King of Diamonds

by Midnightshadow

What Lies Before

♠♣♥♦King of
Diamonds

The Ambassador's Son - Book 2
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Chapter 9
What Lies Before
An MLP:FiM Fanfiction by Midnight Shadow

---

Rushing and roaring sounds assaulted his consciousness. Vaguely he became aware he was being jostled and jounced, with brief yet intense pin-pricks of pain making themselves known through the all-pervading fog. There was a sudden, sharper pain in his chest, which caused Chip to violently cough. A stream of water left his lungs and, as he opened his eyes, he sucked in a huge gasping breath. He retched, and another goodly amount of bile-tasting liquid was ejected from his maw.

"Chip?" asked a frantic, worried voice, audible through a rushing torrent of white noise which slowly but surely diminished until it became little but a memory and an annoying ache in the back of his head.

"Carmine?" Chip croaked, rolling his head around until his amor-plated helmet was once again in its proper place. The world that swam into focus was white and silent save for the faint creaking of the carriage as it moved in the gentle breeze. It was almost peaceful, if not for the burning pain in his tail and the ache in his gut where he'd been punched by the griffon.

"In the feathers. You okay?" Carmine peered at him over the rim of the chariot, which was amazingly in one piece. It looked like they'd not lost anything important, and the rest had made it through the dunking safe and sound.

"I... I think so. How're the others? Guys?" he called weakly. "Anyone?"

"Beth got Bella, Pin and Penny are fine, so's Ruff, he stuffed himself in the luggage netting." Carmine chuckled, her wet feathers slick against her upper body, the fur on her leonine hindquarters dark and ruffled. "Looks like we made it in one piece."

There were more coughs and splutters around him as a collection of damp shapes made themselves known.

"Beth?" coughed Bella. "Carmine? Chip? Where are we?"

Chip laughed weakly. The colt struggled to right himself in the cramped space before speaking, wincing as pain exploded through his head. "We made it, Bella. We're right at the top of the world, in the clouds. That water-spout swallowed us up and then spat us right out."

"Yeah, and if Beth and I hadn't grabbed your sorry backsides by the tail, it would've been a long trip back down. Nearly didn't get you, Chip; that ripper-ring is sharp. Almost took my beak off."

"I thank you," Chip said blithely, "but my tail doesn't."

"Well your tail can just take a running jump, see how well it can cloud-walk without pegasi magic."

"You don't care about my tail?" asked Chip, pouting.

"Only the rest of you." Carmine smirked.

Chip leaned up quickly, and gave the griffon a kiss on the beak. "Well the rest of me thanks you."

Carmine was speechless. Chip swore he heard a very small "woohoo!" from Penny.

"Ruff lives too... Ruff is not sure, but Ruff thinks Ruff lives," groaned the diamond dog.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, pup," congratulated Bella. Her horn lit up as she performed what simple healing and diagnostic spells she knew. "Nothing's broken on you, but... ow, yeah, I think I strained something. Everything's so white! We're in the clouds?" Bella asked, ear-flicking.

"Yeah, we're in the clouds. You get used to it after the first few times." Chip laughed. "Penny, Hairpin? You two alive?"

"Just about, Master," answered the mature pegasus, shaking herself out.

"Remind me to buck you into the middle of next week when we get home, okay?" moaned Penny.

"Glad you're okay too, Pen." Chip swiped at the clouds with a hoof, clearing them. Marvelling at the power of pegasi magic, he was intensely grateful that, whilst attached to his pet and his friend, the chariot shared in their unique ability to rest upon the clouds. He carefully opened the side doors and hoofed out the last of the water, and then returned to breaking up the clouds above him. With a few final swipes of his hooves, he broke through into glorious, warm daylight. The sky was blue, the sun cheerful, and what breeze there was, was refreshing and welcome.

"That was one wild ride, Chip," chuckled Carmine as she hopped up to a cloud-ledge above them. She ran a claw through her head feathers, smoothing them down. "I think I lost a few inches of tail that time. I think I'm glad I've got this thing rather than feathers back there." Carmine slapped Chip on the flank with her leonine tail and grinned, clicking her beak.

"Ow! You okay though?"

"Mostly. Sprained a wing, but I'll live. We can glide down, just as long as we don't have to go back that way..."

Bella shook her head as Beth joined Carmine on the cloud-ledge. "No, I don't think so," the unicorn stated. "We just have to go back down, now, I think? I don't get it. I didn't see any village or anything on the way up."

"I don't think we were supposed to," Chip replied. Ferreting about in the carriage, he pulled out his saddle-bags and unrolled the map, wiping off one of the travelling trunks to use as a table. Pointing at it, he sat back on his haunches. "Dad said this is..." Chip paused, scrunching up his muzzle in thought before continuing, "Some sort of magical path. He said it's unstable, that it's closing, if it's not closed already. We had to follow those dumb directions because otherwise we won't get there. If we're all in one piece, though, I think we've made it. Somewhere below us lies Zephyr Village. Let's have a breather, check everything out, and then head down when we're ready."

♠♣♥♦

They descended slowly and carefully. The clouds surrounded them like an impervious, never-ending blanket of cotton candy. The world was nothing but a white expanse that ended a few feet in front of their noses, and visibility was practically zero. Sounds were muffled, and the water in the clouds covered everything in a fine coating of drizzle. Thunder rumbled in the distance, and the chariot rocked as the winds created turbulence, but compared to what they'd already been through, the jolts were nothing and the two pegasi shrugged them off. Carmine and Beth crowed to each other, which elicited answering neighs from Hairpin and Penny.

All of a sudden, the white mass unfolded before them to reveal a verdant plateau on the side of a mountain. The endless carpet of clouds above them dispersed the further they got from the thunderhead, and bright shafts of sunlight pierced the heavens, painting the fields in lustrous gold and yellow hues. The air was clean and bracing, spiced with the slightly salty tang of some distant sea. It was mixed enticingly with the dry, baked melange of the desert.

"Guys, this... this isn't possible," stated Bella flatly, awe in her voice.

"But there it is, B," replied Carmine, flapping her wings slowly.

"No, I mean... we've been travelling for hours, all day. It should be the evening. How come it's still midday?"

"I don't think we're in Equestria any more," whispered Chip, as they drifted lower.

The group was silent in awe as they circled the plateau, finally coming in for a landing in the upper reaches, where a cloudbank swirled protectively about an almost invisible mountain pass.

"The hidden village in the mists, right?" asked Chip.

"That's what your map says, Master," replied Hairpin, with a grin.

"Right then, everyone pay attention. We walk, single-file apart from Bella and me with the wagon. Carmine, you take point. Hairpin, you're up next. Ruff, stay in the wagon. Penny, get behind us and Beth, you keep an eye on the rear, okay? No surprises, we take it slowly."

Beth nodded respectfully, as Carmine leaped over them all and Hairpin shrugged herself free. When everybody was ready, the group set off up the mountain.

The wind was gentle and warm, but the silence of the plateau seemed unnatural and strained, as if the world were holding its breath. The greenery slid off into the distance, and the mountain-tops were obscured by cloud. Leading upwards, the path was well-worn and would be easy to follow, but where it headed remained a mystery. The group made cautious headway into the billowing walls of white. Step by step, they were swallowed by the mists of the cloud-layer, the world around them vanishing like fragments of a broken dream, replaced with a close expanse of silence.

As before, the griffons caw'd to each other, calling out. The strange whiteness withheld almost all sounds and obscured sight, so the sounding out was a welcome aide. The group moved slowly on the uneven ground, muddy pot-holes and tree-roots requiring they pick their route carefully.

All of a sudden, the fog lifted. Chip gasped, they were perched on the side of a mountain with a deadly drop on one side and a sheer cliff on the other. The trail moved onwards, and the group pressed forwards.

The winds grew momentarily fierce as the path wound around the mountain, and then all at once it dropped off as the trail widened and they rounded the bend. Behind them stretched a deadly drop and an impassable cliff, and before them stretched grassy plains and unkempt fields.

Here was civilization, of a sort, perched in an impossible valley in mountains which didn't exist. The grass was long in places, tangled and unkempt. It had seeded, and little showers of the dust-like particles puffed up as the group passed, floating on the breeze.

"I think we can leave this here," stated Chip, indicating the chariot. "Grab what's necessary and let's walk." He kicked the wagon with a hoof, it was more or less stuck fast in the undergrowth, and would be useless.

"Where to?" asked Penny, clambering on the raised back to peer off into the distance.

"I think I see huts, or something," Chip said, pointing, and with a shrug he set off.

The ponies on foot made relatively steady progress, and the pegasi and griffons didn't wander too far. The weather was perfect, with only wispy clouds dotting the deep blue sky, and there was no sign of anything more dangerous than a disgruntled badger and a rabbit or two. Still, the group stuck together. There was a collective wish not to stray, for the farmlands were unnaturally silent, and apparently empty.

"It's like," piped up Chip, "I think this was all tended to once... I mean it's grass, actual grass. It's just been let go for years. Decades, maybe, I don't know."

"And I recognize most of these plants," supplied Bella, pointing a hoof and digging into the ground with her horn to expose various specimens. "They don't grow so close together unless they've been planted."

The group continued on in relative silence, with Ruff alternately watching ahead and behind from where he was perched on Hairpin's back, nervously. It was when they finally reached the village that everybody stopped. The huts seemed abandoned, with shuttered windows and broken doors set into crude wooden frames that were little more than circular collections of roughly-hewn boards, or in some cases tree-trunks. Shrubberies and gardens had overgrown, vines had swallowed some buildings whole and still others had fallen in, their roofs giving out under the onslaught of time. Wordlessly, the group spread out, but kept each other in eye and ear-shot. The griffons rose cautiously into the sky and circled, searching apprehensively.

"Hello!" called Chip and Penny, with nothing but echoes to answer them.

"What happened here? It just looks like... everyone left," Bella finished, lamely.

"Maybe they did," agreed Hairpin. "Hellooo? Anyone?"

Beth landed lithely with a soft thump, startling the pegasus. "Come on, I've found something."

"What is it?" Hairpin asked.

"Another hut, and it looks lived in."

Trotting through the ruined town, or in some cases winging it above the tangled brush that used to be the streets, the group hurried in the direction pointed out by Beth. Up the single main road a little, the greenery gave way to clear paths. One hut stood apart from the rest, no less run-down but obviously inhabited. Potted plants hung on beams over a wooden terrace, and fresh rabbit skins hung drying in the sun. The rabbit carcases themselves were in a smaller shed-like structure, kept cooler out of the glare of the sun, where they could drain undisturbed.

"This is diamond dog dwelling," said Ruff. "I can tell. Rabbit Surprise."

"I thought you diamond dogs preferred to live underground?"

"Ye-es," agreed Ruff, "but stories have houses like these! Mama reads them to me."

Carmine raked her claws gently down the side of the strange wooden hut. "Then what caused diamond dogs to prefer living underground?"

"High King said the sky was burning, so he led us to safety. We hid from the sun and survived. Everybody else died."

"If the diamond dogs all died except for the ones that lived underground... then where is this lot from? And who is that?" asked Carmine, pointing with a claw further up the hillside.

Squinting to get a better look, Chip and the others left the dwelling behind them and headed towards the spot Carmine had indicated. Sure enough, the griffon's eagle eyes had spotted a figure sitting unmoving under the shade of a tree, near a small cave. Several minutes of walking later, and the group were close enough to make her out.

She was, true enough, a diamond dog. She was short, wrinkly like worn leather, and old. Her hair was as grey as the winter sky and the rest of her pelt was faded and almost colourless, with the skin showing underneath her fur in places. An old bone through her nose was matched by what appeared to be teeth in her ears and on a necklace that hung low across her chest. A large, ornately carved staff lay horizontally across her lap. The staff was long, taller than the troll would be standing up, with what looked like a skull of some animal on top. Strips of leather hung down from a bar perpendicular to the shaft, and the shaft itself was decorated in odd writing and runes and other glyphs. It was made of what seemed to be some dark brown wood, the varnish old and worn but uncracked. Her eyes seemed to be closed, and faint snoring noises could be heard. At their approach, however, her eyes snapped open and she sat up straighter

"Hold, strangers," the dog-troll said, in a raspy voice. Her bulldog-like face wrinkled as she showed her canines. "Who goes there?"

"We're just travellers," said Chip, carefully trotting forwards.

"Ponies?" The troll sniffed. "No, not just ponies." She sniffed again. "Griffons... and a dragon? Do you think to trick old Mishka? Think Mishka afraid? Nose not lie, ears not lie. Such a party is trouble. Stay back! Mishka keep duty, keep promise. Mishka guard, as Mishka's mother guarded. As her mother, and her mother, and her mother, and..." the diamond dog's words dwindled off into slurred speech as she fought to remember and recount it accurately. She evidently gave up as she gave a barking snarl, getting to her feet with a great deal of difficulty. "Mishka not be tricked! Seek treasure, you do. Seek to steal it. Not find what looking for! Begone!"

"Treasure?" asked Hairpin, perking her ears up.

Mishka hissed, lunging forwards with her staff. "Fie! Dragon!" the troll shouted. Hairpin danced out of the way, and Chip turned to swipe at the weapon, his haunch-guard catching the blow as his tail wrapped around it. Twisting his hindquarters away from the old troll, he sought to wrench the staff out of her grip. Despite her age, the old troll bent and followed the path of the staff, and plunged the head of it into the ground. To his shock, Chip found his tail-motion brought to a dead stop as the staff seemingly became one with the rocks beneath it. In one fluid motion, Mishka then raised the staff and swiped at his legs. Chip blocked with his flank, the breath whooshing from his lungs as the weapon impacted. Flicking with his tail and kicking with his hind legs in one motion, Chip scored a direct hit against the diamond dog, sending her sailing through the air in one direction, whilst her staff flew in the opposite. It impacted a tree with a fearful crash.

Mishka landed heavily, whining in pain as she fought to breathe. Hairpin, incensed, rushed forwards with deadly intent. She reared up, kicking both front hooves as she brought them down for a deadly stomp.

"Stop!" yelled Chip, splaying his ears back and stomping a forehoof. Hairpin froze in place, almost keeling over as her master's voice ordered her to stand down. "Stop, Pin, Stop. Good girl. It's over. It's okay." Chip ran to his pet, nuzzling the suddenly distraught pegasus.

"Sorry, Master, I... I just..."

"Shh, it's okay," Chip comforted, "you did good, you meant well." Chip flicked his tail in a deliberate motion, causing the bolas to crash together. He glared at Mishka, and she seemed to slump. "Back now, Pin," Chip whispered. "Get back." He nudged the pegasus with a forehoof, planting it between her ears, gently, for a second, before trotting over to the prone diamond dog. "This is over, Mishka."

"Kill Mishka now, dragon!" cried the diamond dog, tears running down her face as she fought to breath. "Mishka has failed. Kill Mishka; you have destroyed staff, now end Mishka's pain."

Chip watched speechlessly as the old troll burst into tears. Her words were confused and mixed, but her intent was obvious. She had failed in a sacred task, and had nothing left to live for. Chip took a deep breath, and made a decision. "Mishka... Mishka, listen. We're not here to attack or steal anything. Here, touch me. I'm not what you think I am." Chip shucked his horned helmet and turned back to the prone troll. She was still wailing and crying. At his insistence, she stretched out a paw.

"You are... dragon? Mishka nose not lie, Mishka ears not lie, Mishka paws don't lie... but you are a pony?"

He nuzzled her outstretched paw softly. "It's complicated. What we are, is friends. Really. Talk, tell us why you're here."

"Mishka... Mishka has failed," said the diamond dog. Sobbing, she rolled over and sat back up, gasping for breath. "Mishka hurts. Heart is broken. Mishka wait, all her life. Mishka guard home, for king. Mishka's brother was imbecile. Wet self and drool. Father put down. Other brother deaf. Mishka—" the troll tapered off, gesturing weakly to her eyes.

"You're blind, aren't you?" Chip said softly. "Guys, come closer. I think... I think it's okay now."

His friends crowded around as the old troll continued. "Mishka pack cut off from home, many years ago. No diamond dogs here to continue pack. Pack... mate with pack."

Hairpin hissed in disgust. "They've been inbreeding for centuries. It's a problem, back in Stalliongrad. Some dragons have strong ideas about their pets, ideas that aren't entirely wise."

"They breed their pets like ponies do cattle," replied Carmine, with a nod.

"Mishka," the old troll carried on, getting to her feet. "Mishka wait, all her life. Mishka is... last. Mishka is last shield-maiden. No more. No more shield-maidens, no more King. King as dead as Mishka's father. Lies! Was all lies! What went before was greater!"

Chip ducked as the old troll ran forwards, shaking her fists at the sky. "Come now, then, King! Show self! If ever were, be! What went before was greater!"

"But," said Ruff, shouldering his way through the crowd, "if what went before was greater, then what lies ahead is greater still. Mama always said—"

"King?" Mishka sniffed. She dried her eyes and turned, searching. "King?"

"I Ruff—" began the little troll.

"He's with us," said Hairpin.

"King returns?" Mishka was breathless. "King returns! With ponies and griffons and dragon in tow. King returns triumphant! King returns for Mishka!" The diamond dog's face grew white and a strangled scream tore at her throat. "Mishka has broken sacred staff!" She burst into tears again, falling on her face and crawling on her belly through the grass towards Ruff, blubbering and begging forgiveness. "Mishka worthless, Mishka terrible. Mishka awful. Mishka—"

"Mishka hasn't broken her staff," said Carmine, hefting it out of the bushes and placing it between the older diamond dog's paws. "See?"

Mishka pulled it to her, rocking back and forth. "Wise king! Powerful king! Mishka faithful!"

"Mishka very faithful," said Ruff, awkwardly. "Mishka perfect shield-maiden."

"Mishka hold for king. Mishka promised. Here, King, take staff. Mishka do good?"

"Mishka do very good," answered Ruff, as he bent to pick up the staff. He held it, awkwardly, whilst the elder troll kissed his feet.

"Mishka always knew," the troll said, tears streaming down her face, "that king would come back for her. Come, king and slaves must dine with Mishka. Come, come." Tottering without the staff to hold her upright, limping slightly on what appeared to be a lame leg, the old troll headed resolutely back towards what had to be her hut, leaving the rest to watch her go in some amusement and a good deal of confusion.

Chip snorted. "I am no slave. I am a dragon lord!"

Carmine perked up an eyeridge at him, head-crest rising.

"It's the principle of the thing!" He snorted, stomping after the retreating figure.

Carmine watched him go, beak falling open in surprise and amusement.

Hairpin swished past. She turned and grinned. "It's a dragon thing, you'll get used to it, Mistress Carmine." Carmine's beak dropped even lower as the pegasus winked and swished off, following her owner.

♠♣♥♦

Mishka led the group back to her house. She bade Ruff enter, and then promptly shut the door in everyone else's face. Chip snorted and stormed in anyway. Mishka shrieked and almost dropped the plate she was filling with pieces of red meat. For a brief second, Chip bared his teeth, but then he sat down on his haunches.

"Sorry, hi, uh, your majesty," Chip glared at Ruff. The pup shrugged his shoulders. "We've all had a long day, and we could all do with a bite to eat. How about you join us outside in the sunshine?"

"If king so wishes." Mishka sniffed.

Chip glared. Had he glared much harder, the stool Ruff was seated on may have burst into flames.

"King wishes!" squeaked Ruff, as he bolted outside.

Chip about-faced just outside the front door, and stomped off.

In short order, a collection of blankets were lain about upon the ground, and the group collectively lounged on them. Chip glared at a plate of what appeared to be jerky. They'd not really packed many gems, the grains and vegetables had gone to the ponies, and the salted meat had been left to him. His stomach growled. The griffons had caught something presumably edible and Ruff was sharing what meagre food Mishka had trapped herself.

He probably could have insisted. He wasn't pack though, and begging from the alpha was beneath a dragon. Which meant he would suffer with jerky. His stomach growled again.

With a sigh, Carmine clawed over something dead and disemboweled. Strangely enough, Chip found himself drooling. He gave her a look of thanks.

"Shut it, dufus, and enjoy," Carmine said with a scowl, as she fished out some jerky to supplement what remained on her plate. Before she'd turned back, half the goods on Chip's plate had vanished into his maw. She shook her head, laughing softly.

Hairpin, hovering nervously outside the circle and chewing on the grasses and other plants growing wild, whispered, "That's how it starts, you know." She ducked away and laughed as Carmine threw an empty cup at her.

"Mishka," Chip asked, "what are you doing here? Are you alone? Where is your pack?"

Mishka stiffened for a moment. Her blind eyes sought out Ruff, who patted her knee awkwardly as she sat, cross-legged.

"It okay, can tell."

"Pack gone," Mishka said, finally. "Mishka alone. But... Mishka not alone. Mishka have garden, and Mishka have cave. And Mishka have... had... Mishka had duty."

"What were you protecting, Mishka?" Chip whispered.

The words, when Mishka spoke them next, were forlorn and filled with so very, very much sadness. "Home."

The troll wandered through her garden. It was small, neat, and relatively orderly. In it grew an odd, eclectic mix of flowers, shrubs, bushes and trees. Mishka put her paws out, touching a leaf here and there, caressing a plant.

"Mishka often wonder what her garden is like. Mishka... never see. Never seen sun. Father say sun big ball in the sky. Mishka feels the sun, smells the plants, can touch... maybe is enough?"

"It's beautiful, Mishka," said Bella with a smile. The unicorn tasted and tested, sniffing and smelling her way through the cornucopia of aromas. "I didn't know diamond dogs, well, grew anything."

Mishka barked a mocking laugh. "Diamond dogs are of the ground! It is our element. Foolish pony."

Bella stuck her tongue out. "The diamond dogs we've met are... different."

"There are more?" Mishka spun, suddenly. Almost tripping in her haste to get to Bella, she all but leaped at the filly. "Tell Mishka truth!"

"Of course there are. Ruff here is from Tacksworn, we've got a whole pack living in the area. Two, now."

"Two packs?"

"There's another three further down south, and a many more all over Equestria... I don't know how many. Hundreds of thousands, millions?"

"Millions?!" squeaked Mishka. She fell to her haunches, clutching her chest. "But, but..."

"We came through rainbow bridge," added Ruff. "To escape the great burning."

Mishka's breath caught in her throat. "The lost tribe," she hissed, "the lost king. Oh, Mishka so foolish! Mishka protect home from dragon, stories tell dragons enslaved the lost pack, and then... and then dragon appear in our world. We thought it attack! Mishka guard..." Mishka started to laugh, bitterly, as tears streamed down her cheeks. "Mishka guard home from nothing."

"My father," Chip stated, "came through this path, hundreds of years ago. He was an explorer, nothing else. We just... wanted to see. Please? It is important to me."

Mishka nodded. "Mishka show. The Way is closed, home is no more. Take... you take Mishka home?"

"Sure," Chip said, after a brief glance at his friends. "You can come with us, to Tacksworn."

"Mishka go home, then. Mishka... will miss her flowers. Will miss her hut. Mishka prepared to spend last of her days here, amongst the flowers, but it so lonely. Mishka no longer alone?"

"You can join Ruff's pack!" Ruff answered, affirmatively.

"Mishka join king? How many in King Ruff's pack?"

"Just..." The pup's lips moved as he counted. "Just seven," said Ruff, "but... is good pack!"

♠♣♥♦

The small group stood in a rough semicircle, peering into the cave, none of them entirely willing to make the first move. Finally, it was Chip who spoke up. "I think we should go in."

"Mishka will lead way, if dragon is to be supplying light? Mishka no need," the old dog smiled, sadly, "but know others do."

"Bella?" Chip asked, turning to his friend.

"I can do that," the unicorn stated, nodding with finality.

"Mishka know way. Rock speak to Mishka, tells Mishka all. You, dragon, follow carefully."

"Ruff come too," argued Ruff, "I must see... home. What there is of it"

"If you think I came this far to let you go alone, Chip, you've got another thing coming," squawked Carmine.

"I'm coming too, Master," chimed in Hairpin, but Chip shook his head.

"No, Pin. You have to stay out here. If anything happens to us, you have to get help from Dad. You're the only one who can move fast enough, long enough."

"But—" the pegasus complained.

Chip just glared. "I said no."

"Yes, master." Hairpin looked at the ground.

"Cheer up," said Beth, placing a claw on the pegasus' withers. "Caves aren't my thing. Neither's crawling about in the darkness with those two pecking at each other, so I'll be out here with you, and Penny."

Chip blushed and Carmine's feathers fluffed up.

"Oh leave off, Beth," Penny snorted. "They're cute together."

Chip grinned like an idiot at that, whilst Carmine fluffed even further.

Mishka and Ruff headed in first, followed by Bella, who lit up her horn as the daylight faded. Chip followed them, watching with barely constrained awe at Mishka, and how she would duck and weave through the cave. Seemingly at random she would put out a paw, and touch a rock here or an outcropping there. She could never lose herself in these caverns, he realized. They were at her mercy now, if they could not follow their own assorted hoof- and paw-prints out. He would just have to hope she were being sincere in her offer. The thought unnerved him, causing little jets of flame to spurt from his nostrils as he huffed in worry.

Carmine followed him, keeping her wings tight against her back, her tufty lions tail flicking in agitation. The cave was large, with a sandy floor, but the sense of confinement was growing on her and she didn't like it. Whatever was eating Chip, she could tell it wasn't the caves. Dragons and caves, she realized, went together like blood and hunting.

Chip's hooves scuffed through the silvery grains, leaving tracks rather than hoof-prints. As they headed further in, the ceiling lowered drastically to a thinner passageway. Stalactites hung from the ceiling and stalagmites poked up from the floor, like long dried teeth. Faint currents of air drifted through the enclosed spaces, whistling faintly. They took passage after passage, always heading upwards. Chip realized he could smell what seemed like fresh air, but it was tainted with a coppery taste which set his teeth on edge and raised his hackles.

"This way, we almost there now. Mishka know. Mother show, many time. Over floor painting."

"Guys, guys," called Chip, as Ruff stepped towards it. "Stop a second." Chip trotted quickly forwards, with Carmine in tow. Shouldering his way past, he pawed at the ground. The silt was thin as the cavern gave way to the dark passage, and Chip's ministrations uncovered a set of grooves in the bedrock.

"What is that?" squaked Carmine, head-tilting.

"That's the Diamond Expanse sigil. This is Sharptooth's work, he... I think it's magic. Can't you taste it?"

Bella nodded, slowly. "I can feel it. I don't know what it's for, but there's a spell here."

"Maybe... maybe this is how it's anchored to the map? It looks old, though. Dad said we shouldn't try to pass through..."

"We not pass through," Ruff said, eyes gleaming. "We just... look, okay? Look is safe, right?"

"Right. I-I guess so," replied Chip, unsure. He flicked his tail thoughtfully as Mishka forged ahead.

The tunnel was cramped and close, and the walls loomed in the semi-darkness. The tinny, metallic taste was everywhere, now. It was making even Chip feel skittish; it was as if there were voices speaking or some strange music being played, far away, with the volume just too low to be heard. Strange shapes flitted about in the corners of the eye, and the echoing steps of the band alternately sounded loudly and then quietly... sometimes reverberating along the corridor seconds in advance of any movement.

"D-do we have to go on?" whimpered Bella, her horn's light wavering as fear swept through the unicorn.

"Not far now," Mishka answered, whispering. "Where tunnel end, there is home." The female diamond dog pointed off into the distance. Chip looked down the tunnel, and felt momentarily sick, like he was moving at high speed, but yet the surrounding walls were not. He shook his head, it was thrumming. It felt as if the world were the wrong shape. It probably was, he realized.

"Ruff... Ruff see something! Bella, please be turning off horn."

"It's okay, Bell," whispered Carmine, as a low moan escaped the unicorn with the dimming of the light. "I'm here with you."

Bella breathed heavily, shivering as sweat coated her flanks. "O-okay, Car. It's okay. I'm okay."

"Ruff," hissed Chip as the corridor plunged into absolute darkness. "Whatever it is, hurry up! Even I'm beginning to freak out here!"

"Ruff see something!" the diamond dog repeated urgently. He leaped forwards, pulling on Bella's legs and causing her to shriek. The troll pulled them further down the tunnel, his padded pawsteps echoing strangely. As the group moved in the darkness, with Ruff growling to have Bella turn off her horn's magelight every time she tried to light it up, Chip felt increasingly strange. His fur was standing on end, and it felt as if his armor were giving off tingling shocks, like miniature bolts of lightning.

"Ruff, we need to turn back!"

"Further! Ruff see light!"

"Ruff," snapped Chip, setting all four hooves in the ground. "No! We need to stop!"

"A bit further! Ruff sees light!" There was a yelp as the tunnel got too narrow for even the pup to fit through and he walked into the wall.

"That's it, Ruff, end of the line. Let's go back, whatever was here—"

"Is still here! Ruff can almost... can almost reach!"

"Bella, light it up! Ruff, what in Celestia's name are you doing?!"

The unicorn's horn flared into viridian light, and the sudden green flash blinded almost everybody. When Chip could see again, the diamond dog pup was whining and scrabbling at the rocks with a painful urgency. With every swipe, however, the cave was ringing like a bell, and debris was beginning to rain from the ceiling.

"I see light! Let Ruff see light! Ruff dig!"

Chip swore another oath to Celestia and Luna, and bent to pick up the pup and drag him away from the end of the tunnel, but as he did, a flash of golden sunlight caught his eye. Moving his head back and forth, Chip got the angle right. There it was! Light, not only light, but sunlight! The colours were odd though, and the more he looked, the more the colt swore he could almost smell the wind and feel the breeze on his face. "Ruff's right! I have to... I must..." Chip struck out with his hooves, trying to dig.

It called to him, did the light. It sang of treasure, of knowledge, of power. It resonated in his blood, whispered how he could just... reach out and twist the world, and it would all be his. His iron-shod hooves cleaved the rock, and great lumps fell off. He threw himself against the crack which was widening, and only fell back when Carmine physically bit him hard on the ear and pulled. He came to, sprawled on the floor, shaking his head. Ruff was still whining and scrabbling, but with every blow, the tunnel was now not merely rumbling, but shaking, as the foundations were failing

"Ruff!" Chip shouted. "You have to stop! You're going to bring the mountain down!" The colt shook his head, memories of the strange crack surfacing. It had been entrancing, like music playing on his bones, like singing in his blood. He placed a hoof against the rock wall, and realized how unreal it all felt. He looked back along the tunnel and shivered.

"Treasure claim all," sighed Mishka. "All who see it. In past, was big enough to get stuck. Those who try, not come out."

"Well we're leaving, Mishka. Get us out of here!"

"Mishka take shortcut if have to. Come, follow!"

"Guys, we have to go!" shouted Chip, nodding at Carmine. There were no dissenting opinions. "Ruff, quit fighting it! Guys! Now!" Chip started shouting, scrambling over himself to get up. Dragging the protesting Ruff backwards by his shirt, Chip started running. He didn't care that not everybody else had got to their hooves or claws, he had to move, and he had to move now. It was not a time for dithering or debating; it was a time for action. Calling upon an inner rage and drive that set flames billowing around his nostrils, he picked up speed, with his friends shouting and scrambling to catch up behind him as the tunnel started to collapse around them all.

The odd, sour note which had been running through Chip's body escalated, to a ringing rumble as the bedrock shifted. Behind them, the tunnel walls sloughed off, shedding huge lumps of stone. Whatever Ruff had done, it had caused some sort of chain reaction. If they weren't fast enough in getting out, Chip realized, they likely never would. "Don't stop," huffed Chip around the mouthful of pup, flames licking his chest as he breathed like a bellows, "don't look back. Just move!"

"No!" howled Ruff. "Ruff must dig!"

"Luna's teats! Somepony stop him!" roared Chip through clenched jaws, but it was too late. Ruff spun, hooked one claw across his shirt, where Chip held it fast in his teeth, and tugged. He sprung free as the cloth ripped, his claw slicing through it like a hot knife through butter, and he turned back, bounding down the tunnel.

"We can't let him!" screamed Bella.

"We can't stop him! We'll all die! RUN FOR IT!" Carmine spread her wings in her haste as they sped through the tunnel complex.

"Dragon," huffed Mishka, "follow path down. Always down. Mishka has left claw marks in the ground. Dragon will see."

"What?" bellowed Chip, slowing down. He turned his head, almost falling over himself as Mishka stopped, and turned. The others shot past. "Go ahead! I'll catch up!" he shouted, before glaring once more at Mishka. "Mishka, what in the name of all the cracked shells and shards of Leviathania are you doing?"

"Mishka... protect king. Mishka protect you. Run!"

Chip looked back up the tunnel where Ruff was. "If you can save his life, I owe you."

"Mishka owe life to king first. Go! Go! Only Mishka know way in dark!"

Chip snarled. He couldn't abandon Ruff, but he was the only member of their party now who could shatter stone on impact. He made the call.

Mishka looked sightlessly for a moment as Chips hoofed it down the tunnel, sparks flying from his metal-shod hooves and hot, angry red fire spewed from his muzzle. She listened intently to the sounds of his passage, sniffing at the wake of fire and brimstone the strange creature had left. Then she turned, faced the sheer rock wall, put her two forepaws together in front of her, and wrenched the rock wall apart. In moments, she had torn open the beginnings of a tunnel, and moments after that was already heading back to Ruff. Behind her, the rock split in a faultline which zagged off into the distance. The systematic collapse changed direction. It mightn't give them much, Mishka reasoned, but it might be enough.

Carmine sobbed, warbling to herself, as she rounded the final corner and met glaring, blinding daylight. Mere feet ahead was the exit, sun shining brightly and beckoning them to safety. As boulders and stalactites fell from the shadowy rock ceiling high above, the dragon, the griffon and the pony made a final leap and burst out onto grass as a huge shower of dust and debris followed them from the cave.

Bella, wheezing, fell to the floor, flailed one hoof at the billowing cloud of dust. "Ruff!" she cried, gasping for breath, "Mishka! Ruff!"

Chip could only snarl out a few, short words as he shook the detritus from his back. "Damn it all, Ruff."

♠♣♥♦

Comments

[Cloudhammer]

Curse you and your cliffhangers Midnight, CURSE YOU!!!!!!!!

Looking forward to the next chapter

[LunarLover]

NOOOOOOO God why do I feel someone is going to die in the next chapter

[Cystenian Remir Rhys]

Solid chapter. Mishka had a crappy life, dude. This feeling, man...

[Noble Cause]

... Damn. Talk about a crazy escape. Mishka's AWESOME and I want to give her a hug!

[ChillaxBrony]

Very good chapter my good man. Keep up the good work.

[Mister Cider]

Huh. I find myself even more curious about Hairpin now.

[q97randomguy]

Woohoo! The latest escapades of my favorite pony shaped dragon.
Noooo Ruff!
Can't wait to see where this goes.
Also ChipXCarmine is best OCXOC ship EVER!!!

[StatusQo]

Hairpin your so awsome.

[Lordmiak]

I'm sure there's a meaning to which of the suit is red, but I just don't get it.
Nice, solid chapter !

[Muffinking]

I wonder why mishka didn't get entranced by the strong magic and treasure. Likely because she was blind with the mention of mystical light. Maybe that has something to do why she was the only one standing guard of the entrance. A sad thing ruff couldn't resist.

[Brother_Thorn]

We meet again, my old foe, Cliffhanger !

[Alondro]

*one wonders if Ruff's digging alone was enough to trigger the collapse...*

(5 minutes before Chip and the others got there, Alondro is strolling through the caves.) Dum-dee-dum... oooooooo! A string fragment fissure! Gotta poke it! Poooooooooke! (Everything seems to warp and the weird metallic taste appears.) Oh... huh, maybe I should really stop poking interdimensional fractures. Oh well! (he skips along humming the "Smurfs" theme, because it's disturbing to see a 36-year-old biologist wearing a pink tutu do that)

[Midnightshadow]

1215606
This is now my headcanon.

[AliCentaur Br0ny]

Great chapter, I'm still not too happy about the cliffhanger though.
I very eagerly await the next chapter.

[Bachelor 2]

1216544
i second that.

[djthomp]

Ruff! Nooooooooooo!

[Comma-Kazie]

YOU AND YOUR CLIFFHANGERS!!! Gah.

Looking forward to the next chapter.

[Nyerguds]

Wow, this chapter sure changed a lot from the draft. I'm very sorry for having been too busy to see the final form there and let my nitpicking loose on it, but, I got a new job, and that brought quite some schedule changes. I'm writing this on my laptop on the train from work, to post it when I get back to my PC. I read the chapter just now, from the saved HTML from Fimfic. (These exports seem to be missing tons of vital HTML information. Amongst them, a style sheet to make the indents work)

So, very sorry they're belated, but, here are my remarks. I could've sworn I commented on some of these things in the doc, though...

> whilst attached to his pet and his friend
Seems odd for him to think of Hairpin as "his pet". That piece does seem narrated somewhat from his perspective. Though he does seem to be becoming more Dragon-Lord-ish lately
> see how well it can cloud-walk without pegasi magic.
> Marvelling at the power of pegasi magic
"Pegasus magic". When talking about the magic unicorns do, you also normally say "unicorn magic", not "unicorns magic".
> "as Chips hoofed it down the tunnel"
Chip

[Midnightshadow]

1258796
Hey! New job is great news! And yes, the html export is the ugly red-haired stepchild that is hidden away from good company, if you ask me. The ebook export is still more pants than a levi factory (and ebooks in general suck huge floppy donkey dick unless you have a real reader) and the txt output is arse on toast.

I'm waiting for a credible pdf output. I keep having the idea of going through my story, creating one with bbcode and another with gdocs and then doing a proper pdf output myself.

Thanks for the fixes - I changed a bunch of stuff, hopefully improved it, but I still miss things. Especially when my editors are awol.

[Chatoyance]

The description of a noneuclidean ontological fracture had me thinking of Diamond Dogs as Equestrian Hounds Of Tindalos. Fthagn, Ia, Ia.

[Borg]

"Mishka's brother was imbecile. Wet self and drool. Father put down. Other brother deaf. Mishka—" the troll tapered off, gesturing weakly to her eyes.
"You're blind, aren't you?"

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil, eh? Was the connection deliberate?

"We not pass through," Ruff said, eyes gleaming. "We just... look, okay? Look is safe, right?"

Famous last words.
And such a shame, too, to be the High King so briefly.

I'll note that I've been feeling for a while like the puzzle pieces don't quite fit together. Usually I would find that rather bothersome. I guess usually the underlying magic isn't unstable enough that I wouldn't expect the pieces to remain a constant shape.