Winter starts to sigh in relief as what appears to be the last dog in the room falls, only for that to quickly turn into a groan when he hears rapid steps coming up from behind. He had been at this for...he doesn’t even know how long, and only recently the dogs had stopped pouring into the main room at such an alarming rate. He knows they’re down to the last few that hadn’t been allied, knocked out, or - for the majority that he dealt with - outright killed, but whenever he sees one more that they missed, he feels as though he still has way too long to go.
Turning quickly, he grabs the incoming dog’s legs in his magic and pulls, sweeping them right out from under the surprised canine. Not even moving from his spot, he then hovers Vitality over to the dog, the blade up to its neck.
Before dog or stallion can do anything else, Mercury kicks the other canine in the face, knocking him out. The fox then turns to his friend, quirking an eyebrow. ‘You can put that up, now. I think he won’t be getting up, anytime soon.’
The unicorn sighs and brings the knife back over to where the rest are floating. “Fine...though I was hoping to take care of the last pain in my ribcage.” He twirls Vitality and looks at it. “For a magical healing knife, it takes a lot of stabbing to fix anything completely.”
‘Then take those last few stabs from Alpha.’ He smirks, hopping up onto the cobalt pony’s back. ‘I know for a fact he’s the one you want to take all this out on, after all.’
“Oh, yes, he is.” Winter chuckles darkly. “But I’m not underestimating him. He’ll probably get me bleeding and bruised before I’m even close enough to try the same to him.”
‘Hey, if it comes to blows, I’ll take a few for ya.’ The silver fox smirks, patting him on the head. ‘I’m more durable, after all.’
The stallion sighs as he looks back at his friend. “First off, I refuse to use you as a meat shield regardless of your toughness. And second off, I’m pretty sure Alpha would focus more on the guy with the knifes than a little fox, no offense.”
‘I can be dangerous, too, even without weapons!’ He smacks his chest with a paw, grinning impishly. ‘I’ll bite at his heels to distract him, if I have to! Anything to keep you safe, Win!’
Winter smiles, then suddenly frowns. “Only problem is...what are we gonna do about the filly?”
‘I know that look.’ He sighs, shaking his head. ‘We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. As it is, we just need to get them separated.’ His ear flicks, his gaze snapping to the tunnel nearby. He slowly turns to each one, frowning deeply. ‘Did… did you hear that?’
“Speak of Sombra and he shall appear,” the unicorn mutters, nodding. He brings what remains of Equinox to attention, looking around slowly and calmly. “How convenient.”
‘Very. Question is...’ Mercury turns around, facing the direction opposite his friend. ‘Where will he strike from?’
Winter’s ears twitch slightly. “We’ll probably find out...” Suddenly, his horn glows brighter, and a translucent magical white dome forms around the duo. “Now!”
A flame plume shoots out of a tunnel, hitting the shield and dispersing harmlessly. For a moment, there’s silence, then hoofsteps echo down the stone path.
From the shadows steps the filly from the day before, looking at them with her emotionless eyes. “Huh. It didn’t work.”
Winter turns in the direction of the filly, levitating his knives...only to stop and drop them back to their original positions when he sees who it is. He keeps the shield up for the sake of safety and grits his teeth, calling out a question through the barrier. “Where’s Alpha?”
“Alpha is around.” She slowly steps forward, touching the barrier with a hoof. For a moment, the faintest hint of curiosity flickers across her face. “You didn’t use a spell. You didn’t even open the book. How?”
“It’s called unicorn magic.” The stallion taps his horn, but just lightly enough so as to avoid disrupting the magical output. “Same way I’m keeping these things off the ground.” He gestures to the floating daggers.
“Oh.” She shakes her head, slowly walking around the bubble. “I was hoping for a more exciting answer. Pity.”
‘As detached as ever, aren’t you?’ Mercury huffs, looking at the earth pony. ‘Listen, Ash, I know you’re confused, but-’
“Shut up.” The filly glares at him, lines momentarily forming down her cheeks from her eyes. “I know what you’re going to say. Alpha has been kind to me. Gave me a home. A reason to exist.”
“I’m pretty sure you could find a better home and reason to exist without having to work for a slave driver,” Winter remarks.
“He…” She falters a second. “He’s helping his friends. His family.”
The unicorn shakes his head. “I’ve talked with some of the dogs here. They don’t like having slaves. They miss digging on their own.” He pokes the barrier from the inside as a substitute for poking the filly herself. “Your Alpha ‘friend’ is hurting his family almost as much as he’s hurting the slaves they’re taking. Sure, some of them were okay with it...and look at what happened to them.”
She shivers, forcing herself to keep her eyes on him. “N-no. I don’t want to look.” She shakes her head. “H-he didn’t kill anyone. You did! Good guys don’t kill!”
“Correction. He didn’t kill anyone directly.” Winter jerks his head in the direction of a tunnel leading to now-empty cells. “Those slaves? Maybe none of them are dead right now, but who’s to say we didn’t arrive too late to watch him just chuck the bodies of overworked, malnourished ponies into a hole? And besides, we may be freeing them, but we can’t heal them until we get back to civilization. And with the injuries some of them have, it’s possible some might not even make it.” He narrows his eyes. “Besides...how is slavery that much different from murder? You’re taking someone away from the world either way. But in the case of the former, they’re just now helping you. The effect is the same.”
“S-shut up.” She turns away, fighting to keep the tears in her eyes. “H-he’s my friend. The only one who cares about me. I… I can’t turn my back on him…”
Winter sighs. “You make your own choices. I won’t demand you make specific ones.” He lets the shield fall and steps forward. “But I will demand one thing. Tell me: Where. Is. Alpha.”
Ash looks up at him, taking a step back out of fear. “I-I don’t know. He could be anywhere, down here.”
For a moment, with the way the daggers twitch in his magical hold, it looks as though Winter is about to take a shot at her. Instead, he sighs and brings them together in a small cluster, then looks back at Mercury. “Should we stay with her until Alpha comes out, or go find him? He’s got to be in the same direction she came from.”
‘We… should probably stay.’ He looks to the filly, staring up at them in a mix of outrage and fear. ‘She has to know… Alpha’s not the only one who cares about her.’
The unicorn nods. He looks back at Ash once more. “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m going to expect you to at least have the courtesy to do the same while we wait.”
She whimpers softly, her ears pinned to her head. “I… I couldn’t, if I tried…”
“You have hooves, don’t you? Those things can hurt if you swing hard enough. Trust me, I know.” He sits down, still looking around warily for any other attackers.
“That’s… not what I-”
A loud voice with a natural growl echoes from a nearby cave. “Enough, Ash. Speaking with them is only getting you upset.” Large thumping footsteps are heard getting closer, but at their owner’s casual pace.
Winter is back on his hooves in a second, turning in the direction of the incoming steps with his five knives all pointing the same way. He steps in front of Ash and glances back at Mercury. “Think we should?”
‘Should what? Protect Ash? Of course.’ He glances at the filly, cautiously moving between her and the book. ‘Though I don’t know about you, but I’d protect the tome. The dog might not be the honorable type.’
Regardless of what he says, the small pony runs from behind the stallion, skidding to a stop just outside one of the tunnels. “Alpha! You came!”
“It’s past time I saw for myself what chaos was rolling through my tunnels.” A black paw with brown palm reaches out of the shadows and scoops up the filly. A moment later, the big dog himself is revealed… and ‘big’ is certainly accurate. Squarely on the upper-tier of his species’ size range, the doberman walks with the confidence one expects from a leader who earned his position.
Unlike most of the other dogs whose usual attire include a vest and occasionally a helmet, Alpha dons a full thick leather chestpiece with metal shoulder pads. A well-used but well-made helmet rests on his head while wrist-guards covered in small spikes are strapped to his arms. His eyes rest squarely on the fox and pony, the small filly on one of his wide shoulders while the head of a warhammer pokes over the other, hung in a strap on his back. A fire red book with black lines on the cover is slotted in a holster on his belt, easily accessed by the arm hanging next to it.
“...this is gonna be fun.” Winter speaks in a low tone that makes it impossible to tell if he’s being sarcastic or not. His daggers twirl around once before pointing at the large dog. “Really wish the others were here.”
The fox on his back looks to his friend, curious. ‘To help you out?’
“To clean up the blood when this is all over.” Under his breath, he adds; “Whoever’s it is...”
Snorting at the daggers that are no bigger than one of his fingers, the dog grins at the pony, his teeth in full evidence. “You are a brave pony… or a foolish one.”
“Little column A, little column B.” As if just showing off, Winter levitates the knives in a spinning pattern before bringing them behind himself, then out again. He then quickly shot them forward, moving fast enough to make sure his foe wouldn’t notice that one of the knives had apparently vanished.
With a surprisingly swift single movement, the canine slides his feet slightly apart, draws his weapon, and uses it’s head to either block or swipe away the small blades. He grins again. “I am not some newborn whelp, pony. I suggest you improve so that I at least have a decent story to tell when I explain why there is a massive bloodstain on the wall of this cavern.”
“Sorry, but I’m not one for storytelling.” Winter grins, and unseen to the dog, the vanished fifth knife seems to materialize out of thin air behind him. “Talking too much can be a distraction.” He quickly stabs Vestige into the dog’s leg; one of the few unprotected parts on his body.
With a snarl of pain and rage, the dog rips the blade out of his leg and launches off his other one in a leap towards Winter, hammer in hand. His other paw snakes down, setting itself on the book as he barks out a single word. “Fureido!”
The filly’s eyes turn white as her mouth opens wide. A plume of fire launches out at the stallion and fox, the heat tangible from this distance. Reacting quickly, Winter jumps to the side, trying to keep Mercury somewhat steady on his back while doing so. His horn lights up and he recollects his daggers, but rather than use them just yet, he just brings them over and begins running around the room.
Like a dog on a rabbit, Alpha’s eyes follow the two. With a snarl, he swings his hammer in a wide low arc on the path they were running. Winter’s eyes widen as the object comes at him; unable to dodge or cast a spell in time, he instead rears up quickly onto his hind legs, taking the unavoidable blow to the stomach rather than likely fatally to the head. The force sends him and the fox on his back flying across the room, slamming into the wall before dropping to the ground.
Mercury slowly stands up, shaking himself thoroughly. ‘Wow, that was a trip.’ He steps in front of Winter, hackles raised at the diamond dog. ‘Just give up, Alpha! We’re gonna win, no matter what you do!’
Smirking, the dog looks down at the tiny silver fox. “Wrong, vulpine.” He whips out his book, flipping it open and barking once more. “Rin Fureido!” The filly’s eyes turn white once more, and she fires at them once more. However, instead of a single burst, three rings emerge, coming at them from different angles.
He holds his ground, glaring at the doberman. ‘Of course you understand me.’ He kicks at the stallion’s cheek with a hindleg. ‘Time to wake up, Win. If you don’t, we’re toast...’
A groan not unlike what you’d hear from somepony who had the urge to throw up came from the downed stallion. “I’m awake...” He opens his eyes and glances at the rings coming at them, not even bothering to stand up. His horn flickers to life, and a similar dome shield to before materializes around the duo; this one, however, is a bright red rather than white.
The flames collide with the shield, but instead of passing through, exploding, or anything, they simply snuff out. With a beastial growl, Alpha raises his hammer high with one hand. “Block this!” The hammer falls.
It goes through the shield, but collides with the fox, who had jumped up to take it for his friend. He slams straight into the ground before Winter, making a small crater upon impact.
Ash blinks at this, craning her neck to look at the fallen vulpine in concern. “Mercury? You’re not hurt too badly, are you?” A small whimper is the response, eliciting a sigh of relief from the small pony. “That’s good…”
“Hmm, you strange book creatures are tougher than you look.” With a scoop and flick, he tosses Mercury a short distance away as he reaches a paw down through the unicorn’s shield and towards his neck.
The arm gets within a few inches of its target before Vendetta suddenly embeds itself in the limb. Yowling, the beast withdraws the limb, cradling it and ripping the knife out with his teeth. Rather than tossing it away, though, he tries to bite through or bend the metal, tired of being stabbed.
The knife doesn’t even appear to be scratched, as though immune to all attempts to do so. Utilizing the moment as a distraction, Winter hauls himself to his hooves and drops the shield, then reaches out with his magic for the green-tipped dagger just by where he landed. As soon as he picks it up, he jabs Alpha’s leg with it just like he did with Vestige; this time, however, the effect is slightly different.
At the moment, though, it is not noticeable as Alpha lunges forward with both his empty paw and teeth, aiming to maul the pony at this short range. Obviously against this, Winter rolls to the side and barely avoids the attack, grabbing another blade with his magic as he does so. This one stands out compared to the others, having a blade that almost looks like a unicorn horn with the way it’s twisted.
Standing up, Winter turns and points the dagger at the dog, but doesn’t stab. Instead, the dagger briefly glows like an actual unicorn’s horn would, and then produces a harsh beam of hot light that goes right for the giant canine’s face.
Growling and turning his head away from the burning attack, Alpha puts a paw to his burned cheek. With his other paw, he makes a wide blind swing with his hammer, hoping to hit the pony. Instead, he feels it get stuck mid-swing as Winter casts a quick ordinary shield spell around the swinging weapon. The barrier forms as though it always did, making a space to trap the neck of the hammer, not budging an inch to allow it freedom.
“You already cracked both me and my friend with that,” Winter growls. “How about you quit overcompensating there and fight like a man? ...er, dog?”
Eyes blazing, the hound rises to his feet, testing them and feeling not enough pain to stop him from using them. Spreading his arms wide and lifting his head, he lets out a ear-wrenching howl before charging at the pony on all fours, claws ready to tear into anything that gets in the way.
Smirking, the stallion begins galloping right towards him, only to jump at the last minute and clamber over the dog’s head and onto his back. Alpha skids to a halt even as one claw reaches back and grabs for the unwanted rider. Surprisingly, Ash is the one that shoves him off, bowling him head over hooves to the floor.
Whirling around, Alpha swings one paw underhanded, scooping the pony up and tossing him across the room. The stallion lands on one of his front legs and winces as he hears a snapping sound, struggling to stand up as quickly as he can only to fall over again from lack of support.
Seeing his opponent immobile, the hunter grins once more. “That’s better.” Straightening up, he grabs his book again. “Let’s see… how to deal with you so that others won’t try what you did… hmm?” Surprisingly, as he opens the book, a new spell reveals itself. “Well well, this will do nicely. Ready to try a new spell, Ash?”
She blinks, visibly surprised. “A new spell, Alpha?” The filly looks down at the stallion, then to the canine, slowly nodding. “If you’re sure...”
With a grunt, Winter lights his horn, trying to grab for one of his daggers. With a frown and a quick lunge, the canine harshly grabs onto the skull protrusion. “No more of that.” He does a small quick wrench of his wrist, not enough to snap the horn, but plenty enough to hurt. Crying out, the stallion slumps again and the glow vanishes.
“Much better. Now then…” Alpha lets go and stands back up to consult the book once more. He rolls the foreign word on his tongue for a moment, working out his best guess at pronouncing it before speaking clearly. “Saifogeo!”
Unlike the other times, the filly glows softly before the light rises up off her body. It coalesces above her into a long, pink-hilted sword, the blade still shining with the light.
His brow furrowing, Alpha reaches up and takes the blade, looking it over critically. “Well… that is not what I expected…” Looking back at the pony, he shrugs. “Perhaps it is an enchanted blade that will set him on fire or something. Easy way to find out.” Pulling back his arm, he swipes the sword across the stallion’s torso.
Shutting his eyes as the blade makes contact, Winter waits for the pain...only to instead feel little more than the small wind caused from the sword being swung. He opens his eyes, confused, only to suddenly shut them again and wince as something in his leg makes another snapping noise, causing a surge of pain. This time, however, the pain is only temporary; within a couple seconds, it’s begun to dull, and that isn’t all.
The headache he received from Alpha twisting his horn begins to recede. The ache in his gut from the hammer earlier slowly vanishes. Even his side, previously the target of a rib-smashing club, starts to feel better.
As Alpha looks on in shock, Mercury, sitting off to the side, decides to chime in. ‘You know, I’ve seen that spell, once, before I met Win.’ He snickers, shaking his head. ‘Caused the caster the same amount of confusion then, too.’ The fox walks forward, patting his friend on the head. ‘It’s a healing sword. No way to injure someone with that, I dare say.’
“What?!” Looking to the rapidly healing unicorn and back to the sword, the dog lets out a growl before slicing himself with it. As the slight burn of his stab wounds recedes and the poison from Viper is cured, he slips the sword into the strap on his back. “Guess I’ll just have to beat you back down again!” Grabbing his hammer off the floor, he goes in for a quick swing.
“I think not,” Winter remarks with a chuckle as he deftly rolls to the side, avoiding the hammer easily as he stands back up on his now fully-mended leg. Shooting Mercury a grin, he grabs the blue book off his back, but doesn’t even need to open it to know what to yell. “Freezudo!”
The fox’s fur bristles as he blasts ice from his mouth, hitting the doberman’s legs. The ice quickly spreads, pinning the paws to the floor quite solidly, and in an awkward position due to his recovering from the swing.
Running over, Winter scoops Mercury up onto his back and glances around the room, grabbing his scattered daggers with magic to bring them back over. Once he has Equinox assembled again (minus Verdict, of course), he turns with Viper and stabs the half-frozen dog in the arm.
With a roar of pain, Alpha tries to wrench his limbs from being attached to the floor, squirming as he speaks. “Ash! Use the sword on me!”
She grabs the no-longer-glowing blade in her teeth and swings it at his arm, stumbling as it goes all the way through. She blinks, poking him gently and looking at him hopefully. Winter, just as curious, looks back at Mercury for an explanation.
The fox shrugs, keeping his voice low just in case. ‘It only works when shining. Otherwise, it’s just a hunk of metal.’
“You don’t say...” With a grin, the stallion turns Vision around again and aims another beam of light at the dog, staying back a fair distance to stay out of range of his foe’s hammer.
Ducking down so the beam hits his armor, Alpha successfully frees himself from the ice. He stands up, shaking himself a little as he remarks to Ash. “Wait until it shines, then try again.” Seeing the surprised looks on the other two’s faces, he smiles, twitching his ears. “Really? You thought whispering around a dog would work?” He hefts his hammer once more. “Now, where were we…” He crouches low, body coiled like a spring as he stalks closer to them.
“...the part where the rest of my team bursts in and helps save the day?” Winter offers sheepishly. When nothing happens, he sighs. “Well, so much for this being like the movies.”
“Not everything is so easy.” With a leap into the air, Alpha grabs his hammer in both paws as he comes dropping down on top of the two.
The unicorn grins all of a sudden, his horn lighting up and a shield forming just in time to block the hammer. However, this shield has a faint light blue glow to it; furthermore, it almost appears to be sparkling with static electricity.
Like the other shields, this one blocks the physical blow, though the canine can see the unicorn wince from the pressure on it. Not even a second after this, the dog lets out a yelp as he feels electricity coursing through his metal weapon, and thus, him. The filly on his shoulder doesn’t escape the shock either, crying out as the jolt knocks her off the dog.
Quickly, Winter drops the electrified barrier and refocuses his magic, ignoring the pounding in his head from the strain, and grabs Ash before she hits the ground. He rights her, then puts her on the floor carefully before letting go and turning back to the still-stunned dog, mouthing a quick apology to her.
She doesn’t seem to notice, her legs giving out and causing her to collapse on the ground. She groans, resting her head on the ground. “Alpha… make the room stop moving…”
Wincing, the unicorn looks back at the fox on his back. “Help her out, will you?”
He nods and leaps off his back, heading over to the filly and nudging her cheek. “It’s alright, Ash… I swear we’ll help you out of this.”
While this goes on, Winter decides to stop fighting from a distance. He charges forward and tackles Alpha before he can recover, hoping to use his weight to push the beast onto the ground.
His efforts are rewarded with nothing more than a grunt and the few inches the dog slides. Two massive paws suddenly clamp themselves around the unicorn, claws digging into him as he is lifted up to a gleaming set of teeth. “Fool.” Alpha then slams his foe into the ground, only to lift him up and repeat the process.
The stallion grunts with each slam, barely managing out parts of a sentence. “Thought...I was...fatter...” He tries to use his horn, but every time he focuses enough to light it, the next slam disrupts his concentration.
Then, a different light catches his attention. By Ash’s head, the enchanted blade starts shining once more. She makes a mad dash, rushing around the fox to grab the weapon and swing it at the doberman’s wounded leg, timing it so it would miss the other pony, currently being lifted up.
Rather, that would’ve been the case, if not for one thing. Mercury leaps up and grabs his friend’s foreleg, pulling it into the path of the sword and not letting go until it finishes its path. ‘Damn it, this is getting ridiculous. If you guys keep healing back up, there’s no way either of us can win!’ He spins and chomps down on Alpha’s leg, his twin tails wrapping around the other. He focuses and curls himself up, pulling them together and unbalancing the larger canine.
Finding himself tipping over, the large dog slams the pony into the ground one more time and keeps his paw squishing him as he finds his balance. He looks down with a growl, his other paw snaking down and wrapping around the vulpine, trying to pry him off.
The fox releases his jaw lock on the dog’s leg, snarling at him ferociously while his tails continue to bind the other hindleg. ‘Let us go, you mangy bastard!’
“I don’t think so.” Alpha pulls harder, feeling the silver form starting to be torn away from him.
‘You don’t think at all. You probably haven’t since you rose to power!’ His eyes flicker from the canine’s face to his stomach, a devious thought forming that he acts upon immediately. ‘Try being Alpha male after this.’ Mercury lunges forward, biting through the thin armor at the dog’s pelvis. His jaws clamp down harder, the leather and metal starting to crumple beneath the sheer force.
A high-pitched whine forces its way out of the dog’s throat as his sensitive bits are crunched on. His paw clamps onto the fox with desperate strength, ripping him off and tossing him away before he is forced to his knees from the pain. “Ash… sword… now…”
Thankfully for the pinned stallion, this is enough to loosen Alpha’s grip on him, and he darts out from underneath the giant paw over to where Mercury had been tossed, trying to catch his breath. “Good thinking, if a little painful to just watch.”
‘Painful for me, too...’ He chuckles, slowly standing. ‘I’ll need my teeth brushed fifty times to forget that...’ He watches the filly rush to the dog once more, stumbling slightly as he tries to catch her. ‘Shit...’
“I got it, Alpha!” She stops right next to him, sword loose gripped in her mouth to let her speak. “Don’t worry, this will-”
“Not be needed.” A wave of rock rolls between them, snatching the pink-hilted sword and bringing it over to one of the tunnels. “Seriously, what is all this? Scorch marks, ice…” The white nymph picks the blade up in her magic as she steps forward out of the shadows, her silver eyes falling on the cobalt pony. “You have some explaining to do, Sol.”
Winter groans. “Can the explaining wait until after we take care of tall, dark, and ugly as Tartarus over there?”
“Fine by me.” Dior shrugs and walks closer to the dog, bringing the sword before her. “You want this, do you?” She taps it with a hoof, watching as it vibrates with a musical tone. “Curious. Hardly any imperfections in this weapon… definitely not a blade for the likes of you, then.” She casually flings it over her shoulder. “Catch.”
The unicorn’s magic reaches out and snatches the blade from the air. Then, to the nymph’s utter surprise, he turns it around and thrusts it into his chest.
She rushes over, eyes wide in shock. “Sol! What th-” She cuts herself off, noticing that the blade didn’t draw any blood. “...how did…”
“Healing sword. A spell of theirs gone wrong.” He grins, slashing at Mercury with it next, the sword losing its glow immediately after.
“A spell?” She looks from the fox, getting to his feet and shaking himself, to the dog and filly, brow furrowed slightly. “But… neither of them can cast spells… right?”
Winter shakes his head. “Long story, and it’s part of the explanation I’ll be giving you later. But for now, we have a dog to put down.”
Dior seems skeptical at best, but she slowly nods, bringing up a hoof and letting the blade from before slide out, handle and all. “You might want this. Just in case.” She grabs the sword and puts it on her back, turning to the doberman. “So… is this gonna be- where’s that blood coming from?” She points at the small pool of crimson liquid slowly forming underneath the dog, baffled.
The stallion winces as he finally fully assembles Equinox, the six daggers spinning slowly above him. “Uh...let’s just say that Alpha’s not gonna be attracting any girls for a while.” He glances at Mercury, then back to the battle.
“That doesn’t matter!” Ash leaps forward, bristling slightly. “He doesn’t always have to have girls!”
“...did not need to know that.” Winter steps forward, looking at Ash. “Please move.”
“No!” She stamps her hoof, on the verge of tears. “You’ll only hurt Alpha more! I won’t lose my friend to anyone!”
“Oh, you won’t lose your friend?” The stallion’s voice grows low. “What about the friends and family of all the ponies he took away? Was that perfectly fine or something?” She whimpers, her head bowing. “Besides, we’re only fighting back as long as he does. If he gives up, we’ll leave quietly with the slaves. If he wants to battle to the death...” He trails off, letting her piece together the rest of his sentence for herself.
“H-he…” She trails off, turning to the dog, eyes full of hope and fear. “You’d let them go… right? I just… I don’t want to be alone, again, Alpha…”
Panting heavily, the doberman stares at the ground. “There is no quiet path. Ponies will not leave us alone after this. My pack had become strongest after I found you, no more challenges were made for Alpha position. We could focus. But ponies found us now, they won’t just let us be after this. There will be those who come back.” He growls, forcing himself to stand. “My pack shall stay the strongest! We-”
“Alpha, wait!” Ash rushes forward, rising on her hindlegs to place her hooves against his chest. “Y-you’re injured; pushing yourself like this, you… you could…”
“I could what?!” He snarls as he grabs her with a paw. “I could give in? Submit to ponies? I will not be lapdog! Not again! Never will I be simple thing for ponies to kick out of the way! I AM ALPHA! I am top dog, and no pony, dog, or anything, shall ever take that from me again!” His teeth are bared in a ferocious expression, his eyes blazing with what is clear to be decades of emotion.
“A-Alpha…” The filly whimpers, struggling to free herself. “Alpha, y-you’re hurting me…”
Dior scowls, eyes narrowing dangerously. “Put her down. We can all still walk away from this.” She holds out a hoof and steps forward, trying to placate the large canine. “We don’t have to make you a statistic; just let the filly go.”
He swipes his claw at the offered hoof, raising his hackles and backing away. “I will not be ordered by ponies!”
She stares at him, deadpan. “I’m a changeling.”
“I don’t care!” He practically roars at her. “I will not be ordered by anything!” He shakes the paw holding the filly. “This one is key to keeping power. Nothing else can have her. I kill her first!”
Winter growls. “Let. Her. Go.” His daggers twirl around dangerously, but he doesn’t move from his spot.
“Never!” Alpha backs up towards a tunnel, keeping his eyes switching around to all those in front of him. “Will gather more dogs… will use filly to become powerful again… will stay that way…” The filly in his paw lets her head fall against his thumb, sobs racking her small form.
The unicorn almost starts walking forward, but hesitates as soon as he lifts his hoof. Teeth gritted, he looks at Dior with a look of anger, guilt, and pleading.
Oddly enough, the nymph keeps her stoic expression. “Very well, then. You’ve made your choice. We’ll just make our own.” Her eyes dart slightly to the side, and she gives a curt nod.
Suddenly, from behind the canine, two familiar metal arms shoot out and crush the wrist of the paw holding the filly between their mace heads. Alpha howls in pain as he drops the filly, unable to feel his paw anymore. As she falls, suddenly a grey hoof punches through the floor below. Maud pops her head out and scoops Ash up, diving back down into her small tunnel and shoring it up with replacement rocks not a moment later.
Hydro takes the opportunity to run around the canine and join his wife and their leader. “You did tell him to let her go. Just thought I might help with that.”
“I’m glad you did.” Dior smiles, nuzzling his cheek before turning to face the dog once more. “Looks like your key just got taken.”
His feral grin returns as he brings the book up from his belt. “No, only misplaced. Easily located when I have her roast your friend.” He opens his mouth to recite a spell, only for it to be interrupted before it can begin when Vitality flies at him.
With a calculated swing, the dagger slips its blade into his mouth and slices directly through his tongue before retracting back to Winter’s side. The unicorn takes slow, angry steps towards the beast. “Bad. Dog.”
‘No treat for you.’ Mercury jumps up onto his friend’s back, grinning victoriously at the larger canine. ‘You know, Win, he has no need for a book without his tongue. He has to sound out every word, after all.’
“Oh, I know.” His pace unchanging, the stallion sends Viper in, piercing the arm holding the tome. “But like you said earlier...this is the guy I want to take my anger out on.”
The increasingly injured dog drops the book, clamping his paw over his mouth as a few drops of blood come out of it. He takes one more look at the group assembled before letting out a bubbling growl, turning tail, and running out the tunnel.
Hydro lets out a sigh of relief. “Good. That fight was getting more and more one-sided.” He taps his hoof on the floor three times.
Winter, meanwhile, turns and heads towards the dropped book. He picks it up with his magic and silently deposits it on his back, along with his own blue one, before turning back to the group. “We’re going after him. But first, where’s the filly?”
“Here.” Maud slowly walks in from the tunnel behind them, Ash held in her foreleg. “She needed hugs.”
The unicorn instantly changes course and darts over, nearly upsetting the books and fox on his back. “Is she okay?”
“He… he used me…” She sniffles, looking up at the cobalt pony, tears still streaming down her face. “I thought he c-cared… but he was just lying through his teeth…”
Frowning, Winter gently puts a hoof on her, leaning down to be at eye level with her. “It’s okay, Ash...he’s not gonna hurt you, or use you, anymore. You won’t deal with him ever again.”
“B-but… what do I do now?” She curls up in Maud’s foreleg, eyes focused on the ground. “I… I have nowhere to go…”
“You come home with us,” the unicorn answers without hesitation. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll help you, okay?”
She blinks, looking at him in confusion. “You… you would?”
“We would.” Maud confirms, giving the filly a comforting squeeze. “You will be safe.”
Ash stares at the gray mare, confused. “Um… thanks?”
“She’s right. You’ll be safe with us.” Winter slowly brushes her mane with a hoof, managing a small but warm smile. “Okay?”
She rubs at her face with a hoof, smiling shyly. “O-okay…”
Three paws thump down in an uneven rhythm. Hot breath hisses through Alpha’s teeth as he runs ever upward, the layout of the tunnels imprinted in his mind. He needs to get away, at least for a time; he was getting into worse and worse condition. To be beaten by ponies, again… it made his blood boil.
Before him comes the flicker of blue sky, the signal for the exit of the mines. He smiles, wincing right after as he feels his injured tongue. Still, he presses on, seeing his goal in sight. He bursts out of the tunnel...
...and straight through a wall of sky-blue clouds. Alpha has just enough time to growl and start batting the fluffy things out of his way before he suddenly slams into a rock wall. Groaning, he slumps to the ground, his battered body finally making him take a rest now that he has stopped moving.
At least, until a large weight lands on his gut. “Hey, lay off, mutt!” The goldenrod drone looks up, his horn glowing as the clouds gather back together. “Do you know how hard it is to paint clouds? I don’t want you ruining my work, you uncultured buffoon!”
Breathing heavily, Alpha grabs onto the rock wall and starts trying to pull himself up. “Quiet… cursed… pony.”
A cut suddenly opens up on the dog’s arm. “Changeling, you blithering idiot.” He sits himself down on the canine’s stomach, shaking his head. “Why can’t you dogs get that right?”
“Don’t care… get… off…” The dog tries to use his paw to push the drone off him.
“Keep struggling, and I’ll have to make you go to time out.” He points up, where several dogs float above them. “Do you want that, or will you tell me why you’re running? Aren’t you going to help free the ponies?”
Alpha growls. “Never release ponies… never…”
“What?” He frowns, confused. “Why say that? I’m sure Alpha’s been defeated by now…” He looks over the doberman’s body, eyes narrowing slightly. “Though you seem to be quite injured. Did the friendlies get at you?”
Another growl. “Alpha not beaten… not yet…”
“Uh, yeah he is. If not, he will be.” Flick chuckles, patting him on the head. “Just be a good boy and wait until then, okay? Then you’ll have a new, better leader.”
“No better leader…” Alpha’s eyes burn as he weakly tries to bite the hoof that patted him. “I made us strong… We will stay strong…”
The drone stares blankly at him. “Wait… you’re Alpha?” He frowns, lifting up a brush from his art kit behind him. “That makes things different. Question is,” he swishes his brush above them, the back of the dog’s paw gaining another laceration, “take you to Celestia… or finish you off, myself.” He taps his chin, looking up at the sky. “Decisions, decisions…”
Not even wasting the energy to groan from yet another injury, Alpha tries to push himself up. “Not bow to pony… never… not lapdog…”
“Oh? Pity.” He glances up as the sound of rumbling meets his ears. “Well… maybe you’ll bow to your betters?”
“No pony is my better… not anymore… not again…” His already strained muscles strain more as his back comes off the ground.
Flick smirks, seeing who is approaching. “No pony? I think that’s your opinion... but what about your pack?”
“Alpha is always strongest… and I am strongest.” He successfully sits up; not a terribly impressive accomplishment in most cases, but for him it felt like a massive victory.
He points over the doberman’s shoulder. “Why don’t you tell them that?”
With effort, Alpha turns, his eyes widening at the sight of a good number of his dogs approaching, most if not all of them unscathed. “Pack, where were you? Did you get rid of the ponies?”
“I’d say not.” From within the group emerges a white unicorn, smirking coyly. “In fact, I think that Fluffy here has something to tell you.” She looks up at the dog next to her, smiling warmly. “Isn’t that right?”
The diamond dog in question steps towards his downed former leader, wearing a smirk not unlike Vinyl’s. “Pony right.” He swiftly wraps his paws tightly around Alpha’s neck, glaring into his eyes. “Alpha...not Alpha anymore.”
“Well, you seem to have everything under control.” Flick waves the mare over, nodding to the large gray dog. “We’ll leave this guy to you. We’ve got a train to catch!”
While the numerous ponies file out of the cave system, the largest dog cares not, only seeing the one in front of him. As he looks into the strong eyes of the dog in front of him, the last fire in the doberman’s eyes die out to be replaced by acceptance. “So be it… lead them… well…”