//------------------------------// // Plan of Attack // Story: Diamond Dogs // by zelkova48 //------------------------------//         "The best weapon against an enemy is another enemy" - Friedrich Nietzsche * * * Rover and Spot were busy inspecting and improving various elements of CELLULA as the day slowly chugged on by. It was nice, however, to enjoy such a moment of peace and productivity on the surface rather than below the dirt that they formerly lived in. They wished that days like these would last longer than a week, but they know that to enjoy their life like this for any span of time is only but a dream.         “So this is CELLULA huh? It looks better than I could ever imagine” a voice spoke from behind the two. Rover and Spot turned around and was greeted with the presence of another diamond dog. Only this diamond dog had a peculiar look to him. He was a dingo with tan fur and wore what looked like a heavy vest, possibly made from gluing several pieces of linen together to created a piece of hard material, hard enough to withstand the impact of piercing arrowheads and musket balls alike. His vest also came with a variety of pockets that had a large collar that covered the lower half of his face. He wore a set of round tinted goggles over his eyes and had a loose hood that obscured the rest of his face. It was difficult to tell what emotion that he was conveying, save for his tone of voice whenever he spoke. He carried what looked like a prototype of a compound bow. It was unlike anything anyone has ever seen. While a normal crossbow would be made out of a combination of wood and metal, the one he had was made entirely out of metal, and the limbs was backwards rather than forward. Overall, it was a menacing weapon, one that could only be created through diamond dog ingenuity. “Hunter? Is that you?” Rover asked as he went wided eye at the dingo. The dingo only smiled in return before pulling back his hood to reveal a part of his face. Hunter The Eyes of the World “Well, it’s been years, hasn’t it... K-9, or should I say, Rover?” the dog spoke with a curt chuckle “I’ve never thought that I would get to see you again, ever since that whole incident with the elements” he said as he came up and gave Rover a hug “It has been far too long my friend. When was the last time that we ever talked together? Five years, seven years?” he asked. “Try ten” Rover replied as he returned the hug “I’m glad that you could make it old friend. War is coming, and I would be honored to fight alongside you once again” Rover pulled away as the two saluted each other for old time sake. “It’s good to be back, those ponies from Appleloosa were driving me mad” said Hunter as he rubbed his head “Ever since they got all friendly with the buffalos, their nonstop stomping had kept me up for days. My pack and I had to relocate to the caves around the badlands just so we could sleep right” “I always did wonder what happened to you guys when the buffaloes came” Rover said with a snicker “Say, is your motto still the same?” Scout nodded to Rover. “Yup, still is” said Hunter “See everything. Hear everything. Know everything” he recited “And it shows. Not a single thing happens around the south without our knowing. If a fly lands on on a pile of crap, or if some poor idiot’s wanking off to some of the passing mare, rest assure, we’re hidden somewhere in the background. Always watching, waiting, unseen, undetectable, untraceable” “I would guess as much from the leader of the southern pack. Your pack’s specialty is reconnaissance, after all” said Rover as he shifted his gaze to the crossbow in Hunter’s paws “That looks new, did your pack invent that?” he asked. “Yes, we did actually” Hunter replied “We took that old, archaic crossbow, and improves nearly every aspect about it. For one, it’s made out of metal, titanium to be exact, making it durable in the desert as well as being very light to carry around” “It looks kind of funny, the limbs are backwards. It looks like a pitchfork or a trident to be honest” said Rover as he further examined the weapon “What are these wheels near the end of the limbs?” “It a new feature we developed called reverse draw, hence it’s oblong shape. Furthermore, the wheels are there to help increase the tension of the drawstring without the need for longer limbs” said Hunter “With it, my arrows can fly ten times farther than any that are fired from a regular crossbow while maintaining a small silhouette. The monocular that’s attached to it also helps for scouting” “Sir, I don’t mean to butt into a heartfelt conversation between you two about weapons and whatnot, but there's still the plan of attack to discuss,” said Spot. “Your boy’s right, Rover. We can chat later, I already sent the schematics of the crossbow to the techies. You should see some of these in development very soon” said Hunter as he pulled his hood back up “You will find that they will come in very handy” “New weapons and upgrades are always welcome here” said Rover “We’re taking on some crazy pony secessionist, we’re going to need all the firepower we can get” he then turned to Spot “Alright buddy, lead the way” without missing a beat, the three began to set off towards the command center. “Oh yeah, I almost forgot” Hunter spoke as they were walking “A couple of dogs from my recon group spotted a group of ponies stationed a few miles around here. According to the intel, the captain of the royal guard is there, along with the element bearers” “Oh really now?” said Rover with a raised eyebrow “It seems that Celestia doesn’t trust me. What’s her angle? Hmph, tell your boys to maintain twenty four hour surveillance on those wannabe spies. I want every word, every action, every moment of their life recorded as of today. Something smells fishy, and it ain’t the chum by the beach...” “Aye, Rover. You can count on us” Hunter said as they all entered into the very heart of the command center. * * * The inside of the command center was large, very roomy and had a group of dogs working on the inside, making sure that everything was in tip top shape at all time. As the little group passed through, all of the staff members respectfully saluted their higher ups before returning to their work. The group saluted back as well before the passed through a large set of double doors and into a war room of their own. The war room at the command center was not as large as the one that was at Canterlot, nor was it as extravagant. It was, however, more functional in respect. There were large maps, chairs, a round table, a fine bottle of brandy near the corner of said table, and a half filled wooden box of cigars right next to it. “Eh? Spot, where did you find a box of stogies?” Rover asked as he picked up one of the cigars and took a whiff of it “We’re practically in the middle of nowhere” “We cleaned out our storerooms back at the old burrows and found that peculiar little thing all the way in the back. I thought it just contained some weird knick knacks, but lo and behold there were cigars in it. It’s a little old, but cigars do get better with age” Spot pointed out ”Although, I think you might want to read the plaque that’s on it. You might find it interesting” he suggested. Rover closed the box and attempted to read the dust plaque upon the box. To his surprise, the name, Wulfe, was inscribed on it. These were the same set of cigars that his mentor always liked, back before the diamond dogs went underground. Rover felt a mixed set of emotion as he prepared to smoke one of them; it was either joy from remembering his time spent training under his mentor, or sorrow of when he died. Regardless of whether or not what he felt was true, he knew one thing was for certain, he had a box full of incredibly satisfying cigars in his possession. The box also came with a small box of matches which were still useful after all those years. With a quick flick of the match on his thumb, he lit the cigar and braced himself in one of the chairs in the room. However, as Rover and the rest seated themselves, they noticed a little something off about the room. “Where is everyone?” Hunter asked as he looked around “Are we the only ones here?” “You’re the only one who had actually made it here, Hunter” said Spot “Do you know how hard it is to move an entire pack of dogs from the four corners of Equestria in under a week while carrying confidential equipment?” “Alright, alright, I get it” Hunter conceded “Ugh, let’s just get this little meeting over so that we can get out to the field. Where’s the brandy?” he asked as he poured himself a glass. * * * “Alright, Spot. Lay it on me” said Rover “How are things looking as of now?” “Honestly, as impressive as all of our progress is as of late, we’re far from waging war with an entire enemy faction head on” Spot spoke with uncertainty “Our numbers are still ten to one in comparison with the ponies that stole all of the spells. Even with all of our new tech we still can’t take them properly should magic be involved” “I take it that you at least have a solution for this?” Rover asked with a grimace as he puffed on his cigar “Come on, Spot. Don’t leave us in the dark, we need all the info we can get if we’re going to take on magic users” “I’ll start from the top” Spot said with a sigh. He then pulled out a large sheet of parchment that had the important details of CELLULA. All the info that was on the sheet were about the number of dogs on site, level of tech that they were at, and the abysmal amount of information that they had on the insurgents “For now, we can disrupt the flow of these pony’s progress through guerilla tactics” “According to the information that Luna gave us, there is close to a thousand ponies within the walls of the fortress to the far north” Spot pulled out a map and pointed to the insurgents base “After a brief headcount of everyone in CELLULA, we only number around ninety nine in ready and willing soldiers” “That’s not good” said Hunter “So until the other pack leaders get here, we don’t have a snowball’s chance in Tartarus of waging war against these crazy ponies” “We aren’t entirely limited in this matter, however” said Spot as he pulled out an envelope containing photos of the insurgents fort. According to the picture, the base was a massive structure of metal and stone. There were guard towers everywhere with twenty four hour surveillance around the clock. The only entrance to the fort was a massive iron gate that was reinforced with magic. To make matters worse, there were constant patrols scouring the outer walls of the fort for any threats to their cause. “These are the only picture that the princess could provide for us on the insurgent’s base” said Spot “As you can see, If we were to attack head on we would get shredded to bits from their weapons and magic. However, there is another way” “Wait, you’re not seriously suggesting...” Rover asked as he trailed off. “Yes, that is exactly what I am suggesting, sir. A solo op” said Spot “An army might not be able to make it through, but one dog, one soldier in the right spot can crack the base wide open from the inside out. Metaphorically speaking of course” he looked over to Rover “You were trained under Wulfe, Rover. You know better than any of us, heck, any single being on this planet how to pull off a successful operation like this” “Spot, you’re talking about a suicide run here” said Hunter “If Rover gets caught, we’ll have to abandon him at the mercy of these ponies. We can’t do this, it’s too risky” “I disagree” said Rover, smoke leaving the sides of his jaw “For now, we’re tight on resources and soldiers as it is. If I can somehow sneak in, steal some information, and possibly murder the guy who’s behind everything, we might be able to settle this quicker than we originally surmised. But even if I don’t get the puppet master, I can still give us a leg up on everything until everyone else arrives” “Bah, if you’re so intent to die so quickly... then allow me and my pack to assist you, Rover” said Hunter with a smile behind his collar “We could keep watch on the outer walls of the fort. We’ll keep watch to make sure if anything else happens while you’re sneaking about. The only problem is that we have no way of communicating with you once you’re inside” “Actually, I was just about to get to that” said Spot as he pulled out folder full of schematics as well as the actual devices themselves and splayed them all over the table “We have several new gadget and tools, specifically made just for us” “Hmm, interesting. How are these toys going to help us?” Hunter asked, eliciting an annoyed growl from Spot for calling his gadget’s toys. “Well, these toys are what’s gonna keep K-9 from being captured and tortured till the end of his days” Spot sharply retort with a stink eye for Hunter. Spot pointed to a device that looked like a metal box with a grate on it “To solve the whole communication’s issue, we invented this neat little device” “What is that? It looks like those speaker thingy that I saw that one white unicorn use for her obnoxious wubbing sounds” Rover snarled “Thank goodness she only plays in Canterlot now. She was a scourge on our sensitive ears back when she played in Ponyville” “This little beauty here is a long range, two way radio. Exclusively designed by the lab boys themselves” said Spot “Unlike regular speakers, which can only relay sound out, we can relay sound through both ends of two or even ten of these radios all at once, all with a simple push of a button. We’ll be able to talk to each other covertly without alerting the ponies of our position” “Ha! Chalk one up for the dogs” Hunter clapped “So how exactly do these things work?” he asked. “It’s some technical stuff, do you really want to hear it?” Spot asked with a raise of his eyebrows. “Alright, just give the short version” said Hunter, not wanting to go through a whole lecture of how a little metal box would work. “Okay, pay quick attention to me. I’m gonna lead you through this nice and slow” Spot held up the device “This big button lets you talk when you push it. This little button makes a small signal noise to notify the user that someone else is calling. This knob changes the frequency of the radio, allowing you to speak with other dogs on their own frequency. Got it” “Spot, you don’t have to speak to us like we’re pups” Rover deadpanned “We get it, just move on with the rest” Spot pulled out various firearms from under the table and neatly arranged them on the table, each weapon as unique as the next. There were various kinds of weapons ranging from lever action rifles, prototype shotguns, and more bizarre implements of subterfuge than you can shake a stick at.         “Whoa, that’s a lot of firepower” said Hunter as he lifted his goggles up in disbelief “Where are the techies who made these things, I wanna shake their paws”         “I knew you would like them” said Spot with a smug look on his face “Rover, I’d take it that you managed to observe some of the guards weapons while you were enjoying your trip at Canterlot?” he asked.         “Yeah” Rover cracked a grin “They best weapon is a long range flintlock musket that only has an effective range of about twenty feet, give or take. Heh, black powder and musket balls are their most technologically advanced weapon’ he puffed on his cigar “When it comes to the more practical stuff, we’ll always be a mile ahead of them in technology. Cartridge based ammunition is the stuff of dreams, let me tell ya...”         “Exactly, we’ll be outfitting our boys with these when we’re about to proceed with our guerilla raids” said Spot “Well, for the time being of course. Other packs with better expertise in firearms will share some of their plans with us once they arrive. But it’s not the guns that we should bother with, I just wanted to show you guys what we had at the moment” he pushed the weapons aside and placed on the table what looked like a dark, uncut ruby chunk that was the size of a grapefruit. “This is what I really wanted to show you two. This is our secret weapon against the unicorns” said Spot with a stern look in his eyes. “Whoa, slow down there, Spot” said Rover as he sat upright “I thought you told us that we had nothing that could defeat magic users” “I did, I never said anything about us getting some sort of advantage over them” said Spot “We’re not magicians, Rover. We’re soldiers. We’re dogs” he tapped on the large stone “This is what I like to call a bloodstone, or as the ponies call it, a tricky ruby” “What makes this bloodstone so special?” Hunter asked “How is it gonna help us against magic?” “When I asked the dogs from the intelligence division to start gathering dirt on unicorns, and even the princesses, we learned of a unique mineral that is immune to all forms of magic” said Spot as he lifted up the bloodstone to have it shine in the sunlight “The reason why the ponies call this a tricky ruby is because they can’t hold it with magic. The ponies just suspect that it’s nothing more than a normal rock, unaware of it’s magic nulling potentials” “For whatever reason, the bloodstone can render all types of magic null and void. Which is how I came up with an upgrade to our collars” said Spot as he pulled out some perfectly cut pieces of bloodstones “Here, switch out the current gems on your collar and place this on it instead” Hunter and Rover did as they were told and outfitted their collars with the bloodstone fragment. Rover stared at his collar for a bit, the new gem looked bolder than the ruby that was previously on it before. He fidgeted around with it for a while, trying to make sure that it fit just right. “Alright, it’s on” said Hunter “Although, I don’t exactly feel any different” “You’re not suppose to feel anything, it’s just a unique gem, that’s all” said Rover “Theoretically speaking, they’re suppose to stop you from getting caught in the unicorn’s magical grip” “Theoretically?” Rover raised an eyebrow “So you’re telling me that there is a chance that these things are nothing more than just some random rocks around our necks” “I didn’t say that” Spot replied “If unicorns can’t pick this thing up, then they can't pick you up either if you wear it. That’s the idea. You’ll thank me later once these things save your life” “Why do I get the feeling that I should take your words with a grain of salt?” said Rover “By the way, do you think that the techies can do anything else with that bloodstone?” “You mean like weaponizing it?” Spot inquired “I was thinking about the possible applications that the bloodstone is capable of when it came to warfare, such as tipping our ammunition with it to get past those pesky shields of their” “We established a good mining operation by an abandon mine near here. But trying to find bloodstones is difficult enough as it is, having to distinguish it from a regular ruby. This chunk is really all that we have now, those pieces around your neck are the only ones that I had commissioned to be made, until we find more of these minerals that is” “I’m sure you’ll think of something” said Hunter “And when you do, I want to personally be the first dog to shoot a bloodstone tipped arrow through the head of a unicorn” a cruel grin formed from behind his collar “They’ll never see me coming” “Alright, I’ll leave the technical stuff with you, Spot” said Rover before he noticed that one of the schematics had several red marks on it. Out of all of the schematics that he was shown, this specific schematic looked like something that Spot didn't want to show ”Hey, Spot. That thing looks interesting, what the heck is it?” “Oh that, it’s nothing. Just a crazy idea that I had” said Spot with a dismissing wave The techies and I were thinking about making it, but... we thought it would be impractical” Rover waked over and picked up the plans to thoroughly examined it. It looked like a rough sketch of some sort of two legged mechanical monster with a jaw dropping amount of weapons attached to it. Judging from the notes and marks on the sketch, Spot understood the science and mathematics behind whatever it was that he was trying to conceive. Though Spot and the rest of the lab boys dismissed this as a mere flight of fancy, but Rover could see the practicality in the design. “I think you and the techies are undermining yourselves” said Rover “I like what I see in this. I want you to divert some of our resource towards the development of this... this... well, I’m sure that you can come up with a catchier name for this thing than I can” “How about, metal gear?” Spot joked. Before he knew,everyone in the room broke out in a bout of jovial laughter. Falling to the floor as the thought of calling this bipedal war machine metal gear. Eventually, they all managed to pick themselves up and settle themselves back into their chairs as they still clutched their chest in exasperation. “Phew, that was good. Heh heh, metal gear” said Rover “Meh, regardless of what you call it, I’m sure you can pull this off” he looked over his shoulder and looked out at the bright sky. It was not sunset yet, and there was still the rest of the day to go “I think it’s time that we call it a day now” he suggested “For now, let’s just get comfy until we can strike” “Heck, I’ll drink to that” said Hunter as he downed another glass of brandy “In the next few days, we’re going to infiltrate perhaps the most impenetrable fortress in all of Equestria, save for castle Canterlot, in one afternoon. Those ponies won’t know what’ll hit them” “But that’s not all we’re going to do” said Rover as he put out his cigar “Spot, I got a mission for you and Fido to pull off in the meantime” “Sir? What will you have us do?” said Spot as he took a seat by the table. “You overheard me talking to Hunter about the ponies that are spying on us, correct?” Rover asked as Spot nodded in return “I want you and Fido to accompany Hunter’s scouts as they counterspy the ponies. Keep tabs on them, and if possible, dissuade them from doing anything stupid while Hunter and I are away for the mission. Is that clear?” “Sir, yes sir” said Spot. “Good, because the days of peace will soon come to an end” said Rover as he took in a deep breathe. “Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war”