//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2: Of Dogs and Dragons 
// Story: Lone Wolf of Equestria: Back to the Pack 
// by JNKing 
//------------------------------//

For the longest time, I was mostly just walking. There was a feeling of… homeliness to it. Wolves have always been nomadic. Being able to move around again had an odd sense of… being back where I belonged. No offense, Fluttershy. 
Anyway, I kept off the main roads. Hunting when I was hungry; sleeping when I was tired, going when I needed to go. Didn’t want to risk Celestia being able to find me and bring me back. But that course took me into the mountains. And that was where I met some… interesting people. 
“Hey guys!" a deep voice bellowed. I found something!” 
I tensed up, sure that I was about to fight, but before I could even bare my fangs, I heard another voice.
“What did you find?" a higher pitched voice asked. "Gems?”
“Better,” the first one replied, while I snuck up towards the voices.
“Jewels?” a rougher voice asked.
“Better.”
“What?!” Both voices asked in glee.
“Lunch!”
I ducked back down again, only for a growl to sound before the sound of a slap emanated. 
“You knucklehead,” the higher pitched voice growled.
They probably kept calling each other names, but I didn’t focus on that. I knew that growl. That was the growl of...
I jumped out, and sure enough, I found myself facing dogs.

#

“Diamond Dogs?” Twilight asked.
Logan jumped; he may have just begun his story, but in his narration, he didn’t notice that not just Twilight, but the other Mane Five had shown up, and were watching him. He shot right back up, growling at them even as Fluttershy got between them.
“Wait,” she pleaded, “Logan, they didn’t…”
“How long were you guys there?” he asked. 
Rainbow Dash glanced behind her. “Right around when Fluttershy asked what you were up to,” she replied. 
“We didn’t want to intrude,” Applejack noted, glaring at Twilight.
“I’m sorry,” Twilight whimpered, “I just… every pony noted how similar you look to them. The Diamond Dogs, I mean.” She stepped forward cautiously. “Logan, I understand if you don’t want to tell us, but…”
Logan looked away with a huff, but Fluttershy looked to him pleadingly.
“Please, Logan,” she pleaded. “I really want to know what happened.”
Rainbow Dash almost opened her mouth to add something, but Applejack shushed her.
Logan was silent. His tail flicked back and forth, his ears flattening at Fluttershy’s pleading look. But then, he glanced further away, where he could just make out Celestia’s horn, attempting to hide in the snow. He grinned, and sat back down.
“You might as well know what I had to do to get here,” he admitted. He leaned back as the mares glanced at each other before inching forward hopefully. “Well, do you want to know from way over there?” he asked. “Or do you want to get out of the cold?” 
Twilight gave a hopeful smile, and they stepped into the cave, setting themselves down around him while Twilight conjured up a bit of magic fire. Logan cleared his throat and continued.

#

Well, to get the obvious out of the way; they weren’t wolves. Not by a long shot. Sure, we both wore jackets; we could both be bipedal. But, despite the fact that they were covered in dirt, there was something… softer about them.
Then again, there’s always something softer about dogs when compared to wolves. Dogs have rounder features; floppy ears. You look at that breed – pugs, I think – then you compare them to a wolf, you see the difference. And those Diamond Dogs were like three pugs. At least, two of them had the faces of pugs; a big gray one and a little tan one. There was a darker furred one that had… well, honestly, he looked more like a cat than a dog. So, two pugs and a cat, all with the bodies of what looked like small gorillas.

#

Rarity grimaced.
“Rarity?’” Logan asked. 
“No, just…” Rarity sighed, “I believe I met those three before.” 
Logan scanned her face for a moment before giving a small huff.

#

Maybe it was that difference that caused me to act the way I did. Because as I saw those guys arguing – over a squirrel one of them had caught no less – I just felt a very familiar anger. An anger that compelled me to just stroll up to them, and take the squirrel. 
A wolf’s scent of smell, they did not have. I literally managed to grab the squirrel up and stomp off before they knew what was going on.

#

“And yes,” he continued, glancing at Fluttershy, who was trying to hide a horrified expression, “I did have to eat other animals. I am a carnivore, Fluttershy, and there weren’t going to be protein supplements just sitting around out there. Sorry, but not sorry.” 

#

It was almost funny how far I got before I heard them barking behind him. 
“Hey!” the bigger one yelled – sounded like the one that had actually caught the thing. “That’s mine.” 
“Apparently, you guys don’t want it,” I replied.
“Just because we don’t want it doesn’t mean some other Diamond Dog can take it!” the cat one growled.
Great; even Diamond Dogs think I’m a Diamond Dog, I noted. A lovely coincidence, isn’t it? 
“Where did you come from anyway?” the shorter one demanded, “You don’t smell like you’re from here.”
The middle one’s ears perked as he gave an experimental sniff. “He smells like ponies!”
“Oh, so you can suddenly pick out where I’ve been,” I noted, “But not when I was walking right by you, taking your food.” I waved the squirrel for emphasis. 
The big one fumed, but the middle one grabbed him.
“We don’t have time for this pup,” the middle one barked, “We have to find more diamonds before…”
“Hey mutts!” a new voice roared. 
Something that Diamond Dogs and Wolves have in common? We both spike our fur when agitated, as these three demonstrated. 
“Oh, family jewels be safe,” the middle one moaned, before he was drowned out by the flutter of wings. 
Now, I’m going to admit, I’ve got dragons on my world. I heard they were guardians at one point or another, but a couple of them turned into greedy thieves. Thus, it didn’t come as much of a shock to me when three dragons at least twice as big as the biggest dog landed before them, with the clear indication that a shake-down was gonna happen. 

#

The Mane Six gasped. 
“D-Dragons?” Fluttershy whimpered.
“Tarnation,” Applejack declared, “I can’t imagine how frightening that must have been.”
Logan gave her a deadpan look. “I mention that I’ve seen dragons before,” he said slowly. “I establish that I know they can be thieves. And you thought I was scared of those punks?” He laughed. “They weren’t even full grown.”
“Still,” Twilight said, “We’ve had our own run-ins with dragons in the past. Even an adolescent can be pretty intimidating.” 
Logan smiled. “You’d change your tune if you met my dragons, cuz they can get pretty childish. And even then, my dragons would teach those dragons some respect.”
Rarity cocked her head. “Do pardon my interruption, darling, but… you mentioned three of them?”
“I did.”
“Would two of them be sort of tall and lanky; one red. The other purple. And the third being a brownish color. Stockier?”
His ears flicked. “You met them too, huh?” His tail wagged. "Well, sounds like I stumbled onto a little rogue gallery renuion."
“Ugh,” Rarity moaned, “I cannot imagine how infuriating that must have been.” 
Logan just wagged his tail, and continued.

#

“Well,” the leader of the dragons said – the red punk – growled, “You guys got a fourth member. That’s good, because I’m expecting treasure.” 
“Yeah,” one of his lackeys replied. “We heard treasure can make us stronger, but none of your gems are doing it! We need more!”
The short one immediately hid behind his bigger counterpart.
“But we don’t have nearly enough?” the short one whimpered.
“Sh!” both his pack mates said, batting at him, before an ominous cleared throat brought their attention back to the dragon.
“What was that?”
“Er, nothing, sir,” the cat one said, “We’ll… we were just keeping it safe, in, uh…”
“The heck are you guys doing?” I demanded, “Don’t give this jerk your treasure; let him find his own.”
The dogs stared at me as if I had suggested they eat their grandmas. The dragon, on the other hand, wasn’t as amused. 
“Care to repeat that, mutt?” the dragon snarled, taking a step towards me.
Now, as you guys might already know, I faced down two alicorns, one of which snapped my spine. A dragon wasn’t going to have quite the same effect. I rose to my hind legs, matching his gaze. 
“I said, go find your own treasure,” I growled, extending my claws. “Or go find your own teeth.” I was trying to imply I'd knock his teeth out, but I'm not sure it had the effect it should have, because the dragon just laughed.
The dragon chuckled. “Well-well,” he noted to his cronies, “Look at the eggs on this one.” 
He was glancing back at his cronies when he said this. I knew the technique; appear distracted, and then attack. So, right when he was about to turn back – probably with his fist or fire going for my gut – I lunged. 
And it seems that – whether on my world or on their world – dragons don’t take kindly to being bitten. Especially getting their eyes bitten.
The red punk fell to the ground, wailing in agony as my jaws snapped down on his face. I pinned his neck down before glancing up at his cronies.
Problem was, they knew enough basic math to know: 2 more than 1. And they also knew that they had fire. So, rather than backing off, like a pony probably would have, they breathed in and shot some hefty barbecue style flames right at my face.
Looking back, I still didn’t understand half of how my powers worked. The best I had seen it do up until that point was break through Luna’s shield and – maybe – make the beatdown she gave me for biting Celestia a little less one-sided. I didn’t remember it being able to form a shield that made my sudden leap away from their leader with a cry that would make any tough guy laugh completely unneeded.
Yet, that’s what happened; their flames bounced right off a flash of lightning, and I stumbled back, the last bits of lightning flaring around me like a protective ghost. Granted, the other dogs and the dragons were backing up as well, so I could take some comfort in the possible fact that my scream of fear had been ignored.
“What the...?” one of the dragons muttered, turning to the dogs. “You guys can do magic?”
“We can do magic?” the big one asked dumbly.
I, however, was more focused on making sure these dragons left us alone. So, recognizing the lightning from my fight with Luna, I focused, channeling my frustration, my anger, and even a small bit of humiliation at getting scared by these punks.
“You guys are familiar with fire, right?” I growled. 
“Uh…” the stocky brown one mumbled before nodding stupidly.
“You ever heard of ‘cold fire?’” I replied with a maniacal grin. 

#

“Cold Fire?” Twilight asked. 
“That sounds awesome!” Pinkie exclaimed, despite Twilight’s confused expression.
“Lightning,” Logan clarified quickly, indicating his sparking palm for them. “It may sound weird, but a couple of humans on my world often called lightning ‘the cold fire.’ Especially when wolves started using it.”
“Oh, I see,” Rarity noted, “It’s to distinguish between dragons and wolves. The cold ‘winter’ to the warm ‘summer.’”
Logan smiled at her. “Bingo.” He replied.

#

Privately, I was thinking, Myst’s Rage, if you cop out on me, I will be so freaking mad… But, Myst’s Rage came through for me, and two bolts of lightning slammed into their chests. Their scales protected them well enough, but judging from their squeals of pain, I’m guessing their organs and bones weren’t going to be having a good day. Just for the heck of it, I sent another bolt the way of their ‘fearless’ leader. Heh. He wasn’t so fearless when he was getting plowed across the ground by lightning.
“Come on,” the brown one squealed in terror. “Let’s get out of here.”
I howled, sending a few more bolts after them as the punks took to the air and zoomed away. A maniacal laugh slipped through my lips: lightning beats fire any day. 
And wouldn’t you know it; those three Dogs completely changed their tune. When I turned to glance at them, they threw themselves on their knees before me. 
“Who… are you?” the cat one whispered.
I let the lightning flicker away, my fur going back to its normal blonde.
“Call me Logan,” I replied. And that was all they needed. 
“Hail Alpha Logan,” they declared, “Bringer of Cold Fire!” 
Looking back, I found myself remembering my history; how the White Wolf Shiva had rejected becoming Alpha of the entire Wolf species. Part of me is still trying to figure out why she hated it. Heck, I could even understand why Celestia was content with being a princess.
When you got people praising you like that… it feels good to be the king.