Bottom Of The Ladder

by GeodesicDragon

Voice Of Reason

OHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOH—

Snap out of it, Anon!

IT'S A GODDAMN DRAGON, BRAIN; WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT ME TO DO, PERFORM A MUSICAL NUMBER?!

The eyes and teeth emerge from the hole in the wall, along with the rest of the huge black dragon they belong to. It's three times as big as Octavia's place in Ponyville, and a million times more pissed than you on a Friday night, except there's no alcohol involved.

The prisoners stand rooted to the spot, quaking in terror as the dragon casts its gaze over them; the Dogs, meanwhile, take the opportunity to beat a hasty retreat.

"I am Xaroneth, He Who Rules The Skies," the dragon says. "And I have seen you, little ponies, looking upon my hoard with delight." He picks up one of the abandoned pickaxes, which looks like a mere toy in his grip, and crushes it in one giant claw. "Or, dare I say, is it actually greed which has motivated you?"

One of the prisoners, Haywick, steps forwards and swallows nervously before speaking timidly. "Please, we would never—"

"SILENCE!" Xaroneth bellows. "I know you seek to steal from me, ponies, because I awoke the moment your tools uncovered my sanctum, where I have lain for centuries. I have watched you as you came, one by one, to admire that which you coveted. For even contemplating the act of stealing from me, I am going to kill you, burn your pathetic civilisation to the ground and take its riches back here, before I return to slumber once more."

At this point, you decide you've heard enough; you step in front of Haywick, who looks like he's about to cry and/or wet himself, and fix Xaroneth with your most determined look. He seems surprised by your presence and takes a moment to study you.

"What do we have here?" he asks, slightly bemused. "I have lived in this world for many a mortal lifetime, but I have never encountered a creature such as you before. Speak, and explain yourself, lest I turn you to ash along with these ponies."

You nod. "My name is Anonymous – Anon for short – and I am a human," you reply. "My species is not native to Equestria; I came here through unknown means from another world, and made this place my home when it became apparent I could not return. I've been here for over five years now, and have learned much about the ponies you are so eager to destroy. Allow me a few minutes of your time to explain – with the greatest of respect – why you're an idiot if you think these ponies are stealing from you."

Xaroneth lets out a chuckle that resonates throughout the cavern as smoke billows from his nostrils. "I admire your boldness, human," he says. "I shall give you time, but be warned; if I don't like what you have to say, I shall introduce you to levels of pain and suffering that you couldn't imagine in your worst nightmares."

"Well then, I'd better make this quick." you take a deep breath and then start talking at Pinkie Pie levels of speed. "The ponies you see before you are slaves, taken from their homes and forced to work in this cavern by the Diamond Dogs. Their leader, Overseer Rockpaw, knew that your hoard was here, and decided to take it for himself; he ensured that the slaves found it, and then made sure you saw them. He figured that if you blamed Equestria for the theft, you'd go on to destroy it, leaving the Dogs free to steal your hoard while you were gone. Since they've made sure to not be seen, they assumed you'd blame another dragon for stealing from you and go off to look for them, leaving Rockpaw and the boys free to take over what was left of Equestria for themselves, while at the same time keeping your massive stack of phat loot."

You hear Lyra's voice from behind you. "It's true that we're slaves, but you shouldn't listen to this... bastard!" she yells. "It's his fault most of us are here to begin with; he's been helping the Dogs to acquire slaves, including his own marefriend and best friend!"

You sigh. "I admit I've done wrong," you say. "As hard as this will be for these ponies to believe, I'm actually trying to help them. My friend Octavia was taken by the Dogs, but she managed to write a note saying she'd be taken here; if I'd passed the information on to the Guard, they'd have stormed the place and a lot of ponies would have been hurt or even killed. Vinyl – the love of my life – and I came here with the intention of saving not just Octavia, but everypony who was being held here. First of all, though, we wanted to find out why exactly the Dogs had gone to the trouble of clearing out the Gorge in the first place, which is when I had the idea of pretending to be a slaver. Vinyl was against the idea, but she relented when she realised it was the only one we had; I gained the trust of the Dogs by helping them with their 'project,' and only recently learned the truth regarding you and your hoard."

Xaroneth doesn't reply at first, choosing instead to stare at you as he processes what you've just said. You just smile nervously, swallowing a huge lump in your throat as sweat begins to accumulate on your forehead. After a couple of tense minutes, the dragon lets out a hum which, given his size and the fact you're in a cavern, sounds like a thousand revving engines.

"Your words intrigue me," he says. "But I am not convinced; having never met your species before, I am not sure what to make of you. For all I know, your kind could be masterful manipulators, experts at deceiving others into believing their every word."

'Masterful?' Pfft, more like mastur—

Finish that sentence and I swear, by Discord's left nut, that I will subject you to another one of Twilight's lectures about friendship.

Shutting up, boss.

You look around desperately; this is not going well, and you're not particularly keen on having your atoms rearranged by dragon fire. As you can the ground around your feet, you see the manacles that Vinyl and Octavia have been removing from the prisoners. The girls themselves are still busy with their task, though they keep casting glances back at you to make sure you're not dead.

"You would agree that these are made to fit ponies, right?" you ask, grabbing some of the manacles and holding them up.

Xaroneth studies the manacles, then nods. "Yes," he says. "They're small, too small for Dogs, and I'd wager they're too small for you."

You drop the manacles on the ground and point at Lyra. "Right, and observe the rings the unicorns in the room are wearing; magic dampeners, correct?" You wait until the dragon nods again. "Well there you go then, surely that is proof the ponies are innocent?"

The dragon thinks for a moment, then sighs. "You make a compelling argument, Anonymous," he relents. "I should have realised that ponies – being creatures who idolise peace and harmony – would never do anything to harm others unless they were being forced to." His eyes narrow, and more smoke spews from his nostrils. "The Diamond Dogs, on the other claw, appear to be no different now than they were a thousand years ago."

"See?" you grin smugly and fold your arms. "I did say that you were an idiot." Xaroneth glares at you and your smile quickly falters. "But you're obviously not, because an idiot would have continued to argue; you have seen my point, therefore you cannot possibly be an idiot." You chuckle nervously. "Don't flame me, bro."

Xaroneth responds by blowing smoke in your face, causing you to erupt into a coughing fit. When the smoke clears, you find that you've locked eyes with Slasher, who was hiding behind one of the rock formations in the room. The fact he's baring his teeth and making throat cutting gestures at you suggests that he just heard everything you said about the fact you weren't really on his side.

"Traitor!" he yells. "I'm going to flay you alive for this!" He starts sprinting towards the pit exit. "Boss, boss! Anon just gave away our plans; he was helping the ponies all along! We've gotta kill every last one of the stinking creatures, starting with the human!"

"What?!" you hear Rockpaw shout back. "I can't believe this; I was a fool to have trusted that hairless ape!" There's a moment of silence before he shouts again. "Well? Don't just stand there, you pack of gormless idiots, get in there and kill them all!"

What follows is the sound of a small army heading in your direction; the Dogs enter the pit with malice in their eyes, spittle flying from their mouths, and their weapons held high. The prisoners begin to panic; there's only one way out, and at this moment in time, it looks like that way is in a body bag.

The Dogs let out a war cry, a blood-curdling howl that even Xaroneth momentarily shies away from, and you swallow nervously; acting purely on instinct, you proceed to grab a pickaxe from the ground, then face the approaching horde.

See? I told you that this was too easy.

Comments

[John bostock]

Can't wait for next chapter 😊