Applejack screamed in frustration and threw a mighty buck at the wall. Raj swore he felt the room shake a bit from the power of it.
“No! Alright, just... no!” She shouted as she paced the chamber. “We didn't come all this way to die trapped like rats. Look again!”
“Applejack-”
“Again!”
“Fine.” he circled the flashlight around the room in a quick scan. “Hey, look at that, no tunnel, just like the last fifty times I looked.”
She spat a curse and resumed pacing the chamber. They'd been like this for the last quarter hour, Raj sitting against a wall next to Macintosh's unconscious form with Applejack anxiously patrolling the room. She chewed her lip in thought, searching the dimly lit room for ideas.
“Maybe we can, like, get more stone from the walls and make a bigger barricade.” She stomped the ground with a hoof. “The ground here is too solid for them to dig through, so they need to come through that tunnel. If we delay them, maybe we'll be able to hold out for help.”
“You know anyone that would be able to fight through an army of ravenous Diamond Dogs? Cause if so, you probably should have brought them instead of me.” Raj slumped “Anyway, nobody knows we're down here, it'd take days for them to get to us. We'd run out of air by then even if the dogs wouldn't get to us.”
“Dammit all.” She was silent for a minute and then said “What if we tunneled ourselves out? Got up high and dug ourselves out. Figure if we just go up, we'll hit the surface eventually.”
Raj looked up, scanning the solid stone ceiling “You want to dig through that with bare hands and hooves and a pair of axes, through a section of ground already thick with tunnels? We'd be lucky if we only caused a cave-in.”
“Luna-dammit!” she screamed, her voice filling the small chamber. She growled in frustration and and stomped her hooves. Her face sunk and she dropped to the ground next to him, her head hung low.
They sat in silence for a minute before Raj spoke up “I'm sorry Applejack, for... this.”
“It's okay.” she sniffled.
“No, it isn't. We should have followed the plan, went back to town, and come back with more people. Instead I got it in my head that we could-”
She waved a hoof at him “Shush, no use crying over spilled cider.” She adjusted her hat “Sides, this ain't the worst thing ah been through. Not by a longshot."
Raj raised an eyebrow at her "Really? You've been through a crappier situation than this?"
She looked at him squarely "Yessir. Why, ah took a float through the Scariest Cave in Equestria once, now that was frightening."
"The scariest cave in Equestria? Really?"
"That ah did. 'Bout died of fright."
"How do you even quantify such a thing? Who's is the ruling body on cave terror?"
"Trust me, if'n you were there, you'd agree." They shared a mutual chuckled that fell into good-natured silence for almost a minute, then Applejack continued "So, what're we going to do?”
Raj sighed “Well, I figure we can either stay in here just like this and get torn apart by dogs.”
“Not a big fan of that plan.”
“Right, me neither. So that means that our only way out is through there.” He pointed at the blocked tunnel “And that means fighting, harsh, close-in fighting.”
Applejack looked at the stone blocking the tunnel. Faintly, she could hear scratching coming from the other side of it. “Well, ah don't like it, but no Apple's ever gone down what had fight left in 'em. Count me in.”
“Now, another thing Applejack. With Mac hurt, you'll have to carry him, so I'll be fighting by myself. I won't be able... it's...” He paused, unable to find the words. “I won't have the luxury of not, um...”
Applejack looked over at her fallen brother and his mutilated leg. Her face hardened and she said to him curtly “You do what you gotta do sugarcube.”
“Good.” Raj cinched his patka, tying it tightly. “Tunnel's only wide enough for one. I'll go first, you carry Macintosh and follow after. Any dogs that get past me you'll have to take care of because I am not turning around.”
“Gotcha. Here.” She mouthed him the ax at her side and slid Macintosh's discarded weapon. “You'll need 'em more than me.”
He took them from her and gave them an experimental roll in his hands, testing their weight and balance. For ponies they were battleaxes, but for him they were more akin to hatchets with longer beards. Finding them satisfactory, he nodded and replied “Much obliged.” He looked at the stone and saw it wobbling slightly as the dogs on the other side started pushing against it. He set himself and asked “You ready?”
She danced on her hooves a bit and held the flashlight in her mouth “Ready as ah'm gonna be.”
“Good enough.” He lowered and let out a scream as he charged the side of the boulder. He hit it with a shoulder-strike that sent the giant stone bouncing across the chamber.
The light was faint, but he could clearly see the look of startled surprise on the first Diamond Dog's face. The unlucky dog didn't even have time to realize what was happening before one of the Apple Axes flashed downward and split his head in half.
Raj looked up from the bloody display and saw the now-clear tunnel stretching before him, absolutely choked with dogs and lit with more wax-paper lanterns. The assembled beasts let out murderous snarls and surged forward. Raj dove in with a howl, hacking and slashing with incredible strength and keen precision.
It was a strange thing to think, but fighting with the Apple Axes was so very different from his staff. What he lacked in reach he made up for in speed. The strong, light metal of the axes let him swing lightning-fast, and the almost preternaturally sharp edges sliced through meat and bone with ease, as he discovered again and again and again.
The orange pony following in his wake stepped gingerly, avoiding laying hoof on any survivors. She didn't do them any harm, the fight had been taken out of them already.
To Raj's surprise, the dogs that had growled threats at the beginning were quickly retreating. They scrabbled over their brethren to escape. The small number of brave dogs that chose to face his wrath did so only briefly before joining their packmates in piles on the floor.
Something reflective came from further down the hall and he instinctively flashed his guard up. A hurled spear struck the flat of an ax and shattered. He peered after its source and saw a big dog in heavy armor. It lifted another spear and hurled it at him.
Raj ducked the second missile and stood up, hiking an arm back. He hurled one of the Apple Axes as hard as he could. It spun in mid-flight and caught the dog squarely in the neck as it was turning to grab another spear. The creature flew back and hit the wall, the blade still embedded in its flesh.
That was it for the rest of the dogs as they all turned and ran, yipping and howling in fear. He stepped out into the primary tunnel and saw dogs retreating down both. He retrieved the ax and said to Applejack “Let's go.” She responded with a mute nod.
All totaled, thirty-one Diamond Dogs met their end in that tunnel.
They resumed their retreat, following the paint marks they'd left. Every so often they would encounter a small clutch of dogs searching their tunnels for further intruders. They caught them off-guard every time and made quick work of them. It was funny, Raj thought. The fact that their plan was so half-cocked and idiotic was working to their advantage. Ace didn't think there was any way only three would come into their warrens, so he figured there had to be more somewhere. If he knew their real numbers, they would simply be overwhelmed.
They made good speed that left them both huffing and puffing hard. Her brother's weight and the day's exertions left Applejack more fatigued than she'd been in months. Raj's injuries and the strain of combat left him in a similar state.
After twenty or so minutes of panicked flight, they stood in the tunnel leading to the river chamber, the first chamber of the warrens.
Applejack breathed a palpable sigh of relief that was rudely interrupted by the yipping of dogs approaching from behind. She groaned “Not again, no more.”
“C'mon just a little further.” He egged her on and pulled her forward. She broke into a limping canter as he sprinted ahead.
Raj hit the lip and dropped, using the axes to hook the stone and lower himself down. He hit the ground and rolled. He looked up to see Applejack standing at the mouth of the tunnel.
She glanced over her shoulder and cried out “They're right behind me!”
“Jump down!” He shouted back. Before the words had fully left his mouth she sprang out, clutching to her brother to keep him from falling away. Raj dropped the axes and shuffled underneath them. He caught Applejack's weight and then Big Macintosh's hit and he almost buckled. Gingerly he set the ponies down and steadied Applejack for a moment. He retrieved the axes and smiled at her “Almost there Applejack, we're almost home free.”
She grinned back at him deliriously and they started for the brilliant tunnel that shone with daylight. They made only a few meager steps towards it before they saw the looming shapes of dogs barring their path and loping towards them.
“It's the only way out, of course it's guarded.” Raj lowered himself into a fighting crouch, ready to take the dogs on.
“Uh, Rajrishi, we got a problem.” said Applejack worriedly.
“I know, dogs.”
“Lots of dogs, too many dogs.” Applejack tapped his thigh and he turned around.
From every tunnel mouth in the nexus chamber, Diamond Dogs loomed like gargoyles. Hundreds of them, all growling and crawling their way down to them.
Raj backed up, glancing around. Dogs of all shape and sizes were entering the chamber, and others were howling down passages to summon even more. He backed up their position, slowly edging them to ledge over the river, never dropping his guard.
A cordon formed around them, a clear space of about thirty feet. The beasts growled or yipped, howling threats or vile insults his way. He glanced at the exit tunnel a mere hundred feet distant, but there was a solid sea of dogs between them and it.
They postured and threatened, throwing lewd gestures his way, but none of them advanced. Not a one.
“Oh mah god Rajrishi, what're we gonna do?” whispered Applejack, terror heavy on her voice.
He quietly muttered back “I have an idea, follow my lead.”
Raj narrowed his eyes and hopped forward, menacing the crowd of dogs. The nearest dogs ceased their threats and recoiled, scared whimpers sounding from them. The dogs behind them were pushed back by the ripple, some of them even falling off their feet from the sudden push.
His eyebrows shot up. They were afraid of him.
He could use that.
As loud as he could, Raj bellowed out “Ace! Show yourself!”
When the dog didn't appear immediately he cried it out again. At the seventh cry he saw the black dog stride from a tunnel and start pushing his way through the crowd. He breached the cordon and stood at the forefront of his pack.
Ace stood on his hind legs, forearms crossed smugly. His fur was still caked with blood and he was wearing a thin bit of white bone on a cord that Raj assumed came from Macintosh's leg. The big dog smugly asked “You want to beg, not-pony? It not work.”
“No, I want to fight.”
Ace cocked his head in confusion “What you say not-pony?”
“I want to fight Ace.” he pointed an ax at the big dog's chest.
Ace was quiet a moment and then let out a hissing laugh, his face actually smiling for once through his omnipresent snarl. “You funny or crazy not-pony. Why would I do that?”
“Shutup mutt, I'm not talking to you, I'm talking to them.” He looked around the crowd of Diamond Dogs “I don't care about you all, I'm here for him and him alone. Any of you that get in my way will die, but he is all that I want. Let me have him and I will leave you in peace.”
“My dogs are brave and loyal!” he spat. “Kill him, kill him now!”
Ace gestured forward and... nothing. The dogs stood still, some looking around in confusion or fear. The ones nearest to Ace backed away from him, looking at him fearfully.
“Did you not hear me?” Ace grabbed the nearest dog to him and threw him forward “Go!”
The dog hit the ground gracelessly and scrabbled up. He looked back and forth between Ace and Raj, whimpered and sprinted to the side, away from them both.
Ace screamed in incoherent rage and leaped into his own dogs, grabbing them and clawing. They recoiled away, avoiding his grip. His head snapped back to Raj and he screamed “You, you did this! You did this to me! To my pack!”
“And I'd do it again a thousand times you worthless little maggot!” He spat back, stalking forward. He turned around and said to Applejack “Stay here.”
“Uh-huh.”
Ace lowered and broke into a loping run, his eyes filled with unimaginable fury. Raj saw him coming and grit his teeth in anger. He looked down at the axes and shook his head. “No, you I'm going to kill with my hands.” and unclenched his fists, letting the axes drop.
The massive beast closed the distance in rapid strides and dove at his chest. Raj raised his arms to block and caught him, his hands gripping at greasy fur. They went into a roll across the floor in a tangle of limbs. They settled on the ground, Raj over Ace's back.
Raj looped an arm around the dog's front and clenched down, pressing his forearm to the canine's throat while his other arm looped under his armpit, restraining the limb. Ace squirmed and grunted, trying to free himself as the blood was blocked from his brain. They rolled a few times, eventually stopping with Raj underneath him, but his arms still crushing. Ace twisted his head to try and nip at the restraining arm, but didn't have the angle. His vision started to darken and his struggles went weak.
The black dog coiled his whole body up, putting all of his weight on Raj's chest and swung his stubby little feet down, landing one of them squarely on Raj's crotch.
Raj let out a cry of agony and his grip loosened. Ace leaned up and then swung his head back, cracking Raj on the chin with his skull. Raj's head cracked into the ground and he was left in a daze. Ace spun on top of him and and rose up as a wheezing cough ripped from his lungs. He raised a claw and swung it down, drawing a pair of shallow lines from his shoulder to his sternum.
The sudden flare of agony brought Raj to coherency and he blindly lashed out. Luck was on his side and he managed to grab underneath Ace's chin. He pushed up, forcing the dog off of him. Ace growled and shook, flailing wildly at his arm, leaving ragged scratches.
Raj screamed and drove his black fist into the Alpha's gut, sinking all the way up to his wrist. Ace tensed and shook, his face contorting into a pained grimace. Raj hauled back and swung again and again, each time hitting him in the same pulverized spot.
Ace re-positioned his legs and leaped away using Raj's stomach as a spring board. He hit the ground hard and tried to right himself, but the pain in his abdomen forced him to his knees and he coughed up a plug of black bile.
Raj lumbered to his feet, his every motion bringing a jolt of agony from his abused groin. Ignoring that, he stood up straight, hands clenched into fists, and stalked over to the prone dog.
Ace looked up in time to catch the toe of a boot squarely in the face. He sailed back and hit the ground hard, clutching his broken muzzle and yowling in pain. He staggered up, shaking his head and muttering. “Stupid ponies and not-pony, come into my warren, kill my dogs, break my pack. I will eat your heart!” Ace screamed and charged again.
“What did you think was going to happen Ace?” he sidestepped his first lunge and chopped down at his upper back, driving him to the ground. He planted a boot on his back and pressed, holding him there. “You extorted those people for months, attacked their children, did you think they were just going to ignore that?” He hissed at him, grinding his heel into his spine.
Ace's tail lashed up, slicing down Raj's calf. He let out a cry of surprise and recoiled, letting Ace scrabble away on all fours. He spat back “Yes! They are ponies, we are dogs. We take what we want and they give what we ask! That is the way of things, that is what we are!”
Raj shook his head “If that's true then you and all your dogs are worth nothing at all. This couldn't have ended any other way. If not me, then an army of ponies rolling through here tomorrow. You have to die.”
Ace grinned “Wrong not-pony, Ace can never die.”
“Nothing at all...” He reiterated and broke into a silent charge.
Ace was ready for him, and did something wholly unexpected. Ace ducked low and spun, sweeping his skinny tail out at his legs. It hit his damaged leg and a flare of pain surged up his limb. His footing went bad and he stumbled, sliding prone on the ground.
He winced for a moment and then turned, expecting Ace to be on top of him. Instead, the dog was sprint away from him, towards the river.
Towards Applejack.
Panicked adrenaline burned through him and he shouted after the loping dog. Ace was heedless of the scream, intent on murdering the Apple siblings. To her credit, Applejack slumped off her brother's form and dropped into a fighting crouch.
Maybe he thought that killing the ponies would get his pack back under his control, or maybe he was just feeling spiteful. Raj never found out, as he managed to catch up to the black dog in little more than ten impossibly fast strides.
He grabbed Ace by the ruff of his neck and kept running, pushing forward at an unwise speed. He lifted him up and leaped from the edge of the shelf, sailing the distance to the cavern wall. He twisted Ace in his hands and palmed the side of the dog's head. With a screaming push he slammed Ace's skull against the stone face of the wall hard enough to make his beady, black eye explode in its socket.
An instant later Raj slammed against the wall as well, knocking himself insensate. The two of them limply fell into the river. The frigid water shocked him back into lucidity and he broke the surface with a gasp. He stood up, the water only coming a bit past his waist, and looked around for Ace.
He didn't have to look far. Ace was paddling his way to a steep ramp further down river. He looked ungainly in the water, not at all comfortable with it. He cast a panicked look over his shoulder at Raj, his eye leaking down his face in thick runnels. Grimly, Raj started trudging after him.
Just as Ace started scrabbling up the ramp, Raj grabbed him. Snarling, Ace whipped around and swung an arm, missing badly. Raj swayed back and lunged in and grabbed him by his pelvis and collarbone. He hauled him up and over his head, staring up at him with a flinty look.
Ace struggled vainly against the grip and whimpered “No! I give up, I surrender, I-”
He didn't finish his last sentence as Raj swung the black dog down and slammed him spine-first onto his bent knee.
Ace let out a breathless scream and rolled off. He clawed at the ground and started crawling away. It didn't matter that it was back into the water, he just wanted to get away from Raj. He propped himself up and cried “My legs, I can't-”
For the second time Raj cut him off. He jumped forward and sat on the black dog's back, holding his head down under the water. Bloody bubbles rose up to the surface and he struggled vainly, pushing against the bottom to try and dislodge Raj.
It only took a minute, maybe two, for the bubbles to stop.
And that's how the fearsome, Black Alpha of the Diamond Dogs died. Beaten, scared, and struggling for air.
* * *
The walk back was about as uneventful as one could expect. The most threatening thing they ran into was some windblown dandelion seeds.
They gave Macintosh's leg a proper dressing and set him up in his room. Applejack assured Raj that he would be fine with time and left him to rest. Raj saw to himself as well, slathering some of Zecora's unguent on his injuries and wrapping them in bandages. He stole one of Macintosh's shirts. Despite the awkward shape it fit fairly well.
He walked downstairs to see Applejack in her seat at the table staring off at nothing, a tall mug of cider in her hooves and her hat sitting in front of her. Her ear flicked in his direction when he entered the room, but she gave no other indication of detecting his presence.
He pulled up a chair and sat down. “Hey.”
“Hey.” she said back and took a draw from her mug.
“Macintosh is all settled in. I put a towel under his leg so he won't bloody up the sheets and made sure he got some water. I left some food on the table near him for when he wakes up. He should be fine while we go to town and talk to your family. Actually, we should probably get going now if we don't want to lose the light.” he stood up.
“He gave up near the end there, didn't he?”
Raj stopped, paused, and lowered himself back down. “Yeah, he did.”
“And you killed him anyway.”
Raj was silent for a minute before whispering “Yes.”
She stared forward blankly before throwing back the last of her cider. She wiped her mouth and finally looked at him, tears brimming in her eyes. “Thank you.” She lunged forward and wrapped him in a tight hug. “Thank you so much Rajrishi.”
He returned the embrace, gently holding her close while she rambled. “Ah, ah, there's nopony else who coulda done... that.” She sniffled and pressed her face to his bare shoulder. “And ah know ah'd never feel... feel safe 'gain s'long as... as...”
He ran a hand down her back “It's okay Applejack, you don't have to say it. I know.”
“Thank you.” She made no move to leave, just clung to him and sobbed quietly.
He stayed that way for a while, letting her cleanse herself without shame. Eventually when she'd calmed down a bit, he said softly “I'm leaving tonight Applejack.”
She perked up. “What? Why?”
“I came here to get better and I have. Figure it's time to go.” He shrugged “Anyway, it's not like you need me here.”
“But what if the dogs come back?”
“The dogs are not coming back.” He replied flatly.
“But what about today, huh? Aren't ya all banged up from that? You should get some rest.”
“It was nothing bad, nothing that requires a doctor's visit at least. Anyway, I've been healing like crazy ever since I came here. I'll be fine in a few days.” He set her back on the ground. “It's decided, okay? Don't fret about it.”
Applejack's muzzle crinkled as she tried to think of more reasons, but she bit them back and let out a sigh, something like relief shuddering through her. “You sure there's nothing ah can do to make ya stay?”
He smiled “Positive. The only way home I know of has to be in the Everfree, and I can't find it living here. Though I do have a favor to ask.”
“G'head.”
“Take care of Banjo for me? He'll be much safer here with you.”
“Oh, sure, sure. Ah can do that.” She smiled lightly. “Ah'm kinda partial to him actually. He's a real good dog. Maybe ah can get some puppies out of him after all.”
“Yeah, good luck with that.” he grabbed his bag and stood up.
“Well, ah'm not sending you out there unprepared, that's for sure.” She trotted to the corner and grabbed the canvas harness and set it on the table. “Here, take these.”
Raj pulled one of the Apple Axes from its sheath and gave it a once-over. “Really? Applejack, these were your Grandfather's.”
“And now they're yours. 'Sides, we don't got a use for 'em, but you sure do.” her face hardened a touch “Anyway, ah don't much like the idea of having something in the house that-”
“I understand, thank you Applejack.” he grabbed the sling and laid it over a shoulder. “I should go while I still have some daylight.”
Applejack nodded and trotted to the door. She nosed it open and held it for him, smiling lightly.
As he walked down the dirt path, leaning on his staff with every other step, Applejack shouted after him “Don't be a stranger, come on back some time.”
He waved back and even at such a distance, he could see in her eyes the desperate hope-against-hope that he never would.
END OF BOOK ONE