Equus: Searching for Gems
Spyro, Cynder, Spike, and the others spent the better part of the day observing Ember as she went about making changes to how the Equestrian dragons lived and their views on ponies, because she felt that the desire to just burn Equestria to the ground was bad and that it needed to be tempered by something else, which just so happened to be the training that she had in mind, as her father respected strength, even if he knew that she had been different from most dragons before her sudden disappearance and spoke with her about that in private, which was around the time that she called them over to join her so the full rundown could be given to Torch, or as much as they were willing to tell him at the moment, given that they didn't want anyone to freak out about what was coming their way. One thing they discovered was that Garble and the rest of the dragons that had challenged them nodded their heads a little as they passed, which meant they either also respected strength or they were just annoyed about losing and were doing this because Ember was the Dragon Lord, but the latter mostly applied to Garble, meaning he hated to lose to anyone, but, even as they walked by him, everyone knew that Ember and the Peace Keepers would do wonders for the dragons that were old enough to fight, or at least the teenagers and the young adults, since those that were Torch's age and size certainly didn't need too much help. Ember knew that training all of the dragons that called the Dragon Lands home would take some time and effort, but given what was coming their way, not to mention the fact that the spirit of their planet sent them out to bring back an army before the demons arrived, she felt that it was worth the effort, and if she could curb the anger that the dragons had for the ponies of Equestria, which would be no easy feat in the grand scheme of things, things would be much smoother for all of them, hence why she pitched her idea to her father and her group. Of course Torch was both shocked and surprised that she wanted to integrate the dragons into Equestria's defenses, as in see if she could get them to join the Royal Guard or something and teach both ponies and the dragons how to fight like she and the others had, and even Ember admitted that it was likely going to be hard to convince anyone to agree with her idea, as she wasn't about to forcefully command them to agree with her just because she was the Dragon Lord and had claimed the Bloodstone Scepter once more, but as she said that they were surprised by who spoke up next.
"I'll volunteer to be one of the first dragons to mingle with the ponies," Smolder stated, showing that, while she might not think the ponies had the strength to defend themselves and might have a hard time making friends with them, if that was also part of what Ember had in mind for everyone in the Dragon Lands, she was also willing to volunteer herself to be one of the first dragons to learn the skills that her Dragon Lord and the rest of her group had used on her brother and the rest of his friends, because she had never seen someone move like that before and wanted to learn those skills herself, as she knew there were others that were thinking the same thing, "training with the Royal Guards, to learn everything that you used against my brother and his friends, sounds like it will be fun, even though I know it will be some time before any of us reach your level of skill."
While Ember was pleased to have a volunteer, as that would speed things along and might convince some of the others to do the same thing, especially after the small display of skill she and the others had put on, Spike thought about what they were planning at the moment and knew that, as the last remaining Princess in all of Equestria, Cadance likely had control over all of the guards in the land, both those who lived in the Crystal Empire and those who lived in Canterlot, but at the same time she might have passed that duty to Shining, since he had been the Captain of the Guard before moving with Cadance to the Crystal Empire, when it had returned from being banished for a thousand years, so they would have to talk with the pair and see if they could form a program for the guards and the dragons. Of course he also knew that this new program wasn't going to be restricted to just the groups that they were thinking about right now, as both he and the rest of the group knew Ember too well and she was likely thinking about any ponies that wanted to join the training program, after hearing that it started anyway, though none of them were forgetting about the other races that called Equus home, like the Griffins for instance, so there was always the off chance that other races could be added to what they were just thinking about right now. As he thought about that, however, he did know that there were some individuals in Canterlot, and probably the rest of Equestria, that likely didn't like the rest of the races who shared their lands, so there was a small chance that he and Malefor might need to focus their efforts on building the Skylanders Academy, as they were calling it these days, a place that would be removed from the prejudice and possible restrictions that might come from those that called Canterlot home, but that was something that all of them would discuss in the future, once they had an idea of what to expect from the residents of his and Ember's home world. For now, however, he and the others were focusing on taking some time to inform the dragons of the Dragon Lands of their intentions and then head back to Ponyville, or at least they were talking to Torch, who actually seemed to agree with Ember's plan and already had a few dragons in mind, who could join Smolder in learning how to fight like a true warrior, and that they would be sent to the town in question to join them in the near future, though despite that fact Smolder followed after the group when they started to leave, as she wanted to see what else they were up to, even if they were just planning on heading back to Ponyville.
Smolder, of course, mentioned that it would take some time for them to reach the part of Equestria and that it would be best for them to remain in the Dragon Lands, though as they left the area the dragons had been gathered in Spike and the rest of the group smiled for a moment as the Professor pressed a button and the cloaking technology protecting their ship dropped, revealing the Jupiter 2 to Smolder, who was surprised by the sudden arrival of the vessel, which made sense due to the fact that such technology hadn't been seen in this world, though her jaw dropped when she saw the interior of the ship and was stunned when Hunter took the captain's seat and they moved into the air, as this was far beyond anything she was expecting to discover when she volunteered for this. Since she was with them Spike told her why they had such a ship, as they had been displaced to a brand new world and that they had spent fifteen years there, despite it being a little over a week for the dragons of the Dragon Lands and the ponies of Ponyville, and that during their adventures they had befriend the Professor, one of the smartest minds who called Spyro's world home, though it was thanks to his efforts and the efforts of the other scientists that the Jupiter 2 was born, a ship capable of traversing large distances in record time and exploring space itself, with the latter allowing them to head to the two moons that orbited Spyro's home, instead of how the sun and moon of this world were raised and lowered by the Princesses. Despite everything that he shared with her, so Smolder had an idea of what was going on at the moment, Spike made sure to keep the information of the threat a secret from her for now, since he didn't want to freak Smolder out with the demonic invasion that they would be facing in the near future, given that it would be one of the greatest events in their world's history and probably be terrifying for all of them, especially given that the demons either instantly destroyed the planets they attacked or destroyed them over a period of time, but he was sure that Ember would drop that bomb when the invasion started. Smolder, for the most part, just stared at everything that was inside the ship and pretty much zoned out when the Professor revealed what everything was to her, as she was having a hard time coming to terms with what she was seeing right now, but she understood what Ember had to say about fighting, even though it would take her some time to come to terms with all of the methods that Titan and the other Peace Keepers had to share, as she was sure the Leader of the clan would be happy to have a new student to teach, and more if Ember's plan worked as intended.
It took the group some time to return to Ponyville, where Hunter made sure to land near the point that the portal would be opened in and engaged the cloaking device to make sure none of the ponies noticed what was going on, allowing them to get off the Jupiter 2 and head over to the castle, even though the Professor opened a smaller portal back to his world so he could grab some of Alvar's food for them, since it was roughly dinner time back home and they had skipped lunch while they were in the Dragon Lands, something that caused Smolder to raise an eyebrow in surprise when she noticed what he had brought back to the castle, a bunch of meats, vegetables, fruits, and pastries, at the very least, that smelled delicious and actually tasted good, but there was one thing that really surprised her.
"You guys don't eat gems?" Smolder asked, because that seemed to be the only thing missing at the moment, as she saw no gems among the vast amount of food that had been prepared by someone she hadn't met yet, which was rather odd since she was used to dragons eating gems, but even as she thought about that she did tear into one of the pastries that was in front of her, a cupcake as Spyro called it, and found that she liked it, making her eye the rest of the food that was nearby as she wondered what would happen when she tasted them, especially since she had no idea if pony food even held a candle to what she was tasting right now.
"No, we collect gems and put them in treasuries, or take the gems back from those that stole them," Spyro replied, though he was interested in what Smolder had said and it reminded him of something he and Ember had heard of in the past, as in when they were really young, before they matured into the heroes that had tackled Gnasty Gnorc, Ripto, Morrigan, and all of the other villains that they had faced over the years, before he glanced over to Spike for a moment as he prepared to say what was on his mind, as it appeared that Spike was thinking about something right now, no doubt the same thing that he was going to say, "however, back when we were younger, Spike was in the middle of one of his first sessions with the scholars of Dark Hollow, which is where the Artisans keep their libraries and more important tomes, where he grabbed a gem that had been resting nearby and accidentally bit into it, instead of one of the pastries he and the other scholars were enjoying, and it broke one of his teeth in the process... that's the only time something like that happened, now that I take a moment to think about it, so we focused on collecting them and nothing else."
"However, now that I consider what happened, I think I know why my tooth broke," Spike stated, confirming Spyro's brief thoughts on the matter, that he had been thinking about the gems and why Smolder would ask something like that in the first place, though at the same time he knew that there weren't any other gems inside the castle, save for the ones that were based on the power of the Tree of Harmony, so he couldn't test his theory on the matter and that meant he had to figure out a way to get some to do so, something that didn't take too long since he had an idea as to how he could acquire a few gems to test his theory, "Ember and I are from this world, Equus, and while our bodies adapted to the dragons that call Spyro's world home, for the most part, we retained our lava immunity and used it to our advantage several times over the course of our adventures, but from what I can tell the gems of Spyro's world are different from the gems of this world, as in they lack a molecular or magical property, and I'm guessing its the latter, that the gems of Equus possess, meaning that while we can eat the gems of this world we can't eat the gems of the world we were sent to, which is why my tooth broke when it did."
"And you want to find some gems to prove your theory, right?" Cynder said, because she and the others knew Spike too well at this point and now that he knew of the differences between the gems of his home world and their world he had to be eager to see what sort of differences there were between the two, though at the same time she was also interested in getting her hands on some of them as well, mostly to see what happened when she carefully cut them down and turned them into jewels to be inserted into pieces of jewelry, just like she did before Spyro and the others came to Doxantha to see what the Aether icon represented, and save the world for that matter.
Spike nodded his head to that, as it would be a good way to relax for a time and not have to worry about anything, a small venture to a nearby mountain or cave and find some gems to either prove or disprove his theory, though it was something they would worry about in the morning, since he figured that resting was important for now and it seemed that Spyro also agreed with his proposal for something to do, before they focused on trying to train the races that Ember could get her hands on and whoever Spike managed to teach magic to, since the rest of the group knew it was only a matter of time until he did that, before they finished off their meal, cleaned up all of the dishes so they could be taken back to Alvar and the rest of the Artisans, and then headed to bed for the night.
When morning arrived the group rose to meet it, this time remaining in Equus to wake up like the rest of the world did as the sun and moon were shifted, and as they did so Smolder found that they had someone make a run back to the world that Spyro lived in and quickly returned with a number of breakfast items for them to enjoy, though as they did that Spike figured out where the best place to look for gems might be in, as there was a rocky area to the west of Ponyville, between the town and the mountains and was about thirty to forty minutes away by walking, which would serve as the ideal place for them to acquire a few gems and conduct the test that he had in mind. The only problem was that they might have to deal with some Diamond Dogs, which were bipedal dog creatures who lived underground and dug for gems, as that was literally everything that they knew about the creatures in question, since the dogs preferred to remain out of sight and not have any interactions, and the last time he recalled interacting with them he and Rarity had encountered a group of them while searching that area for gems, something that was a tale for another day, though he did know that Rarity had a spell for detecting gems and that the one they had from Spyro's world wouldn't cut it, but he wasn't worried about that at all, as he was sure they could find some easily enough. Even as he said that Spyro and the others knew that if they needed such a spell, given that it was likely that someone might have mined the gems out since the last time Spike had been in the area in question, Spike would find a way to make sure he had the spell and use it when he needed it, as that was the way he did things and there was no changing it, hence the reason the group remained silent as Spike revealed what his plans were to all of them, even though Smolder would be staying behind so she got used to how things in Ponyville operated, before she got into whatever training Ember had for her and the others she intended on teaching. As such it was just the usual group once more and that was just fine with them, as they knew what to do if they encountered any problems, not that any of them were expecting to run into trouble during this little venture, even though they were going as is and with all of their gear, and once everyone was ready to move they headed for the door of the castle and opened it, because it was time for them to get moving and see what the rocky plains had in store for them this time around, only to stop when they found Rarity standing on the other side of the doorway.
"Oh, hello again... we really have to stop meeting like this." Rarity said, showing that she wasn't expecting everyone to be at the door, just like the last time she had approached the castle, which was only two days ago now and it was easy for them to see that she was hoping that this didn't turn into a habit or routine that they would be getting into, as her friends each had their own way of greeting her and the others, or at least it sure seemed that way to her, before she focused on Spike and the rest of the group for a few moments as she started to say why she was here, as it was totally different from the last time she had walked up to the castle, "Anyway, I noticed that I was running low on gems, as some of my clients have requested certain gems to be attached to the dresses and suits they recently ordered, so I figured that I'd come ask one or two of you for some assistance in making sure those ruffians, the Diamond Dogs, don't try to kidnap me again, and since I'm going to be looking for a large amount of gems I figured that I could split the haul with whoever came with me, even though I don't think we'll run into any of the Diamond Dogs while we're out there."
"What a coincidence, we were going to go look for some gems, probably in the same place you were considering heading to, and were leaving to visit the area in question," Cynder remarked, as it was rather odd that the moment they decided to go out and find some gems, just to test Spike's theory on the difference between the gems of their world and the gems of Equus, that Rarity just showed up outside the castle and revealed that she was in need of more gems for her designs, even though she felt that there were some changes that could be made to how she spent her stockpile, so she didn't have to do this however often she went looking for gems, before she beckoned for Rarity to join them, "now you won't have to make a trip on your own at some point in the future and we can keep an eye out for any Diamond Dogs who might be lurking in the area, just in case a few happen to be around the rocky area in question."
Rarity wasted no time in thinking about that and agreed to join them within seconds, though when they started to move out of the area that was in front of the castle, and Spike closed the door as Discord remained within so he could continue his search for the rest of the displaced, and maybe give them an idea as to when the demons might arrived, which may or may not involve searching for the mysterious figure that revealed itself to them, Rarity inquired how they were going to carry all of the gems back to Ponyville, since she usually had a cart or something to carry whatever she found back to her boutique so they could be stored inside the chest she kept them inside. It was in that moment that Spike revealed one of his signature items that he carried whenever he and the others went on a new adventure or something, as most of them caught him and the others off guard and the bags in question were never near them when they found a new place to take on and explore, where he revealed a bag that looked like all of the other ones that he carried in the past, causing Rarity to raise her eyebrow for a moment as she stared at it, before he weaved his magic over it and enchanted it within seconds, much to her surprise. Once he was done with his spell, a rather simple one at this point in time, he revealed that a Bag of Holding was designed to carry a vast amount of whatever he wanted to store inside them, such as the various amounts of gemstones that had been stolen from the various lands during their adventures, so he, Spyro, and Ember, along with all of the others later on, wouldn't have to carry the gems while they were tackling the enemies that were endangering the lands and tackled the villains that needed to be brought down, before revealing that whatever gems they found could be stored inside the bag and that the outside of the bag wouldn't change at all, meaning that he could, for example, store a few hundred gems inside it and its appearance would remain the same. The reason he refrained from mentioning the amount of gems that he and the others had acquired over the course of their adventures was because the sheer number would freak Rarity out, along with possibly questioning why they were even doing this in the first place, even though Spike felt that she would figure out the true reason within seconds and it did seem like she understood part of the reason that they were heading out to the rocky area that the gems rested in, where Spike attached the now enchanted bag to his attire for a moment before focusing on the journey to the area that they were heading towards.
As it turned out it took them about thirty minutes to reach the area that both Spike and Rarity had been thinking about, an area that gave everyone a good view of both Ponyville and Canterlot, not to mention the rest of the area that was around the mountain in question, though once they arrived the group discovered that the area definitely had a number of light gray stones that were sticking out of the ground and that the group was a light brown color, but it didn't seem like there was a tunnel or cave for them to access, which told Spike that the Diamond Dogs had sealed or covered the entrance after letting Rarity go, but once they came to a stop Rarity's horn lit up as she started to channel her magic and focused on the spell that would allow them to find the gems they were after.
"Now, this will take some time, as I'm not as powerful as Twilight or Starlight are... I can't even begin to image having the power they have... and I mined the surface out the last time Spike and I were here," Rarity commented, because that was the truth of the matter, in her eyes at the very least, as it took her some time and effort to even sense the various small pocket of gems that she sought from time to time, not to mention pinpoint where the pockets were located, and given the fact that she and Spike had dug out all of the surface gems, before the Diamond Dogs kidnapped her and forced her hoof to free herself from their grasp, so finding a leftover pocket was going to be hard and it would take some time, which was why she was warning them of the problem now and prevented one from asking the question later, though she paused for a moment as Spike walked over to her and stared at her for a moment, "Um... what's wrong, Spike?"
"Just studying the spell you are using right now, that's all." Spike replied, because if Rarity was right about the amount of gems that were in this area, and that most of them had been cleared out at some point in the past, he was going to have to step up and use some of his magic to figure out where some gems were located, before he nodded his head and took a moment to step away from where Rarity was standing, where he walked over to a more open area that was off to the side and let the rest of the group remain there for a time, even though Spyro and the others made sure to have Rarity stop her spell so she could see what Spike was capable of doing after just studying a spell.
Spike paused for a moment as he focused his magic for a few seconds and then tapped the edge of his staff against the ground, where a thin magical aura appeared around his body as he took a deep breath and then the aura pulsed out from the area he was standing in, like a sonar from the Cyclops sub they used to locate Atlantis or the radar on their spaceship that was designed to pick up obstacles for Hunter to either navigate around or for someone like him or Bianca to use their magic against to keep them safe, and it wasn't long before the spell returned to him and his eyes snapped open, allowing him to see a number of small pockets that contained gems, all in the caves below the ground, along with something else that seemed out of place, or at least he felt that it was out of place.
"Rarity is right, the pockets that were above ground have been mined out, for now anyway," Spike stated, though even as he said that he raised his staff and swung it at the area in front of them, where Spyro and the others watched as his magic affected the area they were in and the earth shifted before their eyes, even though that was when Rarity's jaw came close to dropping as she witnessed the ground shifting and forming a tunnel of some kind, one that happened to head down into the caves that were below them and seemed to be magically lit as well, so there was no need for torches, though this was unlike anything she expected Spike to do with his magic, "this tunnel will allow us to access the closest cave that has the gems we're looking for, a few pockets that seem to be untouched based on what my magic told me, and from what I can tell there are no Diamond Dogs in the immediate area, so we should be able to get what we came for... though there is something I want to check out before we leave, as the spell picked up something interesting and I'd like to check it out before we head back to Ponyville."
Most of the group chuckled at that, mostly because it was well within Spike's abilities to see a spell be used and then just refine it to a brand new level, something which surprised Rarity when she saw the spell she had been channeling be used in such a superior fashion, not to mention detecting something that piqued his interest, which meant they would have to stay here until he figured out what it was that his spell had picked up and what it meant for the rest of Ponyville, but as soon as he was done informing them as to what he had detected they headed into the tunnel he had created, allowing all of them to nod their heads as Rarity just stared at it in shock. Bianca revealed that this was Transmogrification magic, a type of magic which allowed one to transform something into another form, depending on what the caster wanted, and while some magic users of Spyro's world preferred to change the size of objects they were standing on, or change an item into a walkway so they didn't have to jump over certain obstacles that were in their way, and it was even possible to change gems into soldiers, a spell that many of their enemies used in the past, but Spike's abilities continued to impress Bianca, which was part of the reason she had agreed to be his apprentice, among other reasons that were a tale for another time. Rarity found that all of this was rather surprising, as while she expected that the tunnel would have been purely diagonal, heading down to the cave Spike was heading towards, what all of them found was that part of the tunnel was that way and that it leveled off for a few moments so they wouldn't get tired quickly, not to mention that they turned around a corner and continued their descent, though she found that she was the only one that was caught off guard by this and that the rest of Spike's group was used to his magical feats, which would take some getting used to. Eventually the group walked out of the tunnel that Spike had created and Rarity found that they were in one of the tunnels that the Diamond Dogs had created, which were mostly just stone, save for the softer ground that could be dug into, though as everyone entered the area Rarity made a comment about when she was last here, that the gems could be anywhere, as she had found deposits in the ground, in a few stones above the ground, and even in some of the support rocks that the dogs left behind, though even as she said that, and let the others know that this might be trial and error since she had no idea what Spike's spell was capable of, it was in that moment that several spots around them glowed with a faint light, indicating the areas that the gems just so happened to be resting in.
Bianca stepped forward and used her magic to carefully shift the stone and earth out of the way, using her own magic to pull the material out of the way and shift it into reinforcements for the various support rocks that were nearby, as while she suspected that the Diamond Dogs were experts at digging underground, to search for gems and whatever else they were looking for, their support rocks left much to be desired and this would make sure that the ceiling didn't collapse on top of them, even if she and Spike would protect them in case something like that happened, before she smiled as they found some of the first gems that they were looking for. What she found was a small pile that consisted of a few rubies, a pair of sapphires, several emeralds, possibly a few topazes, a number of amethysts, and even a diamond, each of which had a gleam to them and once they were uncovered Cynder stepped forward and pulled the gems out of where they were resting, allowing her to nod as she noticed how pure they were, before she stored them inside Spike's bag, which he set off to the side as he stared at the walls, even though most of the group knew what he was searching for without him even having to say a word. He had spotted something on his radar, something that had piqued his interest and made him want to find it so he could figure out what he had located and record his findings for later, so while the others were collecting all of the gems that they needed, a few for them and the vast majority going to Rarity so she could have a good stockpile for her future customers, he was silently searching for what his magic had bounced off of, while at the same time keeping his senses open in case some of the Diamond Dogs interrupted them, even though it didn't appear that such a thing would be happening in the near future. Once the first cluster of gems was exhausted, and they were sure since there were no more glowing objects inside the wall Bianca had been working on, the hole was covered once more and Bianca moved onto the next area that happened to be glowing, where she repeated what she had done to the last one and the group focused on all of the gems that were being pulled out of the ground, as it reminded many of them of the mines that they had seen back in Spyro's world, which were full of gems and the races were constantly pulling a vast amount of them out of either the ground or the walls in question, making them wonder if the Gemcutters would feel at home in a place like this, which was something to think about in the future, once they were back in Ponyville.
Over the next couple of minutes Rarity found that Spike's new friends were able to find a vast amount of gems, nearly the same level that she had been forced to find when then Diamond Dogs kidnapped her and put her to work, even if she had turned it around on them and made them let her leave, with the gems no less, but she had to admit that this was much more pleasant than what she went through, though for the most part Spike was focused on looking for whatever it was his magic had picked up and none of his friends tried to bother him, knowing that it was bad to break his concentration, but it was only a matter of time until the area around them was mined out and Rarity found that the Bag of Holding was just as she was told, before the group gathered around Spike.
"I'm sure that we have more than enough gems for what you have in mind, Spike, so it might be time for us to return to Ponyville and test your theory," Spyro commented, but even as he said that he knew what the rest of the group, save for Rarity, knew, and that was the fact that if Spike was interested in something, or was this focused on finding whatever it was that he had felt, there was a high chance that they wouldn't leave until he found his target and wrote down his findings, so that meant that if they stayed inside the cave the Diamond Dogs would find them at some point, which was when Spike shifted his stance for a moment and seemed to follow whatever magic he had been feeling earlier, "Spike, what is it? What have you found?"
"Magic, but not ours or what one of the pony clans can wield," Spike replied, as while there was a chance that what he was feeling was just an artifact or something, instead of an actual magic user, it didn't feel like anything he had encountered so far, which only piqued his interest even more and made him want to discover the source of the magic that he was feeling at the moment, if only to write down what he discovered for later, when Twilight, Celestia, or Luna returned since he was sure that one of the sisters who controlled the sun or moon might have some information to share with him about what he and the others might find, before he beckoned for the others to follow, "I think it might be a barrier of some kind, but I want to be sure before we head back to Ponyville, just so I can ask more accurate questions when either Celestia or Luna come back from their own adventures."
The group glanced at each other for a moment before nodding their heads as they followed Spike, who picked up the bag all of their gems were resting in and reattached it to where it had been earlier, all while following the path that was right in front of him as he tracked down the magical energy that his spell had found earlier, something that meant he had to walk down the tunnel that his tunnel had brought them to, pause at an intersection that had five more tunnels that went off in a number of different directions, where he headed down the one that was to his right and the rest of the group followed after him, and then stopped halfway down the tunnel in question, as there was another intersection further down the line and what Spike had felt was nearby, so they wouldn't be heading to the intersection. In that moment he turned towards the wall that was to his left and rested his hand against it for a few seconds, as it sure seemed like the magic was coming from the direction that he was now staring in, before his own power flared for a second and a large rectangular opening, with both the vertical and horizontal sides of the rectangle being the same size, meaning it was both wide and tall enough for a Diamond Dog to walk through it, or however many happened to walk through it, and he informed the others that he didn't use his magic to do this, meaning this was either natural or was tied to what he was feeling right now. Instead of just leaving the area, and coming back to this at a later date, Spike stepped into the hidden tunnel and started to walk down it, as it was leading somewhere and he wanted to see whatever was at the end of it, since they were heading towards the odd magic that he had felt, a magic that definitely seemed older than everything that was in Ponyville, and he was sure that Twilight would do the same thing if she was here, hence the reason that he followed the path that was in front of him and the rest of the group followed him. Rarity, of course, didn't have the best experience with the Diamond Dogs and was a tad bit worried that they might run into the dogs that were supposed to be underground, inside the tunnels they had walked through to get here, before she sighed and followed after the rest of the group, as she didn't want to be left behind in case one of the dogs came up behind her and tried to grab her, so she was pretty much walking beside Flame and Aurora, as she did like Aurora's robe and was interested in it, something that she would ask once they got back to Ponyville, but for the most part she remained silent as she and the others walked down the tunnel, heading to whatever Spike had felt so he could write down everything that he ended up discovering.
For a few minutes it didn't seem like anything was happening, that the tunnel might be a dead end and that they were just wasting their time in these caves, before Spike spotted what appeared to be an opening in front of them and stopped the moment he reached it, where they found that it wasn't a new tunnel and that it was actually a rectangular opening, which was longer in the horizontal sense this time around, before they stared out of it, like it was a window, and paused as they focused on what was on the other side of it, as this was far beyond anything that they were expecting to find when Spike wanted to go out and find some gems. What they found was that there was a massive underground cavern, one that could fix a city the size of Canterlot inside it, that stretched out before them, though the reason that everyone thought of a city was due to the fact that there was an actual city, made out of smooth stone and seemed to be modeled in the style of the city that Spike and Twilight used to call home, resting in the center of the cavern, which was around the time that everyone found out that there were a few small holes in the ceiling that let light into this place, though that wasn't all they found as they stared out of the opening, where Spike was already writing everything that they were seeing down. It appeared that there were two rivers running through the city that they were staring at, one apparently coming from the west and turning to the south, a normal river based on what the group was seeing and that told Spike it had to be coming from one of the oceans named after Luna, but it was the one coming from the north and heading towards the east, from the direction that they came from, that their attention happened to be on since it was actually a river of lava, or maybe it was magma, like in the Dragon Lands, which seemed to have a smithy or something resting near it, like whoever had lived here had used the river to heat whatever they were melting down and forge it into weapons and armor. The thing that really caught Spike's attention was two objects, the first being the magical dome that rested around the entire city, almost like what the Crystal Empire had to protect them against the frigid wings and freezing snow, which had to be what his magic had bounced off of when he channeled the radar spell for a time, though the second thing was that there were a number of statues that were on the outskirts of the city, on the city's side of the barrier, that were of bipedal dog-like creatures, standing upright and not like the hunched Diamond Dogs that Spike and Rarity had encountered the last time they had seen the dogs, and each of them were wearing some sort of armor over their bodies.
Spike was amazed by what they were seeing at the moment, as this was an ancient Diamond Dog city, an undocumented discovery based on all of the limited information he had on what was inside Equestria's libraries, since he hadn't read any of the tomes and scrolls yet, and he couldn't wait to see what else might be inside this area, as there was no way he was going to just leave without discovering something else, though as he thought about that, and they discovered a tunnel to their right that headed down towards the bottom area of this cavern, everyone heard what appeared to be drums or one of the other musical instruments. The group glanced at each other for a few moments, because they weren't expecting to hear the start of what appeared to be a song of some kind, to which they headed down the tunnel that was near them and followed it to the area that it was leading them towards, even though the tunnel soon turned into what appeared to be a railed area that allowed one to feel as if they were underground while not having too much earth around them, as there was a spiraling walkway of sorts that it brought them to and Spike was sure that there was an exit on every level, between here and the bottom, and the first one seemed promising. The reason for that opinion happened to be because the sound was coming from that area, so they walked through the doorway shaped opening and quickly found their way to what had to be a massive mine, one that was a massive circular area that had to be far below where Spike and Rarity had found the first group of Diamond Dogs in the past, and that they were surprised to find that there were conveyor belts that let those that worked in this area transport valuables and raw material to another part of the city, after being hauled up from the mine by large metallic baskets that were made out of iron, or at least that was what all of them assumed as they watched all of the components move. This meant that the Diamond Dogs had to be living inside the city still, keeping themselves hidden from the rest of Equestria and the world as a whole, all while continuing their own traditions and whatnot, which just interested Spike as he thought about everything that they could learn today, before they paused for a moment as they approached the edge of the mine and found that it was occupied by a vast number of Diamond Dogs, twenty to be exact and that each of them had their own colors to their fur, as some had different shades of brown and different shades of gray, though where two of them were expecting to find them wearing just vests, like they had seen in the past, the dogs in the mine happened to be wearing dirty white shirts and dirty brown pants, though each of them were swinging pickaxes down at the stone, meaning the stone had to be too hard for their paws.
"Brothers of the mine rejoice!" a voice called out, where Spike and Rarity paused for a moment as they noticed a Diamond Dog, who seemed to have light gray fur while wearing a light brown set of attire that made it look more like a leader of a dig team or something, and he seemed to be the only one that was without a pickaxe right now, meaning he had to be an overseer, and the reason that they knew he was male was due to the voice that came from his mouth, though they were surprised by the voice since it didn't match what they remembered from their last encounter with the Diamond Dogs, but it seemed like he was in the middle of starting a song.
"Swing, swing, swing with me!" the Diamond Dogs that were mining replied in kind, their voices revealing that either they were used to singing random songs while they worked, possibly taken from Ponyville and the rest of the ponies that just randomly broke out into song and dance, something that Spyro, Ember, and the rest of the dragons from Spyro's world were getting used to when Cadance mentioned such a thing when they walked to her during their first day on Equus, but they remained silent as they watched, because this was interesting and had to be the last thing that they saw before they headed back to Ponyville to conduct Spike's test on the gems, allowing them to hear the song as it continued, with all of the Diamond Dogs mentioning swinging their picks and raising their voices, along with being born underground as well, which made sense when they thought about it, and what they would find while they mined.
The Diamond Dogs continued to sing, not knowing that there were watchers observing them, where they sang about the fact that they were raised in the dark and in the safety of their mountain home, that they believed that their fur was made out of iron and that they had steel in their bones, which implied their history of digging underground, before all of them proclaimed that 'they were dogs and they're digging a hole', where they seemed to be having fun as they struck the stones that were resting around their work place and actually seemed to find a number of gems that were collected and hauled up to the upper area, to be separated from the stone and metal that they found, before the group were interrupted by the sudden arrival of a group of bipedal Diamond Dogs who were wearing full suits of iron armor and had spears pointing at them, even though Spike and Rarity spotted a hunched dog among them.
"Intruders have found Diamondia," one of the dogs said, which was the one that Spike and Rarity could have sworn that they recognized, even if it was based on size, and the gruff voice seemed to match what they remembered, though it was possible that it was just a random occurrence and that they might be wrong, before the dog beckoned to the others for a moment, who circled back to make sure they surrounded the group so none of them escaped, but what was interesting was that none of them tried to take their weapons from them and that was a mistake, not that it mattered since they had Spike with them and he would be able to find the weapons if they were taken, before the dog growled, "The Council of Three Paws will decide your fate!"
Spike's eyes widened for a moment, as this was more information than what he was expecting to learn and that he would have all sorts of knowledge to share with the rest of Equestria, including Twilight when she returned, while the rest of the group simply remained silent at this point, because they were willing to let Spike get everything he wanted out of the way before they bothered to make their escape with either his magic or Bianca's powers, and that wasn't counting Malefor's powers either, to which the group silently followed the guards and wondered what the next few minutes had in store for all of them.
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That was quite the interesting chapter. I had actually forgotten that Spike had even tried to eat one of the gems from Spyro's world but it is nice to havbe a rfeason from the dragon in question as to why he chipped a tooth trying it. ALso just gunna leave this here. loved the diamonds dogs though and seeing them with an actual city rather than just living in random tunnels. As always another great chapter, lo0oking forward to what could possibly come next. Keep up the great work
Well this could be interesting. I bet this is where out love bug got her magic nullification throne. Hopefully Spike has a plan in place to prevent him from loosing his powers.
Excellent job on the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up in all the right places. Greatly loved seeing Smolder volunteering for the training program as well as Spike considering talking to Shining Armor and Cadance concerning said training program AND extending it to the Griffons (Gallus would definitely be interested in it as well as probably Gilda and Gabby), Changelings (it wouldn't be TOO hard to reason with Thorax concerning the need), etc. Plus, yeah, Spike's coming up with the theory concerning the gems on Spyro's world and the gems on Equus and wanting to test it is a good hook for this situation with the Diamond Dogs. Of course, the only cliffhanger in this case is if the gang can reason with the Dogs or if the gang will be forced to kick the Dogs' tails (and this gang has DEFINITELY handled MUCH worse than a bunch of uppity Diamond Dogs), convincing the Dogs to ally with them and level up for the upcoming demon war. I also greatly enjoyed Rarity's marveling at how well Spike has learned magic on Spyro's world (pretty much noting that Spike has basically become a male dragon version of Twilight) as well as the gang noting how the Diamond Dogs seemed to pick up on the Equestrian habit of breaking into song at a random moment.
VERY certainly looking forward to more of this.
Figured Smolder would volunteer for this training program, she was quite the unique dragon over there that wasn't a total jerk (besides Ember of course
)
Also glad the whole gem eating incident was addressed, make sense that Eqqus gems were different than in Spyro's world. Seems the gang has run into the Diamond Dogs at the end there, hopefully they won't try anything stupid like the last time in canon!
10449220
I see I'm not the only one who thought of that video.
nice work.
10449200
This 'city' is actually a forge from Darksiders 2. Of course the one in the game was partially ruins and didn't have a dome of magic or was underground, but still. I recognized how it was set up with the water coming from a cold sea, and lava coming from a volcano. It's a place that has made great weapons, and will continue to make them for ages to come.
10450604 Are you referring to the Abyssal Forge, by chance?
10450807
No, the Makers Forge. It's in the first world in the game aside from the tutorial.
10451040 I see. I've never played the Darksiders series, so I had no idea those areas even existed... happy coincidence that my hidden city resembles this Maker's Forge.
Diggy Diggy Hole
Digging a Hole!!