“So one more time, Bado.” The diamond dog was getting frustrated. It was the third time he had told his buddy the plan. While he, himself, was not exactly what one would call smart, Bado just took it to another level. “We block everyone who wants to pass by unless they pay us a fee, understand?” The large diamond dog nodded. He was about twice the height of the dog in front of him and twice as broad.

“All right, Rufus, uhm Boss.” Bado saluted and tried to knock his hind legs together. He somehow managed to hit his left leg with the right one so hard that he lost his balance and fell on Rufus. Both dogs moaned.

“Get off of me, you dumbass.” Desperately, he tried to move the heavy weight on top him without success. “Sometimes I really can’t believe we’re related.”

“Sorry...” Both stood up and looked to see whether anyone had observed their little slip up. The path was not just any ordinary track but the one you had to take from the market to the lower living areas. Rufus' plan was simple: everyone who was smaller than Bado had to pay if they wanted to keep their teeth. Quick money to spend on diamonds.

“Now watch out already – I think someone’s coming.” The big one nodded and stared down the narrow street. For a few moments nothing happened, the only sound coming from the distant market. Finally, just as they were starting to become restless, they heard the tapping of small hooves as they spotted a young pony rushing around the corner. While Rufus smiled maliciously, Bado set himself up in the middle of the path. The small foal quickly reached them, and the diamond dog readied himself to catch her, but she just ducked through his broad legs. “Bado, you idiot! What the heck was that?”

“Sorry, but that thing was so tiny....” Yet again he got smacked by his brother.

“Care more!” Rufus' ears twitched as he turned towards the direction the foal had come from. “I think there's someone else coming. Sounds like something bigger. Maybe a dragon or a jackal.” They both nodded at each other, readying themselves in anticipation. However, what dashed around the corner was none of the two. The being was instead one which they had only heard of in legends. It was big, brandishing a staff in its hand, and seemed exhausted.

“Is that... a human?” Bado seemed unsure as the thing rapidly approached them.

“It doesn’t matter! Stop it!” his brother yelled at him as he quickly took cover behind him. The human seemed to realize what they were planning, as his face darkened and something in his hand shined. “Rufus, what is he doing...” He didn’t get any further as a leather boot lashed out and struck his face. The human suddenly vaulted at them with intense speed and used the face of the diamond dog to get past him, running down the same street the foal had taken just seconds prior.

“Can we now go home?” Bado, who was now lying down with a dazed expression, rubbed his nose and all in all seemed very done. It hadn’t exactly been a very successful day for the two bandits.

Thiemo used the new boost in speed from the diamond dog to keep pursuing the thief who had stolen his bag. The small thing, whatever it was, was much faster than he, at least without him using his sapphire. Unfortunately, he only had a few still loaded, which was still better than when he had none, a scenario he had found himself in more than he would have liked. Too bad he only ever seemed to realize in the worst moments. Maybe I should learn better resource management, he thought to himself as he continued his pursuit.

Right now, however, he had a bigger problem on his hands: those very resources were moving into a part of the bandit town he had wanted to avoid. The two dogs in the street were first signs of the area becoming more and more unfriendly. Thiemo had trouble keeping up with his bag, but fortunately he managed to keep track of which way it turned.

To get around the next corner faster, he pushed off the wall, ramming a jackal that held a large jar. It yelled at him furiously, spewing obscenities at him that were disregarded as he kept up his brisk pace. He tried to avoid further confrontations, mostly from diamond dogs as this seemed to be their territory. Sadly, it was an exercise in futility as he had to constantly ensure that he kept some distance from them. Some tried to catch him as he rammed them while some even tried snapping at him with their mouth. The thief had the advantage in that it was much smaller and faster. Soon, his fears came to pass as he lost all sight of his target. Slowly, he came to a stop, his momentum and energy all but depleted as he placed his hands to his knees to brace himself to keep from toppling over, panting heavily to get air quickly into his lungs. While he had become much fitter, he was nowhere near a marathon runner, a fact he wryly acknowledged as he struggled to get back to his feet.

Out of the corners of his eyes, he could exactly see where he had ended up – in the middle of the slums. Shabby houses, dogs in tattered clothes, and garbage everywhere. He slowly kept moving, looking out in order to avoid stepping into the piles of dog shit that seemed to be a permanent fixture. Only the typical busted sewer on the side was missing. A quick perusal of the area and he spotted just that, making his nose wrinkle in disgust. What really bothered him though, were the weapons that were poorly concealed under their coats. There were a variety of weapons here, all sorts of daggers, small swords and even pistols. Luckily, the development of weapons seemed to have stopped at what had existed in the Medieval Age back on Earth. They were old guns, the type you had to reload with powder and bullets every shot. More moderns ones did not exist, probably because magic was more effective.

“What has lost itself in our corner?” An old dog woman eyeballed him from the side. He tried to ignore her but she smelled too much, and as she started rubbing her head against his coat, he pulled her back. That only served to make her angrier, and she growled loudly, drawing further attention to him.

“Let me go, bitch, you don’t want to make me uncomfortable.” In response, her black claws flashed over the cloth of his coat, tearing a good chunk of it as she grabbed it and ran away. Cursing to himself, he inspected the damage but knew that he had to save his anger for later. Another diamond dog came closer. This one was younger and armed, a malicious glint in his eyes as he stared down the human. Quickly, Thiemo straightened himself and rushed off before the dog could do anything else, pushing away everyone who was in his way. Since he was a head taller than most here, it had the expected intimidating effect as he quickly created distance between his would-be assailant and himself. Confident that he was relatively safe for now, he slowed down once again, keeping a steady pace as he moved onward, his eyes peeled on his surroundings. Wherever the thief went, it had not come out into the open. Indeed, it could be in any of these houses, disappeared deeper into the slums or even into the sewers.

“Yet another victim of the Thieves Guild?” Startled, he spun around to face the source of the noise, coming face to face with an elder diamond dog standing there, looking at him amusedly. Thiemo stared at it, closely examining it. It was old but no less intimidating. He was as big as Thiemo and strongly resembled a bulldog, while the knife in his paw shined dangerously, another potential weapon to use against the human. “One should think that they would be afraid of a thing like you,” it casually said, spinning the knife around in its paws. Thiemo tightened his grip around his staff so he could lash out immediately just in case it tried something.

“What do you mean? Do you know where they bring their loot?” he asked cautiously. The old dog nodded and lazily pointed at a multi-story building that was a bit taller than the others. Thiemo nodded thankfully and walked past him, never taking his eyes off the old dog until he disappeared amid the throngs of the homeless inhabitants of the slums as he walked towards his destination. His alarm senses were tingling, and he knew he was watched. He basically always was, but here it was twice as bad. He couldn’t simply adapt himself for moving through these areas on such short notice. From the excursions into the wide steppe of Zebrica to the ruins of the desert, he had days beforehand to prepare. The nearer he got to Equestria, a seemingly safe zone, the more hazardous it seemed to get.

As he got closer to the tall building, he started looked out for a way to check out what was happening in there. “Altair, what would I do without you?” He sighed and moved between two downtrodden buildings. They were close enough to each other that he could push himself to the roof. He put his legs against the one and his back against the other one. Slowly, inch by inch, he worked himself upwards and finally came out on top.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t be a good assassin,” he concluded as he knocked the dust off his coat. Someone like his old friend, who used to do parkour, would’ve only needed seconds for this. The houses were not much higher than two meters after all. Unseen by the pedestrians in the grimy streets below him, he now hopped from roof to roof before finally stopping before his target. The only thing that still separated him from the open window was about a meter broad and three meters deep creek, a literal hole in the ground. Falling here would surely mean broken bones, if not worse. But he needed his backpack, not only for his money, but also his remaining gems were in it, along with all his other important stuff.

Thiemo gulped and went back a few steps to create what would hopefully be enough forward momentum. “Well then, Leroy...” He suppressed the scream that bubbled in his throat and dashed off. Everything seemed like it was in slow motion as his feet left the ground. The window came closer, but just before he could safely reached it, he seemed to suddenly hang in the air, the momentum he had built up quickly vanishing. Slowly he began to fall, his eyes wide in terror as he gaped wordlessly. Just at the very last moment, however, he managed to get his left arm around the sill while his right arm, still holding the staff, dangled perilously over the creek.

Desperately, he tried to get a grip at the dry clay of the building to no avail. Quickly, he tried to find a hold with his other hand, but before he could, his luck seemed to have come to its end as once again he felt himself beginning to fall. He shut his eyes and awaited the impact, but he only felt a jerk in his shoulder. Quickly, he looked up and saw that his staff that he had managed to put through the window with his hand now worked like a hook, since it was longer than the window. Now, he threw his left hand up to the staff and slowly pulled himself into the room. He fell forward and landed with a roll in his destination. “In movies, that always looks so simple”, he grumbled, staring at the dull ceiling as he gasped for air, feeling utterly exhausted from his exertions. Sighing, he propped himself up on his elbows, knowing that he had no time for complaining. He was now in the alleged bandits’ lair.

The room he was in seemed to be a sleeping place. A large number of beds stood at both sides of the room. Rags seemed to be a substitute for proper pillows, and the sheets and the wooden frames of the beds themselves had seen better times too. The floor, which was also made of wood, didn’t look very trustworthy either. Thiemo was lucky that he didn’t crash through it when he made himself enter, a fact that he was very grateful for.

“I am sure I heard something,” came a voice from outside the door and without thinking, he threw himself under one of the beds near the window. He even pulled the rags down a bit so they blocked the sight of him. From his concealed spot, he was able to see the door opening and two pair of paws entering the room. They weren't the browns, greys, and blacks that were typically associated with diamond dogs, but rather red and orange. Jackals. More stupid than the other dogs but decidedly more violent. They were the sworn enemies of the zebras and tended to hunt them only too well. It went without saying that he had seen these creatures more than just once. Their pointy ears and snouts always reminded him more of bull terriers than jackals. Somehow they were related to the diamond dogs but he didn’t know how, and he wasn’t particularly keen on finding out.

“The ponies are all downstairs. You only imagined that,” said another voice, its tone dismissive. “Come, the loot is getting split.” The door closed again and Thiemo was alone. Still, he waited before he left his hiding place, a trick he had learned from the zebras. Often foes came back quickly, so one should always be sure that they had gone for certain. Sometimes he felt like an ass for simply leaving them without notice. But he couldn’t learn from them, not what he wanted. They taught him to survive in this world, not how he could find a way home.

With the information that he had found the right place, he snuck towards the door. He had to watch out to not make noise, and gods forbid that he broke through the floor. Thiemo couldn’t say how thick the floor really was, or how well it was supported. So, not wanting to take any unnecessary risks, he made big, slow steps to distribute his weight. Additionally, he used the staff as a third supporting leg. It took some time but finally he reached the door and risked a look through the keyhole. The small hallway behind was illuminated by a lamp and showed only one other door, but from what he could see, there no guards or other occupants in the vicinity. Slowly, he opened the door and had a better look around. The other doors were equipped with additional padlocks. The door to the room he was in was also equipped to have a padlock on it. “Why would someone put this on the outside?” he asked himself quietly while he slipped through the gap as silently as possible. It didn’t make much sense. Unless of course you wanted to imprison someone.

Not hearing any sounds from any of the other rooms, he cautiously moved to the stairs. Downstairs was another floor and multiple doors. From one of the rooms, he could clearly hear voices, but he couldn’t tell from which they came. Halfway down the stairs, he noticed that this building was actually part of an expanded structure. On the old flat roof, they had simply built a second house and thus there was a gap between the roof and the floor. Just big enough for him, but it was dark and God knew what manner of creatures lived there. However, it was that or risk eavesdropping at the doors. diamond dogs had good ears and noses, so unfortunately his only viable option was to crawl through the gap. Thiemo took off his straw hat and climbed into the darkness. It was tighter than he had imagined and the cobwebs which fell into his face weren’t very helpful. Carefully, he reached out with his staff to try and feel for anything that might spring upon him and to prevent any possible further attacks on his nerves.

Thiemo crawled a while until he realized that the voices were right below him. With a finger, he slowly tapped into the floor and managed to clear a crack in the wood. Beneath him was some kind of living room with a fireplace and some seats. Otherwise it was vacant of any kind of furniture; only a carpet in the middle of the room decorated it. On it stood two jackals and three diamond dogs, their attention drawn to a pile of loot in their paws. On the other side of the stack sat beings he had rarely seen yet. Ponies, six in number, and from what he could, not very old. If the pegasi and Trixie, who were his only references, were fully grown, then these must be foals, maybe six, maybe fifteen years old. Some looked just old enough to go to school. “Did you bring this one?”

One of the dogs held up a saddlebag. “Yep,” it answered in a light but definitively masculine voice. “Got it from a showman in the market.” The dog started rummaging around in it and began pulling out its contents: a little bag of money along with things up like makeup and other tools that a clown would need, right up to a fake red nose.

“Garbage, but at least some bits.” The bag was thrown into the corner and the bits got counted. “Twenty bits…,” someone finally grumbled. “Give him his share.” One of the jackals pulled out a bag and threw towards the young stallion that snapped after it like a hungry dog and started devouring the meal as if he hadn’t eaten in days. Without further regard for the stallion, the diamond dog took the next bag off the pile. This one seemed to resemble a backpack, but was made of a fabric Thiemo hadn’t seen before.

“Which of you idiots stole from a dragon?” it yelled. One of the smaller ponies, a stallion with blue fur and mane lifted its hoof weakly, fear in his eyes. Immediately, he got struck with the strange bag as the diamond dog flung it violently at him, falling over with a pained grunt before lying there almost motionlessly. “I hope the risk was worth it.” The bag was searched and thrown into the corner. “Put number four into the chamber. There he can think about what he did.” The second jackal grabbed the unconscious colt with a foreleg and dragged him out of the room to the door. Now Thiemo knew that the gap was the better decision.

The next object in the paw of the dog was a jeweled cloth. This also belonged to one of the smaller stallions. Content with the loot, he also received a carrot. “So who brought this backpack?” There it was and now he saw the thief too.

“Me!” She was a small orange earth pony like the others and had a white dirty mane. Her voice sounded rough as if she needed some water. “It belonged to a big something on the place. It put the bag down as it fought a unicorn.” The dog didn’t seem to care as it slowly rummaged through the contents. Thiemo saw how his purse, his new lamp and his gems were inspected.

“Good work number six. It was about time you bring something useful.” The diamond dog nodded towards the jackal and two carrots were thrown to the hoof of the little pony. Before she could react, however, one of the colts snapped one away.

“Hey that’s mine!” But her protest was disregarded and just as she was about to eat the remaining carrot, the colt on the other side snatched it away. She jumped after her food but only got smacked and had to watch from the ground as the others ate her meal. Thiemo, meanwhile, had seen enough. These ponies were probably kidnapped by the dogs or snatched up from the streets and now had to steal for them. Whoever didn’t bring anything in got nothing to eat. The whole thing reeked of Oliver Twist.

He was just about to crawl back when the little filly screamed. She had seemingly bitten the other colt to free herself, who had then struck her down. Lying on her back, she had managed to see directly into his eye that spied through the crack in the ceiling. “There is something up there!” The dogs, who were up till now busy with the loot, looked up and got the last glimpse of his eye moving back from the crack.

“There is someone in the ceiling!” yelled the dog who had searched through the loot and was obviously the leader. Thiemo tried to hurry away but as soon as his legs were out, his foes were pulling out the rest of him. Roughly he landed on the stairs and fell down them. Quickly, he tried to catch himself and straightened himself, only to face the wondering looks of four dogs. Then a door upstairs was opened and the last of the pack joined the collective gazing. Thiemo readied himself for fight but with only a sapphire and an uncharged staff, he wouldn’t get far. “What are you?” asked the leader.

“A human,” he answered without thinking. As quick as his answer came, just as quickly came a reaction. Panic. The two jackals tried to run away and ran into the diamond dogs who stood there, rooted to the spot, and the four dogs fell to the ground and down the stairs, like Thiemo before. The leader meanwhile decided to bow on his knees.

“Please! Please don’t eat us! We have ponies! They are much more tasty!” Thiemo blinked and relaxed his fighting stance slightly, sighing inwardly with relief before allowing himself a tiny smile. This would be fun.

Author's Notes:

Sorry that this chapter is without editing. My proofreaders real life is catching up and he didn't had the time to do much in the last weeks. I will edit it as soon as possible. I just put it up now so you guys know I'm not dead.

Edit:
Finally edited by: ponies are my crack & JBL