It was late that night, and everyone had gone to sleep.

Everyone…. Except me.

I had always been a night owl, what with staying up and playing video games, among things. I always loved to admire the night when I could, so here I was, sitting outside under the stars. It was a beautiful night, but I knew it could have been much better. This was a corrupt Celestia’s night, and I knew that even Nightmare Moon’s night would have been better. No, I did not accept this night. I would never do so. At some point during the night, I started messing around with the computer on my left sleeve. I had hooked it up to my arm the other day, so I was using it somewhat like a mouse.

After a few hours of this, I eventually nodded off. Finally, I could sleep in peace.

I woke up in a cavern to little ‘pings’ and ‘clangs’ that made me think of mining.

The first thing that entered my mind was that Maud was digging up what else was in the caves, but then I saw something.

It was bipedal and was wearing a collar of sorts, as well as a metal chest piece and helmet. I could also see that the creature was wearing some leather garments underneath the armor, as some of it poked out. Then I noticed the tail. The tail was clublike and spiky.

…. Holy crap, I’ve been abducted by Diamond Dogs.

I started formulating an escape plan before I was bothered by my arm moving on its own. Had Righty been put back into my arm?

“Righty?” I whispered to my arm. “What happened?”

A holographic finger brought my focus up. Right in front of me was Righty, but she seemed to have changed slightly. This time, however, she was an anthro mare. She had a pink mane and a lavender coat, or maybe it was a light purple. She appeared to be wearing a similar outfit from when she was a gryphon. Though, instead of shorts and a t-shirt with the Hyperion logo on it, this time she was wearing pants and a short sleeved button up, which still had the Hyperion logo.

“Alright,” I whispered. “What happened?”

“Some Diamond Dogs got us in the middle of the night,” she said. “I responded to the danger, but sadly they had already grabbed you before I was able to respond. I was able to collapse the entrance so that the others were safe, but they overpowered me. I took down a lot of them, but then some in some strange alloy armor came out. They took me down, but I was able to stun them. Unfortunately, that sent me into cooldown and I had to go back into the arm. About two minutes later, I’m out and about following the canines.”

“Alright,” I said. “The others are safe. But how are we getting out?”

“Well,” Righty said. “There’s a guard in front of this cell, there’s a guard down the hall, and the rest of the cells are empty. I checked around the guards for a key to the cell. Sadly, my probability sensors indicate a zero percent chance of a stealthy escape if we attempt to steal the keys. That is due to the fact that these guards have sharper senses than most ponies. Sadly, I cannot advise a way out that won’t involve us either having to fight, or ending in death. Either way, there is still a zero percent chance of escape on your own. Luckily, you have me, but you’d need to deploy me, which would alert the guards, and that would end up in you fighting or losing the arm. I have been advised by F.A.U.S.T. that if you lose the arm like you lost the first eye, she will not be as nice.”

“Ah, okay then,” I whispered. “So, what’s the best option?”

“Try stealing the keys and hope for the best,” she said.

“Oh yeah, that’s totally the best option!” I whispered sarcastically. “Wait! What about the DM?”

I can’t interact in a way that could help you, the DM said to me, using his normal method of strange telepathy. I can’t interact with the environment around you without all of your dice. And I can’t control these guards. For some reason, they’re more thick headed than the ones from Asphyxious’ universe. I can’t even think of their intentions. Sorry, but your call didn’t go through.

“What is up with you and- OH!” I whispered in surprise. “I think I understand now.”

I took out my iPhone and the two dice I had from my pocket. Hopefully, I got this right. I unlocked the phone and set it to the dice roller app that I had on it. I then put the dice over the dice that were on screen. Then, hoping this would work and not just break the phone, I pressed the dice down onto, or in this case, into the screen. There was a small bit of light that projected onto the ceiling. Luckily, neither the guard in front of me, nor the guard down the hall noticed anything. I also noticed that the dice I had shoved into the screen had changed from being a soft blue like the app normally was, to the deep red with a galaxy motif like the dice were. I tried to exit the app, only to find that it wouldn’t change. Luckily I had backed up all of the songs into the computer on my arm. But what did I just do to the phone?

Good job, Dox, the DM said. You have just made the Dice Rolling Core. It’s meant to act as your dice. It’s also a more direct connection to me. You shouldn’t have to worry about losing powers or abilities that are connected to you being my champion, like your ‘blood’ changing to grey in universes like F.A.U.S.T.’s.

“Well that’s helpful,” I whispered. “But how does that help my current situation?”

Install it into something, the DM said.

“Um, Righty?” I asked quietly.

“Nope, sorry,” she said. “I can’t install that. The foreign unknowns are too great. It’d take a while to even figure out how to use it.”

“Alright then,” I whispered. “Arm computer it is.”

I took the Dice Rolling Core and jammed it into the computer on my left arm, resulting in a flash of light and the circuit board pattern to appear. Right after my vision returned from being accidentally flashed in the face, I saw a hologram of a d20 floating above my left arm. Curious, I grabbed at the hologram d20 with my robotic arm, only to find it to be solid. I looked at the computer, which had a screen on it depicting the red d20, and rolled the hologram one. I ended up with a 16. Good, but just barely. I wonder what kind of check it is… Wait a second, it say so in the corner of the screen….. Persuasion…. Oh shit.

The guard banged on the door to the cell. “Hey! What’s going on in there,” the guard said. The guard’s voice was rough, but still very feminine. Hey, they aren’t sexist about who does who! I’m actually kind of proud of the little monsters that were keeping me prisoner. “What are you up to?”

“Nothing,” I lied. “Just trying to get comfortable in here.”

“Well, stop it with the light show,” she said.

“Fine, fine,” I said. “Hey, is there someone I could talk to about why you captured me?”

“GRUFF!” the guard called out. “GO GET ROVER! AND TELL HIM THE PRISONER WANTS TO TALK TO HIM!”

“Wait, seriously?” I questioned. “I’m the prisoner, why would you just go and grant my request?”

“Because, unlike my pack mates,” the guard said. “I’m not a monster. If I were in charge, I wouldn’t be capturing ponies for slaves. I would have thought Rover would have learned when that one pony got away, but no. No, he instead insists upon continuing to capture ponies.”

“ROVER DOESN’T WANT TO SEE HIM!” said the unseen guard.

“I DON’T CARE!” the guard said. “IF HE WON’T SEE THE PRISONER, TELL HIM I WANT TO SEE HIM AND THAT I’M NOT MOVING TO SEE HIM!”

“Wow,” I said. “Really assertive there.”

“Yeah, well,” the guard said. “The males here tend to be idiots.”

“Yeah, I can see that,” I said. “Hey, do you have a name?”

“Yeah,” she said. “It’s Beatrice.”

“That’s a nice name,” I said. “Why are you here? With how you act, I would have thought you led this pack.”

“It’s because rover is-” Beatrice said.

“Here,” Rover interrupted, just entering the room. “What does prisoner want?”

“I want out, bitch,” I said. “Now, either let me out, or I’ll kill you.”

“HA!” Rover scoffed. “Stupid prisoner no have weapons! How prisoner going to kill Rover?”

“Like this!” I yelled, drawing my sword. “Guard, duck!” I then brought up my sword, bringing it down yelling, “HIT STREAM!” sending a wave of energy flying at the bars, and at Rover, who was on the other side of them. The wave cut straight through the bars and slammed rover into the wall opposite the cell. I then proceeded to use my robotic arm as a focus by passing energy through it into a beam. I then used that to cut the bars so that I could get free.

By the time I was free, Rover had gotten to his feet. I had to take action now, or lose everything. I used the flash step technique I learned from Urahara to get right up to Rover. I slammed him back into the wall and pinned him against it with my robotic arm. I then put my sword against his neck, effectively preventing any attempt at escape he had in his mind, what with his life now being on the line.

“Now,” I said menacingly. “You’re going to explain why you captured me and why you tried to capture my friends. If you don’t, I’m going to cut your head off.”

Rover just scoffed. “Try me,” he challenged.

Well, it was his funeral.

I mean that. I cut his head clean off. They captured me, tried to get my friends, and now they thought I didn’t have the guts to kill because of that? What kind of morons were they?

“Beatrice,” I said, looking over at the now terrified Diamond Dog. “Where are the other pack leaders?”

“T-there in the next room,” she said. “In the mines.”

“Would you please take me there?” I asked. “I have no intention of killing those that are innocent here. They planned to get my friends, to put them into slavery. I can’t stand for that. Right now, I just want an apology and some information. Please, take me to them.”

“A-a-alright,” she said. “I’ll take you there.”

“Thank you,” I said. And thank you persuasion check! I put away my sword so that I could confuse the other leaders when I pulled it out.

The room we entered was huge. It held a large cacophony of ‘clangs’ and ‘pings’. This was obviously the mines.

Beatrice led me to a small ‘building’ in the center of it all. Inside were two Diamond Dogs, one large and muscular, the other was short and pudgy.

“Bitch,” said the short one. “Why did you bring the prisoner here? Where is Rover?”

“Prisoner smell of Rover,” the large one said. “Prisoner kill Rover!”

“What?!” the small one said. “Kill him!”

It was then that I jumped them. I took out my sword and used Hit Stream, again, sending them into the walls of the small room that was the ‘building’. I then ran over and pinned the small one under my foot. Righty decided it was a good time to help me with magic and used telekinesis to pin the other one against the ceiling.

“Why did you kidnap me?” I questioned angrily. “Why were you after me and my friends?!”

“We needed more workers!” the small one screamed. “Scouts said that there were a bunch of tireless ponies over there, so we went to go and get them!”

“Thank you,” I said. “Now we have an explanation for why you had to die.”

“What?!” he screamed. Those were his final words as I plunged my blade into his throat.

“Let’s go outside,” I said, picking up his dead body. Righty moved the Diamond Dog she was pinning with magic outside and I followed with the corpse. I teleported to the top of the ‘building’ and held out the corpse. “DIAMOND DOGS! LISTEN HERE! LET THIS BE A LESSON TO YOU ALL! RELEASE ALL OF YOUR SLAVES OR THIS IS THE FATE THAT SHALL BEFALL ALL OF YOUR KIND!” Righty then brought over the other Diamond Dog, and I sliced off his head. “YOUR FORMER LEADERS CHOSE TO PUT OTHERS INTO SLAVERY! I WILL NOT TOLERATE IT ANY LONGER! LET THE SLAVES FREE OR FACE MY RATH!”

That was all the Diamond Dogs needed as they feverishly ran about down the caves that spanned from the giant room. They all kept returning with ponies in varying conditions and then running back. I after a while, I saw more variations. I saw a couple gryphons, and even a zebra! After about three hours of watching this, they were finished and gathered around me.

“What do we do next, alpha?” one Diamond Dog questioned. The rest soon followed.

“I am not your alpha!” I yelled. “If anything, she is.” I pointed to Beatrice. “But if she doesn’t want it, she can pick another.”

“I don’t want this,” Beatrice said. “I don’t want anything to do with it! Let my brother do it, he didn’t like the slaves, either.”

“Fine then, he shall be alpha,” I said. “Now, I’m going to leave. Let everyone who wants to leave go, or I will be back. Remember me, for I am Dox, the champion!”

“All hail the champion!” one of them yelled. Soon after a few more said it. It eventually became a chant.

I turned towards Beatrice and asked, “Now, how do I get out of here?”

“I’ll only tell you, if you take me with you,” she said.

“Fine,” I said. “Now let’s get out of here.”

About three hours later, we made it back to the area around the cave containing the Tree of Harmony.

“Alright guys!” I yelled, hoping the ponies inside could hear me. “If you can hear me, I’m about to open the cave. Stand back!” I then took out my flintlock, cocked it, and fired, producing an explosion that opened up the entrance to the cave.

“Dox!” Luna yelled as she jumped out and tackled me. “Art thou alright?”

“I’m fine, Luna,” I said. “Now, could you get off of me?”

“Very well,” Luna said, getting off. “But soon thou will be ours.”

Let me explain. Ever since F.A.U.S.T. had said what she did about me riding her, she’s been on me, trying to seduce me all the time.

Good job on that, F.A.U.S.T.

Anyways, after Luna got off me, we had a small celebration of the liberation of several slaves, as well as my safe return. By the time we were done, it was nightfall, so we all went to bed. I didn’t go to bed, though, before I pressed the button on my arm, releasing Righty so that she could guard. Apparently, what I had seen in the caves was just a projection that I could see, and no one else. Kinda like that weird hologram that Rhys saw in Tales from the Borderlands. Anyways, I went to bed after that, letting sleep embrace me.

Author's Notes:

So yeah. New chapter!
I have to thank my friend GameJunkie7 for the female Diamond Dog's name. Honestly, I suck at names and I wanted this one to be unique. So, again, thanks to him.

Anyways, this is Music Mod, signing off.

Oh, by the way, expect some fun shit in the next chapter.