The wind howled around her, cutting through coat and skin to chill her to the bone. Yet she could not move, paws rooted in the snow. It wasn’t the cold that held her in place, though, but the presence that circled her slowly. Claws as big as her paw dug into the soil, though the snow remained undisturbed.
“So this whelp is the future of my children?” the snarling voice asked from behind her. “To say I am disappointed would be a gross understatement.” Gradually, its owner completed another circuit, stopping in front of her.
She wished that she could call it a wolf, even if it was as large as a bus. It would have been a comfort, however small, to be able to use such simple words. But in the face of a god, words just couldn’t hope to describe its sheer presence.
Sirius practically radiated feral strength, the feeling of the primal wild that drove animals to seek shelter. Every time Heather blinked, something seemed to change, an aspect of himself sloughing off to be replaced by another. Wolf fur gave way to lion mane, sabertooth fangs replaced by shark’s teeth. The only constants were the predatory aura and those yellow eyes boring into her soul.
“And I find you carrying the offspring of hairless monkeys? Have you no pride?” he snarled, teeth flashing. “I did not raise the diamond dogs from the forest and the deepstone‑ to see them become breeding mules for apes!”
Heather bristled. “Now hold on. Project Thesan is vital to the survival of a species, my birth species! Without it humanity would go extinct!”
“Impudent, ignorant pup!” Sirius snarled, a plume of snow swirling up from his rage. “And just what gave your species the right to decide its own fate? The march of life is not some pet to be tamed just because you disagree with the outcome!”
Heather wanted to quail, to beg for forgiveness from the apex predator. But something inside her rose up and seized control; her lip curled back, teeth flashing as she took a defiant step forward. “That’s not going to stop us from trying. We won’t simply lie down and accept the end just because something bigger than us says so! And you won’t insult my child in my presence again, or we’ll find out what color your blood is!” She panted, throat ragged, only to remember just what she’d been shouting at. Her knees shook, but she forced herself to stay upright.
Sirius growled, and raised a paw as if to strike her. But with a thud, it struck a crater right next to her. “Well well, my adopted daughter does have fangs, after all. You still lack respect for your alpha, but at least I know you have a spine. You will need your fangs before this day is over, Heather Defiant Stone.”
“You know, instead of taking such a roundabout way, you could just tell me what you meant and save me a lot of trouble,” Heather grumbled, only to yelp as Sirius’ paw swept sideways and pinned her to the snow.
“A reminder, my daughter: while I tolerate your insolence this time, my patience is not infinite.” He raised his head, sniffing as the winds began to blow harder. “Our time comes to an end. Remember this lesson, if you truly intend to defy the natural order.” He continued to speak, but the howling of the wind drowned him out as everything faded to black.
Eclipse ground her teeth as Aura Link’s spell crackled yet again, sparks hissing against the cobblestones. “Another fizzle?”
He frowned, “This shouldn’t be happening. Even if they’d disabled the tracking spell placed upon her, we have some of her hair. Unless they set up wards beforehoof, then I suppose it’s possible for them to interfere with my spell matrix…” he trailed off, muttering thaumatical figures as he prepared to recast the spell.
“We can’t keep delaying, every second we wait is more chance for them to vanish outright,” Eclipse turned to the pegasus beside her. “I want the search net expanded. Inform General Cloudhammer we might need to lock the whole city down, before they have a chance to escape.” She scowled in frustration as he took off. “Just where are you, Heather?”
Another squad of ponies turned the corner, and Eclipse recognized the sergeant leading them. “Sergeant Kicker, glad to see you join us. Your squad ready to go?”
“Yes ma’am, just tell us where you need us,” Rain replied, saluting.
“Good, I want you all ready for when we make entry—”
“Ma’am, I found something!” Aura shouted from the street, standing next to a sewer grate.
“What is it?” she demanded, eyes narrowed as she approached the grate. “Did they take her into the sewer network?”
“Well, I’m not sure, though I’d be skeptical,” he admitted. “I couldn’t seem to get a direct link to her location, so I tried to expand the matrix for all diamond dogs, see if I could get anything from a more general sweep. And I started getting pings, but I don’t think they’re from Heather.” He sighed. “I suspect we might not be the only ones looking for her, ma’am.”
Eclipse stared through the grate, feeling the same as with the drainage pipe from where Heather was taken. “Can you track them?” she asked quietly.
“Well, I’d like to refine the spell, tune it to their specific auras—” he quailed as Eclipse glared at him. “Yes, I can track them.”
“Good.” She stared at the grate as if interrogating it. “More diamond dogs in the city… Why can it never be simple?”
Digger flexed his claws as he dug, continuing upward toward the pipes of the city. The rest of the pack was hot on his heels; jaws open and tails wagging as his excitement infected them. It hadn’t taken much to convince them of the merits a female would bring to the pack, and once Shale had given permission, they’d started moving.
Of course, Shale had been plenty angry at Digger’s entering the city, though for the moment had spared him any punishment. Depending, of course, on their retrieving the female successfully.
“How much farther?” Shale growled as he shouldered aside a boulder.
“Not far! Digger can feel pipes, and still knows female scent!” Almost to prove him right, his claws scraped against reinforced stone, and Digger carefully moved along the curve until he’d reached the top. “Go in here, won’t get pony mess on you.” He grunted as he started to carve an opening.
The rest of the pack followed suit, and were soon loping down the sewer tunnel. Digger slowed as he spotted the sunlight coming from a drainage grate, motioning for the pack to be silent. Peering up through the grate, he could see the gold of one of the pony guards, and waved the pack past. Moving quickly, the dogs crept under the grate, the sewer smell thankfully masking their scent.
“Digger better know what he doing,” Shale grunted once they were far enough from the grate. “Smell lots of ponies, lot of fear scent.”
“Digger know, Digger smart,” he replied as he stopped at another grate, sniffing attentively. His ears perked up, tail thumping a staccato beat. “Digger smell her! Is not far now!”
The pack hurried on, their previous excitement now fading into silent intensity as they started the hunt proper.
As consciousness returned, the headache announcing itself with a dull throb, Heather wished it’d taken the scenic route. Her chest burned in time with the pounding, like a mule had kicked her. Once she’d sorted out those two pains, she realized that she was rocking gently back and forth. At first she thought she was on a ship, but as she regained more of her senses she realized she was being carried. The distinctive tingle of magic surrounded her, and she growled irritably, muscles flexing. Her ears flicked, rasping against a rough fabric; and she opened her eyes to dim light through the bag over her head.
“She’s starting to wake up,” a voice said nearby, “Make sure she doesn’t break free.” The rocking intensified, along with the sound of hooves on wood. She struggled weakly as ropes wound themselves around her arms and legs, only to groan as her headache returned .
“I’d stay still if I were you,” somepony nearby advised, and Heather growled as she recognized their scent.
“Guiding Light, is that you? What’s going on? Why did you attack me?” She renewed her struggles, but the ropes resisted her efforts.
“Keep your mouth shut, you mutt,” another voice snapped, and she recognized the voice of the old unicorn from the street. She finally took a sniff, smelling two other ponies beyond Guiding and the old pony.
“Can I at least have the bag taken off?” she asked hopefully.
“No.” The old pony replied with a snort. She heard him turn, hooves clacking on the wooden floor. “I want her under constant watch. If she so much as tries to escape, feel free to get… inventive. Just don’t kill her or the whelp, we might need them as leverage for escaping the city.” The hoofsteps faded as he left the room, the other two ponies remaining by what she guessed was the door.
Heather squirmed until she was sitting upright. Flexing her wrists revealed the ropes were wound too tight, and tied too well for her to do anything. The bindings on her ankles were just as well done, and she felt her confusion turning to fear. “Look, I don’t know what you want, but please, just let me go. I haven’t done anything to you.”
She heard nothing, and renewed her struggling against the ropes. “You know that the Equestrian Royal Guard will be looking for me, if you let me go now I’m sure they’ll be willing to make some compromise—” the tingle of magic on her right ear was her only warning before it was savagely twisted, and she yelped at the sharp pain.
“I believe you were told to keep quiet,” one of the ponies snapped. “So I’d suggest doing that before I have to twist that ear off.”
“Let her go,” Guiding’s voice interrupted. “We need to remember that we’re better than that. Otherwise all our legitimacy goes out the window.”
“Screw legitimacy,” the first voice replied, “I lost my sister in St. Louis. Far as I’m concerned, losing an ear’s barely a start.”
“You heard Hearthstone, we need her for leverage.” The floor creaked as Guiding paced back and forth. “And it’s not just the Royal Guard tracking us, but the Night Guard too. And trust me: if we’ve harmed her, they won’t show us mercy.”
After a few seconds, the pressure let up, and Heather gasped in relief. As the pain ebbed, she felt her paws starting to throb again, and grimaced at the expected surge in her stonesense. But oddly, in spite of the interference from the wood floor, she felt… disruption in the ground underneath. She started to open her mouth, yet something kept her silent. Somehow, she didn’t feel that whatever it was would hurt her. She wondered if it was Eclipse, organizing some secretive operation to rescue her. Striking from below did seem to be right up the batpony’s alley, after all.
“You sure this where ponies have her?” A low growl undercut Shale’s question as Digger snuffled at the drainage grate. The larger dog wavered with the weight of the smaller on his shoulders, trying his best not to fall into the filthy water of the sewer.
“Digger not sure… wait, think Digger has her!” he grinned, tail wagging fiercely. “Her scent coming from that building across the street! Not smell many ponies, we go now?”
“Not from pipe, too tough to surprise,” Shale growled, setting Digger back on the pipe floor. “Pack go back into ground, strike directly from below. Ponies not see us coming.” He turned to the rest of the pack. “Once female secure, we bring her underground quickly, collapse tunnel behind us. Ponies won’t follow fast enough to catch, and we make our way deep until they give up.”
“Shale sure ponies give up?” Digger asked, glancing back up. “Digger smells scary ponies coming, they seem eager to find her too.”
“Which is why pack need to stop asking questions and follow commands,” Shale replied, cuffing Digger over the head. “Now hurry!”
The dogs quickly set to burrowing into the side of the pipe, moving in the direction of the house. Dirt and rock scraped as they carefully felt their way along, the weight of the home’s foundation guiding them until they were directly beneath it.
Digger grinned, tail wagging despite himself. Things were actually working out, and soon the pack would have it’s own female—
“Does Digger know where in house female is?” Shale suddenly asked.
Digger hesitated with a whine. “Ummm… no.”
Guiding Light felt another wave of anxiety wash over him as he trotted aimlessly through the house. Everything was proceeding as planned, yet he couldn’t shake the hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach. He couldn’t put his hoof on it, his resolve still felt intact, but he found himself wavering now that he was face to face with his discontent. Yet—
“Sir Light!” The unicorn at the end of the hall shouted. “The Royal Guard are here!”
“Where?” he demanded, indecision gone as he strode to the window.
“By the end of the road. Short Trails spotted them from the garden.” He pointed to the earth pony outside, who continued dutifully tending the bushes. “See? They’re right around the corner of the Honeycrisps’ manor.”
Guiding squinted, and sure enough he saw the glint of gold armor, the mirror of his own. “What is the stage of preparation for the teleport?”
“They’re charging the last of the runes in the basement. But why do we need to leave now? The Guard will have to negotiate for the mutt’s safety—”
“What’s your name?” Guiding asked abruptly.
“Umm, it’s Ivory Glow, sir.” he replied hesitantly.
“And did you happen to read the reports that I’ve been sending?” Guiding didn’t wait for his reply, “The Night Guard have been involved from the first day the diamond dog was brought into Canterlot. They fix the problem first, then ‘negotiate’ with whoever is left. That’s why it was important we not hurt Heather.”
Ivory swallowed nervously as realization sank in. “I… should probably help get the teleport array ready, shouldn’t I?”
“It couldn’t hurt,” Guiding remarked sarcastically as he turned to head back down the hallway. Almost at the same time, he heard the sharp crack of wood splintering, followed by shouts of alarm and high-pitched screaming. “And that would be Hearthstone,” he grumbled. “We’re under attack, defend the hostage!” He galloped back towards Heather’s room as more screams came from the basement stairwell. At least his indecision was gone for now.
Aura Link concentrated, working to keep track of the diamond dog’s presences. Tracking where Heather had been taken wasn’t necessary anymore, the house at the end of the street practically shone with ward magic. He couldn’t put a hoof on exactly what kind of wards, but that in itself only cemented it as the likely destination of the dognappers.
“And you’re sure that’s the house?” Eclipse whispered, peering around the corner at the unassuming residence. The only feature that set it apart from the others on the street was the heavy fence that surrounded it. An earth pony toiled in the garden, though he’d spent the past ten minutes tending the same flower bush, one that happened to give him a good view of the road.
“Yes, the thaumic traces are unmistakable. Furthermore, I’m feeling some form of wards, though for the moment they haven’t alerted anypony to my spells,” Aura replied. “I don’t want to probe any further, since it might trip them.”
Eclipse nodded quietly. “And the other diamond dogs?”
He grimaced. “I’m sorry, but their traces are getting obscured by the wards from the house. They were definitely moving for it though.”
“Okay, then we go now.” Eclipse turned to the other guards. “I want a barrier around the house, nopony gets in or out. Pegasi establish an aerial perimeter for the secondary. The unicorns not on barrier detail will advance and provide counter-magic support.”
“Who’s the entry team?” Rain Kicker asked.
“We are,” Eclipse replied, eyes hard as she glared at the house, sizing up the doorway and the windows. “Sergeant Kicker, your squad will back me up—” she stopped as a faint scream echoed from the house. “What… was… that?”
“Ma’am, the dogs are on the move! They must have breached a basement, I can’t really see them now!” Aura shouted.
“Go now, move!” Eclipse shouted, taking flight as other guardponies broke cover and galloped up the street. She heard Rain Kicker’s squad leaping after her as she angled toward the house. “I want half of you to breach the upstairs, sweep and clear. Sergeant Kicker, you and two of your best on me, we’re taking the first floor!”
“Yes ma’am!” came their reply, the formation splitting up as they aimed for specific windows. The screaming and shouting coming from inside the house was getting louder, ponies from nearby homes peeking out their windows only to immediately withdraw upon seeing the Guard raid in action.
The unicorns concentrated their magic, and in a rippling flare of energy, started ripping the wards open. Thankfully no overt offensive magic was embedded into the wards, but they took no chances, keeping their attention on reducing the windows to common glass. The entry teams could handle those.
Eclipse cursed under her breath as she angled for one of the first floor windows, barely giving the earth pony gardener a second glance as a pegasus tackled him to the ground. Closing her eyes, she ducked her head forward and smashed through the glass. Broken shards crunched underhoof as she took in the area. In front of her was a long hallway, several rooms spaced out along it. The door on her immediate left was open, and further down the hall was another. A scared-looking unicorn dressed in a silk shirt was staring into the room, and Eclipse took the opportunity to charge. As she did, she noticed the first door seemed to lead to the basement, the walls and floor scratched badly. The claw marks led right from the stairwell to the other open room, and Eclipse cursed again.
The unicorn was starting to turn his head, magic coating his horn, and Eclipse stopped wondering about the claw marks for a second. She jumped high, wingtips almost brushing the ceiling as she kicked the tip of his horn.
Predictably, his magic immediately vanished and he started to cry out, only for her follow-up strike to snap his head sideways, sending him to the floor in a heap. She stopped to make sure he wasn’t going to get up, then slid up to the door and glanced in.
Admittedly, she had seen some strange things since entering service under Princess Luna, but the sight that greeted her definitely ranked high on the list. Heather was in the center of the room, a green aura of magic surrounding her. She was struggling, but the magic kept her from saying anything through the bag on her head. Guiding Light stood just behind her, ears back and breathing hard. He was favoring his left leg, which dripped blood from the gash carved into it.
In front of him, warily sizing him up, a pair of diamond dogs growled and snapped. They were still shoulder-to-shoulder, but Eclipse could see them starting to separate. Her eyes met Guiding’s, and she nodded in silent agreement. Before either dog could react, she leapt forward and smashed their heads together, dropping them to the floor like sacks of potatoes.
“Never thought I’d be happy to see you,” Guiding muttered.
“Shut up and let Heather go,” Eclipse snapped.
“And what will I get in exchange?” Guiding winced as he tried to put weight on his leg.
Eclipse scowled. “If you’re lucky, I’ll only break one of your legs. Now let. Her. Go.” She started to move forward, wings unfurling. “You’ve got three seconds, traitor.” She took another step. “Two.”
Guiding wanted to resist, but knew full well the batpony would deliver on her threat. And even if he got past her, there were still an unknown number of guards and who knew how many diamond dogs waiting. He knew he didn’t stand a chance of powering the teleport array on his own, either. All of the ideological fire guttered out and he released his magic. “Okay, I surren—“
Eclipse surged as his aura faded, the tip of his horn cracking with the force of her blow. As Guiding fell to the floor, screaming in agony, she wheeled and caught Heather. “Heather, it’s Eclipse, are you okay? Anywhere you’re hurt?” Not wasting time, she started moving Heather for the door, only to stop mid-step.
“What’s wrong?” Heather asked, struggling to get the rope around her wrists off. She could feel the knot starting to give, and redoubled her efforts.
Eclipse didn’t answer, glaring at the figure standing in the doorway. The diamond dog was huge, the top of his head scraping the doorframe as he shouldered through it. A smaller dog followed, though at the sight of Eclipse he half-hid behind the bigger one. They perked up immediately at the sight of Heather, and the bigger one growled to the other one.
They started to fan out, and Eclipse couldn’t help but appreciate the irony of the situation. “Really starting to regret punching out Guiding like that.” She started pushing Heather back as the dogs advanced. “Heather, things are going to get messy, I need you to stay back and keep your head down—“
Heather growled and yanked at the ropes, snapping them at the knot and freeing her arms. “I am sick and tired of this. I’ve been abducted, beat up, thrown around, tied up, and someone twisted my damn ear!” She ripped the bag off her head, teeth exposed and eyes practically burning. “I am done with sitting around, and done with these damn ropes!” She tore through the ropes binding her ankles and stretched her toes. “Thanks for the rescue, though.”
“Digger not lying when he say female strong,” Shale muttered. “Okay, Shale take funny-looking pegasus, Digger take female and leave.”
Digger yipped assent and took a step forward, only to recoil as Heather turned to glare at them both.
“And just what the hell is that you’re muttering about taking me?” she growled in Stonetongue, fangs bared and hackles raised. “Last I checked, you asked before taking someone somewhere. And if you’re thinking about taking me without asking, then I’m going to take chunks out of your hides!”
Both dogs quailed, pleading whines escaping as they took a few steps back, tails tucked firmly between their legs.
Eclipse couldn’t help her laugh, furling her wings. “Well, you seem to be just fine, Heather. Now, unless you want to keep making them wet themselves, think I can take them into custody?”
Heather blinked as the adrenaline rush started fading and sat down heavily. “I think I’m gonna throw up.” She abruptly gagged and retched across the floor, followed by another surge.
Eclipse grimaced and took a step to the side to avoid the puddle. “Yeah, you’ll be fine.”
Digger couldn’t help his tail starting to thump on the floor. “Digger think he in love.”
Shale growled and smacked Digger over the head.