Chapter 3 ~ Clawing Calamities

Sunset's front legs stood firmly on the ground as she lifted her haunches to kick an attacking dog in the face. With a crack the beast was flung into the air, a few of it's teeth parting from it's mouth. Her green mane whirled around with the rest of her body as she immediately turned towards the diamond dog and jumped towards it, punching it and knocking the foul creature unconscious.

She laughed, "That's what you get for messing with me!" Another diamond dog jumped out of the ground behind her, howling in anger, its claws ready to strike. As the unicorn turned around she gazed directly into the diamond dogs eyes. The beast didn't move.

Both pairs of eyes went down, looking at the tip of the spear that had pierced the creature. The diamond dog gasped for air, then smacked against the ground as Frisbee pulled her weapon out of it's chest. The pegasus looked at Sunset for a second, nodded silently and then went up into the air again, launching another air strike at the beasts below.

Even with dirt in her mane and a dogs blood on her face, Sunset managed to sigh romantically as her special somepony skewered another dog. That moment was taken away, as a giant of a hound came up behind the mare, grabbed her by the head and torso, hoisting her into the air and with an angry howl threw her towards a wagon, where she crashed through the wooden walls and landed head first against the firewood.

The dog didn't waste much time. He jumped right after her, moving through the new entry and looked at the apparently unconscious enemy.

"Stupid pony," he growled, his red eyes gleaming with anger as he kicked her head. The dog howled.

Then a log hit it's face.

It stumbled back and looked in wonder as five logs were lifted into the air by magic. The unicorn's horn glowed as she bent the mystical lines of the magical world to her will.

With shivering legs the pony stood up, breathing heavily. "Stupid..." she whispered, "DOG!" With a battlecry like that she hurled the firewood against the unarmored creature. It wasn't elegant, it wasn't pretty but it worked.

That was all that counted.

The hound fell backwards, his head cracked after being hit repeatedly with the wood. Sunset moved forward, unsteady on her hooves. Getting knocked around like that had made her dizzy and she felt blood dripping down her nose and muzzle, heck, even the back of her head felt weird.

"That's why everypony's wearing a helmet, huh?" she said more for herself than anypony else, shaking her head and jumping right into battle again.

Party Star hovered above ground, he guessed the original number of diamond dogs at about forty or forty-five. Well, they were down a few. The Captain was flinging his sword around with such ease he had already cut down about six of them. Garden Tool and Limelight had each taken out three. He didn't see Stardust, which wasn't that surprising and Sunset had taken down two, one of them had been the biggest diamond dog the pegasus had ever seen. Then there was Frisbee who had taken down seven more. She flew a bit away from him, holding her spear ready, still looking for a target.

All of them had already lots of experience and fighting came as easy to them as dealing the final blow to their enemies. Party had never killed anything up until this point.

His armor wasn't tarnished nor was his coat dirty. His mane was still perfect, well...okay, perfect wasn't the word, it was still as shrub-like as ever but that wasn't the point. He still hadn't found a target, he still didn't want to target anypony.

For a moment longer he looked at the field. He saw Frisbee diving down again, a diamond dog barely escaping her onslaught by jumping back into the hole he came from. He really wanted to be as brave as her but then...

This wasn't really what he wanted, was it? Killing sentient creatures?

His wings flung open and the young colt would've liked it most if he could have just dropped his spear, tell everypony to stop and they'd all do it. That wasn't going to happen, though.

He asked himself...was that how Stardust felt all the time? Was that how being a coward felt like?

The young pegasus with the talent to make every party a brighter place decided at that point not to be a coward. From beneath the steel of his helmet he looked sternly at the field below. Everypony was still fighting and he had to help them.

He readied the spear with these turquoise coated arms of his. The azure eyes stared at the field, whatever diamond dog would come up from beneath the barren earth he'd kill. A few moments later, a bit away from the Captain and Garden Tool he saw two more dogs coming out of the hole. Party saw that one of them was armored, the other not. The armored one also was closer to the Captain so he'd be taken care of. The other dog was a bit away from everything so that would be a safe go. The Pegasus had made his decision and for the first time went into combat.

Squinting and yelling some noise that was akin to 'HUAARGH' he dashed towards whatever had just come out of the hole.

The dog looked at him surprised and then the spear that was meant to pierce him missed it's head by half an inch if not less. Still the hound had no time to be happy as a fully armored pegasus smashed into it, cracking a few ribs through the force of impact. The dog was flung backwards, away from the safe spot of his the hole.

The spear pierced the ground and as the diamond dog hit the ground, so did Party Star, rolling another meter or two. As he hit the ground the first time his left wing cracked and the colt screamed in pain.

Another attacker wanted to take the chance to take care of that pegasus and stormed towards him, only to get an axe thrown into the side of his face. Garden Tool hurried towards the wounded Pegasus.

"PARTY!" he yelled, prioritizing his fallen comrade well over getting his weapon back or picking another up.

"Don't worry, I'm still-" He remarked as he stood by the colt's side. A howl interrupted him and as Garden turned around he saw a mace being flung at his face.

He felt pain for a second, then nothing.

Right after they had entered the 'safe zone' they found out that the wagons weren't that safe a place. Both Stardust and Dry Soil tried to calm down, each one taking deep breaths when they heard the noise of something scratching at the floor of the wagon.

"What the hay?" Dry Soil asked, looking at the middle of wagon, moving closer towards it.

"No, no no!" Was all Stardust said as she galloped across the wagon towards the captain's room.

Dry Soil looked quizzically at her before what had to happen happened. A brown furred hand with sharp claws broke through the wood, then another. With a yelp, the earth pony backed away but immediately decided to do the sensible thing. He jumped up and grabbed the room's lantern smacking it down on the emerging diamond dog before it even knew what had happened. The lantern's glass cracked as it hit the beast and the light inside it went out almost immediately. Leaving the him alone in almost complete darkness.

Lucky enough at least one of the wards still illuminated the space beneath the wagon and gave a bit of light away and the sound of battle would keep the silence from gobbling him up. Still, he had to use this chance. Either get out of the door and get involved in the battle itself or stay with the most hated pony he knew. Since survival was a priority above everything he decided to move to the back of the wagon.

The Captain's room looked as unpleasant as always. The only thing that managed to make it even more unpleasant than the old, uncomfortable bed with a mattress probably filled with worms and the table with very rotten looking wood was Stardust who ripped the pictures and from the Captain's wall.

"What the hay are you doing?" Dry Soil asked, furiously.

The mare turned around, the window revealed behind her, "This wagon isn't safe. We need to go to the next!"

Dry Soil looked at her, how nonchalantly she acted while she had just abandoned him back there, "But..."

"NO BUTS!" she yelled.

Dry Soil looked at her, wearing that guards armor, symbol for courage and honor, sullying it with her fear. He gritted his teeth. He had seen her hide away often but actually seeing her panic like this was just driving  the point home everypony had made about, Stardust was useless.

The mare with night blue mane then opened the window without further ado but immediately stepped to the side.

"Get through here into the next wagon," she instructed.

The stallion looked at the window and then at the mare, wondering if that was her genuinely caring about somepony or something else. He opted to find out.

"You...why do you want me to go first?" he wanted to know of the coward who always saved herself before anypony else.

"Just. GO!" There were tears in her eyes as she looked back, expecting to find more diamond dogs having climbed out of that hole but there weren't any. Still she she shook with fear. He really doubted letting him go first was an act of kindness. Still, anymore stalling could get both of them killed and so he decided to take his chances with the window.

Maybe he could've tried to convince her to go first he thought as he started to take the climb. Not that Dry Soil wanted to be left alone in that wagon. The window was large enough for a pony to climb through. Whoever had once constructed that wagon might not have thought a backdoor was a good idea, but at least they thought of something that could at least be used as some kind of exit. As he climbed through the window he looked to his left, where the other wagons obstructed his sight and then to the right, where he saw Frisbee kicking another diamond dog who somehow had expected to be able to block metal-clad hooves. That made him realize why that mare had sent him first. To make sure it was safe to move. Stardust had made him do her work. Grumbling, Dry Soil just jumped on the next wagon, opened the door and found two fillies, one colt alongside a pair of lovers.

"Hey, everypony," he said with as much a smile as he could muster but was pushed in further by Stardust who had practically jumped out of the window after him and now smacked the door shut, probably thinking that now she was safe.

This was one of the civilian wagons. It was basically one room with some hay to sleep on on it's sides and a kitchen in it's back. A fairly standard wagon, not the most comfortable thing to travel in but the wood kept it's inhabitants fairly safe. At least when they weren't encountering any really dangerous beast...like a diamond dog.

Stardust backed into the corner beside the door, just to be in the blind spot if something came through there, while Dry Soil moved towards the group.

"Everypony alright?" the yellow pony asked his companions.

"Yeah, we still are." Counting Copper answered. Windsight was burying herself in his unicorn arms, while she hugged him back with both arms and wings. Dry Soil figured that had to be the safest hug in the whole, wide world. And if they were still safe, things probably go alright.

But there were so many diamond dogs out there, why weren't any of them coming to attack them, he asked himself.

"Why don't they attack the wagons? Why did they not kill you if the doors aren't blocked? There's so many of them....yet..." he asked loudly, hoping to get some input from the others.

"DOES.IT.MATTER?" Windsight yelled, but immediately shut up and buried herself again, her ears perked, if any diamond dogs had heard her. From the outside the sounds of battle were still to be heard. Yelling, screaming, the noise of weapons hitting flesh and also the sound of metal against metal on one end. She was so very, very scared. The only soldier in here was Stardust and that meant that every real guard was fighting outside. They were sitting ducks.

"Yes..." he answered the question, truthfully "because something is wr-"

The stallion was interrupted as the wagon began to shake heavily.

"What's happening?" Counting asked, looking around as the wagon started to lean more and more to the left side. Everypony stood there for a few seconds, watching as the world seemed to turn around, asking the same question. It was Dry Soil who finally came to the conclusion.

"They're dragging all the wagons down the hole."

It wasn't the smartest tactic, it wasn't the oldest trick in the book. But it would work.

That's what the diamond dogs had thought.

There wasn't much white remaining on his coat. He was covered in a lot of dog blood and a bit of his own. His sword was dripping and his shield was broken. Yet he stood there, three dogs remaining before him, two others had scrambled. That was good.

These three were scared, too. Even though he was exhausted, even though he had to take the sword into his teeth now, there, since his arms were to weak to do any swinging these dogs were now too scared to approach him. He couldn't help but grin a bit. This had gone way better than expected, now nothing could go wrong.

Behind him he heard a noise and he turned a bit, seeing how the ground beneath all six wagons had given in and they all had fallen sideways and sunk further into the ground. That was incredibly bad. He turned around again. A fourth dog had taken his attention towards the Captain. This was the one who had done Garden in. The bastard. A black furred beast wearing a rusty armor and an helm with ox horns attached to it along a double-handed mace. Probably their leader. If he'd kill that one, then...

"I'll take care of that pony. Watch," the hound spoke, lifting his mace up and running towards the Captain, whose grin widened. A simpleminded dog with a blunt object was absolutely no problem for him. As the dog approached he decided to take a mere half-step and then put the sword through the beast's lungs before it could even start swinging that giant club around. A simple maneuver, easily executed. No problem.

When the moment came, he made the half step with his front legs but then for a moment, his legs gave in from the exhaustion, he stumbled and the mace hit his shoulder, throwing the Captain on his side, his sword falling to the ground right beside the dog. He screamed out in pain. Plate armor protected good against arrows, spears and anything with a blade but a blunt object was it's great weakness, as the captain felt. His coat didn't provide enough padding to defend against a strike like this. His shoulder was smashed and the diamond dog stood gleefully above him.

"Death to killer of my tribesman," the dog spoke, "Such honor befalls to me as the leader of the Tribe of the Broken Jaw!"

The dog didn't waste any time for showy swinging and instead aimed for the downed pony's head as quickly as possible.

Then a log hit his own head.

"You won't touch our Captain!" Sunset yelled, standing atop one of the fallen wagons, two more pieces of wood floating beside her. The mare's mane was definitely ruined, covering half her face. Not that she seemed to care she tried to focus as much as possible, readying her improvised yet fairly effective weaponry.

The leader of the diamond dogs still stood, looking angrily at the unicorn. "You-"

That was the only thing he managed to say before Frisbee came down, aiming for the slit of the helmet. The dog evaded at the last moment and grabbed the pegasus by tail as she tried to get up in the air again, smashing her to the ground. The chieftain let the mare's tale go, ignoring the sword that was laying right beside her. The beast then let out a victorious howl, just before the other logs hit him. He only stumbled forward a bit, because this time they only hit the back plate and were far too weak to cause any damage. Laughing, he turned around.

The dog looked at the unflinching Sunset, who gave her best to hide that she was pretty battered herself and asked, "That everything?"

With a scream of rage a wounded Limelight jumped up from behind Sunset and stormed towards the leader, who, after a moment of shock, cackled madly as he lifted his mace again, all while shouting: „WONDERFUL!“

Then, four things happened.

First: The Captain used the last bit of his strength to kick the dog leader in the heel. That had little to no effect, since he couldn't summon that much strength anymore.

Second: One of the logs was levitated up again and smashed in the back of the head, causing enough damage for the beast to tumble.

Third: Limelight, being an experienced fighter would've ducked under the swing but as in the last moment the strike of the hound was interrupted, he dodged a second too soon and was hit, his skull shattering as it was met with the steel ball.

Fourth: Frisbee, slowly regaining her consciousness, took all the strength she had to take up the Captain's sword, jumping up and ramming the sword down a small opening between neck and shoulder, killing it instantly.

The remaining three diamond dogs looked at the scene and as they saw the female unicorn approach and the pegasus standing up, again, they decided not to try their luck and turned towards their holes. Leaving their own dead for the silence to take they left for their kingdom down below.

Sunset took the chance to finally collapse and although she was still awake, she took in the moment. The feeling of victory and started singing to herself, so that the silence knew that this was not yet the moment. She was accompanied by the metal and the bells attached to Frisbee's tail. While not very melodious, there was at least some noise remaining.

Frisbee moved towards the captain, not even a bit uneasy on her hooves. Instead she walked up to him, then look over the field with what anypony would interpret as a stone cold gaze before she finally settled on looking at the Captain once more.

"Alright, Sir?" Came the inevitable question of the only two words necessary. The kind of stoic treatment the Captain could not really appreciate after such a fight, thus he groaned as he rolled into what he hoped to be a more comfortable position.

Still he answered with grim expression: "Do I look alright?"

"No."

The wagon had fallen to the side and the scratching from below had begun. The ponies found themselves by the wall on the right side, the only thing to illuminate them now being the light spell Counting had immediately cast when they had fallen. Now everypony looked to the once-wall-now-floor, going over what they should be afraid of most. Stardust especially especially seemed eager to run out screaming but if they would leave they'd just run into the fight and considering the numbers, the diamond dogs would probably win or had already won.

What remained was the worst case scenario. They had to fight.

Dry Soil figured that, but none of them were able fighters. Still, even if there was just a small chance, they had to take it. The earth pony looked to the blankflanks.

"Get to the side," he ordered and turned to Counting Copper and Windsight, "That's the dogs. They'll burst through."

The both looked equally horrified and seemed both very eager to hold each other in the arms. A gesture Dry Soil couldn't really appreciate. "If we work together we can do this!" he said but the two didn't quite get it.

Lovers were every caravan's curse.

The scratching continued and Dry Soil had to take deep breaths. He closed his eyes for a moment, getting himself to calm down. This was the deciding moment where they'd all be taken down the holes by the diamond dogs or he would stand up and protect what could closest be described as his family. The decision was clear, he opened his eyes. The scratching became louder but he was ready.

Then one clawed finger broke through the wood. And Dry Soil decided, once more, to do the sensible thing and the moment the rest of the beast broke through it, the stallion immediately jumped forward to give the intruder a welcome-hoof to the face. Yet that didn't work as planned, as the beast instead of falling back just grabbed his hoof and Dry began struggling to get it free, kicking with the other leg and trying to jump backwards with his hind legs, hopefully shaking him off. That too didn't work.

Whinnying the stallion felt himself being dragged down. Then, a bit of luck on his side turned things around as the diamond dog from beneath the shadows let go of his hooves and grabbed his neck.

He used the momentum to grab the diamond dogs arms and pulled the beast towards him, giving the dog a mighty headbutt. He let the dog go and stumbled backwards, dizzied from the impact. The hound fell back into the hole it came from.

"Serves you right," he spoke and got up again, three diamond dogs appearing out of the hole.

By the sidelines Windsight and Copper really just wanted all the fighting to go away, yet somehow Dry Soil's actions inspired them and thus the diamond dogs met unexpected resistance. As the first one tried to climb out of their hole four hooves, Windsight's and Counting Copper's, met his head and practically catapulted him back into the dark. The second and third were greeted in the same manner, just that this time Dry Soil helped while the young ones and Stardust just watched from the sidelines.

"YES!" yelled Dry Soil as the dogs retreated into their dark kingdom beneath the grounds, "And stay where you came from!"

The sound of battle was gone.

The ponies had won.

IV

~Clawing Calamities~

~End~