Merry and Soul returned to the pony camp without any trouble and they began to rest. When morning rolled around many of ponies were shocked and or scared at Merry’s new look. When they heard him speak some of the ponies asked if he was getting sick. Merry replied with a simple yes.

The ponies took it as some strange biped sickness that caused you to gain in girth and have a deeper voice. Once they were assured it wouldn’t spread the ponies had calmed down and went back to their daily routines of walking and talking while Merry was allowed to rest inside a wagon during his fake sickness.

When they neared the edge of the Diamond dog lands they couldn’t find a single dog to give the crystal too. So they opted for dropping it down the nearest hole they could find, and went on their merry way.

Merry spent the rest of the trip relaxing in the back of the wagon inspecting his new muscles and teeth. His sword that was already light enough, seemed to weigh almost nothing now. His armor and clothes were no longer a ‘snug’ fit, but were now tight and constricting. Even his breastplate seemed to be squishing him. He wondered if he could get it adjusted in the town they were headed too.

It wasn’t until another day had passed that they finally reached the Harbor city of Baltimare. The ponies seemed to be happy that the journey was over even if one of their guests got ‘sick’ toward the end of it. Merry was able to bid them farewell as they entered the City, he had to find a boat willing to take him, or at least a boat to find so he could be a stow away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Elsewhere a Diamond Dog was running as fast as possible down a tunnel system that would take him directly to Canterlot. It was a relatively new tunnel that had been dug for emergency situations such as the one his pack was currently having. He only hoped that his alpha and pack would still be ok by the time he could return with help.

Ruckas the Diamond Dog had been running non-stop for the past 8 hours down this straight shot tunnel. He finally came to the exit and burst through the wooden door and into a room with 3 pegasi. Celestia had placed a small guard post on the exit of the this tunnel because it was linked to her Diamond dog allies. They were still a few miles from Canterlot as Celestia feared if it was any closer then her ponies might fear a Diamond dog invasion.

Ruckas was out of breath and his legs were shaky, with a raspy voice he called for water which the guard ponies brought to him.

“What happened to you dog? Did you run all the way here?” the dark blue Pegasus was eyeing the dog as he lapped up the water between his heavy gasps for air.

“Strange Creature attack Pack. Alpha was holding it off. I came for help from pony allies.” The 3 guard ponies stiffened up at the word attack.

“Blue Lighting, Head to Canterlot immediately and have a team sent out to Iron Jaws Cave... Also inform Celestia our Diamond Dog allies were under attack as well.” the dark blue Pegasus saluted and flew off leaving a dark blue trail behind him.

“What’s your name dog?” the white Pegasus asked

“Name be Ruckas. We wait for others?” the white Pegasus shook his head.

“No, Heavy Thunder and I will accompany you back. If they are still fighting maybe we can turn the tide a bit.” Ruckas nodded his head and got another bowl of water and gulped it down.

“Good good, Alpha might need help. The Two Leg Monster was powerful and very angry for some reason. Kept yelling for orange pony.” the two guards raised an eyebrow

“You didn’t kidnap any ponies did you?” Ruckas moved back in fear a bit, knowing the treaty would be broken if they ever kidnaped a pony.

“No No No! We Never hurts Ponies! The Monster came in killing us left and right yelling for an orange pony! We don’t know why!” The guards nodded their heads understanding the distress behind his voice.

“Lead the way then, Lets see what we can do.” Ruckas nodded his head as he took another mouthful of water before the 8 hour run back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Run back took 10 hours as the Pegasi were unused to running for long periods of time in the dark. Ruckas would be forced to wait for them and bring out his only light gem to help guide them. Once they arrived the silence caused Ruckas to worry. One of the pony guards noticed the look of worry on his face and spoke up

“Whats the matter? Can you hear something?” Ruckas shook his head

“I hear nothing... and it scares me. We be close now...” Ruckas and the pegasi were slowly making their way through the tunnels until they came upon some dead diamond dog corpses.

“My Celestia Ruckas... I hope we aren’t too late...” Ruckas began to quicken his breathing, when he left there was no where near this many bodies near the emergency tunnel. His eyes widened in sudden realization, where was his Alpha?

Ruckas began to run around through the tunnels around the corpses and entered the throne room only to find dead diamond dog guards laying around. But he didn’t see his alpha anywhere, He began to sift through bodies in search hoping he wouldn’t find his great leaders body among the dead.

“Help Ruckas look for Alpha!” The two pegasi nodded and with a bit of reluctance started turning bodies over and looking under others in search of the missing alpha. When they finished sifting through the room they didn’t find the body of Iron Jaw.

“Treasure room! Maybe he hide there!” Ruckas dropped to all fours and bounded off a wall to get over a pile of corpse's and head to the treasure room in the back. He flung the door open and yelled

“ALPHA YOU HERE?!” He twitched his ears around and could hear raspy breathes. He slowly moved to where he could hear the breathing and saw the Alphas armor laying in a heap, but it looked empty. He went over and went to pick up the helmet, but realized a head was still in it.

To Ruckas’s horror he saw his alphas face, except it no longer held the strong fearless looking leader he knew. What he saw looked like a frail diamond dog elder who was knocking on deaths door. With a raspy voice Iron Jaw spoke

“Ruckas...glad to see you’re ok...How is the rest of the pack?” Ruckas blinked away a tear as he saw his alphas prized front teeth were missing, his voice sounded so weak...

“I don’t know Alpha...” Iron Jaw coughed

“Please Ruckas, Find the remains of our pack, and make sure they stay clear of the monster wearing the orange cloak... He somehow stole my strength...” Ruckas nodded his head as fast as possible and turned around to see the 2 pegasi

“You hear Alpha! We must gather rest of pack!” the two Pegasi nodded grimly, they were too late to help

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Merry had been walking through the town of Baltimare for a few hours now. Many of the ponies steered clear of him because of his fearsome size and sharp canines. He was having great difficulty keeping the ponies from fleeing at the sight of him. It wasn’t until some guards approached him with a report that he was dangerous did some pony finally speak to him.

“Halt creature!” Merry turned around to see the guards approach him. With a raised eyebrow he stopped walking and crossed his arms waiting for them to come closer.

‘’Lackeys of Celestia?’‘

“We had reports of a strange creature in an orange cloak scaring citizens and the like. You seem to fit the description.” Merry just sighed and began to speak, the guards took a defensive stance at the sight of his canines.

‘’‘just normal town guards, I bet they don’t know anything’‘’

“I’ve been trying to ask ponies for directions to the Harbor, but it looks like I almost found my way there without their help. You wouldn’t happen to know of an armorer around here, would you?” the guards loosened up a bit at his question.

‘’‘If you thought things through, taking that bastards teeth totally wasn’t needed’‘’

’‘but it raised his bad-ass level by at least 5, not to mention all the strength you gained, I bet you can cut through steel like butter!’‘

“Yes, over on Alistair street there is a smithy. He should be able to help you. Might I ask why you are in our town? You don’t look... like a vegetarian...” Merry cleared his throat from some Flem that seemed to have built up for some reason.

‘’Winner winner chicken dinner!’‘

“I’m just looking for a ship that can take me to the Griffin kingdoms I have business over there.” One of the guards nodded his head

“Yeah we occasionally have merchant ships that head in that direction, you would have to board with one of them... Ponies don’t often leave Equestria for vacation. You’d be hard pressed to find anything other than a merchant ship.” Merry nodded his head

‘Why would they want to leave a paradise? Pretty sure the griffin kingdoms cant be that nice if they had emissaries here to ask for land on Equestrian soil...’

“Thanks guys, I’ll see you around...” one of the guards began to rummage through his armor and pulled out a pin

“Here take this, it will prevent other guards from questioning you and the local ponies will know you mean no harm when they see it.” Merry took the pin and looked at it. It was in the shape of a shield with a lighting bolt behind it.

“Thanks, do I keep it or...?” the guard just waved a hoof

“Yeah keep it, they are easy enough to make. Just make sure its pinned someplace, so its easy to spot.” the guards nodded their heads at Merry and Soul as they walked away.

‘’Sweet a free fucking pin. Ask him for some more shit!’‘

Merry looked at the pin and wondered how a Pegasus or earth pony was supposed to get it on. The little needle clip was small and unless you had fingers he couldn’t see them getting it on unless they had help from a unicorn. He decided to stick it on his cloak where his collar would be.

Merry went down the path the guard had pointed him too for the smithy and after some time was able to find it. When he got inside the pony at the counter sized him up real quick and then stared at the hilt of his blade.

“Let me guess, you need your sword sharpened big guy?” Merry chuckled showing his new canines and smiled

‘’I bet he knows his way around a sword’‘

‘’‘Well he does work at a smithy’‘’

‘’sometimes Mistress, you need to think a little dirtier’‘

“Not at all my good pony, I need to have my breastplate adjusted, I gained some weight and its now a tight fit...” the pony raised an eyebrow and looked over at the dark mare that walked in behind the large creature.

“How long have you had it? You don’t normally outgrow something like that. Maybe you should just get a new one.”

‘’Bastards always trying to sell shit.’‘

“Ah its more of a family heirloom, I'd rather have it readjusted or something.” the stallion nodded

“I can understand that. Come here and let me have a look.” Merry walked over to the Pony and removed his cloak. The Pony stallion whistled and looked back to the mare.

“I’ll be with you in a sec Miss.”

“Her names Soul and she’s with me.” The Stallion grunted and began to look Merry over.

“Looks like I can just change out these straps, but I cant extend the metal or anything, you would have to get it completely reworked or get a new one if you want it to cover all the way to your belt line... This looks like it was made for someone half your size.” Merry just chuckled

“Yeah, I’m the biggest one in the family...” Merry gave him a smile

‘’Biggest in the family eh? Your dad must have the smallest dick ever then’‘ Merry stopped smiling and grunted

“... so how long until you can get some new straps on it?” Merry began to unstrap it but was having trouble getting it off because of it being so tight.

“Well, based on how they are attached, it should really only take half n hour at most. Do you want me to sharpen your Zweihoofer as well?” Merry looked at him funny then realized he just replaced the word hander with hoofer. Merry just shrugged and figured why not

“Sure, how much is this gonna cost me?” The pony took the sword and looked at it

“Does this sword have an Adamantine edge with a mithril core?” Merry just nodded his head

‘’‘He sounds shocked...’‘’

“Yeah, Made it myself with a bit of help, its my own design.” The stallion simply looked it over in awe.

“How did you get these two metals to stick together like this? I don’t feel any enchantments... Normally magic is used to forcefully blend the metals together.”

‘’It’s always magic this, magic that with these fucking ponies.’‘

“Well it’s simple in planning, but the work takes awhile. You see you start with the mithril core, then you use a drill and make a hole that goes all the way through on what will be the edges of the blade...” Merry points to the bottom near the hilt “...here and...” he points to the center “here and about...” he points to a spot 3 inches from the end of the blade “...here.”

‘’He’s stealing your idea’s and shit nigga, stop telling him stuff.’‘

The Stallion had taken out a piece of paper and was making notes “ After that you have to set up a special mold that will hold the mithril core in place while you pour cooling adamantine into the mold. If its too hot the adamantine will start to melt and mishap the core. It’s really more of a syrup that gets poured into the mold, it takes some time and you gotta be able to bounce and shake the mold a bit to get any air bubbles out of the cores drilled out tubes... But that’s really the only hard part, After that its just a simple matter of sharpening and dressing the hilt and what not.” The stallion had finished taking notes and looked up to Merry

“That’s simply fascinating, I never even thought there could be a way to combine the metals without magic...If you let me study your swords design for a bit I wont charge a single bit, this idea of yours could be revolutionary to the metal industry. It could give earth ponies and pegasi the ability to craft great items without the need for a unicorn... Why the Tartarus didn’t we think os something so simple before?” Merry just shrugged

‘’‘Probably because the ponies use magic and aren’t really smart enough to think otherwise.’‘’

“I always figured if something was filled with magic you ponies never seemed to care how it could be done without it.” The Stallion mumbled a bit

‘’Hit the nail on the head with that one’‘

“True, I always figured it could only be done with magic and never questioned it... Anyway come back in an hour or so and it will be ready.” Merry bowed his head

“Well alright then, I’ll be back later. Come along Soul, Lets head out.” Merry walked out of the shop followed by Soul who simply looked between her master and the Metalsmith before following Merry out the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Celestia had arrived at Iron Jaws territory with an envoy of guard ponies and a smaller group of medical ponies to help the wounded. What she came across was nothing short of what she would call a massacre.

Dead Diamond dogs were in piles outside the tunnels, the still living diamond dogs were carrying them out of the tunnels when she had arrived. The diamond dogs noticed her and immediately bounded up to her

“The Pony Princess has arrived! Go tell the others!” Celestia looked down on the diamond dogs with a gentle smile

“Are we too late? Did Iron jaw destroy the creature that attacked you?” The diamond dogs ears dropped down as they looked at the floor

“Alpha was hurt badly...his teeth and strength are gone... we take you to him, Maybe your magic can fix him!” Celestia didn’t like the sound of that. She had known Iron Jaw for awhile, she knew of the strength he possessed. What creature could of done that to him?

The smell of death was heavy in the air inside the tunnels. She kept a strong face on as she was led toward the throne room and held back a retch at the smell. The combination of blood, death and rotting bodies was strong. She briefly wondered how they would air out the tunnels.

In the throne room was what looked to be the remains of the diamond dog pack, females and pups were a common sight. It would appear many of the adult males were killed during the fight. They were all huddled around a makeshift bed made of blankets and pillows. Celestia walked up to the group, and they made way for her when they saw her. On the makeshift bed she saw a frail diamond dog, she wouldn’t of been able to recognize him if it weren’t for the eyes. The blue and green eyes that Iron Jaw had.

“Iron Jaw my friend... What has happened to you?” Celestia looked behind her toward the medical ponies and nodded them forward. They moved forward and began to cast scanner spells to diagnose the problem.

“I am not sure myself, one minute I was defending my self from some monster that invaded our tunnels, and the next minute I felt my strength leaving me. It must have been magic that the monster used on me.” Celestia had a tear in her eye. The once proud and powerful Iron Jaw was reduced to this shambling and weak sounding creature before her.

“Princess, Physically there is nothing wrong with him, he’s as ‘healthy’ as a dog his age should be.” Celestia and all the diamond dogs in the room raised an eyebrow at the medical ponies explanation.

“Pony lie! Alpha is only 9 years old!”

“Yeah he looks like he’s 37!”

“Must be ageing spell!” Celestia’s eyes widened at the mention of an ageing spell, it would certainly explain why he looked so old.

“Stand back, let me try something...” Celestia did a scan of her own to detect the presence of any spells, she could find none. If it wasn’t an ageing spell then what caused him to age? No matter, she would simply have to cast an age spell of her own to make him young again.

Celestia’s horn burst into a bright yellow glow. After a minute Iron Jaw began to glow as well. Celestia had kept the spell going for 5 minutes and with every passing second Iron Jaw seemed to be getting younger and younger until he looked the same age he had been before. The only difference was that neither his muscles or teeth came back. When Celestia finished her spell she let out a loud gasp and Iron jaw slowly rose to his feet.

“Princess! Why would you cast such a dangerous spell?!” the medical ponies had all rushed to their princesses side to help her stand. Age spells drained a lot of power, even for an alicorn. When she finally caught her breath she spoke

“Because Iron jaw was a friend in need. Now lets get you and your pack to Canterlot, it isn’t safe to stay here. That creature might come back.” Iron Jaw nodded his head

“Of course Princess, I thank you for giving back my youth. I thought I would die of old age at the age of 9.” Celestia nodded her head and walked behind the throne. Her horn began to glow again as she opened a telepathic link to her sister in Canterlot.

‘Luna, Wake up...’ Celestia waited for 10 seconds then did it again a little louder ‘Luna WAKE UP!’ after another 10 seconds she got a reply

‘What is it Sister? What has happened?’

‘Our Diamond dog allies were attacked, I am at their cave system, I need you to set up the end link for the portal I am going to make, head to the throne room and wait for my signal’

‘Of course sister, We are to take refugees?’

‘Yes we are, it isn’t safe for them here.’ Celestia looked up and around her at all the diamond dogs and ponies who were simply looking at her

“I am going to make a portal for you all to travel back to Canterlot safely, My sister Luna will be waiting at the other end for you all.” Many of the diamond dogs seemed to be excited at going to Canterlot, or maybe because of the idea of a magic portal, she wasn’t sure which.

“You know, I remember when you 1st offered to create a portal for us... I was a fool to deny it...” Celestia released another sigh

“It isn’t your fault, I never expected you to come under attack either, I simply made the portal suggestion as a way for us to keep in touch better...” Celestia set her horn aglow again, and after a bit a stone circle appeared on the floor in front of her, with her horn still glowing she contacted Luna.

‘Luna get ready, here it comes!’

‘I am ready!’ With a sudden explosion of light everyone in the room was blinded and when their vision returned they saw the stone circle with a blue aura around it. Celestia was panting heavily now. She had just performed 2 heavy duty spells within a short time frame. She caught her breath again and spoke

“It is ready, step on the stone slab and hold still for 3 seconds, it will teleport you to the Canterlot throne room where my sister Luna is waiting.” The diamond dogs nodded their heads and began to take the portal. Iron jaw went up to Celestia and placed his thin paw upon her back.

“I thank you Celestia, That monster needs to be stopped, or at least known about so others can avoid it.” Celestia nodded as she watched them teleport

“Yes, tell me, what did this creature look like?”

“Well it stood on two legs and its face was pink and hairless. It had a black helmet and used a large sword... but what stood out the most was its orange cloak...” Celestia just looked over to Iron Jaw, her eyes shown a look of fear and sadness grouped with confusion.

He had just described Merry.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Merry and Soul were walking around looking for the towns harbor, Baltimare was a huge fucking city. The hour the smith had estimated was long and since gone by the time they finally reached the harbor. Merry went around to different merchant ships asking around if any were on their way to the Griffin Kingdoms. He had finally found a ship that was destined to the Griffin Kingdoms, they were to make a shipment of Magic gems for things such as heating and lighting.

“Yeah we are headed to the Griffin kingdoms, its our last stop before we head back to Baltimare here... Only problem is it’s a full ship, we don’t have any space for another crew member.” Merry just sighed

“That’s fine man, hey what’s the name of your ship anyway?” The stallion perked up a bit, he loved talking about his pride and joy.

“She’s the SS. Glory my good uh... Sir. I’ve had her for awhile now...” The pony talked on and on about how great his ship was and how he came into possession of it. Where it was and everything else you could think of. Merry knew the ship inside and out by the time he finished.

“Wow, Your ship sounds like an amazing vessel, Shame I wont get to ride on it, perhaps another time then...” The pony nodded

“Aye, it is a shame, perhaps next time.” The pony saluted and went on his way.

“Merry, why did you listen to him babble nonstop like that?”

‘Because my dear, he told me everything I needed to know, I’m going to stow away on that ship and hide in one of the crates that’s bound for the Griffin Kingdoms, I’ll be able to relax the whole way.’ Soul nodded her head

“Will I be joining you in the crate?”

‘Actually I was just thinking of having you seal me into one and then you can go home until we arrive or if I need help.’

“As you wish Merry.” They started their trek back to the smithy. Their long trek back because with Merry’s shitty sense of direction they got lost several times and didn’t get back to the smithy until it was getting dark out.

When they got inside the Pony at the counter looked up at them “Welcome back! I almost thought you weren’t coming back, I had plenty of time to study your sword and I must say it looks to of been a work of love and labor.” Merry just gave him a soft smile as he looked at the sword

“Yes...it was.” Soul felt a surge of emotions come from Merry and wondered why the sword would cause such things.

“I take it everything went well then? It looks even sharper then it was before.” the Stallion nodded his head with a big grin on his face.

“Oh yes, Adamantine edges can retain their sharpness for years even with much use. Your’s was still plenty sharp but I brought out my high grade sharping stones and oil and made it even better, watch...” the earth pony somehow pulled out a strand of hair from his mane with a hoof and dropped it over the swords edge. The hair was split in half, soon as it touched the blade.

“God damn, how did you get it so sharp?”

“Trade secret... actually, here.” the stallion handed Merry a pitch black sharping stone and a small bottle of some blue oil. “You can know about my trade secret, if your idea goes through I will be one rich pony.” Merry looked at the two items then back to the pony

“What is this stuff?”

''More free shit! Huzzah!''

“The stone is a rare piece of obsidian enchanted to never wear down, the grain on it is so fine it lets you make the edge of blades razor sharp. And the blue oil is extracted from the fallen scales of blue dragons. It adds durability and a bit of magicalness that I don’t quite understand. I just know it works better when paired with the obsidian stone.” Merry raised an eyebrow at the earth pony who did not even understand how his own trade secret worked.

'''The blade will stay forever sharp now... How... useful.'''

“Well thanks, I’ll make sure to keep this stuff handy then. “ Merry strapped his breastplate back on and noticed it was no longer a tight fit, but it still stopped short above his belly button. It was smaller, but it no longer felt like it was constricting his breathing. He strapped the rest of his gear on and bid the smith pony farewell.

On his way out he started heading toward the harbor again, it was time to become a stowaway in the SS. Glory. Thanks to a talkative pony he knew exactly where it was...If he could find his way to the harbor anyway.

It wasn’t until it was late at night and most of the city had long since gone to sleep did he find his way back to the harbor. Now all that had to be done was to find the SS. Glory and stowaway inside a crate bound for the Griffin Kingdom.

It took some time and with the help of Soul Merry had finally found the ship he was looking for. It was tied to the harbor with a thick rope. He couldn’t see any other path that lead up into the ship. He figured they were probably going to leave in the morning. He clung to the rope and scurried his way aboard the ship.

When Merry reached the ships deck he looked around using his dark vision and could clearly see no pony around, so he quietly started making his way toward what he hoped was the cargo bay.

Soul had simply teleported to Merry’s side once he was on board in a flash of flame. Scared the shit out of him it did, but he refrained from yelling out when he saw it was just her. Merry motioned for her to follow him closely.

While they were traveling through the ship they could see no guards or anyone on night shift. Apparently Equestria doesn’t seem to have problems with people stealing cargo on ships. 'Good' Merry thought, that made things easier for him. After wandering the ship and passing the barracks were everypony slept, several times, he found his way to the cargo hold.

‘Alright Soul, were looking for crates filled with Gems, Those were bound for the Griffin kingdoms.’

“Yes Merry...” Soul and Merry began to open and check crates at random. Near the back stood crates of many different sizes. It wasn’t until they had finished checking all the ones in the front end did Soul find one filled with gems.

“Merry I found a crate over here filled with gems.”

‘Good job, now let me see here...’ Merry looked at the side of the crate and saw the label as GC bound.

‘So GC means griffin kingdoms? Or maybe griffin Colony?’ Merry just shook his head ‘what ever, check the bigger ones with the label GC bound Soul, I would like some moveing room to strech...’ Soul nodded her head and went to all the bigger ones in the back and checked each one. She found one and poped it open, it was only half filled with gems for some reason.

‘Wonder why they only filled this one half way up...maybe a filled one is too heavy?’ Merry shrugged and jumped inside ‘Alright Soul, seal this crate back up and seal the other's back up before you head to your home plane.

“Yes, of course Merry. Call my name as soon as you reach the Kingdoms, We will find your daughter.” Merry smiled at Soul

“I will call for your help for sure Soul. You’re like family to me now.” Soul nodded her head and began to pound the nails back into place sealing Merry into the crate...Into the dark.

Author's Notes:

“Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.” -Edgar Allen Poe