//------------------------------//
// Prolouge: The Fall of The Mountain. 
// Story: The Quest for the Smokey Mountain 
// by Unnamedwriter 
//------------------------------//

This story began long ago, when the tracks of trains and engines were just beginning to stretch out across Equestria. In those days Equestria was a small realm, and the Alicorn sisters ruled from Castle Everfree over a country rangeing from Horsehoe Bay to the Mountain Sanctum of Canterlot. On the northern border Foal Mountain loomed, while Ghastly Gorge guarded the kingdom's southern and western fronts. Still untamed by ponies were the Whitetail woods, which in those days fell under the domain of the Deer Princes. 

To the west of Equestria lay the rolling hills of the Unicorn Range, flowing rivers, and thick furry forests. This land was dominated however by a single solitary peak which stood like an island in a sea of grass and trees. This was called Smokey Mountain, for it's peak was often shrouded by banks upon banks of thick grey fog that would slowly creep down its slopes toward the coast and sea. Here lay the pony city of Amble, it's famous markets and harbor overflowing with finery, foodstuffs and civility. Here earth ponies, pegasus, griffons and zebra traded with one another in peace and prosperity beyond measure, for this city sat before the doors of the greatest kingdom in all the land: The Diamond Dog city of Kanidor. 

Here was the stronghold of Ror, King Under the Mountain, and mightiest of the Diamond Dog Lords. Ror ruled with a gentle paw, and never once feared for the future of his realm or people. He knew his kingdom lay secure in the lives of his family, those of his son, Vor, and grandson, Crown prince Torup. 

Kanidor was a jewel unto itself. Built deep within Smokey Mountain itself, the beauty of the Diamond Dog's fortress city was the stuff of legend. You see Kanidor's wealth lay in the earth; in precious gems the Diamond Dogs seemed to pluck from rock like fruit, but instead of apples and peaches they grew rubys, emeralds, sapphires, and of course diamonds of the greatest purity. But the greatest of their wealth lay in the great seams of glittering gold that ran like rivers through the rock of the mountain. 

Those in Canterlot will tell you the skill of the Diamond Dog craftshounds was unequaled. There was no limit to their genius or skill when precious metals and stones came into their paws, and one of their most gifted was the young Prince Liken, Torup's younger brother. It was Liken's paws that crafted the crowns still worn by the Alicorn Sisters, presented by Ror and his family as gifts to the Princesses and a sign of their loyalty to them. 

The riches of the Smokey Mountain seemed limitless. Ever the Diamond Dogs delved, down deeper into the dark of the mountain's caverns in search of new jewels and yet more gold, and that is where one Miner pup found it. Smokey Mountain's very heart: The Barrkenstone. 

It was a jewel of unrivaled beauty, and was said to bestow unto it's owner great magical power and knowledge. Ror took its discovery as a sign that his right to rule was divine, so he named it the King's Jewel. He was not alone in his belief, and all the rulers of that land paid homage to him with tribute. The Ponies of Amble, and even the great Deer Prince of the Whitetail Woods, Antluruil. 

But as the wealth of the Diamond Dogs grew, their stores of goodwill ran thin. Nopony can truly say what began the rift between the Dogs and the Deer. The Deer claim the Dogs stole their treasure, the Diamond Dogs that the Deer Prince refused them their rightful pay. It is truly sad how friendships and alliances can be allowed to fade and be lost to time, and this festering animosity marked the begining of a decline for the Dogs.  

Slowly the long day's turned cold and sour, and watchful nights fell over Kanidor. Since finding the Barrkenstone, Ror's love of gold had only increased. It grew and grew like a sickness within him; not a sickness of the body, but of the mind. And where sickness thrives, bad things will always follow. 

It came on hot summer morning, when the warm sea air blew lazily around the mountain. Pups played in the great halls, while in the valley below the ponies of Amble preparred for the Summer Sun Celebration. The first the guardhounds heard, was a noise like a thunderstorm coming up from the south, and the pines on the mountainside creaking and cracking in the hot charred wind. Prince Torup rushed to the battlements with his pack guards, and immediately commanded the whole of the cities warhounds be summoned, for he knew what was upon them, and he cried it out as loud as he could. 

"Dragon!"

No sooner had he given his shout than a huge red shadow fell over Amble, and a torrent of fire rained down upon the gates of Kanidor. She was a fire Dragoness from the Badlands of the south, drawn like a plague by the foul scent of hoarded gold and treasure. Scarr, had come. 

With her terrible red fire she destroyed Amble, burning entire homes, scorching dozens of ponies alive in a single breath. She dealt such wanton death, for the city of Ponies was nothing to Scarr. Her eye, was set on another, far richer prize. Dragons you see, and dragonesses especially, crave gems and jewels for food, but for it's eternal beauty they covet Gold above all things, with a dark and wild greed. With one swipe of her claws she tore open the stone gates of Kanidor, sweeping its warhoundss away like dust beneath her wings. Into the city she slithered and slunk like a great terrible snake, rooting out the Diamond Dogs in their tunnels like a mole after prey. She burst into the treasure chambers where she rolled herself deep into the riches Ror had selfishly hoarded. She took all within; every ring, every coin, every cup. Even the Barrkenstone became but another part of her hoard. 

As Torup lead his people from their burning home, he spied the Deer Prince Antluruil leading an army of deer over the hills toward Kanidor, but when he called out to him for aid, the Prince of the Forest gave no answer. Only when he turned his back to them did Torup realize Antluruil would not risk his kin against the wrath of the Dragoness. No help came from the Deer that day, nor any day since. With Kanidor lost, the alicorn sisters, Princess Celestia and Luna, decreed travel beyond the veil of the Whitetail Woods forbidden to all Equestrian ponies.

Robbed of their homeland, the Diamond Dogs of Kanidor became refugees wandering the villages and wilderness of Equestria. A once proud and mighty kingdom, brought low by their leader's greed. Led by the sole remaining member of the royal family, Prince Torup, they tried to establish a new kingdom beneath Foal Mountain, but without warning Celestia herself appeared at the head of an army of pegasus warriors, and banished the Dogs from those hills. So great was her fear of the potential of a new Diamond Dog kingdom to attract another greed mad dragon, she declared the Dogs of Kanidor disbanded as a kingdom.

The young Dog Prince Torup took work where ever he could find it, laboring in Pony villages as he sought to bring prosperity to his people once more. So distraught he was with new responsibility and grief at losing his family until his Brother, Prince Liken, appeared as if resurrected. Together, in defiance of Celestia's will, the reunited brothers led their people in search of a new home, but in all his years of traveling Torup never forgot the sight of the mountain smoke beneath the moon, the trees like torches blazing bright. For he had seen dragonfire in the sky, and a city turned to ash. And like many of his fellow dogs he never forgave, and he never forgot.

Ponyville was a world and a half away from these troubles, a tiny village nestled safely between Canterlot and the Lands of the Everfree Deer, whose magic in those days kept the forest tame. Ponies here thought Zebra and Griffons curious creatures when one passed through town. To them Dragons were frightful things that lived in stories, and helped scare misbehaving colts and fillies into behaving. Nopony realized then the role one Ponyville mare would play in forming the future of Equestria. Of course, who could have predicted the whims of a Unicorn?