Underworld: Equestria

Chapter 13: Fur and Fangs

“Well this is certainly… different,” Silver mused aloud to himself, sharp canine eyes running over the various buildings and ponies that were now coming into view.

The young, steel-grey dog had left the tunnels just before the moon had reached its peak the night before, and now, as the sun’s light and warmth began to flood the land, he found himself approaching the small town of Ponyville, the nearest equine settlement in the immediate area, as he had learned from Stone-Paw.

The town was, according to the alpha anyway, a fairly basic and laid-back Equestrian settlement compared to the larger cities, a suggestion that Silver found himself agreeing with.

The ponies he could see all happily seemed to be either shopping, eating, or simply exchanging conversation without any worry or care, all done in an apparent friendly manner without the slightest suggestion of an argument or conflict.

He silently wondered if bringing his spear and wearing his shoulder guards was such a good idea after all... but then again, the idea of walking through the Everfree unarmed wasn’t exactly appealing either.

“They truly are a peaceful race,” the diamond dog muttered to himself as he hid in the shadow of a tree, and watched on, not entirely sure if he was amused or repulsed by the scene in front of him. “I wonder how they keep the creatures of the forest away.”

The most probable answer in his mind was unicorn magic, and said magic he silently hoped, as he left the safety of the tree and headed forward, was a weapon he wouldn’t be getting the wrong end of.

Gingerly, he took his place in the middle of the road and headed into the quaint settlement, doing his best to be in full view so nopony would think of him as a thief or a spy sneaking around, although, trying to be sneaky would’ve proved a little difficult, given his armored form stood twice as tall as the colourful ponies around him.

As he entered he to took note of the numerous stalls that surrounded them and the numerous town residents, his keen eyes absorbing every detail of their wares, whilst his sharp nose took in a thousand different scents.

His plan was relatively simple; seek out the local pony in charge, show said pony he meant no harm, and find out if they, like the pack, had been subjected to any strange attacks of late.

Unfortunately... said plan went straight out the window with the reaction of the first pony he decided to try and talk to.

“Ugh, Daisy, you arranged these wrong!” snorted a pink and crimson maned pony as she attended to an arrangement of roses, hastily rearranging them without noticing the diamond dog approaching her. “Ok, now you’re in my light.”

“Um… would you like me to move?” Silver asked as politely as possible, his canine voice however still coming out with a slight growl as he stood behind her patiently.

The rose cutie marked mare’s ears flattened against her head as she turned around to confront the stranger, only to stop dead still when her pale green eyes fell on Silver-Fang’s tall body structure, her pupils heading skywards until they met his smiling canine face, and topaz golden eyes they were looking down at her.

“Greetings little pony, I am Silver-Fang,” The dog smiled, showing her his white fangs in the friendliest way he could, which only ended up causing the mare to step back a few paces.

“You’re a… d-diamond dog?” the pony choked out rather loudly.

The eyes of everypony else in the area quickly fell on the creature who had invaded their town, and equally as quickly they either began to creep backwards from him, or as in the case of a nearby cyan pegasus, jump into the air and quickly disappear from sight.

The diamond dog reacted by rubbing his temples in minor frustration.

“No I’m a talking, tail-less manticore. Yes, I’m a diamond dog.”

He figured his annoyed tone didn’t help much, but the mare’s original description of him had left the dog in a bad mood; he admitted that because of cultural differences the ponies fear of him was understandable, but that didn’t mean he had to be happy about it.

By now the countless ponies were muttering between themselves hastily backing away from him as fast as possible, most looking nervously between his golden eyes, and the steel-bladed spear that sat clasped in his furry paw, its silver blade glinting as the sunlight reflected off of it.

“Grrr! Look I’m not going to eat you,” he sighed with a shake of his head as he tried to diffuse the situation. “I only wish to talk to your…”

The dog had intended to say the word ‘leader’, but a thundering roar that caused his heart to almost stop, and made the town shake square on its foundations, abruptly cut him off, a dark shadow passing over the sun as the canine’s head snapped skywards.

Before him loomed the last thing he'd expected to see, said thing being the colossal form of a green dragon dropping down, and landing with an almighty slam in the middle of the market square like it was a trained action, the beast shaking away the cloud of dust while its enraged eyes focused directly on him.

Silver watched on as the ponies around him hastily removed themselves from the space between the two of them, and quickly headed for the nearest source of cover, the dragon’s fangs and enraged eyes sat bared in his direction.

It went without saying that since they were both gem eaters competing for food, dragons and diamond dogs didn’t get along in the slightest. The only time the two races came together was usually at the points of spears and fangs in a never ending, but undeclared war.

Silver-Fang silently wondered if this day could actually get any worse.

He was no expert on the scaly race, but from some prior and rather bloody experience as a member of the Steel Guard, the dog could tell this one was fairly young, perhaps the dog dared say barely even an adult.

What also surprised him was the fact that the ponies seemed more afraid of him then the hulking dragon before them... if anything, they were barely taking any notice of the over-sized reptile.

For at least five minutes the silver-grey dog just stared at the dragon in front of him while the dragon stared right back, neither moving a single muscle until the beast broke the silence.

“What are you doing here you piece of meat?” the dragon snarled through gritted teeth, massive green tail swinging like a mace as the local ponies watched on from a safe distance.

Both creatures bared their teeth at each other, the numerous ponies now slowly creeping forward whilst also taking note of every flinch and movement of the combatants as they waited for the situation to escalate.

“I’d ask you the same thing, but I doubt I care,” the dog replied calmly but with his spear still raised. “Look, I am only here to see the leader of these ponies, not to start a fight with you…?”

The dragon opened its jaws and growled loudly, prompting the nearby ponies to cower in wake of an expected fight. “I don’t usually give my name to things I intend to eat.”

The tense diamond dog once again rolled his eyes in frustration, if there was ever a race as stubborn and thick-skulled as his own, Silver knew it was the race of dragons.

“Were you not listening to me dragon?” Silver snapped, slowly lowering the steel point of his weapon so it faced the ground between them. “I am NOT here to start a fight nor do I want one, all I wish to do is speak with the leader of these ponies.”

“Do you really think I believe a word that comes from your mouth?”

“I am telling you the truth you rock skulled lizard.” Silver snarled in frustration, his temper quickly diminishing.

“And maybe you are… but do you really think I’m going to just let you talk to the mayor?” The dragon growled in return, taking a step forward and causing the diamond dog to hastily raise his spear again. “A good friend of my mate was taken by you vermin and forced to work in your tunnels, so if you think I’m letting you go anywhere near them, you’re sadly mistaken.”

The battle dog sighed and gingerly lowered his spear at the dragon’s venomous words.

Strictly speaking, the diamond dogs wanted nothing to do with ponies, which absolutely included bringing them into the tunnels; but, sadly, there had always been the occasional runt pup who thought the ponies would make good pets or slaves, and had hence forcefully dragged an unsuspecting one down to work every so often.

"Those runts better hope I never get my paws around their necks"

The diamond dog decided the best thing to do in order to diffuse the situation would be to apologize... but he never got the chance, and rather quickly regretted lowering his spear.

As he looked up to meet the dragon’s gaze he was greeted by a flash of emerald green, and before he could mutter a single harsh word or insult, found himself hanging upside down in front of the green dragons snarling face, the beasts tail wrapped around his legs and his spear now lying on the ground just below him while he hung helplessly.

“Now then,” the dragon growled smugly, giving the confused dog a deadly and savage grin. “Should we see how good you taste, or how far I can throw you?”

“You wouldn’t dare unless you want to start a war!” the diamond dog snapped, his anger only causing the dragon’s grin to widen.

“Hmm, usually I wouldn’t want a war, but now that you mention it… a chance to enjoy copious amounts of well-done diamond dog is tempting.”

“So help me…” Silver started through bared teeth, the ponies who were watching them all suddenly looking somewhat ill.

Yet another sudden angry roar, however, cut him off mid-sentence... again... but by his alpha, this one was even louder than the green dragon’s own, and sounded far more enraged at that.

“Thane! What by the fire of our ancestors are you doing you scale brain? Put him down, right now!”

Silver-Fang hastily turned to source of the new voice, and he just about had a heart attack in the dragon's grasp then and there.

Quickly approaching them, from further down the street, were two more dragons, one with blood red in color and the other night black scales, these ones massive even compared to green one that was currently holding him with its tail.

What shocked him even more, however, was that walking right beside them were not only a small group of ponies, but standing high on their back legs, and with their own fangs angrily bared in his direction, were two burly canines that looked very much like he did.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

In his mind, Lucian thought Rainbow’s actions were a little extreme, given the situation he was currently looking at.

As he had learned from her she had left the dog to Thane, then bolted over to Fluttershy’s and found Titan, then flown off and grabbed Raze as he and Applejack had been coming into town with the days sales worth of apples, and had finally crashed into the library to call him, Twilight, and unintentionally, Luna to arms.

And given that there was only one diamond dog to deal with, to say it was overkill would have been the understatement of the millennia... an overkill which had also left Applejack and Twilight in none too happy moods.

“Oh come on!” Thane growled in annoyed tone as he flexed his talons into the ground, looking between his furry quarry and his brethren. “He’s a diamond for Celestia’s sake! Can’t I just have some fun with him?”

Both dragons let out a simultaneous growl at his statement. “Thane, just do what Titan says,” Ash sighed as he rolled his eyes and face-clawed, a habit he seemed to have unfortunately picked up from Twilight. “If you haven’t noticed, were in a town full of ponies who don’t really like your sense of humour.”

“I wouldn’t mind,” Rainbow Dash tossed in as she flew above the small group, her statement earning her a few annoyed glares from her friends and quickly causing her to cringe.

Applejack, however, preferred to put her feelings in words then gestures, said words being. “If a’ hear another stray word come outta your muzzle Dash, I’m gonna tie it shut, and then buck you into next week.”

Lucian watched on as Thane growled at the amber pony, but soon grumpily shook his huge head, and released the imprisoned dog, doing so by simply opening his tail and letting the canine free fall the two meter distance to the ground, and land with a smack and a loud yelp, the action drawing an annoyed snarl from Titan.

“You really are a pain in the tail sometimes, Thane,” the red dragon hissed.

“Well I could drop him, eat him, or throw him,” Thane smirked with a cheesy grin as he stepped away from the dog, Rainbow Dash quickly flying over and perching herself on his back. “Which of those would you have preferred?”

Titan growled but decided not to pursue the matter, knowing well from the years spent growing up together Thane readily made a habit of speaking or acting before thinking, much like the certain cyan pegasus he called his marefriend.

As slowly and as gently as he could, the red dragon approached the diamond dog with both Lucian and Raze beside him; the newcomer canine, having risen to his feet, was now dusting himself off and picking up his spear, muttering a few choice words about Thane under his breath.

“Sorry about that,” Titan sighed as the dog looked up at him, nodding to where Thane was standing. “He has a habit of acting first and asking questions later.”

The diamond dog growled and shook his head. “I do not like him, but I do not blame him either. He says a friend of his was taken by our runts and put to work in the tunnels, so such dislike of me I guess is… understandable,” the dog shrugged as he leant on his spear. “I am Silver-Fang, commander of Stone-Paw’s Steel Guard, and envoy of the alpha council.”

“Name’s Titan, and this is Ash,” the red dragon chuckled as he nodded towards the equally large black dragon behind him. “And that idiot over there as you know is Thane.”

“Hey!” Dash and Thane snapped in unison.

“Well you are,” Ash put in with a smirk.

“Alright, maybe I am... sometimes,” the green dragon hissed in distaste. “But that doesn’t mean you need to go telling the fur ball that.”

Silver couldn’t help but smirk as an annoyed trail of smoke drifted upwards from Thane’s nostrils, but his interest in the dragon quickly disappeared when the two canines approached him along with a few of the ponies behind them; the diamond dog had to admit that most of the alphas, and perhaps even Stone-Paw, would have problems if he came up against these creatures in a fight, the one on the left looked to almost half as a big as Thane.

In a mixture of curiosity and horror he watched them suddenly change, the sounds of painful growls and cracking bones filling his ears as he watched their fur be replaced by soft flesh, one a faint brown and the other the colour of burnt oak.

Both, however, had unnaturally eerie blue eyes.

“What in the name Stone-Paw’s wide-hipped bitch… are you two exactly?” he asked as he took a single step back from the two, not sure if he was amazed or horrified.

The jaw of every pony and dragon within a thirty meter radius had their jaw hit the ground in a heartbeat, except for that of Princess Luna, who silently sniggered behind a concealing hoof at the statement; unlike everypony else, she knew the intended meaning was not a profanity.

“You can relax Silver-Fang, we are lycans,” the smaller of the two smiled. “I am Lucian and this is Raze…”

“A Pleasure,” Raze chuckled, his voice Silver-Fang swore deeper in tone than any of the three present dragons.

“...Yes," Lucian went on. "So, what exactly brings you to Ponyville?”

The diamond dog snapped back to reality, sighed, and rubbed his temples with his free paw as numerous sets of eyes fell on him, the other paw still warily grasping his spear in case it was for some reason needed.

“I would've asked you the same question... but, I have come on behalf of my alpha, Stone-Paw, to seek audience with the leader of these ponies,” he growled, looking up and meeting the long haired Lycan’s blue eyes with his own golden ones. “A number of our workers have recently been lost to tunnel attacks by an unknown enemy, and Stone-Paw wishes to know if these ponies bear knowledge of what this enemy might be.”

Lucian took a quick glance back at Luna, who much like him had a sudden expression of unease plastered across her face, as she no doubt also remembered the events of the night prior.

He quickly turned back to find both Raze, and the massive form of Titan, now looking down at him along with Silver-Fang, all obviously wanting answers to his and the night princess’s rather unusual actions.

“What kind of attacks exactly?” the lycan asked as he pulled at his beard.

The diamond dog snarled angrily and drew his fangs. “Brutal ones… usually we find the workers with their bones shattered and covered in bite marks,” He snapped, his free paw now balled in an angry fist. “Why?”

“I… believe Raze, Luna and I can answer your question on what you’re dealing with.”

“We can?” Raze asked in confusion, hastily looking between the dog and his leader before his eyes widened. “Lucian, you are not saying…”

“The taste of blood does not lie old friend,” the pale skinned lycan growled, taking a quick look around him, and in particular the cluster of ponies who were watching him from a few meters away. “Twilight, do you mind terribly if we bring Silver-Fang back to the library, I fear we have important matters to discus with him as well as everypony else... matters which are for now best kept private.”

A growl from Titan quickly reminded Lucian he was still there, and sounded a little annoyed at being left out of the conversation. “What kind of matters exactly?”

Lucian sighed, and under the combined gazes of Titan and Raze, muttered a statement he had hoped that he would never have to say in the land of ponies.

“Matters of vampires.”

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Notes:

If you see an error please tell me, also just so you all understand I alternate between Silver and Silver-Fang based on what seems right (the same way I might call Rainbow Dash by her full name in one line and just Dash in another).

Feels good to finally bring Thane and Titan back, just because I’ve always loved writing for their personalities for some reason (shrugs). Anyway for those of you who are into dragon stories (you know who you are) I have another story you might like, enjoy.