Author's Notes:

Just a little chapter.

“Thank the gods, the Parasprites are finally flying off. I was beginning to worry they might start eating us next.” One of my now re-armed guards behind me stated as we all stood on top of the same balcony where the last chapter ended.

And to be fair, he wasn’t exactly wrong for thinking that, as those colorful bastards really went ham on this poor little fortress by devouring almost everything that wasn’t made out of stone or flesh. Heck, even the very clothes and armor that some of the raiders wore were eaten off of their now-unconscious forms.

I certainly need to keep an eye on those Parasprites for the foreseeable future. I mean, having a swarm of all-eaters out there can certainly bring some level of concern to a level-headed individual.

Thank God I'm not level-headed then.

But whatever, enough talking about devouring swarms of space balls and my own mental state. I still have an almost-dead silent keep to raid… oh, and to free some more prisoners maybe for some brownie points before getting the heck out of here.

“Huh, talk about nature's favor. Thanks to them, our plans for making it out of here have been significantly simplified to almost foal-like levels of ease with the majority of these raiders now knocked out and beaten.” The rough-sounding voice of Hector stated from behind.

He was of course not alone though; behind him were his beloved niece and that young-looking stallion who was most likely Solum’s son.

Well, only one way to find out. Or… there would be, if the answer didn’t come before I could ask the question.

“Y-your Highness… I would like to personally thank you for risking your skin to rescue both me and Ethopia. Even though it wouldn’t have been necessary, especially by someone of your status. My father will be most thankful for your courageous and selfless deed, I am sure of it.” The young boy stated, a bit shaky at first but he soon found his confidence as he went along.

Clearly not the type of guy I was expecting. But good to know that I was wrong on this.

Originally I was imagining him to be more spoiled and bratty… for whatever reason.

Either way I nodded. “No problem, in fact, you should also be giving your thanks to these two here. Without them, the plan for escaping this keep would have been a lot more hectic. A random Deus Ex Machina can be quite the time saver, let me tell you that. Not to mention saving you a lot of stress in the process.” I stated while gesturing towards Uxie and his little yellow friend next to me. Which caused the young stallion to backpedal a bit when looking at flying ping-pong over here.

“A-a Parasprite… why is one still here? Shouldn’t it have gone along with the rest of its destructive kind?” He asked, sounding quite concerned at the fact that one was still here.

Ping-pong over here didn’t take the boy's accusation too lightly to my surprise. Which was shown as a frown on the little jawbreaker’s face. Both adorable and again quite intriguing as well, as this meant that the little guy can understand us.

Maybe the rest of his kind can too? That would certainly make things a lot easier when trying to coach them to our side.

But that is a problem for future Alexander when the day arrives.

“Now, now, calm down mister...” I paused as I realized something.

“Quick, tell me what his name is telepathically, Uxie.” I whispered to him.

I got my answer, telepathically. Which is both intriguing and strange.

“George, huh… I love it.” I exclaimed with a huge grin on my face.

This caused George to puff up his chest (somehow) with pride.

Adorable, but that is not the main reason why I am here standing on top this wooden balcony. No, I am here to do a prison break and look at silver, and I am all out of silver. Which means that a trip down into the mines is almost inevitable.

That, and of course get some extra brownie points by rescuing more prisoners.

Can’t forget about the brownie points, or the added bonus of making myself even richer.

Capitalism at its finest.

“Hector.” I quickly announced to get his attention.

“Say, about those mines you have been spitting about earlier. Where exactly are they and how many more Gryphons do you think are still down there?” I questioned.

This caused Hector to hum for a moment before my oh so loyal guard, suddenly stepped in.

“Your Highness, as much as I agree with fully rooting out these foreign raiders and making these lands safer, I would like to still highly suggest that we get you and the two youngsters here back to safety first before dealing with the remaining Gryphons here. The risk of anything happening to you out here is far too riskful for the continued future of this nation. You need to be escorted back to safer hooves and let the guard do what they do best. Not you.” The guard stated, which almost brought me to overdramatic tears about how truly concerned he is about my safety.

Such a devotion towards your king must be rewarded. So that others will get the same incentive to act as my personal meat shield when things do get crazy.

But for now, I need to deny my guard's personal request and throw his caution out the window like a wet towel belonging to an American Football player.

With a hint of jizz in it because we are talking about a teenage American Football player.

“No can do. Though I will agree with the ‘bring the two kids back to their parents' part of your suggestion. Can’t have two youngsters joining us in the mine raid now can we?” I responded while electing a sigh from the guard himself.

I guess he already knew my answer but still tried. A good effort on him I would say. Though I really hadn’t much time to linger on these thoughts for too long as a certain youngster decided to step up and be rather irresponsible as well.

“I think that this won't happen either.” She boldly declared and giving me the old 'O' expression for her boldness.

“And why would that be?” Hector asked, sounding neither surprised nor angry at the response.

“Well, that’s simple.” She began. “What kind of a Steppe Raider would I be if I simply allow myself to run away from these sand-blasted raiders? Just because I'm young and a mare doesn’t mean I'm some typical damsel in distress. I will see through this to the end and get payback on some of these Gryphons myself.” She responded with a surprising amount of fire in her eyes, which certainly surprised me.

But not as much as it surprised dear little… whatever his name was again. You know, the son of Solum.

I guess he wasn’t expecting such an aggressive personality trait from this otherwise young and rather attractive-looking mare. And by attractive I mean attractive for these street-crossingly colored horses.

I am still not going to go local. No sir.

Either way, Hector seems to be unphased by his niece's sudden display of vengeance. I am not surprised, since she is his niece and all, and her father also seems to be more of a warrior-type himself. Like father like daughter, I guess.

Either way, before this rather short chapter can drag on any further. I quickly took it upon myself to keep the plot moving so that we can finally move on with our lives.

Especially mine, as I still have a lot of shit to do back home.

“Anyway…” I began to get everyones attention. “Hector, do you know where the entrance to the mine is?” I asked, getting straight to the point.

He nodded. “Well yes, of course. It's right under the keep obviously. Barred off by a thick reinforced gate, unless it has been busted open as well by the Parasprite swarm. But I doubt that they can bust through that even if they wanted to.” Hector answered.

“Well then, let's go down there and finish the job then.” I suggested, to which Hector and all of my re-armed guards nodded. The random band of also armed prisoners looked a bit unsure, but otherwise were also somewhat determined to sweep out the remaining raiders to make these lands safer.

With that, we were off. Down into the belly of the beast to cut out its heart, so to say. With a brand new addition to my ever-growing band of strange misfits.

I wonder if George also likes cheese. If so, I can see ourselves becoming good cheese buddies, IF he can restrain himself from eating all of my cheese.

But hey, only time can tell.