//------------------------------// // A bitch abandoned // Story: Dogged Determination // by kudzuhaiku //------------------------------// “The seeing stone,” the dragon replied, “is a clever little trinket from a bygone era. It was created by four great powers, alicorns who rose to the very pinnacle of their magical might. Terra Firma provided the stone, calling it up from the heart of the earth. Eternity and Chronos connected it to time and magic. Pale allowed it to touch dead memories, the memories that no one remembers anymore, because they are no longer part of living memory.” The dragon’s tail curled around his body and his eyes looked distant. “The stone allows you to see the history of an area… like this place. If one looks into the stone, one will see all of the things that have transpired here in this immediate location and its surrounding areas. One can keep looking further and further back, getting to know the real history of what took place. This makes the stone very, very dangerous, and many have tried to destroy it. It is a stone that tells truth, defies kings and queens, and reveals all of the dirty secrets that many wish were lost to history.” Shēdo was unable to keep up with all of these words, and her eyes glazed over as she soaked in her bath. It sounded incredible, but also incomprehensible. “I use it to teach young Conifer here history. We go from place to place and I go looking for what might be interesting. I’ve seen much and so has Conifer.” Chromium continued scrubbing Shēdo in an absentminded manner as his gaze settled on the distant horizon. “I’ve watched empires begin and end. This place though, this place has an amazing history to it. This is where a young pair of sisters waged their first real war and began to carve out a kingdom. All hope was thought lost. A great enemy was believed dead, Grogar, but now in his absence, others came to claim what was left, like Discord.” The pup had no idea who Discord was, though she had heard the name before. “Two sisters led what is now called the First Tribes. They began to settle here, in this place, right in the very place where things had gone wrong so many eons ago. They carved a civilisation out of the wilderness and began pushing north, to more fertile, but also more dangerous lands. They tamed the weather, they battled monsters, they dealt with the hazardous, raw magic storms that sprang up in this area. There were so few survivors, and there seemed to be so little hope, but the Princess of the Sun acted like a beacon. She drew other ponies and other noble creatures to her cause with her bright, shining light—” “Like you!” Conifer quipped. “Yes, like me.” Chromium nodded. “We took back the land from savage barbarity… funny, that seems like just a few moments ago, though in reality it’s been almost… I want to say… almost two thousand years? Time blurs as I mature and passing years mean less and less.” The dragon let out a smoky chuckle and then continued, “Little Sun Princess… she witnessed one empire’s end, she watched her entire civilisation fall to ruin, and rather than despair, she chose to make another. That’s plucky, I’ll tell you what.” “Shēdo’s kind has fallen from grace.” The diamond dog pup struggled with the words and she squirmed in the basin of soapy water. “We once had land… a good place. We fell to war. Did bad things. Fought and killed each other. No more honour. No more goodness.” “Ah yes… the fall of Inujima.” Looking pained, Chromium rolled Shēdo over in her bath and began scouring her other side. “The code of honour became too inflexible, too rigid. Like an old tree that has become too hard, too stout, and therefore, too unyielding, there was no way to bend into the winds of change when they came a blowing. A love of hard work and industry gave way to slavery, which led to laziness and societal rot. These changes were invited in, and wreaked disaster.” All of this was quite interesting, but Shēdo couldn’t keep up with it. Try as she might, she was having a hard time keeping her eyes open. The warm water was pleasant, so was the scrubbing, and she could feel the filth matted into her coat being worked free. Closing her eyes, the pup slipped off into a dreamless slumber, and her last thoughts were of the Sun Princess’ pluck. There were a million stars overhead, and many of them were reflected in Chromium’s mirror-finished silver scales. The dragon was stargazing, or trying to, but suffered the distractions of a young zebra who would not stop nuzzling and rubbing his face against their diamond dog visitor. Sighing, the dragon looked down, and he gave Conifer a stern glare, which the colt utterly ignored, so focused was he upon his new canine companion. “What have I told you about respecting the space of others?” Chromium asked. “But, she’s so fluffy!” the zebra colt replied as he rubbed his cheek against Shēdo. “Well, parts of her are. It feels so good!” Reaching out with her paw, Shēdo tried to push the touchy-feely zebra away, but it was no use and her attempt felt futile even as she did it. Now, the colt was nuzzling her still somewhat numb left arm. Resigning herself to this indignity, she gave up and allowed herself to receive fuzzy-wuzzy-muzzle-nuzzles from the overly affectionate zebra colt. Her zebra colt now, apparently. “She’s so soft, so clean, so fuzzy, and she smells good!” Conifer, no longer being pushed away, redoubled his efforts and almost knocked Shēdo over as he rubbed, catlike, against Shēdo. “I wouldn’t know. My scales protect me from much sensation. I shall have to take your word for it, Conifer.” Perhaps realising that Shēdo didn’t mind, the dragon returned to his stargazing, his tail forming a protective wall around both Shēdo and Conifer. Shēdo, who wasn’t used to such affection, found that it intruded upon her thoughts. She thought about the beholders, she thought about her own kind, she thought about Inujima, and she thought about slavery. She might own Conifer, a status she wasn’t entirely happy about, but he was not her slave. Having decided to go along with what the dragon wanted, Shēdo resolved to treat the zebra as a treasured possession, and to have him as her equal. Uncomfortable though she might be, she focused on the aspects of servitude this ownership presented, and her mind was hard at work trying to establish some sort of meaningful code of honour, which was not easy to construct from scratch. A free dog, Shēdo had concluded that she could make her own code of honour, and the thought was heavy in her mind. How others viewed Conifer would be a reflection of what sort of dog she was, so he needed to remain, clean, well fed, and happy. She would serve him as his protector, his caretaker, and she would make certain that his needs were met before her own. This was how ownership should be, at least in Shēdo’s mind. If something harmed her zebra, heads would roll in all directions. There would be no hesitation, no doubt, only fury. After all, those who would bring harm to her zebra were no doubt deserving of such fate, it would be a clear sign that violence was, indeed, the answer. Yes, Shēdo would treat others how they treated her zebra, her possession. If they treated him as a lesser being, then Shēdo would do the same to them. And if they tried to take her zebra… she would cleave them in three… yes, three was a good number for cleaving. Three was the best number, one that Shēdo understood. The zebra would be her guide for how to deal with others, and what mercy she might offer them. A warm, wet nose pressed into Shēdo’s neck and she wished the zebra would go away. She was sleeping, or trying to. She growled, not a mean growl, but more of a ‘go away, I’m trying to sleep’ growl. The zebra, insistent, snuffled against her neck, and that tickled. Reaching out with one powerful arm, she grabbed the colt around the neck, pulled him down, and snuggle-smooshed him. He was a bit smaller than she was, and he was warm. “He’s gone!” Half-awake, Shēdo could not make sense of what was being said, and she felt the colt shuddering beside her. Was he cold? No… he was… crying. Opening one eye, Shēdo was blinded by sunny, dazzling brilliance. Conifer was cuddling up against her, and his face was damp with tears. “He’s gone! He left in the night while we were sleeping!” Oh. Reaching out with one rough paw, Shēdo wiped the colt’s face and she felt one of his forelegs wrap around her neck. Conifer wasn’t very big, not really, his legs were thin, spindly things, and his body was fragile, which made Shēdo wonder how ponies and zebras survived so much. Hers was a body made to take abuse, with heavy, dense bones, tough muscles, and a thick, leathery hide that provided some natural armor. Conifer’s soft, mewling cries became big, gasping sobs. Fumbling about, Shēdo managed to sit up, and she pulled Conifer into her lap. With a bit more fumbling, she managed to rest his head upon her shoulder and she wrapped both of her long, powerful forearms around his slender middle. The colt was soft, smelled like soap, and Shēdo wondered how long it would last. Nearby was a pile of stuff, some saddlebags and what not. There was, however, no dragon present, which meant that it was just her now protecting Conifer from the wilderness. Well, her and Limey. Already, her mind was arranging its many priorities. The earth ponies would need to know that the missing ones had died. “Talk to me,” the zebra colt begged between sobs. “I’m sad.” “Shēdo sorry,” she replied, not knowing what to say. “Shēdo keep you safe now, and do good to you. Will keep you happy.” “Thank you.” Conifer collapsed himself against Shēdo’s girth, closed his eyes, and took comfort in the shelter of her embrace. “I just woke up and he was gone. He left without saying goodbye.” This was… nice… and Shēdo saw no need to hurry its end. She sat in the soft grass where she had slept, holding her zebra, and contemplating the glorious morning. He was soft too, in a different way than she was. His coat was short and parts of it were a little prickly, like around his neck. The colt was smooth and his skin was soft. As she stroked him, she could feel his dock, the base of his tail, brushing against the hard muscle of her thigh. Burying her cold wet nose against him, she sniffed him, taking in his scent, and burning it into her brain. With time, she would know this scent and would be able to track him by smell, if they got separated somehow. Shēdo marveled at how small and delicate he really was. Shēdo was a tiny pup, but her paw was big enough to cover the entirety of Conifer’s face. Her forearm was thicker than his slender neck. His legs were like thin, bendy saplings, and she worried that they would break. Filled with canine curiousity, she explored the zebra she held in her lap, examining his every inch. Even more alarming was Conifer’s spine, which seemed too thin to even be functional. With her thumb-pad, she felt along his vertebrae, and continued to wonder how equines survived with such fragile, easily broken bodies. It was terrifying, realising how easily crushed he could be. Shēdo was considered thin and fragile by her own species, something she was teased about, she wasn’t much of a dog at all, but she was as solid as a chunk of granite when compared to the zebra she held. Of course, she had to eat gemstones or minerals to keep her bones strong and her muscles dense, otherwise, she would go soft and become fragile, like Conifer. She was startled by the contrasts between herself and her companion, which strengthened her resolve to keep him safe. “Come, Conifer. We go. Much to do. Go visit ponies to tell them the news, then we go west. We go towards setting sun.” “Can we have breakfast first?” Conifer asked. “Yes,” Shēdo replied, and she wondered what she might be able to catch for breakfast. Then, she had an idea. “If we go to earth ponies, they might feed us.” “Okay.” Conifer sniffled a bit, then wiggled free of Shēdo’s protective embrace. “Shēdo need to tell you about Limey.” “Who?” “You see soon enough…”