Grand Fantasy: A Strange New World

Oh Celestia… I think I killed it.. Star worried as she was dragging the body of the strange Dog through the forest, its head had a nasty gash from where she kept hitting it. You  really messed things up this time Star! This thing saves you and you reward him with a nice bludgeoning. Really smooth. She was dragging the creature on a makeshift litter made mostly of rope and a few burnt sticks that didn’t turn to ash when she grabbed them. The least you could do is attempt to apologize, that is if it can even understand you. Gah, what if it decides to burn down the town! I don’t think that there is much anypony can do against it. I mean it summoned bucking FIRE and ripped the chains from the ground like it was butter.

Star reached her observatory/home that lay near the edge of town, her mane somewhat frazzled by the time she got to the door. It was close enough to be part of the town, yet far enough so she could have some privacy. Last thing she needed right now was some stupid pony barging in and seeing the creature. Diamond Dogs were not very well like around here, despite what the Alpha tried to do to start friendly relations with the ponies of Treble.

Guh! Why did it have to be so HEAVY!She thought to herself as she lifted it with her magic. She slowly laid the creature onto a small pile of cushions that she had piled up in the corner of her ‘living room’. Star sighed with relief as she canceled the magic and grabbed the first aid kit from the other room; she didn’t have to even look to find it. She knew exactly where it was seeing as she was prone to injury when she was concentrating on taking notes. She quickly, and precisely, applied a bandage wrap around the creature’s skull and gave it a quick peck out of habit. It was something her mother always did and it always seemed to help make the pain go away. She only hoped that the creature wasn’t conscious.

Thump thump thump

Star literally jumped at the noise. Somepony was at her door! She had to hide the creature just in case so she threw the large sheet that she used to cover her giant telescope before heading to the door.

“Y-yes? May I h-help you?” Star asked as she opened the door. Mayor Fault gave her a wide beaming grin.

“So?Didyoufindit?Whatdiditlooklike?Isitinthere?Whatisitmadeof?” The mayor asked in quick succession. Not stopping to take a breath.

Star stared back blankly for a minute, totally forgetting that she was supposed to be finding a fallen star. The mayor returned her stare before Star spoke up. “O-oh… Um, it seems to have burned up into a tiny piece that embedded itself into the ground….” She lied quickly, that was one of her strong points. “The, um, ground was melted and hardened so nopony can dig it up…. I’m sorry?” she added. Not sure what to expect.

Mayor Fault frowned, not an angry frown, but a sad frown. “Oh, too bad then. You must feel sad that you didn’t get to study a real star and hold it in your hoof.” Star rolled her eyes. The mayor wasn’t at all stupid, just simple minded. This made him seem younger than one would think if they saw him from afar.

“Thanks Mayor Fault, but I think I need to get some sleep now. Goodbye!” Star quickly said and closed the door in his muzzle. Whew, good thing that was over. It wasn’t that she didn’t like the mayor, but the thought of him finding a large creature that strongly resembled a Diamond Dog in her home was not something she wanted to deal with right now. First though, she needed to get cleaned up. She was starting to smell.

Silverfang awoke with a groan. His head was pounding like one of the old Lycan war drums from his youth. Next time, don’t save the horse Silver… He told himself, pushing the large sheet that he had woken up under to the side. He slowly opened one of his eyes, squinting in the dull light that hurt his eyes. His head hurt, a lot.

It looked to be some sort of observatory, though it was far more advanced than the ones he had seen in his travels. There was a massive brass telescope with several diamonds and sapphires adorning the large tube. The ceiling itself was cracked open to reveal the night sky and it looked like it could be closed again, but the mechanism behind he strange device escaped him. He slowly rose to his paws and stumbled under the disorientation of such a swift motion with a massive headache.

Goddess… Silver prayed, looking towards the moon through the hole in the roof. The moon had what looked like a unicorn spot on it rather than a wolf. Maybe this strange place had a moon goddess as well.

What have I done to deserve this?

Silver heard what sounded like rain, yet the sky was clear of most clouds. It also sounded like it was coming from inside. Silver decided to investigate.

He made his way closer to the sound, down a long curving hallway. He realized that the hallway probably reached all the way around, encircling the middle room. There were several doors that he passed; most were empty or full of books and boxes full of strange devices or softly glowing gems. He reached the room that was making the strange rain noise. The door itself had a sign on it like the others, all in a strange, swirling font that he didn’t recognize. Upon pressing his ear to the door, he could hear a strange, melodic voice singing despite the light downpour that could be heard inside.

Silver opened the door and saw what could only be described as a tall, misted, glass box that was set into the wall with a silver nozzle poking out of on of the smaller walls. The nozzle itself was the source of the rain noises; it was spraying small streams of water down onto a large, dark blurry blob that was hard to see through the misted glass. The blob had stopped singing and wiped some of the mist off of the glass and stared in shock at Silver, his head cocked to the side in curiosity. “Um… Hello?” He greeted the midnight blue unicorn that had knocked him out earlier. He wasn’t too sore about it, except the headache, and was quite sure he would have done the same thing in her position. It wasn’t everyday you see a Lycanthrope summon fire without the aid of a shaman’s staff. Even then, Lycans preferred to use Shadow and Ice magics.

The unicorn gave out a shrill, yet still strangely melodic, scream that made Silver cup his sensitive ears in his paws and curl up on the floor.

“GAH!” He cried over the noise. “Please stop!”

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Star was blushing incessantly as she and the large Diamond Dog sat across from each other at a small, round table. She was mostly embarrassed because she had almost forgotten about him during her nice, warm shower. The creature was still rubbing his ears after her loud scream. Several of the patrolling guards, who finally arrived, came to check on her, but she said it was just a large spider. They gave her a look that told her that they accepted the story, but were still reluctant to believe her.

She gave a meek smile to the creature.

“So.. What is you name?”

The Dog only cocked its head in confusion and shook his head to say that he didn’t understand her. Which was understandable, some of the DD packs spoke in their own languages; especially the older packs that lived deeper in Gem Fido, the Diamond Dog lands. Star only sighed and shook her head.

“My name is Star Shower.” She pointed to herself. “Star Sho-wer.” She then pointed to the Dog. Who are you?”

The Dog seemed to understand what she was doing and pointed to her. “Staaa-r Sh-oowe-r.” It had said, his voice was definitely masculine; harsh and had a growl in it, but still masculine. He then pointed to his chest. “Silverfang.”

Okay, so his name is Silverfang, an odd name to be sure, but who am I to judge. I did attack him after he had saved me. She thought to herself. The first thing she would have to do was teach the Dog some Equestrian so they could communicate. It was going to be a long day today.

It was well into the after noon, and Star still hadn’t slept since she found Silver last night. She was starting to get dark bags under her eyes; not that you could see them very well, but they were there. Silver had learned enough Equestrian for simple communication, but it was choppy at best. He could read better than he could speak, his voice was too gravely to get some of the higher tones for some words.

They had been talking about his world for most of this time, a Rathia or something. He spoke of his tribe of Lycans(Whatever they were…) that were arctic nomads that lived in the farthest reaches of the Wildlands. She suspected that the Wilds were just uncivilized territory at first, but he had corrected her by telling her of the other races that lived in the diverse landscape. He told her of the sly miners known as Goblins that lived in the mountain regions that were on the eastern edges of the Wilds. They shared their mines with the Dwarves, short, stocky ‘humanoid’ creatures that had an affinity to metalworking. She had no idea what ‘humanoid’ meant, but he said that the Humans were tall, walking, hairless monkeys that were mostly aggressive to all the races in the Wilds and called them monsters. She already didn’t like these Humans.

He had also told her about Giants, Elves, Dryads, and even Fairies. He seemed surprised when she had told him that Dragons also existed here as well. The Dragons from Rathia were mostly reclusive, only attacking when their hoards were threatened.

She then spent awhile talking to him about Equestrian and its main three races of ponies; the strong and able Earth Ponies, the swift and brash Pegasi, and the regal and intelligent Unicorns. She explained all of their main roles in society and the natural magics which each race had. She also told him about the Diamond Dogs and how much he resembled them.

Silver’s stomach growled loudly as they had finished exchanging information about each other and he grinned at her, showing her his large, and very sharp, teeth. I really don’t like where this is going. She thought as she chuckled nervously.

“Are you hungry? I don’t have any meat, but I want to see if you could, um, well eat gems?” She stated as a question.

“Yes am hungry. Eat gems I don’t think can.” Silver replied in his broken Equestrian.

Star beamed and forgot about his creepy grin when she realized that she would be able to experiment with the Lycan. Oh Luna, this will be fun. Eeheheheheheh…

Star Shower dashed off into one of her storage rooms and grabbed a ruby and a sapphire with her magic. She returned and placed them in from of him.

“Come on, I want to see if Di- I mean if Lycans can really eat gems.” Silver frowned; he never really liked being called a Dog, mostly because of his first impressions of them back at the impact site.

Silver looked at the glistening ruby that he now held in his claws; it was small, about the size of a pebble, and shined with a strange light. He gave it a cautious lick, a look of surprise broke out on his face. It tasted like a cherry rather than a stone. He gave it a small nibble, surprised that his fangs even crushed the corner, filling his mouth with a powdery cherry taste.

“How is possible?” He asked Star, who was sitting on the other side of the table writing notes in a large book that she carried with her magic.

“Well, Diamond Dogs are able to eat gems because of their strong jaws. Same with the Dragons as well.” She explained. “Diamond Dogs can also use their claws to dig through the earth and rend various metals.”

“Gems much harder in Rathia. Not complain, gems tasty!” HE said as he popped the rest of the gem into his mouth, savoring the sweet cherry flavor.

Star giggled and asked. “What does it taste like? They just taste like rocks to me.”

“Like cherry fruit. Only powder.”

Star glanced at the sapphire that he now popped into his mouth, a strong tangy taste followed as he demolished the gem. “Tart… But tasty.” He said musingly. He hadn’t tasted anything like it before.

“Oh then it probably tastes like a razzleberry. They are blue as well.” She explained. Silver was really liking these gems, but they quickly filled him up. Star looked like she was slightly relieved that he could eat gems, did she not like meat?

“What you eat?” He asked curiously, after her stomach growled.

“I mostly eat oats and other grains, but I like to eat cake most of all.” She replied, getting up to make her a small salad. Silver was amazed by the strange devices that they had here, like the ‘refrigerator’ that she opened. It kept things cold no matter what the temperature was outside of the box. She also explained about the glass box being a ‘shower’ where one goes to get cleaned. It was almost like a compact stream that could become hotter with the twist of a dial.

She returned to the table with a small tossed salad that she proceeded to demolish in front of him.

“Ponies *Munch* are herbivores *Crunch munch* and can only eat *Slurp* plants.” Star had a bad habit of talking when she was eating; it came with being a recluse and not having to care what others think of her eating habits. After Star finished she apologized. “Sorry… I am not used to company.” She looked ashamed and embarrassed.

“No matter. Is healthy to eats.”  He had a similar experience when he first met Bethany, Emperor Nathael’s grand daughter in his den. He had eaten much like Star did, and it had off put Bethany.

“Oh!” Star suddenly remembered. “I have to meet with Lyra today! I’m sorry, but could you stay here?” She pleaded. “Just don’t answer the door and don’t eat all of my gems!” She had barreled out of the door and dashed towards Treble.

Crap crap crap! I’m late late late! Lyra is going to kill me! Star cried to herself. She and Lyra Heartstrings had been friends since foalhood, but they went their own ways when it came time to start their apprenticeships. Star had stayed in Canterlot, while Lyra went off to Manehattan and then to Ponyville. Star had decided to live in Trebles old observatory when she was given the chance. She knew Lyra had to at least visit the Dark Lyre Woods once or twice.

“Did you hear…”

“… Heard that another one disappeared…”

“…another unicorn too, the poor dear.”

“She was a pretty green too…”

Star stopped to listen to the rumors for a moment, steadily getting more worried.

“Can you tell me more?” Star asked one of the mares that were talking to each other at the small café.

They looked at her with a look that told her that they didn’t appreciate being interrupted, but then they caught her worried look and told her.

“Poor unicorn mare from Ponyville was seen captured by those Tartarus damned Dogs earlier this morning before the Guards got here. I can’t remember her name though. I think it had to do with an instrument?” The first mare said.

“I know she was a nice mint green color with a lyre cutie mark-“ The second said before she realized that Star was already gone.