Spike and the others followed after the Diamond Dog guards that had found them staring at the mines, in amazement as they watched some of the dogs burst into song and start singing about digging holes, something that they seemed proud of based on what they were hearing as they left the area that the mine was in, though for the most part everyone kept silent as they followed Spike, who was a few steps right behind the couple of dogs that had found them, as he was eager to see what was on the other side of the barrier and get a closer look at the city, because of the fact that this wasn't even in all of the history books, to his knowledge, and he knew there were others who would share his opinions once he and the rest of the group returned to the surface. Of course he was amazed by the fact that none of the guards had taken their weapons or tried to confiscate their armor, given that they were intruders and everything, so he could only assume that the five dogs that were around them were either new to their jobs and had no idea what they were actually supposed to do, which did seem odd when he thought about it, or they were just as dumb as the couple of Diamond Dogs that he and Rarity found the last time they were in the cave system that the dogs brought the fashionista to, which he kept to himself for the time being, just to see what the guards did next. As they left the area that the mine was located in the guards escorted them down the rest of the spiral shaped walkway, passing by a number of floors that none of them were really given a chance to see since the dogs wanted them to keep moving, though it didn't take them all that long to reach the bottom of the spiral walkway and stepped out into the area that was at the base of the magical barrier Spike had found when he was searching for gems with his magic, though that was when they discovered that there were more to this place than what they assumed, because on both sides of the barrier rested Diamond Dogs who were in the middle of tending to fields, something that couldn't grow down here without sunlight. That told Spike that either there was a way for sunlight to get down here, even if the ceiling didn't seem to support that thought at the moment, or the Diamond Dogs had figured out a way to grow and cultivate all sorts of plants underground, something that was going to freak Twilight out when she got back from her adventure, but he kept all of this in mind as they walked forward, as he figured that writing everything down might be a bad idea given that there were guards around them, so he'd write it down in his notes later, once he had a chance to do so.
While the other Diamond Dogs had been miners, and had been wearing the attire of miners from what they could see, all of the dogs that were around the fields were dressed in red shirts, blue pants, and a few even had straw hats on, though as everyone saw what they were wearing it became clear that Rarity was wondering how in the world the Diamond Dogs had the fabric and materials to make all of their attire, though Spike had the feeling that the dogs had a method to make their own types of fabric, which could then be turned into clothing for those who called this city home, though it wasn't long before the dogs noticed them. Sure enough the farmers seemed interested in who were standing near the guards, because this had to be the first time many of them had seen a pony or even a bunch of dragons, though at the same time a few of the farmers were worried about it and stayed where they were working, not wanting to get close to them in case they were dangerous criminals or something, which was understandable given that they had next to no interactions with the outside world, save for when he and Rarity found the couple of Diamond Dogs some time ago, though it was nice to see that there was more to the Diamond Dogs than what both of them had seen earlier. Everyone stared out at the fields the dogs were tending to, which seemed large enough to sustain the city, even though there had to be more to the diet of these Diamond Dogs than just fruits and vegetables, or at least Spike assumed such a thing, since they had no information on this race, and his attention was drawn away from the fields as they approached the barrier that the guards had been escorting them to, where they passed through the barrier and actually entered the outskirts of the city itself, which Spike was surprised by since he figured it would do something to him and the others, only it seemed to do nothing to intruders and might just be a protective barrier to protect the city from a collapsing ceiling, even though the ceiling looked like it was just fine and that it wouldn't break in the near future. Once they were on the other side of the barrier the group followed their escorts as they headed for the city itself, where it gave everyone a chance to study one of the large statues that they had seen earlier, something that Spike was very interested in based on what they had seen so far, especially since all of the statues seemed to be of warriors of some kind, before they pulled away from the statues and headed towards the stone city that they had discovered, which had a good number of Diamond Dogs walking around and happened to be enjoying themselves, in what appeared to be a marketplace.
What surprised the group was that all of the Diamond Dogs were wearing attire that was far different from what Spike and Rarity knew the first three had worn, the ones that kidnapped Rarity to be exact, as these ones were wearing casual attire, some had clothing that matched the profession they worked on, sort of like how the Artisans wore some clothing that let others know their professions with a glance, and, much to Rarity's shock, there were even a few dogs that were dressed in somewhat fancier clothing, as one of them happened to be wearing a rather nice black suit with a white undershirt, sort of like what Fancy Pants wore, complete with black pants, a cane that was made out of strong oak and had a golden head at the top, and had both a glass monocle and a black top hat. It was rather interesting to see that there were Diamond Dogs that had some class, in Rarity's eyes at least, and that they were more civilized than what she and Spike remembered, even if most of them stopped what they were doing as everyone noticed that the guards were escorting the group towards what seemed to be one of the important parts of the city, where Spike realized that if this city was similar to Canterlot then they were heading to a castle of some kind, maybe a keep when he considered the rest of Diamondia, as the dogs called it just a few minutes ago. One thing they could see was that some of the dogs gathered near each other and seemed to be in the middle of whispering to each other, no doubt worried about the fact that non Diamond Dogs had found their city and had breached the barrier, even though that was due to the fact that the guards had brought them through the barrier, which made Spike take a moment to think about the situation and came to the conclusion that whoever ruled this city might not be happy with the guards bringing intruders through the barrier, but he said nothing as he considered that and kept his eyes on the layout of the city, since it was fascinating to take all of this in. From what he could see there were shops, a few stores that seemed to sell everything else, houses, and, interestingly enough, even a library that really surprised him and Rarity, where he could only imagine the amount of knowledge that was contained inside the tomes and scrolls that had to be inside the structure, something he would have to ask the ruler of the city about, if it was determined that they were fine and not in trouble, though he eventually turned his gaze away from it and focused on the path that was in front of them, as he was building a mental map of the city for later, even if it would be incomplete since they were taking the direct path to the center of the city.
What they discovered was that there was a keep of some kind resting in the center of the city, one that was as tall as the castle in Ponyville, minus the tree bits, and seemed to be made out of smooth stone, though resting in front of it, right in the direct center of the city, was a stone statue of a Diamond Dog who seemed to be a warrior king or something, based on the armor that was on his chest, lower body, his arms and hands, and even on his tail, though he had his right hand out and it appeared he might be holding a treasure of some kind, one that appeared to be a gleaming red colored gemstone that had been carved into a triangular pyramid shape, as it had three sides and the bottom, but Spike could feel the magic inside it and suspected that it was providing the power to the barrier. Based on that piece of information Spike suspected that this gemstone, as it was an actual gem and was floating above the statue's hand, was similar to the Crystal Heart, the artifact that was located in the center of the Crystal Empire and powered its magical barrier, and that removing it or even messing with its magic would disable the barrier that was protecting this massive city, but he was more interested in what he could learn about it and knew that a trip to the library would solve that mystery, which meant convincing the Council of Three Paws that they weren't enemies and that this was pretty much an honest mistake. From there they walked forward and entered the keep that was beyond the statue, where they passed through the steel doors that happened to be resting between them and the inside, not to mention a pair of armored dogs that were much like the guards that were escorting them whatever their final destination happened to be, even if they knew it had to be the part of the keep the Council was resting in, though on the other side of the door they found that there was a path on their left, one on the right, and one right in front of them, with the last one having stairs for them to use, where they waited for a few moments before their escorts headed up the stairs and approached another set of steel doors. On the other side of the door they found what had to be a throne room of some kind, with a golden throne, one fit for the ruler of the Diamond Dogs, resting in the back of the room, at the highest point since it was raised from the rest of the room, before they found three more thrones right in front of the ramp that lead to the kingly throne, one that appeared to be made out of bronze, another made out of what appeared to be darkened iron, and the third being made of silver.
Standing in front of each throne had to be the one who sat on it, the head of the clans, based on what Spike figured from the name of the Council, though due to the fact that two of them were more like the statue outside the keep and one was slimmer and more ladylike the group came to the conclusion that the Council was made up of two males and one female, where they found that the one on the bronze throne was a warrior, based on the metallic armor he was wearing right now, he had an imposing helm that would fit over his head resting near his throne, and there was a broadsword attached to his belt, while the female Diamond Dog on the iron throne had lighter looking armor, mail armor based on what Ember knew, that looked like it might be able to stop any weapons while wearing a black shirt with no sleeves and black pants, and had a circlet around her forehead, leaving the second male Diamond Dog on the silver throne, who wore no chest piece and no shirt, save for brown pants and brown bracers, though he also appeared to be a warrior, based on the hammer that was resting on his belt.
"What is the meaning of this... interruption?" the female Diamond Dog asked, where her tone revealed that she was more like the nobles of Canterlot, meaning she was used to certain things happening and maybe that certain rules were obeyed, while at the same time revealing that part of her was annoyed by the guards opening the door without having someone announce their presence, which informed the group that a meeting must have been going on before their arrival and that it was either important or it could be put off till Spyro, Spike, Ember, and the others were dealt with, though that was when the dog and her fellow rulers glanced over their bodies and stared at them for a few moments, before the female sighed as she glanced at the three guards that were at the front of the pack, with the other two stood behind everyone, just to make sure they didn't do anything funny, "Rover, how many times have we told you not to interrupt our meetings? Also, have you been trained to secure any weapons that any possible intruders might have?"
"Um, I honestly have no idea... and no?" the leader of the three novice guards, as that had to be what they were based on what the female Diamond Dog had just asked him, replied, though Spike and Rarity recognized the voice instantly, which meant that this was the leader of the three dogs that had interrupted them long ago when Rarity was looking for gems for her dresses and kidnapped her to for her to look for gems for them, even though she turned the tables on him and both of his friends, allowing her to leave with her freedom and the gems that she had pointed out to her captors, while at the same time his words seemed to make all three of the council members sigh in disappointment.
"Twelve times, that's how many times we've told you to not interrupt our meetings and make sure to announce yourself when we're in here," the warrior dog stated, showing that Rover and his friends might be some of the greatest failures in their city, or at least that was what his tone told the group that was just listening to them talk, even though he took a few seconds to raise his right hand to his face and held it there for a few moments, which showed that he and the rest of the council members had to be disappointed in what the three younger dogs had done, since Rover and his friends were at least ten years younger than the council members, before he lowered his hand and stared at them, "Guards, please escort Rover and his friends out of this room and give them some lessons on what they should do in these situations, to make sure their training sticks this time, because if this happens again we might have to find a new profession for them... but, while you do that, we will deal with the individuals that have been brought to our keep."
The more experienced guards nodded their heads and beckoned for the three novice guards to follow them, which was what they did in the next few seconds, to which the three council members stared at the group and glanced at each other a few times, where it was clear that they were thinking about what had just happened and the fact that they actually had intruders standing before them, something that confirmed Spike's thoughts on the matter, especially since the explorers who explored the entirety of Equestria mentioned a place like this, so it was possible that they were the first outsiders to stand before the Council of Three Paws.
"This is the first time, in a little over a thousand years, that we've had guests in Diamondia, as none have had the skills to find us... save for one thief, anyway," the wild dog said, mostly talking to the other council members, something that made the group a little happy since 'guests' sounded a lot better than 'intruders', even though all of them were both worried and a tad bit interested about about he had said, about there being a thief that had apparently found this place and kept quiet about what they had seen, for whatever reasons that they might have had, before he pounded his chest with his right fist for a few seconds, like he was getting ready to introduce himself to them, "I am Butch Wildpaw, Leader of the Wildpaw clan and their representative for the Council of Three Paws, along with Alice Ironpaw, Leader of the Ironpaw clan, and Gruff Bronzepaw, Leader of the Bronzepaw clan, and we rule over both Diamondia and our clans. Who are you guys, and how did you find your way to our hidden city?"
"I am Spyro, along with my siblings Spike and Ember, along with my girlfriend Cynder," Spyro answered, taking a moment to beckon to those he named with one of his hands for a few seconds, just so the council members knew who was who, as this was going to be a decent number of names for the trio to take in and having some hints as to which name belonged to which individual might be helpful to them, even though he could see that Butch, Alice, and Gruff were actually paying close attention to what he was saying, meaning that Spike was going to have a field day with this, since it appeared that all of the Diamond Dogs they had met so far, save for the three guards they recognized, were smarter than what they assumed and it would change history books, before he continued with the introductions, "along with our friends Flame, Aurora, Elora, Hunter, Amelia, Bianca, Rarity, and the Professor, and our mentor Malefor. As for the second question, Spike used some of his magic to copy and improve a spell that Rarity used earlier and it allowed him to find a number of gem deposits that were in the cave system that they originally spotted those three Diamond Dogs in some time ago, but when he channeled the spell he felt it bounce off of something that was deep underground, deeper than what he and Rarity had been the last time they were in those caves, and he wanted to see what he was detecting before we headed back to Ponyville, only for him to discover what I'm assuming is a hidden passage between the caves and this city, which brought us to an opening that revealed both the magical barrier we saw earlier and the city it was protecting."
"So you were in our outermost training grounds, looking for gems, and felt something you were unfamiliar with, so you decided to investigate it?" Alice inquired, where it appeared that she was interested in what they were saying, while also revealing that the cave might actually be in Diamond Dog territory and that ponies who raided that area might be thieves to the dogs, though at the same time she also appeared to be worried about something, which had to be the fact that a group was able to detect the barrier that surrounded their city, while at the same time Butch and Gruff were silent as they listened to what she was saying and what the group had to say for themselves.
"That's pretty much it. We had no idea that we would find the hidden passage, much less an entire city, when we decided to follow the magical signature I felt earlier," Spike replied, as that was the truth of the matter, he wasn't expecting to find everything that they had found so far and he knew that the rest of his group had to be feeling the same way, though even as he answered the question he filed away the information they had been given, that the cave system might be part of the underground empire that they had discovered and that all of the gems actually belonged to the Diamond Dogs, which he determined could be a reason the dogs didn't like the ponies all that much, or at least that was what he suspected based on the lack of information they had, especially since none of the dogs lashed out at Rarity when they saw her, before he returned to the topic at hand, "it was simple curiosity that caused us to follow the magical signature down to this place, as we know next to nothing about the Diamond Dogs and this proved to be one of our best chances to learn something about another species of this world, but we did not come here to do harm to you or your empire."
"We can tell, as while you have weapons and armor you didn't use them to force your way through the city, like one would have expected intruders to do," Gruff commented, revealing that the council members, at the very least, were smarter than the three younger Diamond Dogs that had bothered Rarity when she went looking for gems a long time ago, which Spike made a note of for later, since this was interesting and he was sure that the rest of the scholars and historians of Equestria would feel the same way once all of this information he and the others were getting was released, "you are also different than the thief that broke into one of our storerooms, on the outskirts of our empire, and made off with a throne that we were supposed to keep safe and sound, as the thief in question knocked out every guard that was guarding the storeroom and only took the one item from us... supposedly it was designed to nullify magic, but we've never seen it work since we've been hiding it, which is good since we feared it might interfere with the barrier."
"Was it a dark stone-like throne with protrusions that were shaped like thorns and full of holes?" Spike asked, because he knew of only one throne that matched the description that Gruff was giving them, as that happened to be the throne that Chrysalis, back when she was the Queen of the Changelings, used against her enemies in an attempt to fulfill her plans for Equestria and those that bested her in the past, though he waited for the council members to take a moment to glance at each other and nod their heads in agreement, showing that they understood what he was talking about, "Well, then you won't have to worry about it, as it was eventually destroyed and the pieces were either scattered and forgotten by those who broke the throne, or the fragments were destroyed as a precaution, and the one who stole the throne was beaten by some of our heroes, even though she's been missing since that event occurred, either hiding somewhere else or she has decided to stop being evil and just fade into the background, never to be seen again."
Part of that was technically false, as they had a good idea where Chrysalis was located, or at least a general idea based on the image they had been shown when the spirit of their planet talked to them, where the hard part was telling if she was going to stop being a villain or if she was going to pick up from where she left off when her memories returned, as right now she seemed to be a kid that had no idea who she had been or what crimes she had committed, but he wasn't about to tell the Diamond Dogs about the other worlds or the fact that demons were coming towards their planet to take it over and do whatever they did to planets they conquered.
"So, what are you going to do with us now?" Ember asked, because while she knew that Spike or Rarity could accurately answer whatever questions the council members had for them, just like Spike had done so far and Spyro had done the same after introducing them to the Diamond Dogs, she was interested in figuring out if they were going to be welcomed as guests of the city and be allowed to leave, even though Spike would insist on coming back for the library they passed on the way to this keep, or if they were going to see them as intruders and try to take them all down, to imprison them for the foreseeable future, where the latter would involve her and the others beating up the Diamond Dogs.
"Before we answer that, there is another question I would like to ask you," Butch said, though this time around his tone revealed that this had to be more important than what Ember was asking, something that made the group pay attention since there was no telling what he might ask them or if they even had an answer to whatever he might ask, and he took a few moments to either collect his thoughts or to wait and make sure they were all ready before revealing what he wanted to ask them, "Have any of you had contact with the Earth Mother recently? A little over a week ago my shamans and I felt several disturbances in the Earth Mother's power, like she might have been fighting something or casting a spell, and we found that nothing was wrong when we went to investigate the disturbance, but a few days ago we experienced a rather massive surge in her power, like she was communicating with someone else for a time, someone that wasn't us, and just before we could figure out what was going on the surge disappeared... the Council of Three Paws, including my shamans, are worried that something is happening and that we might not be ready for whatever the Earth Mother knows about, and you seem to be more knowledgeable than most ponies."
The group stood there for a few moments, as it was interesting to see that there was a clan of Diamond Dogs that actually talked with the spirit of this planet and were worried about her, while at the same time being able to feel when something happened, meaning that they had some earth magic to aid them in their efforts, since Spike figured that they wouldn't be able to channel the power to summon the barrier in the first place, before they glanced at each other, clearly debating if they should reveal what was going to be happening at some point in the near future to the Council of Three Paws or if this was something that should be kept to themselves, only to sigh as they silently came to a decision.
"The Earth Mother, as you call her, has to be the spirit of Equus, of our planet," Spike replied, as he was the one that could accurately explain what was going on to the three Diamond Dogs that were sitting in front of them, not to mention explain anything that they didn't understand, while at the same time the rest of the group remained silent as they listened to him, even though some of them had to be wondering if this would allow them to convince the Diamond Dogs to join the forces that Ember was planning on training for the incoming invasion, before Spike opened his mouth and continued going over what he knew about the situation, "we're not sure how she did it, but she discovered that our planet is in danger, as there is a force of demonic creatures making its way to our planet, so they can assault it and take it over, and the disturbances you felt, the ones that were bunched together, was Equus sending a number of displaced, as Discord calls them, to other worlds so that they'll gather allies and come back with the power to repel the attackers, and the last surge you felt was her showing us both the locations that the other displaced were sent to and the threat we face. We haven't told anyone else because we don't want to incite panic, as most of the ponies aren't fighters and they'll cause chaos if they hear that our world is going to be under siege at some point in the near future, so Ember and I have decided to start training all sorts of creatures from this world to be great warriors, starting with the guards of Canterlot and the dragons of the Dragon Lands, but we were planning on trying to recruit other races into a united force and train them away from everyone else, so we don't have someone interfere with what we're doing... maybe you would consider joining forces with us, to push back the incoming threat and save our world?"
The council members said nothing to that for a time, clearly thinking about what he had said and what leaving their hidden city meant for the rest of the world, especially since the ponies would be surprised by the sudden arrival of so many dogs and their previously unknown civilizations, and they glanced at each other a few times, as if they were debating what to do in this situation, while at the same time Rarity seemed stunned by what she had just learned and Spike reflected to tell her what was going on once they were away from the council members, since she was the only one among their number who had no idea that the demonic army was even coming and he would need to correct that at some point, before the three dogs that were in front of them shifted their gazes back towards the group.
"We require some time to talk about this, as committing some of our forces to this combined army, and revealing our city to the outside world, is no easy thing to ask of us," Alice stated, which was pretty much what Spike and the others were expecting, especially after seeing the lengths the Diamond Dogs went through to keep themselves hidden from the rest of the world and the other races, though at the same time she pulled something out of a container that was behind her iron throne and stood up, where she walked over to where the group was standing, revealing that she and the others had to be as tall as a young adult dragon, and held out a slip of paper for them to take, "for now you will be treated as our guests and this will allow you to visit several stores, shops, and the library, though we will have a pair of guards follow you and call you back once we have reached a decision on the matter."
Spyro and the others nodded their heads, to show that they understood what Alice and the council members had decided so far, before Spike claimed the piece of paper which allowed them to access several of the buildings, which he was happy to have with them, and then everyone headed for the entrance of the keep, even though it was clear that two guards were following some steps behind them and made sure that they were in their view at all times, something they were fine with as they headed out into the city and started to explore it, since there wasn't much else they could do while they waited for the council members to call them back to the keep.
"Spike, darling, you were planning on telling me about this... event... weren't you?" Rarity asked, because while she wanted to directly ask about the demonic invasion that he and the others apparently knew about, something that seemed like she and the rest of their friends needed to know about so they could prepare for what was coming, she respected his efforts to make sure the rest of the civilians didn't know about the demons and the threat that their planet faced, even if she was a little pissed that this was the first time she was hearing about all of this and that it was only due to them finding a hidden city of Diamond Dogs and telling its leaders about the threat.
"Not really. We didn't want you to worry about what's coming our way, and given Sweetie's habit of eavesdropping on you, well, I decided not to say anything for fear of it spreading like crazy," Spike replied, as while he understood that Rarity had to feel betrayed by them not telling her anything about what was coming their way in the near future, whenever it might happen, he knew that if Sweetie learned about the impending invasion and the threat their world would be facing, from either them talking near her or her listening in on what Rarity told her friends, that she would cause panic by spilling it to all of Ponyville and possibly the rest of the important settlements of Equestria, "but that's the summary of what's going on and part of the reason that we're so set on making sure the rest of the races are on friendly terms with us, even though we have other, more realistic, reasons for heading to the other provinces of this world... though we're going to have to ask both Cadance, Shining, Thorax, and whoever is leading the remaining races, since we're planning on training a number of warriors to defend our cities and lands."
Rarity said nothing to that as they came to a stop at the one building that most of them weren't terribly interested in, save for Spike, Bianca, and Malefor, and that was the library, where they found a female Diamond Dog sitting behind a table off to the left of the opening and the attire that she was wearing, a purple shirt and blue skirt while having a pair of glasses on her face, indicated that she had to be the librarian, though she raised an eyebrow as she noticed them and Spike held out the paper they had been given, causing her to look at it for a time before nodding her head and allowing the group to take some time to look at their tomes and scrolls. Of course the librarian was interested in who they were and what they were doing here, something that Bianca did her best to explain while not mentioning the impending invasion that Spike and the rest of the dragons didn't want to tell anyone, though as she did that Spike headed into the depths of the library and did what he did best, he separated himself from the rest of the group and explored the two story library, which surprised the rest of his group since they weren't expecting to see all of this in the first place, before they gathered at one of the tables and simply waited for him to return, leaving the guards to stand near the door as both of them wondered what they were doing right now. Spike was on a hunt for information, anything he could get his hands on for that matter, and it wasn't all that long before he found several tomes that caught his immediate attention, one being about an artifact that the author called the Diamond Prism, which had to be the glimmering gemstone they had seen above the statue's hand before they were escorted into the keep to meet the Council of Three Paws, a tome that revealed that it was definitely a magical item that acted similar to the Crystal Heart in the Crystal Empire, which protected the empire from dangers and that meant this new artifact did the same thing, along with providing a magical barrier that made it hard for anyone to detect the city in the first place, unless what Spike did happened. Another tome he found revealed that the city might have been an ancient smithy that the Diamond Dogs used to make the various weapons, armor, and items that were eventually stored inside all of their storerooms, and if the throne that Chrysalis stole was any indication they might have found a way to actually arm all of the warriors that would be defending Equus when the time came, and the tone even contained a detailed list of every item, regardless of what it happened to be, that had been made inside the city, something that interested him and would be something that he would go over, just to see if the Diamond Dogs made any of the other artifacts that the ponies knew about and had either forgotten about or just believed to be legends.
One of the tomes that he was really interested in reading was the one that detailed how the city, or empire as the author called it, came to be, where it appeared that it was built over a thousand years ago, which confirmed what the members of the Council had said earlier, and had been built around the main forge that had been hidden in this cavern, though it did look like it had been constructed as a safe haven so they could hide from the dangers of their world, like Discord since the Spirit of Disharmony had been a problem for everyone in Equestria at one point in time, and once they spent a few years underground, after fleeing from Discord, they adapted to living down here and leaving the surface behind, with limited exposure to the surface and sunlight. It wasn't totally clear who actually activated the barrier that surrounded the empire, as the tome contained several different accounts on what happened and they ranged from there being a being called a Sorcerer King, a magical Diamond Dog who wielded an impressive amount of magic, who raised the barrier, to it being the aid of an outside force, such as Star Swirl the Bearded, a legendary figure in pony history, and there was even one account where the author believed that it was Discord himself who put the barrier in place to keep them trapped underground, as a joke or something, and it only recently, like within the last year or two, grew weak enough to allow everyone to venture outside the city, even though that was the most outlandish of them all. Out of all of them Spike believed that the tale of the Sorcerer King might be the right one, that the powerful Diamond Dog channeled his power and the Diamond Prism into a barrier that protected everything that was inside Diamondia, something that remained active as it pulsed above the hand of the statue of a previous ruler, before he turned towards the last tome he was interested in right now, because he found that there were too many tomes inside the library and that he wouldn't be able to read all of them in the time allotted to him and the others, so for right now he was focused on the ones that he shared with the rest of the group. This final tome was of the shamans that Butch had mentioned earlier, who happened to be spiritual guides that communed with the very elements of their world, or at least earth, air, fire, and water, and kept them in balance with each other, something that was much easier for them to do since Equus was a peaceful world, and there was no telling what sort of powers Butch and his shamans had, even when he was armed with the information that was inside the tome, but this did confirm that they had Diamond Dogs that could speak to the spirit of their world, or to the earth elementals to be exact.
In the end Spike determined that all of the tomes contained their own trove of information, especially when he considered all he had learned so far, which made him all the more eager to get his hands on the rest of them and read everything that was inside the library, something that caused the librarian to raise an eyebrow in surprise since she had never seen this before and it was refreshing to see someone interested in knowledge, which the rest of the dogs either lacked or didn't care about, before they found a new Diamond Dog, a skinny female one that appeared to be wearing black armor that just so happened to cover nearly all of her body, save for a slot for her eyes, who handed something to the guards and quickly vanished before their eyes, meaning she was skilled at using stealth skills. From there the guards beckoned and the group nodded their heads, where Spike sighed and magically returned the rest of the tomes to where he had pulled them from, before wishing the librarian well as he and the others headed outside so they could follow the guards back to the keep, as it appeared that Butch, Alice, and Gruff had come to a decision on what to do with them and whether or not they wanted to join the forces that Ember was trying to create between the races of Equestria, even though there were others that they needed to talk to before such a thing could happen and Thorax and Shining were next on their list. As they headed back to the keep Spike made a note about the statue and determined that it wasn't the Sorcerer King, rather it had to be a more important figure in the history of the Diamond Dogs, one he hadn't learned about yet and might not learn about for some time, though he kept it at the back of his mind for now as everyone followed the guards back to the throne room, where it was easy for them to see that all three of the council members were patiently waiting for them to return, to which they came to a stop once they were back inside the room in question. Another thing the group discovered was that the three dogs from before, Rover and his friends, were standing off to the side and seemed to be waiting for the council members to speak to them about something, making them wonder if they would be the first members of the Diamond Dogs to join Ember's combined forces for the training program that she wanted to make, though instead of saying anything they kept quiet as they came to a stop inside the throne room and they wondered why the Council of Three Paws had been made, instead of focusing on a single ruler, but that would be something to learn about at a later date.
"As you can see, we have come to a decision in regards to whether or not we should join the forces that you are readying, among other things," Alice said, confirming what Spike and the others were thinking about, even though the Council had told them that they would be brought back once a decision had been reached, hence the reason that the group remained silent as they waited to hear what the Council of Three Paws had decided, even though each of them were wondering if it was a positive outcome due to the fact that Rover and his pals were standing nearby, as a negative outcome and a fight would end up in the dogs being beaten up, "We have determined that we will be joining your forces for what is coming in the future, to fight the threat that the Earth Mother warned you about, and as a sign of good faith we'll be sending Rover and his friends as the first recruits to come from Diamondia, despite the fact that Gruff will want to challenge whoever is your strongest warrior at some point in the future, just to test your skills out, though Butch is also offering to take our assistance to another level and train some of your forces in the art of communicating to the elements. In addition to all of that, we have agreed to give you access to our city, so that any patrols that see you in the future won't act like what you went through to get to this point in time... what I'm trying to say is that the empire of Diamondia will be fully joining the fight to defend our world and that we'll do everything in our power to bring ruin to our enemies."
"You have our thanks, members of the Council of Three Paws." Spyro said, as that was the truth of the matter, though they were more impressed by the fact that this time around they were able to talk to the rulers of the Diamond Dogs and not have to fight them, like what happened when they visited the Dragon Lands and had to engage Garble's group, but he also knew that things were changing for the provinces of Equestria, as the peaceful lands were being drawn into battle and it looked like there was no changing that fact, so all they could do was ready themselves before the rest of the displaced were able to return to their home world, along with their forces for that matter, but he and the others also took a moment to bow to the rulers of the city, just to show some respect towards them.
While Rover and his pals didn't seem all that happy about the fact that they were being put in this position, mostly due to the fact that they had bothered Spike and Rarity the last time they encountered each other, they were smart enough not to argue with their leaders and bowed their heads as well, while the rest of the group knew exactly what would be coming once they got back to Ponyville, and that was that Spike would make plans to come back here and raid the library for more information regarding the empire and the rest of the history that went into this place, because he wasn't about to leave all of this behind and giving him access to the city meant that he would be focused solely on the library. Ember, on the other hand, seemed eager to see if she would whip the three Diamond Dogs into shape and turn them into true warriors, since it appeared that they were unable to learn from whatever lessons their mentor or teachers were giving all three of them at the moment, an interesting challenge for her and Titan, not to mention the rest of the Peace Keepers, while Spyro and the rest of the group would be focusing on seeing if they could get in touch with some of the other leaders to get the rest of races in on a joint task force to be trained in preparations for the demonic invasion, despite the fact that they knew that all of them would likely ask a price and that the Council had kept quiet about it since there was no point discussing such a thing if they were taken out. Once they knew what was going on, and the Council was fine with them leaving for a time, the group stepped out of the throne room and headed for the surface once more, because they needed to put the final touch or two on what they were planning before trying to get in touch with the rest of the races, even though Spike smiled for a moment, as once everyone got back to the surface he was sure that once Daring Do found out about this place she was going to have a field day, after getting over that she didn't discover this first, and learning more about the empire and the history it held was going to keep him busy for some time, even though they were eager to see what else the future held for them once they got back to Ponyville.