Arch Duke Fifi le Yipyap sat atop his golden palanquin. It was being held aloft, by a dozen large diamond dogs who marched forward at a brisk pace. He smiled when he looking out at the grand procession. He was rather pleased with what he had managed to achieve with so little time. In under a week, he had assembled an entourage of over two hundred diamond dogs. Each was among the most skilled in their respective trades. From guardsdogs and slavers, to diplomats and bakers; each of the diamond dogs belonged to notable families. At first, the arch duke thought he would have had a difficult time assembling a suitable entourage. However, once the word had gotten out, diamond dogs had come far and wide in order to join the procession.
Ever since Lord Darkpaw had left them, things had become rather grim for diamond dogs everywhere. With no one to protect them, they were now easy prey for the other races. From the dragons and griffins to the northeast, and the seapony raiders to the west, the other nations had stolen large swaths of diamond dog territory. Even the normally docile ponies north of them, had been emboldened by the loss of protection Lord Darkpaw had once provided for his people. They had been a great people once; wealthy, respected, and feared by the lesser races. Now, they were barely able to even hold onto their own lands. With the reign of the new Lord under the Earth, the most the diamond dog race could ever hope to expect was benign neglect. Neglect from their new master was the preferable option to the alternative of having caught their Lord’s ire. Those who displeased him met with dire calamities.
“Ah, the Diamond Vale!” the arch duke mourned sullenly. No other city could have hoped to have matched its unparalleled wealth and power. Now, all that remained was a broken ruin, like a wound in the earth that would not heal.
“Ah how the mighty have fallen!” the arch duke bitterly lamented.
Looking behind him he saw the luggage train. It consisted of dozens of heavy wagons each loaded with needful provisions and supplies, including all the finery required for such an important mission. Trailing behind the luggage train were twenty slave wagons being pulled by enslaved griffins. Each of them held fifty pony slaves that cowered behind the bars of their transportation. Hearing the taskmasters crack their whips at the ponies and griffins filled the arch duke with a longing desire for days gone by, the groans of the slaves under their heavy burdens was music to his ears. If only everything could return to the natural order of things with the diamond dogs back on top, exactly where they belonged to be.
“Everfree Forest up ahead!” shouted one of the dogs at the front of the procession.
“Hold!” the arch duke commanded.
Once the procession stopped moving, Arch Duke Yipyap climbed down off his palanquin and entered the Everfree alone. Gingerly he inhaled the downward breeze, his nostrils flared as he tried locating the tell tail scent.
“You’re late,” growled a voice accusingly, almost as terrible as the Slave King’s.
“Ah Scourge!” the arch duke cried out clutching his chest.
“You’re over twelve hours behind schedule,” Scourge replied.
“Well, it couldn’t be helped,” the arch duke explained. “It took longer than expected to gather enough provisions for such a large procession.”
Scourge looked at the large procession, then at the arch duke’s brand. “That excuse for your tardiness, is acceptable… this time,” Scourge warned. “But don’t make a habit of it.”
The arch duke shuddered, when he realized how close he had come to reliving the bite of his brand once again. “Scourge,” Fifi said, “threatening me won’t make the procession go any faster. Such a large procession is going to move slowly. Additionally, the pony slaves need to be unharmed and in good condition for when we reach Londwhinium.”
Scourge remained silent, while his tail swishing back and forth slowly. Listening to the sounds of the forest, the huntsdog turned to the arch duke, “We shall be watching from the shadows,” he said disappearing into the forest. “Remember that Yipyap, should you ever be tempted to betray your master again.”
The arch duke shuddered involuntarily. Walking back to his palanquin, he saw one of his bearers slacking off. Enraged, Fifi grabbed his whip and started mercilessly beating the diamond dog. “Mongrel, slack off again,” the arch duke hissed, while the poor palanquin bearer whimpered in pain, “and I’ll feed you to Scourge’s hell hounds!”
Satisfied that his bearers had gotten the message, Fifi le Yipyap sneered at his underlings, climbed up on the palanquin, and ordered the procession forward into the Everfree forest.
From the dark undergrowth of the forest, Scourge followed after the procession from a distance.
*****
Princess Celestia was busily reading in her personal study. Although the material was not as boring as the reports she usually read, she would have given anything to not have to see the scrolls in front of her. The scrolls contained damage and casualty reports from the brawl she had been forced to break up earlier that week. Fortunately the property damage was relatively minor, but the casualty list was staggering; fourteen guards with severe contusions, seven spectators with magic burns, Lord Blackstone was suffering from three broken ribs, and Magister Sparkle had somehow managed to chip his horn and was recovering from a concussion. That wasn’t even the worst of it, three of the brawlers had received sever lacerations from the griffin’s talons, and now her nephew had his horn severed. Fortunately, there was still time to save it, but the doctors said that magic use would be out of the question for at least six months.
Celestia still couldn’t believe what had happened. Her nephew the regent of the crown, had been dueling in direct violation of the law. Well technically it had been a ‘parlay of honor’, but she expected better from members of her court. Young hotheaded colts trying to prove themselves were one thing, but for a stallion at his age and position, dueling was unthinkable. What was worse, multiple eye witnesses had corroborated that Prince Blueblood had intended to kill the minotaur he was fighting. Such behavior could be expected from diamond dogs and dragons, but by one of her ponies, that was beyond the pale. Sighing in frustration, she didn’t know what she was going to do with her nephew. Although a competent regent, Prince Blueblood’s personal behavior as of late had become rather vexing. She had overlooked some of the minor corruption he participated in such as accepting bribes for favors, but there was no way she could ignore this egregious behavior.
A soft knock at the door interrupted Celestia’s contemplation, “Yes come in,” the princess said in a gentle voice, that didn’t betray the aggravation she felt towards the prince.
A palace guard entered and respectfully bowed. “Princess,” he said, “we have just received word from one of our pegasi aerial patrols, a large procession is headed towards Londwhinium through the Everfree forest.”
“The Everfree?” Celestia asked arching her brow. “How big a procession?”
“The pegasus patrol wasn’t able to see the full size of it,” the guard replied, “but he estimated that there were at least a hundred diamond dogs, thirty griffins, and hundreds of ponies in the wagons they were pulling.”
“Celestia dropped the scroll she was reading. “Did you say diamond dogs?” she asked, not sure if she really wanted to learn the truth.
“Yes princess,” the guard said. “The ponies seemed to be well cared for from what he could tell. But beyond that, we only know that they will reach the city gates in two days.”
“Very well,” Celestia said, tapping her hoof lightly against the floor. “Please tell my advisers and Princess Luna to meet me in the council chambers as soon as possible.”
“Yes princess,” the guard said with a salute, before exiting the room and closing the door behind him.
Sighing deeply to herself, Celestia walked towards the palace’s council chambers. Not only did she have to punish her nephew, find a replacement regent, and decide what to do with the minotaur and his companions. Now, she had to deal with these diamond dogs as well. She could tell that this was going to be one of those weeks. If she was lucky, they would just be refugees from the south. She didn’t care to consider the other possibility. That perhaps the Lord of the Earth was finally ready to make his move.
Walking down the palace halls, Celestia nodded and smiled as she passed some of her ponies. Her smile dropped a little as she thought about how hard these last two years had been for Equestria. Ever since Lord Darkpaw had fallen, the whole world hung precariously out of balance. Lady Zephyr had stopped making the rains, and instead sent forth her horrible windigos. Lord Ouroboros was busy hoarding every last gem he could get his greedy claws on, which caused a heavy blow to the economy. So much of the thaumatology technology ponykind used, was reliant on a steady supply of gems. Lord Triton’s behavior she could at least understand, sending his forces abroad to combat the other Prime Elements, was a prudent choice she thought. She just wished that the shipping lanes hadn’t been effects as badly as they had. With their local access to gems cut off, they now relied heavily on importing goods. She was just grateful that the Zebrakan’s had no real use for gems.
When she approached the council chamber, the guards on duty saluted and opened the door for her. Nodding her head in acknowledgment, Celestia entered the room and patiently waited for her advisers to arrive. Thinking back to the troubles her ponies were facing as of late, she remembered that the last food survey report she had commissioned, stated that another year like this would be disastrous for everypony. Why was the new Lord of the Earth refusing to tend to the responsibilities he had freely accepted?
“Jormungandr,” Celestia sighed, “I sure hope you knew what you were doing, nominating the child for such a great responsibility.”
Of everything that had happened, Celestia couldn’t understand why Jormungandr, was favoring the child so. From his behavior at the moot and cutting off everypony’s access to the diamond dog lands, his behavior regarding the human was most perplexing. Even now, he still refused to agree to calling for another moot, which would force a settlement between the feuding elements. Although he was cordial when she came to call, the winding one only ever offered pleasantries and always refused to hear of taking any kind of action.
“Celestia, now let’s not be too hasty,” Jormungandr loved to say, whenever she broached the topic. Instead, he would curl up on his bed and pretend to fall asleep, while he waited for her to leave.
Celestia’s thoughts were interrupted when she saw Luna entering the council chambers. “Luna, I’m sorry for waking you,” she said. “But, there’s been a new development regarding the diamond dogs.”
"Verily sister,” Luna replied, “I am well aware that the man has been about.”
Celestia looked at her sister in curiosity, “What do you mean, Luna?” she asked.
“Four nights previous,” Luna said, “when my moon was at the fullest, I detected a great deal of magic being unleashed in the Everfree forest. Somepony had caused the forest to become chocked with thorns, and then set them aflame.”
“Yes,” Celestia agreed, “I remember when our pegasus scouts advised me about the fire breaking out in the Everfree before I had awakened that morning.”
“I came too late to see the battle,” Luna continued, “but, I found the corpse of a beast unlike any I’ve seen previously along the muddy banks of Jormungandr’s Way. Before I returned to the palace to retire, Strix flew to me apologizing for the fire. He said, ‘The pieces were slow to move, but now they are on the path. The Lord of Earth has been busy this night, but he’s just been chastened’. I knew not what the Dream guardian meant with his riddle, but felt that we should be seeing more from the human before too long.”
Celestia’s advisers began seating themselves. “Luna, “Celestia said, taking a seat at the head of the table, “we’ve spotted a large number of diamond dogs headed towards Londwhinium. For what purposes, we’ve yet to uncover.”
“It’s an obvious probe into the cities defenses,” a heavily armored pegasus declared, “the diamond dogs are trying to determine our strength before attack us in full strength.”
“General Hurricane,” Celestia said politely, “I appreciate you taking time from your busy schedule to share your thoughts on the matter. However, I don’t believe I requested your presence here.”
“That’s no problem, princess,” the general replied. “My schedule will allow for me to sit in and offer a proper tactical response to this new diamond dog aggression.”
“But general,” Celestia replied, “The presence of a large number of ponies indicates that they may have no hostile intent towards us.”
“Unlikely, your highness,” an ornately dressed earth pony interjected. “A large influx of new ponies, plus the diamond dogs will put a severe strain on our food stores. They plan to sap our strength, through an extended stay until we have no choice but to surrender to their compatriots.”
“Chancellor Pudding Head,” Celestia said with a smile, “thank you for your words of wisdom, although much like General Hurricane you hadn’t been invited either.”
“I’m happy to serve your majesty,” the chancellor said with a bow. “I feel the best thing we could do is close the city gates and deny them entrance.”
“But what of the ponies they have with them?” Celestia countered. “Surely you’re not suggesting we turn our backs on them.”
“Darling Celestia,” a richly dressed noble unicorn mare said while gracefully curtseying. “The danger we face from the diamond dogs is neither war nor famine, but instead it’s economic.”
“Duchess Platinum,” Celestia said, giving the unicorn a hug, “what an unexpected surprise. I didn’t expect you to come to a meeting you hadn’t been summoned to.”
Duchess Platinum kissed the air next to Celestia’s head and smiled. “Oh think nothing of it darling,” she said taking a seat. “Once I had heard those awful diamond dogs were coming to our glorious city of Londwhinium, I knew you needed to be warned of the obvious impending disaster that those with far less breeding would miss.”
“And what danger would that be Duchess?” Celestia asked, taking a sip from the tea that had just been poured for her.
“Why impeding economic collapse of course!” Platinum exclaimed dramatically. “Once the diamond dogs enter Londwhinium, they will flood the city with millions of bits in gems. Before the market can react, they will have drained the city’s coffers dry, and over saturated our markets with a glut of gems. Of all the worst things that could happen, this is the worst… possible... thing…” In the throes of her woe, Platinum used her horn to move a couch to her so she could faint without dirtying her dress.
“Well that certainly is a plausible theory,” Princess Celestia replied. “But given the state of Equestria, a glut of gems would be a welcome relief.”
“Besides if all they have is gems,” General Hurricane said, “we can ambush them and drive them off with a minimum of casualties.”
“Even more mouths to feed?” Chancellor Pudding Head shouted. “No thank you. We should ambush them, and relieve them of all their food!”
“Leave it to a boorish pegasus to want to fight, and a gluttonous earth pony to only care about their stomachs,” Duchess Platinum said. “Relieving them of their gems is the most attractive option. We could easily sell them to the dragons for a tidy sum.”
“Well your plan to steal their gems will require many boorish pegasi,” the general growled. “But I wouldn’t expect a weak unicorn to know anything but magic!”
“Why you uneducated buffoon,” the duchess huffed. “Without unicorn magic to aid the attack, your ambush will end up much like your scholastic career, abject failure. At least the chancellor knows to respect his betters unlike certain pegasi I could name.”
“My betters?” the chancellor sneered. “Neither of you will get thing one done without earth ponies doing all the heavy lifting. When things get hot you can bet that the pegasi will fly away, and that the unicorns will be too weak to do a blasted thing beyond fainting in fear.”
Celestia could scarcely believe her ears. Right in front of her, inside her council chambers, three prestigious members of her court were verbally attacking each other openly. “Will anyone not invited to this meeting, please excuse themselves from the room,” she said in an even tone, trying not to lose her patience.
After the three bickering ponies had left the room, Luna looked at her sister. “Celestia,” she said, “I must congratulate thee for holding thine tongue as long as thou hast.”
“Yes,” Celestia replied, “I have no idea what’s gotten into ponies recently. Every day I receive more and more reports about ponies bickering with each other in the streets. Soon I fear things may turn violent.”
“These are indeed troubling times, my sister,” Luna agreed. “But come, let us determine what shall be done regarding this new threat that the diamond dogs may or may not pose.”
Celestia finished her tea, and set the cup down. “Luna, I suppose you’re right,” she said. “I should tackle one problem at a time.”
Turning to her assembled advisers, she levitated a map onto the table showing the surrounding territory around Londwhinium. “Gentlestallions,” Celestia said, placing several markers on the map. “As you can see we have a large company of diamond dogs, a fair number of griffins, and a large number of ponies accompanying them. We don’t know their intentions, why they have so many ponies with them, and why they are headed here. All we do know is that we have two days to prepare for their arrival. Does anypony have any suggestions on how we should handle this?”
Celestia sat and listened as her advisers began listing off a list of available strategies while the procession was still in the Everfree. She thought about the three possible scenarios the general, chancellor, and duchess had presented to her. Although she didn’t want to consider having to ambush the diamond dogs, she thought that learning their intentions before they reached they city was of paramount importance.
While her advisers argued over what the best course of action should be, her train of thought was interrupted by the meetings earth pony secretary. “Pardon me," the secretary said with a folksy drawl. “I ain’t meaning to speak out of turn here, but has anypony considered just sending a messenger out to inquire about their intentions?”
“Smart Cookie, now that’s quite a good idea,” Princess Celestia said with a warm smile.
“Ah shucks your majesty, anypony could have thought it up,” Smart Cookie replied. “I mean sure, you run the risk of sending somepony out into a dangerous situation, but don’t you think the risk is worth knowing the possible danger?”
“Yes,” Celestia replied, heading for the door. “And I think I know just the ponies to send on this mission.”
Author's note
Gentlereaders, sorry about the missed release yesterday, I was busy finishing up the new cover. A poor first attempt at using photoshop, I am a bit disappointed how Luna looks, but there's always next time am I right? Next chapter the action will pick back up. But as always, thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter of the on going tale of The Great Slave King, available on a computer screen near you.
Till next time gentlereader.