//------------------------------// // CELLULA // Story: Diamond Dogs // by zelkova48 //------------------------------//         "If you want total security, go to prison. There you're fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking... is freedom" - Dwight D. Eisenhower * * * A week had past since the meeting had concluded. Princess Celestia peered from high upon the balcony of her home as she oversaw the vast landscape that was laid out before her. The sun was slowly setting itself upon the horizon as Celestia willed it to and the image that she had created was absolutely breathtaking. However, even as she was marveling her own work from quite possibly the best spot in all of Equestria, she couldn’t help but feel a looming sense of dread as she continued to admire the whole of Equestria; the very nation that she, her sister, and the element bearers themselves have protected from the evils of the world. She had a problem at hand, and it’s name was Rover. * * * “Excuse me? What did you just say?” Celestia asked as she was stared down by Rover. “You heard me loud and clear, you all heard me” Rover snarled “I want redemption for my kind!” he shouted. “Redemption? What in Equestria are you talking about?” Celestia calmly replied. “Don’t act like you don’t know anything, Celestia!” Rover growled angrily “Once I’m done dealing with your insurgent problem, I want you to come clean about the diamond dogs. No more lies, no more hiding in the dirt. I want you to fulfill the promise that you and your sister gave to us all those years ago” “Really now? And what did we promise you?” Celestia asked as though his words were of little significance to her. “Coexistence” Rover answered with unwavering determination. “And what makes you think that you dirty diamond dogs can coexist with us?” Luna interjected “For all we know, your request would cause an uproar in the nobility! Our subjects will never accept slave driving mongrels like you into our lives!” “Who is truly the slave driver here, Luna?” Rover asked “The diamond dogs didn’t asked to be your personal footstool when it came to warfare. You tricked us into doing your dirty work all those years ago, and then you continued to abuse us whenever the opportunity arises just to keep us in line. You treat proud soldiers like mere sheets of parchment, we’re disposable to you” he took a deep breath before continuing. “Regardless of whether you’ll all immediately accept us or not, if you ponies truly value your virtues about friendship and harmony, then I’m sure that the future for both of us is bright” said Rover with a warm smile. “You... you can’t be serious” Luna said with shock evident in her voice “B-but that might take several generation to achieve! You’re dreams of coexistence will merely be a fruitless endeavor, you’ll just be wasting your time” “Heh heh, you underestimate the patience of a dog, Luna” said Rover “We have all the time in the world. I’m willing to wait as long as it takes, and so will my kin” he said as he crossed his arms together before relaxing himself. “Rover, that’s enough” Celestia stepped back in “I’ll... agree to your terms. So long as you hold up your end of the bargain...” “It might take some time, but rest assure, the insurgents will be taken care. I’m glad that you are willing to take such a big step for Equestria” said Rover as he got out of his seat and began to casually leave the room “Oh, one more thing” he looked back with fierce eyes “If you even think about betraying my kind again, and covering up your mistakes. I’ll personally make you suffer the pain of every diamond dog that’s ever died to help shape your perfect world. You have my word on that...”   * * *         Even though the current situation that had everyone in the royal guards chain of command in a frenzy was the insurgents and their threat of a new world order, Celestia knew that the real issue was with the latest K-9 of the diamond dogs. Rover was different from the rest; he was indeed a smart dog, perhaps a little too smart for his own good. The way he spoke, the way that he acted in front of her peers, it was like watching a ghost from her past come back to haunt her.         “Wulfe...” she thought to herself with gritted teeth upon remembering such a hated name“He shares that fool’s disposition. How troublesome” she sighed as she walked back into her room “I thought I had rid the world of petty dog dreamers like him when I sent him to fetch the elements of harmony all those years ago. Although, I never expected him to have a contingency plan” she visually grimaced “He left his legacy behind for someone else to pick it up right where he left off. He thought two steps ahead of me. It’s like he’s still there, laughing at me...” “But...” she scoffed “What did that idiot hope to accomplish by threatening me before my subjects? He can’t seriously believe that he can rebel against us, how brash. Still... what gave him the courage to make threats against someone who has the power to move the sun and the moon?” this thought alone stilled her heart for something so trivial, however, she quickly brushed it off when she realized how far fetched the idea of simple dogs going up against goddesses were.         “However... it never hurts to be prepared” she whispered to herself just as the doors to her room opened up to reveal the element bearers themselves “Hello everyone. I’m glad you could all make it” she greeted the six with a gentle smile “I assume that you all know the reason as to why I have summoned you here?”         “Yes, you wanted to talk to us about, um... Rover. Correct?” Twilight asked.         “That is correct, Twilight” Celestia replied.         “I just still can’t believe that he had the guts to make threats to you princess!” Rainbow interjected “I still think that it’s a bad idea to ask him for help. If anything, I should’ve kicked him out of there for acting so disrespectful in front of you!”         “And end up losing all of your front teeth? No way, it ain’t worth it, Dash” Applejack grimly added which caused Rainbow to visually winced upon remembering how brutally Heavy Artillery was taken down by Rover.         “O-on second thought. Maybe we should just leave him be” Rainbow shakily replied         “H-he’s t-terrifying” said Fluttershy as she involuntarily shuddered.         “I just don't get it” Rarity joined in “That Rover fellow was so... so different from when we last met him. I still can’t believe that he’s the same dog that I managed to complain to death. I’m still trembling from how easily he sent that one commander flying, doing something like that almost looked second nature to him!”         “Yeah! What’s up with that? He’s all scary and stuff” Pinkie added “What was he talking about anyway princess? He said something about you promising them something a long time ago and tricking the diamond dogs”         “Pinkie, don’t believe him! It’s just like him to spout lies like that, he’s trying to trick us!” Twilight shouted “Just ignore everything that he said yesterday and focus. We have a job to do” “Your enthusiasm is as vibrant as always, even after you became a princess, Twilight” said Celestia as she motioned for everyone to walk by her desk. With a quick arrangement of her quills and parchment, she pulled forth a large map of Equestria with two areas circled upon it. To the northwest of Canterlot on the map was where the insurgents had holded themselves up in with their fort, and to the southwest was the newly established base of operations to the diamond dogs.         “Huh? CELLULA? What’s that suppose to mean?” Applejack asked as she pointed to the diamond dog’s base “Is it some kind of code?”         “I don’t think so” said Twilight “I don’t think that word’s even in my vocabulary” “It’s just the name that Rover chose for his new home, that’s all. He told me that it meant something special but regardless of what the word means or why he chose it to begin with is not important right now” said Celestia “It’s what’s going on there that will be problematic for us if we don’t maintain constant surveillance on them” “Surveillance? What for?” Rarity asked “He already agreed to work for you. Why should we still be worried about him?” just as she aske, Princess Celestia pulled out a small stack of recently developed photos and placed them onto the table “Hmm? What’s this?” Rarity looked through some of the photographs and was stunned by what she was looking at. “These photos were taken early this morning by a small group of pegasi under Shining Armor’s command” she pointed to the photographs “As you can see, these are the same buildings that I had issued to Rover and his pack just a week ago” everyone’s jaws dropped to the floor as they all stared at the pictures. “W-what!? I thought you only gave them like three buildings!” Rainbow shouted “What is all of this?” “CELLULA” Celestia simply stated “In only the short span of one week, they have managed to expand from being a small rag tag band of soldiers into a small army. They are developing weapons and technology at an astounding rate to combat the insurgents and their organization is on par if not more efficient than our own. This is what’s troubling me” “I want you all to keep an eye on the dogs. I want you to make sure that they’re not planning anything behind our backs as they’re dealing with our little issue. Also, try and procure any of their blueprints, weapon schematics and building plans just so that we have some sort of advantage over them should they rebel against us. Is that clear?” she asked. “We understand princess, you can count on us!” Twilight exclaimed as all of her friends joined by her side. “That’s good to hear. Now, I would like for you to join up with your brother, Twilight” said Celestia with her best smile “He is a few miles away from CELLULA but just close enough to where he and his group of guards can watch the base without being detected. There will be a small outpost out there, good luck everypony” she concluded before everyone else was being escorted out of the room and towards the flying chariots. Celestia was alone once again, she turned around and walked back out on the balcony one last time to admired the beautiful sunset, with a single thought in mind. “Tsk, coexistence. Never in a million years will I ever walk beside the same dogs that set my nation ablaze all those years ago” * * *   Somewhere, close to the sunny shores of western Equestria lies a home . A home for those who have been called lower than the dirt that they live in, a home for those who still have the heart of a soldier, a home for soldiers to walk around aboveground without facing discrimination, a home for an army without borders. This is: CELLULA Even in it’s infancy, the diamond dogs forward base of operations is an impressive feat on both a technological and economical standpoint. The crude and crummy wooden buildings that they had originally received had been torn down, salvaged, and rebuilt to better fit the need of the war dogs. Everything from the wooden planks, to the iron nails that held the buildings together had been repurposed into something better than anypony could ever hope to create, even with their magic. What once was a dilapidated central command center, a sub par infirmary, and a few basic living quarters was now a modern and edgy base for Rover and his pack. The new command center was a masterful mix of wood and metal in such a way that it could easily withstand bombardment from heavy sieging yet was made using only parts that were needed instead of wasting valuable resources. It even looked better than the old one, like a triumphant tower basking in the sunlight. Standing in front of the command center was none other than Rover, surveying his pack and all the other packs that had joined up with them with a look of pride and confidence on his face. Various diamond dogs were out and about carrying out task and participating in the construction of their new home. There wasn’t a single dog out there that wasn’t pulling their own weight for the benefit of the pack. “You outdone yourself again, Spot” Rover commended as Spot walked up behind him “We managed to turn this old run down pile of garbage into something great. I’m impressed” “Knew you would, sir” Spot replied “It feels nice to be back on the surface, I can finally breath properly without coughing all the time now. Although I’m still a little peeved at the bare bones package of a base that we received from the ponies. Heck, I feel safer sleeping next to an angry ursa major than staying in those wooden death traps” “Bah, I knew they were going to give us shoddy housing and equipment anyway” said Rover as he and Spot began to walk around their new home “Even if I had asked for some kind of deluxe package, we’d just be stuck with more worthless junk than we can use. It’s better for us to expand using the natural resources of the land rather than getting all of these cheap materials from the ponies. By the way, how is the expansion going?” he asked. “We’re ahead of schedule on the production of the armory, it took us some time but we managed to move almost every forge out from underground and had it transported over to CELLULA” said Spot “We currently have the techies researching and developing better weapons and armor while we work on construction of the intelligence department and the mess hall itself. The barracks for training new recruits is the only new building that is completed at the moment.” “What about the infirmary?” Rover asked “Last I checked, that place it looked more like a medieval torture chamber rather than a place meant to treat the wounded” “Some of the boys fixed and the clean the place up. We can now treat multiple patients at once in a sanitary environment with better equipment. Scalpels, sutures, the works. They also stocked the cabinets with less... outdated forms of medication” Spot said. “Outdated?” Rover asked with a raised eyebrow. “Um, yes...they found a jar full of leeches and a bottle of... holy water, inside the medicine cabinets” Spot said, trying his best to make it sound less absurd than it should. “Yikes, that bad huh?” said Rover “I’m just glad to hear that everything is working out for us so far” he looked around himself and smiled at the fruits of their labor “Take a good look around, from here on out, this is our new home now. Not just for the dogs in our pack, but for every diamond dog out there” he took one last look around before his smile faded away “Though we have a true home, that doesn’t mean we’re free. Not yet" he softly whispered to himself. "If anything, this is our new prison”