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Chapter 13: Volcano Rave

Some time later, your 'escorts' take a secret passage through the Killiseum and through a dark corridor where the sounds of barks, cheers and stomping can heard from above. The dogs finally park the cage cart, drag the four of you out and remove the rope and cuffs.

"Spirit, where's YOUR rope?"

The baby unicorn lets out a little burp.

The aggressive brute smacks you in the back with his spear and forces you down a hallway towards a gate.

"Take pony too."

"WHY ME?!" Starlight exclaims.

"Magic powerful. Entertainment. Ape strong too." the dog says, forcing her to walk down the hall alongside you.
"Not an APE!!!" you yell. "Wally, keep Spirit safe!"

The mare sits there, head down and unresponsive.

"Ah Nah!"

"Everything'll be alright, li'l bit! Actually........you take care of Wally for me, bud!"

The ceiling gets progressively louder as you both are walked to a metal gate. There, the collars loosen and fall off your necks before you're booted into the light of the packed arena. Anticipating dogs are chanting 'fresh meat' while tossing around chewed up bones all over the place. The Killiseum's floor slightly wobbles beneath your feet as all of the bridges linked to the platform retract, leaving it dangling with thick chains over a dark pit.

"What is it we're supposed to do now?" asks your pal.
"Let me try something." you walk towards the center and clear your throat.

"The winner takes aaaaaall,
It's the thrill of one more ki- OW!"

You angrily wipe the slob from the bone that collided with your forehead. "Ew, that usually works in places like this."

Everyone's cheers silences when a short, blonde coated dog in the highest stand in the stadium wielding a tall crystal scepter scurries over to a golden gong.

"Aww, he's so adorable." you coo.

"Let it BEGIN!" the deep-voiced critter barks with a swing of the scepter.

The crowd's roars of excitement returns as the metal gates clamp shut with the exception of one, where a buff, armored dog carrying a massive, jagged club emerges. Starlight frantically uses her magic to levitate herself out of the Killiseum but runs into an invisible dome and crash lands into your arms. "UGH, must be some kind of magic barrier." she groans.

"Any OTHER ideas, professor?!"

"Yes, THIS!" the unicorn blasts a beam at the barrier, which predictably bounces back and slaps the mare in the horn and out of your arms.

"Yeah, we're going with MY plan."

"W-What's that?"

"Running away like a pussy." you snatch up your pal and dash around the arena, ducking and dodging the behemoth's club.

The crowd starts booing and hissing at your act of cowardice while you're out here tripping and slipping under tossed bones. Alpha's guffawing at your retreat and starts mocking your puny size as he continues chasing you two, swinging his weapon around.

"Any MAGIC in there, pal!" you pant.

"I-I'm a bretty pallerina!" the unicorn slurs, giddly waving her hooves. That blast really did a number on her.

Suddenly, you trip over a large t-bone and hit the ground and dropping the blabbering pony, the monstrous dog catching up to you. "I don't think I can DO THIS, STAR!!!" you yelp out of breath.

"I believ-ies in you, Anonny, you are the strong-er-est." she grumbles.

You're filled to the brim with confidence and you slam your forehead HARD on the rugged floor, barely affecting it.

"You're not THAT strong-er-est, Anonny!"

"....ow." you whisper.

You duck under the dog's swing and cower to the other side of the arena with Silly Glimmy, shielding her from harm.
"I'm running out of ideas here!"

"Juuust do it yourrrrr waaaay, pally pal!"

The words 'your way' echo in your head. How WOULD you do it your way?

Confidence starting to return, you to reach by your side as the Alpha slowly approaches. "Let's dance, Muttley."

The overgrown brute watches in confusion while you twist around him doing the 'Malfunctioning Robot'. "Yeah, you're scared, aren't ya? Afraid you ain't got the moves?"

"URGH, Alpha SMASH gyrating fool!" the beast grunts.

"And Anon SERVES overgrown poodle!" you grunt back. "Kickin' it off with a little Mikey J. and little MC 'Hyewmun'. Am I over he- NOPE, over here. Now watch me bring it back with a-"

"ENOUGH!!!"

You put your years of jamming to the absolute test, break dancing circles around the annoyed dog as he struggles to squish you with his club.

Power to the puny people!
/) /) /) /) /) /)

"Impressive. The dancing ape is on FIRE out there!" says the short dog's voice blaring through speakers. "What do you say we give the newcomers here a WARM Bone City welcome and-"

"TURN. UP. THE. HEAT!!!" the audience chants.

On cue, the dark, seemingly endless pit below suddenly lights up with LAVA, which slowly rises towards the surface. The cheers become more ravenous and the situation has become more DANGEROUS. You notice that the floor's starting to feel-

"Ah!" Starlight yelps, dancing around. "That is HOT!"

Seeing the now sane mare hopping around, you get an idea.

"Maybe we can use that to our advantage!" you say as you pick the pony up by the hooves, a smile forming on her face as she catches onto your intentions. You lead her into a hot tango-like performance before the entire arena as the song continues on.

"You're pretty quick on your feet, Anon!" Glimmy giggles.

"Well, when your escaping a huge mongrel on a rickety rock platform dangling over a rising lake of LAVA, sometimes you HAVE to be quick." you shrug.

Starlight laughs in your embrace as you dip and swing past the dog's sluggish assaults. You two notice he's losing steam as he starts staggering about.

"What's the matter, Alf? Did we throw off your groove?" you holler.

Exhausted, the dog falls to his fists. "Give.....Alpha.....minute..." he gasps.

Little did the mutt know that he was exactly where you want him to be and by the smirk on Glimmy's face, she had the same idea.

"Ready, Anon?"

"BORN ready, pal."

With swift, magical strength, Starlight spins and slings you across the arena like a living projectile. You soar through the air yelling a triumphant "HAY-DOOOOOOKEN!!!" before dealing a earth-shattering swipe kick to the brute's scarred nose. Alpha howls in pain as he hits the ground harder than a fallen tree...

And creates a large crack in the corner of the ground.

As quick as a flash, you dive for your helpless opponent and grab his large paw seconds before the portion of the ground crumbles and plummets, earning another round of boos and hisses with a side order of chewed up bones.

"Why save Alpha?" Alpha grunts in confusion.
"You wanna know why? Because friendship is MAGIC!!!" you roar aloud.

Starlight cheers proudly and uses her magic to pull you both away from the cliff while the audience gags. Before things could get nastier, the tiny dog up in the stand scurries to the gong and whacks it with his staff, silencing the flabbergasted crowd.

There, a group of guards roughly drag you and your partner away.


"Did I do something wrong, Glim? I feel like I've done something wrong."

"I don't know," Starlight whispers. "but you were AWESOME out there.

"No, YOU were awesome." you chuckle, playfully shoving the mare who retaliates.

After a long walk through a damp corridor, you both are taken into a sleek, shockingly sophisticated room with soft, comfortable looking pillows, honestly skilled decor and ACTUAL clean, running water.

"Ah, there's my two main stars!"

You see the shrimpy pup from the stadium hop into a tall guard's paw and carried towards Starlight. "Apologies for the....rough welcome."

[That's an understatement.]

"A....POWERFUL lady such as yourself deserves the highest quality of........treatment." the dog pants, lightly licking the unicorn's hoof. "Call me Fang."

"S-Starlight. Starlight Glimmer." she hesitantly greets with a look of minor disgust.

"Better put some antiseptic on that before it festers." you hiss.

The slimy canine turns to you and towers over you with the large guard's support. "Oh ho, and let's not forget our BIG star......."

He's clearly waiting for an answer.

This city's ruler seems to be on the merciful side for the most part. You should just keep your cool, show some respect and make it outta here alive...

But then you stopped and thought to yourself:

YOU'RE the Lead Dog.

Arms crossed, you stomp towards the pooch who's eye-level with you.

"I am Anonymous," you state boisterously. "And if you don't let us go with your skin tone, milk bone, Google chrome, garden gnome, Sylvester Stallone, Flintstones, x and y chromosome, monochrome, friend zone, dimmadome, auto zone looking self, I will smack the shih tzu outta you!"

Judging by the pained look on Starlight's face, that might not have been your best move. Surprisingly, the pipsqueak bursts into laughter and pats you on the head. "The BAD boy type, I see." he snickers. "I LOVE it, love the attitude, that's good for the fans. Miss Glimmer, it would be a blast if I gave you a tour of my kingdom, if you wish."

"Well.....I guess it wouldn't hurt to look around a bit."

"B-But wait, you can't-"

Two spears suddenly block your path.

"Guards, escort Mr. Anonymous to our finest suite. Bring the other two down there as well." Fang dismisses with a paw.

"Suite, you say? That sounds nice right- I-I mean, LET ME GO!"

"E-Excuse me for a moment." the unicorn says, trotting up to you. "Anon, let me take this one, maybe we have potential students for the school here."

"B-But-"

"This place needs SERIOUS friendship here. I'll catch up with you later."

"This is bull dookie." you mutter, arms crossed.

But you'll manage. You can take situations like this with a grain......a HANDFUL of salt.