Scootaloo looked herself over and a part of her wanted to smile. Apparently Spitfire had been serious about the bath, and Scoots had to admit that it was nice to be clean enough for her fur to actually be orange and her mane violet again. The other part of her kept a vigilant watch of the endless gray around her campsite. Although she’d gone the long way around the ruins of her hometown, she was still relatively near Ponyville. Not to mention that the quarry part of the eastern pass had never really been considered a safe place to stop and rest, as always, just to the south was the Everfree Forest, and even before the demon war there was the fact that the quarry had always been Diamond Dog territory.
A shiver ran down her spine as ponder what twisted creatures the Everfree was churning out now that demonic magic had been added to the already wild and dangerous forest. Another dark thought entered her mind and made her wonder what ever became of Zecora, the zebra who’d lived there before everything went wrong.
As for the Diamond Dogs, it had sounded like they’d survived the war at least. Weather they’d been twisted by the taint or not was anypony’s guess. But according to what Spitfire had told her trade caravans that dared to camp along the quarry part of the eastern pass were frequently attacked by ‘demonic dogs.’ The strange part of the story was that everypony who’d been chanced off reported that the ghostly singing of a filly had been heard for a few minutes before the attack, almost as if it had been a warning. And stranger still, some of the traders had been survivors of Ponyville and clamed that the singing ghost had been the voice of Sweetie Belle. And that’s how it became known to the cravens that Ponyville’s eastern pass was hunted by the ghost of Sweetie Belle.
Ghost or not, Scootaloo was going to find the truth behind the stories that bore her friend’s name. To that end she contemplated starting a campfire to see if she could attract the attention of the dogs of the quarry, be they diamond or demon.
Of course being a quarry there weren’t any trees around. Go figure.
And then there was the fact that she wasn’t that far from Ponyville, and she only wanted to attract the attention of the dogs of the quarry, not the of slavers if she could help it. A scout wouldn’t have to wander far from the town ruins to see an open flame out in the middle of the quarry. And if they had good eyes they might even see the smoke in the moonlight without leaving the ruins at all.
Instead she settled for knocking her hoof on the stone ground in a series of three strikes then a pause then repeating the pattern three more times. It had been just loud enough to echo off of the quarry walls, but not loud enough to carry back to the town. Hopefully her pattern had been artificial enough to draw the attention of the dogs or more precisely the ghost who warned of their approach.
She shuffled her wings and used them to pull her cape tight to help take the bite out of the night air’s chill. As the seconds passed she groaned, wishing she could use her saddlebags as a makeshift pillow, like she usually would.
Of course usually she didn’t lay down to sleep out in the open, all of two feet off of a road. Not to mention there was the fact that the rumors Spitfire had shared called the dogs of the quarry ‘demon dogs.’ Although Scootaloo couldn’t help but notice that the stories from the traders who walked this road seemed to have an awfully high number of survivors for dogs twisted into demonic versions of their former selves. So she had her suspicions that the diamond dogs weren’t as corrupted as the rumors gave them credit for.
But still if they it did turn out she needed to bolt on a moment’s notice she didn’t want to leave all of her gear behind, so her saddlebags were still strapped on.
Her idol pondering was broken when she finally heard it. A sequence of ‘ah’s’ of differing pitches and tones.
A wave of nostalgia washed over Scootaloo as she listened. If that wasn’t Sweetie Belle’s singing voice it was a dang good imitation.
She quickly got to her hooves ready to track down the source of the singing, but immediately she frowned. The same terrain of the quarry that made her knocks echo were now causing the singing to echo all over too, making it impossible to tell what direction it was coming from.
Then she noticed the pattern of the notes being sung. Closing her eyes she waited for the right moment to join in.
“We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders…”
“And we’ll never stop the journey…”
“Not until we have our cutie marks!”
She sang on until the theme song she wrote for a talent show had come to an end. Although to be fair most of the words in the final version had been Sweetie Belle’s revisions, or the suggestion that she used because they were without question better than her first dozen ideas for the lines.
With the end of the song, she listened as the last of the sung notes faded. The serene feel that had surrounded Scootaloo while she had sung faded with them, mostly because the return of silence had allowed her to notice the rumbling noise coming from the ground around her.
The moon was but a slim crescent tonight. While it might have been enough to get around the quarry with, it was woefully inadequate for seeing the details of the figures that emerged from the ground all around her. What she could tell was that there were now ten forms that surrounded her, and they were definitely canine. The also all had spears, and from the metallic click-clack sounds, she guessed at least five of them had guns too, probably shotguns from the sound of it. But their forms were also wrong. One shoulder being notably larger than another, some of the black silhouettes had horns but none of them matched the forms of the others.
And yet, the biggest tell Scootaloo could see was the way the shadows stood. They held a defensive ring around her. She had yet to cross paths with a tainted one this reserved.
The smallest of the figures pointed its spear skyward and slammed its shaft on the ground to command attention. Then he gave a command, “Pony come! Diamond Dog Queen summons you!”
“And if I say no?” Scootaloo asked in response.
The others pushed their spears closer to her, ensuring she could only stand still or walk straight ahead without getting stabbed.
“No one says ‘no’ to the Queen.”
Under any other circumstance, Scootaloo would have taken an answer like that as her cue to start fighting, but she’d come here to investigate the source of the singing and this seemed her best bet to do so. As little as she liked the idea of getting doublecrossed underground, as fighting her way out of that would likely be a lot harder than just starting the fight now and going in on her own terms, this also allowed for the possibility that she might not get ambushed down below at all.
“Lead the way then.”
* * * * * * *
At first the dog in the lead had to give Scootaloo a rope to hold on to as the tunnels were too dark for her to see anything at all. Then they came to a part of the cave system that had glowstone lanterns and she was finally able to see the source of the dogs’ oddities.
It turned out they wore armor and masks made of stone and painted black with red and purple gemstones. The armor had been crafted with a clear intent to mimic the dark magic influences of the taint.
As they removed their masks the smaller gray diamond dog in the lead seemed to notice how Scootaloo was examining their gear. And even though no question had been asked, he seemed to read it off of her face, so he spoke anyway.
“Ponies once feared diamond dogs, and most stayed away from our land. Then ponies feared demons more, so diamond dogs became demon dogs. Now most ponies leave us be again.”
A satisfied smile hung on his face as he explained.
Scootaloo simply nodded, then she added, “Good to know the taint hasn’t bothered you here, despite being so close to the Everfree.”
The smile left the dog, and a more hunted look entered his eyes, but he only responded with the words, “Queen keeps taint away.”
By now they had entered the living spaces of the cavern complex. The floor and walls here were smooth, all of the connecting pathways were through carved archways, like doorways that lacked actual doors. Although Scootaloo’s eyes were drawn to the double sized doorway at the end of the chamber, this one had a curtain blocking it off.
Once they neared it, the escort of larger more brawny dogs stopped allowing only the smaller lead dog and pegasus to enter.
Inside the floor was craved to have a tile-like appearance and at the back of the chamber was a throne made entirely out of gemstones. Before the throne were two more diamond dogs who wore robes that made them look like attendants rather than warriors. They also held large feathered fans, crossed together, currently obscuring the view of the Queen.
The dog beside Scootaloo, bowed low to the throne and said, “Queen! Spot has brought pony with screechy voice, just as you asked.”
Then the two attendants bowed to the unseen queen, before they turned, pulled away the fans and retreated out of sight, behind the throne.
Sitting on the throne was a white unicorn mare with a curly pink and purple mane. Tears filled her green eyes.
Doing her best to keep her composure she managed to speak in an almost clear voice, “Thank you Spot. This is exactly who I was hoping it was. You may go now, leave me with my friend.”
Spot bowed once more and turned to leave.
He hadn’t even made it halfway to the curtain when his queen broke down, running forward she began to cry out loud as she managed to get out the words, “Scootaloo! You’re alive! Thank Celestia you’re alive!”
“Sweetie Belle,” was all Scootaloo got out before her old friend pounced and wrapped her in a crushing hug.
And yet Scootaloo stood still, blinked and weakly held up a hoof and pushed in against the unicorn’s side as if to test if she were really real.
After a moment Sweetie noticed her friend’s lack of response and pulled back enough to look her in the face.
“Scootaloo? Are you okay?”
The pegasus shook her head. Then she leaned forward and let herself fall into Sweetie Belle, her leg shot out and grabbed hold of the unicorn more out of reflex to catch herself than anything else, but it got the job of embracing her fillyhood friend done.
Then closing her eyes, Scootaloo said, “I’m not sure I’m capable of ‘okay’ any more… Ever since I excepted that Rainbow Dash is dead… After all these years, I guess I never actually expected to find either of you alive. Forgive me, but I guess I need more time to let it sink in before I can give you the greeting you deserve.”
At that Sweetie returned the hug all the tighter and in the kindest voice she could muster she responded, “Oh Scootaloo, I’m sorry. As bad as things were for me, clearly I had it easy compared to the nightmare you must have lived through these past ten year.”
* * * * * * *
Sweetie Belle asked the Diamond Dogs to prepare a feast to celebrate the arrival of her friend. Although to call the result a feast seemed to be an exaggeration, as the result was more like a picnic in the main hall. Everyone had sparse portions to their meal. Even Sweetie Belle and her guest were presented with little more than a small bowl of salad and glass of water each. More of a communal dinner than a feast in Scootaloo’s eyes, although there was a bit of music provided by a drum and a piano. So it was a little festive.
“Sorry it’s not much, the garden usually only has to feed me,” Sweetie said, motioning to the roasted pork that the dogs were eating.
“It’s fine. Fresh, untainted food is always hard to come by these days. Well if you aren’t farming it yourself anyway.”
The unicorn mare nodded. “Given how scarce food got that first year, I’d imagine that anyone who survived the collapse was either a farmer, hunter, or one of their friends.”
“Or raider or slaver,” Scootaloo added mater of fact like.
“Or raider or slaver,” Sweetie agreed with a sigh.
There was a short silence, then Scootaloo spoke up.
“So, you’re Queen of the Diamond Dogs. How’d that happen?”
“Long story,” Sweetie started with a sad look in her eyes. “But I guess the short version is, Mom and Dad didn’t survive evacuating Ponyville. I would have died too, but the diamond dogs found my hiding place first, and they took me in.”
“Why’d they do that?”
The unicorn shrugged. “They said it was out of respect for Rarity, but I think they’re just a lot nicer than most ponies given them credit for. I think they’re just a bunch of big softies at heart and they just act tough to try and hide it.”
“Anyway, at first I just helped out however I could. As I grew older, my magic got stronger. And as that happened I started seeking out any spells I could that would be useful in this world. Especially healing spells. The Diamond Dog aren’t very good at medicine. Anyway I sought out old scrolls and books and stuff. But about five years ago I got a new scroll from a trader, it was a copy of the spell that can cleanse the taint. And when it turned out that my magic was strong enough to use it, well that’s when the Diamond Dogs decided I was too good at protecting them to be anything less than the leader.”
Another span of silence followed Sweetie Belle’s explanation, but once Scoots had finished and set down her empty glass, Sweetie asked, “Feeling better?”
The pegasus mare wanted to say ‘yes’ if only because she knew that’s what her friend wanted to hear. “I’m fine,” was what she said instead. Yet she knew that fine, was the same forced contentment she’d felt to deal with years of misery.
Now that she finally had a logical reason to feel happy for the first time in years she wanted to lift the fortress she’d built around her heart. She really wanted to FEEL again, but apparently a few hours wasn’t enough time to find a way to let real feelings out of her heart yet. And so she did the only thing she could do, the only thing she’d ever done since she’d left Storm Breaker Island, focus on the mission she’d appointed to herself.
“Sweetie Belle? Have you heard anything about Apple Bloom?”
The unicorn lowered her head solemnly. “I wish I hadn’t,” she answered.
“Dead?”
“Worse, she came back.”
Scootaloo tilted her head slightly. “She came back from the dead?”
“No, about three years ago she came back to Ponyville. Apparently she’d found some patches of ground around town that weren’t tainted and set up camp there. Started mapping out what parts of town were safe or something. Some of the other survivors of Ponyville even started joining her camp… then…” Sweetie paused to wipe a tear from her eye. “Then the slavers came.”
“Is she still there?”
Sweetie Belle bowed her head again, this time in shame. “Yes,” she whimpered. “As far as I know they’ve held her as a slave this whole time.”
Somewhere in the darkness, a little filly pounded on the walls of her fortress and shouted angrily, “And you just sat here and did nothing?!” On the outside all Scootaloo said was, “I see.”