//------------------------------// // Side Story: Vices Chapter 2 // Story: Desire // by frutineo //------------------------------// Vice 2: Greed. Rover had been working all day long; he and his pack had finished taking what little gems they could find in their old tunnels and where in the process of excavating more, he had wished they could find more than the meager numbers they were getting but after the incursion with that band of ponies and the whelp, they had had almost no luck finding anything that resembled a ruby or a diamond. “Carry on guys. I need some fresh air” he told to the rest of the pack as he made his way upwards, none of his subordinates said anything aloud, but he knew they blamed him for their dire luck, after all he had been the one to brought that stupid white unicorn here. _-_-_-_- _-_-_-_-_-_- _-_-_-_-_-_- _-_-_-_-_-_- _-_- There he sat on the upper part of the mountain he and his pack calls home, sitting on a cold rock feeling the freezing winds of an early autumn; he did not dare look up to the skies, his eyes staring at the dirt beneath his feet, depressed over the turn his life had taken almost 2 years ago… ‘Or was it over? Who cares either way… they took all of our gems and with it our pride and luck’ hi curled his paw into a fist so tight that his nails started piercing his flesh and slammed it against the floor in a fit of rage. “Why so serious?” an odd voice called to him, Rover got up by instinct, trying hard to see who was it that felt so threatening, he looked at a single pony, he was bigger than the ones he had seen before, it felt unnatural to call it a pony. “WHO… WHAT ARE YOU?” “relax my howling friend…” “I am friend to no pony, now speak up before I decide to serve you as a main dish tonight” Rover tried to look brave; in reality he was scared and was mere moments to pass out. “Well, well, well. It seems that you have some kind of grudge with my keen, I would ask what that grudge is about if I really cared but alas that is hardly the case” Rover was getting angry, he… it was mocking him “Speak up pony, what are you doing here?” “I came to visit you” Rover was taken aback had he heard right? “Yes you did hear right, I am here because of you, you see I am… how would you say? A seeker of talents… like yours, you, dear fella have something I desire” “And that is?” now he relaxed his stance, but not completely. “A talent for digging, a pack of soldiers which need gemstones, and must of all… a soul filled with an insatiable greed you must know that I could help you, the only thing I ask of you is for you to cooperate with me” “I would never ask for help to one of your kin… unless of course you have something I am interested in” The pony gave a slight smile from the corner of his mouth “you see the town just west of here? I know that in that puny little town by the forest, there are many, many jewels stored, the only thing you must do is get them” “Ha, as if you could do it that easily, the unicorns there would strangle us with their freaky magic” “Tsk tsk tsk. I would never have come here if I could not procure you the means to do so” his aura then crushed the rock the dog was sitting in, and from beneath the dust Rover could see a tablet engraved in it there were plans for a claw like glove. “What good would this rock do to me?” “Read” A little skeptical about the order, rover found himself reading the instructions carefully and his eyes widened at the realization “this says…” “It is what you need in order to counter those ponies down there” “But” The dog’s hesitation made him a little mad, he knew he had to do something drastic, his aura got close to the dog and just a tiny piece of it forcefully entered the creature. Rover howled in pain, though it was short lived, he now had a new found determination and his greed finally took over the better of his mind “upon second inspection of the stone slab, I think it would take me a week to get the troops ready” The pony gave a sly smile to his subject “very well, it seems that you have come to terms with my power, I can give you more later, but I do not want to be spotted so soon, do tell me, if we are going to work together could you tell me your name?” “I am Rover, what would your name be?” “D-…” he stopped himself from mentioning his old name he was not the colt he once used to be, he was much more than that, as he mused over for a while he finally came up with an answer “My name is…” _-_-_-_- _-_-_-_-_-_- _-_-_-_-_-_- _-_-_-_-_-_- _-_- Author's note: I know I am an irregular at updating but please hang with me, also I will be adding another story alongside Desire it will be called "Lunar Phases" and it will be the how did my OC ended up as Luna's student, and since the show is good with leaving plot holes for interesting characters it will help to explain why Luna did not knew what fun is, and what happenned to her in her absence from the public spotlight... I hope you can endure me as my mind rages through ideas and I am already thiinking about a shipping involving a certain crusader and some other... foal until I actually write it you shall one day see what I am talking about. Once Again I apologize, I never though this would be easy, but I also never thought it would be this hard, still I am having a lot of fun writing this Fic.