//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6: Graduation 
// Story: Lone Wolf of Equestria: Back to the Pack 
// by JNKing 
//------------------------------//

I had some new company when I woke up one day. A trio of new people. Well, people… may have been an understatement, but then again, I am a talking wolf, so who am I to judge what others look like?
From the front, they could’ve been mistaken for giant birds, complete with wing and talons. I spotted one that looked like an eagle, though it had an eye covered by a patch. Another looked like a hawk. A third looked like a giant sparrow. But their bird part didn’t end with just a tail; it extended into a feline body. The eagle one had a classic lion’s backside. The hawk one had stripes like a tiger. The sparrow had a black panther body. 

#

“Griffons,” Twilight clarified. “They…”
“I know what they are,” Logan said, a bit snappishly. “I spent more than enough time with them.”

#

They were scrounging in a burrow that had escaped my sight when I started; further down the hill from the path. I kept myself hidden the brushes, as they dragged a massive bag out of the burrow. 
“Can’t believe it,” the sparrow muttered. “Have you ever seen so much loot before?”
“Oh, on the outskirts of the Dragon Lands?” the hawk replied sarcastically. “No, never in my life.” 
“Cut the sarcasm and let’s go,” the one-eyed eagle cawed, giving the place a suspicious look around. “There’s gotta be dragons around somewhere.” 
They yanked a bag the size of… the size of Sparks!  Briefly, the bag opened, and I saw something shining inside. Whatever that mad unicorn was doing, he was making those griffons think they had struck gold. 
As they started to drag the bag off, I rose from the brushes, right in their path. The sparrow and the hawk stumbled, their eyes darting to me instantly, but the eagle just tilted his head with a grin.
“Damnit, I knew it,” the hawk stammered, “I knew this treasure had guards.”
“Calm down, Gull,” the eagle one snapped, “It’s a Diamond Dog, not a dragon.” He rose up, his wings flapping to steady himself, as he drew razor sharp claws. “And a lone one at that.”
“Trust me, bird,” I said, grinning as his feathers ruffled in miffed irritation, “You don’t want whatever’s in that sack.” 
The griffon glanced back. “Ya see?” he asked. “Dog’s too dumb to even realize what it’s scavenged…”
“It looks nice at first,” I said, glaring around for the unicorn. “But it’ll just make you miserable not that long after. I’m telling ya, don’t.”
The eagle just smirked, stepping towards me. “I think I’ll take what’s in your little burrow, mutt,” he said, extending his claws towards my face. “And anything else you got hidden away.”
I glared down at his blades, before I extended my own. I concentrated, letting my magic flow around me, and making my fur shine. The eagle’s grin faltered, as he caught the sparkles crisscrossing my fur. 
I raised my blades and planted them against his faltering claws. 
“Your funeral, pussy cat,” I replied with a smirk.
I’m guessing that guy didn’t like to be reminded that he was part cat. Either that, or he probably preferred lion. Either way, he let out a war caw and swung his claws at my head, hard.
I bashed his blow aside with my own slash. The magic channeled through my arm, giving my blow a strength I could never muster against you guys or Celestia, and Eagle-boy practically spun through the air, hitting the ground with a wide-eyed expression that screamed, “What the hell?!” I lunged at him, but he spun out of the way and came at me again, slashing at my face.
We circled and danced around each other, scrambling for position on the uneven hill. My heart was hammering; this had to be the dragon’s final test. No final spar for me - where I could at least live if I failed. No, if I failed, then there would be very severe consequences, while the unicorn would get away scot free. At least I thought so.
It didn’t help that Eagle-Boy was good. He was the size of an actual lion. His beak stabbed at me when his claws missed. And to make matters worse, a muffled moan came up from behind me.
Catching Eagle-Boy’s beak and forcing it down, I chanced a glance backward. Sparrow-Boy was watching me with a fascinated eye, but the Hawk had apparently decided to cut tie, as he had seized the sack and was trying to fly into the air with it. Even worse, the unicorn had apparently put someone in there, as the muffled moan had come from the sack itself!
“Oh, no you don’t,” I growled. Channeling my magic forward, I smashed Eagle-Boy hard, blasting off his head with a spurt of magic. I bounded off Sparrow-Boy, using his awed face as a spring board, and caught the sack. 
But Hawk - or Gull... whatever, I'm calling him Hawk - was smart enough not to just try and wrench it away. He dropped the sack with a laugh, causing me and whoever was in the sack to go bouncing and rolling down the hill. 
We came to a rest on a patch of grass thankfully flat enough to serve as a real battleground. Whoever the unicorn had used, they somehow managed to stay silent, but I felt a small groan involuntarily escape my snout as I scrambled back to my paws. My back throbbed from the hits I took, but my barrier had kept me from getting cut or hurt too bad. That was a good thing, too - I had no time to rest, as the griffons were flying their way towards me. However, both Eagle Boy and Hawk were going slower than their sparrow friend, eyeing each other with the clear understanding that just because they were working together didn’t mean they liked each other or were going to sacrifice themselves for each other.  
It almost made me feel sorry when Sparrow lunged at me with his own caw; the poor guy hadn’t even noticed his friends’ leaving him out to dry. I ducked under and slashed at his belly. Feathers and fur flew everywhere as he hit the ground hard, clutching at the three soon to be scars I had scored across his underbelly. 
Briefly, I snarled at Hawke and Eagle Boy, who backed up as Sparrow tried to jump at me. But I spun under his lunge and went for his hind legs. These boys really seemed to like their lunges; something we shared in common. I figured; I take out the hind legs or the wings, then they’ll have to find another strategy. 
Whether it was by luck or by the fact that this sparrow boy didn’t seem to be as good a fighter, my jaws locked around his hind leg. He cried out as he tried to kick me off, even hitting my face with his tail, but I held fast. Spinning with his leg still in my mouth, I launched myself at the hill, and slammed him hard into the inclined ground. Of course, when I was on my side, that’s when the two attacked; Eagle Boy going for me, while Hawke instantly went for the sack again. 
While I knew that I couldn’t let them get away with whoever had been enchanted to look like gold, my lingering resentment towards the unicorn and his dragons let me take comfort in the idea that it had to be either the unicorn or one of his dragons in there. So, if things went really bad, they could just bust out and deal with it. So, I focused on Eagle-Boy, jumping for him as he was lunging for me.
But Eagle Boy was smarter than his sparrow friend, and his wings buffeted, pulling him back as my jaws snapped at empty air and my claws slashed through nothing. With a crow of triumph, he darted his beak at my exposed neck, but I rolled to the side, his beak still skimming across my shoulder. It didn’t puncture the skin, thanks to my barrier, but it did give me a scare. 
However, my roll brought me over to the hawk as he tried to drag the sack away. When he tried to back away from me, I scored a perfect slash across his head. My lightning channeled through the blow, and where the Eagle had at least managed to get up again, I knocked the hawk right off the clearing. He shrieked and cawed in agony as he bounced off the various trees and rocks on his way down. Judging by the bad CRUNCH that emanated from the bottom, followed by his moan of pain, I didn’t think he was going to be getting back into this fight any time soon. 
But, choosing to watch him fall almost spelled doom for me. Eagle-Boy had gotten back up, and he managed to get a strike in before I remembered my barrier. I stumbled back, one arm gashed and bleeding, the other swinging wildly. He dodged almost too easily. Even worse, I was too close to the edge where Hawk had fallen. I stumbled briefly, and Eagle-Boy almost took advantage, flying up to kick me off where his friend had gone. I sidestepped him, pulling myself back to the edge, but Eagle Boy had wings, and he wasn’t knocked too silly enough to forget how to use them. 
I backed up as he glided right back to the cliff side, only to feel claws rake down my back. Sparrow had gotten back up, and he apparently was either too honorable or too stupid to think about just taking the sack and being done with the whole thing like Hawk was. 
I spun around and back-handed Sparrow away, but Eagle-Boy sent me stumbling back again with another peck. The two of them were advancing on me, and despite my barrier holding up, the places where they hit me stung like angry hornets. My tongue was out and lolling as I panted raggedly; I briefly wondered if these jerks would cut my tongue off with just the right swing. 
But despite my thoughts that I was better on four legs, the dragon’s training made being on two legs feel as natural as breathing. Where these guys constantly needed to hoist themselves up to use their claws, I could keep my arms up indefinitely. 
And thus, when Sparrow and Eagle launched together, I was able to hit them both without losing my footing. Sparrow was a bit further ahead than Eagle, so I caught his lunge and wrenched him to the side, lashing my paw into Eagle’s face. The birdbrain practically flipped in the air, while I ended up redirecting Sparrow into the ground. I gave him a good dose of my lightning with a single punch, and he lay where he had fallen, smoldering and smelling like roast chicken. 
With Sparrow looking less than enthused about getting back up, Eagle and I went right back to circling each other. 
“Got any other friends, pussy cat?” I demanded, flexing my claws for emphasis. “Looks like you’ll need them.” 
Eagle growled like a lion, his talons scraping across the ground. “I didn’t need those fools anyway,” he growled back. “And once I kill you, that bag of gold will be all mine!”
Thinking back on it, I’m wondering if that boast denied him any backup he could have gotten. I didn’t know about Hawk, but Sparrow was still there, albeit a little overcooked, but fully able to hear Eagle. Either way, just because Eagle didn’t get help from his so-called ‘friends’ didn’t mean he made it easy on me. 
He leaped forward and swung down with his talons. I batted them backward, but his momentum caused me to stumble. He used that window of opportunity to land three sharp pecks on one of my hind legs, and despite my barrier keeping him from shredding my flesh and fur, it was enough to knock me to my back. 
His claws went up for my throat, but I barely managed to catch them, while he pinned me to the ground. His claws dug into mine, but whether I could hold them off was a moot point. Eagle raised his beak smugly, and I could see how he thought he won. With both my claws occupied with his, all he had to do was give one good peck at my eyes, and I would’ve been done.
Instead, he took the time to gloat.
“What was that about needing friends?” he asked. 
I growled and tried to shove him off, but he was matching my strength. And he was glancing at my glowing fur with a little too much familiarity. 
“Princess Celestia promised a lot of gold for a blonde Diamond Dog like you,” Eagle noted, chuckling ominously. “Of course, she did say to bring you back alive… but with the gold here, I should be able to settle for the pelt…”
He didn’t even finish. The dragons and unicorn were one thing, but if Celestia was desperate enough to have me back that she put a bounty on him (and trust me, I’m coming back to that, Celestia), then I really couldn’t afford to lose now.
As Eagle seemed more focused on how rich he was going to be, he failed to realize that, just as he had his beak… I had my teeth.
I pulled my claws back. The sudden lurch forward threw him off balance. And when his face got within range, I struck like a cobra, my jaws sinking into feathers and flesh. And as he gave a massive wail, I got my hind legs under him and kicked hard.
The eagle griffon hit the ground, thrashing and squalling like someone possessed by the dream demon (If Luna’s out there, I don’t want to know!), and I became aware of a slimy round object that had gotten into my mouth. My gag reflex somehow went in reverse, and I swallowed the thing like a peeled grape. I really wish I had waited until I had seen the gaping hole I had left in his face, a red patch to compliment his black one. 
It was thankfully hard to make out in the limited time that Eagle had, but my teeth had rended the upper side of his face into a red mess. And – this really made me cringe – his last eye was gone; a dark socket that he was trying to cover without clawing himself in his wild frenzy. Seeing that made me very aware of what I swallowed, and I grimaced and cringed in sickened horror. 

#

Fluttershy gaped at Logan.
“You… ATE his eye?!” Rainbow Dash asked.
Logan shuddered. “I… ate his eye,” Logan muttered. 
The mares stared at him. Then, before she could stop herself…
“So… how did it taste?” Pinkie asked.
“PINKIE!” the other mares screamed.
“The heck is wrong with you!” Logan added. 
Pinkie quickly raised her hooves. “Sorry-sorry, wrong thing to say, I know!” she said. "Just... I mean, I've eaten some really-really awful cupcakes, but that?" She huffed. "That's gotta be First Place Gold in Disgusting Things to Eat."
"It was disgusting,” Logan said. “It was awful… but it was what won me that fight.” He gave them a hard look. “The outskirts aren’t going to be a place for honorable fights. You have to fight dirty to win.”
“Really dirty,” Rainbow Dash commented.
“What about the dragons?” Applejack added. “What did they do?” 
Logan grinned.

#

They didn’t have to do anything. Shrieking and cawing like a crazed bird, the griffin accidentally thrashed too close to the edge, and joined his hawk friend in pitching over the side. 
I pulled myself up, glancing down at myself. Aside from my arm and a few bruises, my barrier had done a pretty good job keeping any fatal blows from ending my final test early. The only griffin left was Sparrow, who let out a low moan, indicating he was still alive. And, when I turned back to that bag, Sparks was pulling herself out of it, observing me with a wide smile. Further away, I spotted that mad unicorn, his expression a bit harder to read. I don’t want to say it was pride, but it wasn’t disappointment or scorn for once. He was joined by Sparks’ friends, and they gave me a big round of applause.
“I still don’t know what Ocetorm thinks you’ll be able to do out there,” the unicorn said, shifting to his haunches as he glanced down at Sparrow. “But at least you’ll last a bit longer than you would have.” 
I grinned, glancing out towards the horizon. “I don’t need to last too long,” I told him. “Just long enough to get out of this world… and back to my pack.” 
“Whatever makes your final hours a little brighter,” he replied, before walking away.
I glanced down and nodded. The unicorn walked off, though Sparks was slower to join him.
“So,” Sparks asked. “What are you gonna do now?” 
I looked over at Sparrow, who had gained enough sense to look up at me with fear. He briefly tried to fly, but I got him by the tail, and dragged him back. 
“Wait,” he stammered. “I got gold… treasure. Diamond Dogs like treasure, right?”
I probably would have been a bit more lenient if he had mentioned he had a family. As it was, it was the memory of Ocetorm’s trove that made me pause.
“Magic treasure?” I asked. “Artifacts that can go to other dimensions?”
“W-Well…” Sparrow started to whimper, but he squawked again when I bared my claws at him. “Wait!” he yelped. “I don’t have the magic treasure on me, but I know where you can find it!” 
I yanked him up, and gave him a moment to shiver under my glare. One benefit of the time I spent with the dragons was that I had grown a lot bigger. It probably wasn’t enough to intimidate someone like Eagle, but it did cow this little sparrow into submission.
“You’re cat and bird; two of my favorite snacks,” I warned him. “Lie to me, and I will eat you.”
Yes, Applejack, it was a lie, but it was good enough to scare him. Sparrow shivered in my grip before I spun him around. 
“Let’s go,” I growled, pushing him towards the sounds of his beaten friends. I wasn’t interested in killing them, there was nothing for them here, and with Hawk probably broken and Eagle blind, I figured they were the least of my troubles. 
Before I left, I glanced back at the dragons one last time. Sparks grinned at me, and waved. 
“Good luck,” she told me. 

#

“And with that part of my journey over…” Logan stood up, and walked over to the entrance, where Celestia had been eavesdropping.
“Logan?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Wait, what happened…?”
He shut her down with a look, before turning to glare at Celestia. 
“Before I continue, Celestia,” he growled. “What the hell was up with putting a bounty on my head?”