• Published 17th Aug 2019
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Lone Wolf of Equestria: Back to the Pack - JNKing



Logan's gonna get back. Back to the Pack. Even if he ain't got Jack

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Chapter 4: The Master of Dragons

Author's Note:

Well, my bosses blessed me with a free weekend, so I thought I'd catch up on this.

A few notes: I know that Logan's story is based primarily off Samurai Jack, but I reference another samurai film here. Can you guys guess what it is?

Also, sorry if what Logan goes through doesn't work for you guys. I am open to feedback, so please let me know if there's a better way for him to resolve this next fight.

Also, the name 'Ocetorm' is pronounced 'Oh-set-tore-m.' I meant to derrive it from the phrase 'ocean in a storm.' Let me know if the name works and whether or not I should change it.

Thanks again for reading guys, you are a great audience. :pinkiesmile:

Edit: Thanks DDDDDDDDD23, for catching Twilight's lack of a reaction towards Logan calling Celestia a thief. I fixed it here, so, hopefully it still works. Sorry for that.

For a moment, Logan enjoyed the reaction of his audience. Each of the six ponies were riveted in place. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were in awe, while Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rarity just looked horrified. Celestia – Logan knew she was listening right outside – had the advantage of no audience, and thus could let a single tear of horror and concern trace down her features.

None of them had anything on Twilight though. She was pale enough to rival Rarity in terms of white fur.

“And you complained about us worrying about you when you were gone?!” she shrieked indignantly.

Logan managed to avoid wincing, and tilted his nose up. “You…” he started to say, but Twilight got there first.

“Oh, I’m not your pack,” she mimicked before going back to her regular shriek, “That’s no excuse. Celestia, Luna and Cadence, you could have DIED!”

“Actually,” Rainbow Dash noted, “How did he not die?”

“DASH!” the mares screeched, causing her to flinch back.

“I’m sorry, but I’m serious,” she exclaimed. “I had to go to the hospital for one date with a stone wall. And you got thrown into how many stone walls… how many times? How many of your bones were broken? I mean, seriously, are you just a ghost or something? How are you standing here right now?!”

Logan waited until she had run herself out. He simply leaned back.

“Do you want me to tell you,” Logan asked, “Or do you want to lecture me some more?”

Twilight looked like she wanted to lecture him some more, but she managed to calm herself back down enough to sit, and she motioned for Logan to continue.

#

Honestly, I knew I should be dead. I took more than enough damage. A couple of phoenix tears weren’t going to save me.

So, when I woke up again, I was pretty sure I was in some sort of afterlife.

The White Wolf once spread the story of the Final Forest; a place teaming with food and water. A place where wolves could hunt with their dead pack mates until the end of time. I was never sure whether to believe them or not. But the place I woke up in looked pretty similar to this ‘final forest;’ full looking oak trees, a misty gray sky above bathing the world in hues of rain and mist. The only thing off about the whole thing would have to be the shack. Oh, and the mountain pass.

I was sitting in some sort of shack that was looking out onto the edge of a mountain path. The rest of the forest spread out further on, like a sea of green, while I was stuck at what looked like the last point before a spire. The aforementioned ‘shack’ was mostly several trees that had been tied together, giving a massive canopy that shielded me from the rain.

A fire crackled nearby, and sitting near that fire, his back to me… was a unicorn.

I almost groaned before I noticed this unicorn was different from the others. His coat was a dull gray. His mane was shaved, though I could see small black roots poking out from his scalp. His horn was shrouded in white, while a stick next to him, also shrouded in the white light, poked at the coals vacantly.

As I took in my surroundings, I became aware that the agony in my body had faded. It wasn’t gone – my entire body still throbbed like I had been trampled by a herd – but my organs didn’t feel ruptured, and even my bones felt recently knitted together.

It was almost like… I paused. Like Celestia when she healed my spine.

I didn’t want to stay there. The unicorn nearby may have nursed me back to health, but I had no interest in whatever story he had. The unicorn’s back was to me, and I started trying to inch away. My bones still felt recently healed – easy to break if I tried anything too drastic – but I was on my stomach, and I managed to get a few inches away before he shifted.

I froze, then went limp, shutting my eyes to slits. Maybe he had heard me shifting. Maybe he was just doing… whatever unicorns out in the middle of nowhere do. Either way, I waited.

He didn’t seem to be moving, so my eyes opened a little wider, and I turned back to that mountain pass… only to find blue eyes staring at me.

I yelped and scrambled backward. It was a dragon. Tinier than the punks I had faced… in fact, she looked a lot like Spike. Though, instead of purple scales, she had bright red ones, complete with a golden underbelly. Combine the red dragon punk with Spike’s overall appearance, give it wings, and make it female, and you’d have what I was looking at. Looking over, I saw the unicorn had pulled a one eighty and was staring at me. He levitated some sort of foul smelling liquid before me.

My nose wrinkled at the scent, and I glared up at him just as his little dragon friend sunk a needle-like claw into my cheek. I didn’t know anything about nerve points, so imagine my surprise when my jaw dropped open against my will, allowing him to shove the water down my throat. My tongue tried to fly out of my mouth at the taste, which was a bad idea, as the dragon removed the needle and caused my jaws to snap shut, nearly biting my tongue. I coughed, shuddering as the I felt the liquid travel down to my stomach.

“Your whimpering was already annoying enough,” the unicorn muttered darkly, turning back to his fire. “I don’t need your barking either.” He sat by the fire again.

I gave one final shudder and glared at his back. “If you didn’t need my barking, why’d you save me?” I asked.

“Because Ocetorm told us to,” the dragon replied. Geez, she even sounded like Spike. It was eerie!

“Speak only when spoken to,” the unicorn snapped. Despite still feeling half dead, I managed to match his glare.

“I spoke to her, she spoke back,” I countered. “How about you speak when spoken to, and tell me...”

He spun around, and his horn flared. I didn’t even get the chance to defend myself before I was up against the tree trunk, my entire body shrouded in white. He glared up at me with those beady blue eyes, before his jaw twitched upward in a slight grin.

“You have spirit,” he noted with a chuckle. “Perhaps that’s why Ocetorm spared you.”

He dropped me, and I was left scrambling to my paws. It was a weird feeling; almost like when you wake up and your body isn’t fully awake with you. I mean, I felt healed. And yet, the throbs from my fight with the dragon were there, also making me feel like I should be laid out. I wasn’t sure whether to lunge on this guy, or collapse in the memory of agony.

So, I went for the middle ground:

“Ocetorm?” I asked.

“One of the former Dragon Overlords,” the dragon replied. “A Great Warrior from beyond the Dawn of Time…”

“More accurately, the dragon who nearly turned you into a pulp-filled wolf skin rug,” the unicorn replied. “Normally, I’d have thrown a dead little thing like you to the birds. But when the pet phoenix of Ocetorm delivers something, Sparks, at the very least…” he indicated his young dragon companion. “Would go into conniptions if I just ignored it.”

“Because it has to be something important!” Sparks insisted. “Ocetorm wouldn’t spare just any old dog. Even if it probably picked a fight with him in the first place…”

Despite her words, I didn’t feel that important. My head lowered as I remembered that fight. How Ocetorm had dominated me.

I knew in my heart that Celestia was powerful enough to obliterate me. But Ocetorm had actually done it. It was only by his will that I wasn’t dead right now.

And as for death itself… I had thought that I wanted it after my mom. I dared it to show up so many times. And yet, in that moment, when that dragon could have turned me into a pile of ashes… I had never felt more scared in my life.

I was still alive; my heart still beat the same, and my body, throbbing as it was, was still healed. But I still felt shame grip me. I was surrounded by all these other creatures; all of them capable of reducing me to a stain on the ground. How was I going to be able to fight against something like that?

“So,” the unicorn said, jarring me from my thoughts, “You thought you were the match of a dragon?”

I didn’t reply at first. “Yeah,” I mumbled.

“And how did that turn out for you?” the unicorn replied with a grin.

“You’re the one who fixed me, genius,” I snapped, “What do you think?”

The unicorn tilted his head and fixed me with a searching look. “I think ‘why would Ocetorm waste my time with some diamond dog?”

I stood up, my blood boiling in my veins. But something held me back from going all the way. That grim reminder of what Ocetorm had done to me. And not just him but Luna as well. Even you three; Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Twilight. You got some good licks in. All of it raced through my mind on the ghost of my injuries, and I found myself doubting just how smart it was for me to rush this guy.

“I’m a wolf,” I growled at him, again going for the middle ground.

“Oh, so you’re a dumb diamond dog,” he noted with a chuckle. “Repetitive when I think about it.”

I growled, utter hatred in my voice, but the unicorn just laughed. Even the dragon – who I had at least an inch on – was smiling, as if I had just told a bad joke.

“Your anger is amusing,” he noted, “You think you’re my match?”

My eyes narrowed.

“Do you wish to die?” the unicorn asked.

“No,” I snapped.

The unicorn just laughed again. “Then you’re a dumb diamond dog,” he concluded.

My fangs bared. My cautious side was losing. Ironic, wasn’t it; my tail had been readily handed to me, and yet there I was, picking a fight with the guy who had just brought me back from the dead. But anger’s a funny thing; you let it control you, and it blinds you to even the most basic of logic.

It wasn’t helped when he just grinned at my petulant anger. He strode out of the shack, and turned to me, his entire body lightning up in white.

“Let’s see what you actually can do,” he said, aiming his horn at me. “If you can land even a single blow… I’ll bow down and call you my master.”

Sparks glanced between the two of us, and promptly yanked a bag of jewels from behind her, munching eagerly as she watched us.

My ears flicked for a second, but that anger inducing grin triggered something in my mind. I lunged forward, only for my jaws to snap at empty air. I looked around for him, only to feel at tap on my shoulder. My arms throbbed, but I lunged back, swiping wildly at what touched me. I yelped when my arm collided with a hard hoof, and I was spun to my back. Now dealing with the throb of the old wounds and the throb of a new bruise, I rolled, scrambling back to my paws. I saw a flash of gray and snapped at it, only to feel a pair of four hooves balancing on my head. I briefly struggled against the weight, before I heard him.

“From here, I can give you an excellent view of the dirt.”

He shoved, and my face slammed into the dirt. My snout – only recently healed from the dragon – now had two throbbing pains to contend with. I was left squirming on the ground, while he laughed once again.

“Amateur,” he scoffed.

My eyes opened, glowing white, and I lunged up. Myst’s Rage triggered fully, and I let out a maniacal howl.

The unicorn’s eyebrow rose and he gave a small hum of interest. Sparks, on the other hand… I’m pretty sure her jaw was somewhere near the center of the earth by now.

Lightning shot down from the gray clouds, hitting me head on. I curled it around myself and fired it at this smug prick. His own horn glowed, however, and he spun like a top, the lightning curling around him and turning into a blue energy ball. He spun the ball right back to me, and it exploded against my claws.

My back shrieked in agony as I hit a tree, and as I slid down the trunk, I was barraged by a bunch of acorns. I couldn’t get over this weird feeling of half death over me, and his laugh was driving me mad.

“That’s why Ocetorm spared him,” Sparks said happily, “He can do magic, just like you, Master!” She grinned at the unicorn, only to quickly flinch down at the bemused glare he was shooting her. The unicorn shrugged.

“Pathetic, novice level magic,” he admitted. “But, I suppose it’s the best a non-unicorn can do.”

I let out another howl, but he just laughed.

“Still think you have a chance?” the unicorn asked, his horn flaring ominously, “Let’s show Sparks how this storm of yours compares against an actual unicorn.”

I shook myself off, and for a moment, we circled each other, my fur still glowing. Granted, I didn’t know that many tricks, but I wasn’t willing to let this prick get one over me. Not yet anyway.

I rose to my hind legs, and I went with the first trick that came to mind; blasting lightning. He easily teleported to the side. I fired again, but he teleported again.

I spun, blasting lightning in all directions, but not a single bolt hit anything. I glared around, my nose twitching and my muscles trembling, when I heard a familiar POOF.

I spun, lashing a tendril of lightning that crashed against a bubble around him. The lightning curled around the bubble like a snake, while the unicorn looked at me with amusement. I swore I could hear him laughing inside that bubble.

Then, he flicked his horn like a wand. My lightning tendril suddenly changed into a snake, it’s head in my claws. It reared up and hissed at me, causing me to jump back with a scream. Without thinking, I spun and drove my back paws down towards the snake’s head.

My paws smashed into the thing’s neck, but the head somehow extended. My heart stopped for a brief moment, before it suddenly wrapped around my legs and turned into coarse rope. I got a brief flash back to the dragon before I was yanked off my feet. The unicorn let the rope spin me around him once before turning the rope into a whip, freeing me and sending me tumbling down a hill. His laugh once again rang through the forest.

I was fuming; hurt, angry, conflicted… This guy was pushing every button I had. Slamming the ground with a snarl, my eyes sighted down on a rock, and I snatched it up, hurling it towards the sound of his voice. His body vanished just seconds before the rock would have hit him… then the rock was shrouded in white. I ducked to the side as it hurled back, only for it to crash against my skull anyway. I tumbled to the ground, before my throwing arm was grabbed by something and yanked behind me.

I screeched, yelping in agony, and then confusion. Sparks had grown; instead of a baby dragon, she was now a bit bigger than those dragon punks. And she had one hell of an angry growl on her face as she held my arm in a nasty arm bar.

“Just like a dog,” the unicorn noted, appearing by her side. “Nothing without someone backing you up.” He whistled, and Sparks bent my arm back even further.

I howled in absolute agony; it felt like that arm was being broken all over again. As if to make matters worse, that was the arm Ocetorm almost ripped off. I could almost feel the cuts he made reopening.

“Excruciating, isn’t it?” he noted, raising a hoof ominously. “You know… looks like Ocetorm nearly took this arm. Sparks? Shall we return it to the dragon?”

I barked, struggled and squirmed, lunging with my free claw. I called for Myst's Rage, but the master's hoof hit me in the eye, and nothing came forward. Nothing I did got Sparks to release me.

“That the best you can do?” he asked, unamused. He turned to Sparks. “Take his arm and return it to Ocetorm. It belongs to him now.”

I shut my eyes, and before I knew what was happening… I whispered. “Forgive me, Carol… I failed you.”

There was a pause. I could still feel my arm, so… what were they doing? I looked over, and they were giving me curious looks.

“Carol?” Sparks asked. “How’d you fail this ‘Carol?’”

At first, I glared at them, but then Sparks’ look faded to irritation. She pulled my arm, and I winced.

“I’m trying to find my way back to her; back to my pack,” I admitted with a growl, turning away from them. “That’s all I wanted; Ocetorm had what I needed, and he wouldn’t let me use it, okay? That’s why I fought him.”

The pressure on my arm faded by a fraction.

“Why can’t you just go back to your pack?” the unicorn asked. “Are they…”

“They’re not from here, you stupid son of a…!” I was cut off as Sparks twisted my arm again. “Celestia yanked me from my world. I’m going to get back to them; without her!”

Sparks and the unicorn looked at each other. The unicorn glanced back down at me, understanding dawning on his face.

“Even though you’re helpless without her.” It wasn’t a question. It was a statement. “Out here, you’re a plaything of those stronger and better than you’ll ever be.”

I keened, rage, fear and anger burning in my gut. The pressure hit again, and I whispered, “I don’t care.”

The pressure decreased again.

“Have you ever felt this helpless before?” he asked.

I shut my eyes. “I’ve felt this way ever since Celestia yanked me from my home,” I whimpered.

He sighed softly, almost in understanding. But the pressure didn’t decrease, nor did it increase.

“Believe it or not, we get what you’re saying,” Sparks said. “Master freed me and several other dragons Celestia took. We’ve been living out here; away from her in case she tries to force us to go back.”

Huh. Guess I was right about Celestia being an egg-stealing thief.

#

"Sit down, Sparkle," Logan growled as Twilight stood up, her face glowing red. Applejack and Rainbow Dash had to jump in her way.

"Sugar, easy now," Applejack warned the purple mare.

"She wouldn't do that," Twilight insisted. "I don't know if that dragon was lied to, or what that unicorn said, but..."

"You wanna ask her?" Logan asked, indicating the outside. Celestia winced and drew further away. "She's out there right now. Go ahead and ask. I'll wait."

Twilight looked over at the entrance, where Celestia stood, her expression forlorn. Reluctantly, Twilight turned to the princess, as she joined them.

“The truth is,” she began, “Dragons have… a different culture and standards from ours. I was able to convince several of them to trade their eggs for treasure.”

Twilight’s ears flattened. Even Logan looked scandalized.

“It’s a sad fact, but dragons simply don’t look on their young the same way we do,” Celestia replied. “I at least figured that the eggs would have a better life under us. But one unicorn didn’t realize that. He accused me of lying.” Her ears flattened in resignation. “As I’m sure all of you are thinking right now.”

Logan glanced at the mares. Applejack was scanning Celestia’s face with her truth-seeking glare. Twilight put her hooves over her head, putting her back to them, as if she didn’t want to hear anymore. The others just glanced between the alicorn and wolf like it was a high-stakes game again.

“Either way, nothing I said convinced him,” Celestia admitted. “He took as many eggs as he could and fled. I realized that pursuing him and forcing him to bring the dragons back would only prove his point.” She sighed. “So… I made a difficult choice. I let him go. And from the sound of it, he’s done well for himself.”

Logan folded his arms, clearly unconvinced. Celestia looked to Applejack, who didn’t speak up with any lies.

“Did you ask him his side?” Celestia asked Logan. “Did he tell you about how barbaric I was? Why he was out there instead of just letting the dragons go?"

Logan looked back into the fire.

#

"So, why's he still with you?" I asked, indicating the unicorn. "Why you still taking orders from him?"

The unicorn put his hoof on my neck.

"Because I learned faster than you," he said. "I gained their respect, not because some princess told them to, but because I can actually fight."

My ears flattened. His glare deepened, and he turned to Sparks.

"Release him," he ordered.

Sparks let me go, but the instant I pulled myself up, the unicorn was on me. I didn't even get to enjoy my time back on my paws before he had be on my back again.

"I understand that we’re not in Celestia’s play pen anymore,” the unicorn said firmly. “Out here, you won’t be able to bat those pretty puppy eyes and expect pity and mercy. There will be monsters that will take pleasure in your helplessness. And, if by some miracle, you live long enough, you’ll grow. And then you’ll lose even the sympathy that comes from seeing someone so young and helpless trying to be something they’re not.”

He stood over me, his hoove poised to shove right through my chest.

“As you are… you won’t last a day out here, you understand?”

“Yeah,” I said quickly, before he could order Sparks to hurt me again. Or worse still, do it himself.

The pressure stayed on my chest for one second. Two seconds. Three…

“That’s only the beginning,” he said, before releasing me. I rolled to my chest and rose, steadying myself on all fours. When my eyes opened again, I saw him still staring down at me. Sparks had gone back to baby dragon mode, her eyes looking on me in concern. His horn flashed, and she held up her fists, fire burning around her and briefly making her look bigger.

“Do you want the power to survive beyond Equestria?” he asked.

“Yes,” I whispered.

He grinned again.

“Then your training will start… tomorrow.”
He walked away, Sparks falling in line behind him. I managed to roll to my stomach, and I watched him go. Despite my arm still throbbing like I had put it under a car’s wheels, I forced myself to all fours, and limped after them.

“Who… are you?” I dared to ask.

He didn’t even look at me.

“It wasn’t obvious, stupid dog?” he asked. “I am your master.”

#

Logan leaned back, a puff of air huffing out through his snout.

“I hated that unicorn,” he admitted. “I hated him and his dragons more than I ever hated anyone in my life.” He looked at the mares, who hadn’t said a word. “But what he taught me? I’m pretty sure it’s the only reason I’m standing before you right now.”