To Say Nothing of the Dog · 6:51pm Jan 5th, 2014
I just realized that I have written more about the Diamond Dogs than the writers of the series.
It embarrasses me to admit this, but I have thought very seriously about the role of the Dogs in Equestria. They keep popping up in my stories, like It Is My Fate To Enter Every Door and, most recently, The Tree That Blooms In Darkness.
If you imagine Equestria as a theme park, the Diamond Dogs are the "cast members" that labor in the utility tunnels below the surface. They do the dirty work of hauling garbage, physical and spiritual. (I didn't say this explicitly in Hearth's Warming Eve: A Princess Promenade, but it was the Dogs that rescued Clover the Clever from her prison. For a price, of course.)
I'd like the Diamond Dogs to show up again in an episode, not as the bad guys, but just as the guys.
____
*This post's title is from Jerome K Jerome's Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog). A surprisingly modern novel, given that it is more than a century old. Look it up, dog.
Agreed. I don't know if we need to see the specific Dog pack from A Dog and Pony Show, but there have to be more of them out there, and I'd like to meet them. It'd be nice to learn more about their society. For example, basic things like why exactly they want the gems so badly. Are they currency? Food? Do the Dogs just like shiny things? I feel like this is something we should know.
1685518
Agreed. In my stories, I first posited that the Dogs are enraptured by light. They love the shiny. In "The Tree That Blooms In Darkness," I went a bit further; the Dogs, unknowing, search for the light of Tree of Harmony.
I was going to comment on that. That was the first play I saw, and loved it to bits. Recently reviewed a ponyfic inspired by it, and loved that too.
JKJ is mai waifu <4
This is:
One of the things that I find so involving about fanfiction. We poke around the half-seen edges of this world, spinning our various structures, and at any moment, an episode could come out that shows us how completely wrong we've been in everything we've thought was happening. As usual, Skywriter says it best: I'm hoping you're familiar with his story "Hoardsmiths"?
As for Mr. Jerome, just about every other summer on my college radio show, I'll read aloud for half an hour a week from Three Men in a Boat. The man writes sentences that're more fun to speak than just about anybody else in the history of the English language.
Mike
That's another one of those intriguing open-ended details of MLP. What do they do down there? What are the details of their culture, and the rituals and practices constituting it? What are their morals and values? These are subjects I’m about 99.999% sure the show will never delve into.
Perhaps they labor under the baleful eye of their overlord, David Bowie. He needs the gems for his pants.
I must admit, I'm enamored with them as well. They’re vague yet full of potential, and I tend to fill in along the same lines. They lend easily to being the guys. They’re the stage crew of the grand play. They tend the pipes when the ship is sinking. They are the faithful pet sleeping on the grave of a murdered world, and they're present for its inevitable waking.
Something like that.
The best part is, the copyright's expired, so you can legally get it as a free ebook!
So Cloudie, after I read your post up there, I went and read the book because you said to...and it was really cool! Sort of Twain-y, with tangents and asides sprouting out of the pages for miles on each side. Thanks for making me read it!