My Little Investigations: The Gemstone Godfather

by Metool Bard

Raw Magical Charms

"Rargh, I can't believe this! This is not fair!"

Huh. How ironic. The Diamond Dogs of the Redvest pack don't like it when ponies whine and complain, and what are they doing when I happen upon them at the northern timberline? Whining and complaining. Not that I blame them or anything. I'd be whining too if I was in there horseshoes. Er, paws. Whatever, you get my point.

"We'll never be able to pay off Silvervest at this rate!" Fido griped. "Those stupid dragons keep taking all the good ones!"

"As if the prissy pony wasn't bad enough," growled Spot. "How come we always have the worst luck?!"

"If you have time to complain, you have time to dig," Rover snarled. "There has to be something those dragons missed, and we're not leaving until we've found it. Now quit acting like a couple of ponies and keep working!"

"Ah-HEM!"

I cleared my throat noisily as Derpy and I approached the Diamond Dogs. Rover blanched and swallowed.

"O-oh! H-hello, Ms. Star!" he said nervously. "Wh-what are you doing back here?"

"Well, that depends," I said. "Am I interrupting anything?"

"Um, no! No, not at all!" said Rover. "We were just, digging. For gems. You know, that's what we do! Heh heh..."

I sighed. "Calm down, Mr. Redvest. I'm not mad at you."

"Oh, phew," said Rover, wiping some sweat from his brow. "I thought for sure that you overheard my, comment."

"I did, but I just chose to ignore it," I said. "Because there's something a bit more important that I want to discuss with you."

"If it's another meeting with Sykes Silvervest, you're out of luck," said Rover. "He's already gone into Jadevest territory. He won't be back until tomorrow morning."

"Good to know, but that's not what I'm here for," I said.

"Then, what is it?"

"Can Diamond Dogs use magic?"

The three Diamond Dogs exchanged looks for a moment before turning back to me.

"Well, it's certainly possible, I suppose," said Spot with a shrug. "None of us have ever done it, but that's because it's very difficult. Very few Diamond Dogs have experimented with the concept."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why's that?"

"It's, a bit tricky to explain," said Rover, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"Try me," I said, folding my forelegs.

"W-well, let me ask you this, Ms. Star," said Rover. "Do you know what a Fire Ruby is?"

I smirked. "That's a no-brianer. It's a special type of ruby with a crimson hue. They're very rare to come by as far as gems go."

"Ah, but do you know why it's called a Fire Ruby?" asked Spot.

Well, this is embarrassing. As a jeweler's apprentice, I feel like I should know this, but I, don't. I'm sure Karat would be pretty disappointed if he saw me right now. I shrugged meekly.

"I see," said Spot with a nod. "Well, it's quite simple, actually. Fire Rubies are called that because they can be used to conjure fire."

I had to do a double take. "I'm sorry, what?"

"It's true," said Fido. "There are many different kinds of gemstones with magical properties. The Fire Ruby just happens to be one of them."

This isn't exactly news to me, but it's the first time I've heard of Fire Rubies being used in that context. Using a charm to augment your magical abilities is not unheard of, and although Karat doesn't stock them, most of those charms utilize gemstones, crystals, and the like. But to my understanding, those charms work because they're enchanted, not because they have a latent magical charge. I had to know more about this.

"So, how exactly does it work?" I asked.

The Diamond Dogs exchanged looks again.

"Um, like we said, we've never used them before," said Rover. "It's very difficult."

"How is it difficult?" asked Derpy, tilting her head. "Ammy here uses magic all the time, and she says that it's as easy as breathing."

"I, don't think it's that simple for them, Mom," I said. "After all, they aren't born with magical horns."

"Oh~. Right. Heh, silly me," said Derpy sheepishly.

I sighed. It's times like this that I have to remind myself that Derpy isn't really as dumb as she looks. She says that stuff usually makes more sense in her head before she says them out loud, but I fail to see how that's possible. Again, she's weird like that.

"It's alright, Mom," I said before turning back to the Diamond Dogs. "So, do you guys at least know how it's supposed to work?"

"That we do, po— Ms. Star," said Spot. "But we'll need a bit of visual aid. Would you be willing to follow us to our home?"

"Hold on a minute," said Derpy, narrowing her eyes. "Why can't you show us out here?"

"This visual aid is very, important to us," said Rover. "We don't want those dragons to snatch it up or anything."

"Sounds reasonable enough to me," I said with a shrug. "Alright, we're game."

"Good," said Rover. "Fido, escort these fine ponies to the main chamber."

"Will do," said Fido with a salute.

As Rover and Spot disappeared underground, Derpy gave me a puzzled look. I shrugged again.

"At this point, I'm willing to give the Redvest pack the benefit of the doubt," I said. "At the very least, I can trust them not to try anything stupid."

"I, suppose that's fair," said Derpy. "Just know that if anything goes wrong, I'm right here to protect you, okay?"

I chuckled. "Believe me, Mom. I'm not gonna forget that anytime soon."

"Ugh, pee-yew!" Derpy groused as Fido led us to the central chamber. "When's the last time you dogs took a bath?"

"Don't bother, Mom. Apparently, they like it like this," I said, resisting the urge to gag myself. I really hope I don't have to come down here too often. Would it kill these guys to at least hang up some air fresheners or something? You'd think that with powerful noses like theirs, they'd be more self-conscious about this. I know the Redvest pack is pretty low on the totem pole, but do they really have to smell like it?!

"Ah, just in time, Ms. Star," said Rover. "Spot just went off to get the visual aid from our hoard. He should be back shortly."

"Right here, boss!"

It seems that Rover was as good as his word. As if on cue, Spot returned from one of the many tunnels in the cavern. He was holding a Fire Ruby in his paws. I can see now why they didn't want to bring that out in the open. Not only is it extremely rare as far as gems go, but according to Spike, it's up there as one of the best-tasting gems for a dragon (next to topaz, apparently). I could just picture Garble or one of his motley crew snatching it up while the acolytes were changing shifts.

Spot cleared his throat, as if he was preparing for a lecture. "Anyway, Ms. Star. This here is..."

"A Fire Ruby. Yes, I know what one looks like," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Oh," said Spot, blushing slightly. "Well, let's just skip ahead, shall we? Now then, as we said, the reason they're called Fire Rubies is because they can be used to conjure fire. But it can't do that in its current state."

"Why not?" I inquired.

"We, don't exactly know why," said Rover. "What we do know is that before these gems can be used, they have to be treated."

"Treated? In what way?"

"You have to smooth out all of the sharp edges," said Spot.

I smiled. "Oh, is that all?" I said. "Here, give it to me. I think I can do that."

Spot blinked. "You what?"

"I'm a jeweler. I specialize in this sort of thing," I said. "I'll have that Fire Ruby primed and ready, no problem."

Spot looked at Rover for a moment, who simply shrugged.

"Um, okay. Here you go," said Spot.

I took the Fire Ruby with my magic and levitated it over. After looking at it from every angle, I set it on the ground.

"Doesn't look too difficult," I said. "Alright, here goes..."

I closed my eyes and concentrated as hard as I could. After building up some energy, I opened them again and stared intently at the Fire Ruby. A narrow beam shot from my horn and struck one of the gemstone's points, cutting along the line until it was all smoothed out. I did the same with the next sharp edge, and the next one and the next one. I kept a close eye on my work, making sure that each cut was just as clean as the last. After whittling it down for quite some time, I finally smoothed out all of the ruby's edges. What I was left with was a small, shiny orb. An orb that looked, very familiar.

"Th-that's amazing, po— I mean, Ms. Star!" exclaimed Rover. "How did you do that?!"

"It's my special talent," I said with a shrug. "I've always liked arts and crafts as a kid, but it was only when I discovered gemstones as a medium that I got my Cutie Mark."

Rover raised an eyebrow. "Your what-now?"

"Uh, this thing," I said, pointing to the three diamonds on my flank. "It's a pony's sign of maturity."

"Ah," said Rover. "Well, now that we have a Fire Ruby that's ready for use, we can finally show you how this works, hopefully! Spot, if you would."

"Yessir," said Spot with a salute. He then sauntered up to me and picked up the carved Fire Ruby. "I suggest you stand back, Ms. Star. This might be dangerous."

"Um, just one question," said Derpy nervously. "If you've never done this before, how are you gonna show us?"

"Well, like we said, we know how it's supposed to work," said Spot. "Now, please stand back. I'm not sure how much power this gemstone has."

Derpy and I complied. Once we were a safe distance away, Spot started rolling the carved ruby around in his paw. As the ruby began to glow and shimmer, something clicked in my mind. I've seen this before. I know I have. In fact, it's very similar to...

"Hiya!"

Before I could reach my epiphany, Spot thrusted his paw out. A minuscule plume of flame erupted from the Fire Ruby, and quickly vanished. Derpy started clapping.

"Ooh~! Ah~!" she cheered.

"H-hey, don't patronize me!" Spot barked. "This is my first time doing this, y'know!"

Derpy tilted her head. "I'm not patronizing you. That was actually very impressive. I've never seen anything like it before."

Spot blushed. "Oh. W-well, thank you, po— Mrs. Hooves."

"Yeah, yeah. It's nice and all," I said. "But, I have a few questions."

"Like what?"

"Are there other types of gemstones that can do stuff like this?"

"Oh, plenty," said Spot. "The Fire Ruby just so happens to be the most common one. There are also Iron Diamonds, Woodland Sapphires, Frozen Onyx..."

As he continued to rattle off gems, the gears in my mind went into overdrive making connections. Of the acolytes I've met so far, there was the Azure Dragon as sharp as the timber (whatever that means), the Vermillion Phoenix as bright as the flame, the Black Tortoise as cold as the frost...

Wait a minute. That's it! That's where I remember that stone from!

"Does Dodger Dragonvest know about this kind of thing?" I asked.

"Well, I would assume so," said Rover with a shrug. "After all, he always carries those orbs around."

I knew it! Those orbs he carries around must be made out of those magical gemstones! Which means, something, I guess. Dammit, I really thought I was onto something here, but all this did was throw a bunch of new questions onto the pile. For one, it punches a big hole in his story about how he met Kohryu. As far as I know, this gem-carving technique is exclusive to Diamond Dogs. Why, then, are Kohryu's acolytes tied to them? Do the Diamond Dogs know about Kohryu? They at least know of him, from what I heard. But Sykes Silvervest just dismisses him as a myth. Is it a common Diamond Dog myth? Now that I think about it, I don't know all that much about Kohryu other than how "great" he is. I'm gonna need to look into this more, and that means another visit to Dodger Dragonvest. But I also need to know something else.

"Hmm. Just one more quick question, fellas," I said. "Do you think you could ask Sykes Silvervest if I can meet with him tomorrow? I want to discuss a few things with him."

"Well, like we said, he's over in Jadevest territory until tomorrow morning," said Rover. "It's impossible to reach him now. I'll see what I can do, though."

"Thanks," I said. "You guys have been very helpful."

"I-it's no problem, po— Ms. Star," said Rover, wringing his paws. "Anything we can do to help a nice, non-whining pony like yourself. Now, I'm sorry to cut this short, but we've got work to do. Fido, please escort our friend back to the surface."

"Right away, boss," said Fido with a salute. And with that, Derpy and I headed for home.

The rest of the day was rather uneventful. Dinky didn't come up with anything we didn't already know, and I figured I'd give Garble and his gang some time to cool down before I started asking them about seeing their boss again. Dragons can be pretty nasty when they're angry, as most ponies are aware.

Luckily, Rarity didn't tell Dinky anything about my predicament while she was interrogating her. I guess Derpy told her to keep quiet about it for my sake, and for that, I'm grateful. But, that doesn't change the fact that I'll have to tell her eventually. And, well, I still don't want to. I have enough problems without that stupid Pinkie Promise haunting me.

And do you know what the worst part is? I still don't feel like I made any progress. I mean, I've made progress, but I don't know where this mystery is taking me. As you can imagine, that irritates me to no end. I just hope that...

...

No, I'm not gonna say it. If I do, I'll end up jinxing myself. And I really don't want that to happen. But, knowing my luck, it probably will, anyway. I realize that sounds very pessimistic, but hey, better safe then sorry, y'know?