Sweltering. If I could only choose one word to describe the forge, it would definitely be sweltering. The main cavern had been pleasantly cool and a little damp from the misty waterfall, but here, cold was an unknown word, and sweat dripped into my eyes constantly. Most of the pack remained at the entrance, panting and fanning themselves. Only Fido and I stood in the room, yet he seemed to be unaffected by the heat. In fact, he looked almost comfortable.
“This forge. This my forge,” he said with gusto as he bounded over to a large anvil with a jagged beak and tail.
At a second glance, I noticed it wasn’t jagged by accident—it was shaped to crudely resemble a canine or lupine, but the decorations wouldn’t impede a smith who knew how to hammer upon it. There was a similar, but more elaborate, decoration of a snarling wolf attached to the wall above the forge and another like it over a tub of water. Tools hung in a surprisingly organized fashion, and every blackened chisel or pair of tongs almost hummed with promise at the return of their master.
Unaffected by the heat, Dave poked around the forge, looking for something. After a short time, he let out an impressed whistle. “The only casts around here are for things like nails. Unless they’re hidden away, Vulcan over there shapes everything by hand, er paw.”
While the smithy was well-decorated and used, the rest of the relatively small cavern had been ignored for ages. A thick patina of dust rested everywhere except for the clearly well-travelled path, and the urge to kick it up like a flock of birds grew strong.
I noticed a small, lopsided sign nearby. Crude, runic letters were engraved onto its surface. “Fido, what does this say?”
He looked up from his reverie and winced. “No drinking. Put it there after we lost two dogs to accident.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
Fido waved me off. “Their fault. Covered in booze and entering forge not smart.”
Instead of being offended at my snort, he chuckled. A couple steps later, I found my limit. The ever-increasing heat was too much and I was forced to retreat to my former position.
“A bit balmy, is it?” Dave smirked.
“How deep underground are we? I could cook on the floor down here.” The moment the sweat was wiped from my brow, it was instantly replaced.
“Very deep.” He chuckled. “And it not warm here. It just cold everywhere else.”
“You’re at home here, aren’t you?” The forge fit around him perfectly, as if he were a fixture as much as anything else.
He nodded vigorously. “Yes. I like metalwork more than rest of pack. Is why I smith. You say earlier you have request?”
Rubbing my snout in thought, I replied, “What metal can you work with?”
Fido laughed as if he had just heard the most hilarious joke in all of existence, which was probably something involving a group walking into a bar. “Any of them.”
“What do you have a good supply of?”
“What do we have good supply of,” he corrected, broadly gesturing towards the rest of the pack and I. “You pack beta. Metal, stone, and gem are yours as much as ours. Let’s see. Iron and copper of course. Also tin and little aluminium.” He looked to be checking a mental list. “Ponies like gold and silver, yes? We have lot of that, it just too soft for tool or armor.”
“I take it the equipment the rest of the pack uses was made by you?”
He frowned heavily. “Yes, but it not best work. Rover not want good work. He want lot of work.”
“If you want to take your time, I’m not going to be the one to stop you. I’d rather have one strong tool than two weak ones.”
Carefully checking his tools for weaknesses, Fido replied, “Good thought. I agree. In way, glad you beat me. Not because of pain—hoof to head hurt.” Fido massaged his temple and winced. “I glad I get to be here more.” He grunted as he snapped a chisel in half before snorting and tossing the pieces into a bin.
“What do you heat your forge with?” I had an idea of what it was, but thought it was too epic to actually be true.
“Mountainblood.” He pulled a thick chain and the wolf above the forge opened its maw to pour forth vibrant magma. I had to take several steps back as the temperature spiked and my fur felt like it was going to combust. Fido did little more than slightly flinch.
He glanced over at me and a wry smile crossed his face. “Your pick, it weak.” He scoffed, like the presence of an inferior tool offended him. “You not make request so I make request for you. Mountain give blood and I would be fool to waste.”
“Aww, I didn’t even get to use the poor guy.”
Fido shrugged, smiling. “Will take time to make right. When done you can see true work. Not scrap. I even make fresh ingot for this.”
The lumps of ore he casually tossed into the crucible were massive, and I shuddered, imagining what would have happened if he had managed to strike me during the scrape. Come to think of it, if any of them except Spot had hit me with more than a glancing blow, I probably wouldn’t have kept everything intact, and I like my body parts intact.
“I fine. Go finish tour. You tough to stand heat for this long but not want new beta to pass out on first day.” Fido chuckled as he pumped the bellows. I thanked him and trotted towards the vacant exit. He called after me, “Main cave have good water.”
Apparently, I had taken so long in the forge the rest of the pack had given up on enduring and retreated to the main cave. I giggled as two who saw me stood at attention. I nodded at them and they returned to their conversation.
“It’s so weird that they’d accept you, an unstable pony, as co-leader of the pack so readily. Either that Rover fellow was really incompetent, or they strictly adhere to this Pack Law thing. Sounds like it’s dogma to them.” Dave grinned at me expectantly.
I groaned. “That pun was bad, and you should feel bad.” Hurriedly, I made my way over to the lake and plunged my head into water that was cool, refreshing, and hopefully not full of toxic waste. Disgruntled, blind cave fish fled from the pony thirstily draining their home.
“What usual material?”
Breathing heavily after a lengthy drink, I replied, “Exactly my point. This water is so good after standing in that inferno.”
Dave frowned, “I’d like to know how Fido stands it. His coat is thicker than yours and these guys don’t sweat, just like the dogs we’re used to. You know, I bet one of the dogs is named Rex. As far as stereotypical dog names go, they have to have one of those if they already have Fido, Rover, and Spot.”
“You liking caves so far?” Spot asked, causing me to choke.
I nodded and waved off his profuse apologizing. “Don’t worry about me. And yes, the caves are awesome, though it does make me a bit sad to realize how little I know about you guys. Especially this Pack Law you keep mentioning.”
Spot’s eyes widened in shock momentarily before he caught himself. “Yes. It never told to pony before.”
“Mind filling me in? I get the feeling it’s something I should probably know.” I shook the water off my head, trying my best not to splash him and failing miserably.
“Yes! Yes! Every beta should know Pack Law. Come quickly.” He suddenly scampered off, and I found myself following him through twisting passages that were in desperate need of a map with ‘You Are Here’ written on it.
Not noticing he had stopped, I inadvertently tackled Spot into a long room more akin to a hallway than another cavern. Several bright murals adorned the walls, depicting a wide variety of images with a surprising amount of detail.
“Looks like they dug this out. Everything is too smooth to be natural,” Dave muttered as he scratched himself inappropriately. He enjoyed that I was the only one who could see him a bit much at times.
“Hall of Memories,” Spot breathed reverently as he dusted himself off. “Pack Law more than law. Is also history of diamond dogs.”
“Is there going to be a test at the end?” I was semi-earnestly worried about an exam, to be honest. After all, I never had a history lesson that didn’t end in one.
He blinked at me and then shrugged. “No?”
“Excellent. Where do we start?”
“Beginning. Where else?”
I rolled my eyes and followed him to the first mural, which showed a flat world floating in space. I could almost see the water rolling off the edge. Spot cleared his throat and began, “Land around for long time. Very long time. Longer than your pony princesses and even the dragons. Nothing know how it there, but all know it is.”
We slowly moved down the wall as he continued. “Then came the First Alphas. They rise from ground. They mightiest of all, and made of beautiful gems. They see land filled by others, but they sad they only live aboveground and only go under to take. After time of sadness they create the first dogs from the earth and rocks, using their power to make us flesh and blood.
“They say they made us to be guardian of the underland. To keep it safe for those above and from those further below. Ponies know of place below, where evil is chained forever, but forever never is. Chaos thing you know as Discord escape from there. He only one to make it past dogs but that long time ahead of now.
“Alphas see us and are happy of their pups. They tell us rules all dogs must follow. Anydog who not follow is no dog. First they say we belong in pack and in underland, not on own. We are from stone and dirt, but we are not master, just shaper and shield. They say to live from ground, and it love us as long as we love it.
“A pack need strength and strongest lead pack to glory. The one at the top and the one below him, the alpha and the beta. Two leaders to follow. If one who lead is weak, then pack weak and need new leader. Respect packmates. Without pack, you are nothing but grain of sand. With pack you are strong mountain among other strong mountain.
“Then they say we must follow these after they leave. This make first dogs confused. Why leave? Were first dogs bad? First Alphas see confusion and say they not mad. They did what they needed to and this mean they are finished here and must find new land to help.
“With grand flash of light, First Alphas shatter, and bodies scattered in many many pieces all over land. Yet they still speak to first dogs. They say old bodies bring dogs strength and life and we must find them or starve. With that they vanish and we mourn.
“First dogs become first pack and call itself diamond dogs in honor of First Alphas. Strongest of dogs becomes the alpha. Land good around dogs, but outside of dog land, things not so good. Alpha not only strongest, but also wisest. He wait on tallest mountain, far away from here and he stay for many year to search for answer. Beta meet him once a year to see if he find answer.
“One year, Beta climb mountain just as any other year and he find Alpha in same spot he always in. Beta expect to be told nothing once more, but Alpha speaks with sadness. He say one pack can not protect all of land and pack must break to honor First Alphas. Beta sees the wisdom Alpha has learned and asks what he should do. Alpha tells him to send the pack off in every way. Whole land must be safe and can’t do that if all in one place.
“This make part of Beta happy since that mean Alpha is done and can return to the rest of pack before they leave. He tell Alpha he is ready to go and is waiting for him. Alpha shakes his head and says he can not leave mountain and must stay to watch over the first land. There he stay as Beta turn and go down to tell pack.
“Pack split as Alpha say. It sad but it needed. Many packs spread out all over land, and fight with tooth and claw to make land good as they remember from home. Time go on and old speak become hazy until it gone forever. Pony speak hard for everydog, but we still hold letters from old speak and put pony speak to them. Dog history end here, and every pack keep this history to remember it.” Finished, he cracked his neck and smacked his lips. “I starving. We go get food.”
“My language hurts.” Dave moaned. “Good story, but that was a nightmare to listen to.”
I giggled at his abrupt change of subject. “Thanks for the lowdown, Spot. You go ahead, but I can’t eat gems. I’m not really hungry anyways.” I had lied about not being hungry, and thanked my stomach for not giving me away this time. I’d have to get it a treat for behaving so well.
Spot shrugged and bolted down the tunnels, quickly disappearing from sight.
“How much of that do you think is truth, Dave?”
“I know you’re hungry, so that’s not the truth. You’re always hungry.”
“Hey, my gut is just remembering what an actual meal is. I’d forgotten how nice not having to scavenge for everything is. Speaking of the past makes me think, though. This place will be a nightmare to defend from anything. We need barricades, fallbacks, the works.”
“I thought your pony-topia was all sunshine and rainbow farts. It’s even bright down here in the caves.” Dave snickered. “If it’s that nice, what use is there heavily fortifying everything. I understand a bit of defense, but you’re talking overkill. You could do with less paranoia.”
“Says the figment of my imagination. Besides, it’s only paranoia if I’m wrong, and I’m not going to lose any dog, pony, etcetera etcetera. Never again and most certainly not because of trying to rationalize the situation. But you didn’t answer my question.”
“Sure I did.” He smirked.
“Alright, you didn’t answer the question I intended.”
“Fine fine. Some of the stuff in there made sense, I guess, and did explain things, but that’s what they always do. Problem is we don’t know what is actually possible here. For all we know, crystalline demigods creating new races might happen every Saturday. Seeing if the world is flat might be as easy as asking Rainbow if the horizon is straight no matter how high she gets.” Dave caught me chuckling and rolled his eyes. “Grow up. I doubt you’ll find many drugs here. Definitely nothing synthetic at any rate.”
With a mischievous grin, I said, “For now.”
He sighed and rubbed his eyes with one hand. “I know you’re joking, but still, you shouldn't go drugging the locals. But, don’t you still have to meet that one unicorn?”
“Alicorn.” I corrected, earning a curt “whatever” from Dave. “And thanks for reminding me. Hopefully she won’t be too mad if I show up late.”
Trotting out into the tunnel, I wandered down the way I had come from with my head held high.
“You actually paid attention to how you got here?” Dave asked incredulously.
“Of course not. That’s half the fun.”