//------------------------------//
// Dogs and Fiends 
// Story: Fiends of Manehatten 
// by Skrive Flip 
//------------------------------//

Manehatten:

Every pony in Equestria knew Manehatten in one form or another. Some knew it for its great monuments, huge skyscrapers and the closeness of so many ponies and other creatures from all over Equestria and beyond. Certain writers knew it was the great melting pot, or salad bowl of cultures, which could mix between ponies, Zebras, Deer, and Buffalo. Almost anything you could think of with hooves (and a few without hooves) were able to live in this great city of progress.
Though what not that many knew was that the greatness of such a city did also leave a bit of a darker mark. Manehatten was filled with lots of rich ponies and the upper crust was only beaten by the even uppier and crustier Canterlot royalty.

And sometimes, those ponies found themselves in neighborhoods they would wish they had not walked into.

A married couple of nobleponies, dressed in their finest were walking down the street in such a neighborhood. The stallion was a black coated unicorn with a beautiful golden clock for a cutie mark, and a darkly blue combed-back mane. He kept a watchful eye around the area, a black top hat almost hovering above his head as he looked around. The mare was white coated with a wine glass cutie mark. Her mane was bleach blonde and tied up in a nice bun, with jewels 
embedded into it, though that was nothing compared to the jewels she was carrying around her neck. It was a huge deep blue sapphire, perhaps the size of a large stallion´s hoof, and it was so finely cut out that one could practically use it as a mirror. The necklace it was hanging in was also adorned with pearls from the deep seas.

So in other words, the two ponies were big walking targets. And they knew that.

“I told you we should have taken a left, Now look where you have gotten us!” The mare huffed and turned her head away.

The stallion sent a small angry glare back at his wife. “It was you who insisted that we could not wait for the carriage! I told you it was a shortcut, and it is! So stop complaining!” 

He grumbled as the two quickly but carefully walked along though the less than attractive neighborhood, getting a stare or two from the occasional passersby. Thankfully it was bright day and if anything happened, there were many a pony they could call for help. Even if they were only looked upon by an occasional passersby, there were really many ponies in the streets. But after a while of walking they got to a corner, which lead into an empty alleyway.

Despite how high the sun hung in the sky, there were still shadows creeping around the city of skyscrapers and this alley was one of those places. A cold chilling feeling came over both the upper class ponies as they walked through this shortcut. It was as if something was there, observing them.

And there was.

A pair of golden eyes, with long, thin pupils were staring upon the couple from the shadows created by the sun. Even Celestia´s beautiful life giving protector in the sky, created darkness in which the inequine could hide itself in. These two golden orbs just stared hungrily and trembling at the two ponies. A deep, dragged out breathing lowly hummed in the alleyway, which made the two ponies speed up slightly from a normal walk to a brisk trot. Even if the two did not know what was behind them, they knew it was not good. And they were right.

The two golden eyes slowly followed behind the ponies, hiding in the shadows, a small amount of the body that connected to those eyes were barely visible. Nopony was able to get a good look of it, before it was too late.

With a swift pounce, the creature jumped out from the shadows, and rammed into the two victims, sending them crashing into the alley wall. Shrills of fear and horror sounded from the two rich ponies, one could question who was shrilling the loudest of the two, but they were expecting the worst as they were knocked aside. Shaking their heads a moment, they clenched their eyes shut.

“Don’t kill me!” both of them almost automatically yelped out and huddled together as they were lying on the harsh ground, preparing for some sort of Celestia-only-knows monster to take their craven souls to Tartarus. However nothing happened. The stallion slowly peeked out from beneath his eyelids, seeing that the two… were… in fact, alone in the alleyway. There was nopony there. He looked around in confusion.

“What… was that about?” He asked, before he heard the sharp shrill of his wife´s voice almost deafening him. He reflexively rubbed his ear, before looking in frustration upon the mare. “WHAT?!”

“My JEWELS! OH CELESTIA MY JEWELS! THEY ARE GONE!” The upper class mare whined and cried, as, true to her words, All of her jewels were gone. Even the ones from her mane.

The stallion tried to comfort his wife, not seeing any trace of their valuables, not even the one that had been dropped near a manhole in the middle of the alley. The manhole cover quickly opened a bit and a gray paw grasped the gem and quickly closed up the cover again, escaping into the separate world beneath the streets.

 
Leaving the ponies and the upper world behind, the owner of the yellow eyes and the paw sprinted through the sewers. Running on two paws, while the other two grasped the booty stolen from above, the creature huffed and panted. A smug grin formed upon the creature’s gray muzzle, while its eyes adored the treasures it had stolen. The blue sapphire was almost so mesmerizing that one could forgive the creature for taking a wrong turn, or falling over. But it didn’t. The creature had taken this path so many times before. It knew where to go.

Only ten minutes of running through the complicated sewer tunnels passed, before the creature reached its destination. There was a large hole in the tunnel wall, the stones completely dug out from within, forming the entrance to a long and dark tunnel, that would lead to home. 

Quickly heading through the entrance, the creature sped up a bit, its breathing now really ragged and panted, its steamy breath almost forming fog in the tunnels, before the cold sewer tunnels were replaced with the warm feel of its tunnel home.

Reaching the end of the tunnel, a larger room came into view. It was crudely dug out, the walls still as rocky and ragged as they were the day they were dug out. It was very well lit however, by small oil lamps which had been affixed to the walls with unequal distance in between them. The lamps were sturdy, but they clearly weren’t placed by any professional interior decorator. There wasn’t any sign of professional flooring either. The only thing there was a small beaten path in the middle leading through to a few other tunnels.

The creature finally walked into the full light of the room, and caught the attention of several other similar looking gray creatures in the room. All of them gray furred, Having paws instead of hooves, and was wearing some kind of clothing, black sturdy jacket or even metal plating. This was a Diamond Dog hideout.

The thief that had just arrived was one of the smaller diamond dogs, though he had stuffed his pockets and paws with the stolen gems, and did not care for the extra weight he had to carry. He was grinning like a madpony and giggling as he finally dropped all what he had stolen in the middle of the room, generating excited and interested “Ooooee”-s from every other dog in the room.

The smaller diamond dog stood back proudly, allowing his kinsdogs to clamber over each other just to get a sight of the absolutely amazing gems.

“Wow Scruffy! This is the biggest sapphire I have seen in months!” one of the larger, iron plated dogs said in its huge, almost droning like voice. Yet even through the droning, Scruffy could hear and feel the adoration, which only made the smaller dog even more proud of itself.

“How did you get this?! Did some stupid pony drop dis?” another diamond dog asked, this one a slightly taller, but not armored. Scruffy dusted off his own shoulder and had a superior grin upon his doggy mussel.

“Ohh It was heavily guarded! But that was nothin’ for Scruffy!” the small diamond dog´s rough voice declared proudly.

“The gems were protected by…. Uhh…” he ran a paw through his fur a moment, trying to think of something feasible to improvise with.
“Ponies! Lots of Ponies!”  Scruffy declared with much determination, which made him only look more tryhardy. However Diamond dogs was never known for their deductive skills, so the other dog´s just stared in amazement upon their smaller kinsdog´s tale.
Scruffy grinned a moment before he lowered himself upon his paws. “There were hundreds of Ponies! With… Big spears!” Scruffy gesticulated, and got a few gasps from his adoring crowd.

“Y-Yea! They were being protected by so many ponies! But when they saw scruffy, They ran away! Just small scarey poneys, ehehehehe!” The smaller diamond dog fake gloated and tried to live the part of this much greater dog. It seemed to work as its fellow dogs began laughing along, it all becoming a sort of collective laughter of how dumb those ponies clearly were. However, as the dog´s laughter died down slightly, something was odd. Someone was still laughing. An almost hysteric laughter, which clearly did not belong to any dog in the pack.

Everydog´s faces turned in the same direction to the tunnel entrance where the sound came from.

There was a Pony, Unicorn. 

Its coat was completely white, shining almost, and its mane was a deep red. It leaned against the wall, laughing hysterically. 

Silence first fell over the dogs as the crazy pony didn’t seem like it wanted to stop laughing, however as it saw the dogs had stopped laughing, the pony whipped its eyes, even if there was nothing in them and waved its hoof at the dogs.
“Oh, please continue! This is the most hilarious thing I have heard in a thousand years... I had forgotten how funny you mutts are.” the pony said in between its laughter, which was slowly dying down, since its source of stimuli had gone silent. 

“GRAB THE PONY!” yelled one of the unarmored Diamond Dogs. 

The huge metal plated diamond dogs leapt from the group and lunged at the white pony. In any normal situation, this pony would have been doomed and captured within the minute. However, this was not a normal situation. The pony smirked and sank to its hooves to brace before it leapt at one of the armoured dogs. 

Even if it had metal plating to protect it from most enemies, the dog had the air pushed out of its lungs as the pony somehow managed to not only stop it mid leap, but actually send it flying backwards. The armored dog was too dazed to see what was going on, but its peers (which had not crashed into each other after their target had leapt ahead) stared on the spectacle in horror. 

The dog´s armour was completely bent in as if a huge boulder had twisted the metal in its molding stage, but everydog knew this was the act of this singular pony, who was now standing proudly, grinning wickedly on top of their kinsdog. 

The pony´s hoof lifted and came crashing down into the face of the poor armoured diamond dog, cracking its skull and ending its life within seconds. Blood splashed from the creature´s cracked skull and head, so much of it smearing over the white pony´s coat, however enough splashed around for it to freeze everydog in their step. Even the hardened guarddogs stared upon their kinsdog’s crushed skull in terror. How could a single pony have done that? In a single stomp as well? 

The pony was grinning maliciously as it simply lifted up its head to face the shivering bunch of creatures around it. 

“Now then... That´s no way to treat a guest,” the pony almost purred as it slowly stepped off of the dead diamond dog, slowly walking towards the unarmoured group of shivering creatures, who shuffled backwards until the stone walls behind them were pressed to their backsides. Scruffy was unlucky to be the small one who was pushed in front and stared in total terror of the pony in front of him. The white pony finally stood barely a few centimetres away from Scruffy.

“Now that we got that little... mess out of the way, I am in need of some assistance, brave little dog... You, after all, took care of so many ponies with spears, right?” the bloody pony spoke with a superior tone about it. 

Scruffy swallowed hard and tried to stammer out a response. “I-I-I was just kidding! I didn’t Really-” however the dog was silenced as the pony slowly lifted up its bloody hoof, making Scruffy huddle up in a ball of terror, expecting the hoof to come down and kill him, just like it killed the bigger dog. However the bloody hoof simply placed itself upon the dog´s shoulder, before the pony cooed gently. 

“Oh don’t worry about that, my little mutt... I just need a teensy tiny favour of you... and I am even going to give you... A little help.” 






Streets of Manehatten:





“Well that worked like a charm...” the teacher muttered sarcastically as she grumpily walked down the streets of Manehatten, Pen right behind her with a bit of a quizzical expression on his face. 

“You know just because we didn’t find the fiend does not mean it was useless... We at least disproved that the Oranges might have something directly to do with the kidnappings,” the coltish writer tried to point out with a small smile in an attempt to raise the mood. He was dismayed however to find that Cheerilee would have none of it. 

“Pen, I know you're trying to cheer me up, but every moment we waste, even longer do Emerald and all the other victims have to suffer under to whatever cruel schemes that that... Fiend or whatever has planned for them! I just can’t take it lightly!” She grumbled aloud, stopping a moment by a lamp post, rubbing one of her temples and leaning against said lamppost. The coltish writer nervously looked a bit to the side, trying to think of something to say to his superior to help cheer her up a bit, but his brain failed him. 

“I-I’m sorry...” he said, lowering his head a moment and looking at the paved roads. It was a frustrating situation. However, he was not allowed to look for long, before he felt a hoof lift up his head, ending up meeting Cheerilee´s sweet eyes in a slightly tense moment. 

“You really should stop apologizing so much Pen... You don’t have any power over the situation so you don’t have to take it upon your cape.” Her honest teacher demaenor once again breached forwards, making both her and Pen smile slightly. The writer took a deep breath before leaning in, and in appreciation, nuzzled his neck against Cheerilee´s neck.

“I know... Just... Thanks for being so patient with me...” he said sincerely, closing his eyes a moment as he just wished to show his true sincerity. Cheerilee was a tad bit surprised by the show of appreciation, but she gently returned the nuzzle as a gesture of kindness. 

“Don’t mention it,” she said with a small smile, thinking perhaps this night might not have been too bad in the end.
They had, after all, cut off one possibility as Pen had said. It wasn’t another lead lost, it was a possibility disproved, which would bring them a step closer to the truth. This could actually be a very positive thing. 

However Cheerilee´s night was just about to get a tad bit worse. She heard someone gasp, and then yell out.
“Cheerilee!!” the voice borderline shrieking, while at the same time having a sort of slurish feel about it. Now, being a vampire made sure that she usually could react faster than just about any pony, however Cheerilee had been so surprised that she could only slowly react as she felt not only Pen being pushed back, but then a foreleg being placed over her shoulders, and somepony pulling her firmly into a cheek to cheek nuzzle. Before Cheerilee saw who it was, she saw the hoof pulling her in. It was a purplish colour holding a bottle of wine. 

Wait...purpleish... wine.

Cheerilee was just able to sniff in the air before she turned her eyes, and she didn’t even need to see who it was before she knew the situation had just taken a turn down very bad avenue. 

She came eye to eye with an eerily similar pony to herself, however she was more purple in her coat while Cheerilee was more lavender. The mare´s mane was more messy and curly, while Cheerilee´s mane was curled up as her choice of style. The vampire teacher´s green eyes met with the magenta eyes of the uncanny similar mare. 

“Berry Punch!?” Cheerilee squeaked out the name of Ponyville´s most famous winemaker (connoisseur and drunk), as she was forcibly nuzzled by her old friend. 

“Yes its me, you silly filly!” Berry declared loudly and proudly. 

This... was not good. 

Cheerilee tried quickly to think of the situation she found herself in, but her old friend didn't give her the time to breathe (not that she needed it). 

“Where have you beeeen mare??!? We were all so worried when you moved away from Ponyvilleeee... I know its a little late, but Daaaaaaaammmn I didn't want you to goooooo~” Berry blabbered out in her drunken slurry. 

Cheerilee tried to, as gently as possible, release herself from the uncannily similar-looking old friend of hers. She gave off an overly nervous laugh and had a very bad pokerface due to the sudden breach of her usual professionalism. 

“Beeheherryyy.... Good to see you... Wh-what are you doing in Manehatten?” she asked, before sending a small pleading look over at Pen, who was standing dumbfounded in front of the two mares.

‘Get. Me. Out. Of. Here!’ She desperately and silently screamed, to the coltish writer, who only then began to realize the gravity of the situation. Vampires weren't supposed to meet up with old friends who did not know of their condition. It would only complicate things further. 

Pen Cleared his throat. “Excuse me, Ms. Berry, but-” 

“Hold your hooves there sweetheart, I got my eyes on you later, but let me put on the reins later, ehehehehe” Berry interrupted Pen and laughed rather slurrishly at the end, thinking she still had her own charm, convinced she had just shown herself as a brilliant ice queen. Though Pen just smiled awkwardly at the mare, who was still nuzzling his superior. 

Berry quickly continued as she still clung to Cheerilee. 

“I came here to Visit Pinchy´s dad, thinking perhaps we could hit it off againnnn, ehehehehe” she said, before taking a heavy swig of her wine bottle, which was rather awkward considering that meant she had to squish into Cheerilee´s face to reach the bottle. 

Cheerilee was slowly getting more and more annoyed, knowing that if her friend were allowed to walk around without restraint, she would continue to drink and be miserable. The news that Berry had met up with her daughter´s father told Cheerilee that easily. She couldn't just let her stumble around without anyone. The last time she did that, Ponyville needed to get a new fountain... Don't ask how, how somepony as Berry Punch could make that kind of damage was beyond her. Cheerilee smiled slightly sympathetically at Berry and tried to get through her drunken focus. “Berry... However it went with Pinch´s dad, I think you should get home by now-”

“Home!? I’m not going home yet! I got to taaalk to you, maare~” the drunk replied determined, tightening her strange hug like position. Cheerilee knew Berry was stubborn, so she had to figure some way of convincing her. Thankfully, Pen apparently had the same thought. 

“Excuse me Miss Berry, but Cheerilee can't talk right now, she has got a very important meeting to get to.” The coltish writer insisted before winking a moment at Cheerilee. She returned the wink and turned to Berry with an apologetic smile.

“I really wish I could stay Berry, but its really important-” 

“MORE IMPORTANT THAN MEEEE!?!” She yelled, in drunken confusion and complete lack of control over her vocal levels. 
”What happened to the proper teacher I used to knowwww?~” Berry asked as she leaned herself against Cheerilee, using her best puppydog eyes.

‘She died and turned into a vampire,’ Cheerilee thought in response but thankfully Pen was there to pull her out of the awkward situation again.

“Cheerilee has a very important meeting with some high standing Unicorns from Canterlot.” He then turned his head back and forth, as if the message was the most important to keep secret, before leaning in to Berry. “Just between the two of us, she is going to make it big… if Just she can get to the meeting, on time… Without any interruptions…” he insisted the last words to try and make it go through Berry´s drunken slurry.

Berry stared back at the coltish Writer with a puzzled face. One could almost see the cogs turning very very slowly inside of her head, as if the entire clockwork of her mind was only slowly starting. Finally it clicked and she went “Ooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh….. I seeeee” she said a bit sadly.

Cheerilee felt bad for lying to her friend, but she was more trouble than she was worth right now, and she still needed to find this Fiend and Emerald. She decided to roll along with Pen´s plan.

“So, Pen, can you perhaps help Berry home to her apartment?” she asked, yet also sort of urged of her compatriot, who was quick to smile and nod. 

“Of course, Miss Cheerilee.” he said before walking over to nudge a bit at Berry Punch. “If she can remember the direction that is.” he said in a small challenging tone, of which Berry was quick to pick up on, despite her drunken disposition. 

“I will have you know! That NOTHING can make me forget where home is! Or my hotel! I got a talent for that!” she said with a proud grin, as she was beginning to wobble a bit more. Pen was able to just place himself where Cheerilee was before and allow the drunken mare to support against him. 

“I presumed your talent was wine production?” he replied in casual conversation, before sending back a wink at Cheerilee. The vampire teacher´s flank was figuratively covered, and she could make her way back to the safehouse without a certain mare from the past following her. 

Cheerilee smiled and mouthed at Pen ‘I owe you one’, before turning around to make her way off, just as Berry began to respond to Pen´s question in her full drunken slurry. 

“THAT IS ALSO MY TALENT! I am a conno... conner... connu... I am a genius!” Berry assured him, as she could not really pronounce connoisseur.  Pen simply smiled and nodded, while he began to walk forwards with Berry, doing his best to give Cheerilee the distance and help Berry to walk. Cheerilee had after all asked him to bring her home, so he would do that. 

Cheerilee and Pen could be thankful for the fact that Berry was drunk enough to be distracted easily. Or else she would most likely have seen through this oh so clever ruse. 

“So which way to the hotel?” Pen asked as the two slowly walked down the streets of Manehatten, Berry still holding a foreleg around Pen and weighing him down more than the unicorn was used to, but he bore with it. 

Berry took another swig from her bottle with the awkward movement that ended up squishing Pen a bit more, before answering. “That way! Just take that alley, its a shortcut.” 

The Coltish writer complied with the drunken mare´s directions, barely giving the alleyway a questioning look. Having lived in the city for quite a while, he was almost completely unphased by the darker alleys of the city. 

Perhaps a bit too unphased. 

The alley was relatively long, and a bit shifty as it had several smaller alleys that gave access to other parts of the city and other buildings, but none of the two ponies gave the scenery much, if any appraisal. The only ones who was being observed, were them. 

A pair of slim golden eyes were observing the two ponies from a slightly lifted ponyhole cover. The owner was staring intensely at the two, the eyes almost shivering with anticipation. 

They were there! They were getting closer! The target was just there! Just coming closer, and closer and closer and... wait.

How close were they getting? 

Turned out that the creature didn’t have the time to consider that before the two ponies ended up accidentally stepping on the ponyhole cover, thus smacking the creature in the face with several kilos of hard metal. The twang from the impact was loud enough to make the two ponies jump aside in smaller surprise. 

“The Tartarous was that?” asked Berry in confusion, as she looked at the ponyhole cover. They had both heard a loud twang and something falling into water, but only Pen had put two and two together to think that something had fallen down the ponyhole when they stepped on it. 

The colt gritted his teeth a moment as he said, “Excuse me,” to Berry, before just stepping over to the ponyhole, and satisfying his OCD by just shifting it a centimetre as to place it back into its spot, and turning it a moment to lock it safely. A loud clank sounded as it got into its place, but another twang made the two ponies jump back again, as they could see the ponyhole completely ripple as if something had hit it directly from below. 

Berry stared at the shivering metal a moment before observing, “I think that hurt somepony...” 

The coltish writer shrugged his shoulders a moment. “Might be a Diamond Dog... The local guard force have gotten a few mentions of robberies from those once in a while... Don’t worry about it, the city has designed the ponyholes after it. It would demand that somepony had forgotten to lock this, or if they were strong enough to brea-”

And before Pen was able to say anything more, as if summoned, The ponyhole cover was smashed upwards and sent flying several feet into the air, completely bent inwards, with locks and even parts of the concrete ripped along with it. Both ponies exclaimed in surprise and jumped backwards as the crazy display of strength happened before their very eyes, and out of the hole, a very big diamond dog wiggled its way out and into the alley. It was twice as tall as a normal pony and it stared down at them. 

Berry froze in fear instantaneously, while Pen lowered his horn defensively as the Diamond Dog was staring at him. 

However, before it was able to move any further, another Diamond Dog poked its head up of the ruined ponyhole, and growled at its kinsdog. 

“You IDIOT! Don’t focus on the unicorn pony, its the earth pony-Pony!” the smaller scruffier doggy barked in command. 

The larger dog complied, and turned around to look upon Berry, who only then snapped out of her frozen state. 

“W-Wha, you´re not looking for mehehehe!”  she said with the worst poker face smile her drunken state could summon while she slowly stepped backwards, only to feel the coldness of bricks press against her plot, hindering her escape. 

The larger diamond dog didn’t change its expression. It was simply stoic yet so... determined, as it almost lumbered towards Berry. It lifted up its large paw, as to prepare it to bring down and grab the defenceless earth pony. 

Until it felt the shock of a certain coltish unicorn, attempting to shoulder tackle the much larger dog. 

Despite Pen´s flimsy unicorn build of a body, he was able to throw the large dog off of its balance, and the creature actually toppled over, crashing into a few trash cans. 

Pen quickly shifted his focus to Berry Punch. “Run, Berry! Get out of here no-” 

Pen´s words were cut off, as the dog had risen from its fallen disposition, and grabbed his tail. With a mighty yank, the coltish writer was forced backwards and off his hooves. This would normally have been enough, but the dog was annoyed with the unicorn. So it did not simply just pull him back. Instead it swung him by his tail around, like he was a small lasso, before letting go, and sending the stallion crashing into the alley wall with a loud thump. But Berry could swear she also heard a crack. That made her wince. 

Pen bounced limply off of the ground as gravity finally took over, his fedora falling off of his head. The coltish unicorn winced as he finally began to come to, feeling pain throughout most of his system, and his a floating feeling, as if he was on a ship in a storm. He opened his eyes and slowly began to grasp his surroundings. 

The larger dog had grabbed Berry Punch, however she was seemingly unconscious, making Pen question how long he had been out, and the dog was crawling down into the broken ponyhole again at the behest of the smaller scruffy Diamond dog.

“Come on! Hurry,Hurry, Hurry Hurry! Don’t want to upset de Fiend-Pony!” the smaller dog snapped at the larger one, who complied by speeding up and quickly disappearing into the ponyhole. 

The words snapped Pen´s pained attention to the ponyhole, with the splashing sounds of paws, making their escape into the Manehatten sewer systems. 

‘The Fiend!’ Pen mentally gasped before with grinding teeth, forcing himself onto his hooves, feeling pain all over, still reeling from the shock of being swung into a wall. He especially winced a moment as he felt a specifically sharp pain back from his tail region. He could not move his tail without it sending a sharp jolt through him. 

Pausing a moment to keep his focus, Pen quickly ran over and lowered himself into the ponyhole. “Ok, tail dislocated... Can live with that... Cheerilee´s friend Berry being kidnapped by associates of the Fiend. Cannot live with that.” he thought aloud, just as his hooves landed in the sloppy sewer water and his nose was assaulted by that wretched stench. 

With a quick and slightly panicked disposition, Pen looked around and flicked his ears back and forth just to catch the sound of the dogs making their escape. Pen quickly focussed his magic into his horn to make a simple flashlight spell, and to his luck, he was just able to see the tails of the smaller dog from earlier, turn a corner, far into the sewer. 

“Oh no, you´re not getting away from me!” he thought in a mumble, before setting off in a gallop. While it was hard to make his way through the murky and icky sewer water, with a constant insistent pain in his tail, Pen´s stubbornness was enough to carry him along. He turned the corner to follow the dogs and quickly mentally checked down ‘Right’. 
Pen was in luck. The much larger dog was severely slowed by having to use one paw to hold on to Berry Punch, so once again, Pen was able to stay within sight. Though, due to the flashlight, they could also see him. And the scruffy dog was not happy.

“Hurry, you oaf!! A Unicorn-Pony is following us!” the dog hissed before turning down another pipeline. 

‘Left’. Pen remembered as he took the same turn, following after the dogs in the dark sewer systems. 
Pen had no idea where directly he was. But he knew which way to go. Just had to keep reminding himself the turns. 

‘Right, Left... Right Left Left... Right Left Left right... Right Left Left Right Left... Right Lef Left Right Left, Very straight, Down, Left.’ 

After what felt like an eternity, and long enough to make the not so athletic pony stop for a moment to heave for breath, but only receiving the wretched air of the sewers instead of the more pleasant city air; Pen was certain, he had found their hideout. 

It was clearly a crudely dug out diamond dog tunnel, while ugly and filthy with old sewer water and the stench of the numerous dogs having used it, it still was rather well kept considering. Pen carefully made his way inside the tunnel that he had seen the dogs disappear into, making sure to stop his flashlight spell before he placed a careful hoof against the tunnel wall and descended into the Diamond dog lair. 

‘Make sure to remember... Keep the wall... Careful.. Careful...’ he kept mentioning to himself silently as he knew there could be Diamond dogs just around every corner. Thankfully, the wretched stench of the sewers SHOULD cover his scent for at least a few minutes. 

Slowly making his way forwards, Pen could slowly begin to hear the growls and yells of Diamond dogs, much further into the tunnels, but it was hard to localize where specifically it was. Thankfully, Pen took the chance of dead reckoning and knowing he could remember the way back, and was successful. He saw the light of a much larger room begin to illuminate the tunnel of which he was in, and the voices of the dogs became much much more clear. 

“You Stupid, Stupid, Stupid Stoneskull! You allowed Scruffy to get stepped on! By a unicorn pony no less!” a small dog growled at the much larger creature in front of it. 

Pen quickly shifted off to the side of the tunnel entrance, hiding by a little side tunnel that would lead in some unknown direction, and listened in on the conversation. Though it turned out to be more of a rant, as the larger Diamond dog, still seemed to be completely stoic. 

“And den! You were so slow dat you almost revealed our hideaway! How dumb dumb dumb are you!? I am going to tell dat Fiend-Pony on you! And Evil-Fiend-Pony will not be pleased!” 

Pen peeked inside to see the reaction of the larger dog, to be less than... anything. It just stood there, soaking up all the ranting from its much smaller kinsdog. 

The smaller dog growled even more and jumped up and down in frustration. 

“Why must you me so stupid, Stupid, stupid!? You know if Evil-Fiend-Pony does not get, purple Earth-Pony-Pony, den we all end up like Biggus! Do you want to end up like him!?” the dog asked, as it peered at the much larger dog, who still didn’t even bat an eye. 

Pen was confused. How could that much larger dog be so... still? It looked unnatural. He slowly reached up to try and get the quill and noteblock out from beneath his fedora, only to realize that he had dropped it on street level. 

‘Ah Fudgenuggets... Have to remember this as well’ he thought before peering inside again. 

Just as he did, an average sized dog, dressed in a small black vest walked up behind the dog, that Pen designated as ‘Scruffy’. 

“Ah don’t think he think about it, Scruffy. He been just as blank since he licked da Evil-Fiend-Pony...” The second dog said, seriously, but also slightly terrified. 

‘Wait, licked the Fiend?’ 

Scruffy turned to the other dog with a frustrated look on his doggy face. He shook his paws a moment before grabbing his ears in frustration. “I knoooooouuuwwww! But he is just soo... Stupiddd! He don’t do what I say, And he is supposed to do what Scruffy says!” 

This however, prompted the other dog to scratch the top of his head and retort. “But... Isn’t he supposed to do what Evil-Fiend-Pony says, and not you?” 

Scruffy certainly got annoyed by this remark and began turning his anger towards his less sizeable kinsdog, while Pen retreated slightly backwards to review his thoughts.

‘So the larger dog has licked the Fiend, and somehow changed... Could this be some kind of power it has? Have we not been dealing with a vampire at all? Or is this perhaps one of the things this new strain of vampires can do? Wait.. has he changed the Dog into his sort of vampir- No, lets call it Blood Drainer for simplicity. So has this blood drainer somehow enslaved this diamond dog? Its higher functions seems to clearly be gone. That, or it has gotten much more control of them, as to not betray any emotions. Much like the Canterlot guards and- Wait a minute... Could he have taken these dogs as his guards?... That would certainly make sense. It’s a possible resource...’ 

Pen´s extremely long inner monologue was broken as he was snapped out of his thoughts when Scruffy began yelling. 
“Uuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrghhh Enough!! Just get the Earth Pony-Pony into the cells! The Evil-Fiend-Pony could be here any minute now, and Scruffy does not want to die!!” 

This made Pen freeze for just a second before he quickly peeked inside the room again, seeing the other dog scamper over to the much larger one, before all three of them turned to trudge over towards another tunnel, most likely leading to the cells. 

Pen gritted his teeth a moment as the dogs were just out of sight. “I hate to say this but... I have to get Cheerilee... I can’t do this without vampire backup...” he said before stepping backwards.

But then a very, very sharp pain indicated that he bumped into something. 
Pen´s tail had been dislocated, and dislocations can hurt like hell when you move them. Which was what just happened. Pen reflexively yelped out in pain and tried to jump forwards, and away from whatever was causing the pain.

But something had other plans. 

In a quick and rough move, hooves grasped around Pen and yanked him back into a tight ,cold grasp which quite bordered the line of embrace. However, one of the hooves had grasped around his snout and muzzle, constricting his air supply slightly, but mainly his ability to scream.

Which was exactly what he wanted to do, when he heard... and saw... the Fiend. 

“Sshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... Wouldn't want the dogs to hear you, now would you?” 

The words traveled down Pen´s spine like a bar of ice. The voice was low, teasing and strangely alluring, and obviously male. 

Pen tried to wrestle himself free of the white pair of hooves that was constricting him, but the embrace only became tighter and tighter the more he struggled. And it meant his plot and tail began pressing more against the Fiend as well.

Small whimpers of pain escaped the coltish writer´s constricted mouth, as his dislocated tailbone was getting more and more unbearable. 

This made the Fiend giggle. 

“Oh my dear... Does your tail hurt?” the Fiend asked, slowly leaning its face forwards, revealing its shining red eyes and just as red hair in stark contrast to its white coat. Those eyes eagerly drank in Pen’s struggles. 

“My my... If your tail hurts so much, you might give yourself away...” the Fiend cooed slightly, as Pen suddenly felt the gentle, but none the less agonizingly painful, press of a hindquarter against his dislocated tail. It was just a slow, and gentle press, but it was enough to make Pen hiss and whimper again. 

The Fiend let out another giggle. 

“Can’t... Have you... Scream.. Now can we?” he asked before pressing harder against the dislocated bone, forcing out more whimpers of the weaker pony, but also bringing painful tears to Pen´s eyes. 

A slow, but satisfied, fake intake of breath sounded from the Fiend as he whispered into Pen´s ear.

“Ahhhhhhh That’s what I like to seeee...” he said before gently tracing his tongue across Pen´s neck, sending shivers down his spine and putting a light blush upon his face. Even though he was terrified, he was still embarrassed by this level of... Closeness... Which only intensified as the Fiend seemed to know his weak spot, pulling Pen just a little more backwards, and nipping a bit at the tip of his horn. 

The sudden, very intimate move, made Pen do something he certainly DID NOT want to telegraph to the fiend in this situation. 

He let slip a little spell. 

The coltish writer´s horn flickered slightly from magic, and the Pen´s face blushed furiously in terror and embarrassment. 

This was the moment that the Fiend moved down to his ears and whispered.

“Now... Tell me, my sexy little stallion, when can I meet this vampire of yours?”