//------------------------------//
// Chapter 7: The Adventure of Logan and Lyra 
// Story: The Lone Wolf of Equestria 
// by JNKing 
//------------------------------//

When Logan finally awoke, it was to the sound of music. Rhythmic and with a bouncy beatto it. 
Logan’s’ eyes snapped open. He was in some sort of basement; he could see stairs leading up somewhere. He was laying on a table with small straps pinning his paws down in front of him. Standing before them was that mint green unicorn, humming softly to herself as she examined his paws. As he watched, she slowly found that his paws were similar to a clenched fist. By pressing on the pads underneath, she could make humanoid claws pop out, and make the paw change into a set of humanoid hands. With an excited squeal, she continually switched them; claw to paw, and paw to claw. 
“The heck are you doing?” Logan snapped. 
The mare jumped with a yelp, dancing backward from him before realizing he was still strapped down. 
“Oh, good,” she said, “You’re awake. We can really get started now.”
“Screw that,” he snapped, “Let me out of here!” 
She raised an eyebrow. “Now why would I do that?” she asked, “I mean, you may not BE a human, but you have human hands. You can, at least partially, transform into one! I’d have to be crazy to just let you go!” 
“You’d be even crazier if you kept me,” he snarled, “Because I’m not doing anything for you!” 
Her frown deepened. “You know, you really should be more respectful to me. I mean, I did get you away from Rainbow Dash. I’m holding you captive here. I can do whatever I…”
With a rip upward, Logan tore his restraints loose, leaped off the table and towered over her.
“Want… to you?” the mint green unicorn squeaked out, as she found herself staring at a very angry and very free werewolf. Her horn briefly glowed before his claws clamped across the horn. With a twitch, her horn went dead.
He smirked, as she once again started to tremble.
“Oh, come on, please?” she started to beg, tears poking at her eyes, “I just wanted to see how your paws worked.” 
“So, you just decide to kidnap me?” he snarled, his grip on her horn tightening.
“You’re the closest thing I’ve got to a human,” she insisted, her eyes darting up at the staircase. Logan found himself glaring in that direction, but not taking his paw off her.
Though her comments registered to him; “Human?” “You may not BE a human…”
“Human?” he demanded, lifting her right off her hooves. “Why would you want anythingto do with those evil discount apes!”
Despite the fear in her eyes, the unicorn’s eyes narrowed. 
“They are not evil discount apes,” she snapped, “They are curious and interesting creatures, and…”
“If you saw the humans that I’ve seen, you would be swallowing your words, Paw-Girl,” he said, setting her down hard. 
“It’s Lyra,” she said, though he ignored her, as an idea came to his head. “And can you let go of my horn? That’s sensitive…”
“Hang on,” Logan said, lifting her up again, and looking at her horn, “You can do magic, right?” 
“Well… not right now,” Lyra admitted.
“And Celestia used magic to get me here,” Logan said, his eyes darting from side to side.
“She did?” Lyra asked. Logan dropped her to the ground, but pointed at her without looking at her.
“Uh, don’t use that horn on me again,” he said vacantly, before exploring his surroundings.
The basement was bare aside from her table, but there was a window that poked out to the outside. He glanced out there, briefly seeing Twilight and Fluttershy walk by with worried expressions. He wisely ducked down before one of them saw him, only to find Lyra creeping up behind him.
“Wait, you mean that magic can…” Lyra tried to ask before Logan whirled on her.
“Yes,” he said instantly, “Magic brought me here, and magic can take me back.” He paused. “But it likely won’t work here…” 
Lyra glanced down at his paws, turning from claws to paws with simple clenches as he thought. 
“Can… I just get my notepad,” she asked, “The structure of your claws is really…”
“Listen to me,” he said, forcing her to look up at him. “If you can take me to where Celestia lives, I think I can find out how she took me. Then, you use this fancy horn of yours to reopen the portal she pulled me through. We go together…”
“And I finally get to see the humans?” Lyra asked hopefully.
A dark grin spread across Logan’s face. “Help me, and you’ll have all the humans you ever wanted,” he replied.
Lyra’s eyes bugged out of her skull in excitement. She was stopped short of a fangirl squeal by the voice of someone upstairs. 
“Lyra? Are you down there?” 
Logan and Lyra stared at each other in horror. 
“Get her gone!”Logan mouthed, pointing upward. 
“Yes, I’m here, Bon Bon,” Lyra said quickly, “Uh, don’t come down!”
“Why not?” Bon Bon asked, “What are you doing down there?”
“Um…” Lyra glanced around worriedly, “I’m, uh, building your birthday present!” 
Logan shot her a confused and irritated glare, but she just shrugged angrily. 
“Top secret stuff,” she continued, “Don’t come down here!”
There was a pause. 
“I heard some pony talking down there. Who’s with you?” 
Logan and Lyra winced, Logan covering his mouth with a muted moan.  
“With me?” Lyra asked nervously, “No ponies’ with me, why would you think that?”
“Again. I heard some pony else talking.” 
“You did? Oh! I mean, uh, yeah, of course you did! I…"
“H-Have a worker down here!” Logan replied, “Yeah, some… slave mule that’s working on your birthday present for you!”
Now it was Lyra’s turn to grimace in horror at Logan, and Logan’s turn to shrug angrily.
The voice was silent for a bit.
“Okay, one; mules are not slaves,” Bon Bon said carefully.
Logan grimaced.
“Second; isn’t that Fluttershy's new pet? You know he belongs to her, right?” 
That did it! 
“I BELONG TO…?!” Logan nearly bellowed, before covering his mouth in horror as Lyra shoved him back, horror equally written on both their faces.
“Yep, that sounds like him alright,” Bon Bon replied, “I’m coming down there; he has to answer to Pinkie for ruining one of her parties.”
As Bon Bon’s hoof steps started to lower, Lyra turned to Logan in shock and horror. 
“What did you do with Pinkie…?” Lyra started to ask, but Logan covered her mouth.
“If that mare takes me,” Logan growled, “You’ll never get the chance to meet my humans!”
“Uh, eh, I, eh, oh, uh…” Lyra stammered and whimpered as the sound of Bon Bon grew closer and closer. Just as a cream covered hoof hit the first stair in sight, Lyra let out a moan of agonized conflict and threw herself over Logan, who’s fur glowed as he embraced her. With a flare of her horn and a sharp POP, they vanished from the basement.

#

The two popped out into some sort of garden. As Logan rolled to a stop, he glanced around with angry determination. They had landed in a maze-like garden complete with stone statues. Above them loomed a giant Roman styled castle. Like something out the human’s fairy tales.
But then the scents came to him. At first, it was just freshly cut grass and a sickly-sweet perfume of what could only be high class nobles. Yet, as Logan strode forward, he picked out something… familiar.
A scent of wolves.
His scent! It was faded; probably by a day or so, but it was there.
I was here before those girls found me, Logan realized with a gasp. He barely noticed the glow that was fading from his fur, and watched it fade with a slowly growing grin. Lyra was too busy staring around in dumb shock.
“How did I teleport this far?” Lyra whimpered as she stumbled to a stop, “This… I shouldn’t have been able to do this…”
“You had help,” Logan said, grinning at her as he held up one of his paws, which glowed softly before petering out, much to his confusion. 
“Help? I…” she stared at the last vestiges of glowing in his fur. “Wait… you’re amagic wolf?!”
“Kinda,” Logan admitted, “I heard my kind can enhance others abilities. Strength of the… pack…?” he trailed off, suddenly looking incredibly guilty. Lyra shifted, before he looked at her with a kinder light. “You’re doing me and my pack a great service,” he said gratefully. “If we get caught, or the humans aren’t all they’re cracked up to be…”
“No,” Lyra said, her own determined grin coming back, “No, I’m ready; this is what I want.” She nodded, only for her grin to fade back into panic as voices reached them.
“Unauthorized teleportation into Canterlot. The source is right around here!” 
Logan and Lyra grimaced before Logan grabbed the mare, tucking her behind a statue before leaping into some neatly trimmed shrub bushes. Mere seconds after they had hidden, a unicorn and pegasus guard rounded the corner, their eyes glancing around in all direction.
“No pony here,” the pegasus noted.
“They must have made for the most convenient hiding spot,” the unicorn replied, “Check the area around the statue! I’ll check the bushes!” 
Lyra froze in a panic, only for the two to start rummaging through the shrubbery walls and fences opposite them. Logan motioned for Lyra to follow, and the mare snuck by the guards, taking to Logan’s side. Noticing how she was more comforted when he had his paws on her, Logan kept a firm grip on her as he slunk back from the guards, managing to creep onto the other side of a garden wall. 
Tiptoeing through the garden, Logan managed to put enough distance between themselves and the guards for Lyra to stop trembling. From there, he let his senses take over. His scent was close. It was coming from somewhere inside the castle. Reinvigorated, Logan motioned for Lyra to follow, and they made their way towards the castle. 
Logan spied an open window, and avoiding the gaze of a patrolling pegasi, he raced over to it. Lyra right beside him.
“Okay,” Lyra said, “How’re we doing this?” 
Logan glanced back, ensuring the guards hadn’t seen them. He yanked Lyra up, hoisting her for the window.
“Grab the ledge,” he told her. 
“Uh, okay…” she muttered, reaching for the ledge. 
A pegasus flew by, and Logan froze, worried he’d see them. Yet the guard passed by without notice.
“Grab it and pull us in!” Logan hissed.
Lyra got ahold of the window, but as she tried to pull herself up, her forelegs failed her.
“I can’t!” Lyra hissed back, her face straining before she lost her grip. 
Logan cursed as they hit the ground, freezing for a moment as they ensured no guards had heard them. Growling, Logan jumped onto a still recovering Lyra’s back, easily catching the window with his front paws.
“Okay, grab onto me,” Logan instructed. With his werewolf claws’ greater versatility and his own strength, he yanked himself upward, and pulled himself and Lyra into the building.
“Whoa,” Lyra stammered as she was pulled into the building, “You really know how to climb.”
Logan glanced back at her. “This is an Afternoon delight for my kind,” he replied, “When food’s low, we usually sneak into rich people’s places and get food for ourselves.” 
Lyra probably had a reply for that, but Logan didn’t hear it; he froze in awe as he finally took in the inside this castle. His parents had always told him that humans liked to live in splendor and flash, but he never truly captured how… huge their living spaces were. Walls climbed high to arc into the ceiling. Pillars adorned every hallway Logan and Lyra crept down. Even the barest of ways held tapestries and carpeting complete with murals and paintings. Celestia truly was a royal, and that made Logan even more angry at himself for daring to trust her. 
His father had always told him, “All royals are bad. They think themselves gods, but are little more than children, playing their games and then screaming that the rules aren’t fair when people like us have enough of their tyranny.”
Logan’s reflection almost cost them, as he failed to pick up hoof steps until Lyra hissed at him. Yelping, Logan leaped behind a pillar. Lyra wasn’t as lucky, however, as a younger guard rounded the corner and caught sight of her. 
“Oh, uh…” Lyra stammered, “I…” Recognition flickered in her eyes. “Oh! Vigil! Hi!”
Logan didn’t dare peek out from the shadows, but the voice of the guard was friendlier than the first one.
“Hello, Ms. Heartstrings!” Ever Vigilant replied, “Come back to do more research on the hoo-mans?” 
“It’s, uh, humans, Vigil,” she replied, “But… yeah! You never know when something new might come in.”
“Well, you know what they say,” Vigil replied, “Two-hundred thousandth time’s a charm. Follow me.”
With that, he turned around and began to lead her onward. Logan peeked out from cover, while Lyra gave him a wink. Logan grimaced, but then noticed that the scent was closer. In fact, it was right in the direction Vigil was taking them. Trying to keep his tail from knocking over a vase, Logan crept on after them, checking his six for any other guards.
In all too short a time, Vigil took Lyra to a set of bronze and oak doors. But, to Logan’s’ dismay, he only opened the door by a crack, enough for Lyra to slip in.
“Y’know, while you’re here,” Vigil noted, “If there’s anything I can…”
Without thinking, Logan jumped forward and slammed his claw into the back of the guard’s neck. He went down like a light, while Logan nudged Lyra inside, the latter looking at the guard’s body in horror.
“Why did you…?” she stammered, “He was helping us!”
“He wasn’t gonna let me in,” Logan insisted, “Now come on, I know we’re…”
He paused, his ears flattening in horror. There were way more unicorns in the library than he thought. And all of them had turned to him in shock. 
For a moment, they all stared at each other. 
Finally, Lyra gave a quiet “Sh; this is a library!”
One of the unicorns promptly screamed. “Guards!” 

#

“That’s completely unprecedented, you’re grace,” the noble droned, shooting a glare at the noble next to him, “I’m completely unwilling to justify any of his expenses.” 
“And these expenses include…?” Celestia asked, hoping for some entertainment.
“Twenty thousand bits for ‘Candi,’” the noble exclaimed, “And yes, that’s Candi with an ‘I.’”
Celestia had to hide her smirk, as did the younger noble by the complainers’ side. 
“Along with a priceless gold carriage,” the older noble continued.
“I thought I could paint it red,” the younger noble replied, “But turns out gold and red paint doesn’t go together as well. So, I had to scrap it.”
“Scrap it?” Celestia asked. 
“Um… apparently, that was defined as ‘ramming it into Donut Joe’s, ma’am,” the guard clarified.
“Oh, yes, and now I’m being sued by Donut Joe for his actions,” the noble exclaimed, “Princess Celestia, you should be able to see why…” 
I would do anything to get out of this right now, Celestia thought grimly. She couldn’t even take comfort in her sister’s presence; Luna was asleep at this point, resting from the duties of her night court and dream patrol.  
With only the stuffy tone of the newest entitled noble to listen to, Celestia had to hide a massive sigh of relief when the ornate doors were slammed open by a Royal Guard.
“Princess!” the voice of the guard screamed. Celestia perked up while guard galloped in. Her guest, on the other hoof…
“What is this?” the noble demanded, “I was in the middle of a very important…”
“Intruder,” the guard said, “In the castle.”
“What type of intruder is it?” she asked cautiously. 
“A Diamond Dog,” the guard said, “The likes of which we’ve never seen before.” 
Celestia paused, then her ears flared. Diamond Dog that they had never seen before…?
He wouldn’t… Celestia had to resist face hoofing. Don’t be a foal; you know he would. 
“I fail to see what relevance…” the noble started to say, before Celestia strode past him. “Y-Your Highness? I…”
“I will return momentarily,” Celestia said firmly, the guards quickly opening the door for her. The guard who had informed her followed closely behind her. “Is he contained?” she asked.
“Almost,” the guard said, “It shows an unnaturally high tolerance for pain. And every time we stop and let it breath, it fights back. I’m not sure the thing’s right in the head, your Highness.”
Celestia grimaced, picking up her pace. Even now, she could hear the sound of combat. Teeth clanging off metal. Spells being fired. Worst of all… the muffled yelps of a dog being beaten. 
The horrifying image of what she had seen Logan go through flashed through her mind, and Celestia quickened her pace.
Faust on high,Celestia thought grimly. Hasn’t that wolf suffered enough? Now he has to bring pain down on himself?
Finally, she rounded a corner… and saw them. 
The guards had Logan and Lyra backed up into a corner, ears flat against their skulls as the guards bore down on them. Logan’s had several bruises shining on his sides under his fur, yet he continued to snarl and growl. Lyra tried to form a flimsy barrier between them.
“Wait,” she begged, “Please. I…”
“Ma’am,” one of the guards said firmly, “You’re already guilty of association with this intruder. Step aside now, or it’ll be worse for you.”
Logan’s hackles bared even further. “You lay a hoof on her, and I’ll rip it off!” Logan growled at them.
The guards glanced at each other in shock. Even Lyra stared at him.
“You’re… protecting me?” she asked.
Logan gave her a softer look. “You helped me,” he said, “I’m not gonna let you pay for my mistake.”
“If you don’t want her to pay, then give up,” the guard said, “There’s ten of us and only one of you.”
Logan just grinned, his tail wagging. “I like those odds,” he replied before lunging forward.
Celestia winced, and the guards cantered back, but Logan never got the chance to attack. His fur suddenly glowed with an aura of purple blue haze that shimmered like the night sky. Logan glanced at it in confusion before he was slammed into the ground. Lyra whimpered as Logan squirmed, fighting against the magic as a familiar dark alicorn forced her way past the guards.
“No, you don’t!” Luna declared, “I told you before, and I’ll tell you again, my sister may have pity on you…”
“But you have no such compunctions,” Logan whispered, his ears flaring and his tail tucking all the way up to his chest. 
Celestia raised an eyebrow, looking between Luna and Logan as, for the first time since she had met him, Celestia saw true fear on Logan’s face. 
“She’s real,” he whispered, “She’s actually real…”
“Now,” Luna said, “Surrender yourself now, or…”
“NO!” Logan howled, as his entire body began to glow.
The others backed up – even Luna’s jaw dropped in awe – as lightning, as if from a storm cloud, shrouded the young wolf, and he began to force himself back up, but not with anger or defiance. With fear. Pure, undiluted fear.
“DEMON!” he howled, managing to get himself to all fours, “DEVIL!” The lightning began to gather around him, turning into a spear that was aimed right for Luna’s face. “EVIL! EVIL! EVIL!” 
Seconds before he unleashed whatever power was in him, a familiar voice yelled out.
“SLEEP!”
Logan gave a quick twitch, and his eyes rolled up into his head. He hit the ground, and didn’t move again. 
Lyra stood behind him, the glow fading from her own horn, as she shivered in terror. Her shivering only intensified as the guards glanced her way. 
Celestia, however, had eyes only for her sister. Luna’s own eyes were transfixed on the wolf with regret. Without his barking and growling, it was easier to see just how young and underdeveloped his features were. The bruises the guards had been forced to leave on him didn’t help matters. With the fight taken out of him, the wolf looked more like a beaten dog; completely undeserving of such abuse.
“Luna,” she said patiently, “You said you visited his dreams?”
“Y-Yes, sister,” Luna stammered, her eyes not leaving Logan’s body. 
“Then, pray tell,” Celestia said, “What did you do to him, that would cause him to act as if you were Nightmare returned?” 
Luna didn’t speak. Her mane hid her eyes. Celestia huffed a sad sigh, before noticing the guards.
“Guards,” she said softly, “Take Ms. Heartstrings to the throne room. Inform Agent Sweetie Drops - or 'Bon Bon' - of her location, and have her brought home.”
“Yes, Princess,” the guards said. A few started to go for Logan’s unconscious body, but Celestia waved them off. 
“Ma’am?” one of the guards asked, “That Diamond Dog is unlike anything we’ve seen. Shouldn’t we…?”
“Leave him,” Celestia said, lifting him up in her golden aura. “I will be taking care of him… after I have words with my sister.”
Her tone of voice dissuaded protest. The guards escorted Lyra away. The mint green unicorn kept her eye on Logan for as long as she could, watching as Celestia and Luna teleported away with him in tow.