When I wake up I find myself laying on a table, my wrist and ankles locked in place. My shirt has been removed and my weapons are missing, but everything else of mine is still on me. A bright light is shining above me, forcing me to look to my side. The rest of the room is too dark to make anything out, but I can hear someone moving around.

"MMM...mm?" I try to call out to them, but I can't open my mouth. I try to break free, but the clasps are too strong for me to break. I try to reach my magic, but since my arms are tied down, I can only manage to bring the flames up.

"Heh heh heh, you're awake, good. I like my test subjects to be awake." Says a male voice in the dark. I see the light move to my left side, forcing me to look away from it. "Now, do try and hold still, I wouldn't want to ruin such a fine specimen." The voice says as I feel something start to cut my side open. I try to yank myself away as I moan out in pain. "Now, now. Try and relax..."

"MMMM! MMMM MMM!" I try to shout out as I flare my hands.

"You will find that using magic will...oh. Now that is peculiar." He says as I force the lines to grow. I push it past my potestatum anulumns, trying to cover my entire body in the lines. I push myself until I'm completely covered in the lines, burning my clothes of and making my armor shine brightly. I hear a door open and shut as I sit there, maxed out and waiting for whatever's going to happen next to come. I hear the door open again, followed by the sound of chains being dragged on the ground...

I wake up in the office with an odd head ache. The last thing I remember was the dragon crashing through the window and throwing this green powder at me and Big Mac. I look over to see Big Mac starting to get up, picking up his sword. I get to my hooves, re-sheath my sword and walk around the table, looking for Miles.

"STORM!" I look over to see Twilight running up to me. I catch her in a hug and hold her tightly.

"Are you two alright? You've been out fer almost an hour now." Applejack says as she lets go of Big Mac.

"Eeyup."

"Yeah, I'm good. Where's Miles?" I ask as I let go of Twilight.

"The dragon took him after he knocked him out. We watched from the stairs.... I'm sorry. I wish we could have done something, but without my magic..."

"Hey, you did what you could. Even with your magic I wouldn't want you fighting dragons, that's my job." I say to her, nuzzling her cheek a bit as she looks away. "We need to link up with the Princesses and try to find Miles." I say to Big Mac as I start to trot down the stairs.

"Eeyup." He says as he follows after me, with Twi' and Applejack bringing up the rear. We walk to the front door but stop when it swings open before us.

"Oh.... hey Luna." I say weakly as Luna looks around the room.

"Greetings Storm... where's Miles?"

"Yeah... about that..."

"What happened?" She asks as she starts to look worried.

"Uh... he's been... captured... LUNA, WAIT UP!" As soon as I said captured she turned around and took off into the air. I jumped into the air and chased after her, gaining on her slowly. "PRINCESS LUNA! WAIT!" I yell out to her, getting her to stop and hover in place.

"Wait? Miles is in trouble and you want to wait."

"Yes. We don't know where they took Miles or if it's even the same group that took the other ponies. All we know is that the red and yellow dragon from before is the one who did it. We also know that he has some kind of sleeping powder in his arsenal. We also know... that they know that you love him..."

"How would they know that?" Luna asks with a new look of concern.

"The griffin we were interrogating mentioned to Miles something about getting the mare he loved killed... I really think you should sit this one out..."

"I will do no such thing! I..."

"LUNA! Think straight for a second! They planned for Miles to try and reach into his mind! They probably have something planned for your arrival as well." I yell at her, getting her to look away and think about what I said. "We can handle this... but for your safety, please step aside... if you got hurt, it would devastate Miles..."

"And you think that feeling doesn't go both ways? I want him back, and I want to find those responsible for this and make them pay..."

"And they will. But let’s not do anything irrational right now. Look, let’s just meet up with Celestia and see what she has to say." She thinks about what I said for a moment before she nods and starts to fly away, shedding a single tear as she does so. I sigh and follow after her, hopefully we can get this sorted out quickly. I fly over Twilight and the others and motion for them to follow after me, getting a wave in response. We follow Luna towards a massive pile of metal in the shopping district, finding Celestia at the far end of it. Luna lands on the close end and starts to try to hide the fact that she was crying. "Sorry for yelling at you Luna..."

"It's alright, just... just give me a minute OK." She says as she wipes her face clean and takes a few deep breaths. I look over and see Twilight and the others approaching us, so I motion for them to go to the other side. Big Mac and Applejack listen, but Twilight continues to trot towards me.

"Uh... Twilight. Could you-"

"How are you holding up Luna?" She asks as she walks up to her.

"I'll be better once we get Miles back."

"Don't worry, we'll get him back-"

"I know we will, I won't let them keep him. I'm just worried about the condition we'll get him back in."

"AAAAAHHHHH!" I scream as the hooked chains slam against my chest. The three chains end in metal hooks that dig deep into my chest. The unknown person yanks back on the chains, cutting me open but not pulling out the hooks. He gives a couple more pulls on it before he yanks it out, tearing three strips of flesh out along with it. I scream out again as I feel blood start to pour out from the wounds. As I try to yank myself free from the now glowing metal clasps. I start to get light headed from blood loss and fatigue. The more I pull, the more I start to fade out.

"Oh now don't pass out just yet Miles. We only just started." Says the unknown person.

"Go fuck yourself." I say from bloody lips. When I had screamed out I had pulled the skin off my lips and now have a steady stream of blood pouring into my mouth. I rolled my head to the side in an attempt to keep the blood from drowning me, but the unknown person had tied my head back, so I'm always looking up.

USE US.
USE US.

I can't...

USE US.
USE US.

I want to... I can't...

"So Miles, shall we continue or are you still going to fight me?" Asks the unknown person as he jingles the chain around.

"Go... go... go fuck... yourself..."

"That's unfortunate." He says before he slams the other end of the chain onto my chest. I hold my breath and try not to scream out again, focusing all my energy on staying awake and at this power level. He slams the hooked part into my legs next, piercing my right thigh and knee and my left thigh. I grunt and moan in pain but don't allow myself to scream. "What? No more screams? Don't worry, we'll find them..." He gives one, hard, yank on the chain; tearing strips of flesh from my legs. Again, I moan, but do not scream. I hear him bring the chains back to strike again, but stops when there's a knock at the door. "What now." He says as he walks over and opens the door. As he talks to someone outside I try to pull free again. The metal is hot enough now that it's starting to give when I pull, but not enough yet to let me break free.

USE US.
USE US.

I WANT TO! I WANT TO ESCAPE! I WANT TO RIP THAT FUCKERS HEAD OFF AND MAKE HIM SUFFER!

"Good news Miles. The torture will have to end now, but I look forward to the next time we get to play our little game." The unknown person says as he waves something in front of my face... I think I smell chloroform.

When Luna finally collects herself enough to walk around and meet up with Celestia on the other side of the pile of metal. Celestia's talking with a few guards and Shining Armor. I walk beside Big Mac and Applejack and wait for Celestia to finish up with them. Luna walks up beside Celestia and listens to the conversation, putting on a serious face as the guard’s salute and run off into town. The three of them walk up to us, making Twilight and Applejack bow.

"Where is Miles?" Celestia asks. I glance over and see Luna take a deep breath but keep her serious face about herself.

"Miles was captured by a dragon. Big Mac and I were knocked unconscious, so we weren't able to go after him."

"Why would they want Miles?" Shining asks. Before anypony could say anything, we hear the ground behind me start to shake, getting me to stand up and pull out my sword. From out of the ground comes a single dog, waving a white flag.

"Don't hurt me, I have a message for the large pony regarding the almost dog." He says as he steps out of the ground.

"I take it..." Celestia starts to say but stops when I step in front of her.

"If you have anything regarding Miles, you tell it to me. The Equestrians have no business dealing with Terradisian dealings." I say as I step towards the dog. The dog looks between the two of us in confusion before he takes a step back.

"Uh... its only for the-"

"You have five seconds to tell me what it is or I take your head off-"

"Uh..."

"One…"

"But I..."

"Two..."

"Alpha says..."

"Three..."

"Alright! Alpha says that he will trade the not dog for the blue large pony and if you say no, we'll kill him." He says as he steps closer to his tunnel. I whip my sword around and send a gust of wind at him, knocking over the hole and onto his back. I fly over to the dog and stab him in the gut, getting a high-pitched whine from him.

"Go to hell and tell your alpha NO." I say as I twist my sword in his gut, making him whine some more. I pull my blade out and walk towards the hole, looking at all of the shocked looks from everypony. "Big Mac..."

"Eeyup." He says before he jumps into the hole.

I look to Twilight for a second before I say "We'll be back, with Miles." I jump up and fall into the hole, falling down a bit before I hit the bottom. I look over to Big Mac before we both start to run down the tunnel, stopping when we hear something drop behind us. "Luna!? What are you doing down here?" I ask as she walks up to us.

"Thinking ahead. If I come along they won't try to fight you. They also won't kill Miles before you get to him. Now put your swords away and escort us to Miles."

"Us?" I ask as Shining and Celestia land behind her. "Fine, just follow my lead alright." I say as I sheath my sword and lead the way down the tunnel, keeping Luna between Big Mac and myself. I don't like having her here with us... but she has a good point. We walk down the path for a while until we get stopped by a patrol. We tell them we're here for the trade and follow them to the trading destination. Along the way we get another patrol to follow after us, making eight dogs in total. We go through the maze of tunnels until we come to a dead end, where the guards turn to us.

"Okay, only two can come with the blue one."

"Alright, Big Mac and I will-"

"You two will not do this without me. Storm and I will be the ones to handle the trade. Everypony else will stay back here." Celestia says as she walks up to Luna.

"Okay, the grey one and the white one can go, the rest of you will wait here." The dog says as the other dogs dig a hole in the wall, revealing a large room. We walk in and stop almost immediately when something behind us makes the ground shake. I look back to see two dragons guarding the back of the room. The one on the right is the same shade of blue as Luna while the other one is multi colored; being black with a silver under tone body while his wings and spikes are metallic blue and transition to metallic green. They're both adolescents, but are easily taller than Celestia by at least a foot. They each have a weird sword spear weapon in their claws.

"So glad you made it, I don't think the human would have made it much longer." I turn back to see the red and yellow dragon walking towards us, carrying Miles on his shoulder. He stops and drops Miles to the ground, getting soft moans from him as he rolls over and reveals the large, bloody, wounds on his chest and legs. "So we doing this trade or not?" The dragon asks with a smug smile on his face. I look down to see Miles flare his magic and yank his hands back and forth, slowly breaking the chains off of his wrist and legs. We need to stall them.

"What is the meaning of this!" I say before anypony could say anything. "You've nearly killed him! And you want us to give you Luna, unharmed?" I say as I look back to the two of them and wink. They still give me looks of astonishment as I look back to the dragon.

"If you want to beat her up first, then go ahead." He says as Miles removes the braces on his legs and works on the ones on his wrist. He needs a little more time...

"I think you should heal Miles up first, then we trade."

"No. Either hand over the blue pony or I toast him."

"Have you met Miles before... well I know you have..." I say as I point at his missing wing. "Fire isn't really a problem for him."

"Then let’s test-"

"PATI ET MORI!" Miles yells as he throws off the chains and pushes his arms up, sending two columns of earth and pinning the dragon against the roof of the cave. I draw my sword and swing at the dragon behind me, making him stagger back. I was about to charge at him when a black beam hits him in the gut and makes the rest of him fade away. I look back to see Miles on a knee, pointing his fist toward where the dragons used to stand. He staggers up, keeping off his right leg and faces the red dragon. He looks up to the red dragon and lifts a hand towards him and holds it there.

"Do your worst," the dragon says before he takes a breath in and blows a column of fire at him. Miles waves his free hand to the side and ends the flame, confusing the dragon. He starts to close his hand, getting the dragon to jolt and try to shake free of the earthen grasp. Miles next to start to pull his hand towards himself, getting the dragon to shake more and roar out in pain until he falls unconscious. With a final yank Miles pulls out the dragon’s heart from his chest, making blood pour from the hole and the still beating heart. He holds it the for a second before he closes his fist, crushing the heart into a bloody ball the same size of Miles's fist. Miles drops the heart as he falls over, getting the three of us to run to his side. I roll him over and put an ear to his chest, listening for his heart.

"He's got a beat... its weak, but it's there. We need to get him to a hospital now!" I say as I look up to Celestia and Luna.

"I'll get the others and teleport us to safety, just hold on." Celestia says as she runs over to the entrance. Luna comes to his side and starts to magically heal his wounds, getting his wounds to slowly close up. I can see her on the verge of tears as she looks down at Miles, inspecting his cuts.

"He'll pull through Luna... I know he will." I reassure her.

"I can't heal his bones... something is stopping me from healing his knee-"

"Then just focus on the cuts. We need to stop the bleeding." Celestia runs back with Shining and Big Mac, Big Mac's sword is covered in blood and dented in a few different places. Celestia takes a moment before she charges her horn and teleports us to the hospital.

"We need to get him some help!" I yell to the confused nurses, getting them to run over and take over the healing spell. The rest of us are escorted to the waiting room as a bunch of nurse ponies run over to him and carry him off into the hospital. Miles... you better pull through.

I sit back in my chair, taking another sip of my wine as I enjoy the night air from my balcony. I hear a knock from the door as my butler walks in.

"So sorry to disturb you, but Steelwing has returned."

"Good. Bring him to me."

"Right away." He says as he walks back out of my study.

When I hear the door open I ask "How did it go?"

"Well... we don't have the Princess, the human lived, and all of the prisoners were rescued-"

"Perfect."

"Should we move on to the next phase?"

"Yes, and I'm curious. How is your new agent working out?"

"Heh, things are going perfectly, slow but with perfect results. He played right into my claw. Though I'm curious, why did you send the surgeon to torture the human?"

"For show of course. And don't worry about time. Good things to those who wait." I say before I take another sip. I toss the glass off the side of the balcony and stand up, glaring out at the world.

"Uh..."

"Soon, the world will be brought to its knees as it begs me for mercy. I live for that day, but I will have to wait. Move on with our plans! Move with caution though, remember, time is on our side." I say as I walk into my study and pull on a book, making a secret passageway open up. "I am leaving now. I expect you to handle everything from here on out until I return to Equestria. The Darkness, is coming."

DUN DUN DUUUUUUN! Shout out to blood wolf and TheTownCrier for picking the color schemes of the two dragons. Thanks for reading, and like always, Brony on!