TOH'S Guardian

by LiterarySerenity

Chapter One—Which Tells of Disgraced Diamond Dogs

Diamond Dogs kicked out of a pack were a sorry sight, yet Diamond Dogs exiled from the kingdom of Dimondia were even worse. That is, unless you counted Dimondia as one huge pack, which made the misery scale just a little tougher to define—and this was a tentative distinction Rover had considered countless times since he had been chased off their home territory, until his head hurt from the effort (which never took very long).

And, in the end, there were only a few things Rover’s mind managed to hold onto with any certainty:

The first included memories of being tricked by that white unicorn pony into giving up whole cartloads of precious gems, and of getting scolded by the rest of the pack for losing them (and then banished when Dimondia acquired some unicorn queen).

The second was a throbbing homesickness harder to remove than a tick.

It wasn’t all bad. Two other Diamond Dogs had been driven out with Rover. They were a tall, broad-shouldered mongrel named, “Fido,” and a scrawny bulldog called, “Spot.” Compared to them, Rover was the middle-dog in size and body composition, slimmer than Fido yet only a head taller than Spot. And the three of them stuck together because they had no one else to turn to now. Even their original mines on the outskirts of Ponyville were now off-limits. So now they wandered the land with vest pockets empty of any gems, tongues lagging and often bickering to pass the time.

Actually, Rover had to revise that opinion.

Things were pretty bad.

But at least Fido and Spot shared Rover’s desire to somehow get on the good side of their fellow Diamond Dogs and return to Dimondia—and after much head-scratching the trio had reached a certain consensus.

“We need gems,” Fido had blurted out. “Lots of gems.”

“Yes, because Diamond Dogs can’t resist gems,” Spot had agreed, hopping in place.

“But we have to find special gems that will make our fellow Diamond Dogs look favorably upon us,” Rover had declared. And then, because he prided himself on being the cleverest of them all, he added, “They must be something rare and not found anywhere else.”

In this way, the threesome had scoured Equestria, dug numerous holes that led nowhere (and fallen into them), fled from various dangers (provoked and unprovoked), howled forlornly at a several full moons (and sometimes to the accompaniment and eventual pursuit of Timberwolves), and sniffed around countless abandoned mines searching for gems unusual and precious enough to bring back to Dimondia.

Then one morning before dawn they ventured—weary, worn, and itchy—deep into the Everfree Forest and came upon a marvelous sight.
In a cavern along a ravine, there stood a radiant crystal tree that it stung their eyes to stare at for too long. Multi-colored flowers bloomed across the floor, casting pretty patterns on the craggy walls, and they were soft on their calloused paws and smelled nice.

Attached to that tree were colorful gems in odd shapes, from a small diamond to something that resembled an apple. There was also a star-shaped one at the center, in the middle of a much larger star that was part of the tree. And moving in a slow orbit around the entire thing was a large purple star.

After taking a moment to celebrate their good fortune with a tumble through the flowers (scattering petals everywhere), followed by a playful scuffle like a bunch of pups (leaving scratch marks across the stone floor), the Diamond Dogs kissed the ground before their prize in reverence to the bounty before them—which was supposedly an old custom among their kind for good luck.

All that remained was who should do the honor of plucking these gems from the branches.

“I should do it,” Rover stated, at which the other two dogs balked.

“Why do you get to do it?” Spot asked, indignant. “I was the one who saw this place first.” And this had been true, for Spot with his keen eyes had been the one to notice the glimmer of reflected light as the trio had made their way along the gorge.

Yet Rover wasn’t going to give way because of that.

“That’s because your arms are too short,” Rover reasoned, holding up his long, thick ones as an example.

“My arms are long,” Fido interjected. “And I am bigger than you. So I guess that means I’ll get the gems.” He clapped his paws, tee-heed, and reached up for the butterfly-shaped jewel.

Only to have Rover slap away his paw.

“Hey!” Fido barked. “What’d you do that for? That hurt.”

“Because I’m collecting the gems,” Rover insisted.

“No, you’re not,” Spot interjected. “You may have long arms, but I am a good climber. You can’t climb at all, so you couldn’t reach them even if you tried.” He sneered in triumph, which was more than Rover could stand.

What followed was a much rougher rumble in the cavern, with much biting and snarling. That is, until a bright flash interrupted their intense brawl. Rover noticed—while trying to chew on Fido’s leg—that this came from the entrance rather than the sparkling tree nearby (although even then he might otherwise have dismissed this in order to continue the fight). But then an odd oppression also entered the air, which made the fur stand up along the back of Rover’s neck and caused him to become cautious. It was the same type of reaction he underwent at an impending landslide, which he could somehow sense but not entirely explain.

Yet his fellow Diamond Dogs had apparently noted the flash and change in the air as well, and so it was that Rover, Fido, and Spot paused at about the same time and turned their attention to the cavern mouth—where they saw a figure taller than Fido, and (at the moment) shrouded in shadow, beginning to enter.

Wings stretched out on either side of the creature, a small wisp of what could have been smoke trailed upwards (although it smelled kind of peculiar), and it lifted its head and gave a great, scratchy snarl. Then it lifted what appeared a claw.

However, Rover didn’t strain for more details, for he now had a sneaking suspicious he knew what they were up against.

And just like that, the Diamond Dogs couldn’t get out of the cave fast enough, scrambling over each other in the process and racing past the beast, who thankfully was too slow to give chase.

None of the Diamond Dogs looked back, though it might have saved them some trouble if they had.

For standing in the entrance, in a pink housecoat and bunny slippers, was a groggy Discord—holding a mug of steaming tea and half-covering a rasping yawn with his griffin claw.

Author's Note:

According to MLP: FIM Friends Forever comic #6, these Diamond Dogs had been kicked out of the Kingdom of Dimondia, so I kind of wanted to do a story exploring them a bit more. Hopefully, they come across well and you enjoy this interpretation of them. ^_^

But a lot of this tale is also going to involve the interaction between Rarity and Discord.

Comments

[PegaSeraph]

Go on...

[LiterarySerenity]

5528799 Hah. Hopefully, I can get the attitudes of the Diamond Dogs just right.

[EchoWing]

Amusingly enough, I have a story of my own percolating revolving around something that would enable a Diamond Dog full pardon of any crimes they'd been held to have committed by their kind. All inspired by the comics.

And thus begins my reading of this tale...