//------------------------------// // 03 - Beleaguered Castle // Story: The Conversion Bureau: Dogs of Winter // by Cloudhammer //------------------------------// Year 6, Week 9, Tuesday The structure was sturdily built, walls of steel-reinforced stone looming imposingly over the forest. At the single entrance to the building, two unicorns stood guard, their brown eyes glaring into the darkness. Beside them stood two earth ponies, their heavy armor rendering them like walking tanks. Overhead, three of the best pegasi the Guard could provide circled in surveillance pattern, keen eyes scouring the surrounding jungle for any trace of movement. Not even a small bird taking flight could escape their gaze. And at the very top of this fortress, a small red flag fluttered gently in the evening air. Down in the jungle, a pair of eyes was carefully tracking the airborne pegasi. “Damnit, they changed the pattern again. They learned after our last attempt.” Desmond squinted. “Fuck me, Moody’s up there. I know she’s out to get me.” There was a growling chuckle from the figure buried into the vegetation behind the red pegasus. “Maybe you should try baiting her again, she seemed to like running your dumb ass down.” “Shut the fuck up mutt,” Desmond hissed, careful not to let his voice rise above a whisper. “Just don’t screw up your part of the job.” Another figure leaned slightly out of the bushes. “If you two don’t shut it I’m going to buck you out in the open and let the unicorns take your sorry butts down like the time before last.” The two squabbling figures fell silent, though not before shooting each other a glare. Rangel slowly pulled back, lowered himself to the ground, and buried his forepaws in the loose soil. Slowly, he began to sweep, pushing the dirt aside easily, though he took great pains to keep it from rustling the bush or making any noise. Once he had cleared a hole large enough, he began to move down, pushing the earth past him until he struck rock. Closing his eyes, Rangel concentrated, letting himself feel the rock below the dirt, willing himself into it. Slowly, his claws slid into the stone, and he began to form the initial tunnel. Next to the forming entrance, a white earth pony, his coat thoroughly covered in mud to hide him from the eyes in the sky, carefully used his hooves to push the material to the side. “Alright, keep your eyes open,” Emmet whispered as he concentrated on not making any more noise than absolutely necessary. “David, make sure none of those Night Guard unicorns are sneaking up on us again.” “Freeze.” The final member of their team, a hulking earth pony, suddenly whispered. Almost in unison, the group complied, as a bat-winged pegasus zipped by not forty feet overhead. Once a full minute had passed, Rangel and Emmet returned to expanding the tunnel. “Those goddamned Night Guard pegs. Normal Guards I can put up with. But those bats are just plain cheating.” Desmond muttered as he swept the sky. “There, there’s the other one. Try to sneak around when I’m watchin’, huh?” “You’re just mad they caught you the second time we took this test.” David said with a quiet snort. Further conversation was ended as Rangel stuck his head out of the hole. “If you all are done chattering, we’re running out of time. We only have until sunrise to finish this.” The other ponies all nodded before carefully entering the tunnel. Once they were inside, Rangel carefully pushed the rock back into place, the stone almost acting like putty under his claws. He was still fascinated by how easily it came to him, almost like his body had knew how to do it from the get go. Dr. Lewis had explained that a side effect of the Conversion was the imparting of low-level instincts, like how newfoal pegasi knew how to use their wings, and earth ponies could sense the earth under their hooves. In his case, they weren’t entirely sure what instincts would be given him, so they’d had him write down anything Ferrik taught him, so they could use it for other diamond dog converts once the serum went public. The time dragged by as Rangel continued to tunnel through the raw stone. The darkness was dispelled by Heart’s magic, while Emmet and Moses worked to keep the stone moving behind them. Stopping every few dozen feet, the newpup pressed his paws against the stone and concentrated, feeling where the natural stone ended and the formed stone began. How he could tell had confounded him for most of his training, but ultimately he’d simply accepted that was how it was. No sense in trying to wrap his brain around a concept that ultimately couldn’t be wrapped around. Once he felt they were in the right spot, he set about expanding the area so they could bunch together. “Alright, we’re under the front wall. Give me an hour to get ready. Then make your moves.” “An hour? The fuck are we supposed to do for an hour?” Desmond asked irritably. Rangel only shot him a smirk. “Figure it out for yourself, ‘Diamond’.” The moon had just turned over the top of the sky, and the guardponies garrisoning the small fortress were in the middle of shift change. They were confident, all thirty of them were awake and the odds of four ponies and one dog attacking the fortress were nonexistent. And that was when the earth ponies at the front gate felt it. The ground seemed to... shift slightly. They peered around the jungle when suddenly, with a sharp crack, the entire structure sank a foot and a half into the ground. The pegasi overhead tightened their formation, the Night Guard pegasi joining them a moment later to scan the jungle for any sign of an attack. Further cracks came as suddenly, the whole rear half of the building tore free of the rest and fell backward into the jungle, throwing up a cloud of dust that obscured the ruins of the fortress from sight. Almost as soon as the ground finished shaking, a streak of red shot up through the dust, blasting through the middle of the pegasi overhead. One tumbled away, a wing spasming from the kick it had received. “That’ll show em,” Desmond hollered as he rolled over into a dive, the other pegasi giving chase. “I’ll give it to the mutt, he knows how to put on a good show.” Down on the ground, the unicorns and earth ponies were still stumbling around aimlessly, the dust too thick to see more than five feet in front of their faces. One of the earth ponies suddenly bumped into what felt like another pony, only this one was huge, towering a full head over him. “Wait a minute-” The rest of the sentence was never finished as a hoof collided with the front of his helmet, denting the metal and dropping the unfortunate pony to the ground. “Clear. Go.” Moses said as Emmet and David emerged from the tunnel behind him. Almost instantly the three ducked as a unicorn shot a spell at them. “David, take care of it!” Emmet shouted as he and Moses broke into a gallop, vanishing into the dust. David turned to face the other unicorn, both their horns glowing as they prepared to unleash their next spell. However, the dust was starting to settle, allowing Heart to see the five blurry shapes taking up position next to his opponent. “Oh, that’s just not fair.” The unicorns released all their spells, the dust blasting away in flashes of multicolored light. Emmet and Moses moved as quickly as they could, pouncing on the isolated and confused guards. But after the first three, the guards pulled into a ring around the two, not allowing them the chance to vanish back into the dust. “Guess we’re out of luck, eh Moses?” Emmet asked rhetorically as the unicorn guards trotted up, the immobilized David held tightly in their magic. “Yep.” The bulky earth pony was as terse as ever. The guards deposited David into the circle with a thud before releasing him. “Sorry Sarge, not much one can do against six.” “It’s fine, Sergeant,” Emmet said with a sigh. “Least we tried.” A blur of motion overhead caught their eye as the pegasi descended, harrying a solitary red form to the ground. “Damn bastards, using the Night Guard like that,” Desmond said with an angry toss of his head, his wings flared in challenge. “Oh shut it, little colt.” A bat-winged pegasus mare landed in front of Desmond. “Your technique’s still sloppy, want me to lend you a hoof with it?” she asked with a sardonic smirk. Desmond snorted, glaring at the other pegasus. “Bring it on Moody, I’m still better than you one on one!” “Whatever makes you sleep better at night,” she replied as she snapped her wings to take off, catching him sharply across the nose with her tail as she did. “Try not to sprain a wing, it makes it less fun.” “Alright, now let’s go find the mutt, he can’t be too far,” one of the earth pony guards said as the pegasi started clearing the cloud. “And you’d be right,” a new voice called out from the depths of the rapidly diminishing cloud. Instantly, the guards whirled, forming into a defensive wall. A figure heaved itself over a wall of rubble, something held under one arm. Tossing the unconscious pegasus Desmond had kicked to the ground, Rangel held up the flag in his left paw. “So, what do we win?” The room was silent, aside from the clip-clopping of hooves on wood as Captain Flare paced back and forth in front of the assembled team. “So, let me get this straight. Instead of following the orders you were given, which were to infiltrate the fortress, neutralize the guards, and capture the flag, you instead saw fit to demolish the entire building?” The four ponies all looked squarely at Rangel, who crouched down a little before sighing. “Sir, our unit made six attempts to take the fortress through conventional means and as per orders. I felt that making a seventh conventional attempt would not be in the best interest of the mission. And in our defense, the collapse was timed for the shift rotation so no one would be in the rear of the structure, sir.” Flare snorted. “And just what were the rest of you doing while Mr. Rangel here was off destroying a perfectly viable training facility?” The ponies shifted uncomfortably before Emmet spoke up. “Sir, we were playing cards, sir. Blackjack to be precise.” Flare just stared at them, trying to decide whether he was being serious or not, when a chuckle came from the doorway. “Well, it might not have been the idea we had in mind when this exercise was thought up,” Aegis said as he entered the room, “but they technically did get the flag.” “But... the facility-” Flare said dumbfoundedly, only for Aegis to gently cut him off. “Sometimes, when ya got no other option, breakin’ the rules is all you can do. Sure ain’t gonna be no rules to follow when they get to it where they’re goin’.” Aegis turned and faced the five. “Alright, ya passed the last test. So enjoy the rest of the night, you’re getting sent to the Equestrian northern border post at dawn. From there, you’ll be totally on your own. If you get caught, you are not citizens of Equestria, and there will be no help coming for you. Rangel, Ferrik wants to see you at the southern entrance. Don’t take all night now.” Rangel nodded, heaving himself off of the chair and making his way out of the barracks. Once he was outside, his nose twitched as he took a deep sniff of the night air. He could smell the ponies inhabiting the camp, the humidity in the air, and one familiar scent to his right. Walking calmly along the dirt path, he soon made out the shape of Ferrik lurking just outside the gate. “So, what’d you want me for?” “Ferrik have something to tell you.” He heaved himself to his paws. “Follow me.” Rangel nodded, yet again glad that the serum had imparted the basic understanding of the dog's language to him. He’d never done well with foreign languages of cultures on earth, let alone ones from other worlds. Together, the two loped into the dark jungle, moving steadily uphill until they cleared the treeline. The sky was clear overhead, the stars twinkling like diamonds around the silver moon. “So, what exactly are we doing?” Ferrik didn’t answer, instead leading him further up, to the top of the ridge. Once they were there, Ferrik stood stock still, staring at the moon. Rangel sat patiently for the first few minutes, but rapidly got bored. “So, are you gonna tell me anything or-” “Ferrik knows of choice given you before you became as us.” His voice was quiet, almost too quiet for Rangel to hear. “K’rik took great offense at it. We hear of what you did in St. Louis,” he stumbled briefly over the human words, “and there should not be punishment for that. So, K’rik and Ferrik decide on offer of our own. If you so choose, you may join K’rik’s pack when hunt over.” Rangel just stared. From what little he’d learned, this kind of thing was never done. Sure, other dogs could join, but only after proving their value to the pack, usually through dueling the beta. For the pack to extend an offer like this was a huge concession by the alpha, and potentially a loss of face should the new packmate not be up to standard. “I... I don’t really know-” “What is there to not know?” Ferrik tilted his head. “Pack would be strengthened by you.” “It’s just something I’m not sure I can decide now,” Rangel said with a sigh. “I mean, it’s only been a month.” Getting an idea, he looked over at Ferrik. “Can I decide when I return?” Ferrik nodded. “I do not see problem with it.” He lifted his head toward the moon. “Now, join me. We shall cry to the moon for a successful hunt.” The haunting howls rose into the air, echoing across nearly the entire island. In their homes and apartments by the beach the ponies glanced fearfully out the window, their instincts warning them of predators on the hunt. In the Royal Guard barracks, the guards stamped their hooves nervously, looking to their fellows for reassurance. Inside the lounge, David looked out the window toward the jungle. “What in the world is that?” Emmet joined him. “I believe that our new Joker is ready to go.”