The Reader

by GnollReader

Chapter 41: Finding Ponies

Scar was not happy. The dogs head had left a big crack in the doors surface, it filled the gnolls heart with sorrow. The door would most likely not survive another swing like that. He picked up the door and walked over to the ponies, they had dragged their unconscious captive off to the treeline. The dog was currently bound in rope and hanging from a branch. The sight almost made him want to hit it again, just to see it dangle a bit.

"That's quite a swing you have there..." commented Berryshakes as she saw him approach, "I've never seen a dog fly like that before." The diamond dog had been catapulted off the ground by the sheer force of the gnoll's swing, a satisfying thump accompanying the impact of the door. "I'm surprised it's still alive."

"Thick skulls, only little inside." the gnoll grumbled as he walked by her and towards the dangling dog. It stank, all dig dogs did. Filthy little things with evil little minds. He gave the dog a poke with one of his claws, emitting a slight groan from it.

"You know quite a lot about them, don't you?" Purple Haze asked. She had been wondering about this for some time now, how simple it had been for him to spot the trap, his knowledge of the different entrances... "You've met them before, haven't you?"

Scar gave the dog another poke and watched it dangle around. "When Scar escapes the cage first time it ran for days... until gnoll finds old den. No dogs inside so Scar lives in stinking dog den for many days." He poked the dog again "One day dogs show up, make camp on lower level for two days. So Scar watches and listens from dark what it could not read in sand."

"Read in sand?" Berryshakes asked as she watched the dog dangle.

Scar reached down for a second to draw his paw across the ground, "Everything leaves sign in sand, and if it can read, it can understand." he gave the dog another poke, this time it stirred. Scar reached out and turned the dog towards him as it blinked its eyes wildly and tried to orient itself. "Is awake?... Good. Now, little dog should listen carefully... " the dog's eyes became big as it looked into the gnoll's face, "It has questions and no patience for dig dogs."

---

They weren't entirely sure what was going on. There had been a shout down the tunnel leading to the cells, but it had been cut off instantly. They figured it was just one of the dig ponies making trouble, but when they went to check on it, they had found something entirely unexpected.

"I'm sure of it, I've seen them before. And I say... that's a door." one of two guard dogs pointed out as he scratched his head. It had taken five minutes to reach this conclusion. "Did we put a door in this tunnel?"

"I don't know, it thought Pips was responsible for stuff like this?"

"Stuff like what?"

"I don't know,... doors?"

A third dog walked up, "Is that a door?"

"We think it is..." the first dog commented. The three of them watched the door for a moment longer.

"So... you're guarding it?" the third dog asked, trying to make conversation.

"No, we heard a shout from this tunnel, so we came to look into it."

"And?"

"Don't know, can't get behind the door..." the dogs were silent again. "Should we tell the alpha?"

"Naah... he's taking a nap, you know how he gets..." the dog thought for a second, "Should we knock?"

---

Scar cursed his own hide. Things had gone fairly good until this point, the dog had squealed the instant the gnoll showed him his fangs. Of course he had, all dig dogs were cowards when they were alone. With the dog's information, they had been able to find the right hole and had entered without the dogs noticing.

Finding the cells had been simple for him, and using the vast system of tunnels they had been able to sneak around the dogs with ease. The dog guarding the ponies had been sleeping, easy prey. But when Scar wanted to kill him in his sleep Purple Haze had stopped him, "We can do this without spilling any blood,... let's just sneak them out of here and be gone. We're going to open the cages, you stay here and be ready to help if something goes wrong."

So Scar had watched from the dark as the guard ponies got to work on quietly freeing the prisoners. They had been in a miserable state, they looked as if they had been working for days without sleep. And there were many... a lot more than three if he counted correctly. Purple Haze had crept around the cages and told the ponies of their plan while Berryshakes had used her magic to open the locks quietly.

Once they had freed the ponies Scar had been supposed to lead them out again, but when he had stepped out of the dark to collect the first batch something went wrong. One of the ponies had screamed in shock, and the guard dog had woken up. He had gotten out half of an alarm shout before the gnoll pounded his head into the cave walls with enough force to make it crack. But half a shout was enough, the dogs had good ears, if nothing else.

Now, with the guards on their way down the only escape path they had, and still half of the ponies in cages... Scar needed to buy them some time. He remembered that the smack door had fulfilled a different function before being a weapon and after a quick check of the proportions he had simply stuffed the door into the tunnel opening. It would hopefully serve to keep them busy for some time.

He checked on Purple Haze's progress, almost all of the ponies were free by now and rounded up. Most of them still eyed him with fear, but the prospect of freedom seemed to give them strength. He checked the door, if his nose was correct there were at least a dozen dogs on the other side by now. They weren't going to leave without a fight, that much was sure now.

---

"It's a pretty door though..." the other dogs nodded in agreement.

Fifteen of them stood outside the door by now, arguing about what to do next. Some thought they should knock, others thought they should ignore it until it would go away. One of the smarter dogs spoke up, "Wait, ain't the pony cells down this way?" one of the dogs nodded, "And you didn't check if they were still there?" another dog shook his head.

The dog gave a groan and walked up to the door. He smelled the air at the bottom of the door, there were ponies behind it for sure. Something else too, but he couldn't identify it. He put one of his ears against the door and listened.

---

Scar reared up a fist and aimed for the center of the door, he would miss it dearly.

Comments

[SilverQuilled]

Oh good heavens. All my yes belongs to this .

[Naduran]

One Flying Diamond Dog comming up

[Br2nd66]

FALCON PUNCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Lux Aeterna]

alas, poor smack door, we knew you well

[Fanskapet]

epic dog on door action lol

[Bronzedragon]

May Celestia bless them for what they are about to receive.

[stavaros-the-arcane]

Smack Door will join the ranks of honored inanimate objects such as Tom the Rock, and Bloomberg the Tree.
Your sacrifice will not be forgotten. And all the lady-doors will pine for the loss of such an epitome of Doorliness

[Lord Destrustor]

1948042
We will miss it like we miss the inanimate carbon rod who so heroically saved a crew of astronauts a few years back.

[Morphy]

Well shoot, if it was that easy to confuse Diamond Dogs, ponies could have just put random doors in the their tunnels to stop them being such pests. Could be even worse for the dogs if ponies put a [pull] sign on doors meant to push open, and moved the doorknob to the wrong side (where the hinges are) too. But the whole scene of confused Diamond Dogs in front of the hasty door is very Terry Prachet to me. While I will miss that heroic door, I was still giggling at it all.

[Candlelight]

"Is that a door?" LOL

I am still amazed by your ability to create humor and weave an interesting tale out of so simple and innocent looking things.

[tia brony]

"It's a pretty door though..." the other dogs nodded in agreement.

[katarjin]

hehe makes me think of dwarfs from Dwarf Fortress they like doors

[Tome Turner]

R.I.P.
Door

[Lucky424]

Aww, you can't get rid of the smack door!

[Berzerker_Mohawk]

1947835 R.I.P Old Smacky

[Subatomic Seal]

No! They might put it back together and learn the secrets of the smack door!

[doompownr]

be brave my friends the smack door would not want us to be sad for doing all it could for the good of equestria.
lets have a moment of silence.

[Shadow Reaper]

NO SMACK DOOR WAS BEST PONY

[wtdtd]

1947907

Amen to that! rofl