A pair of trees on each side of the river came crashing down with perfect, well rehearsed timing and blocked the waterway. The lead boat smashed into the trees with a thunderous crack. Our boat then rear ended the first. How they weren't crushed to pieces I don't know. The dogs leapt off onto the bank and formed a defensive circle, scanning for enemies. Then a deep, booming voice called out from everywhere and nowhere.

“Hullo gentlemen. I came here to take your lives this day.”

When it happened, it happened quickly. More dogs came charging out of the trees, leaping at our captors with spears held high. It was a frenzy of blood and death, dogs falling on both sides. Eventually I couldn't tell who was who anymore, all the dogs looked the same to me. Yes I know that's horribly racist. I don't give a damn.

The battle seemed to be evenly pitched, until the dirt in the middle of the fray exploded upwards in a shower of debris. An absolutely enormous figure emerged from the hole. This guy was easily as big and muscular as I was, and as I think that I've established... I'm fucking huge. He threw a punch that connected straight with his opponent's muzzle.

The dog's face exploded. That's the best I can come up with to describe what happened. I held a shuddering Lily against my chest to shield her from the sight of the carnage. The dog fell dead in a heap and the giant wasted no breath before attacking other enemies. He clearly had no hangups about fighting honorably. Two dogs had locked spears and he simply walked up and punched one in the back of the head, sending a pair of eyeballs flying off into the trees.

The battle was over not long after. The ambushers tossed their dead foes into a pile and set it ablaze. Then they turned their attentions to us. Whatever slim hopes that any of us might have had that this was some kind of rescue were quickly dashed to pieces.

“Get out of boats.” A dog snarled, waving his bloody spear.

Each boat was quickly herded into two groups on the riverbank. As we huddled together wondering what was to become of us, I stroked Lily's mane in an attempt to comfort her as best I could. I'm afraid it was of little use. She was trembling with fear, traumatized by the horrific violence she had just witnessed. And she wasn't the only one, it was obvious that most of these ponies had never seen anyone die before, let alone be murdered.

The only thing that had allowed me to not be stunned at the sight of Zephyr's body when I'd come out onto the deck was the fact that I had seen my share of violence overseas. In Casablanca I had witnessed two boys fighting in the street over a stolen video camera. One of them bashed the others' skull in against the sidewalk and ran off. In Montenegro I saw one of my shipmates get shot in the neck by an Anti-American nutcase. Said nutcase was promptly lit up like a Christmas tree.

The giant diamond dog inspected both groups of prisoners and then his troops.

“Hmm. I see that my spy One Ear didn't make it. Ah well, if he allowed himself to die that just means he deserved it.” He stated.

He strode back and forth in front of the prisoners, pacing with his arms crossed.

“You now have the pleasure of working for Boxer, Alpha of the Deep Rock Warren.”

Where he got his name seemed obvious. Not only did his features match that particular breed, but it was also how he fought. A pony wailed in despair at the name. Clearly this was very bad news.

“We'll never serve a monster like you. All we'll be is unwilling slaves!” A brown unicorn with a pair of fillies clinging to his hooves shouted defiantly.

I winced, knowing that no good would come of this. He probably felt the foolish need to appear brave in front of his daughters, not realizing the harm it would cause. He should have kept his mouth shut. Poor naive bastard.

Boxer smiled, revealing a set of very sharp looking teeth. He casually walked over to the unicorn and picked up the fillies by the scruff of their necks, looking into their eyes. The unicorn started to move but swiftly had a plethora of spears at his neck.

“What are your names?” Boxer asked the fillies

“Sundrop.” The yellow foal said fearfully.

“T..t..Taffy.” The blue one stammered.

He set the fillies at his feet and tussled their manes. Then he smiled at the unicorn again, who by this time had gone very pale.

“I prefer the term employee over slave. I find it better for morale. Regardless, you will all work for me and the wage that you will earn will be your continued existence... However,” He said. “I'm afraid I just can't let an insult like 'monster' go. A little petty I'll admit, but one simply must maintain proper discipline. As I am a generous employer... I'll even let you pick which one of your daughters gets to live.”

“Wh.. what?! You can't!” The unicorn yelled.

The smirk fell off of Boxer's face and he narrowed his eyes.

“Now you're in the business of telling your employer what he can and cannot do? I suggest you make your choice and quickly or else I'll end them both.”

He grasped the fillies by the head and began to crush their skulls with his gargantuan paws. I felt sick, not only at the atrocity taking place before my eyes but at the fact that I was powerless to stop it. Eventually the foals began screaming in pain.

“You're killing them.” Boxer said in a mocking tone.

“...S...SUNDROP!” The unicorn shouted.

The alpha stopped squeezing and smiled once more.

“Now was that so hard?” He asked. “Well, I'm feeling a little extra generous today, so I think you can keep the both of them as long as your mouth no longer causes trouble.”

He let the fillies go, but neither of them moved.

Ohh, you sick fuck!

As I watched the innocent light go out in Taffy's eyes only to be replaced with the darkness of confusion and betrayal, it was then that I understood the depth of this dog's cruelty. Boxer could have killed the lot of them with ease. Instead he let them keep their lives, but shattered the bonds that made them a family. Sundrop couldn't look at her father because he had valued her life over the life of her sister. The father couldn't bring himself to look at either of them, and Taffy couldn't look at anything but him. She just stared in disbelief.

I had never actually hated anyone before that day. I mean, when 9/11 happened I hated the terrorists responsible in a sort of general and patriotic way. It was one of the reasons I had joined the navy. This was the first time I found myself actually hating an individual personally. And for the first time in my life I felt the urge to kill. When I had fought the dogs before it had been pure instinct and adrenaline. But the things that I found myself wanting to do to Boxer? ...They scared me. Lily seemed to sense that something was wrong and hugged me tighter. Now she was the one giving the comfort.

The alpha snapped his fingers and his subordinates began widening the hole he had emerged from and creating an earthen ramp. When this was completed the first group was herded into the tunnel. The three that Boxer had made examples of didn't want to go anywhere at first, but after a vigorous prodding with spear butts they trotted after one another.

Soon, our group descended into the darkness. I kept my hand on Lily's back as we walked blindly. There were no torches or glowing gems, just the endless black that enveloped us. Apparently the diamond dogs navigated more by scent than anything else. We walked for what seemed like hours before we were finally allowed to rest.

When the dogs opened up a hole to the surface, the stars were out. There was no sign of the river, but to my surprise we were at the lake I had come across before, my shoddy construction job having collapsed following my tactical retreat from the spider. Several dogs stood sentry, scanning the skies in case of pegasi as we were taken to the water.

You know the saying that you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink? Yeah, that's bullshit. You hold a ponies' head down long enough and he'll start to drink or drown. Only one or two even tried resisting anyway. We were all thirsty. We didn't get to rest long before we were forced back down into the tunnel.

I found myself growing more and more horrified by how far this tunnel ran. The farther we went the more likely that it should have been discovered by the Princesses guards, yet clearly had been in use for quite some time. Now I'm no deep thinker, but it doesn't take a genius to figure out that somepony must be responsible for this. That thought filled me with white hot rage. The idea that somepony was actually profiting off of their own kind being enslaved was hard to stomach. No, this was not the Equestria that I knew and loved. Not at all. If I ever met Lauren Faust we were going to have a serious talk.

I have no idea how long we traveled. We popped up at several more watering holes before we finally were allowed to sleep. Lily slept in my arms. As tired as I was it was a long time before I finally managed to fall asleep. That night, I had a rather crazy dream.

I sat cross-legged atop the volcano, surrounded by corpses. They never stopped coming. I showed them my papers from Luna, the ones that said I wasn't really a wanted criminal. But they were greedy. They said if they killed me they would just claim they never saw the papers so they could still claim the reward. I guess a one million bit bounty was just too high. Oh well, anyone who would do that sort of thing deserved what they got.

Justice was justice after all. And if I ended the lives of a few dozen crooked bounty hunters while waiting for my quarry to show himself? It was a useful warmup. I had no doubts that the one who was coming would be a lot tougher than these nobodies. He was supposed to be some kind of badass killing machine after all. Not that it would help him in the slightest.

I found myself thinking back on the words of the prophecy. This fight was supposed to usher in some kind of apocalypse. Doesn't matter. Prophecies are always full of shit anyhow. Plus, he still had to pay for what he did. There could be no compromise, not even in the face of Armageddon. His crime was one that set my blood to a boil.

Slaver.

The word filled my brain with a fire much hotter than even the magma flowing beneath this mountain. I would make sure he died in inches. It would be slow and agonizing, not like the deaths of the murderous fools around me. Theirs' had been swift, merciful deaths. Justice never needed sharpening. It cut cleanly and efficiently. No, this one would die by my fists. I would teach him exactly what happens when you fuck a stranger in the ass.

As I meditated on the brutality I was going to inflict, I heard the sound that I had been waiting for all day. The sound of wings flapping loudly caused me to open my eyes. At last, the one I had been waiting for had arrived.

"So, you're the one that wants me dead huh?" He asked.

Motioning around towards the bodies he continued "Looks like you've been busy, but did you really need to kill these guys? I doubt they would be much trouble."

“I wouldn't have killed them if they didn't deserve it, just like you're going to get what you deserve. After all, men go to prison... dogs get put down.”

He let out a low growl in the back of his throat. I guess my insult was effective.

I woke up feeling really confused. What the fuck was that all about? My dreams usually involved sexy babes and doing stupid shit like recklessly driving a jet ski through Samuel L. Jackson's private lagoon and throwing a wad of cash in the faces of the security guards saying “I'm fucking rich! Screw the rules, I have money.”

Must be a combination of stress, anger and fear. I wasn't scared for myself, it was Lily. I was scared to death of what was waiting for us at our destination. I couldn't bear the thought of something bad happening to her, and every waking moment I was filled with a greater and greater sense of dread.

Author's Notes:

I edited the previous chapter, as I forgot to write in the description of the dog Fudge tossed overboard having one ear.

Now, you might have been thinking to yourself that nobody could possibly be worse than the assholes responsible for sending ol' Zeta Chi on his roaring rampage of revenge. And you would be wrong.
Horribly, horribly wrong.