Aaron's search for the missing Diamond Dog was being met with quite a bit more difficulty than he'd originally expected. None of the dogs, not even the two remaining members of boss seemed to know where Long Ears had wondered off to. 'Or maybe they do know and they didn't feel like sharing that piece of information with the one who trounced their leaders in a rigged contest...' He thought to himself.

In the end, he was forced to put himself in her position. Since no-one was talking, either they were hiding her somewhere, which was unlikely, or she'd run off to some distant part of the tunnel system. She could have gone above ground, but seeing as they were prone to capture other sapient species to supplement their workload, Aaron had a feeling that a dog travelling alone would be treated with no small amount of hostility if found. No, she was too smart to do something which might be considered dangerous, he was sure of that. So, she must still be below the surface, somewhere safe where she still have some alone time. If everyone she knew shared a pack mentality, these kinds of places were probably few in number.

If she went further down into the heart of the earth, she was likely to run into the constant mining crews that roamed around in search of new gems. "In that case," Aaron asked the pair of Diamond Dogs standing before him, "I've got one more question for you two."

"Yes?"

"Where did you get the iron for the armor and the cell doors if you dogs didn't make them?"

Not only had his hunch been correct, that they'd pulled some of their resources, such as the iron and rope from the surface, but it had been All Ears who had discovered them. Using that little bit of detective legwork, Aaron was led to one of the far-off regions of the upper tunnels that acted as a surface access. The last time the chamber had been used for its intended purpose, however, was when they had scavenged their items from an abandoned castle on the surface. Since then, it had fallen into disuse.

Rounding the final few turns, Aaron could hear the sound of running water. Before long, the chamber in question came into view. He could see that a portion of the ceiling had caved in a bit, and a small waterfall had formed, one that terminated in a small pool that reflected enough sunlight to light up the room. All Ears was slouched near the pool, her ears rested flat against her head as she stared at her own reflection.

Aaron motioned his escort to stay put while he approached the chamber in as slow and as nonthreatening a manner as he could manage. "H-hey there All Ears..."

The Dog Jerked her head toward him and let out a soft, weak growl. "Go away Human. I have nothing to say to you." She said, emotion still evident in her voice.

"That's all right." Aaron said as he inched closer to the water. "You might not have anything to say to me, but I've got something to say to you. Is it all right if I talk for a while?"

All Ears nodded a cautious 'yes'

Sitting down next to the Diamond Dog, Aaron sat upright with his long legs edged close to the water. "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. People, or ponies, rather, were relying on me to win the challenges, and in turn, their freedom. You were doing a pretty good job on that puzzle and I needed to cement my lead. Everything I said during the event was meant to distract you, not hurt your feelings."

Wiping the tear trails from her snout, All Ears lifted one of her namesakes towards him as a sign of her paying attention.

"Yep, I'm sorry for the mean things I said, and how they hurt you." Aaron continued. "However, you did do some pretty horrible things to those ponies while they were here. It's just not right to capture, and then hold, an intelligent creature against their will."

"B-but they ponies..."

"That's no excuse. They are sapient, they can talk, for crying out loud. It doesn't matter if you think you are better than they are at that point. How would you feel if I locked you up and made you do things you didn't want to do."

"You wouldn't-" All Ears said defensively.

"Let me finish. No I wouldn't. I apologized for hurting your feelings and all, but most of what I said was true. You are smart, and I'm not in the habit of enslaving other smart creatures. The same goes for you. No more capturing ponies or any other creature that can be considered sapient, like you or me. You got that?"

"But how we find enough gems for-"

"For what? if you need to capture ponies to do all of your work for you, you're doing it wrong. How many times do I have to say you're smart before you try and use that head of yours? I'm sure you'll think of something."

All Ears started crying again as something in the last exchange set her off.

"Hey, hey, now. Don't start that up again. Look I said I was sorry, just forget about what I said during the challenge. Okay?"

"W-hy you b-being so nice to-?"

Aaron simply sidled closer to All Ears and pulled her into a hug. "Why? It's probably because, if there's anyone around here who understands what you're going through right now, it's me."

All Ears, while unsure at what to do with the contact at first, attempted to return the gesture, only to begin balling into Aaron's chest.

"There you go. Let it all out." Aaron said as he briefly wondered what the whole spectacle probably looked like to the guide dog who was still hiding in the corner. "I used to think that no-one really cared for what I did either. Every time I busted my ass studying for an exam so that I could get the highest score, or when I built something that was useful, no-one seemed to wonder why I did those things. But the truth was that it simply didn't matter. I did those things because I wanted to. Sure, I may have just been doing what was expected of me in some instances, but in the end, what anyone else thought was of no consequence. Not everyone works the same way, All Ears. The ones that take the time time to understand, even if they never fully grasp a concept here and there, those are the ones that are important. Those are the ones you want to keep around."