Last time on 'Buried Alive' Quest:
>Captured by two royal guards from Canterlot, named Flatfoot and Bacon. You surrendered to them and were locked in a caged wagon to be brought to Canterlot.
>Your friends Pinkie Pie and Rarity followed along, not wanting to leave you alone.
>Tried talking with the guards about the strange things going on, like the monster attacks, the strange weather and the princess, but they seem reluctant to say anything.
>The snow had mostly melted by now, but by noon time sunrise had still not happened. It's as dark as midnight.
>Eventually, with enough needling, the guards stopped for lunch at the edge of the mountains and the Everfree
>They were mostly forthcoming about somethings, but there's definitely something about the Princesses they're keeping tight lipped about
>Before you could get more information from them, there was a noise at the edge of camp, just out of view beyond the rocks.
>Everyone huddled close together for safety but, one by one, all the ponies began to disappear.
>When you finally got Flatfoot to agree to let you out, you saw him sink into the ground faster then a rock drops in water.
>As Pinkie climbed on the cage for safety, you desperately tried to reach for the keys to the cage, but it was no good.
>As the entire wagon sank into the ground, you yelled for Pinkie to run. She did, reluctantly. the last thing you saw was her jumping out of view.
You are Rusty Shackleford, a human with no memory who has found himself lost in Equestria.
Currently, you are restrained by the arms and legs by magical restrains, locked in a metal cage and buried deep in the sandy soil. It's completely pitch black. You scrape the smallest void using your arms and the bars around you, giving you just enough room to breath, though some sand flies in your air way after each panicked breath.
You feel your decent in the ground suddenly pick up tremendous speed. The sand around you falls away and you see you are now falling though a cave or tunnel of some kind. The cage hurdles down and clashes with the bottom with a loud clang. Since you have no way of bracing, you take the full force of the impact, hitting your head against the metal bars.
Blinking through the stars in your eyes and pain in your head, you see Rarity staggering to her hooves not far away. Somewhere there’s a light source, allowing you to see, though you're not sure where.
"Rarity!" You call over to the white pony, spitting some of the sand out of your mouth. "Ra-"
You're interrupted by a loud clang as something heavy smashes into the side of your cage. With its white fangs black claws against bars, a huge armor clad dog is snarling at you with a ferocious, hungry glare. You immediately back away as far as you can from it, just as it starts to grope its paw in after you.
"Geeeems!" It growls, copious amounts of drools dropping around the bars. You hear Rarity scream.
Your eyes are beginning to adapt to the low light conditions of this cave, allowing you to see more. Rarity is being forcibly restrained down on the ground by three more similar looking dogs. She's kicking and bucking as best she can, but they're clearly overpowering her. Beyond her, you can see the two guards in a similar situation, but with yet more dogs, some even with rusty spears.
Inventory check:
Injury check:
You try you restraints, bashing the ones on your wrists against the side of the cage. You succeed in making a lot of noise and hurting yourself, but not much more. The material of the binding isn’t even scuffed.
The armored dog is still reaching for you, or more likely your outfit, and you desperately start yanking the studded gems out of the outfit Rarity made for you. Unfortunately, Rarity's craftsmanship seems to be more then purely cosmetic; the gems are very well attached to the fabric. Combined with the fact that your hands are bound in an awkward position, you only manage to tear one little ruby from your right breast.
Holding the gem in your fingers, the dog goes still. You can see its beady little back eyes twinkling with keen interest at the jewel. You can also hear an odd noise mixed in with the sound of the fighting; a kind of repetitious, face paced thumpthumpthumpthump. You think it's wagging it's tail and it's banging against its armor.
An idea springs to mind.
"Sit!" You command, holding the ruby in your hand temptingly.
Immediately, the dog plops down on its hindquarters and lifts up its paws. His massive dripping tongue lulls out to one side as he pants excitedly.
"You wants the gem? Huh boy? Huh huh?!" You goad the dog. He's shaking his head excitedly, following the gem with ever move you make. "Go get it! Got get it boy! Good dog, get it! Get it!"
You flick the ruby as hard as you can, sending it spiraling off down and away from the others and yourself. The dog gives chase, his claws making him momentarily skid in place on the stone floor before gaining traction and rushing after the bouncing gem.
Now having some breathing room, you look over at the ponies. Rarity is pinned straight to the floor by four dogs now and it doesn’t like she can move at all now. Not far beyond her, the two guards have bucked their attackers off of themselves, but now are being corralled back to back in a circle of spears.
"Hey! Hey Bacon!" You yell out at the guards. "Snap the cuffs of me, will ya? Let me help!"
The unicorn guard looks around and sees you. He turns to his partner, who immediately nods his head frantically in agreement. As the dogs close in on them, Bacon's horn glows bright. Your restraints glow with them and they come off with a funny little POP, before disappearing. You're free!
Sorta! There is still the cage.
Whatever. You pluck a few more precious stones from your outfit and hold them between your fingers with your arms out the bars for all to see. You give a little whistle, gaining the attention of a few of them.
"Hey doggies! Who wants some free gems?"
Immediately, a number of dogs break off from whatever it is they were doing and rush over to the cage.
You throw the gems and they scatter all over. The dogs shove and bump into and climb over each other to get at the little dancing specks of color. They slide at the gems with out stretched claws. A few fights break out where two or more dogs reach the same gem at the same time. Clouds of dirt and debris form up as the dogs snarl, bite and claw at each other in a greedy frenzy.
"Enough! Enough you mutts!"
Yet more dogs pile into the immediate cavern, lead by a gangly looking dog in an orange vest and studded collar, who seems to be yelling for control of the situation. Another dog at his flank, much small, has a whip and cracks it over the brawl you started. The armored dogs scatter with their tails literally between their legs, whimpering loudly.
"Why you fighting like a pack of pups?" He comes forward menacingly, but then stops in his tracks as soon as he sees the ponies.
"Oh you have to be kidding me." You hear Rarity say, deadpan.
"You!" The dog in the vest shrieks, tugging at his ears. "Not you again!"
The dog in the vest, clearly the leader of the bunch, grabs the closest armored dog and yanks him up to his paws by the scruff.
"Why did you bring ponies?" He barks at the underling, he fangs bared. "We said no more ponies! Not after last time!"
"But! But! That one!" The armored dog grovels, pointing a pointing clawed finger in your direction. "In the cage! He's made of gems! And he's just giving them to us!"
The leader dog drops the other one, looking at you across the cave with an inquisitive expression. He starts stalking to you.
"Leave him alone, you ruffian!" Rarity call out, still pinned under the dog pile. "How dare you pull this nasty trick on me and my friends again! Why, I have half a mind to show you wh-"
"Aggghh! Stop it, stop it!" The vested dog cries out, his voice reaching a shrill pitch. "Someone, close the pony's mouth!"
"Now wait just a minute!" Rarity retorts, struggling under the dogs on top of her. One of them as a rope and starts tying a muzzle around her mouth and nose.
Rarity is still muffling loudly, though what she's saying exactly is incomprehensible muted negativity. The red vested dog continues coming over to you, all the other dogs making way. As he approaches the cage, his eyes grow wide, looking you up and down.
"So many gems," He says, licking his fangs deviously. You feel extremely uncomfortable.
"Whoa whoa, hey now dog," You say, backing up to the opposite side of the cage, holding your hands up. You feel like the situation has gotten away from you again, so you decide to bargain. "You seem like a... smart... doggy. Maybe we can work out a deal here."
"Deal? What deal?"
"I'll gladly give you all the gems I have. In return, you let me and my friends go. Sound good?"
"Hmm," He seems to be contemplating your proposition. He runs his claw along the bars of the cage. "Or maybe we just takes you and the gems anyway."
"Listen now, buddy," You say, wagging a finger at the dog. "I'm dangerous, see. Princess Luna herself has ordered my capture. If you don't let us go, they're be all sorts of trouble for you. Maybe the princess herself will come down here looking for me."
"Y-yeah!" Flatfoot pikes up from behind the circle of spears, following your lead. "He's in that cage for a reason! You better let us all go and take him out of here!"
"He's a madpony!" The other guard adds. "He'll eat us all!"
"I'm being very reasonable here," You say. "Just take the gems and let us go."
"I'm not scared of pony princess!" The dog growls back at you and the others. "We not scared of you. We take you to Rex, he'll show you! Tie up the ponies!"
As the dogs close in on the guards, you keep talking.
"You aren't scared of the pony that had to be banished to the moon for a thousand years just so she wouldn't kill everything?"
"What happens above not matter." The dog says to you, he pulls out a few gems from his pocket, rubbing them between his clawed fingers. "Only these mater. Now stop talking!"
To emphasis the desire for you to shut up, another dog, much larger then the other, slams a beefy arm down on top of the cage. It partially dents from the blow and he laughs to himself, seeing you flinch from it.
The other ponies struggle as the dogs attempt to tie them, the guards able to over power two or three of them at a time. But there are simply outnumbered and are eventually restrained with more ropes. The other end of the ropes are tied to the bars of your cage.
"Now pull!" The little dog barks, giving another crack of his whip over the heads of the ponies. The three of them look at each other and at you, but then, reluctantly, begin to pull. The cage grinds noisily along the stone floor of the cave.
You're dragged along like a rock for a while, the constant screech of metal on rock making your skin crawl and ears itch. The ponies don’t seem particularly thrilled about it either.
"Listen, you don’t want me. I'm small, I'm weak. You clearly don’t like ponies. Whatever you want us for, it probably wont work out."
"Rex decides what happens to you. Rex is king. Now stop ta-"
The cavern suddenly starts shuddering, bits of dirt and small rocks shake lose from the ceiling and fall to the ground. Everyone stops where they are, bracing against stalagmites and the rock walls. You hear a extremely heavy, base sound over it all as an unimaginable amount of earth and rock are being compressed and shifted in single moment.
"An earthquake?" Bacon cries. One of the dogs near him jumps over and shoves his hand over the pony's mouth. He tries to pull away, but the dog holds him close.
After about three minutes, the shaking ends. All the dogs stay stock still for a few more moments, before the whip cracks again and thew procession continues.
"I told you they'd come for me."
"Shhh," The vested dog shushes you, keeping the sound low. "No talking."
"Listen, if you don’t let us go right now, I'm going to make so much noise as I can and just see what happens."
"You wouldn’t dare." The dog says, staring daggers at you.
You open your mouth.
"No."
You open it wider.
"Stop."
"Give me one good reason not to."
The dog grinds his fangs in an angry, frustrated snarl. He looks at ponies and at all th other dogs, a lot of which are watching the two of you talking.
"Fine." He growls reluctantly. "We let....one pony go. But no more talking."
"No dice." You say, beginning to warm up your throat with dramatic humming.
"OK OK! All the ponies!"
"Deal." You say and the two of you shake hands/paws through the bars.
With a few curt commands, the ponies are untied, though for some reason they leave
Rarity's muzzle on, much to her annoyance. Warily, the three ponies come over to your cage, keeping eyes on all the dogs around them.
"What are you doing?" Flatfoot whispers at you. "You can't trust these diamond dogs."
"I don't need to trust them," You whisper back. "The two of you are guards. Bring back up or something. If the Princess wants me bad enough, have her come get me."
"Don't think this changes things," he says back to you, deadly serious. "You're still a fugitive. But thanks you."
"Enough talking." The vested dog says, shoving the ponies away from the cage. "Leave ponies. Go now."
Still reluctantly, the tree ponies head back down the way you all came. Rarity looks back at you, clearly worried. You give her a thumbs to quietly assure her. She gives you a confused look, before heading after the other two ponies.
With the ponies gone, a few silent commands are given and the cage is lifted up and carried by a few armored dogs. There's no real way for you to stand on the bars, so you just sit, letting you legs dangle through the gaps.
The journey brings you down a series of different tunnels, some natural, others that look like they were carved. You try to memorize of the turns and which forked paths they take, but there's simply so many to keep track of. If you do get away from these crazy canines, finding your way out might be a problem.
Eventually, after meandering for hours, your new group of friends enter into a huge natural cavern. Along on wall is a spring seeping out of the wall into a pool of water at the base. There are diamond dogs in armor everywhere, their armor slightly brighter and more solid looking then those that caught you. And everywhere there are gems; gems piled on the ground, gems glowing in the rocks, gem studied in the armor of dogs, dazzling rainbow light on everything.
In the middle of the room is a towering throne made of living stone, with a huge stair case leading to it, speckled with raw gold and silver ore. Your cage is placed at the foot of the stairs, before the diamond dog king. And he's...
Adorable!
Sitting on purple pillows is a tiny toy breed dog with shortly trimmed white hair. And he's wearing a teeny tiny crown on his head and a cute little cape with white fluffy trim. You feel the irritable urge to pick him up and pet him.
There before the king of the diamond dog, caged, you decide to go for a diplomatic approach.
"Hi," You say, clearing your throat. "I see you have a lot of swag. As you can see, I'm pretty swag myself."
Rex looks down at you like you're something that should be picked up with a plastic baggie and lets out a little growl. All the other dogs in the room flinch away from him, except for the vested one, who steps forward with is head bowed.
"Great king, we bring you gift." He says, groveling a little and gesturing to you. "Funny monkey is covered in gems."
Rex seems to have lost interest and begins licking his paw in an adorably dignified manner.
"Can he talk?" You whisper to the vested dog, leaning over in the cage. He elbows you in the eye, keeping his attention on Rex.
"And and, he's more valuable!" He continues to grovel to the tiny dog. "We took him from ponies. Pony princess wants him. Can make them pay to get him back."
Rex perks up his little ears and trots down the long stone stair case, his little paws making tiny click as his claws hit the stone. He trots up to you cage and begins to sniff it with interest.
The tension in the air is almost palpable.
This dog is too cute. You can't help yourself.
"Hellooo. Who a little king," You say, bring full on baby talk. "Yous a wittle king. Yes you are, yes you are. Look at your tiny crown. Where'd you get that? You so cute."
Rex lays down on his back right in front of your cage, hit little white legs up in the air. The other dogs all look to scared to breath.
Cautiously, you reach you hand out through the bars and gently rub the small dogs belly. His fur is amazingly soft, like fluffy silk. He tiny tail starts thumping away almost immediately and you get a rhythm going.
"Who's the cutest wittle king with the cutest wittle belly? Rexy! Who's a good boy? That’s right, you are!"
After about thirty seconds of non stop, unadulterated belly rubs, Rex gets up on his own and starts licking your hand. It tickles, making you smile. The king of the diamond dogs stops and sits down, his tail wagging.
"I like him.” He says approvingly, his voice as adorable as the rest of him. "Throw him in the pit."
"Wait, what pit?" You ask. Immediately, you cage is lifted up and you're being carried away.
"You will work in the pit," Rex says as two armored dogs come one, placing him on a pillow and brushing him. "If the ponies want to deal, they can have whats left."
A lot of the dogs around you start snickering. You're getting a very bad feeling about this.
"You did good, Rover." Rex says to the red vested dog. His face lights up with joy and his sorta spike tail starts wagging. "Make sure to take his gems before you throw him in."
"Yes my king!" Rover says happily. He turns to the rest of the group. "Move you dogs! Rex has spoken!"
"Hey, Rex! You know I'm being hunted by the Princess of the ponies, right? You really want me in you in your den when she comes looking?"
"We'll see how much you are worth to the ponies." Rex says casually, making a little dismissive gesture with this adorable tiny paw. "And if they fight, we'll just say we lost you in the mines. Accidents happen."
Before you can retort any more, you're out of the throne room and being carried down yet another series of tunnels, all of which are noticeable sloping downwards. Eventually, you're brought to another large room. There’s a mine cart and track in the floor, the cart is tethered to a long rope part of a pulley system. The cart leads to a very dark, foreboding cave that slopes down at a terribly steep angle. The floor is shiny and slick with water seeping up through the stone. You also notice there’s quite a lot of armored guards here.
The dogs set you down. Rover inspects the door the the cage and handles the lock. Finding something that you don’t see, he bites the lock. It snaps off and he spits it out, sending it clattering down the cave slope. the door to the cage swings open. You're free... yay.
"Take his clothes."
"Whoa whoa whoa whoa, hold up now!" You say as they drag you out of the cage. "Hold on! You can just pick out the gems!"
"No, too slow. Take the clothes."
You fold your arms as tight as you can, trying to keep them from taking the nice suit Rarity made for you. So they start tearing the fabric right off your body.
"Stop! Stop, you're ruining it!" You plead, but the dog have already tore off the upper body of the outfit. "Hey, leave the pants!"
"Fine, we have the gems now." Two dogs roughly pick you up roughly, dragging you into mine cart near the lip of the cave slop. You can't see the bottom from here.
"Can I at least get a shovel?"
"Sho... vel?" Rover repeats the word, clearly confused. He hands you a torch. "You have this. Fill the cart and it gets pulled up."
"But what if I-"
The diamond dog gives the cart a rough kick, sending it down the track. One it goes over the lip of the cave, gravity takes control and you rocket down into the darkness below.