said as he walked off.

There were well over thirty ponies in the cell; all of different races and genders, I noticed that the unicorns had their horns broken to prevent them from using magic, and while the pegasi didn't have any injuries on their wings aside from those inflicted by the guards, they did have  heavy chains on their legs to prevent them from flying should they get out of the caves.

"Does anyone know how many ponies are still alive here? I mean every pony that's being kept as slaves." I shouted

"What does it matter? There's no way we can escape; anyone who tries is either whipped publicly tortured." one of the other prisoners, an earth pony asked.

"It matters because we came here to rescue you." Howling Wind interrupted. 

"We killed over fifty of them including two that looked like they were captains of these dogs, one of them wore half plate armor and was wielding an axe and a shield." I added. "We only surrendered because they captured the rest of our group." 

"If that's true, then you're probably going to receive a much harsher punishment." said a blue Pegasus  whose fur was covered with dirt and scars all along his back from several whippings. "Those were the chieftain's sons."

"Well if that's the case then we'd better find a way to escape." Howling Wind said. 

"Hey, if their going to gather all the slaves and dogs in one place; that might be a good time to count how many ponies they've captured and also how many dogs we might need to fight." I said in realization of how good this opportunity was.

"Good idea, I'll count the mutts, you count how many slaves their keeping." he replied.

I nodded in agreement and began to wander around the cell trying to find anything useful and took note of how high the ceiling was. All I found were a few rats and a couple alcoves in the rock that were up relatively high up so I climbed up to see what was in them. They were about three feet wide, four feet tall and about six feet deep; the only things I found in them were a few rocks and some scattered bones from a decent sized creature which I hoped were just some kind of animal.

Just as I finished climbing down a group of nine diamond dogs came in and grabbed me and Howling Wind and told the other ponies to follow. They dragged us to a huge cavern that was much brighter than the other sections due to all the torches set up. As they did; I did my best to count the slaves. I had counted 56 which included members from each of the pony's races and even children by the time the diamond dogs had shackled us to one of the walls but knew there were at least 6 more.

"Normally we'd just torture you to death for killing some of my soldiers, but that would be a waste; instead I'm being lenient and only having you whipped." the diamond dog's chief said in a slightly amused tone. "Twenty lashes for each of them, and another ten for my sons."

The first of the lashes was more of a shock than painful. The second however was far more painful and felt like a combination of a cut and a slap going across my back. By the tenth lash there were several spots on my back where I could feel that the skin had been split and cut. By the fifteenth I began to focus less on the pain and more on what I was going to do the diamond dogs once I managed to escape. By the time they had whipped me twenty times I had already begun to form a plan.

'We have an army here and they just don't know it; all we have to do is arm it. With how many of them we killed there couldn't be more than 150 of them and I'm sure that at least a third of them aren't fighters. Once we manage to get some weapons we should be able to get out.'

I hadn't realized I was chuckling until I heard the voice of  the dog who was whipping me "What's so funny? Losing your mind to the pain?"

"No, I'm just thinking of what I'm going to do to you once I get free." I replied with a smile; which caused the diamond dog to whip me harder.

By the time they were finished, I could barely stand and couldn't think straight so I didn't resist when they dragged us back to our cell. I must of fallen unconscious or asleep, because the next thing I remembered was the sound of a diamond dog ordering us out to mine for gems and to develop new tunnels.

Every move I made caused a great deal of pain as they led us through the tunnels again to a different area of the caves and gave us different tools with most of them being in poor condition; one of the pickaxes didn't even have a handle and was just the metal head; that was the tool they gave me. I just used it without a word and did my best to just ignore the pain. After about an hour of mining I found a small chunk of emeralds which wasn't even out of the wall for a minute before it was taken by the dogs and replaced by a loaf of stale bread.

I was very confused until one of the other slaves next to me explained; "They reward those of us who find any gemstones to try to get us to work harder, but any gems not turned over when they ask are rewarded with a beating."

"An effective tactic, it makes you want to find gems but makes you eager to give them up so you don't get hurt." I said with a slight chuckle. 

Every few hours they would move us from one area to the caves to another more dirt filled area, and then back to a rocky area; probably to use the fresh and rested to break up the rocks and then have the exhausted ones to dig up the dirt. At some point they gathered us into one big room with four entrances which was made into a makeshift cafeteria; there weren't any guards on the inside of the room so I guessed that we were free to move around the room so long as we didn't leave. In the middle of the room was a female earth pony standing next to a large pot with some bowls next to it that the ponies were lining up to get food from.

"What's in the pot?" I asked once it was my turn to get a bowl.

"Pretty much the scraps of food the diamond dogs don't want and anything else they don't want; meaning mostly bones, half-eaten meat, and the occasional vegetable or fruit. It's not much, but it's better than starving." the cook answered.

After I got my food I sat down took a third of my bread and began eating; the soup wasn't that bad, all things considered, it was basically a bowl of chicken soup with less meat and only one or two bits of vegetable;the bread was a bit dirty and mostly stale but it still tasted good. After I was done eating I broke the other two thirds into pieces and gave them to the children who were in the room as well.

I wandered the area for a couple minutes until I found Howling Wind who had already gathered the others. "There you are; so did you find out how many ponies their holding captive?" He asked.

"I don't have an exact number, but its between 56 and 70." I replied. "How many dogs are there?"

"One hundred thirty seven, and sixty of them aren't even fighters, which leaves us with 77 that we might have to fight."

"Hmm, with those odds we only need to arm ourselves and we'd be able to escape; there'd obviously be a few casualties, but it's the only way I can think of to get out. Now all we need is a map of these caves and to convince the other prisoners to help us." I thought out loud. "But we still need a way to find or make a map without the guards knowing.

"And how do you suppose we are to do that?" Defiant Mind asked with an annoyed but curious tone.

"Actually, I saw a ledge about ten feet up right next to the cell door; the wall's completely flat up there so we could just use a stone and use the wall for our map." Scarlet Arrow interrupted.

"There we go; so from now on every day when we get back to the main cell we're to use a rock to make the map. By the way, in the next few days I should be able to get each of us a shiv; I found some bones in one of those holes high up in the cell." I said quietly.

"Right, just remember: we're only drawing a map and trying to get the other prisoners to go along with this; don't do anything that's too risky, we don't want to get caught." Howling Wind said as we started to move away from each other to avoid the guard's attention.

After a few more minutes had passed the guards told us to each go to one of the entrances to the room and separate into two groups each; after that they led us through some more tunnels and had us work for another few hours before sending us back to the main cell. As soon as I was back in the cell I climbed the side of the cell again and got up to the hole where I found those bones. 


Once I was safely inside the alcove I began to break the bones until I had seven 5 inch pieces with slightly jagged edges. I then began to use some of the rocks to help make the edges smooth and within a couple hours of nonstop filing I had made two of the blades and used some of the tattered remains from my tunic and undershirt to make a grip for them so they wouldn't slip when held. After I was done wrapping the shivs I lined the other bone shards I was using in between them and climbed down to get some rest.

When I woke up it was time for us to do some more digging so I did by best to memorize the path we took. The group I was in was led down a path that went diagonally from the cells and then took a right; we then took a left to get to the area where we were supposed to dig, but not before seeing the armory to my right.

While I was mining I noticed that the guards would leave us relatively unattended  for about fifteen minutes before checking to see if there were any gems to take and occasionally beating one of us to make sure we were working. After the guards left this time I went over to a group of three prisoners; two earth ponies and a unicorn.

"Hey, before the guard gets back." I said quietly. "Me and the others who were captured two days ago are thinking of a way to get everyone out of here; but we're going to need all of us to make it happen."

"And how do you expect to win? They have over a hundred soldiers." the unicorn asked in disbelief

"I can't tell you details yet because we haven't finished the plan, but I will tell you this; with how many of them me and my friends killed there's now exactly 77 soldiers left. Now, I don't know the exact number, but we have at least sixty ponies in these caves." I replied.

"Ok, we have the numbers, but that still leaves the question of how do we escape without any weapons." one of the earth ponies asked.

"I thought it was obvious, we just need to break into the armory and take some weapons." I answered with a smile.

"I'm in." the earth pony who was silent until now said.

"Same here." replied the other.

"I'm not getting involved for now; I don't want to end up with my head, or my whole body on a spear; though I won't tell anyone about your plans." the unicorn said

"That's all I ask; now let's get back to work before the guard returns." I replied as I grabbed my pickaxe up and began working again. By the time the guard returned we were back to work and he was none the wiser.

While I was mining I found a particularly hard spot in the rock so I began to put some extra effort into my strikes. after a few more hits I found out what it was. At first I thought it was a chunk of ruby, but after a couple more hits I saw that it was indeed a ruby, but it also had swirls of sapphire in it, and the whole gem was the size of my fist. By the time I had removed the whole raw gem from the rock it was almost time for the guard to return so I decided to go to him to save time.

"Stop! What you think you doing?" the diamond dog demanded, probably thinking I was trying to escape.

"I just thought you'd want to have this." I said as I held up the gem. The diamond dog reached into its pack and pulled out an apple.

"Oh no, I'm gonna need something a bit more substantial." I said as I noticed a familiar dagger on the guards belt. "Give me that dagger and key and you've got the gem."

"But...Slaves not allowed to have weapons and this is weapon place key." the guard said, honestly thinking the deal over.

"You don't have to tell anyone, I'd hide them so none of the ponies or diamond dogs could see them; and you could bring the gem to the chief saying one of the ponies didn't notice it so you brought it to him." I replied holding my open hand and the hand with the gem out to the dog.

"Here, but if I gets in trouble, I going to kill you" he said as he took the gem and gave me my dagger and the armory key.

"Now, I'm going to get back to work so we don't get in trouble." I said as I made my way back to the mining tunnels.

We continued working for about another two hours before we were sent to the meal room but this time I didn't have any bread so I had to turn the foals who asked away. After we were done eating we were sent back to our cell and left for the night. After the guards had left to the end of the path to stand guard; the others and I then began to work on the map.

"Alright, so let's get to work; I think it would be best if there's as little guesswork as possible, so let's only put down the paths we are sure of, agreed?" Howling Wind asked, to which we all nodded.

By the time it was my turn we had a general outline of the caves. "Alright, Aeren did you find any paths we should know about?" he asked me.

"No, but I did manage to find something better; take a look at these." I replied as I took out the key and dagger.

"Is that what I think it is?" Cobalt Lance asked in disbelief.

"If you think it's the key to the armory; then yes." I said in a joking tone. 

"Alright, so now all we need to do now is add more details to our map and get the other ponies to work with us. Aeren, how are you doing on those shivs?" Howling Wind asked.

"I've made two so far but I should be able to finish the rest before tomorrow." I answered.

"Good, then I'll leave you to it." he said as we walked away and I went up to the alcove to continue with the shivs an hide the key. This time it only took me about half an hour to make a shiv and within two hours I had finished the rest of them so I climbed down and gave them to the others. The next morning, things went relatively the same, but this time we began focusing on the finer details of the cave. When we were sent to the food room we found the diamond dog's chieftain waiting for us.

"Ah good, you've arrived. I would like to personally thank you for all the hard work you've done. Without you, I'd never have gotten this beautiful gem." He said as he held up the gem I found the other day.


"As a way to show you my thanks I've instructed the guards to only make you work half as long tomorrow." The chief said in a loud voice that echoed through the room.

Me and the others added a good deal to our little map that night. Now, instead of an outline we had added the armory, the meal room, seveal of the tunnels, and the dog houses as I called the area where the non-soldier dogs lived. The next day we finished the map by finding the exits, the guard houses, and the chief's room so we decided to gather our support.

We began by  simply trying to convince the ponies in the groups we were separated in; which wasn't that difficult as many of them were sick of these caves and wanted to see their families again. Within three days we had over forty of the prisoners on our side so after the guards had left and fallen asleep we decided it was the best time to make our move.

"Alright, by now most of you know about what we're planning, but for those who have not then you'd best listen now." Howling Wind said in a voice loud enough for all the prisoners to hear. "Tomorrow we are going to escape and bring you ponies home. I know not all of you live in Mountainview, but that is where we'll be headed should we succeed. For those of you who think we don't have enough ponies to escape: there are now only 77 of them and 67 of us. If you think we can't win because we don't have weapons; then your right, but we do have a way to get a weapon for each of us." 

"Aeren, you take it from here." he said as he motioned to me.

"Like Howling Wind said, We're planning to escape and have a way to get weapons; what we intend to do is  raid the armory and take weapons for each of us to fight with. A few days ago the diamond dog chieftain, had us work only half a day because of his new gem; I found that gem while mining and managed to trade it for a dagger and the key to the armory. our plan is ambush the guards when they come to take us away and take the keys to unlock the pegasi's shackles; after that were going to raid the armory and fight our way to freedom." I said doing my best to inspire the ponies who hadn't decided to help us yet.

"When the guards get here we're going to ambush them; there's a ledge over by the door where we've been making a map. We're going to have Aeren and a few others hide up there and wait for the dogs to come into the cell to take us away; that's when they'll jump down and get the dogs from behind. After we've taken them out we make for the armory, after we've armed ourselves we're going to take a less direct route to get out through the food room to avoid fighting as much as possible." Howling Wind explained. "I don't care if you don't think we can make it, but if you want to get out of here and see your loved ones again; then this is our best chance."

As soon as he was finished speaking there was a chorus of cheers that I thought for sure would have waken the guards.

"Good, now get some rest; tomorrow you're going to need it." he said as Cobalt Lance, Silver Stronghold, Defiant Mind, myself and two other prisoners got up on the ledge and given the shivs and my dagger.