//------------------------------// // 1 // Story: As You Bite It: A Caninody of Errors // by Zaid ValRoa //------------------------------// The mountain rose over the treetops, a towering behemoth piercing the heavens. It’s rocky and gray surface contrasted heavily against the clear blue sky. Near the mountain’s base was a cave, its opening large and menacing, like the gaping mouth of a predator, with sharp rock protrusions acting as fangs to complete the illusion. And in front of it, stood three Diamond Dogs. “D-do we have to go inside?” Spot asked, quivering on his feet. “You have a better idea? Yes?” Rover asked. “Well, I--” Fido said. “That’s what I thought, so let’s go,” Rover said, The two Diamond Dogs sighed before following their self-appointed leader inside of the cave. The air in the cave felt really hot, and slightly humid. It got to the point where the Diamond Dogs actually wondered if they had walked into the throat of a sleeping animal. The absolute darkness in which they encountered themselves didn’t help to get rid of this notion. They had gotten used to the underground lights that illuminated their tunnels and caves, so it took some time for their eyes to adjust to their pitch black surroundings. Still, they felt overjoyed when they saw the light coming from some point deeper into the cave, a proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. And their joy grew tenfold when they saw what waited for them at the end of the passage. “Gemsss!” the Dogs cried out in unanimous joy. Lying on the floor of the cave, were gigantic heaps of gems, of every shape and size imaginable. Yes, from rubies, to sapphires, to emeralds, and jades, the Diamond Dogs relished on their newfound loot. “See? I told you things would be better!” Rover said before plunging into a small mountain of gems. Spot and Fido nodded in approval as they stuffed their pockets with all the gems they could find. They had never seen so many gems and of such quality, it was almost as if they had been chosen amongst other gems. The Diamond Dogs were so enraptured that they didn’t notice the group of ponies coming towards them from deeper into the cave. “Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” a unicorn stallion yelled, pulling Rover out of one of the piles of gems with his magic. “Poniesss…” Rover grunted, “go away, we’re enjoying our gems!” “Your gems?” “We found them first!” “Get out of here, you mutts!” The Diamond Dogs groaned in frustration, gnashing their teeth and pulling their ears as the memories of a certain whining pony came to their minds. “Shut up!” Rover said, jumping in front of the ponies “These Diamond Dogs gems now. Ponies leave!” “We’re not going to repeat ourselves, you don’t know who you’re dealing with here, so you better--” the rest of the unicorn’s diatribe was interrupted by the growls of the three Diamond Dogs. “Then so be it,” the unicorn spat, gathering energy on his horn, as did the unicorns behind him. Before the Diamond Dogs could react, they were teleported outside of the cave, and flung into the forest. “Stupid Dogs…” the stallion muttered. “What now, boss?” another one said. “Keep bagging the gems, we don’t have much time,” their leader said. The unicorns levitated large burlap sacks into the air and started throwing the gems inside. Soon enough, the large heaps of precious stones started to decrease in size. And then, an eye opened beneath the mountains of gems. “This is unbelievable!” Rover yelled as he stood up, “Ponies take gems from Diamond Dogs again!” “What we do now?” Fido said. He was hunched over and his ears were drooped. “Well, this isn’t the end of it, let’s go--” Rover started, but just as he said this, a large flame shot out of the cave, singeing the treetops and rising the temperature of the air by several dozen degrees. “Gemsss… belong to dragon,” Spot said, blinking. The Diamond Dogs stared into the darkness in incredulity. "Uh, maybe we should ask if things belonged to someone else before taking them..." Fido said scratching his head. "Mm-hmm." Rover said, nodding, "Because taking other people's stuff can get you in trouble." "Painful trouble," Spot added. A pained cry came from the cavern. "Maybe we Diamond Dogs should return gems we pocketed from Dragon's lair?” Rover said, looking down, in what could almost be described as regret. The three friends looked at each other for a couple of seconds before breaking out in laughter and walking into the forest, carrying the sacks of gems on their backs, and ignoring the cries of anguish that came from deep in the cave.