Slobber Chops did his level best not to pull his ears in frustration as he spoke to the petulant Guard Dog cook, "Ponies do not eat meat, we cannot assume that these creatures do either. We should give them a variety to chose from, see what they like. We have vegetables and fruits and mushrooms, you need to include those."

The cook, Slop Slinger, snorted through his nose, "These creatures are already being given very good food. They may as well eat from the Governor's own plate." He grabbed a chunk of raw pork and shook it in front of Slobber Chops' face, "This is fresh from the slaughter, not a day old! If they do not eat this, they eat nothing!" He slammed the bloody meat back down and crossed his arms as if he had won a prize.

Chop was not done though, "And what happens if they eat it and end up dying because you were too stubborn to listen?"

Slop Slinger scrunched up his muzzle in thought. His pondering was interrupted by a voice from behind Chop, "The Ambassador has had dealings with Ponies. He knows better than any of us how to deal with other species." Chop perked his ears and turned his head. Diamond Tooth stood in the doorway of the kitchen, "I suggest you listen to him, Slinger."

Slop Slinger uncrossed his arms and glared at his commander, "Is that an order, sir?"

"Not at all, merely a suggestion." Tooth admitted as he began a slow walk around the small kitchen, "The Ambassador has knowledge and experience where you and I do not. Were we housing Diamond Dogs, I would agree with you completely, but we are not housing our kin. If something bad happens to these creatures, I will be the one to take the blame, not you, Slinger. I will not order you to do this, but I hope you will make the correct decision." He glanced at Slobber Chops, "I would like to speak with you in the barracks before you go to the creatures, Ambassador."

With his piece spoken, Diamond Tooth left the kitchen. He did not need to look over the shoulders of his Guard Dogs. He had faith that they would do what was right. It pleased him immensely to hear Slop Slinger ask Chop to repeat the recommendation as Tooth walked away. He smiled to himself, 'My Guard Dogs are the best for a reason.'

* * *

Chop wandered around the jail until he stumbled on to the barracks. Diamond Tooth was easy to spot. He was seated on the pallet closest to the entrance. The barracks was a series of narrow corridors which had trios of beds carved one on top of another into the walls and two pallets situated on either side of the door. The walkways were thin enough that two dogs could move around one another if they did not mind scraping tails.

Diamond patted the blanket next to him and Chop sat down beside the commander, "You wanted to see me, Commander Diamond Tooth?"

Diamond Tooth licked his chops and whined under his breath, a clear sign of emotional upset, "I am... in an unexplored place here, Ambassador. I do not know what to do and that upsets me... greatly. I am not fond of these creatures, but I cannot help but to feel for them. I do not know how they came to be in our old tunnels, but my instinct tells me they did not arrive by their own choice." He turned to Chop, "Tell me, would the Alicorns send these creatures here out of spite? Perhaps as punishment? It is a well-known that Ponies hate us..."

"They don't." Chop interrupted the commander, "They do not hate us. They do not understand us, in many different scents."

Tooth perked his ears, "How do you mean?"

"When we sniff another, what are we smelling for? What do we want to find out?" Chop asked.

"We smell their necks and muzzles to be polite, we smell their ears and tails to sniff out parasites... why do you ask?" Tooth inquired.

"Ponies do not sniff each other, they shake hooves. Their noses cannot tell if there are parasites or if another is unhealthy unless they see it. I sniffed the Pony I became friends with and she blushed. She did not understand. Ponies are not like us, but they ARE like us. In one way they are nearly identical to us. They have families, they love, they breathe, and they eat. In other ways they are not like us. They do not sniff as we do, they do not eat raw meat, they do not dig well, they do not carve their homes to last forever, and they do not smell the scents of the soil as we do. They smell the world differently yes, but they do not hate us. To us it seems ridiculous not to sniff another, to them it makes no sense to sniff. Ponies are afraid of what is different. They do not hate us as most think of it, they fear what they do not understand." Chop licked up the drool making its way down his jowls, "And to answer you, no I do not think the Alicorns would do such a thing. My Unicorn friend, Razor Wit told me what she knew about the Princesses. They could do many things, but this?" He shook his head, "No, I do not think they would."

Satisfied, Diamond Tooth changed the subject, "How do you plan to speak with these creatures if you cannot speak their language?"

Chop bobbed his head, the question was a smart one, "I will speak to them in other ways. It would be much easier if I had my writings. Razor Wit left her writings with me when she left. I remember how she started learning Dirgeth, but after the simple parts... I did not pay close enough attention." Chop's ears wilted at the admission, "I was not here to help with these creatures. I was her to see my cousin give birth to her puppy."

Diamond Tooth cocked his head in confusion, "So you chose to help us instead of your cousin? Family is the most important thing in the world." Tooth felt a terrible pang of guilt as he realized how hypocritical he was.

Slobber Chops shook his head as if he was shaking himself dry, "G-g-g-g-ra! I am a terrible dog. I abandon my family to help creatures I don't even know." He hung his head, "What kind of dog abandons family?"

Tooth held his tongue, 'I did the same thing.' He gingerly patted Chop on the shoulder, "You are the kind of dog I want to have as a Guard. Family, real family will understand. These creatures would have died in the tunnels, and perhaps even in the cells if you were not here. You are a good dog, Ambassador."

Slobber Chops huffed out a half-hearted laugh, "You can call me Chop. All my friends and family do."

"Then call me Tooth. I like it more than 'commander'. We are more than our titles, are we not?" Tooth said.

Chop lolled out his tongue in a genuinely happy expression, "We are, Tooth."

* * *

Ryia was lying down on one of the pallet that had cow hide stretched over it. She was trying to sleep while Veera kept an eye out for the Rakshasa. She wanted to use the knife to pick the lock on the cell door, but she wanted to wait until she had gained an understanding of the patterns and sleep cycles of the Rakshasa. The other women had stayed away from Ryia and Veera and had not engaged them in conversation. Veera and Ryia were happy to ignore them in turn.

Try as she might, Ryia found herself unable to sleep. She tossed and turned left and right but no matter which way she lay, sleep fled from her. In frustration she groaned and sat up, "I can't get comfortable." She rubbed her eyes with her palms and let out a jaw cracking yawn, "Is there anything to drink?"

Veera who was standing by the bars of the cell, turned and responded to the query, "I'm afraid not. I could go for a good scotch on the rocks right now."

Ryia sighed and pulled her knees up to her chest then wrapped her arms around them, "Have the Rakshasa been by?"

Veera nodded as she turned back to the bars, "Like every couple of minutes. I think they're walking constant patrols around these cells we're in. I'm counting seconds between every time they come by. They have to change shifts eventually and with the amateur way they handled themselves earlier, it should be quite a gap. Then we have to time everything just right to get out of here. I'm not going to take the risk of picking the lock and escaping even before we know what's beyond these walls. Who knows where Rakshasa have been hiding all this time. They were known in legends, but to see them... they had to have found a way to stay hidden."

Ryia lay her head against her knees, "I'm not so sure they are Rakshasa."

Veera looked back to the younger woman, "What do you mean?"

Ryia shrugged, "They just don't seem to act the same. I was scared earlier when the silver one came in here, but... I don't know. It just seems odd to me that they would bring the dead girl back here and leave her. According to the legends, Rakshasa ate Humans, but if these creatures really are Rakshasa then why did they just leave the girl's corpse here instead of eating her? Why would they bring her dead body back? To show us? To scare us?"

Veera nodded, "I've had a couple of those thoughts as well. You're right that something seems off, but the fact remains that we are their prisoners and they took all our clothes. Why?" Veera shrugged, "Who knows, but there was no reason to take our clothes."

Ryia grunted in affirmative, "I don't think they are Rakshasa."

Veera furrowed her eyebrows, "Well I can't think of anything else to call them."

Ryia scooted around and leaned her back against the wall behind her, "Something doesn't add up Veera. There is something strange going on here. Isn't it odd that there is obviously a stable population of these... creatures and nobody has ever found them?"

Veera tossed her hair and snorted, "You're right, something is strange about that." She gestured out the bars, "That there is another species here, that Humans haven't annihilated? Not likely. We would have befriended them or wiped them out."

Ryia was struck by inspiration, "That makes sense. If they had once lived on the surface then they would have left a colossal hole in whatever ecosystem they were part of. Nature hates a void and the eradication of an entire species of intelligent life would leave quite a gap. Even if they withdrew underground, there would be huge repercussions. The impact would be astounding."

Veera coughed into her closed fist, "So then... what? Are they aliens? Doesn't seem likely."

Ryia shook her head emphatically, "Technology level is WAY too primitive."

Veera sighed, "Despite popular culture, not every alien race has to have matter teleporters and laser guns."

Ryia waved her left hand, "No, I mean nothing is even made of steel. Haven't you noticed? These creatures are still in the bronze age or something. Granted, we're assuming a lot."

Veera narrowed her eyes in confusion, "How so?"

Ryia cleared her throat, "Ahem, well we assume that they have had just as much time to develop as we have. Humans have come a very long way since the bronze age, but we've also had a lot of time since then. Maybe these creatures have only just evolved language within the last few hundred years. We don't know." Ryia rose to her feet, "Their development might be slower than ours or perhaps a lot faster. Their species might have taken a different scientific route somehow and they figured out how to accomplish faster than light travel before they even developed steel. Anything is possible." Ryia shook her head, "I've been so scared I've been acting like a frightened child. If these things meant to kill us, they would have. All they had to do was use the weapons they already had at their disposal. Primitive or not, a mace will kill a person easily. When you disarmed that one and kicked him in the testicles, they didn't kill you. They could have swarmed you and torn you to pieces, but they didn't."

Ryia crossed her arms over her breasts and began to pace, "I saw them when they first found us. I know it isn't wise to Humanize their expressions, but they looked surprised..." another thought occurred to her, "And why didn't they have a light source with them already?"

Veera cocked her head to the right, "What do you mean?"

"There was no light before they found us. It was completely black. If they needed light to see, we would have easily seen it well before they reached us..." another puzzle piece fell into place, "They don't need light to see, or not much anyway."

"Then why light a torch?" Veera asked.

Ryia shook her head, "It was a hand lamp. They must need some light to see otherwise they wouldn't have had a lamp..." and finally it clicked, "They... they lit the lamp... for us!"

Veera shook her head, "That's stupid."

Ryia waved her hands in exasperation, "No, it makes perfect sense!" She began pacing faster, "If we put the pieces together it does make sense! It took them hours to find us. That means they didn't know we would be there. They lit a lamp, so that WE could see. They navigated the caves easily on their own without a light source, but they lit a light so we could see them. Why? Because they WANTED us to see them!" Ryia began putting the pieces together faster as more pieces fell into place, "They took the dead girl then brought her back..." she paced and spoke her thoughts, "The silver one had the knives... and herbs..." she nearly screamed once it hit her, "Oh I'm such an idiot! The silver one must have been a shaman or medicine man of some sort! He pointed to the floor because he wanted to examine a live Human compared to a dead one! He had butcher's knives as far as what WE know, but in ancient times, like the bronze age, those would have been the tools of a surgeon!"

Veera quirked an eyebrow at Ryia, "Huh?"

Ryia walked up to Veera and looked her in the eyes, "It all adds up! These creatures are in the bronze age and their knowledge of medicine is just as antiquated!" She clasped both hands on Veera's shoulders, "Think about it! The lamp, the doctor, the lack of ripping you apart when you assaulted one of them... We misunderstood them! I think they were trying to HELP us!" She let go of Veera's arms and covered her face, "Great."

The squeak of wheels in need of oil echoed down the corridor and Veera turned her head, "Well, looks like we'll have time to test your theory."

Author's Note

As always let me know if you spot any typos.