//------------------------------// // Part V // Story: Dog's Best Friends // by Scyphi //------------------------------// Woofus didn’t really have a plan for how he wanted to do this, but he figured it didn’t need to be complex. There were already several guards on every street, increasing in number the closer he got to Pillar Castle, so he figured he’d just keep walking towards it until someone noticed and stopped him, and let them take it from there. Interestingly, despite walking right past several other buildings currently being raided, in full view of everyone and making no real attempt to hide himself or his identity, none of the guards actually took notice until he was strolling right up to the front entrance of the castle, and the two guards that were normally stationed there stopped him and realized just who he was. There then followed some frenzied actions as they tried to sort out what they should do, but it was finally agreed that, seeing Woofus was just turning himself in without a fight, there was little else to do than take him into custody and bring him before Husky. Thus Woofus’s paws were restrained and he was assigned a small escort of two guards so to walk him up to the throne room. The walk was a slow one, partly because the castle was a flurry of activity at the moment, reeling from Husky’s recent orders to effectively raid the city itself. Woofus could see in the eyes on many of the Diamond Dogs hurrying through the corridors that he wasn’t the only one who had mixed feelings about Husky’s actions, but thus far there didn’t seem to be any sign of attempts to resist. Woofus found himself oddly thankful and disappointed by this—thankful that he still had the chance to stop this before it sparked an outright rebellion that harmed innocents, and disappointed that his fellow dogs were choosing not to oppose an unjust order. Partway there, they were joined by a third guard, who came hurrying up and out of breath. “Apologies,” the guard reported, straightening his helmet, “but it was decided a third guard escorting the prisoner couldn’t hurt.” The other guards simply shrugged, not protesting. “Probably wouldn’t,” one of them agreed, even though Woofus had done nothing to resist and had no intentions of starting. When they arrived at the throne room though, they found it had been kept sealed for the past several minutes at Husky’s orders, with entry limited to a couple at a time. The royal guards stationed at its entrance were under orders not to explain why, but it meant that Woofus’s escort of three was two too many. As there were apparently already guards inside, only one escort was sufficient. The third guard who had arrived late immediately volunteered, so the other two stepped back to let him lead Woofus into the throne room. The doors were only opened just enough to permit them entry, so Woofus didn’t get a good view inside the room until the doors were already closing behind him. The moment he did though, he realized things were worse than he already thought. As expected, Husky was standing in the center of the room, just before the throne, but seated before him was Gallus and Rottweiler, each under guard by one royal guard. Both twisted around to see who was entering and went wide-eyed in alarm at the sight of Woofus. “What are you doing here?!” they exclaimed simultaneously at Woofus. Woofus just stared back at them in shock, not expecting either of them to be here, let alone captured. His mind began to whirl and realized how this complicated his supposed-to-be straightforward plan. Husky, however, looked on at all of this in approval. “Nice of you to join us, Woofus,” he remarked, content. “Please have a seat. We were just talking about you.” Smolder recalled Woofus saying she couldn’t miss this place she was supposed to be heading for, but was starting to wonder if she had anyway, because she wasn’t confident she was anywhere near where she needed to be. It didn’t help that she was on the constant lookout for the guards swarming all over, skirting through the streets entirely on foot as she didn’t dare fly, certain that would only reveal her. While her cloak helped her to blend in, it only went so far, and she still ducked out of sight to avoid guards whenever they veered too close. The guard who kept coming back every few minutes with that gem also wasn’t helping. He didn’t seem to tire of his odd game of fetch, which any other time Smolder would’ve found hilarious and milk it for all it’s worth. But he kept popping up at all the worst times, and her tolerance was fading fast. Fortunately, the last time she threw the gem, she threw it hard enough that she was pretty certain it had sailed into the next street. She hoped that meant it’d take a little longer for the guard to retrieve it. For now, though, she was hurrying through the streets, sticking to the edges in case she needed to quickly hide from danger, trying to spy the house she had been sent to. She heard a commotion somewhere as she rounded a street corner and glanced back, fearing trouble. Fortunately, the source seemed to be from another street over, so figuring the coast was clear for now, Smolder hurried on, turning her head around in time to run face first into a literal wall of fur. Bodily bouncing off and crashing to the ground, Smolder forced herself back up in a panic, ready to fight what she at first assumed had to be a guard, but instead found a familiar yak now spinning around to see what had run into her. “Smolder!” Yona bellowed giddily, recognizing the dragoness just as quickly. “Yon—erk!” Smolder’s surprised exclamation was smothered as Yona grabbed her into one of her infamous bear hugs. “Dragon friend okay!” she exclaimed happily, squeezing the dragon to her chest as Silverstream and Sandbar came hurrying out from behind the yak. Smolder was glad to see Yona and her friends safe as well, but knew there wasn’t time for celebrating. “Er…Yona?” she gasped out from where her face was buried deep in wooly yak fur. “Let me go?” “No!” Yona beamed, only squeezing tighter. “Yona hug Smolder until Yona says!” Smolder went limp, surrendering herself. “Fine, I’ll just stop breathing then,” she rasped sarcastically, “Probably overrated anyway.” Silverstream intervened though, prying Smolder away from Yona. “What are you doing here?” she asked anxiously as she turned Smolder to face her. “Where’s Ocellus?” She gasped suddenly. “Is she in disguise? Did she disguise herself as your cloak?” She grabbed the hem of Smolder’s hood and brought up to her mouth. “Ocellus? Is that you?” Smolder yanked it out of the hippogriff’s claws. “Ocellus isn’t here,” she explained grumpily, looking her three friends over. They all wore cloaks like hers (although Yona’s was too small), but other than all appearing on edge and smelling a bit unpleasantly like Diamond Dogs, they seemed okay. “I hope she’s with Woofus right now.” “So why aren’t you with them?” Sandbar asked, stepping up to her. “Why aren’t you guys in this house Woofus told me to look for?” Smolder asked back, her mind catching up with her and finding it worrying her friends were also out wandering the streets. Yona pointed a hoof vaguely at the commotions seeming to engulf much of the underground city. “Diamond Dog guards invade city!” she exclaimed. “Could not stay or they catch us!” “They’re under orders from the acting leader, Husky, to raid the city so to find us,” Sandbar began to explain. He would’ve continued, but Smolder quickly cut him short. “Already know about that bit,” she explained and launched into the short version of her explanation. “Woofus decided to do the macho thing and go turn himself in so to stop it, and told us to go on without him.” “He did what?” Silverstream exclaimed, alarmed. “He doesn’t need to do that!” “And we’re not letting him,” Smolder added. “Ocellus went after him while I found you guys. I’d imagine they’re in the castle by now.” “Then I guess that’s where we’re going to have to go next,” Sandbar said, turning to look at Pillar Castle while the rest all silently agreed they weren’t abandoning Woofus. “But that place is going to be crawling with guards by now…” “Actually, with how many of them are out here on the streets, I’d imagine that castle’s getting pretty empty by now,” Silverstream interjected, pointing to a tussle they could just barely make out a few blocks away. “Silverstream has point,” Yona agreed with a nod, then added one of her own. “Other Diamond Dogs not like what guards do, too. Might smash back!” “Heck, it’s what I’d do if a bunch of armed guys came bursting into my home and started trashing all my stuff,” Smolder reasoned, but now that she had the thought, she realized a big problem. “Rocks, that means there could be riots starting out here soon!” They all ducked down abruptly when they heard a loud and ominous crash nearby. “If they haven’t already,” Sandbar reasoned. He gazed back at the castle again. “Guess the castle just might be the safer place after all.” “Then I say we take this fight to Husky,” Smolder concluded, pounding a fist into her palm. “I remember that throne room of his enough to know there’s a way to get at it by air.” “Which works for you and Silverstream,” Sandbar said, pointing a hoof at his winged friends. “But what about me and Yona?” “Sil can give you a lift, Sandy,” Smolder suggested, jabbing her head at the hippogriff. “Yona can come with me and go through the castle.” “How are you going to do that?” Silverstream asked, perplexed. “Oh don’t worry,” Smolder said, standing up and keeping an eye out for someone. “As soon as he comes back with his gem, I’ve got someone that I think can help us out.” Woofus found himself sat down wedged between Gallus and Rottweiler, with his escort joining the two royal guards to form the middle of a loose semi-circle around them. “You have what you want now, Husky,” Woofus said gently as Husky paced before the three, considering. “Please let Gallus and his friends go free, if nothing else.” “First I’d need to know where the others are even at,” Husky said, and shot a glance at Gallus. Gallus, however, only rolled his eyes. “Heck if I’ll tell you,” he said defiantly. Woofus frowned at the griffon. “Gallus…” “We’ve already been through this a couple times, Woofus,” Gallus assured him sarcastically. “He’s gotta do something back for me before I tell him anything.” “And I suppose you’d want Rottweiler and Woofus to go free now,” Husky muttered as he paced. “It would be ideal,” Gallus snarked. “And if I still say no?” “Well, I’m sure we could come up with something else to talk about. Like why Equestria has rock farms, I’ve been seriously wondering about that one the past couple of days…” Husky snorted and turned away from the griffon. “You’re wasting my time.” They heard a crash from somewhere outside the castle. “Yeah, well, I figure there might be advantages to stalling right about now,” Gallus replied. Rottweiler, however, had his attention to the noise echoing in through the room’s open balcony. “Sir Husky, I think you have bigger concerns going on out there among your subjects than us anyway,” he pointed out knowingly. “He’s right,” Woofus agreed. “You have me, now call off the raid, Husky.” He looked pleadingly at his former friend. “Before someone gets hurt and you have to answer for it.” Husky’s brow furrowed, clear the idea of that did trouble him, but he didn’t reply and instead continued to pace. “You have nothing to gain by letting it continue, you realize,” Rottweiler reasoned. “Nor from holding Gallus and his friends captive,” Woofus added. Husky’s gaze turned to the city briefly. He suddenly looked uncertain. “How do I know they won’t just cause trouble if I don’t, though?” he asked. A loud crash was heard dangerously close to the castle, causing them all to jump. “You’re going to have a riot on your paws here soon if you don’t,” Gallus pointed out. “Somehow, I think that’d be worse.” They heard another crash. “Dunno what tells me that, though.” Husky sighed then nodded. He glanced to the Diamond Dog guarding Gallus. “Go and find one of the administrative staff, tell them to spread the word to end the riot.” The guard nodded and left briefly through a side door Woofus knew led to the chambers the administrative staff worked in. He came back rather quickly though, eyes wide in alarm. “Sir Husky,” he began quickly. “My apologies, but the administrative staff is refusing to carry out your order.” Now Husky looked alarmed himself. “What?” he asked, twisting around to stare at the guard. “Why?” The royal guard hesitated. “They say they will not recognize any of your orders now,” he explained. “They’re…um…” “They’re rebelling,” Gallus remarked, catching on and shot a look at Husky, “Making a stand.” They then heard another crash, this time somewhere within the castle itself, and all of them turned to look in its direction. “Curse the acorns, what if everyone rebels?” the guard who had escorted Woofus in declared suddenly. Gallus shot that guard a surprised look. “I don’t understand, though,” Woofus remarked, ignoring the guard’s comment. “Husky gave the order to end the raid…why won’t the administrative staff enforce it? They stand to lose just as much as he does.” “I’m thinking it’s their way of blackmailing Sir Husky into stepping down from the throne,” Rottweiler surmised, shooting a look at Husky as well, backing towards said throne as if it would give him shelter. He then glanced at the royal guard who had delivered the news. “Is that correct?” The guard reluctantly nodded. “I’m sorry, sir,” he told Husky. Husky gripped the armrest of the sapphire throne tightly, and swallowed. “It’s a bluff,” he mumbled to himself. He didn’t sound confident. “I can call it.” Another crash was heard within the castle, closer this time. Gallus folded his arms. “Then I guess it’s the waiting game to see who chickens out first,” he remarked. Meanwhile, just outside the throne room, the three royal guards currently stationed at the doors were getting increasingly tenser as the sound of crashing kept getting closer and closer. “What do you think it is?” one of them whispered to their cohorts. “Rebelling dogs, do you think?” another answered back. “I mean, what else could it be?” “I don’t know,” the third said, who had only recently gone on duty. “I heard rumors just before coming up here that there was some sort of ruckus going on in the tunnels leading to the surface…” “You think we’re being invaded?” the first asked in alarm. They heard another crash, the closest one yet. “Sounds like we just might find out,” the second remarked and turned to the other two. “Best be ready for it, whatever it is.” Another crash sounded, this time to their left, and all three involuntarily turned to look in its direction. Then, while he was still turned, something hard but small suddenly whacked into the side of the middle guard’s helmet. Surprised, he fumbled to catch it then held it up, seeing it was a gem of fine workmanship. “Where did…?” he began to ask, but he was cut short as he was suddenly tackled and knocked to the ground by something big and furry grabbing for the gem. The other two spun around and saw it was one of their own, a Diamond Dog guard, who, panting, was rather unbecomingly trying to tug the gem back out of the fallen guard’s grasp. All three of them were trying to figure out the deal with this wound up fellow when they heard bellows nearby and looked up in time to see their real attackers charging forward while they were distracted. Back in the throne room, a loud thump was heard just outside the doors followed by the noise of a fight, drawing the attention of all present. “Sounds like time’s up!” Gallus said, and shot a knowing look at the guard who had brought Woofus in. The guard nodded and tossed his spear to Gallus, who immediately caught and spun it around on the royal guard still standing at the room’s side door. Rottweiler, meanwhile, snagged the other royal guard’s spear while he was distracted and turned it on the surprised guard. Then the third guard dropped onto all fours and, with a flash of cyan flames, his Diamond Dog form melted away to reveal… “Ocellus!” Woofus exclaimed in surprise at the young changeling. He looked to Gallus in shock. “How did you…?” “Ocellus is the only one I know who will curse acorns of all things,” Gallus replied with a smirk. Ocellus sighed. “I’ve already tried to explain the cultural significance of it to you before,” she reminded as she lit her horn and pointed it in Husky’s direction, standing petrified at the throne. She then glanced at Woofus and grinned a little. “But long story short…it’s a changeling thing.” “Now,” Gallus said, changing the subject as he kept his spear pointed at his guard and glanced over at Husky, “you’re going to help us find our other friends.” But Rottweiler then noticed something outside the balcony. “Looks like they found us,” he said, pointing with one claw. And sure enough, Silverstream, carrying Sandbar in her arms, swooped in from outside and landed on the balcony, the two then hurrying into the room to bar it off from the rear. “Hey everybody!” Silverstream greeted in her usual bright attitude. Then the throne room doors burst open and, having finished subduing the guards outside, Smolder and Yona came skidding inside. Yona then twisted around and slammed them shut again, which Smolder barred with one of two spears she was carrying. “’Sup?” she greeted as well as she and Yona then turned and faced the others. “Well, band’s all here now,” Gallus said, grinning happily at the sight of all his friends reunited once again. He glanced at the remaining royal guards. “Surely you two don’t want to try and break that up, do you?” They didn’t. Seeing they were outnumbered now, the two guards put their paws up and surrendered, which just left Husky standing at the throne, surrounded. His bravado had vanished completely and he cowered as everyone looked to him, fear in his eyes. Woofus sympathized as he carefully approached him. “I’m sorry, Husky,” he apologized truthfully. “I had been against it coming to this myself, but…” he trailed off briefly to listen to the turmoil in the city outside, “…things didn’t go the way I hoped. I’m sure they didn’t for you either.” Silverstream looked behind her at the city outside, worry etched on her face. “Things are getting real close to bad out there, by the way,” she said. “We probably might want to do something to stop that.” “Diamond Dog give order!” Yona pressured, looking to Husky. “Stop guards!” “He can’t,” Rottweiler replied. “The administrative staff is refusing to carry out his orders, and in so doing have broken the chain of command.” Smolder scoffed at this. “Who’s dumb idea was that?” she demanded. “Theirs,” Gallus replied and proceeded to explain in brief what was happening to her. While he was doing this, Ocellus turned to Rottweiler. “You have authority over the guards, right?” she asked. “Couldn’t you call them off yourself?” “Yes, but working alone and with how widespread across the city the guards have no doubt gotten, it could take too long,” Rottweiler pointed out, having already thought of this. “If we have no other choice, I’ll certainly run out there right now and try, but it’d go faster and cleaner if I had the administrative staff assisting to spread the word.” “Well, they’ve made it clear they aren’t doing anything more so long as he’s in charge,” Gallus concluded solemnly, nodding his head at Husky. Who still hadn’t moved, continuing to gaze about as if in a frightened daze. “Please, Husky,” Woofus placated again. “Everyone is only going to get hurt needlessly if you don’t.” “The administrative staff will happily accept the order from Sir Woofus, I’m sure,” Rottweiler added as a voice of confidence. Husky’s eyes looked at Woofus for a moment. Woofus took a step closer to him, holding his paws up to show he meant no harm. Husky didn’t stand down, but he didn’t make any further moves either. “Dude,” Smolder remarked softly but urgently, “We don’t actually want to hurt anyone.” “We never did,” Ocellus added calmly. She nodded at Husky. “I don’t think you do either.” “Please Husky,” Woofus pleaded again. “None of us are trying to make this harder. Ocellus is right, too…I don’t think you want to either.” Husky hesitated, silently looking at each of them in turn. A moment of tense silence followed. Sandbar glanced outside at the city again. “So, I don’t want to rush anyone, but…I’m worried if we don’t do something to defuse things out there soon…” Woofus nodded, waving a paw in Sandbar’s direction. “I know, just…just bear with us.” He gazed at Husky, trying to piece together what might be going through his mind, but the other dog was shirking eye contact, looking ashamed. He sighed. “Husky…I know you don’t want to give up like this, to concede that things have gone outside of your control…and I honestly can’t blame you,” he assured softly. “That’s never an easy situation to be put into. But…the good of Sapphiria is in danger, so please ask yourself…which would a good pack leader put first? His pack? Or his pride?” Husky was quiet for a moment then he made eye contact with Woofus at last. “Which sort would you be?” he asked, with grave severity. Woofus managed a small, sad, but comforting grin. “Why do you think I left in the first place? It was never for my own good, Husky. It was because I felt it was best for Sapphiria.” Husky mulled upon that for a second. “You were wrong.” Woofus nodded. “I know,” he agreed. “I see that now. But that’s why I’m here now.” Husky quietly gazed at him for a moment before hanging his head sadly. Then, at last, he quietly shrugged off the sapphire-hemmed overcoat he wore. He bundled it up in his paws and held it close for a moment. Then, with reluctance, he handed it over to Woofus. Woofus reverently held it close to his chest for a moment too, bowing his head solemnly. Then he took a deep breath and turned to look at the royal guard still standing at the side door. “Tell the administrative staff to have all of the guards to stop what they’re doing and return to the castle where they are to await further orders,” he instructed gently as Husky slowly lowered himself down, sitting on the floor next to the throne. “Stress that it is me that is giving the order, and that you witnessed the transfer of command yourself. Be quick about it, please.” The guard saluted. “Yes, Sir Woofus,” he said, and slipped back through the little door. This time he didn’t come back right away, and before long, they could hear the ruckus outside slow down as the shouts of commands ordering the guards to stand down echoed back in its place. The tension in the room rapidly unwound after that, with many in the group breathing heavy sighs and those who held spears lowered them. As the remaining royal guard moved to go back to his original post outside the throne room and Rottweiler, after assuring that things were going to stay under control here, went to go assist, the others converged together near the throne. “Mmkay, can I just say that this was all, like, super tense and ask that we not do anything like this again anytime soon?” Silverstream said as they all continued to relax. “Personally, I’m game not to do this again ever,” Sandbar quipped with a relieved grin. “Yeah, politics really is crazy,” Smolder agreed with a nod. “I don’t see how anyone would want to get into it.” She glanced at Woofus. “No offense.” Woofus laughed and was glad to do so, as it helped his nerves unwind a little. “None taken,” he replied. He turned to give the dragoness a knowing look. “While I’m still thinking about it, though…didn’t I tell you and Ocellus to get out of Sapphiria while you could?” Smolder waved the matter aside by blowing a derisive raspberry. “Like we’d really leave you behind!” she remarked. “I may be a dragon, but even dragons can have limits on how heartless we are, and dude…that would’ve been totally heartless if we did that.” Ocellus nodded in agreement. “If there is one thing we have all learned from friendship is that friends don’t leave friends behind. We always help each other out, regardless.” Yona squeezed her way through to grab Woofus in a bear hug, lifting him briefly off the ground. “And Diamond Dog Woofus is friend!” she declared. “Always and forever! This yak promise!” Woofus grinned as he looked at each of his six friends in turn. “Then I’m glad I’ve got friends like all of you that won’t listen to me when I say to save yourselves.” But no sooner had he said this did his smile fade. “Mind if I try to add one more, though?” he asked, as he turned to look at Husky. The six all looked to one another then respectively stepped back to permit him to continue. Woofus turned back to the other Diamond Dog and sat down next to him. Husky, during all of this, had taken on a faraway look and hadn’t appeared to be giving the others much attention. He didn’t look at Woofus when he sat beside him. Woofus assumed he was listening, though. “Husky…” he began uncertainly, having only a vague idea of how he wanted to say this, “…I’m deeply sorry for what happened between us. I promise, it was never my intent to harm you in any way. But I should’ve been there to support you through your trials, no matter what or when they were…and I didn’t. I…I had thought I hadn’t needed to, that you had things handled yourself no matter the outcome…so I turned my attention to things I assumed more pressing…and ended up neglecting the one I would still like as a friend because of it.” He paused to look at Husky, seeing if any of this was getting through to him. “I humbly beg for your forgiveness, Husky…if you can find it within you to do so. If you can’t…I won’t hold that against you.” Husky didn’t reply for a long moment, eyes distant as the dog’s mind whirled in deep thought. Woofus was about to turn away with a heavy sigh of defeat when he abruptly spoke. “You were right about one thing,” Husky remarked suddenly. “Everything that I did…I did it out of pride. I…had thought I’d gotten myself ready to pass the royal guard’s entrance exam at last, and that I’d pass it with flying colors…I was told I showed plenty of promise afterwards even…but when I still didn’t…” he trailed off, looking ashamed. “I didn’t want to face that I had failed, to be told I wasn’t good enough for what I wanted, so…I was trying to shift the blame.” He sighed. “I could have used that support, Woofus…and I won’t lie…the fact that I didn’t get it still angers me…but…you can’t be solely to blame. But I just…felt it was all so unfair…so convinced that the royal guard recruiters were wrong, that I did have what it took to join up here and now. Then you vacated the throne and left so abruptly…and I thought…maybe that was my chance to prove how capable I was. To you. To the royal guard. To everyone. So I went before the administrative staff and…did whatever I had to so to take the throne in your place.” “Just so to prove you could?” Woofus repeated, surprised. Behind him, Smolder elbowed Ocellus. “Told you he did it out of spite,” she mumbled. Ocellus’s only reply was to gently motion for her to keep quiet. “At first I was feeling pretty good with myself about it,” Husky continued, ignoring the background commentary. “I…knew deep down that the administrative staff didn’t really have that much confidence I could do the job forever, of course, that they only put up with me because they thought I’d be a good pawn for their individual plans, and I knew deep down that I was just flying blind…but things in Sapphiria were stable and calm at the time, so it was easy to manage.” He looked up at Woofus and the others. “Then all of you showed up…and everything started flying apart at the seams. I couldn’t ignore anymore that I was really…really in over my head.” He turned and motioned aimlessly towards the throne room balcony and out at the underground city. “I hadn’t truly wanted any of this, for anyone to get hurt…but even as things were spiraling out of control all around me, I didn’t want to admit defeat. My pride wouldn’t let me.” He looked to Woofus knowingly. “So you were right to call me out on that, Woofus. If nothing else…I’m sorry I was so vain as to let it come to that.” Woofus mulled over Husky’s side of the story for a moment with a sigh. “In a way, I can understand, Husky,” he admitted. “You weren’t the only one who was being a little prideful, I think.” He let his gaze wander a little. “That was the whole reason I left at all. When…we had our falling out, Husky, it…it made me think that if I couldn’t be there for one friend, how could I expect to do the same for my pack? I…became too afraid of failing and finding out that…it bothered me greatly. So…I thought it better to leave…to run and hide instead. I was too proud to let myself face that I couldn’t be the perfect leader I felt I should be.” A heavy silence fell for a moment. “At least you were thinking of others more than of yourself,” Husky conceded. “And at least we’ve both learned,” Woofus replied back. He glanced at his other friends, silently watching and listening. “And maybe in the future, we can still have the support of others to…help us through those moments when we…are not as perfect as we’d like to believe.” Husky snorted darkly. “After having all of Sapphiria turn on me, who could I possibly have to count on anymore?” he asked. Woofus mulled on that for a moment, then turned to face him again. “I can’t vouch for the administrative staff,” he began, “but I won’t lie; they and others will probably want some sort of…compensation from you in return for the trouble, at the very least, and I fear there will be little even I could do to stop it.” He then placed a reassuring paw on Husky’s shoulder. “However I already wasn’t there for you as a friend once before…I don’t intend to do that again.” He studied Husky’s face for a moment. “I hope we can be friends again, Husky.” Husky was quiet for a moment. Slowly, he grinned faintly. “That would be nice,” he admitted. He didn’t seem to have much confidence in it, though. “What if that’s not enough for the both of us, though?” he asked seriously. “There’s nothing stopping us from having more friends than just each other,” Woofus pointed out then directed Husky’s attention to the other six standing nearby. “Have you met my six friends here?” Husky glanced at them for a moment then grinned faintly at what Woofus was getting at. “I suppose I haven’t, not really,” he admitted, straightening. “Well, that’s Sandbar, Silverstream, Ocellus, Smolder, Yona, and Gallus,” Woofus introduced, pointing at each of them in turn. “Hey,” Silverstream said with a small wave, the others mirroring the motion. Husky regarded each of them in turn, studying them like he hadn’t before as he took the six in under a new light. “Will you all really want to befriend someone like me, after all the grief I’ve put you through?” he asked them. “Yes,” Yona replied with a single nod of her head and all without hesitation. “If Diamond Dog Husky let Yona and friends.” The others quickly voiced similar support as well. Husky chuckled a little, cheered by their show of support. “Are you all often this quick about befriending former enemies?” Sandbar shrugged. “It’s…kind of an Equestrian tradition,” he admitted with a smirk. “It seriously is,” Gallus backed up. “Dude, the stories we could tell you,” Smolder added, thinking of some of the stories their professors had told about their own friendship adventures. She then folded her arms. “I think our only catch is that you don’t do something like this again, where you…make the problem worse rather than face it and get it fixed.” She glanced at Woofus. “Both of you.” “After all,” Ocellus added, “in order to have friendship, you have to want it enough to actively seek it out. It doesn’t just come to you or happen on its own.” “You have to work for it,” Gallus added. Woofus and Husky exchanged glances for a moment. Woofus grinned a little. “I think we can do that,” he said confidently. But before any more conversation on the subject could be made, Rottweiler suddenly came hurrying back into the throne room. “Sir Woofus,” he began, nodding his head at the restored ruler as Woofus rose to his feet, “we may have a new problem.” “Oh, now what?” Silverstream bemoaned. “Can’t things just keep going smoothly now?” Woofus motioned for her to be quiet as he moved closer. “What’s wrong, Rottweiler?” “In all the chaos, the castle briefly lost contact with the guards protecting the entrance tunnels,” Rottweiler explained hurriedly. “But now that things here have settled some, we’re getting their reports now, and, apparently, at around the same time the raiding was taking place in the city, the entrance tunnels came under attack.” “By who?” Woofus asked, alarmed. “I don’t know, the reports coming back are…contradictory,” Rottweiler explained urgently. “What I can tell you is that what seems to be a decent sized party that has broken past our defenses at the entrance tunnels and is now working their way towards the city, seeking to invade. They may have already reached Sapphiria as we speak.” “Well, that’s not good,” Smolder remarked, lifting her spear again. “No, wait,” Sandbar abruptly interjected, getting everyone’s attention as he worked to think this through. “They’re outsiders who are trying to get into the city, but they’re just one party and aren’t part of a full-size army? Guys, think about it! Who else could they be but—?” He was cut short when there was a flash of magical light and suddenly six familiar pony professors were standing in the middle of the throne room, all already in fighting stances. “All right!” Twilight Sparkle, leading the group, began to demand before the light of her group teleport had even finished fading, “I want an explanation as to what’s going on and where my students—oh!” She pulled back in surprise as she saw all of her missing students already standing casually about in the throne room, looking at her with varying bemused looks. “Hey Teach,” Gallus remarked with an amused wave. “What brings you here?” Twilight, taken aback, glanced at the other five mares around her as they all hesitantly began to reassess the situation. “Well,” she began clearing her throat so to take on a more civil tone, “no one had seen any of you since you left Ponyville yesterday, so…” “…We honestly had started to assume the worst,” Rainbow Dash concluded bluntly. “Told you we were overreacting, Twilight!” Pinkie Pie chirped happily, the only who didn’t seem that surprised by this development. “Um…so what did happen?” Fluttershy asked curiously, “If it’s okay with all of you to ask.” Woofus was starting slipping on the overcoat so to fully assume his role as pack leader and explain, but Silverstream beat him to it. “Weeeeelllllll,” she began, beginning to list off the key events of their weekend on her talons. “First we accidentally dug into one of the Diamond Dog tunnels on the surface, and the guards were all not happy about that, so they tried to catch us, but they only got Smolder and Ocellus, but the rest of us came to rescue them, but Woofus was all ‘let’s do this politically!’ so instead they took us all down here to plead our innocence, except we found Woofus’s old friend Husky—he’s over there—was king or whatever, and he was all grumpy with Woofus so he tried to arrest us, and he caught Smolder and Ocellus again while the rest of us escaped, and we tried to leave, but we couldn’t leave, and then Woofus explained that he was supposed to be the leader of this whole place, but he left to go learn more about friendship since he messed up his last friendship, and when he left Husky took over, so then we joined forces with Rottweiler here, broke Smolder and Ocellus out of jail, then came up here and restored Woofus to the throne all before the whole city tore itself apart, and we did it with the power of friendship!” Silverstream concluded by throwing her arms in the air in a silent cheer. Across the room, Pinkie mirrored that cheer. “Yay!” she cried happily. The others, however, just stared blankly at the group, trying to process the hippogriff’s flurried explanation. Woofus, now dressed in the overcoat, coughed into his fist. “Well, there are a few more details to all of that, of course,” he admitted sheepishly, glancing briefly at Rottweiler moving to one side so to hide his amusement. “But…that is the general gist of what happened.” The six professors needed a couple more seconds to sort through all of this. “So…basically wut yer sayin’,” Applejack began, scratching her head with one hoof, “is that y’all already got this under control?” “Basically, yeah,” Gallus concluded with a shrug. “So…I guess we don’t really need your help with it.” “Because we’re just that awesome,” Smolder added with a smug grin, feeling the need to ham up their victory. “Oh yeah,” Sandbar also added, taking on what he thought was a chill pose and rubbing one hoof casually on his chest. “It weren’t no thang.” His friends all turned to stare at him. “Dude, never say that again,” Gallus instructed. “Yeah, I think I have to agree with Gallus,” Woofus sided with an apologetic frown. “You’re not the sort of fellow that could pull that off, Sandbar.” “Okay, fine,” Sandbar grumbled, straightening. “Sheesh!” His friends all then shared a friendly chuckle while Twilight and her own friends all continued to exchange glances, somewhat confused. Fortunately, it was simple enough to fill their professors in on what had happened in more detail, especially since Woofus felt morally obligated to set the record straight given everything that had happened. He did, after all, still feel like this was largely his fault. Whether it was or not, however, wasn’t of much concern to Twilight once she had the whole story. “The important thing is that everyone got out of it safe,” she told the young ruler. “And more importantly, you helped to ensure that happened, not just for your fellow students, but your people as well.” And indeed, as the clean-up from the near-disastrous raids continued in Sapphiria, it was found the underground city had fared better than feared and so had its citizens. Despite the rough day, no one had been seriously hurt, and those more minimally hurt were mostly just guards pushed out of the way by either Twilight and her friends, or the formerly missing six students. On that end, Woofus and Rottweiler were pleased to announce they had convinced the administrative staff to rule that this was done out of self-defense and would not press any charges against them. Husky’s role in all of this, however, was another matter. As Woofus had feared, both the administrative staff and the citizenry wanted at least some justice on Husky. His imprisonment managed to be avoided for now, but the brief and now formally deposed ruler was expected to still do a great deal to make amends for his actions. Nevertheless, he bravely accepted it anyway. “Even I’ll concede that it is only fair,” he stressed when asked. “What I did is agreed to have been wrong, and I accept that, so naturally, some sort of punishment is expected.” Woofus was a little less enthused by it though. “It feels a little like rubbing salt into the wound,” he remarked at one point. “It is already clear to me that Husky feels awful for what nearly transpired, more than he lets on. Continuing to drag him down over it just seems needless.” Nevertheless, he heeded the wishes of his pack and agreed to enforce the community service punishment that was selected for Husky…and considering that several properties had been left in disarray from the day’s events, he would have his paws full for a while. Nevertheless, both dogs weren’t so busy that they couldn’t join the others gathering on the surface for farewells later that afternoon as the professors collected their missing students and prepared to depart. “Are you sure you don’t want to come back with us, Sir Woofus?” Twilight asked the restored ruler, having caught on to the proper titles to refer him by quite quickly. “I’m sure we can work out a solution that would allow you to continue your studies at the school without leaving your duties here.” “A part of me would love that,” Woofus conceded with a warm grin while shaking the princess’s offered hoof. “Brief as it was, I did enjoy myself at the school, and I hate to leave again so soon after arriving.” He glanced behind him, where Husky, Rottweiler, and an escort of guards, stood nearby. “But…I’ve hid from my responsibilities long enough, princess. I have my own pack to look after, and after what just happened, they might need the stability of a ruler more than ever…and I know better now than to neglect that. You understand.” Twilight grinned. “I think I do.” “Whadda ’bout you, Husky?” Applejack asked, nodding her head at the Diamond Dog. “Yer welcome t’ come to the school yerself, if ya want.” “I would be honored,” Husky began solemnly. “I probably could use the teaching, if the example of some of your students have shown are any example.” He looked briefly to the six youth with a wistful grin. “But…I think it is better that I stay here and finish making amends first, work to put myself in a better standing with my own pack before I try and…expand my horizons.” He mulled on it for a second then added more optimistically, “Perhaps after I have done that, though.” “The offer is always open regardless,” Twilight reminded with a friendly grin then looked to Woofus. “That goes to any other Diamond Dogs in Sapphiria that may be interested. If anything, it would help strengthen any relations between you and Equestria.” “We’ll definitely keep that in mind,” Woofus agreed with a nod. “And if any dogs are interested, I’ll certainly send them your way…but with a bit more forewarning and no hidden reasons like it was with me, I think.” “Sure won’t say no to that!” Rainbow chipped in. “I mean, I don’t think anyone wants a repeat of what happened here.” Everybody nodded their heads in agreement to this. “Anyway,” Woofus remarked, moving to approach his student friends, “I suppose this is farewell.” “Yeah, but just for now,” Gallus promised as he took Woofus’s paw to shake. “You’re only a quick train ride away after all, so we’ll totally come back and visit.” “Yeah!” Silverstream immediately agreed, excited by the idea. “Maybe we can come and make a weekend of it every now and then.” She looked to Twilight. “Right, headmare?” Twilight bit her lip, hesitant. “Well…maybe with a bit more informing everyone of where everyone is first, so to play it safe,” she admitted. “You know…in case something like this comes up again.” “Yeah, probably don’t want to put you teachers all into a tizzy again, huh?” Smolder quipped. “You guys making sure you don’t all drop out of contact and without much trace would probably help with that,” Rainbow grumbled. “The point is that current student at the school or not, you’re one of us now, Woofus,” Smolder smugly assured, shaking Woofus’s paw next. “Yes!” Yona added. “And friends have to visit friends! It rule!” “So we’ll be in touch,” Ocellus concluded as she reached in to shake Woofus’s paw too. “I hope you will do the same.” “Happily,” Woofus promised. “Anyway,” Sandbar said as he was next to shake Woofus’s paw. “Good luck with being the ruler. Don’t let them work you too hard, but don’t fret too much about it. I may not have much experience with it myself, but…I think you’ll be a great leader, Woofus.” “I certainly hope so,” Woofus remarked, “though I’ll happily welcome any advice.” “You could all try to bathe a bit more regularly,” Gallus quipped. Woofus laughed. “No promises.” Gallus shrugged. “Well, a griffon can still hope, can’t he?” “Speaking of bathing,” Twilight interjected, jabbing her head in the direction of the six students, “this lot could stand a bit of that themselves, so we need to hurry if we’re going to catch the next train.” So with a few final farewells from all present, they parted ways, the Diamond Dogs heading back underground to their city, while the professors led their students across the sparse terrain for the train platform. Along the way, Gallus’s curiosity got the better of him and he lifted one foreleg to sniff. “Oof,” he gagged, pulling a face. “The headmare’s not kidding. I’m starting to smell like a Diamond Dog myself.” “We all kinda reek,” Smolder admitted, sniffing the air around her friends with a wince. “Funny how you kind of get used to it though,” Sandbar remarked. “I guess that’s how the Diamond Dogs can stand the smell themselves.” “And I suppose it’s what we get for spending most of the weekend around them,” Ocellus added. “We’ll have to think of a way to address that better for future visits.” “Ooh, I can’t wait to get back to the school though,” Silverstream said, stretching her wings. “I’m so going to go jump in the lake for a swim as soon as we get there! That should help clean me up a bit.” “…I’m actually going to have to insist you wash off in the showers where you can use some soap and a scrubber, Silverstream,” Twilight tactfully requested. “Is smell really that bad?” Yona asked, concerned. “In all honesty?” Applejack asked as she looked back at the six. “There’s a reason why we’re standin’ upwind of y’all.” “But don’t worry!” Pinkie promised optimistically, pronking along as usual. “It’s nothing a little pumice soap can’t fix! I’ve got a couple dozen boxes of the stuff at the school—you can all borrow some!” “Why do you have so much of it, though?” Smolder asked, confused seeing such soap was not standard issue at the school and never had been despite this apparent supply. “In case of soap emergency!” Pinkie replied without missing a best. “Besides, my sister Limestone hooks me up with some of what she makes from the leftover rocks at the family rock farm, so I’ve always got a supply!” Gallus perked up a bit at this. “Ooh, that reminds me!” he said, flapping over to the pink pony. “Professor Pinkie, real quick while I’m thinking about it, I have a very important question I need you to answer for me, because it’s been driving me crazy not having an answer.” “Fire away, then!” Pinkie prompted. “Do I have your full and complete attention, though?” Gallus stressed first. “Because the past couple of times, you got pulled away before you could answer, and I don’t want to waste time asking if that’s just going to happen again.” Pinkie responded by grabbing Gallus by the head and pressing her snout into his beak. “Gallus, you have my complete and utter attention like you never have before,” she stated seriously. Gallus waited a moment to make sure she really was serious about this. “Okay,” he said, and proceeded to slowly ask the question. “Why…the heck…are there rock farms?” “Because,” Pinkie responded just as seriously as before, “if we didn’t, then there’d…” then she abruptly twisted her head around, a big grin on her face. “Hey, a balloon! Who’d leave one of those floating around waaaaay out here?” Everything else suddenly forgotten, she trotted off in pursuit of the random and red helium balloon, aimlessly singing a happy little tune as she did. “La, la, la, la, la…” Gallus just stood there gaping for a moment, before finally tilting his head up to the sky in frustration. “GGGGRRRRAAAAAUUUUUGGGGHHHHHHHHokay.” Dejectedly joining the rest to continue walking for the train platform, the others quietly and wisely kept their amusement at his plight to themselves.