Logan and Carol; The Wolves of Equestria

by JNKing

Tirek Arc; Castle Mane-ia

Author's Note:

Thanksgiving and Christmas ; wonderful times for friends and family, but Tartarus for anyone working retail.

There might be some delays going forward, but don't think Logan's story ends here. He's got plenty more adventures ahead.

Hope you guys enjoy his latest one here. Thanks again for reading.

“Wolf, would you kindly stop distracting us?!” the royal guard griped.

Logan said nothing, keeping a silent death glare on the two guards standing by the Tree of Harmony and the chest it had gifted the Mane Six. The Royal Guards certainly looked intimidating enough – at least for ponies. One was a pegasus, with sunset-yellow wings neatly folded at his side, while the other was an Earth Pony, his sea green eyes clashing greatly with his white coat. Yet Logan still stood before them without fear, his silver eyes silently judging them, while further away, Carol sat at the top of the stairs, yearning to leave the Castle of Two Sisters behind.

“Seriously,” the earth pony guard growled. “If you don’t back off, we’re going to assume you’re a threat.”

“Logan, can you give them a break?” Carol asked. “Discord took away the last of the seeds that spread those vines, and we can’t move the box until we figure out what unlocks it. All things being considered, you should be happy Celestia listened to you and posted guards at all.”

“Except she posted guards that are completely incompetent,” Logan insisted, his gaze not straying from the guards. “I heard about what happened when Chrysalis attacked Canterlot."

“Hey!” the pegasus snapped. “We did our best against those changelings.”

“Oh, and that’s why, when it came down to it,” Logan mocked. “The day was saved, not by the Royal Guard – who should have stopped a Changeling imposter from getting in at all – but by their Captain and his wife! The ponies you should have been protecting.”

“Oh yeah,” the pegasus growled. “Well, we weren’t so incompetent when we beat your tail, dog!”

Logan’s ears flared up, but the pegasus just grinned at him.

“Yeah, I was there when you snuck in with that mare,” the pegasus noted. “And I remember you being carted out unconscious by the end.”

“By a princess,” Logan refuted. “Again, who you should have been protecting.” Logan grinned. “You couldn’t keep me down…” his eyes narrowed. “And I still see my teeth marks on you.”

The pegasus’ grin melted, and he turned the right side of his neck away. “No, you don’t,” he insisted.

“Yeah, I do,” Logan retorted.

“No, you don’t!”

“Yeah, I do!"

“Do not!”

“Do!”

“Do not!”

“DO!”

“Hey, Logan,” Carol called. “I think I saw Twilight going into the castle! We should totally investigate, y’know? Make sure she’s safe and stop harassing guards!”

Logan rolled his eyes, and turned back to them. “Or, they could join us,” he noted. “And make sure their ‘newest princess’ is safe.”

The two guards were staring up at the castle, trembling in their armor, but tried to hide it when they realized Logan was glaring at them.

“Uh…” the pegasus stammered. “P-Princess Celestia ordered us to stay with the box!”

“Yeah!” the earth pony refuted. “So… would love to help… but can’t. Hooves tied and all that.”

Logan rolled his eyes. “Cowards,” he mumbled.

“Shut up, you dumb mutt!” the earth pony snapped. It took Carol catching Logan with a pack link to keep him from smacking the helmet right off the earth pony’s face.

“Allies! Need help, Logan!” Carol called.

“Ugh, fine!” Logan griped, climbing up the stairs. “But you guards still suck!” he called back.

“Suck my giant wings, dog!” the pegasus shouted at him.

“Eat my tail, you bird-brained horse!”

Before the pegasus could continue, Carol sighed and played her final card.

“WILL YOU TWO STOP FLIRTING!?” she demanded.

Logan and the pegasus went stock still. Logan then quickly spun around and marched up the stairs, while the pegasus’ eyes darted to his companion, and he turned back towards the Tree of Harmony with a bright blush. When he got up the stairs, Carol got a full view of his very venomous glare.

“If anyone other than you said that,” Logan warned her, pointing a claw at her face. “I would have smacked them across the Ever-Free.” He dropped his claw. “As it is, I’m tempted to smack you across half of this forest.”

Carol stood her ground. “Then don’t force me to resort to it,” she replied back.

Logan’s glower didn’t fade, however, until a scream ripped through the air. A scream that both wolves recognized.

“Fluttershy?” Logan whispered, his glare turning to horror.

“Dash!” Carol yelped. “Applejack!”

The two wolves sped across the bridge and into the courtyard just in time to see a blue and orange blur race away into the castle. Picking up their pace, the wolves gave chase. Rainbow Dash may have been the fastest pegasus alive, but she wasn’t using her wings. And the wolves slowly started to gain on the pegasus and earth mare as they shot through the corridors of the castle.

“Dash!” Logan howled. “Applejack!”

The mares looked back, skidding to a stop.

“Logan?” Rainbow Dash panted.

“Carol!” Applejack stammered. “What in tarnation are you two doing here?”

“Looking after that box the Tree of Harmony gave,” Carol replied, trotting to a stop. “Those guards seemed kinda lonely.”

“A better question is what are you guys doing here?” Logan replied. “This castle ain’t exactly a tourist trap.”

Rainbow Dash and Applejack glanced at each other, and shared a grin.

“We’re trying to see who’s the Most Daring Pony,” Rainbow Dash replied. “I mean, I know it’s me, already, but Applejack needs convincing.”

Applejack chuckled. “Says the mare who screamed like a little filly,” she noted teasingly.

“Funny,” Carol noted with a grin. “Both of you seemed to be screaming when we came around.”

Rainbow Dash and Applejack shared a shocked look, though when they saw Carol's grin, it quickly turned into a laugh at each other’s expense. Logan, however, gave the way they came a suspicious glare.

“What were you yelling about anyway?” Logan asked. He drew his claws with a growl. “Is something in here?”

“Might be,” Applejack replied. “I was telling Rainbow Dash this story I heard.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, but joined in. “When Nightmare Moon was banished, a part of her magic remained, haunting this place.”

“Granny used to say,” Applejack continued. “That when night falls on this castle, that magic takes the form of…” she struck a pose. “The Pony of Shadows!”

Logan gave her a deadpan look of irritation. “Really,” he grumbled.

“That’s what I was thinking,” Rainbow Dash insisted. “But then this tapestry started flapping around, and we heard this weird scream, and… well…” she fluttered her wings nervously. “I-I was jumpy from Applejack’s story, okay? I would’ve…”

“Done what? Fight a ghost?” Carol noted. “I heard of one wolf who could use his magic to exist outside of his body. There’s no way you could have hurt something in that state.”

Rainbow Dash gasped. “You guys have ghosts?!” she exclaimed.

“Well…” Logan sighed. “Yeah, I guess you could call them ghosts.” He quirked an ear. “Why? You guys believe in that sort of thing?”

“I didn’t,” Rainbow Dash insisted, before giving the way they came another nervous look.

“Until something came outta the wall,” Applejack clarified. “Howling something horrible.” She caught herself. “N-No offense,” she added to the wolves.

Carol glanced around nervously. “Well, if something really is here, shouldn’t you guys head home?”

“No way!” Rainbow Dash protested. “I’m not scared of a few ghosts. And we still have to work out who’s the Most Daring Pony!”

Logan sighed as Applejack stood resolutely in front of the cyan mare.

“Then it’s settled,” she declared. “Whoever can stay in the castle longer is the Most Daring Pony!”

“Deal!” Rainbow Dash replied. They sealed it with a hoof bump.

“Well, if you guys are gonna stick around,” Logan said. “You might as well help us clear this castle.” He spun in a random direction. “Make sure if there are ghosts, that they don’t have any plans involving the Tree of Harmony.”

“Oh-ho-ho,” Carol giggled. “Ghost-busting.” Her giggle faded at the confused looks Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Logan shot her. She wilted. “Sorry.”

#

For the next half hour, the ponies and wolves wandered the castle. The silence was broken by Applejack and Rainbow Dash’s trash talk.

“Sure, hope you’re not afraid of the dark, Applejack!” Rainbow Dash taunted as they descended down a spiral staircase.

“I can’t say that I am,” Applejack replied. “But even if I was, I’d be at least fifty percent less scared of it than you, Rainbow Dash!”

“Your math is blowing my mind,” Carol deadpanned.

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash agreed. “Cuz I’m not scared at all!”

“Me neither!” Applejack refuted.

Logan glowered at them before picking up a stone. Noticing a hallway of pony armor, he hurled the stone into the hallway. It hit one of the armor sets, sending it crashing to the ground with a clattering CLANG! Instantly, both mares jumped, their coats paling by a fraction before they saw Logan smirking at them.

“Not scared, huh?” he asked, before setting off down another corridor.

“Yeah, not scared!” both of them refuted… only to see that the corridor Logan set off down was lined with torches in the shape of disembodied pony legs. Applejack nearly backed into Carol.

“W-What’s the matter, Applejack?” Rainbow Dash demanded. “It’s just a dark hallway full of...” she gulped. “Disembodied pony legs.”

Carol touched one of the legs with her paw.

“It’s made of stone,” she replied. “The princesses must have just hired an architect with a weird sense of…” she paused. “Fashion? Humor?”

“Whatever it was, he really wanted to make sure this place looked creepy,” Logan replied. He glanced back with another grin. “But it’s not creepy at all, right girls?” he asked sarcastically.

“Y-Yeah!” Applejack said, biting her lip. “Nothing creepy about any of this!”

The four continued down the passageway. For a moment, nothing came to them save the sound of scuttling spiders and their own paws/hooves on the floor.

Then, Rainbow Dash chuckled.

“Applejack, if you’re scared, you can just admit it,” she said, with a touch of a flirtatious tone. “You don’t need to put your hoof around me.”

“Uh…” Applejack said. “I’m over here.”

Logan spun back around to Rainbow Dash; a hoof was definitely around her. But it wasn’t Applejack’s. It was pale white, and worse still, it was coming out of the wall!

Without a word, Logan lunged for Dash just as she saw the white hoof entwining her. Logan sunk his teeth into the offender as Dash jumped away with a scream…

That was quickly followed by another high-pitched scream that came from the other side of the wall.

“What the…?” Applejack and Carol muttered, before Carol’s ears flared. “Logan, let go! LOGAN, THAT’S RARITY!”

Logan had already pulled back from the now bleeding hoof, which shot back inside a hole in the wall before being followed by a wailing that could only be from Rarity.

“IT BIT ME!” she howled better than a wolf. “SOMETHING ON THE OTHER SIDE BIT ME!”

“Oh, dear,” another familiar voice bemoaned. “Here, let me see your leg!”

“Wait a minute…” Logan tilted his head towards the hole. “Fluttershy?!”

“Logan?” Fluttershy gasped, her eye peeking out from behind the hole. “It is you!”

“Logan?” Rarity whined. “How could you do such a thing to me! I thought we were friends!”

“I thought you were attacking Dash!” Logan pointed out.

“And you should know that biting’s kind of his thing, Rarity,” Carol lectured. She looked around the wall. “Is there any way we can get to you so we can treat that?”

“I don’t know,” Fluttershy admitted. “We ended up in some sort of cell. There’s no way out!”

Carol gave the disembodied pony leg statues another look around.

“Hang on…” she muttered, reaching up and grabbing one of the torches. With a twist, the wall in front of them spun, and deposited Fluttershy and Rarity before them. Rarity was clutching her left foreleg, which had a thin trickle of blood running down it, while the tip of Fluttershy’s left wing was oddly bent, but other than that, the two mares looked fine. At least, as fine as Rarity could be while dealing with a wolf bite.

“Heh,” Carol mumbled. “Secret passageways…”

“Here, Rarity,” Logan said, trying to take her hoof… only for her to jerk it back.

“I say you’ve done quite enough damage, good sir!” Rarity exclaimed, wincing as she held her foreleg tenderly. “Tapestries or no, I believe I have had just about enough of secret passages, mysterious presences and wolves that can’t recognize a fabulous friend’s hoof when they see it!”

“Rarity, will you calm down?” Carol asked, grabbing her hoof and bending her head down.

“What are you doing?!” Rarity demanded. “Don’t… OH!” Rarity shivered as Carol’s tongue started lathering over her bite wound. Applejack and Rainbow Dash gave each other weirded out looks, but as Carol licked at the wound, the bleeding slowly clotted, and the pain faded from Rarity’s face. Fluttershy watched on with an awed expression.

“I didn’t know you had healing powers,” Fluttershy whispered.

“It’s not exactly healing,” Logan replied, yanking a strip of cloth off his jacket. “Consider it more keeping out infection.” When Carol finished, he wrapped up Rarity’s hoof in the cloth, tightening it with a few quick motions of his claws.

"There,” he concluded, as Rarity surveyed her now bandaged hoof. “That should hold. At least until you get back to Ponyville.”

Rarity studied the wound worriedly. “And you… don’t have diseases?” Rarity asked nervously.

Logan glared at her. “I bit Celestia, and she’s fine,” he replied.

“Princess Celestia is an immortal alicorn,” Rarity refuted. “I can still get sick!”

Logan rolled his eyes. “You’re not gonna get sick from me,” he said simply.

“Let’s prove it by getting you to a doctor,” Carol offered.

“But we can’t leave without Angel!” Fluttershy insisted.

“Angel? The rabbit?” Logan asked, remembering the bold little white rabbit. “Don’t tell me he followed you guys here.”

“He did,” Fluttershy whimpered. “And now he’s lost somewhere in this dangerous old castle! He could be trapped under a crumbling statue, or stuck high in a tower without food or water or any friends at all!”

Fluttershy whimpered, but Logan put a comforting paw on her shoulder.

“Then we’ll find him,” he declared. He looked at Rarity. “Rarity, do you need us to split up? One side can look for Angel, while another gets you back home.”

Rarity gingerly put weight on her leg. She winced, but held herself high.

“As much as I’ve had enough of this ungrateful castle,” she said. “I’d be loath to leave my friends here.” She cast another unsavory look at her wound, but shook her head. “We find Fluttershy’s rabbit first. Then I’ll worry about myself.”

Logan’s ears flicked, before he nodded with a grin. “Good mare,” he praised, before leading the group onward.

They barely made it out of the hall, though, before another event tempted them to leave: the sound of an organ blared through the hallway.

The four mares jumped behind Logan and Carol, who glared around.

“You hear that?” Applejack squeaked.

“Y-You mean the creepy sound of a haunted pipe organ?” Rainbow Dash replied.

“Well, someone’s playing that thing, whether it be ghost or pony,” Logan noted. His ears flicked, and he turned to Fluttershy. “Maybe Angel found it, and he’s hoping he’ll scare us.”

Fluttershy brightened, despite the ominous intention of the white rabbit. “Oh, perhaps he is,” she exclaimed, before nearly zooming off with a squeal of delight. Logan held her back.

“Easy,” he said. “I don’t like the look of that wing. And besides…”

They all jumped as a CRASH sounded from the other side. They spun around to see a section of the wall spin, Carol barely yanking Applejack away in time.

“There’s always a chance someone less friendly is playing that organ,” Logan noted grimly.

"Less friendly than Angel Bunny?" Carol asked with a grin, before another thought made her pale. "I... honestly don't want to see who that could be."

#

The mares and wolves cautiously tracked the sound of the organ, following it deeper into the castle. A few more traps activated, with spinning chairs and walls, but Carol and Logan were fast, and combined with the lightning fast reaction times of Rainbow Dash or Applejack, they managed to make it through without losing any pony.

Eventually, the group reached an open music hall, with what could only be the pipe organ sitting at the far end. Some pony shrouded in a cloak sat at the end, their hooves tapping the keys and causing the ominous sounds.

“The Pony of Shadows…” Applejack whispered.

“We’ll see,” Logan growled. He crept forward, followed by Carol. With a shared look, they jumped up, and yanked the cloak off to reveal…

“Pinkie!?” the ponies and wolves cried out in shock.

“Hey, you guys!” Pinkie replied back cheerfully. “Did you know I can totally play the organ?” She glanced back and pressed the keys again. “Because I didn’t.”

“Wait, so… you’re the Pony of Shadows?” Applejack demanded.

Pinkie rubbed her chin. “Hmm…” she mumbled. “Nope!” she finally declared. “Last time I checked, I was a Pony, but I'm sure I wasn’t made of shadows.”

Logan deflated by a margin, only to perk up as a new voice sounded.

“See, Spike?” Twilight’s voice asked. “What’d I tell ya?”

The group spun around. Twilight and Spike stood at the far end of the room, a candle hovering above them in Twilight’s magic grip.

“Sparkle!” Logan greeted. “Where’ve you been?”

“Researching that chest from the Tree of Harmony,” Twilight replied, before her eyes lit up in wistful glee. “You won’t imagine the library this place has.”

Logan chuckled. “Well, what’d you find?” he asked, following her.

Twilight’s face fell briefly. “Sadly, not much on the chest,” she admitted. “But, I won’t exactly leave here empty-hooved either.”

The group followed her back to a massive library with a secret room. Inside the room, Fluttershy shared a tearful reunion with Angel, while Twilight showed off a diary of Celestia’s that she had found. The others quickly started reading, finding out that the princesses had hooked an elaborate trap system up to the organ.

“So, when Pinkie was playing the organ,” Carol noted. “It caused all those spinning walls and chairs we saw.”

Logan shook his head. “Just like Celestia,” he mumbled. “Making traps and tricks into fun and games.” He sighed.

“Huh,” Applejack noted. “And here I thought it was Granny’s legend come to life.”

“Guess we let our imagination run away with us,” Rainbow Dash admitted sheepishly.

“Aw, don’t be sad,” Pinkie comforted. “I always let my imagination run away from me. Then it comes back! With cake!”

Twilight looked at Logan in thanks. “Well, it’s good to know that Logan and Carol were there for you guys. Whenever your imagination gets away from you, a good friend can always help you rein it in.”

Logan tilted his head. “Did… you just say I helped with one of your friendship lessons?” he demanded.

Twilight grinned cheekily at him. “I certainly am,” she replied, before gasping in delight. “I just thought of a great idea! Why don’t we all keep a journal, just like the royal pony sisters!”

“All of us?” Carol asked.
Logan laughed. “Keep on dreaming, Sparkle,” Logan replied, striding over to a window.

“But, we could still learn a lot from each other,” Twilight added temptingly. “And maybe someday, other ponies will read it and learn something too!”

“Well, I for one think it’s a splendid idea!” Rarity declared.

“And I already know what my first entry will be,” Applejack said. “I’m glad Granny Smith’s legend wasn’t true.”

“Me too,” Rainbow Dash declared with a sigh of relief.

“Me three,” Pinkie added. “Because that means you two are still tied for Most Daring Pony!”

As Rainbow Dash and Applejack reacted to that, Logan rolled his eyes and turned back to the window, gazing down at the cave where the Tree of Harmony hid.

“Heh, Shadow Ponies,” Spike was chuckling. “How ridiculous is that?”

Yet, even as he said it, Logan’s eyes narrowed. Shadowy figures were watching the castle from the edge of the forest. And as one of them looked up, Logan gasped as he saw a flash of yellow eyes. Yet, when Carol and Rainbow Dash ran over, the shadows were gone.

“Maybe not as ridiculous as you think,” Logan mumbled.

#

“You need to be more careful,” Queen Chrysalis chastised.

“Aw, but now they’re frightened,” Luco replied. “And more willing to see what we’re up to.”

“So,” Tirek drawled, glaring up at the wolf that had spotted them. “You say those wolves are stocked full of magic.”

“The right kind of magic,” Luco replied. “Juicy and sweet like mutton chops.”

“I don’t eat… mutton chops,” Tirek noted.

“Well, whatever you eat that’s sweet and tasty, that wolf’s magic is gonna be it,” Luco said. “And we’re going to need it to get everything we both want.”

Comments

[crazybee]

Carol, you need to stop knowing these things, Pinkie rubbing off on her?

Logan has a feeling that something is out there now , plus they're almost ready to make the first move ... and now I want mutton chops.