Past Grievances
"Lyra, I trust you slept well?"
"Best I've had in years. Thank you, again, for last night." The mint mare said rubbing her eyes to sweep away the last dregs of her slumber. She did some morning stretches, arching her back, before continuing.
"Do not mention it. It was something I felt I needed to do. We should get going. We do not want to miss the train back to Ponyville."
"About that, do you think... you could carry me again? If it's not too much trouble that is." She visibly blushed as she said this, though I'm not entirely sure why.
"I suppose, though it would be troublesome to change and arrive looking like... that. I wouldn't want to scare anypony."
"Oh you wouldn't need to do that. Just carry me on your back, and let me wrap my hooves around your neck. You're plenty strong enough to do it, if the way you beat Applejack at hoof wrestling is any marker of strength. That way I can still talk to you while we travel." I rolled my eyes, but conceded, crouching down to let her climb on, much like how children are carried by their parents in a piggy back ride. I brought my arms behind and grabbed hold of her hind hooves, while she locked her front ones around me. Once I was certain she was secure, I stood up.
"Whoa! This is... really high." I looked over my shoulder and raised an eyebrow, before gathering my strength and jumping to the rooftop of a nearby house.
"You were saying?"
"Yeah, okay.... sure... but why are we on a roof?" She asked with a gasp of fear.
"Watch." We stood there for a moment before the clock on a tower rang, and all the Canterlot ponies spilled from their homes, filling the streets with an inescapable crowd.
"Right. The morning rush. I tell you, it would have been WAY easier to get to school in the morning as a foal if I could have just gone on the roofs, you know, when I still lived here."
"Let's be off then, before any more ponies fill the streets, and the sea of hustle rises to claim us." She let out a giggle at my joke, insinuating that the tide of bodies would spill out onto the roofs if any more ponies were in the channels. As I began to run across the roofs, jumping the gaps as I made my way towards the city edge, we began talking.
"You know, when she was a child, I always used to carry my sister like this at the music festival, so she could see the performers over the crowd. If feels kind of nice to do it again, very, nostalgic."
"Mmph. I've never been this high before. I wonder if this is how pegasi feel? Nothing but the wind in their mane, no obstacles, just sun, sky, and cloud."
"If you like this, then just wait, my favorite spot is coming up." We soon reached the wall around the city, where I stopped. I let Lyra down, and once I had stood again, I heard her gasp.
"It's beautiful!" The sun had just risen above the horizon, and turned the sky a crimson hue, with great wisps of cloud reaching towards it, but never to reach, like the tales of Icarus who flew to high, only to come crashing to his demise. We stood there for a few moments, atop the seven story high wall, watching the sun rise all the way.
"Au revoir, mon beau, au revoir ma belle, il ny'a pas de pot d'or a la fin d'un arc en ciel."
"What was that Lark?" Lyra asked. I turned to her with a sad gaze.
"A song I wrote, for a French noble whose wife passed on. I played it at the funeral. There is much more to it, but I cannot remember the rest. It was a morning, just like this one. It reminded me of it is all. Climb on." We began the piggy back ride again, then, at that moment, something occurred to my passenger.
"How are we going to get down?"
"Like this." And with that, I walked right off the edge of the wall. As we fell, she screamed and grasped me ever tighter, but when I turned to see her face, with her mane whipping wildly in the wind, I could see the smile plastered on it.
"This. IS. AWESOME!" She shrieked as well fell. I turned to face my back to the ground, so we could see the sky falling away from us, and a number of pegasi on the clouds above looking at us in confusion. Realizing that we were about to fall to our deaths, they rushed to rescue us from our peril, but were nowhere near fast enough. I turned to face the ground again, which was much nearer than before, and with a grunt of effort, kicked off the wall we were falling parallel to. Bringing my feet under me, coiled like a spring, I kicked off the ground when I landed, performing several hops to slow down before I went into a run. I didn't look back, but at the sound of Lyra blowing a raspberry, I could tell that our audience was in a state of shock.
"Sometimes, I love being a werewolf."..... did I just say that?
Arriving at Ponyville, I dropped Lyra off at her house, only to find the whole town in a state of disarray. There were guards everywhere, searching, while a frazzled and frenzied Twilight Sparkle came running up to us.
"Oh! Lyra! Thank goodness you're safe!"
"Um.... did something happen?" She asked, despite the obvious evidence.
"Cloud Kicker and Cloud Chaser are missing! Their houses are all torn up! The guards say they were taken forcibly, and with a fight. Yours is too, and we feared the worst." The unicorn explained.
"Wha?" She looked to her house, to find that the door was knocked in, most of her belongings were strewn about the place, and there were claw marks dug into most of the floor. The house right next to her's was in the same state, with shattered windows and torn drapes.
"Did they take anything?" Lyra asked.
"No, as far as we can tell, the only things missing are.... the ponies."
Ponies have been disappearing. We know it's the diamond dogs, we just can't prove it because we can't find any slaves..... Luna.
I checked all their dens, no ponies, or even signs of anyone being kept there..... Malarkey.
"Welp, this confirms it. Dog hair. Right out of their own homes too. Damn Rothak to Tartarus!" I heard one of the guards speak.
"And we can't do anything about it. Until we find a pony they're keeping, our hooves are tied." Another added sullenly.
"Let me see that!" I ran towards the pair, who backed away and raised their weapons.
"Halt! this is an official investigation and......" Their words froze on their tongues as I hastily removed my shirt to show the mark on my back, before putting it back on. "Many apologies, we were not aware Princess Luna sent one of her agents."
"You're forgiven, now let me see that hair." The unicorn guard among the pair, (the other being a pegasus) levitated the clump in front of me, I leaned in close to take a sniff, and recoiled in shock when I realized what it was.
"This.... isn't dog hair."
"It's not?" The investigators pondered, raising their brows.
"No. I've smelled diamond dogs before. This is different. This is the hair... of a wolf."