Chapter Seven - Trouble in the Mines

"Good morning, Collie!" Fluttershy exclaimed as she entered the clinic.

"Hello, Fluttershy!" her canine mentor replied, smiling, as she gripped the leg of a sniffling pup who's broken shin she had just set.

"What's on the agenda for today?" Fluttershy asked, stopping at Collie's side and taking a look at the leg herself.

"Another slow day, thankfully," Collie replied, breathing deeply.  "A few reckless pups with broken bones are queued in the emergency room, and now that you're here, we should be able to help them all quickly."  She began to construct the cast around the young boy's leg.  "No major accidents, and no security breaches.  You sure picked a good time to start working here."

"This isn't major!?" the young pup replied, frowning at his leg.

"Don't you worry," Fluttershy cooed, patting the child gently on the head.  "It only isn't major because Collie is such a good doctor, but you're still one tough puppy, staying so calm at a time like this!"  The kid blushed and looked off to the side, a small smile forming on his face.

"Well I don't know about best," Collie replied, chucking.  "On our busier days, there are far more doctors on call.  Today it's just you, me, and Doctor Bernard.  For that matter, you're such a fast learner that you just might surpass me.  Ready to get started on the rest of our cases?"

"I never enjoy setting bones," Fluttershy said, frowning, "but somepony's got to do it, so let's get to it!"

...

"Mornin', Miss Rarity," the foreman said as Rarity entered the small office building just outside the mine shaft designated "C3-405".

"Good morning to you as well, Mister Russel," Rarity replied, nodding. She approached her desk and surveying the map layed out across it, taking a sip of the coffee her boss had prepared for her.  "I see that our boys are working in sub-tunnel fifteen today."

"Yep, we found traces of a massive coal deposit down that way, so that's the immediate priority.  Raylan and Boyd are leading a small team in there while the rest of our crew handles the other four active tunnels, " the foreman replied, leaning over Rarity's desk and pointing at the corresponding location on the map.

"Excellent," Rarity said, levitating a hard hat onto her head and walking back toward the exit.  "I'll be sure to mark the absolute best spots for them to dig!"

"You haven't let us down yet, Ma'am," the foreman replied, giving her a thumbs up.  "Be careful!"

"Always," Rarity replied with a  smile before closing the door behind her.  Russel returned to his own station, when a small device on the corner of his desk, from which a small antennae protruded and touched against a rock wall on the other side of an open window, began to emit a beeping sound.

"Oh no," the foreman uttered as he dashed to a telegraph machine in the corner and began rhythmically clicking away.

...

Rarity still marveled at the mine carts the Diamond Dogs used to traverse their ever-lengthening mineshafts.  No tracks were necessary, as the carts were each powered by some sort of battery (as were the small cars the citizens used to get around the city) and rolled on treads that allowed them to handle uneven terrain.  The ride could get a bit bumpy at times, as was the case here, but she still arrived at sub-tunnel fifteen relatively quickly.

"'Mornin', Miss Rarity!" one of the workers exclaimed as she caught up with them in the narrow passageway.

"Hello, gentlemen," Rarity replied, her horn flickering to life as she began to scan the length of the long, dimly lit tunnel for minerals within the wall.  She was proficient at what she did, so it didn't take her long to pinpoint all of the surrounding veins hidden in the walls, which she marked with adhesive strips of varying colors that the miners had on hand.

The gold strips always denoted whatever mineral they had prioritized each day, so she used that color to mark the coal deposits.  The length of sub-tunnel fifteen was vast, however, and Rarity continued down the path, a few workers following her with more markers in hand, as she continued to label mineral pockets along the way.

...

"Doctor Terrier?" Collie said, turning away from another patient as the doctor entered the building.  "You weren't scheduled to come in today."

"Emergency," Doctor Terrier replied, as Fluttershy turned away from a small, broken arm to look at him.  "The rest of the staff will be here shortly.  We just received word that vibrations and sound patterns matching those of lycanthropes registered in the vicinity of C-three-four-oh-five."

"That's where Rarity is working today!" Fluttershy gasped.  "Are you saying those monsters can dig through rock!?"

"'I'm afraid so," Terrier replied, nodding his head.  "They've got the claws and the upper body strength for it.  That's why we monitor the sound vibrations in the mines, because there's always a risk of them coming in if they think they'll find prey."

"How can we help the miners?" Fluttershy asked.

"Wolf class fighters have already been dispatched to the area," Terrier explained, approaching Fluttershy.  "If the lycanthropes penetrate the mineshaft, the Wolves will handle them.  In the meantime, we need to organize ourselves and prepare to treat any wounded that come in.  There are always at least a few."

"So I'm just supposed to wait here and hope for the best?  My friend is out there!" Fluttershy exclaimed, frowning.

"I know you're new here," Terrier replied, raising his paw in front of her, "but trust me, staying here is the best thing we can do.  We'll be most effective here, as opposed to going there and putting ourselves in harm's way.  That just creates more work for the Wolves, and we can't help anyone at all if we get ourselves killed."

"I'm sorry, I truly am," Fluttershy replied, shaking her head.  "But I have to go and find Rarity, and help out anyone who gets hurt over there."  She fastened a pouch around her waist and tucked a large first aid kit into it before running for the door.

"Miss Fluttershy!" Terrier shouted, trying to catch her.  Fluttershy flew over him and took off in the direction of the mine as the city-wide alarms that warned of attack began to sound.

"I'm going with her!" Collie declared, grabbing a kit of her own.

"Doctor!"  he snapped.

"At least I can keep her from getting hurt if I'm there!" she shouted before running off before Doctor Terrier could protest any further.

...

"Does that alarm mean what I think it does?" Rarity asked, wide-eyed, as the sound reverberated through the tunnel.

"Yeah, we need to get going!" a miner replied as Rarity and the dogs turned and ran back towards the exit.  As they neared the exit into the larger mineshaft, Rarity could hear the faint sounds of snarling and scraping in the area from which they were fleeing.  "Move!" the miner shouted.  "Run towards the mineshaft as fast as you can and do not look back!"

Rarity nodded as they turned the corner into the large hallway and began to run for the city.  The snarls and scrapes multiplied, and Rarity surmised that they must have been coming from multiple tunnels.  In spite of the warning she had just received, Rarity looked over her shoulder and saw countless lumbering, shadowy figures closing in on them.  One lunged forward, pouncing on a nearby miner and pinning him to the ground.  Two more went down.  Rarity was about to turn around to face them when a symphony of barks came at them from the other direction.

"The Wolves!" a pair of miners cheered.  Rarity saw the approaching Diamond Dogs, of course, all rather large and imposing.  They were clad in a more refined variant of the armor that the Diamond Dogs in Ponyville had worn.  They were charging in on all fours, leaping over the helpless miners, and had swords clamped between their bared teeth.

As the Wolves closed in on the lycanthropes, they stood on their hind legs and grasped their swords with their forelegs, engaging the monsters in battle.  "Rarity!" she heard the foreman call out.  She turned to see him motioning for her to run, as the rest of the miners who had not been attacked were doing, when suddenly she, too, was thrown to the ground and pinned down.

That was when she got her first good look at the werewolves that the Diamond Dogs feared.  The beast was massive, twice the size of the Wolf Class fighters she had just seen, with jet black fur caked with dirt, jagged yellow teeth, glazed eyes, and the foul stench of decay.  It sniffed at her before it spoke.

"Not dog!" it hissed in a guttural growl.  "Smells tasty though!"  It raised it's claw above its head, ready to deliver the killing strike.  Rarity wanted to scream, but found the creature's other paw clasped around her throat.  Suddenly, a blurred figure appeared above her, ramming into the werewolf's gut and sending it stumbling backward, off of Rarity.

"Greyjaw!" Rarity shouted as she beheld her rescuer, who wore the same faded brown vest he had worn on the day they met, as opposed to the armor his fellow combatants wore.

"Greyjaw the Marked!" the lycanthrope snarled, regaining its balance and charging at its challenger.  Greyjaw only snarled in response.  It swung its large arm down at the dog, who simply ducked, grabbed the arm with his two paws, and flipped over the beast's head, planting his feet firmly on its shoulders and jabbing the side of its neck.  The lycanthrope fell with a grunt, and as it grew still, it's body began to evaporate.

"Look out!" Rarity shouted as two more werewolves closed in.  Greyjaw dove to the ground, sliding between one of the monsters' legs.  Standing up behind the thing, he struck its back, hitting a kidney.

The monster yelped as its comrade turned to help.  The beast slashed at him, and Greyjaw sidestepped it.  The lycanthrope he had just attacked, however, turned and lashed out as well.  This time, the attack connected, and it was Greyjaw's turn to yelp.  He leapt back, giving himself roughly a yard of space, and began to growl.

"Rarity, is that you?" Fluttershy called out, landing at her friend's side.

"Fluttershy, you shouldn't be here!" Rarity replied, struggling to sit up as Fluttershy began to tend to her wounds, ignoring the fighting around her.

"He hurt!" one of the monsters said, laughing, as Greyjaw grasped his arm.  "He finally get eaten!"

"You talk too much," Greyjaw replied, removing his vest and tying it around his wounded arm before positioning himself on all fours.  The werewolves ran at him again, but this time, Greyjaw leapt into the air, kicking the adjacent wall, before planting his feet on the ceiling.  As the lycanthropes moved beneath him, he dove down at them, striking both of their necks, felling them just as he had the first.  Once again, they began to evaporate.  As more Wolf Class soldiers arrived, the werewolves that hadn't been defeated began to retreat, two of them dragging screaming miners with them.

"Follow them!" one of the soldiers barked.  "Do not let them escape with those hostages!"  A fraction of the soldiers complied and took off after them, chasing them back into the tunnel.  "The rest of you, begin transporting the wounded to the infirmary.  Civilians first, then our comrades!"  All of the fallen lycanthropes had completely evaporated by this point.

"I see a few bruises, but other than that, you're fine," Fluttershy sighed as she finished examining Rarity.  "Thank goodness."

"I think our friend, there, needs your help more than I do," Rarity said, gesturing towards Greyjaw, who was now slumped against the wall and rubbing his vested injury.

"Let me take a look at your arm, please," Fluttershy said, approaching him.

"Stay away from me," Greyjaw replied, averting his gaze.  "I'm fine."

"Show me your injury, now," Fluttershy commanded, shooting Greyjaw her infamous stare.  The dog recoiled at this, his eyes wide.  His eyes narrowed quickly, before he looked away again.

"Whatever," he grunted, extending his arm out to her.  She carefully untied the vest and examined the wound.

"Oh dear," she said softly, opening her first aid kit.  Greyjaw bared his teeth and hissed as she disinfected the area, but made no other sound as she bandaged it.  "There, just change those bandages once every few hours and you'll be good as new!"  She smiled up at him.  He returned her smile with a scowl.

"Next time, stay at the hospital like you're supposed to," he replied, standing up and walking away, draping his vest over his shoulder.

"Hold on a moment," Rarity said, returning to her feet and approaching Greyjaw.  "Fluttershy just treated your injuries, and while I am grateful that you saved my life, I simply cannot allow you to leave without thanking her!"

"Did I save you?" Greyjaw asked, tilting his head.  "My job is to fight werewolves, so I picked the one closest to me.  Didn't do anything for you.  Be grateful if you want, but keep it to yourself."  He walked away, passing by Collie, neither of whom made eye-contact with the other.

"Collie!  Did you follow me?" Fluttershy asked as she greeted her friend.

"I wanted to make sure you were safe, but I guess it's over," Collie replied, nodding.

"I appreciate the thought," Fluttershy replied, smiling.

"I don't understand," Rarity said, her eyes fixated on Greyjaw.  "Why would he accept such a dangerous job if he didn't care about saving lives?"

"Greyjaw's motives are quite different from most others who take up the Mantle of the Wolf," Collie replied, inspecting Rarity herself in case Fluttershy missed anything.  "But now's not the time to talk about that."

"I see.  Well then, I won't pry," Rarity replied, lowering her head.

"The important thing is that you're safe," Fluttershy said, nuzzling her friend.

"Absolutely!" Collie agreed, nodding vigorously, clasping her hands together.  "Come on, Fluttershy, they're going to need us at the hospital."

"Right behind you," Fluttershy replied as the three of them departed.

"Do these types of attacks happen often?" Rarity asked as they walked.

"Yes," Collie replied, nodding slowly, "but they aren't usually this mild.  We were lucky this time."  Rarity gulped as the word "mild" sank in.

...

Later that night, Collie joined Rarity and Fluttershy at their apartment for some tea.  "Thanks again for all of your help today, Fluttershy," she said.

"Of course," Fluttershy replied, giving her friend a smile, "I'm just glad that there weren't any casualties."

"Always a plus," Rarity added, joining them at the table and distributing the tea cups via levitation.  "I'm just glad I have the opportunity to enjoy this tea with you both, thanks to Greyjaw."

"It's good that you don't take his attitude personally," Collie replied, taking a sip.

"I'm sure he's not the way he is for no reason," Rarity replied, sighing.

"Plus, he's not as mean as he seems," Fluttershy added, leaning forward.  "When I was treating his wound, his eyes thanked me, even if his mouth didn't."

"Really?" Collie asked, raising her brow.  "You've seen a side of him that nobody else has, then."

"Hmm?" Fluttershy asked, raising her tea cup to her lips.

"He's the only member of our security force that refuses to wear armor, says it slows him down," Collie explained, taking a sip.

"Seeing the way he fought, I could understand that," Rarity replied, shrugging.

"Right," Collie said, nodding, "but as a result, he suffers more injuries than his comrades.  My point is that he's found himself in our care more times than I can remember, but no matter how severe his injuries are, no matter how close of a call he has, he's never once expressed any form of gratitude after he's been saved."

"Why do you think that is?" Fluttershy asked.

"Indeed," Rarity agreed, "I find myself repeating my question from earlier and wondering why he would take a job like this if he doesn't seem to care about others."

"Well," Collie sighed, placing her elbows on the table and leaning in, "since it's just the three of us, so long as you promise not to tell anyone, I'll tell you a little bit about him."

"We promise!" Fluttershy said, nodding.

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!" Rarity replied as Fluttershy giggled.

"What does that mean?" Collie asked, tilting her head.

"Inside joke," Rarity replied quickly, gesturing with her hoof for Collie to proceed.  "Please continue."

"Well," Collie began, "the hospital staff is aware of most of this, some of the information being readily available in Greyjaw's medical records.  I have a more... first-hand experience with it, having been attending the same school as Greyjaw when it happened."

"When what happened?" Fluttershy asked, her ears twitching.

"As a child, Greyjaw was looked upon as a promising athlete.  He was a fast, strong, and energetic puppy.  He knew it, too.  He was really cocky, and totally full of himself."  Collie smiled and shook her head.  "And every once in a while, he'd turn into a bit of a bully.  The people around him always overlooked that because of his talents."

"He doesn't sound all that different from the way he is now," Rarity replied, frowning.

"He was a child," Collie explained.  "And he was capable of being nice every once in a while.  How many ponies have you known that didn't change at all from the time they were foals?"

"A fair point," Rarity replied, "although your argument suffers from the fact that Greyjaw doesn't seem to have changed."

"He had a lot of friends.  Well," Collie corrected herself, "he had a lot of people in his life who acted like they were his friends.  They used to play baseball after school, in a small clearing on the outskirts of the Capital City.  The girls used to go watch them play, myself included.  It was during one of those games that I witnessed my first werewolf attack."

"Good heavens!" Rarity exclaimed, straightening in her chair.

"Was anypony hurt?" Fluttershy asked, covering her mouth with her hooves.

"We saw them coming out of the walls high above us and warned the players.  Everyone cleared out fast.  We still had our early warning systems back then, so the Wolves were at the scene fairly quickly.  Greyjaw always insisted on playing the outfield," Collie said, shaking her head.

"And as quick as he was, he still got pinned.  The werewolves all converged on him.  The rest of us watched, we were too scared to do anything else, and the Wolves hadn't quite gotten there yet.  I thought for sure the lycanthropes were going to run off with him, because they do take dogs alive sometimes, but Greyjaw kicked one of them square in the eye.  The monster just laughed at him.  I can still hear its dreadful voice.  'This one is small,' it said, leering down at him, 'we let you live, grey jaw, enjoy every meal like it your last, get big and fat, and we come back for you'.  They marked him with their scent and took off."

"They knew his name?" Fluttershy asked, cocking her brow.

"No," Collie replied.  "no one had ever called him 'Greyjaw' before they did.  He took it as his name after that incident."

"So as a child, Greyjaw lived in fear of the lycanthropes and their promise to return?" Rarity asked, taking another sip of tea.

"It was worse than that," Collie replied, shaking her head.  "The other kids, even many of the adults, began to avoid him because he was 'marked'.  His own parents began to neglect him, keeping him at a distance.  Everyone was afraid of the monsters that haunted his steps."

"That's... horrible," Rarity said, staring down at her mug.

"I can't even imagine how frightened he must have been," Fluttershy added, frowning.

"All of the friends, all of the love Greyjaw had become accustomed to, it all went away in the blink of an eye, replaced by the knowledge that he was living on borrowed time," Collie said.  "But his will was strong, and the injustice thrust upon him made it stronger.  He resented all of us, to be sure, for our failure to be there for him.  But more than anything, he hated the lycanthropes for imposing this isolation on him.  He hated them for making him a victim."

"What happened next?" Rarity asked.

"I can only guess what was going through his head," Collie replied, running a hand through her hair, "but I think he just wanted to take back the control over his own life that he felt he had lost.  He began picking fights with other kids, constantly.  At first I thought he was just lashing out, as did everyone else.  As time went on, I came to realize the truth:  he was learning."

"He was gaining fighting experience from each opponent, and all the while he was working to strengthen his body.  When he wasn't fighting or exercising, he was reading.  Our own literature, books that were imported from other countries, anything he could get his hands on.  Books on strategy, anatomy, weaponry, and martial arts.  In his teenage years, he was fighting larger dogs that were much older than him, and he beat every single one.  Eventually, his skills surpassed everyone, including many in the Wolf Class soldiers who had sought him out because of his reputation."

"And did the werewolves that marked him ever come back?" Fluttershy asked.

"They did," Collie replied, giving a small nod as her eye contact shifted between Fluttershy and Rarity.  "They identified themselves the moment they appeared before him.  They had actually taken advantage of a much larger attack in a different part of the city to slip in under the radar."

"What did Greyjaw do?" Rarity asked, staring at Collie in rapt attention.

"He took them down, one by one," Collie replied, allowing a small smile to creep onto her face.  "As he laid out the final one, before finishing it off, it actually begged him for mercy.  Greyjaw just laughed at the thing."

"I see," Rarity replied, shuddering.  "Doesn't seem like vengeance appeased him, though."

"It wasn't about revenge," Collie replied, shaking her head.  "At least, I don't think it was.  Instead of resigning himself to his fate, he chose to fight, and for the time being, he's winning."

"The time being?" Fluttershy asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"His mark will be with him for the rest of his life," Collie explained.  "The lycanthropes that have attacked us in the days since that time have identified Greyjaw when they see him.  They all seem to know who he is, or at least that one of their brethren deemed him a high-priority target.  I don't think a day will ever come when he's truly safe, unless we find a way to escape the lycanthropes once and for all."  She looked back and forth between Rarity and Fluttershy again.

"I see," Rarity replied, sighing.  She stared down at her reflection in what remained of her tea.  "And escape is the only option?"

"A victory seems impossible," Collie replied.  "You saw it yourself, the way their bodies turn to nothingness when they're struck down?  They're constructs.  They have all the properties of an organic life form until they're killed, at which point, who knows?  We don't even really know what they are, or where they come from."

"I suppose that would make it quite the uphill battle," Rarity replied.  "I hope we've given Mahugpin the leverage he needs to receive aid from our Princess."

"I'm glad you understand," Collie replied, placing a paw on Rarity's shoulder as Fluttershy nodded.

"I can't very well ignore the things I saw today," Rarity replied.  "Don't get me wrong, I want to go home, I want to see my little sister," she inhaled sharply at the thought of Sweetie Belle, "my parents, and my friends again... but I want to help your people as well."

"And Mahugpin will see to it that you accomplish all of those things," Collie replied.  "It's getting late, and we all need to be up bright and early tomorrow.  Thank you both for the tea, and goodnight!"  Rarity and Fluttershy saw her to the door and bid her goodnight as well, before retiring to their bedrooms for an uneasy sleep.