//------------------------------// // Rough Diamond: part 4 // Story: EverDream // by mm1145 //------------------------------// A cave in a forest in the present Starlight spun round and the explanation died on his lips as he saw the creature that addressed him. It was bigger than he was -- about half as big again -- and stood on four limbs, but he did not recognise what it was. It looked a bit like a pony, and it was addressing him in pony, but it did not look like any pony Starlight had ever seen. “I- I- I-” he stammered out. “Yes you. Who are you?” the creature asked, prodding at him with a scaly claw on the end of one of its forelimbs. Starlight’s mind had gone blank. He could not place the creature in front of him. It had the basic body shape of a pony, but bigger. It also had some very un-pony like features; in addition to its claws it did not have a mane, it had green dragon-like scales running down its back, and what looked like leathery wings half way along its flank. Looking past that, he could see that it had a muscular tail with the same scales as well. “I- I am Starlight,” he said when he found his voice. “Indeed, pony,” she said, looking him over carefully, “and what are you doing in my home?” “Your home?” “Yes, pony. My home,” she said, gesturing about the cave. “It has been my home for many times longer than you have probably been alive. Now what are you doing here?” Starlight tried to think, but the shock of the appearance of this creature and her, he thought it was a her -- face shape that was the most obvious distinguishing feature of ponies, but hers looked more like a dragon’s. “I walked in from the forest,” he eventually answered a bit lamely. The creature pulled back surprise, showing in her strangely very pony like eyes. “You walked here?” she asked incredulously. “My dear little pony, do you have any idea how dangerous the forest you walked through is? There are lots of creatures in that forest who hate ponies. And there are many more who love pony,” she added with a humourless laugh. “Who or what are you? You are not a changeling -- I would know -- so what are you doing here?” Starlight tried to step backwards, driven back by the creatures’ penetrating stare, but he backed up against a cupboard. It rattled and some of the ornaments fell over. “I am a pony,” he said defensively. “I am Sir Starlight of house Northstar. I was onboard the Everdream, that is an airship, we crashed in a clearing. I--” He stopped. How did he explain the White Pony to this creature. “I got lost in the forest and found my way here, the cave looked inviting so I walked in. Sorry,” he added a bit forlornly. The strange creature backed down. “Your airship crashed?” she asked her, suspicion visibly being replaced with curiosity. Starlight nodded. “Around midday?” “How did you know that?” The creature laughed. “My dear little pony. I suspect the whole forest knows that. Your airship made quite the impression round here.” She looked Starlight up and down and her manner visibly relaxed. “Well, my little pony. It seems you have the luck of Luna to have survived first the crashing of your ship, and then to find your way to one of the only caves in the entire forest whose occupant would not eat you.” She seemed to come to a decision and held out one of her forelimbs in an obviously welcoming gesture. “Welcome to my home, stranger. I am Rough Diamond. Out of Rarity by Spike,” she said formally. Starlight’s education and background took over and he touched his fore hoof gently to the outstretched limb. “Your kindness and hospitality is well received,” he replied in the formal tones he had been taught. “I am Sir Starlight Northstar. Out of Wind Whisperer by Star Moon, thirty fourth lord of Northstar.” In the back of Starlight’s mind several things snapped together. He twisted his head to look at the picture of the gaily dressed ponies. “Spike,” he said, suddenly turning back to look at Rough Diamond. Suddenly the creature’s strange shape made sense. “The dragon who was the companion to Twilight Sparkle. Your sire was the companion of the legendary Twilight Sparkle?” The strange dragon/pony creature in front of him smiled sadly. “She always preferred it when I called her aunt Twiley.” Starlight stared at Rough Diamond in shock. “You knew her! You knew Twilight.” Starlight’s mind raced “You must have known the goddess.” “Not very well, I am afraid,” she said calmly. “Not with the same personal relationship as auntie Twilight, but my mother did take me to Canterlot a few times and I did meet the princesses.” A thoughtful look came over her face. “They seemed quite interested in me. But I was very shy when I was young, and all the looks I got in the big city upset me.” Starlight’s mind reeled. “By Luna,” he stammered out, “personal knowledge of Twilight Sparkle and the goddess. How Papyrus would like to meet you.” Rough Diamond shook her head. “Well, my little pony,” she said with the air of somepony dragging their mind back. “Seems that if I am not going to eat you, I think it would be polite if I feed you. Would you join me in a meal? I believe I still have something that ponies eat.” She waved a claw ended fore hoof towards the back of the cave. Starlight’s stomach reminded him that it had been quite a while since he had eaten; he gave a small nod and followed the strange creature back through the piles of bric-a-brac that filled her home. ------- Ponyville, the past The late autumn sun was shining down on the outside of the dress shop in the centre of Ponyville, and the weekly plan issued by the weather office said that it would continue to do so for at least the rest of the afternoon. It even shined on the large cart full of crates and furniture parked outside, despite the cloud of gloom that seemed to emanate from the forlorn creature sitting on the back. Rough Diamond sat on the tailgate of the large cart and stared down at the collection of gems in her large claws. Part of her hated those claws -- they were one of the things that set her apart from her friends in Ponyville -- but in the scheme of things they were a fairly minor problem, and unlike some of the others they where actually very useful for doing things. She placed the pile of gems down beside her on the cart and picked one up between her claws. She carefully held it up less than a claws length away from her face. She closed her eyes and tried to reach for her magic. For a few moments she struggled to find the inner balance she needed, but she persevered like she had been taught, and eventually she found the touch and was able to grip her magic. What little there was. She opened her eyes and looked at the gem with her magic enhanced vision. To her normal eyes the gem was a pretty uninspiring ruby -- irregular in shape with a flaw running through the centre of it. It was one of the discards her mother had declared ‘totally un fabulous.’ If her father had been around then she was sure that he would have eaten it on the spot. In fact Rough Diamond herself was considering whether to make it a light snack, but she wanted to ‘look’ at it first. Through her magic enhanced vision the gem seemed to glow with a sparkling, fractured light. She twisted the gem in her claw and moved it closer to her face. Yes, the light looked fractured like the gem itself, but maybe... She reached out her other claw and touched the gem, channelling her magic into that claw. She knew from her lessons -- and from what the other unicorns had told her -- that most unicorns did not need such close contact for their magic. One of the simplest things that any unicorns could do was to levitate objects at a distance, and she felt a twinge of frustration that even this simplest of pony tricks was beyond her abilities. She fought down the anger before it broke her concentration and focused her magic through her claw and into the gem. The light of her magic flowed into the gem, flowing around and into the pulsating light of the gem itself. When she thought she had sufficiently filled the gem, she gave her magic a little twist. The gem in her hand shattered, some of the outer bits falling away. Rough Diamond relaxed her magic and flicked at the gem with her claw. The rest of the outer shell fell away, revealing the shape beneath. She smiled at what had been revealed. A baby fire ruby, she thought as she carefully examined the now almost perfect miniature heart shaped ruby lying in her huge claw. It had not been a real fracture after all, it had been where the fire ruby had been subsumed in another half formed gem. Through her magical sight she could now see the pure light of the fire ruby clearly as it sat and pulsed at her. She put the baby gem to one side and reached for another of the reject gems. Her contemplation of the second gem was interrupted by the door to the dress shop crashing open. She looked up to see a large red earth pony stallion walking slowly backwards through it, followed by a large piece of furniture and that was in turn followed by a slightly smaller orange pegasus stallion. He was followed by her mother. “Oh, do be careful with that, Big Mac,” her mother said in her worried tone. “Oh, look out Sweet Apple it is slipping at your end. Careful of the door.” Rarity looked up and saw where her daughter was sitting. “Oh, Diamond, dearie,” she called out. “Be a dear and come here and lend a hoof.” Rough Diamond put down the gem and jumped of the cart. She walked over to where the pair of stallions were struggling. Standing on her back hooves, she reached out with her claws and grabbed the end of the piece of furniture, removing almost all the weight off the young orange pegasus. He turned his face up to her and smiled. “Thanks Ruffie,” he said. “No sweat, Sweetie,” she replied with a grin. Sweet Apple really did not like that nickname, and so, of course, she used it at every opportunity. Between the three of them they managed to get the furniture onto the cart. “Oh, well done deary,” Rarity gushed, reaching up to rub the scales on Rough Diamond’s back. That was actually quite hard to do as she had grown decidedly bigger than her mother. “You always were my most precious gemstone.” Rough Diamond grimaced at the childish nickname. “Now,” Rarity said, turning back to the house. “I think we just have a few dozen more boxes up stairs and we are done. Come along boys.” Big Mac and Sweet Apple shared a despairing look and followed Rarity back to the shop. Rough Diamond was about to return to her gems when she heard a call of “Ruffie!” She turned to see three figures coming over the little bridge towards her. She recognised two of them and she waved enthusiastically back. Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake were some of her old friends from school, although their schooldays were long behind them now. And while she did not recognise the third pony, she realised who -- or more actually what -- he was. “Hi Pound, Hi Pump.” She waved as they came up to the cart. “And who is this?” Pumpkin put a hoof proprietarily round the shoulder of the young pegasus stallion standing by her side. “This,” she said with a smile, “is Wind Walker. He is my very special sompony.” “Reeeallly?” Rough Diamond replied, looking over the top of the happy couple at Pound Cake. Pumpkin’s bother just rolled his eyes. As far as Rough Diamond knew this was Pumpkin’s third ‘very special somepony’ this year. “Well. I am Rough Diamond,” she said, extending a claw to the pegasus. The young stallion just looked at it wide eyed for a few seconds, and then gave a grunt as Pumpkin hoofed him in the ribs. “Ur, yes. Nice to meet you,” he stammered out as he reached and very gently touched his hoof against her claw. There was a few more seconds of silence. “Well,” Rough Diamond said, breaking the awkwardness. “Sweet Apple, Big Mac and mum are inside moving boxes, why don’t you take Wind Walker and introduce him to them, Pumpkin?” “Yer, let’s to that,” the young unicorn said, half pushing her still shocked colt-friend towards the house. As they left Rough Diamond heard some harsh whispering and caught words like ‘rude, claws and monster.’ She turned back to Pound Cake. “Where did your sister find him?” Pound Cake grimaced. “I am afraid he is my fault. She met him in Cloudsdale when her and mum came to visit me at training camp.” “Is he EFC?” Rough Diamond asked, a bit shocked. Pound Cake had left home and joined the Equestrian Flying Corps during the latter half of the war, and had taken part in the final assault on the ‘palace of the People,’ although not in any major way he was always quick to add. ‘I could barely see the Discord dammed place from where I was,’ he always answered when anypony asked him. “No.” Pound shook his head vigorously. “I think she met him in a doughnut shop or something -- you know what she is like.” Rough Diamond nodded. Unfortunately she did know what Pumpkin Cake was like, having spent many a night with her weeping into her side over her latest spurned ‘love of my life’. “So you are really moving out,” Pound Cake said, gesturing to the packed cart. “Dad said so in his last letter, but I did not really believe it.” “Yep.” Rough Diamond sighed. “We really are moving. Mum says she and dad have found a nice space in the middle of the forest, and dad and aunt Twilight are there now building a house.” Pound Cake gave her a questioning look. “Well dad is a bit too large to fit inside Carousel Boutique any more,” Rough Diamond explained, “and mum says she wants to retire from the dress making business, and they think that a bit of peace and quiet in the forest would be good at the moment -- what with the end of the war and all.” Pound Cake nodded at this. Equestria was not the happy place it had been before the war. As Wandering Thought, an ancient pony philosopher had put it: ‘It is impossible to find victory in a civil war. While you may seem to have won, in the end you will find you have always lost more.’ For the past ten years the war had torn Equestria apart, and even with it over a great depression seemed to have settled on the land. Princess Celestia had withdrawn from public completely, not even coming out for the latest Summer Sun Celebration. A similar depression seemed to have settled over her mother and father, as well as auntie Twilight and her friends. To Rough Diamond they all seemed to be suffering from the same great sadness. “And you are going with them?” Pound Cake asked. Rough Diamond could see the worry in his eyes. “Where else would I go?” “You could stay here in Ponyville,” he responded quickly, “or move to Canterlot, or even Cloudsdale.” Rough Diamond looked down at the pegasus. Even though she was younger than the Cake twins, her large size had always made her feel like an older sister, and Pumpkin’s need for somepony’s shoulder to cry on had forced her into the more mature role. “You are sweet, Pound, but you know I can’t. I have never really fitted in, even here where ponies know me.” A lot of the ponies and others that lived in Ponyville had come to accept her, and some like the Cake twins had grown to be her friends, but that had not stopped the majority of ponies from being nervous around her. Dragons were fierce, everypony knew that. And since Spike had grown larger, she had noticed that ponies give him furtive little side glances when he was in town. And by extension she got the similar looks. They were always polite to her but she knew what they were thinking, is she going to turn on us? What if she leaps at me with those claws? It was not conscious, but it was there. “Anyway.” She tried to force a note of lightness into her voice. “Mum will need me to make sure that she has somepony to sort out her cottage and keep dad in line.” At that thought, the door from Carousel Boutique opened and the ponies came out carrying the last load of boxes. Big Mac and Sweet Apple placed them on the cart with Rarity fussing around them making sure that they were all properly packed. Pound Cake and Rough Diamond were just walking over to the cart when the door slammed open again and a sobbing Pumpkin Cake rushed out, followed by Wind Walker. The two ponies pushed past Pound and Rough Diamond and galloped onwards. They stopped on the little bridge, and even from where she stood, Rough Diamond could clearly hear the sound of shouting. “Oh dear,” she sighed, watching the two arguing ponies. “I hope you and your mum can cope with her this evening.” “If we can’t we will send for you,” Pound Cake replied with a smile. They had reached the cart; Rarity had got all the boxes sorted and Big Mac and Sweet Apple had harnessed themselves into the traces. “You all packed, Dearie?” Rarity asked from the seat at the front of the wagon. “Yes, mum,” she replied with a little exasperation. “I was finished packing this morning.” “Well then. Big Mac, Sweet Apple. Let’s go,” her mother said with cheerfulness that Rough Diamond thought was a little forced. The two stallions heaved and the fully laden wagon set off out of town. Rough Diamond turned back to Pound Cake. “Goodbye, Pound,” she said, putting out a claw to shake. The pegasus surprised her by throwing his forelegs round her neck in a hug. “Goodbye Ruffie,” he said, and Rough Diamond could hear tears in his voice. “Stay safe.” “You too, Pound Cake,” she said fighting back tears of her own. She disengaged the clinging colt and looked him straight in the eyes. “…and come and visit.” “I will,” he promised. “…and bring your troublesome sister as well.” “I will.” He grinned, but Rough Diamond could still see the tears forming in the corners of his eyes. “You better,” she said, and with a wave she turned and trotted off to catch up with the cart. ------ The Everdream, in a forest clearing The sun was half set and the star-swirl was starting to climb into the sky as Genoa paced up and down the deck. He had been doing that so much today that he feared that he was going to wear a trench in the solid wooden planks. He stopped and looked at where the brightness of the star swirl was just clearing the horizon. Earlier in the voyage, Papyrus had given him a lecture on its nature. Apparently it was not just a collection of very large bright stars, as most ponies assumed. Papyrus had told him, lectured him in fact, that it was much closer than the stars, and was most probably made up of a collection of glowing rocks. When Genoa had asked him how in Equestria he could possibly know that, the old scholar had gone on at length about timings, measurements and angles. Genoa had regretted asking. Above him flyers held the now repaired fore lifting envelope in place, as the crew carefully fed lifting gas into its repaired cells. More ponies lifted the spell-plate back into place and reattached it to the base of the envelope. Soon they would be able to test the runs, and then with any luck they would be able to start to charge the system. Soon after that he would be able to lift his ship out of this Luna cursed forest. A dark coated flyer broke out of the trees, skimming the ground and darting up to the Everdream. He landed next to Rainstorm and the two held a whispered conversation. Eventually Rainstorm waved the flyer away and trotted over to Genoa. “They still out there?” he asked her. She nodded in reply. “Forked Lighting says there are another two packs moving in from the west.” Genoa grimaced. For the past few hours their scouts had been reporting the presence of quite large packs of hunting Diamond Dogs. The semi-bipedal canines did not seem to be actually hunting for the Everdream, but Genoa did not think that if they came across her they would just let them be. They would be able to deal with a single pack, but if several of them decided to gang up on them it would be a different story. Diamond Dogs were not particularly good fighters individually, but they were tough and vicious, and most of the packs Genoa had heard of usually sold their services are mercenaries, so they tended to be experienced at nothing else. “How long?” Rainstorm asked, waving a hoof at the lifting envelope and the ponies replacing panels in the canopy. Genoa considered the work and did a quick calculation. “Quite a while yet,” he replied, then stopped and looked at Rainstorm. “What are you thinking?” “I was thinking that me and a few of my ponies should go and see if we can lead some of those doggies off on a little wild phoenix chase.” Genoa considered it. “Interesting thought, but that would alert them to the fact that there are ponies in the forest, and that might pique their interest and start them searching.” “They are already searching, Genoa. If not for pony then for something. I have never seen so many packs spread out over such an area -- if we do not do something, I think it is quite likely that they will find us before we manage to get this flying brick airborne.” It was a sign of how worried Genoa was that he let that insult to the Everdream slide right over him. “You think you can manage that without taking causalities?” he asked. Rainstorm shrugged. “No promises, but it’s not like we will be directly engaging them. I was thinking more about letting them see us and then flying off. You know the old ‘over here, no, over there’ game.” Genoa looked back at the work crews on the envelope. “Okay,” he said eventually. “It is going to take us a couple of hours to get the pressure in the envelopes back up to lifting strength. You think you can keep them distracted for that long.” “Not a problem, they are Diamond Dogs; it is not like they going to catch on to what we are doing.” Genoa nodded. “Okay, when we are off the ground we will send up a flare. When you see that, give your pursuers the slip and come back here. We will still need to follow Rapier and Papyrus to where Starlight got to.” Rainstorm saluted, leapt into the air and flew off. Genoa went back to pacing the deck as he watched the fore spell-pate being reattached and the crystal runs replaced. Unicorns stood over them directing small flows of magic into them to test their integrity. After a few minutes he heard the distinctive sound of hunting trumpets and, rather closer than he liked, the sound of Diamond Dog howls. ------ The strange dragon pony did indeed have something ponies ate. She had guided him back through a maze of what Starlight might have called junk, if he was prepared to be so impolite to this strange and slightly intimidating creature. For the last couple of hours they had been sitting at a table, Starlight eating a quite good carrot and daisy pie, and Rough Diamond crunching her way through a plate of what to Starlight’s surprise had turned out to be emeralds. They had spent the time talking; she had told him of her life -- her foal-hood in Ponyville, and her mother and father. Starlight had been particularly interested in her memories of Twilight, as he knew that Papyrus would quiz him mercilessly about it. As she had talked, Starlight had found himself growing more and more fascinated with her. In a lot of ways she was very pony-like; she spoke like a pony, be it in a strange accent that reminded Starlight of some of the older books he had read, and she had obviously been taught by a pony. But in other fundamental ways she was not a pony. She ate her gems by picking them up in her claws and tossing them into her mouth, where they crunched between her sharp dragon-like teeth. After she had told him all about her upbringing, he told her a little about himself, and about what he was doing in the forest; about the dreams, about his friends Rapier, Papyrus and Rainstorm, and about the Everdream, and eventually about the Dark Cloud on the mountain and the ghost of Twilight and Spike. He had been a bit cautious about this; according to her, Spike was her father – he tried not to think about that this, as it meant she was hundreds, if not thousands of years old -- and telling her about how her fathers ‘ghost’ had been destroyed saving him from a Dark Cloud was something he wanted to approach with caution. But she did not seem to be hurt by the news. There was something there, even Starlight could see it. Something between her and her father, but she had not told him what it was. He drew his tale to a close with the story of how they had crashed in the forest. As he was telling her about the repairs a thought struck him and he leapt to his hooves. “OH Celestia!” he shouted. Rough Diamond looked at him. “What’s wrong?” “My friends, Genoa, the ship they do not know I am here!” he exclaimed -- how could he have been so stupid. He had been sitting here enjoying a meal while all the time his friends must have been worried sick about him. “I must get back to them.” he said, after he had explained this to her. “When is it? How long have we been sitting here?” “Hold on, I’ve got a clock here somewhere,” Rough Diamond said, walking over to one of the junk covered tables and picking her way through the piles. “It was a present from aunty Applebloom,” she said, a little wistfully, picking things up and putting them back down. “She made it herself. I know I have it here somewhere.” Starlight’s already overwhelmed mind threw another shoe when he spotted something familiar in the detritus. And he let out a strangled cry Rough Diamond turned round at the strange sound. “What is it pony?” she asked worriedly, “you have gone very pale.” Starlight pointed with a forehoof. “That-that-that-” he stammered. “This?” Rough Diamond asked, picking up one of the things she had been sorting through looking for the clock. Starlight could only nod his head feebly. The thing that she was so casually tossing back and forwards in her claws was a stone sphere, identical to the one that had been with Twilight Sparkle and Spike. Starlight’s mind raced in circles. The white pony, the sphere, Twilight, Spike, this Rough Diamond. What did it all mean? She had lead him here, but why? And who? Just as he was getting his thoughts in gear to ask Rough Diamond about the stone, the gem around her neck emitted a clear chime and started to glow. “Oh dear,” she said, a worried expression coming over her face. “That cannot be good,” she said, placing the stone back on the table and heading off to the front of the cave. Starlight followed in her wake, his mind still racing. They rounded a pile of furniture and caught sight of the front of the cave. Standing around the archway was a group of Diamond Dogs, currently looking at the piles of things that Rough Diamond kept in her home. Starlight had not seen the large semi-bipedal canines in the flesh before, but he had heard a lot about them. Diamond Dogs, according to Rapier swift, were brutal and greedy and mostly none too bright, and therefore made excellent mercenaries. They had been found in almost all of the armies that the Equestrian armed forces had faced in the last hundred or so years, and so Rapier had had a lot to say about them. Starlight recognised this as what could be loosely called a ‘scout commando group’. There were four Dogs dressed in light chain mail armour with helmets that covered most of their jagged faces. These were typical Dog troopers and represented mostly pure muscle with brains as an optional extra. The fifth was different; he did not wear full armour, instead he wore a fancy breast plate studied with gems, as well as a crown, also gem encrusted. Diamond Dogs had a madness for shiny gems; their ownership and display was a status symbol amongst their clans. From the amount he was wearing, this Dog was obviously very well placed in his clan structure. One of the guard Dogs spotted Rough Diamond and Starlight; he gave a low growl and the rest of their group spun around. The leader caught sight of Rough Diamond and he visibility jumped. “What aaare yooou?” he asked in a rough, hissing voice. “What am I?” Rough Diamond repeated, anger in her voice. Starlight noticed she was now standing on her hind legs, claws held out in a way that emphasised her large stature. Even so, she was not much bigger that the largest of the guard Diamond Dogs. “Who are you, and what do you want in my home?” Starlight had been standing behind the dragon-pony, and as she walked angrily forward he was spotted by the lead Dog. “Pony!” the Diamond Dog shouted, and the larger, more armoured, members of the pack dropped what they were looking at and moved forward. They were obviously trying to be threatening, but even from what Starlight could see of their faces they did not look very happy about it. “Wwee wwant the poonyyy,” the lead Dog hissed, “let us have him and weeee will let you livvee.” Rough Diamond gave a harsh half laugh. “Let me live?” She raked her stare over the approaching guard Dogs, and they flinched back from her. “You are not from around here, but I see your hirelings know me. Why don’t you ask them who I am?” “I doo not care who you arrree. Not-pooonyy,” the lead Dog sneered. “Give us the pony, or we will take him by force.” “Come and take me,” Starlight said and he drew his sword, taking up a fighting stance beside Rough Diamond. Something about that Diamond Dog was setting his teeth on edge, apart quite from the fact he wanted to take him prisoner. “If you insist.” The lead Dog made a waving gesture with his paw and the two closest Dogs leapt. Starlight had just enough time to see the first Dog thrown back by a blast of green and purple light, before the second one was on him. Rapier Swift had trained Starlight how to fight. He had told Starlight a lot of the art of combat, but as the Dog slammed into him, Starlight remembered one of the more basic lesions. It was hard to fight an opponent who was nearly twice your weight and had arms longer than your body. The Dog was on top of him and had enveloped in him with its arm before Starlight could get his sword around in a proper defence. He bucked out, trying to throw the creature off him, but it had a firm hold of him. He was just running through his options, when he felt the Dog being pulled off him. He looked up to see that Rough Diamond had grabbed the Dog from behind. As he watched, she picked it up and threw it away, past the arch and out of the cave. Starlight picked himself up and watched Rough Diamond as she paced across the floor to where the leader and his remaining two minions stood. She was standing on her back legs and was showing her full height, there was a sparkle around her horn -- it did not look like the glow of the magic of unicorns -- but Starlight assumed that it had been her that had been responsible for the blast of light. As she moved, he could see a similar sparkle coming from the gem she wore around her neck. “I am Rough Diamond,” she snarled at the retreating Dogs, “out of Rarity by Spike. The lineage of dragons is in me. This is my home and that pony is my friend.” To his credit, and despite his obvious fear, the lead Dog stood up straight. He was still backing away in the face of the dragon-pony’s anger, but he was trying his best to not look intimidated. “You do not scare meee, not-pony,” he said, fighting with all his might to make it true. “I control a dozen tribes in this forest, they will come here and they would tear this pace apart to get the pooonyyy if I wish it, and I dooo.” “Well then,” Rough Diamond replied, the sparkling form her horn increasing. “I suggest you wait for them outside.” Faint lines of light reached out from her horn, spreading out in front of her, and all of a sudden Starlight saw what she was doing. She had intimidated the Diamond Dogs backwards and now they were the other side of the strange marble and gem pillar that he had walked through as he entered the cave. Now the streamers of light from her horn reached out to the arch, gently caressing each of the gems. Each of the gems started to glow with their own internal light. There was a sudden musical twang and a wall of glowing blue light snapped together in the archway. A shield, Starlight thought as he watched it. It must be a shield. He had seen shields before, ponies usually called the Sparkle Fields, and they were a purple colour, not blue. Some unicorn ponies could cast them and a lot of modern airships and other pony war machines made use of them, but he could not see what use it would do them, the arch was inside the cave -- the Diamond Dog could just walk around it. His question was answered an instant later when the shield on the archway bulged out and flashed. He briefly saw the shield expand outwards down the passage pushing the Dogs with it. He shook his head, picked up his sword and walked over to where Rough Diamond was still standing before the archway. “How? What?” he started. “A very good question.” She turned to face him, the gem around her neck glowing a deep, fiery red. Starlight shook his head and tried again. “What did you do?” he asked pointing to the archway. Rough Diamond lowered herself back down on to all four limbs. Starlight was relieved; standing like that she looked much more like a pony and much less like a dragon. “Oh that,” she said, slightly dismissively, “there is magic in gemstones if you know where to look. When I was young I was fascinated by gem stones, I used to pick them up and stare at the light coming from certain ones. Fortunately my mother and father made sure there was always a lot around the house. When I grew up I realised that the ponies I was living with could not see the light of the gems.” Her smile became slightly twisted. “I suppose you could call gem magic my special talent. As I grew up and I learnt about magic I started to understand how to harness the glow of the gems to do things.” She waved her claw at the glowing chandeliers. “It has proven quite useful.” She looked at Starlight her intense gaze boring into him “but that is not what I meant pony. They came here looking for you. You heard them. ‘Give us the pony.’ How did they even know you were in this forest, and what do they want with you?” Starlight shrugged. He had just started thinking about the same thing himself. His thoughts were interrupted by a growling and thumping from down the corridor, each thump was accompanied by a musical twang. “Good as this arch shield is,” Rough Diamond said, looking down the corridor, “it will not hold up if that mutt does have an army here. And I do not think I will be able to hold off an entire army if they want to come and take you. For whatever reason they want you.” A thought struck Starlight. “Why don’t we ask him?” “What?” “The shield can hold the single Dog and his hirelings back, right?” Rough Diamond gave a snort. “Oh yes, pony. That shield was designed to hold back far worse than him.” “Well then. Why don’t I go and ask him what he wants me for,” he said over his shoulder as he stared down the passage that led out of the cave. As Starlight rounded one of the bends in the corridor, he came up muzzle to muzzle with the Diamond Dog leader. The blue translucent shield had stopped part way down the passage, and on the other side of it stood the fancily dressed Diamond Dog and one of his subordinates. The armoured Dog was pounding his fists on the shield, and that was the cause of the noise. “Arhhhh Poony,” the lead Dog sneered as Starlight approached. “Have you come to give yourself up to meee?” Starlight smiled back at him. “Why would I want to do that?” He waved a hoof at the shield. “It seems you are a bit trapped.” The Diamond Dog leered at him. “You are wrong, poony. It is you who are trapped. Trapped behind the not-pony’s shield, you cannot go anywhere and myyy freindsss are coming. When they get here we will smash the not-pony’s magic and we will take you.” “What do you want with me? Why all this effort?” The Diamond Dog laughed harshly. “You do not know? Silly poony!” It looked at Starlight. “The time is coming, It is returning,” he sneered. “You and your ponies are no match for It, and It waaantss you.” “What wants me! Why does ‘it’ want me?” Starlight asked, confused. “Silly pony.” The Diamond Dog laughed. “You are Starlight, but you do not even know who you are.” There was a noise from outside the cave. “My friends are here, poony,” the Diamond Dog sneered again, “there is no escape for you now.” Starlight looked past the creature as shadows started to flicker on the wall of the passage.