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Stories about ponies are stories about people. Every challenge is an opportunity to change. My Patrons let me keep writing, at: https://www.patreon.com/RealStarscribe

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Rover the Diamond Dog has been pack leader for years now, protecting the Diamond Dogs near Ponyville from all manner of threats. He’s made mistakes, such as the time he thought it would be a good idea to kidnap a unicorn to help find gems. But those mistakes don’t change his responsibilities—their pack has a sacred charge, one he will see fulfilled no matter what.

Takes place immediately following “Dog and Pony Show”


This story was inspired by this thread! Probably read the story first, because it’s going to completely spoil what this is about.

Pre-reading by the patient Bitera and Sparktail. Cover by Zutcha.

Chapters (2)
Comments ( 163 )

Curious, is the name Adam in any way have symbolism behind it? At least in the case of this story?

That asked, I rather enjoyed this piece, reminding me of golden era sci-fi. It also made think of what would become of a diamond dog that aspired to be more than what it was destined to be? What if it refused to beckon the alpha's needs, and forge a path of its own?

8436012

Rover shook his head. “He would not. Adam does not fight us like other dogs do. He doesn’t measure claws or wrestle. If we wanted to go, we could go. He wouldn’t stop us.”

Holy crap this got featured fast. I haven't even gotten to read it yet.

8436022
They don't want to go, but I figured if one did the other dogs would look upon him/her with disdain.

Okay, so a few questions.
Why is the surface not safe? Is it generic nuclear war and they're waiting for the radiation-levels to drop? Is the radiation what ponies think and use as magic?
Why does the alpha think they'd be destroyed if they were found out? Do any ponies actually know what they are? Are humans hated historically? Would the princesses try to kill them?
Is the meat grown in a lab? Probably, it is the way of the future.
Did the Alpha live for a long time, or do diamond dogs just have short lives?
And how much of this story and the prompt got inspired by this?
https://imgur.com/gallery/yipcVo9

Why would they be destroyed if ponies knew? What was the mistake. I NEED ANSWEEEEERS. Or sequel

What on Earth did Adam's grandparents' generation do?

Also, I'm guessing that Diamond Dogs live a dog's lifespan, if Daisy is an older puppy at two.

I like the idea and the writing is good, but it feels somewhat lacking due to how many questions it leaves open. It feels like a buildup to a big reveal, but the "human" tag somewhat spoils the only one that takes place in the story. There's (as far as I can tell) not enough information to even get a hint of why the humans are hiding, of why the Diamond Dogs can't trade with the ponies/inheritors to get what they need.

For that matter, why would the humans only have a single one living at a time? That has so little redundancy that the whole thing is incredibly fragile since any one dying would leave the next likely lacking crucial experience. Edit: (since there wouldn't be a diamond dog nearby to explain what they know) on that note, does Adam really have enough knowledge to fully explain to Dawn what's going on? Maybe there's been a multi-generation game of telephone going on.

Still, I enjoyed it quite a bit even if it feels more like a setup than a oneshot.

I'm guessing something like Fallout happened and all the new magical species revolted except for the DD's since dogs are man's best friend.

I would certainly like to see this continued at some point.

As others say, it's good, but it leaves a lot of questions unanswered, and accordingly the ending is somewhat unsatisfying.

I hope I can read more of this au verse

Really nice. I like the way there's an explanation for how all this could actually fit into canon without the ponies having noticed the (presumably) human presence in - or, rather, under - Equestria. Plus all the little extra details, like ponies being called Inheritors, and everything being described from the perspective of the dogs. And just the tiniest hint of there still being an echo of the ancient bond between human and dog.

What caught my attention most was Adam's comment about if the ponies knew he and his kind existed, they'd wipe them out. Were humans just one more in a long list of 'monsters' that ponykind overcame in their history? And how long ago was this? Centuries? Pre-Nightmare Moon? Pre-Unification? Pre-magic!?

I wonder if it was another alicorn or pony that there thinking about?

Really good work.
The way you develop it from the dogs point of view, how you hinted that the humans may have created the ponies/inheritors but them something happened that led them to near extinction and the fact a single human overwatches both the dogs and the sleeping humanity.
A very good one-shot, well done.

wow, this was very good!
thanks!
:twilightsmile:
... I want to know more!!!!
:raritydespair:

The goodest of boys :fluttershysad:

I really hope there will be a sequel to this story. There are so many questions and it let the diamond dogs shine in a different light. Beautiful story.

8436410 So, if this is supposedly the show's world (I see no Alt Universe tag), I'm left to wonder how our Earth got so cluster-F'd as to leave the Sun orbiting the Earth and physics-obliterating magic suddenly coming into being along with all manner of biologically-impossible creatures.

Are we talking "Adventure Time"-level magical apocalypse with Orgalorg and the Lich here?

This is the problem I always have with this type of fic, as it makes very generalized assumptions without considering the big looming problems with the notion of our world turning into Equestria's.

Magnificent. It gives such... honor, such gravitas to the Dogs and why they dig. It's a beautiful little creation and it makes things so interesting. So many mysteries. I'd like to know why they don't just wake all the humans. Is this a Star Trek Kahn thing, where others of the species would create a mental tipping point and set off unstoppable situations of destruction? So intriguing. It also raises the question of why the other Dogs aren't told about the alpha, because they could well understand.

I must have more :raritydespair:

8436516

They're good dogs, brent

8436151
The other ig problem with havin only one human at the time is that you will invetably run out of human at some point. There is no reproduction possible.
and at some point the number of human will be so low that even if you had them all awake at once, the survival of the species would still be impossible except on short to medium term.

Fascinating, though the how and why of getting from now to then is a blank that's equal parts intriguing and frustrating. Especially the bit about the ponies killing humans more or less on sight.

Still, all told, a wonderfully noble portrayal of a species the show seems to have forgotten. Good dogs. Best friends.

8436145
And the size of dogs as well, going by Adam's stature in comparison to them. Which makes the ponies little indeed.

I think the oddest thing about this is the Human name for ponies. Inheritors, it is a mostly nuetral term to use, yet he implies that the Ponies would eradicate the last humans if they found out about them. This implies a somewhat lopsided hatred, perhaps the humans accept their fault in the affair, but fear the ponies will not forgive them?

Is there any chance you will make a sequel?

Sequel, sequel, SEQUEL, SEQUEL, SEQUEL!

8436576
If it was more than an one-shot I would agree with you.
But a one-shot by it's nature will leave such gaps, making the reader wonder exactly what happened 'off screen' so to speak, and so I don't really see much of a problem with it. :pinkiesmile:

Hmmmm.. He says "They would see, and we would be destroyed." He doesn't say "They would see, and destroy us." Or "They would attack us."

Perhaps something happened, or something changed, and Earth was no longer hospitable to the human race? And contact with the ponies would result in the destruction of the human race, not due to intent, but because of something inherent in their nature? Perhaps ponies are friendly, inquisitive, and expansive... But their mere presense is dangerous for humanity? So if they discovered the base/colony/whatever, even if the danger was explained to them, somepony would insist on visiting or teleport in or perform an experiment... And then it would all be over.

Why do I think the last bit of Humanity hiding has less to due with the ponies far more with Discord.
After all Discord Plays with the Ponies,Humans who seem to be the Ponies Precursor might not have the same Kind reception.

I have so MANY questions, but I loved it.

Goddamnit why must you give me these feels?! :fluttercry:

Excellent. The amount of unanswered questions felt just right for a one-shot.

Reminds me of this.
Also feels.

Somehow I would think that this would fit in with a Post-Conversion Bureau storyline or even a Pony after humanity story. I hope there is a Sequel to this soon.

8437193
Damn it, late by 43 minutes...grrrrrfuckingrrrrrrr

I realized, about 3/4 of the way through, that the Alpha wasn't a Diamond Dog - he was a human.

Now, this is an interesting concept - don't get me wrong. But while I don't have quite as much issue with the lack of answers, being the kind of person who likes at least a few things left to the imagination (and also because this is a one-shot), I will admit that the ending... kinda falls flat. It's unsatisfying, and feels almost the way a chapter in a chaptered story would - as if it's supposed to continue. But it doesn't.

I really wish I could point out exactly why I find this ending unsatisfying; unfortunately, I can't, other than perhaps how abruptly it ended.

Nonetheless, have an upvote; I found this interesting, at the very least.

... That's either a LOT of piezoelectric generators, like, a celestial body sized amount, or human tech gets super amazingly extremely massively impossibly power efficient.

8437369
You clearly know more about human magical crystal generator tech than I do. I thought it was completely fictional.

8437375 I'm one of those people who insist that magic is a shortcut around having a tool, but not a shortcut around physics. Feel free to ignore me. This was a great story ^^

8437465
No shortcuts around physics were necessary. A modest nuclear reactor could've more than accounted for all the observed energy in this story. Assuming magic crystals store energy in similar density, we're good to go.

8437465
Lol, meep at it again with logic. This is why I love her so much :)

oh my, look at the response you've generated.

my feeling during this whole thing was, "oh, so thats how an author starts a universe"

if we get lucky, others will write their stuff and answer the open questions and we'll just bask in the glory.

"Until the surface is safe again", he said. "I can hardly imagine what my grandparents generation were thinking but that was so long ago." He looked across the room, and the painted mural there. "I would've liked to see the trees again".

So I am guessing that they have been down there for roughly at least a few hundred years? Maybe two hundred or three hundred years if he is saying his grandparents generation, than that would mean that some of the equestrian history is a lie or has been edited by Celestia?

But also demanding, impossibly to understand, and harsh.

Should be

But also demanding, impossible to understand, and harsh.

A very interesting story, but it does leave me with unanswered questions. What did they do that made the surface unsafe for human life, and why do they believe that the ponies would destroy them if they found them? Because the implication I'm getting is that mankind somehow screwed up big and caused some sort of apocalypse that left them mostly dead and somehow resulted in the ponies taking over the Earth. I'm thinking that -- maybe -- they created magic, or tried to, and either way it backfired spectacularly and altered the Earth and everything living on it to create the races and creatures of the show, including ponykind and the diamond dogs, while (somehow?) making it unsafe for humans to live on the surface. Still doesn't explain why the humans have reason to believe that the ponies would try to kill them if they knew they existed.

8437769
It's possible he's been in stasis a very long time himself. IE: The last few generations of humans on Earth all went in at the same time. Then after who knows how many years he gets thawed out to begin his vigil, and still remembers the two generations before him who caused the difficulty humans still suffer through.

8437797
You're absolutely right! Fixed now.

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