TOH'S Guardian

by LiterarySerenity

Chapter Seven—Involves Explanations

Rarity had managed to recover a bit from her initial astonishment at the sudden pleas for help when the Diamond Dogs began to explain themselves further, in a frantic and jumbled fashion. They rushed through what sounded like a complicated tale, often raising their voices over each other, cutting one another off, and giving desperate whines throughout that did much to assure Rarity these characters had no intention of stealing her away. But the only problem was that their mangled narrative was so difficult to untangle and roughly delivered, she had trouble following exactly what they meant—although there was the impression they had accidentally aggravated a dragon who had frightened them terribly.

Then they mentioned something about precious gems in the gorge cavern, and the dragon kicking them out of it after some type of stone incident.

The Elements of Harmony?

“Stop!” Rarity cried out at this point, causing the Diamond Dogs to wince. Then she tried to speak calmly and gently, because they had obviously been through quite an ordeal. And despite it all, they did seem much nicer now than during their first encounter. “You are making it hard to understand you, Darlings.”

“Gee, she called us ‘Darlings’.” The largest of the Diamond Dogs murmured, suddenly coy, only to get elbowed by the smallest one.

Meanwhile, the middle one (with the red, torn vest Rarity made a mental note to offer repairing) stood wringing his paws with his lower lip trembling with words unsaid. And it was at this middle dog that she waved a hoof:

“Please tell us what happened, slowly,” Rarity said. “Otherwise, we won’t know how to help you.”

This Diamond Dog jerked as if startled by the request, looked between his companions, stepped forward slightly, and restarted their explanation—which flowed out much smoother this time around, with Rarity and Spike asking the occasional question to help piece together the full picture. And it was indeed a picture that surprised them both, if the glance Rarity exchanged with Spike was of any evidence. But she had to admit to feeling sorry for them from the mention of how they had gotten chased out of the Kingdom of Dimondia onwards. For being banished from a place that celebrated fine jewelry (despite everything) sounded like such a miserable idea.

However, a lump caught in Rarity’s throat at the very thought that Diamond Dogs would treat each other in such an ungenerous and thoughtless way. Spikey-Wikey even offered handkerchiefs to the middle one, who introduced himself as “Rover,” along with his companions. And all three blew their noses like trumpets and dabbed at their eyes at numerous parts of the tale.

They spoke of stumbling across the cavern, and of the odd dragon who had appeared there in a flash of light. If Rarity had had any doubts at all as to his identity, these cleared right up when they mentioned getting tricked onto a spring that they had originally created as a pitfall trap to catch him. Because she knew of only one pony who would think of doing such a thing. They told her of the attempts to get around him at the gems, and then the accident that had set him off.

The thought of huge fire rubies was also an attractive concept, but Rarity didn’t take too long to muse over this before getting back to the poor souls before her.

“Mr. Discord got real mad,” Fido interjected.

“Shooting the stone was an accident,” Spot insisted. “We had decided to leave those gems alone.”

“And now we want to apologize,” Rover said. “But we can’t go back.”

“Well,” Rarity said, after they had reached this portion in the story. “The plan to shoot a stone was a very bad thing.”

The Diamond Dogs bowed their heads.

“Still, I can tell you’re really sorry about it and didn’t mean any harm,” Rarity pressed on. “Discord will probably understand.”

“He didn’t listen when we tried to explain the last time,” Spot said. “He chased us out of the cave.”

“Then perhaps I can talk to him,” Rarity said at last.

“You would do that for us, Miss Rarity?” Spot asked, seeming shocked she had made her offer so easily. “You’re not scared?”

“Not at all,” Rarity replied. “Discord is a friend of mine, actually.”

The Diamond Dogs’ faces brightened in what Rarity could tell was beaming admiration at this information. It almost reminded her an adoring crowd at one of her fashion shows, with an extra element of gratitude that was endearing.

“Just leave it up to me, and we’ll get this all straightened—”

Rarity trailed off when the Diamond Dogs began kissing the ground before her, which was somewhat flattering yet a little embarrassing as well. There was also the possibility that Spike might have protested at this moment, yet when she looked her friend had actually moved a little bit further along the path to where the trees broke away and exposed the gorge, standing quietly along its edge.

“Huh, Rarity? I think you might want to see this,” Spike called, and Rarity soon joined him.

She gasped.

The gorge had been filled with dark, thorny vines—much like the ones Discord had once unleashed on Ponyville several months ago, from plunder seeds. Yet these appeared to have no interest in spreading upon their current location, though they wiggled about in an unappealing manner.

That could present a problem.

“Oh. I see,” Rarity said, taking account of her options. After all, these vines could present more trouble than she had accounted for (especially if she went among them). Discord had apparently gone overboard with this protection system against the Diamond Dogs, and it was hard to know what other nasty surprises might lurk inside should any pony dare to trespass there.

“You see?” Spot said, as the Diamond Dogs came to stand beside Rarity the edge of the gorge. “We can’t go to the cave to say we’re sorry if these sticky vines are in the way.”

“Well, have you tried calling out?” Spike suggested. “Sound would carry. Maybe Discord could hear your apology.”

“Huh,” Rover scratched his head. “You know, that scrawny dragon is right.”

“’Scrawny’?” Spike was obviously indignant, crossing his arms in a pout.

“We’ll just shout to Mr. Discord,” Fido agreed.

And then, the three Diamond Dogs cupped their paws around their mouths and called into the gorge:

“Hey, Dragon/Discord/Mr. Discord!” Each Diamond Dog had a different name to yowl for Discord, and the results made for quite a racket. It also turned out that the smallest dog, Spot, had a rather shrill and high-pitched tone when shouting that loudly. “We have something to tell you.”

This had the opposite effect than the one intended. Rarity had hoped Discord might part the vines, at least, and emerge to see what the Diamond Dogs were howling about—when they would be able to discuss the events from earlier.
Instead, the thorny vines quivered and shot towards them.

All of them turned to retreat, with the Diamond Dogs being perhaps the fastest.

Things moved in slow motion for Rarity then.

She twisted about, to head after Spike and the Diamond Dogs. But at the first bound Rarity’s hind hoof slipped for whatever reason, and she fell.

Spike started to twist around, mouth open to shout—and the Diamond Dogs themselves were even turning to help.

But it wasn’t enough.

The vines came crashing around Rarity, plunging her into darkness.

***

“Rarity!” The scrawny dragon shrieked as the dark vines wrapped around Rarity. He would have rushed headlong at the plant menace, but an arm looped about and pulled him into the shade of the Everfree Forest—where the vines stopped advancing. “Let go of me. Let me go.” He struggled in Fido’s hold, and the Diamond Dog finally complied.

Then he flopped onto the ground before the large dark tangle.

Rover exchanged glances with his brother dogs. Here was another dragon, but a little one—and he didn’t seem so bad. Plus, he had stuck close to Miss Rarity.

They had been wrong about the stranger dragon in the gorge.

Maybe they should make peace with this dragon as well.

“You couldn’t have stopped those vines,” Rover said, approaching the dragon from behind. As with imagining things, he wasn’t much use at consoling anyone, especially himself. Still, perhaps it helped since the dragon wiped at his eyes and nose. That could have been a good sign. “It will be okay, hmm—”

“Spike,” the dragon finished.

Fido came over and patted Spike on the back, as did Spot.

The foursome sat in a sullen huddle for a while before they heard from inside the tangle:

“Sweet Celestia! It smells simply dreadful in here.”

“Rarity, is that you?” Spike bounced up and came to the edge of the clump of vines.

“Yes, my little Spikey-Wikey,” Miss Rarity answered. “I am perfectly fine. The vines seem to have gone completely around me, and I’m using my horn to light my way. In fact,” here there was a pause, “I might just be able to navigate my way to the cavern from here. I don’t think they’ll make a move against me.”

“I guess they were just after us?” Spot said.

“But I don’t think I can get in either,” Spike protested. “Shouldn’t I go with you, to protect you?”

“Don’t fret, Spikey-Wikey,” Miss Rarity called. “I should be fine, but maybe our new friends might need your help in the meantime. Please take care of them for me, okay?”

“’Friends’?” Rover murmured the word, along with Fido and Spot. It was such an alien term. But somehow, Rover had to admit he kind of liked how it moved over his tongue.

“All right, Rarity.” Spike said at length. “I’ll watch over them and make sure they don’t get into any trouble.”

“Because we’re friends,” Fido latched onto the idea immediately, grabbing up Spike in a big, squeezing hug.

“Come back soon,” Rover heard Spike squeak out.

“I promise I will,” Miss Rarity said, and the sound of vines shifting marked her journey deeper into the vines.

“There goes an amazing pony,” Spot said.

“Yeah,” the rest of the Diamond Dogs and Spike agreed.

Author's Note:

Rarity, to the rescue!

Comments

[PegaSeraph]

Must sleep...
But must also read...

[LiterarySerenity]

5561459 Hah. Take your time, enjoy, and sleep well. ;3