Chapter 1: I can go the distance.
My mother tossed a sack of gems on the table and barked at us to come eat. My siblings came out of the walls and grabbed at the gems but one of the oldest of us growled at them causing them to scatter, he went over to the table and divided the sack between the six of us with the older ones getting more of the bigger gems than the others; meaning I will get the least of the gems since I'm the youngest.He tossed me an emerald and ruby that barely fit in my paw when I held them together, I put them in one of the pockets in my raggedy vest as the other pups grabbed their share and jumped back into their holes in the walls. The oldest one, Igneous 'Ig' Stone, patted my head roughly and growled as if he just said something profound -which is doubtful, we're not the brightest torch in the caves- he lumbered down one of the larger tunnels and left me in the central cavern by myself.
"Hi everyone... bye everyone," I mumbled, my voice echoing slightly off the walls, I went down on four legs and ran into a tunnel off to the back of the room.
My paws knew where I wanted to go, the walls of the tunnels became a blur with holes leading to other tunnels for several miles through the mountain. I barely slowed down as I aimed for a hole above me and hauled myself up by my claws, beginning my climb to the surface and my secret cave, I pushed up on a slab above me and squinted as light streamed through the crack in the wall. I dropped the slab back into its slot and peered through the crack at the pony town a bit away from the rock wall.
I pulled the ruby out and tossed it into my mouth, I slid a claw along the wall until it caught an edge and pulled to reveal a stack of foal's learning books I had managed to get. I picked up several and started flipping through them, studying what I could understand from the ponies language, everypony gets a cutiemark that tells them what they are good at; it usually appears in a ponies youth on their flank.
"Flank? What is a flank," I asked the empty room, I looked at the next page that had a diagram of a pony with a mark on their butt, "Oh, it's a butt, why don't they just say butt?" I twisted around and parted the fur near my tail but didn't see anything under it. Somehow I dozed off while reading, I was awaken by a howl vibrating through the tunnel below me, I looked out the crack to see the moon behind a massive crystal tree that wasn't there when I got here. "Wha-," I stopped when the howling cut off, I yanked up the slab and tossed it aside and jumped into the hole. I couldn't even rub my sore bottom from the fall because I was off like a bat out of Tartarus.
I crawled from my tunnel into the cavern to find my siblings already there listening to our father as he talked about what the Alphas told the grown up's at the meeting. He growled as I settled downed beside Silt, he spoke again in his gruff tone "Alphas tell us ponies have new princess and new castle in nearby pony town." I thought back to the giant tree that had appeared as he continued, "Giant castle grow after the battle with centaur or something. We were told to tell family that surface gem farming is forbidden."
Everyone started talking at once; complaining about their problems but father shut them up with a loud bark, jerking his head to signal that he was done and to go to sleep. I turned to go to a hole in the wall that was my room but father place a paw on my shoulder and walked with me to my room. I curled up on my frayed blankets in a ball and he slid down the wall as he sat down beside me, "Gem, listen, Alphas know about room near pony town. There was talk about sending your brother to destroy it but now it is time for you to become a real Diamond Dog, you report to uncle Fido in the mines tomorrow."
I sat up with my eyes tearing up, "What? Why?!"
"World not need smart Diamond Dog, if there were smart Diamond Dogs then they threaten Alphas. Please don't argue, it's best to obey and not cause fuss, you know how Alphas treat disobedient dogs."
I sniffled and scooted closer to the wall, "Yes father, I will report to uncle Fido tomorrow, good night."
"I am sorry," he said as he placed his huge paw on my back and rubbed it for a moment before getting up to leave and whispered so quietly I barely heard him, "I do not mind you wishing to learn. I think it is good to have a wish. Goodnight my son." He left, leaving only the sounds of my siblings snoring and my quiet sobbing.
The morning came swiftly shortly after closing my eyes, I only woke because of my siblings paws pounding the stone, I pulled myself up and readjusted my vest and bandanna around my neck. Taking my sweet time I slid down the main tunnel which dumped me into a busy access tunnel full of dogs going to and from work, following the line right to a nexus of holes leading who knows where. I picked one and started sliding until I was dumped in one of our mines, a stocky Diamond Dog was the only one in this section, "Hi uncle Fido..."
The turned around a bit to fast and hit his head on the low ceiling, he growled and mumbled darkly before growling, "What do you want?! Oh, hi Gem. Why you here?"
'He doesn't know why I'm down here,' I thought as I picked a black stone out of the wall, "N-no reason uncle, just thought I visit..." His only response was a grunt and he went back to digging his claws into the rock, I sniffed the black stone before holding it out to uncle, "What gem is this? I've never seen this kind before."
He carved out a large stone from the wall and sniffed for gems, not finding any he picked it up and smashed his fist on it to shatter it. He came over to yank the cube shaped gem from my paw and sniffed it before tossing it into a bucket, "Not know."
"How could you not know. Isn't it your job to mine gems and know what is good and what isn't," I asked reaching into the bucket to get the black cube.
He barked a rough laugh, "No, job is dig gems, obey Alphas, and eat gems. That's it."
"Oh... speaking of Alphas, why are they so against Diamond Dog learning?"
He flopped down on the floor and patted the spot next to him, "Come sit, I tell you story." I brushed some pebbles away and sat down, he continued when I settled down, "This story about three Diamond Dog friends. They broke rule set by Alphas but they said they would be forgiven if they do one job; Alphas tell them, "Go gather us three carts of gems in one week." Three carts of gem's not that much for three Diamond Dogs but Alphas had nasty trick; they say they may only pick gems from the border of Rambling Rocky Ridge near pony town. They agree and travel to the border with pony town. They dig for days with little luck then on forth day they see pure white unicorn with dragon beside her. She cast magic that cause ground to glow in many spots, the dragon goes to these spots and dig. He not dig for long and pulls out gems!" He paused the story while he stretched his arms wide to show how many gems they found before continuing the story, "One of Diamond Dogs was cleverer than the others, he came up with idea to capture unicorn and have her find the gems for them. They do this but find out unicorn have secret weapon, she whined. She whine so much by time unicorn's friends come to rescue her, the Diamond Dogs were willing to give their gems to get her to leave. She leave but tunnels now had no gems for Diamond Dogs so they have no choice but to go back to Alphas empty-pawed. When Alphas hear of their attempted at enslaving the pony, they feared the ponies rulers so they take two of three Diamond Dogs and put them down for their idea as a way to gain forgiveness." He got quiet for a moment as he thought about something, he sighed and stood up, "I-I think it time for you to go, Gem."
I got up, pocketed the black cube, and went to the chute I came down, looking over my shoulder I could have sworn I saw a tear run down his snout, "Good bye uncle Fido... thanks for the story, it has helped me make up my mind." I saw him raise a paw and up the hole I went. I made my way back to our home system, luckily everyone was off somewhere so it was deserted. I went to my room and began gouging out the inside and outside, marking it so it was obvious I was leaving, I finished and headed to my study room while bracing myself for the damage. I popped my head out and saw shredded paper all over the room, the stone carvings smashed, the crack in the wall stuffed with my attempts at drawings. I pulled them from the the crack and tossed them aside, I dug my claws into the crack and pulled down on each side of me, I went to the other wall, ran at the crack, and hit my shoulder against it. I tried three times before the wall gave in to my tiny size, I hit the wall with a smack and the wall along with myself went flying down the hill. It was terrifying but kind of fun, I had never had the ground move with me before, it seemed to last forever but the hitting a tree brought me back. I ended partially underneath the chunk of rock that used to be my wall, I crawled out and yanked on my tail until it was free, I dropped down to all fours and shook the dirt and dust from my fur. I popped up on my legs and adjusted my scarf and patted my to pockets to see if anything was still in them; the black cube shaped gem as well as a few gems as a snack. After I checked myself over for injuries the smells hit me; everything I smelt from the room but stronger, I could smell the grass, the trees, even the water smelled great!
"Trees... I wonder, could I...," I asked myself, letting it hang in the air, "No, no, that would be crazy." I followed a trail towards the direction of the crystal tree, after I passed the treeline I dropped down and put on a burst of speed as I sped the rest of the way to the tree. "Holy cow," I exclaimed, stopping at one of the roots of the 'tree', this thing is giant! I placed a claw on a root and tried to gouge out a sliver but my claw just bounced off it, I then tried taking a bite out of it but that didn't work either, 'Weird...'
A purple dragon walk around a root to my left carrying a basket of fabrics, he must have heard the sound of my gnawing because he lowered the basket enough to get a look at me and his face turned sour as he muttered, "Diamond Dog, perfect." He dropped the basket and came over to me, "Hey, what do you thing you're doing Diamond Dog?"
With my mouth full of root I replied, "Nuffin'... Are you tuh pruncuss?"
He looked like he was struggling with two different emotions when I asked that, "No I'm not the princess, now if you would please stop chewing the tree that would be great."
I let go of it and fell to the ground with a thump, I stood up with my tail kicking up a dust storm, "Hi sorry, my name Gem. I come to learn from ponies." He just stood there an stared at me, "Is that problem?"
He cleared his throat before motioning me to follow him, he picked up his laundry basket and we walked in the direction he came from while he shouted, "Twilight! I think you better come see this!"
Several minutes later I sat across a table from the purple pony princess, Twilight, she had Spike -who was the dragon I met- bake these round things called cookies that made my insides tingle with happiness. She asked what I wanted, so I told her my life story; everything from wanting to be smart by taking some books from the school to the alphas to even the fact that my tail wasn't like other Diamond Dogs and that it couldn't break rocks. I don't know why but I just couldn't stop talking she just had this feeling about her that made me want to confide in her, all the while she just patted my paw and assured me with little comments. I finally finished my tale with my destroying my cave and running away to this pony town to ask her if I she could help me go to school.
Twilight smiled at my wanting to expand my knowledge, "I don't see why I shouldn't help you. Let's go talk to Miss Cheerilee about getting you enrolled... after you apologize for stealing those books."
I looked at her funny, "What is apologize?"
The question seemed to startle her, she picked the empty plate and I watched it float over to Spike where he took it back in the kitchen. She stood up and guided me with her outside, "Apologizing is where you tell someone you have done something bad to, that you are sorry. Most ponies will forgive you if you tell them you are sorry. Now come along, it is still pretty early so Miss Cheerilee should be teaching her class. We walked along a road through town, getting all kinds of strange looks from the ponies, she led me to the same building that I took the books from. I began to have this feeling in my stomach, like I had a tummy ache, my paws started fiddling together by them self. We stopped outside the schoolhouse doors, I heard several voices talking at once, she leaned down and told me to wait here while she talked to Miss Cheerilee.
"Okay," I said, crouching down while I wrapped my arms around my knees.
She knocked on the door with her hoof and went inside, the voices stopped chattering and three of them called out to her, I could barely hear her whisper something. The two talk briefly, the only thing I heard was 'Where is he?' and 'outside'. I squeezed my legs tighter as the feeling got worse, the door opened and Princess Twilight and a pony who must have been Miss Cheerilee came out. Miss Cheerilee looked like Ig when I took a gemstone from one of my brothers pockets, after they closed the door the whisper voices inside started up and the sound of them coming to the windows.
Twilight nudged me with her hoof for me to stand up, "Come on Gem, don't you have something you want to tell Miss Cheerilee?"
"I'm sorry for taking your books..."
"I'm sorry, what was that," Miss Cheerilee asked.
"I said I'm sorry for taking your books... and I want to go here and learn about things," I said, my voice growing more confident.
Her mean look dissolved into a bright smile, "Well why didn't you just say so? I'm sure my class would be happy to have another student as would I."
"Really," I screamed, my tail wagging like crazy.
"Of course, I'll get some forms for you to fill out so you can come to school, I'm sure Princess Twilight wouldn't mind helping you with it. One moment while I go get them," she open the door and the sound of the students could be heard rushing back to their chairs.
I looked up at Twilight and saw her smiling, "Would you really help me with this? I-I don't really know my letters..."
She place her hoof around my shoulders gingerly and smiled down at me, "Of course I would like to help you. Anypony who wishes to learn earns a place in my heart."
"Are you the Princess of Learning?"
She laughed a little, "No I'm the Princess of Friendship and speaking of friendship, I'm positive you will make many friends while you are here."
The door opened with Miss Cheerilee holding several sheets of papers, "Here you go Gem, Fill these out and bring them back by tomorrow so you can start coming into class after the weekend. Just be sure to put your place of residence."
My smile faltered, "P-p-place of residence?"
The hoof around my shoulder patted me gently, "Don't worry about that Miss Cheerilee, he'll be staying with me at the castle.
"Really," we both asked surprised.
Twilight took the papers from the teacher and ushered me down the stairs, "Yes really, goodbye Cheerilee. Come along Gem, we've got some papers to fill out and a room to get ready.
We walked back through town, I happily chattered about every little thing that passed through my head. When we made it back to the castle; Spike was cleaning up the main room, he glanced at me and mumbled something that I didn't catch, I was led into a side room. She sat me down at a wooden table and walked me through the papers.
"So how old are you Gem? Do Diamond Dogs use regular years to determine their age or do they use dog years?"
"What are dog years," I asked confused, never hearing the term before.
She looked over the sheet, making sure everything was complete but a lot of it was blank, "A dog year is this idea that canines age seven times faster than ponies do, which would account for their such short lives."
"Oh... well I'm seven... so I would be one in pony," I exclaimed happily that my math worked out right.
"Well that is very young but I think we should just put seven years old," she replied as she wrote down a seven under Age. "Now let's see, maybe we should get a picture taken to finish this and send it to Cheerilee. SPIKE!"
The door swung open and the dragon walked in, "No need to shout Twilight, I'm right here. What do you need?"
"I need you to find that camera we got as a gift when we left Canterlot, the one that ejects them out on that paper."
Spike groaned a bit before leaving, Twilight went back to scribbling notes on the papers while I just stood there. I made my way over to a door that wasn't open and pulled it easily to show a wall of clothes hanging in it. I closed the door and went back to where Twilight was sitting smiling as she lifted the sheets and straightened them, Spike came in with this brightly colored box and set it on the bed. The top of the box lifted and a strange object floated out and over to her.
"Come over here sweetie, I need to take a picture for the school. I need you to stand still for a moment please, " she steadied the camera in front of her face.
My tail wrapped around and I grabbed it in my front paws, I shook a little bit as she clicked a button on the top and a flash nearly blinded me. The spots danced for a bit before they faded, she pulled a white square from the camera and gave it to me. It was black for a second before a shape started to appear and a couple seconds later there was a dusty grey Diamond Dog holding his long fluffy tail in his paws. "Hey, this is me!"
Her chuckling made me look up and saw her crouched down to my level, placing a wing over my shoulder she moved the camera away and took a picture of both of us and pasted the picture to me and it had me with a goofy grin on my face and her with a small smile. She took the first picture she took, added it to the papers and went to the door, "Welcome to Ponyville, Gem. Now get settled in Spike will show you where everything is later."
She closed the door, leaving me in the room by myself. It took me two tries to jump on the bed, when I settled into the middle I sunk a little and sighed happily, "I actually did it, I can't believe I actually left the mines..." I thought back to my family and twisted until I got wrapped up in the blanket and went to sleep with those memories buzzing in my head.
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Can't wait for more.
This is a really good story so far
I enjoyed reading this
I like this story.
nobody cares dumbass
Shut the fuck up
A solid start so far. I'm worried that gem leaving like that will upset the alphas and cause issues later on for his family.
Also poor Fido