//------------------------------//
// Mane the Thirtieth 
// Story: From the Expedition Journal of Temple Scrivener 
// by CloverQuill 
//------------------------------//

Month of Mane, Thirtieth Day, Year of the Manticore

We have made an incredible discovery!

As I had previously notated briefly, yesterday we had come upon some squirrels in distress. It seemed incredible that wild plains dogs could have set traps so far from their native range. We were at least a full weeks travel out from the edge of the Golden Plains. And diamond dogs could never fashion traps so well, their traps are large and crude and easily avoided by most creatures. 

Today we met the true owners of the traps and they were the strangest dogs we have ever encountered. They are bipedal like dogs, but so thin and weakly built when compared to diamond dogs. They walk very upright without dragging their knuckles, and yet their legs are all wrong for running quickly. Except for their legs they mostly resemble shorn wild plains dogs. They seem to have docked their ears and tails in some as yet undocumented ritual. These creatures are clearly meat eaters of some variety, but do not speak either Arfrikaans, Dogeian, nor even crude Equish. 

Our first encounter with them was rather more exciting than one wants for a first meeting, but not as bad as the unfortunate War Banner & Clark meeting with the Prairie Dweller tribe. Nopony wound up as dinner, praise Twilight! It was close though. 

The dogs came upon us freeing an armadillo mother from one of their cunning traps. They were extremely upset and nearly set upon us with their wooden spears. I wish I could claim we acted bravely when faced with such ferocity, but we froze in fear. I am humble enough to admit to my worries that we would have to fight for our lives. Luckily we were saved by the dogs own strange beliefs, it seems. As I have previously mentioned, our fresh faced intern is a unicorn musician. And of course, everypony knows that dogs of all kinds are soothed by music. To travel in their territories outside of Equestria without a musician is tantamount to suicide. 

These dogs seem to possess some peculiar superstition regarding unicorns. From what we could determine from observing them either unicorns are very unlucky to kill, or they are too dangerous to try any attempt against. Their language is very strange and their body language seems to involve much gesturing of their front paws. This is quite different from any other dogs we have encountered. Perhaps this body language developed due to their barbaric cropping of their ears and docking of their tails. 

Our quick thinking intern pulled out her instrument and yet, even before she could begin to play, the dogs had backed away in amazement. It seems so hard to believe that our excitable intern out on her very first expedition could have saved all of our lives without playing a note! 

After these strange dogs let us make our escape we came to our senses and realized what a find this was. We sent our two most experienced pegasus scouts, Swift Scribe and myself, following above and behind the group at a safe distance. The dogs followed along the trap line that we had found yesterday and reset their traps. They seemed to be very confident and not at all fearful of the local manticores or timberwolves in whose territory that we were traversing. They even seemed excited at seeing cockatrice tracks around a petrified squirrel. They took the poor stone squirrel with them. Perhaps as proof for the alpha pair that they had indeed been following the empty trap lines. 

They did nothing else exceptional while out, but when they led us back to their camp we discovered that it was being tended to by a group of slightly smaller dogs with no alpha pair in sight. The lack of an alpha pair is quite strange, the pack did not act as if they were waiting for any other group to return once the trappers had reconvened. Feather Duster seems to think that these smaller dogs are afflicted by some illness, which causes a swelling in their chests. After observing their pack dynamics I do not think that this theory holds water. I believe that this may be a family group that has suffered recent losses. 

The lack of an alpha pair points to such. These smaller dogs might be females full of milk for recently lost pups. Despite popular urban myths, dogs after all, like ponies, only have two teats for milk production. These strange dogs wear much more clothing than even a noble pony, so it was difficult to determine their genders in the usual manner. We will have to observe them further to see if either of us are correct.

These smaller dogs greeted the trappers joyously upon their return. They were predictably disappointed that the trappers had returned without meat, but seemed interested in the poor cockatrice victim. There was then much excitement as the camp dogs gestured at a prodigious wood pile. Strangely we did not observe any axes. 

The dogs performed a strange ritual with the stoned squirrel, which I have not heard of any dogs doing before. After some discussion amongst themselves, they solemnly carried it to a patch of fresh turned earth near camp. I would almost say that this was a freshly dug grave, marked for some unknown reason with a crudely fashioned wooden cross. The dogs placed the petrified squirrel, along with flowers and a necklace of sharpened wooden spikes at the cross. 

It was the strangest thing I have ever seen dogs do. The plains dogs of course believe that eating their dead gives them their powers, and the diamond dogs believe that their kin have a right to their hearts to give them strength. The fate of the rest of their bodies is usually irrelevant to them. 

After we determined that their camp would not be moving that night, we returned to our crew. 

Much as it pains me to admit this, I do not think that I can in good conscience keep this discovery to myself until my dissertation is published. I have already written to the Princesses about this find, and Swift Scribe left early this morning with the letter. 

I must go now to help establish our base camp. With one pegasus down due to delivery duty, anchoring the cloud base falls to me. I just hope Lyra and Berry will stop talking about their spell crystals failing in the night. I mean really, Princess Twilight made them herself.
-Temple Scrivener