Scootaloo's Guardian

by Dirty Bit

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Stupid Dogs

Scootaloo's dream was as bleary as her day, imagining herself in a barren desert full of grey sand with the sky around her pitch black. She was trudging through the sand with all of the strength she could muster, and the orange filly was lucky to make it far.

She was losing strength as she began calling out into the haunting atmosphere "Heeeeeeelp!!" All she got was an echo and the sand blowing in the wind "Somepony!" She called again, looking around "Anypony..." This time, her echo was faint. The orange filly looked down and sniffled, slumping into the sand "Help..." She feebly spoke, closing her eyes as hopelessness began sinking into her being.

Suddenly, a bright light flashed in front of her, catching her attention as she looked up in surprise. The light was blinding, but she was able to make out a shape standing in the light. It was the shadow of a familiar bipedal figure with its hands on its hips in a superhero pose in front of Scootaloo. The orange filly looked up and slowly found her strength returning as she began trotting up to it slowly. When she reached the figure, she brought up a hoof, and everything went white the moment her hoof made contact with the figure's leg.

Scootaloo gasped when she woke herself up and looked around to remember she was in her old abandoned home. Her heart sank a little, but she couldn't help to think about her dream she had. Getting up to look outside her window, she noticed that the moon was still high in the sky, signalling that it was still in the middle of the night. The dream she had woke her up and gave her energy despite having to exhaust most of it digging up a hole yesterday, and this spooked even her.

She wanted to go back to bed and forget all that happened, but her mind was focused on her dream. The orange filly wondered if she should go check on her discovery to see if there was some kind of meaning in finding it, seeing as how the same exact shape was connected to her dream. Her mind made up, she trotted out of the doorless entrance to her home and quietly loomed around Ponyville while its residents were asleep.

The orange filly counted herself lucky that she was light on her feet when she moved her way around town. Those times stalking Rainbow Dash in the shadows really paid off for her. When she reached the town exit, she noticed her large hole in the distance, and began to make a gallop towards it with not a moment to lose.

When she reached her mark, she peaked inside from the holes edge and gasped when she noticed that the same body she dug up was gone. She slid down and tried to make sure she wasn't seeing things considering it was dark outside, and upon further inspection, the body was nowhere to be found. The orange filly cursed herself loudly and stomped in fury at what has happened now, but stopped when she caught wind of a trail leading from where the body once laid rising up from outside the hole.

Scootaloo climbs out of the hole, gripping the edge and peaking out of it when she noticed a set of tracks with some dragged lines emerging from the ground. She brought her head down to sniff at the tracks instinctively, and instantly craned her head back with an expression of utter disgust on her face. There's only one known species that could smell so bad, and this burned up the orange filly to know they were the ones responsible for stealing her treasure. She wouldn't let this one slide so easily. They took what was her's, and Scootaloo was more than determined to get it back, even if it meant having to come up against a pack of Diamond Dogs.

She trotted over to Diamond Dog territory and noticed many holes in the dirty terrain ahead of her. Feeling lucky, she chose the one in front of her and slid down the entry into the caves. It was fun while it lasted, but the orange filly landed sorely on her haunches as her little ride came to a stop, finding herself in a widened hallway in the caves. Scootaloo went to begin her search until she heard footsteps, and quickly hid behind a rock as two armored Diamond Dogs walked along the hall on patrol duty. This was going to be harder than she thought, trying to get what was hers back from these dogs.

With all of her possible efforts of subterfuge, she took every opportunity of sneaking further into the caves in search of the strange body. Those times stalking Rainbow Dash in the shadows REALLY have paid off with how easily she slipped past each patrolling pair. It had taken a good amount of sneaking to move deeper and deeper until she noticed three dogs in vests and collars surrounding the strange body in a room.

Scootaloo leaned her head closer and narrowed her eyes to get a better look at what was going on. She spied on the dogs observign the body, moving its large arms and poking at the nails sticking out of its body, the small one drawing back and sucking his paw after poking too hard. The larger dog kept knocking on the large hammer-like head, thinking there were some gems inside of it.

The medium-sized dog, known as Rover, growled in frustration with what he and his friends acquired and lashed out "Gah! This thing has no gems! No gems! Why we have to go so far as to dragging here!?" The smaller dog, Spot, fidgeted his paws as he peered at the muscular tone of the body "Maybe its hiding gems inside? We find gems inside rocks! Body is like rock! So we find gems in body!" Rover slapped the smaller Diamond Dog "Don't be stupid! Body is not dragon! Also, it looks ugly! UGLY!" All three of the dogs grimaced and groaned in disgust at the same time, then went back to staring at it. The larger dog, Fido, finally spoke up "What we do with it? Maybe dunk it in scary purple river deep in cave?" Rover poked a claw at his chin "We don't have much choice. This thing garbage not worth our time. Let's dunk it in river!"

The dogs cheered and went to go pick up the large body and perform their duty, causing Scootaloo to be frightened at the thought of losing her prized discovery. She hopped forward and yelled "NO!" out of childish instinct, and clasped her hooves together upon realizing the mistake of revealing herself. The dogs perked their ears up and turned to the source of the sudden noise, narrowing their eyes and growling at the intruder. Scootaloo foled her ears back and began trotting backwards away from their advance "Uh oh..." She was then picked up from behind by an armored dog, and was futilely struggling in his grip.

Rover walked up and gave a malicious grin at the struggling filly "Well well well...We have another pony! We were always looking for more slaves to work in mines! You may be better than worthless pile over there!" He pointed to the large body, and Scootaloo saw her chance to convince the dogs to let her out with the body "Uh, yeah, about that...That body belongs to me, and I would REALLY appreciate it if I got it back..." Rover rubbed his chin "Hm...Lemme think..." He continued for a few seconds, then blurted in Scootaloo face "NO!" The three dogs in front of her laughed defiantly, slightly annoying the orange filly, and finally stopped as Rover spoke more "Why should we give body to you, especially when you now belong to us!?"

Fido walked up next to the medium-sized leader and inspected the orange filly, humming in question "Pony is too small...Might not work well in mines if not that big..." Rover slapped his larger counterpart "Pony is pony, and that's good enough! She'll work starting now!"

Scootaloo tried again "Wait! I'm really not fit to work down here! I mean, it's so dark and scary, and dirty and stinky, and-" She kept coming up with more excuses, hoping they would free her, but as she talked herself further she didn't notice the dogs, even the one holding her, plugging their ears at her jabbering and clenching their teeth in irritation.

Spot finally interrupted Scootaloo's complaining and blurted out "Shut up! SHUT UP! You're just like her! Like her, I tell you!" Scootaloo stopped and raised an eyebrow "Who are you talking about?" the small Diamond Dog answered absentmindedly "Miss Rarity! She is very whiny and annoying! Worst thing to happen to our lives in caves!" Fido cringed at the memory of capturing the fashion unicorn "She would not stop talking! She drove entire pack bonkers! Don't tell us you're like her!"

Scootaloo didn't expect this from a group of menacing dogs, fearing a simple pony, but she smiled mischievously as she decided to take advantage of this situation and quickly put on a face of childish displeasure "Then WHY are you keeping me here~!? Uhh, it's so horrible~!! I hate it here! I wanna go hoooome~! I'm hungry, and tired! And that body over there belongs to me~!!"

Her plan was working, and the Diamond Dogs were pulling their ears at the sound of Scootaloo's whining. Even the dog holding her dropped her and tried covering his ears as well. She continued her childish antics, and Rover had enough as he ran up and covered her mouth "Stop stop stop STOP! No more! We don't want to repeat same mistake! You can go! Just PLEASE stop whining!"

Scootaloo gave a smug smile and raised an eyebrow "And the body~?" Rover nodded "Yes yes, the body! We'll give it to you!" The orange filly pouted, knowing she wouldn't be able to move a body that large, and went to whine more. The Diamond Dog saw this and held out his paws in a halting motion "We'll carry body! Just don't whine~!!" Fido and Spot cringed at the sight of the orange terror in frotn of them, Spot speaking up "She's as scary as purple river!" Scootaloo turned her head to Spot "What's this about a purple river? Can I see it?"

Fido perked up and looked down at the filly "You want to see purple river? It look kind of strange. It all glowy and bubbly, and moves left and right, and it gets rid of whatever get thrown inside it." Spot chimed in "It really wierd stuff! Wierder than body! We keep it in some jars so we have something to light caves if we run out of torches!"

Scootaloo poked a hoof to her chin in intrigue upon what they said. Maybe she could use the purple water they speak of and take it to Show and Tell day on Monday. While she had the large body a distance from her, she could have two things to show when the time comes. She grins "What say you throw a jar of that purple stuff my way along with the body, and I promise I won't whine when I'm around you! Sound like a fair deal?"

The Diamond Dogs smiled and nodded frantically at the offer, voicing their agreements cheerfully as Rover whistled and summoned for three armored Diamond Dogs to pick up the large body and begin carrying it out of the caves. Rover then smacked Spot as a way of telling him to fetch a jar of the purple water, the small dog scampered into an entrance to the deeper part of the caves. It was a few minutes, but then he returned with a small jar of the purple water, presenting it to the filly as she peered at its contents. It was moving on its own even as it was held still by Spot, and as mentioned before, it was giving off a slightly tantalizing glow. Scootaloo grinned at it, happy she duped the dogs into doing her bidding by acting like the child she was.

The orange filly then made her leave with the armored dogs as they lead her out of the caves with her souvenirs. The three remaining dogs wiped their foreheads in unison and gave smug smiles, Rover speaking up "We really smart for making that pony leave! We Diamond Dogs have no room for whiners!" Fido and Spot nodded in unison, but then looked uneasy as Fido spoke up "But was it good idea to give little pony scary purple water? What if she comes back?" Rover smacked his large friend "She won't come back! We make sure of it! Let's get back to work already!"

Later, after a large amount of walking, Scootaloo led the group of Diamond Dogs sent off by the three leaders quietly through Ponyville after leaving the caves. Three of the dogs were carrying the body while one of them carried the water jar in its claws. The orange filly continued leading them carefully through town as she noticed the moon was beginning to give away, signalling it was close to dawn in a couple of hours.

When they reached the abandoned house that Scootaloo resides in, The Diamong Dogs dropped the large body in the orange filly's room, and set the jar of purple water next to the body as it laid on the floor. Scootaloo looked at her reclaimed discovery and newly reclaimed prize with a dignified smile as the dogs bowed and took their leave.

The orange filly poked at the jar for a minute as the contents inside continued to move inside of it like a living organism "Why does this stuff look familiar?" She wanted to think further, but she turned back to the large body she reacquired and trotted over to its side.

Looking at its arms, it seemed way stronger than the Diamond Dogs that carried it, and she couldn't take her eyes off how its face looked, all gruff and frowning as it laid there "I dunno how you survived in the ground big guy, but boy am I glad you saved me and my friends the trouble of pulling you out! I can't wait to tell Applebloom and Sweetie Belle about this!" She gushed at the thought, but after looking at the body once more, she began to have second thoughts as she examined it head to toe, and remembered back to her dream.

She remembered that the body she dug up was the same body she saw in her dreams, standing authoritatively in front of her like it was her guardian. She felt like she should try something to see if it were still alive or not, but thought it was stupid knowing the body has been underground for probably over a century. The orange filly was astonished that a body like this could be found underneath Equestria for so long. While her excitement could grow, she gave off a large yawn as her energy began to diminish, her eyes becoming heavy. Trotting over to her worn blanket, she took one last look at what she had gained and tucked herself in, finding herself sleeping better than last time.

End of Chapter 2

Comments

[Shao]

seems like a really interesting start, and i want to know more... tracking

[Ceraph]

Agreed

[Xeravon]

Whipped.

[Dark reaper]

The purple river?