Hi-Jinx

It happened so fast I didn’t realize I was being dragged off until I felt my head thump against the ground repeatedly. The last thing I noticed before I hit my head against a large rock was a small creature that looked like a Griffin being snatched off the back of the large snake statue, several Diamond Dogs being cut in half by the statue’s wings, and blood from those Diamond Dogs splatter on my face.

My vision slowly faded into focus after I was able to get my eye lids to open, I then noticed my legs and hands were in shackles. My shackles clanged noisily as I shook them, drawing attention from some Diamond Dogs.

“Look, he woke.” Said a deep oafish voice.

“Should we tell Buster?” Said a higher pitched voice.

“No, we can get him to work.” Said the deeper voice and I felt myself being lifted into the air. “He’s so small.” That sentence annoyed me, back on Earth I was never the tallest, but definitely not the shortest. And here I thought I could be a part of that tall crowd, since my new body is several inches taller, but being lifted in the air like it was nothing, proved me wrong. I began to squirm around trying to get out of the firm hold.

“Let me go you mutt!” I kicked back hitting the Diamond Dog in between the ribs knocking the air out of him, earning an oof out of him, and he let me go and I fell forward landing on my muzzle sending a very sharp pain along my snout. “OW! Ow, ow, ow, ooaw!” I held my muzzle between my hands paw things. In my moment of pain I heard a chuckle behind me from the second Diamond Dog.

“Get up Rufus; we need to bring him to the rest of the slaves.” Rufus grumbled something under his breath as he picked me up against his chest, making sure I couldn't kick him this time. I, not being one to let someone pick me up because it made me feel VERY small, squirmed as I tried to get out of his hold, failing since he was much stronger than me.

“Here’s your stop runt.” And with that he dropped me and connected my shackles to some other creatures’, one was a mid-night blue mare who looked like she had given up hope of escaping years earlier, and the small Griffin who was on the stone statue’s back. Rufus gave me a pick axe that was very dull and light, I would’ve used it to put a canyon in between Rufus’ skull, but there were several Diamond Dogs with spears close by. “What are you waiting for runt, work!” Rufus hit my soar muzzle in a downward strike, not doing it hard, but still it got a pained yelp out of me. I guessed he wanted me to start hitting the gems in the side of the tunnel, so I started slamming my pick axe against the wall.

Once Rufus was gone I turned my head to look at the small Griffin who had to balance on his hind legs and use his forward ones to wield the pick axe. “Hey, you.” I whispered over to the Griffin, who look around a little bit and saw me, recognizing me almost instantly.

“You, this is your fault! You were just some bait that the Dogs were using to capture me again!” He whispered threateningly at me, which wasn’t that threatening to begin with because his voice was relatively too high and he was whispering for fear that a Diamond Dog would punish us for talking.

“What? Why would I be in shackles,” I said, rattling my shackles for effect, “If I was a part of a plan to help these Diamond Dogs? That would make no sense what so ever.” The Griffin ignored me and went back to work, as did I. That tunnel was the most depressing, dirty, dark, grimy, utterly BORING tunnel I’ve ever been in! So to keep up my spirits I began to quietly hum a little rhythm, that quite hum turned into a loud one and that loud hum turned into whistling. A few other slaves joined in with the whistling, confusing the Diamond Dogs, they were un-sure if they should punish us or let us have this one bit of happiness. A few of the Diamond Dogs snapped at us, some yelled, others turned a blind eye, but one quieted everyone with a loud yell.

“WHAT’S WITH ALL THIS NOISE!?”A deep, furious voice that boomed through the tunnel, echoing off the walls, hurting my ears. Some of the Diamond Dogs whimpered while the others ran around the corner of the tunnel to pretend they were watching a different group of slaves, and most groveled at the Diamond Dog that was approaching this direction. This Diamond Dog looked different from the others, he didn't have an under bite, he didn't look like a oafish brute, but he wasn’t small like some of the other Diamond Dogs, this one looked as if he was intelligent, but still stronger than all the Diamond Dogs in this tunnel, he stood a good foot taller than me, he had a coat of fur that was a dark grey with bronze stripes of fur running through the grey, his eyes were also a light bronze that shined in the dark tunnel. “Who started this!?” He demanded, and the Diamond Dogs closest to him pointed, to me. The Diamond Dog stomped up to me enraged, and struck me right on the nose.

“JESUS! OW! REALLY!? THIS IS THE THIRD TIME TODAY!” I cupped my nose which was screaming in pain and throbbing intensely.

“What about you!? Did you, encourage this as well!?” The Diamond Dog yelled at the small Griffin next to me.

“Bite me.” The Griffin replied, making me have to hold back a chuckle.

“You insolent bird brain!” The Diamond Dog struck the Griffin, hard, making him fall to the ground, tears forming in his eyes. This, was the last straw, I was fine with being hit and yelled at, but, abusing a child and forcing them into slavery to me, is a death sentence. The Diamond Dog was about to strike again, but I jabbed a thumb into his eye, making him yelp in pain, I didn’t give him time to recover, so I grabbed him by the fur on his chest and pull him towards me, punching him in the snout as hard as I could, I heard cracking of bone before I heard the crying. I was about to start biting when the other Diamond Dogs surrounded me and got the Diamond Dog I was beating out of my hold. One of the Diamond Dogs approached me.

“What is your name!?” He demanded forcefully.

“Jinx” I spit in his eye, in response, he punch me in the gut hard enough to make me drop to my knees.

“Now we know what to put on your grave stone.” He ordered some other Diamond Dogs to carry me into a small room.

“You stay, tomorrow, you fight Pyropus.” And with that they left me in the room.

In the morning, I assume it was the morning; two Diamond Dogs dragged me out of the room and into the big auditorium, that had a rack of stone weapons, a pit filled with spikes and dead Diamond Dogs whose bodies look like they were mauled by a grizzly bear, and a crowd of Diamond Dogs that formed a half circle since there is a wall of stone blocking it from being a full circle.

“Wow… I feel like I’m a gladiator right now…” I mumbled to myself. After a few minutes of Diamond Dogs settling in and chattering idly to each other a drum boomed on a platform that is in between the pit and the half circle of seats for an audience, hushing everyone.

“This creature, known as Jinx,” A roar of boos sounded through the audience, “Has dishonored our Pyropus' son, and according to tradition, must fight with Pyropus.” I saw who was talking and he looked very similar to the Diamond Dog I had beaten, I assumed they were related. “So, without further ado, let the slaughter begin!” He exclaimed and a loud wave of cheers brought through the crowd as a door was opened.

A tall Diamond Dog, that I assume is Pyropus, stepped out, he had a bronze coat of fur with black stripes and had dark bronze eyes that stared at me with indifference. He unsheathed a sword that looked very familiar, it wasn’t crudely made like the other weapons I’ve seen the Diamond Dogs use, this was a finely made blade, it looked to be recently polished and sharpened, it had an intriguing design, but I didn't get to study it for long, because it was heading towards my throat, I swiftly dodged, some of my fur was shaved from mere contact with the blade of the sword. This frightened me, it let me know that the sword was sharp, and from the dull look in Pyropus’ eyes he was plainly bored and wasn’t really trying to kill me, even though he swung the sword swiftly and expertly, almost taking my head off several times. After dodging a strike, that nipped my ears, I dashed forwards, towards the rack filled with weapons; I hurriedly grabbed a hand ax that looked like it would break after hitting a flower.

I parried a thrust from Pyropus to the left and swung a back hand strike that was dodged and I felt a pain shoot up my leg as he brought his sword across my leg, not cutting deep, but just creating a long cut across my leg. He was toying with me, not taking me seriously, I stumbled back to the weapons rack and grabbed another ax, this one smaller and really meant for throwing, I barely dodged a thrust from Pyropus after I retrieved it, the blade Pyropus was using got stuck in the wood of the rack, this surprised him and gave me enough time to land a successful blow, cutting into his chest, but not that deep since he pulled back as soon as my ax touched him. The crowd gasped when they saw I hit Pyropus, and gasped again as I threw my smaller ax at Pyropus, which he expertly dodged. Now Pyropus wasn't bored, he was intrigued. I scrambled and grabbed a mace that was unevenly weighted, so I held it in a way that would bring the heavier side on him when ever I strike. He did an overhead chop which I blocked with my ax which was in my left hand and I did a wide, quick, swipe with my mace, hitting his idle arm, making him yelp. He growled and lunged again, striking fast this time, I tried to block with my mace but he snaked around it and dis-armed my mace from me, and pushed me, making me fall down. He was on me in seconds, trying to stab my throat; I blocked with my ax and collected a hand full of loose, ground up, gravel and threw it in his eyes, temporarily blinding him. He flinched back, and I took this moment and choked up on the handle of my axe and struck at his right arm, the arm he’s been fighting with, cutting deep, making him scream in pain, he was furious and lunged down, biting into my shoulder, puncturing deep into my shoulder, making me scream in pain and hold back tears, he would’ve reached the bone if I hadn't brought my ax into the right side of his neck, lodging it in his neck. I push him off me and grabbed his sword as he scramble to get up, with rage fueling me I drove the blade deep into his spine, twisting it and feeling the resistance of his vertebra which broke with time. He was dead but, just for good measure, and because I was really angry, I chopped off his head, and threw it into the pit.

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Chuckling to myself, I knew that this ‘Jinx’ would fail, no one has ever survived fighting my father, he’s the best warrior I’ve ever seen, killing countless of dogs and slaves, all of them challenging his authority. ‘Jinx deserves to die more than any of the challengers before him, this one struck me! No creature ever strikes me! Aercus! Diamond Dogs whimper when they smell my scent drawing close, ponies shake when I come near, Griffins weep when they hear my paw steps. And this- this THING has the gall to strike me! I hope my father makes him die slowly.’

“What’s father doing?” I heard my brother mumble as he leaned over the stone railing, curious, I saw my father rubbing his eyes and I saw ‘Jinx’ sink his ax into my father’s arm, making him scream, and my heart skipped a beat, but it regained its normal beat as I saw my father bite down into ‘Jinx’s’ shoulder making him scream, this brought a grin on my face, which turned quickly changed into a horrified look of shock as my father was killed, and his head chopped off and thrown into the pit. I could feel tears about to make their way out of my eyes so I stormed away so no one could watch me cry.

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The entire crowd was awe struck at what just happened, how I hadn't died, and how their greatest warrior, their leader, their Alpha had just died. Even the Diamond Dog who had announced our fight was taken aback, he didn't look devastated, or angry, just, stunned. He finally got a hold of himself and cleared his throat. “Ahem.. Uh, Jinx has just defeated Pyropus, and tradition mandates him, the new Alpha…” Now it was my turn to be shocked, apparently I have just been given the right to control an entire horde of Diamond Dogs, how many were there, one hundred, on thousand, ten thousand!? How am I supposed to lead these Diamond Dogs, and why would they trust me to? I had just killed their leader, and beaten his son. ’Okay, calm down, remember, this is still a dream, so just go with the flow.’ I shook my head and put on a confidant face and tried to ignore the pain in my shoulder and leg, mainly my shoulder since it’s in a very bad condition, and would take a month or two to heal since Pyropus’ teeth had damaged my shoulder muscles.

“As my first command as Alpha, I want every child slave, and any slave who has not committed a crime freed and escorted to the borders of Equestria by a squad of three Diamond Dogs.” My voice boomed, louder than I thought it would be. Some of the Diamond Dogs gave questioning, and even rebellious glances, “Or do you want to see if you can best me in this arena?” I yelled, challenging any who want to rebel against my order, a few did, but they were easy compared to Pyropus and I finished them without that much of a challenge, through under handed tactics and eye shots. Once the few rebellious Dogs were killed, about five or so, the rest of the Dogs grumbled and went to go release the slaves. As I was walking through the door that Pyropus had enter the arena through, I was confronted by the son of Pyropus that I didn't fight.

“You.” He said accusingly.

“Me.” I said sarcastically and jokingly, expecting him to want to fight me, so I was just going to piss him off.

“How did you beat my father? Do you have some sort of magic by your side, or are you some form of spawn from Tartarus?”

“Wait, what did you just say?” I asked, confused. ‘How does he know about Greek Mythology. Wait, this is a dream, it’s my unconscious.’ I thought, mentally chuckling to myself.

“Tartarus…” He said, confused.

“Oh, TARTARUS, I thought you said tortoise.” I said, chuckling to myself to add to the affect.

“You still haven’t answered my question.”

“Oh, well yes, I’m obviously a spawn from Tartarus.” I said, sarcastically, but not heavy on the sarcasm, that would ruin the flavor of his reaction.

“I knew it! Only a demon could kill Pyropus.” He said, making an entourage that, I guess was supposed to be my guard, had formed closed to me, back away slowly, scared that their new Alpha is a demon. ‘Maybe this could benefit me to keep a rebellion from happening.

“Yes, now his soul is in Tartarus, I’ll say hi to him in a couple thousand years when I’m finished here, well, you could say hi for me.” I said, chuckling as I tried to walk away, but Pyropus’ son grabbed my left arm.

“Don’t joke about things like that; my father was a great Alpha.” He said accusingly, getting spittle on my face that I wiped off.

“Look, if you want to settle this violently, then you can fight me in the arena and have your head on the spike next to your father’s or you can calm down and take a chill pill.” I said angrily, a small growl forming in my throat. Pyropus’ son stormed off, furious, but not dumb enough to fight me in the arena. Sighing to myself I was shone to my room, and given crude bandages for my wounds, after applying them tightly I lied down on a stone platform that had sort of a tattered cotton mattress on it with a torn silk blanket. My eyes closed within a few moments, the heavy curtain of sleep falling on me.