A Diamond In The Ruff: A Gem Stone Beginning.

Chapters

Chapter 1: I can go the distance.
Chapter 2: Something Gained, Something Lost.
Chapter Four: Wet Dog Smell
Chapter Five: Future Gem's Problem
Chapter Six: Remarkable, Simply Remarkable
Mini Story: What Could Have Been Part One.
Mini Story: What Could Have Been Part Two.
Stone Family Den-Tunnels (Family Tree)
Chapter 3: Methylxanthines? What's that?

Chapter 1: I can go the distance.

My mother tossed a sack of gems on the table and barked at us to come eat. My siblings came out of the walls and grabbed at the gems but one of the oldest of us growled at them causing them to scatter, he went over to the table and divided the sack between the six of us with the older ones getting more of the bigger gems than the others; meaning I will get the least of the gems since I'm the youngest.He tossed me an emerald and ruby that barely fit in my paw when I held them together, I put them in one of the pockets in my raggedy vest as the other pups grabbed their share and jumped back into their holes in the walls. The oldest one, Igneous 'Ig' Stone, patted my head roughly and growled as if he just said something profound -which is doubtful, we're not the brightest torch in the caves- he lumbered down one of the larger tunnels and left me in the central cavern by myself.

"Hi everyone... bye everyone," I mumbled, my voice echoing slightly off the walls, I went down on four legs and ran into a tunnel off to the back of the room.

My paws knew where I wanted to go, the walls of the tunnels became a blur with holes leading to other tunnels for several miles through the mountain. I barely slowed down as I aimed for a hole above me and hauled myself up by my claws, beginning my climb to the surface and my secret cave, I pushed up on a slab above me and squinted as light streamed through the crack in the wall. I dropped the slab back into its slot and peered through the crack at the pony town a bit away from the rock wall.

I pulled the ruby out and tossed it into my mouth, I slid a claw along the wall until it caught an edge and pulled to reveal a stack of foal's learning books I had managed to get. I picked up several and started flipping through them, studying what I could understand from the ponies language, everypony gets a cutiemark that tells them what they are good at; it usually appears in a ponies youth on their flank.

"Flank? What is a flank," I asked the empty room, I looked at the next page that had a diagram of a pony with a mark on their butt, "Oh, it's a butt, why don't they just say butt?" I twisted around and parted the fur near my tail but didn't see anything under it. Somehow I dozed off while reading, I was awaken by a howl vibrating through the tunnel below me, I looked out the crack to see the moon behind a massive crystal tree that wasn't there when I got here. "Wha-," I stopped when the howling cut off, I yanked up the slab and tossed it aside and jumped into the hole. I couldn't even rub my sore bottom from the fall because I was off like a bat out of Tartarus.

I crawled from my tunnel into the cavern to find my siblings already there listening to our father as he talked about what the Alphas told the grown up's at the meeting. He growled as I settled downed beside Silt, he spoke again in his gruff tone "Alphas tell us ponies have new princess and new castle in nearby pony town." I thought back to the giant tree that had appeared as he continued, "Giant castle grow after the battle with centaur or something. We were told to tell family that surface gem farming is forbidden."

Everyone started talking at once; complaining about their problems but father shut them up with a loud bark, jerking his head to signal that he was done and to go to sleep. I turned to go to a hole in the wall that was my room but father place a paw on my shoulder and walked with me to my room. I curled up on my frayed blankets in a ball and he slid down the wall as he sat down beside me, "Gem, listen, Alphas know about room near pony town. There was talk about sending your brother to destroy it but now it is time for you to become a real Diamond Dog, you report to uncle Fido in the mines tomorrow."

I sat up with my eyes tearing up, "What? Why?!"

"World not need smart Diamond Dog, if there were smart Diamond Dogs then they threaten Alphas. Please don't argue, it's best to obey and not cause fuss, you know how Alphas treat disobedient dogs."

I sniffled and scooted closer to the wall, "Yes father, I will report to uncle Fido tomorrow, good night."

"I am sorry," he said as he placed his huge paw on my back and rubbed it for a moment before getting up to leave and whispered so quietly I barely heard him, "I do not mind you wishing to learn. I think it is good to have a wish. Goodnight my son." He left, leaving only the sounds of my siblings snoring and my quiet sobbing.

The morning came swiftly shortly after closing my eyes, I only woke because of my siblings paws pounding the stone, I pulled myself up and readjusted my vest and bandanna around my neck. Taking my sweet time I slid down the main tunnel which dumped me into a busy access tunnel full of dogs going to and from work, following the line right to a nexus of holes leading who knows where. I picked one and started sliding until I was dumped in one of our mines, a stocky Diamond Dog was the only one in this section, "Hi uncle Fido..."

The turned around a bit to fast and hit his head on the low ceiling, he growled and mumbled darkly before growling, "What do you want?! Oh, hi Gem. Why you here?"

'He doesn't know why I'm down here,' I thought as I picked a black stone out of the wall, "N-no reason uncle, just thought I visit..." His only response was a grunt and he went back to digging his claws into the rock, I sniffed the black stone before holding it out to uncle, "What gem is this? I've never seen this kind before."

He carved out a large stone from the wall and sniffed for gems, not finding any he picked it up and smashed his fist on it to shatter it. He came over to yank the cube shaped gem from my paw and sniffed it before tossing it into a bucket, "Not know."

"How could you not know. Isn't it your job to mine gems and know what is good and what isn't," I asked reaching into the bucket to get the black cube.

He barked a rough laugh, "No, job is dig gems, obey Alphas, and eat gems. That's it."

"Oh... speaking of Alphas, why are they so against Diamond Dog learning?"

He flopped down on the floor and patted the spot next to him, "Come sit, I tell you story." I brushed some pebbles away and sat down, he continued when I settled down, "This story about three Diamond Dog friends. They broke rule set by Alphas but they said they would be forgiven if they do one job; Alphas tell them, "Go gather us three carts of gems in one week." Three carts of gem's not that much for three Diamond Dogs but Alphas had nasty trick; they say they may only pick gems from the border of Rambling Rocky Ridge near pony town. They agree and travel to the border with pony town. They dig for days with little luck then on forth day they see pure white unicorn with dragon beside her. She cast magic that cause ground to glow in many spots, the dragon goes to these spots and dig. He not dig for long and pulls out gems!" He paused the story while he stretched his arms wide to show how many gems they found before continuing the story, "One of Diamond Dogs was cleverer than the others, he came up with idea to capture unicorn and have her find the gems for them. They do this but find out unicorn have secret weapon, she whined. She whine so much by time unicorn's friends come to rescue her, the Diamond Dogs were willing to give their gems to get her to leave. She leave but tunnels now had no gems for Diamond Dogs so they have no choice but to go back to Alphas empty-pawed. When Alphas hear of their attempted at enslaving the pony, they feared the ponies rulers so they take two of three Diamond Dogs and put them down for their idea as a way to gain forgiveness." He got quiet for a moment as he thought about something, he sighed and stood up, "I-I think it time for you to go, Gem."

I got up, pocketed the black cube, and went to the chute I came down, looking over my shoulder I could have sworn I saw a tear run down his snout, "Good bye uncle Fido... thanks for the story, it has helped me make up my mind." I saw him raise a paw and up the hole I went. I made my way back to our home system, luckily everyone was off somewhere so it was deserted. I went to my room and began gouging out the inside and outside, marking it so it was obvious I was leaving, I finished and headed to my study room while bracing myself for the damage. I popped my head out and saw shredded paper all over the room, the stone carvings smashed, the crack in the wall stuffed with my attempts at drawings. I pulled them from the the crack and tossed them aside, I dug my claws into the crack and pulled down on each side of me, I went to the other wall, ran at the crack, and hit my shoulder against it. I tried three times before the wall gave in to my tiny size, I hit the wall with a smack and the wall along with myself went flying down the hill. It was terrifying but kind of fun, I had never had the ground move with me before, it seemed to last forever but the hitting a tree brought me back. I ended partially underneath the chunk of rock that used to be my wall, I crawled out and yanked on my tail until it was free, I dropped down to all fours and shook the dirt and dust from my fur. I popped up on my legs and adjusted my scarf and patted my to pockets to see if anything was still in them; the black cube shaped gem as well as a few gems as a snack. After I checked myself over for injuries the smells hit me; everything I smelt from the room but stronger, I could smell the grass, the trees, even the water smelled great!

"Trees... I wonder, could I...," I asked myself, letting it hang in the air, "No, no, that would be crazy." I followed a trail towards the direction of the crystal tree, after I passed the treeline I dropped down and put on a burst of speed as I sped the rest of the way to the tree. "Holy cow," I exclaimed, stopping at one of the roots of the 'tree', this thing is giant! I placed a claw on a root and tried to gouge out a sliver but my claw just bounced off it, I then tried taking a bite out of it but that didn't work either, 'Weird...'

A purple dragon walk around a root to my left carrying a basket of fabrics, he must have heard the sound of my gnawing because he lowered the basket enough to get a look at me and his face turned sour as he muttered, "Diamond Dog, perfect." He dropped the basket and came over to me, "Hey, what do you thing you're doing Diamond Dog?"

With my mouth full of root I replied, "Nuffin'... Are you tuh pruncuss?"

He looked like he was struggling with two different emotions when I asked that, "No I'm not the princess, now if you would please stop chewing the tree that would be great."

I let go of it and fell to the ground with a thump, I stood up with my tail kicking up a dust storm, "Hi sorry, my name Gem. I come to learn from ponies." He just stood there an stared at me, "Is that problem?"

He cleared his throat before motioning me to follow him, he picked up his laundry basket and we walked in the direction he came from while he shouted, "Twilight! I think you better come see this!"

Several minutes later I sat across a table from the purple pony princess, Twilight, she had Spike -who was the dragon I met- bake these round things called cookies that made my insides tingle with happiness. She asked what I wanted, so I told her my life story; everything from wanting to be smart by taking some books from the school to the alphas to even the fact that my tail wasn't like other Diamond Dogs and that it couldn't break rocks. I don't know why but I just couldn't stop talking she just had this feeling about her that made me want to confide in her, all the while she just patted my paw and assured me with little comments. I finally finished my tale with my destroying my cave and running away to this pony town to ask her if I she could help me go to school.

Twilight smiled at my wanting to expand my knowledge, "I don't see why I shouldn't help you. Let's go talk to Miss Cheerilee about getting you enrolled... after you apologize for stealing those books."

I looked at her funny, "What is apologize?"

The question seemed to startle her, she picked the empty plate and I watched it float over to Spike where he took it back in the kitchen. She stood up and guided me with her outside, "Apologizing is where you tell someone you have done something bad to, that you are sorry. Most ponies will forgive you if you tell them you are sorry. Now come along, it is still pretty early so Miss Cheerilee should be teaching her class. We walked along a road through town, getting all kinds of strange looks from the ponies, she led me to the same building that I took the books from. I began to have this feeling in my stomach, like I had a tummy ache, my paws started fiddling together by them self. We stopped outside the schoolhouse doors, I heard several voices talking at once, she leaned down and told me to wait here while she talked to Miss Cheerilee.

"Okay," I said, crouching down while I wrapped my arms around my knees.

She knocked on the door with her hoof and went inside, the voices stopped chattering and three of them called out to her, I could barely hear her whisper something. The two talk briefly, the only thing I heard was 'Where is he?' and 'outside'. I squeezed my legs tighter as the feeling got worse, the door opened and Princess Twilight and a pony who must have been Miss Cheerilee came out. Miss Cheerilee looked like Ig when I took a gemstone from one of my brothers pockets, after they closed the door the whisper voices inside started up and the sound of them coming to the windows.

Twilight nudged me with her hoof for me to stand up, "Come on Gem, don't you have something you want to tell Miss Cheerilee?"

"I'm sorry for taking your books..."

"I'm sorry, what was that," Miss Cheerilee asked.

"I said I'm sorry for taking your books... and I want to go here and learn about things," I said, my voice growing more confident.

Her mean look dissolved into a bright smile, "Well why didn't you just say so? I'm sure my class would be happy to have another student as would I."

"Really," I screamed, my tail wagging like crazy.

"Of course, I'll get some forms for you to fill out so you can come to school, I'm sure Princess Twilight wouldn't mind helping you with it. One moment while I go get them," she open the door and the sound of the students could be heard rushing back to their chairs.

I looked up at Twilight and saw her smiling, "Would you really help me with this? I-I don't really know my letters..."

She place her hoof around my shoulders gingerly and smiled down at me, "Of course I would like to help you. Anypony who wishes to learn earns a place in my heart."

"Are you the Princess of Learning?"

She laughed a little, "No I'm the Princess of Friendship and speaking of friendship, I'm positive you will make many friends while you are here."

The door opened with Miss Cheerilee holding several sheets of papers, "Here you go Gem, Fill these out and bring them back by tomorrow so you can start coming into class after the weekend. Just be sure to put your place of residence."

My smile faltered, "P-p-place of residence?"

The hoof around my shoulder patted me gently, "Don't worry about that Miss Cheerilee, he'll be staying with me at the castle.

"Really," we both asked surprised.

Twilight took the papers from the teacher and ushered me down the stairs, "Yes really, goodbye Cheerilee. Come along Gem, we've got some papers to fill out and a room to get ready.

We walked back through town, I happily chattered about every little thing that passed through my head. When we made it back to the castle; Spike was cleaning up the main room, he glanced at me and mumbled something that I didn't catch, I was led into a side room. She sat me down at a wooden table and walked me through the papers.

"So how old are you Gem? Do Diamond Dogs use regular years to determine their age or do they use dog years?"

"What are dog years," I asked confused, never hearing the term before.

She looked over the sheet, making sure everything was complete but a lot of it was blank, "A dog year is this idea that canines age seven times faster than ponies do, which would account for their such short lives."

"Oh... well I'm seven... so I would be one in pony," I exclaimed happily that my math worked out right.

"Well that is very young but I think we should just put seven years old," she replied as she wrote down a seven under Age. "Now let's see, maybe we should get a picture taken to finish this and send it to Cheerilee. SPIKE!"

The door swung open and the dragon walked in, "No need to shout Twilight, I'm right here. What do you need?"

"I need you to find that camera we got as a gift when we left Canterlot, the one that ejects them out on that paper."

Spike groaned a bit before leaving, Twilight went back to scribbling notes on the papers while I just stood there. I made my way over to a door that wasn't open and pulled it easily to show a wall of clothes hanging in it. I closed the door and went back to where Twilight was sitting smiling as she lifted the sheets and straightened them, Spike came in with this brightly colored box and set it on the bed. The top of the box lifted and a strange object floated out and over to her.

"Come over here sweetie, I need to take a picture for the school. I need you to stand still for a moment please, " she steadied the camera in front of her face.

My tail wrapped around and I grabbed it in my front paws, I shook a little bit as she clicked a button on the top and a flash nearly blinded me. The spots danced for a bit before they faded, she pulled a white square from the camera and gave it to me. It was black for a second before a shape started to appear and a couple seconds later there was a dusty grey Diamond Dog holding his long fluffy tail in his paws. "Hey, this is me!"

Her chuckling made me look up and saw her crouched down to my level, placing a wing over my shoulder she moved the camera away and took a picture of both of us and pasted the picture to me and it had me with a goofy grin on my face and her with a small smile. She took the first picture she took, added it to the papers and went to the door, "Welcome to Ponyville, Gem. Now get settled in Spike will show you where everything is later."

She closed the door, leaving me in the room by myself. It took me two tries to jump on the bed, when I settled into the middle I sunk a little and sighed happily, "I actually did it, I can't believe I actually left the mines..." I thought back to my family and twisted until I got wrapped up in the blanket and went to sleep with those memories buzzing in my head.

Author's Note

4/22 edit: Okay, I finally see why people don't like making edits/changes to older stories; you forget why you did things. Either for a joke or for a later plot point that you just forgot about, anywho I've fixed my fixes and hopefully I'll never do that again. If it aint broke, don't fix it. Camp out.
Hello everyone, thanks for reading the first chapter of Diamond in the Ruff. I hope you enjoyed it and I wish to apologize for any misuse of words, it's my first time writing in the perspective of such a young Equestrian.
Every character besides Gem and a couple others are property of Hasbro and whoever else it may concern.(Character-wise anyways.)

Chapter 2: Something Gained, Something Lost.

The next morning I woke up to Spike kicking my bed -which must have been hard considering his size-, he had this annoyed look on his face as he jerked his claw to the door, "Twilight told me to show you where everything is while I run some errands for Rarity. Hurry up and get ready, I'll be down stairs." He turned around and left with the door swinging open slightly.

"O-okay," I answered sleepily, I tried untangling myself from the blankets but only succeeded in rolling off the bed and crashing to the floor, only to have the heavy blankets land on top of me. I wiggled free of my cozy prison, shook my fur until I was completely awake, and left the room while I rubbed my eyes. I stopped at the railing by the stairs when I heard Twilight and Spike arguing in a hushed tone.

"Spike what is your problem, he's a guest here and we do not treat guests rudely."

"What's my problem? Why are you so eager to forgive those Diamond Dogs for kidnapping Rarity? We don't know what they did while we looked for her, they blew their chance and I'll never forgive them."

"You know that isn't fair Spike, the actions of a few do not equal the actions of the whole. Gem shows that he is willing to learn and that is a trait worthy of a chance in my books. So quit being so cold to him and he might actually open up to you a little."

I gripped the railing and descended the stairs, "I'm ready..."

Twilight looked up suddenly as if she had been caught, "Oh good I was just telling Spike to pick some things up for me as well, right Spike?"

Spike just turned and headed for the door, "Sure, come on." I followed him quickly and stayed a few paces away from him. He listed off places names as we passed them, barely pausing as he continued on his way.

I went with the weird feeling in my gut to tell him that I had heard them talking, "Who is Rarity and why you hate Diamond Dog for her?"

I smelt something coming off of him, not exactly anger but something else, his shoulders slumped. He took me aside and told me what had happened to his friend Rarity and three Diamond Dogs that ambushed them, his story sounding very similar to the story uncle Fido told me right before I had run away.

"I know that story, my uncle tell it to me -right before I left- he say it was needed for forgiveness."

"Forgiveness?! That's a fine way of trying to get forgiveness from somepony!"

"Not for pony, for Alphas. Alphas say to get three carts of gems in week for their forgiveness of crime."

"What crime?"

"For thinking for themselves. They release her but with no gems Alphas put down two of three.Diamond Dogs."

"T-they what?"

"Put down. I believe uncle Fido one of three, he very sad when telling story. He lost two friends, now he work mines for rest of life," I reached in my pocket and pulled out the black cube, watching it shine momentarily before holding it out, "I know it not make up for all of us but I hope it enough for me so we can be friends."

He picked the cube up gingerly in his claws and set it in his palm, his face softened at my gift, "What exactly is it?"

"Not know, uncle Fido probably know but he to afraid of Alphas to say. I got it from his mine before I left," My tail drooped as I thought back to the look on his face.

Spike had a moment of conflict as he tried to think of what to do, he looked like he was going to take it but he pushed it back into my paw, "I-I appreciate it Gem but I can't take this away from you but I don't see why we still can't be friends. Fist thing I want to do as friends is apologize; I'm sorry Gem, I know I shouldn't have acted the way I did but... hearing the Diamond Dog side of the story, makes me regret all the things I've felt about you guys since that day. Is there anyway you would be willing to forgive me?"

"There nothing to forgive, you want to be friends and I want to be friends so now we both friends together."

He looked like he was going to cry for a moment there before he grabbed my paw and started pulling me, "Come on, let's get some food, it's on me. I know this great place that can make gemstone pastries."

He walked me to this place that looked and smelled like a giant gingerbread house, I followed him in where a pink pony popped up causing me to hide behind Spike. She wore a huge grin and pulled a tray of something from behind the counter, "Hi Spike, what can I getcha?"

"Hey Pinkie, mind getting me a couple of candy gems? and a sapphire cupcake for my new friend, I owe him an apologize."

Her ears did this little twist as she got a manic look in her eyes, "New friend? You wouldn't be holding out on would you Spike?"

He looked away nervously, "N-no Pinkie, he just got to town. Twilight is sponsoring him so he can go to school." He pulled me out from behind him and presented me like some sort of sacrifice.

She gasped loudly and grabbed my cheeks, "Sweet Celestia he's so adorable! Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie, would you like to be friends?!"

"Uhm, sure! We be good friends," I held out my paw and shook her hoof softly but she wouldn't let go, 'How do these ponies hold on so tight?!'

"This-is-so-great-I've-never-had-a-Diamond-Dog-for-a-friend-before. Ohmigosh, I should throw you a welcome to Ponyville and starting school party!" She release my paw which was about to fall off from being shook so much, she dashed off into a back room and down a flight of stairs leaving us stating in front of an empty counter.

"Uh Pinkie? What about our gem snacks?"

A mare walked out of the kitchen with a paper bag and a tray with two cupcakes, "Don't worry Spike, I have them right here."

"Ah, thanks Mrs. Cake," He took the items from her hooves, "Come on Gem, let's eat these on the way to Rarity's."

We headed out and each took several bites from the cupcakes until they we're gone. We shared the bag of gem candy as we walked along, Spike's mood had done a one-eighty and I was alright with that; I found it's nice to have friends and not to be alone all the time. I also learned that friends share things so when we stopped outside this white and blue building, I stopped him from knocking.

"Uh before we go in, I want to offer again," I pulled the black cube out and held it out.

"No man, I can't take this from you. Keep it to remember your uncle."

"No I'm not giving it, at least not all of it," I grabbed it with both sets of claws and began pulling with what little strength I had, finally it pulled apart with a snap and a faint smell of something filled the air but was blow away before we could tell what it was. The insides of the cube were lined with glowing veins and bots that intersected each other, I handed one of the halves to him, "We both eat it, it may be lost but something gained none the less."

"Right," he took it and we counted to three and tossed them in and started chomping but that was cut off from our gagging and choking. "Sweet Celestia, that tasted awful! Bleh!"

I dropped to all fours and began to try and hack it out, the taste was terrible, I felt physically sick as a black puff came out of my mouth and immediately went up my nose. It went up my nose and everything went pitch black and I fell to the ground with my body shaking.

"Gem! Rarity hurry, I need some help out here," he screamed as he held tried to hold me still and then... nothing.

Chapter Four: Wet Dog Smell

Author's Note

By the gods, he updated!!!
Hope you guys enjoy the chapter, my writers block unclogged itself sometime this morning and I churned out this bad boy in a day or so, so there probably will be mistakes. He finally learned the basics of magic and put them to use albeit very shortly.

Chapter Four: Wet Dog Smell

"Come on Gem," Applebloom said as she pushed me closer to the edge of the board, "just cause no Diamond Dog ain't gotten their Cutiemark before don't mean you can't get one. Maybe artistic high-diving is your special thang, never know if yah don't try, right," she asked in the little drawl she has as she pushed me to the very edge and I saw Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo swimming about sixty feet below.

They both looked up and called out but I only heard someone yell; do a flip, I dug my claws into the board to give me enough time to say, "I can't do this!"

"Nonsense Gem, yah just need a little push," she said ask she bucked me off the board with her hind hooves.

"I don't know how to swim, " I screamed as I fell tumbling head over paw into the waiting water far below me.

Earlier that Day

I took my seat in Miss Cheerilee's class and followed along as best I could, I soaked it up like a sponge, and ever since I ate that stone it felt like my brain was on fire. Ideas and questions filled my head almost all the time. Class didn't seem to last very long before we were turned out into the playground for recess, all the children in their little groups and three fillies from before who called themselves the CMC led me around the playground until Sweetie Belle grabbed one of the colts who ran past her with a wooden sword in his mouth, "Gem, this is Pipsqueak, say hello Pip."

"H-hullo, knife to meef you," he said with a mouthful of sword.

"Hi."

"Wanna phlay phirates? We almosh ‘ave nuff for ah-"

His question kinda withered away when two fillies, a grey one and a pink one, walked up to us, "Well if it isn't the Cutiemark Lamers! I see you're trying to get your Cutiemark in dog training."

"Hey! You better knock it off," Scootaloo jumped into the conversation, "unless you want everyone to know about that time you-" Sweetie Belle shoved her hoof in Scootaloo's mouth to shut her up and smiled at Diamond Tiara.

"Hahaha, oh Scoots. She doesn't know what she's talking about~," she leans in and whispers to the orange Pegasus, "I know we should stand up for ourselves but you just can't drop something like that out of nowhere, it's best to save that for something we really need."

Scootaloo nodded and removed the hoof from her mouth, "Right~ good call Sweetie Belle, almost lost our trump card."

The gray one saw them whispering and she smirked, "Look Silver Spoons, they think they have some kind of secret. Thanks to daddies connections I can get all kinds of dirt on their families." The both just laughed, an annoying grating laugh that made me want to gnaw on something.

I knew what to do when someone who thinks they’re higher up than you are and would call them out on it; I backed down, curling my tail around myself as I tried to make myself smaller. The two of them say this and their cackling grew louder before stopping to trot away.

Pip switched the sword from his mouth to his hoof, however that worked, “Blimey, those two are worse than hog-mashed hay.”

“What’s-“

Pip flourished his wooden poker with amateur skill, “So what do you four say about joining mah pirate crew?”

The trio beside me huddled in hushed whispers while Pip and I just stood there, “So what are pirates?”

“Only the coolest and luckiest ponies tah sail the seas; treasure seekers, explorers, those that romancing with death as well as the mares and known users of the words arg, ahoy, and avast.”

“I’ve never heard of them before, can anyone be a pirate or just ponies,” I asked as I attempted to scratch a doodle into the rock but my rock digging claws haven’t come in just yet.

“Of course not, don’t let the girls know –they’ll just tell their sisters and get rid of them- but there’s a series about a group of pirates called The Griffin-“

He clamped his mouth shut when the Crusaders came out of the huddle and back over to use. Applebloom spoke first, “We’d be happy to join you but we’re showing Gem around unless he’d like to give it a shot.”

I looked them in the face one at a time before settling on Pip, “What was word? Avast?” Pip grew a massive smile, “Avast! Let us sail these seas!”

“You heard him lasses! He popped the sword back in his mouth and made his way up a metal slide, “Avast ya land lubbers, this here port be owned by the Ponyville Pirates! Snips, Snails, Archer! Round up thar balls and rope. We gone be needin’ supplies.” He pointed at the four of us,”You lot be rounding up all the carts an’ the like, can’t rightfully be pirates without a ship.” It was like he became another pony when he was pretending to be a pirate, he even wouldn’t back down with the two before tried to mock him into quitting ‘this nonsense’, he just tossed be two jump ropes and had me tie ‘em up and hang them by their hooves from the jungle gym. Needless to say it was the most fun I’ve ever had, well not much to go on there, but all good things must come to an end; someone went to get Miss Cheerilee and everything screeched to a halt, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoons were released although thirty minutes upside-down had done a number on them. The crew was told to move everything back to their original place, our captain had switched back to shy, quiet, and non-disruptive Pip.

School let out several hours later and we had to deal with our punishment; hold buckets of water –each of us were given a specific way- Scootaloo and Archer had to balance them on their wings, Pip and I had to balance a bucket on our heads, and Snips, Snails, and Sweetiebelle had to levitate the bucket with their magic with Sweetiebelle having particular troubles. We stood on the front porch to the schoolhouse –probably in case we spilled our water and to shame us in front of adult ponies; pony punishment is weird,mom and pop would have let my siblings take more to teach a lesson if I ever needed it.

“Hey squirt, what’s with the buckets of water,” a female voice asked from above us, we looked up and saw a blue Pegasus with a rainbow mane laying on a low-flying cloud.

Scootaloo squee’d, a noise that was particularly annoying with how high-pitch her voice is, “Rainbow Dash! I-I-I- …we got in trouble.”

The rest of the group looked downtrodden as Rainbow Dash looked them over before settling on me, jerking a little, “Is that so, nothing I need to get your families after, do I or was it something cool~?” She put her hooves under her chin, smiling the biggest smile.

Pip spoke up this time, “We were playing pirates and tied up several other ponies, I don’t know what came over me but those two deserved it.”

The CMC muttered in agreement while the other boys mumbled their opposite opinions. Rainbow just laughed her guffawing laugh, “Ahh playing pirates, reminds me when I was a little filly but it was way cooler because we were sky pirates.” A hoof went to her eyes and wiped away a tear, “So who did you tie up squirt; those two that always pick on you? If so then I don’t see why you’re being punished, put those buckets down and go be fillys and colts. You lot are not going to be young forever, besides I’m surprised they still use this punishment, I thought it went out of favor with the more uppity ponies.”

When she said it wasn’t used much anymore I reached up and pull it off my head and dumped it. I only agreed because it seemed like important pony life. I emptied the bucket out in the dirt and started to roll in it, covered in mud I got up, “I’m going back to Princess Twilight’s. Thanks for asking me to play pirates Pip… it was… fun.” I smiled a toothy grin before shaking the mud from my fur.

“No problem Gem, wanna do something else later,” Pip asked as he and the others just let the buckets tip and pour out.

“Maybe, I’m going to look through the Library for that series you mentioned,” before I could say which series the schoolhouse door flew open, revealing Miss Cheerilee.

“What do you eight think you’re doing?!”

The ponies screamed at the loud bang of the door, including Rainbow Dash who then cried out, “Cheese it!” She flew up and bucked her cloud at Cheerilee before flying away at high speed giving the colts and fillies times to make a run for it while dropping their buckets. That left me in the mud slightly confused before I too took off at a mad dash while I failed to contain my smile and laughter.

I had split off from the others some time ago before finally making it back to Twilight’s Crystal Tree. The mud had dried by now so I stood and opened the door, revealing Spike going goo-goo over the white Unicorn –Rarity I believe he said her name was-, she was talking with Twilight be stopped when I came in, “Hold it! What in the name of Celestia do you think you’re doing?”

“…Going to my room?”

“Not with you dirty like that! Go outside and clean yourself up, this is a castle, anypony should know that.”

“But there’s a-,” Twilight tried to say but Rarity cut her off.

“Now darling you have to have a firm hoof with these dogs.”

I looked to Twilight for confirmation, she didn’t say anything but she pushed Spike away from Rarity to my side. She looked a bit apologetic then leaned down to whisper, “I’m sorry about this Gem, she can be pretty stubborn when it comes to things like this. I know you must tired from your day of learning but follow Spike over to Sweet Apple Acres. You’ve never had an apple before have you or seen an apple tree? I sure Applejack would love to teach you on the raising and care of apple trees.” She opened the door and pushed the pair of us out the door, we went back to the door and listened to the two of them arguing for a moment before Spike did the wise thing and pulled me away.

He lead me back down the trail to town, the two of us silent; one of us not knowing what two guys talked about and the other one not knowing what friends in general talked about. Spike decided to break the silence when we passed a yellow cottage, “So how was your first day of school? Did you run into three fillies; an orange Pegasus, white Unicorn, and a yellow Earthpony?”

I scratched a claw under my chin, the mud had been a good idea when it was wet but it quickly became itchy and irritating, “The CMC? Yes, I met them…”

“Oh no, they didn’t try to get you to earn your cutiemark did they?”

“No but they did ask about the lack I have.” I took a shot in the dark and told him about what happened. When I finished we had to stop for him to get catch his breath and I asked him the question I had been aching to ask my very first friend, “Why wouldn’t- weren’t you at school with others? You’re same size, same age?”

He did something with his thumb before answering, “I was hatched in Canterlot by Twilight when she was a little filly… despite my size I’m just a couple years younger than she is and… much older than the colt and fillies around here.”

“So you’re older than us, have any ‘cool’ stories,” I asked, adopting the rainbow mare’s word and ignoring the now obvious age difference. Smiling he thought back on stuff and started a story about how he and the six mares got sucked into a comic book to save a fictional city from The Mane-iac.

“…and she said, ‘oatmeal, are you crazy?!’” He laughed at the joke he said he heard from Pinkie back whenever, he stopped when he realized I wasn’t laughing, “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t get it,” I stated somewhat confused.

“Well you see, oatmeal, it’s-“

“Hay Gem, Spike! Don’t go in thar!”

We stopped just outside the gate, Applebloom galloped up to us slightly out of breath; she looked like she was going to say something when a howl sounded nearby. Spike’s eyes widened in realized why Applebloom stopped us, “T-t-t-timberwolves…”

“Ah tried to warn ya-“

“Git back here ya pile of twigs! Ah’ve about had it up tah here with you varmints sneaking around trying to get at our Zapapple trees,” a voice that sounded like Applebloom’s but older shouted right as a large wooden creature came barreling out of the gate. It took a look at the three of us and stopped then started again at us when a pair of orange hoofs knocked its head clean off and the rest of the body fell apart. “That goes for the youngin’s too,” she huffed a bit before going back through the gate, “Applebloom, you gunna bring Spike and your new friend inside before that thing pulls itself back together?”

Applebloom trotted after her and motioned for us to follow them. I tapped spike on the shoulder, “What is a Timberwolf?”

He spoke in as much of a hushed tone as we followed them, ”They’re creatures from the Everfree forest,” he took the time to point to the tree line some ways away, “they’re basically a bundle of sticks held together by the magic of the forest. They can’t leave if for long before they start to fall apart.”

This bothered me a little, I wasn’t a Timberwolf, it may have attacked but it didn’t deserve to just be left there but neither was I a pony that could just leave it there. I turned on my hindpaws, running to the felled wolf and Applebloom say me do so but didn’t say anything. As they continued on I began picking up as many of the creatures branches as I could, “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure every bit of you gets back.” I sniffed and grabbed all the tiny twigs that smelled weird, tossing them into my vest pocket next I grabbed the limbs under one arm and the body under the other, “You’re heavier than you look.” I could no longer see the group so I began running to the tree line when I started putting the wolf back together when it started to glow, “Wait wait, you’re missing something… your head!”

I dash full tilt back to where we had encountered each other but the head wasn’t around there, it wasn’t anywhere. A low whimper sounded somewhere in my throat as I sat on my haunches when a someone flew down next to me and rubbed me between the ears, “What’s wrong Winona; did you lose your favorite toy? Dinky does that all the time,“ she stopped talking when I stood up, shaking my head, “You’re not Winona.”

“I’m not… but I did lose something- a bundle of logs in the shape of wolf head.”

“I’m sorry not-Winona I haven’t seen anything like that today, oh let me check my bag,” half her body disappear into the bag before pulling out with the Timberwolf's head, “Now how did this get in here…”

“That’s it," I shouted causing her to drop it, allowing me to snatch it from the air and sprint towards the forest. The head started to brightly glow, I wasn't going to make it so I chucked that head as hard as I could, watching it soar and land right on the pile of wood right as it reformed. The wolf stood on shaky legs, glaring at me before bolting into the forest with a howl, I shrugged and headed back into Sweet Apple Acres. By the time I caught up with them, three had turned into five, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo must have been here already.

Spike turned around when he heard me walking up, panting, "There he is, told you he was fine. Gem, this is Applejack: Applejack, Gem. He's the Diamond Pup Twilight decided to take under her wing."

"Nice tah meetcha, Gem. Welcome to Sweet Apple Acres, home of the best tasting apples pretty much anywhere," she reached over to a basket and plucked an apple out of the basket full of apples and tossed it at me, "Go on, try it."

I looked at the apple, it looked tasty, much like a ruby but I wasn't sure if it would taste like, so I took a bite and immediately spit it out, "Bleh, tastes like mud... I guess I can't eat apples," I passed it to Spike who just shrugged, popping the entire thing into just mouth and started chewing.

When he finished eating it, he belched; sending a small flame into the air that turned into a scroll. He snatched it out of the air, looked it over before curling it back up, "I have to take this to Twilight, do you mind if Gem hangs out with the Crusaders while you look after them?"

Applejack was still speechless from someone saying her apples tasted like dirt before shaking her head, "Ya-yah, sure thang Spike. Yall four just go play and don't let me catch you lot near the Everfree, yah hear?"

The trio made general sounds of agreement while Spike took off when Applejack said it was fine, his short legs carrying him as fast as they could. Applejack turned around back into the barn, leaving me alone with the three fillies who were whispering among themselves even though I could still hear them.

"What do ya say girls; we caint just go on with our list, it wouldn't be fair ta Gem."

"We could start over from earlier in the list! Maybe zip-lining or being a pony cannonball."

"And get covered in sap again? No thank you, Rarity made such a fuss last time, and besides Pinkie wouldn't let us near her party cannon again without some serious sweet bribery."

"Well what about that," Scootaloo added.

"Maybe but Granny Smith made Applejack and Big Macintosh tear it down, Ah thank it's still in pieces out back."

Sweetie Belle chimed in this time, "Alright so we're agreeing on that, correct? One of us will have to distract him while Applebloom and the other puts it together."

"1-2-3-not it," Scootaloo shouted while she and Applebloom took off.

"Ooh~ Scootaloo, that wasn't fair," she shouted at the pair then turning around, weakly smiling, "So, what's it like living at Twilight's castle?"

"It's alright... it's more roomy than my den was but she hasn't taught me anything about magic just yet..."

"She's teaching you magic; wait, you can do magic, never mind. She taught me too, maybe we group up and practice. If you want I can show you what she showed me, come on."

"If this is the attempt to distract me, it will not work. Where did they go," I asked, pointing in the direction of where the duo ran off.

"I afraid I don't know what you're talking about~" she said in a sing-song voice as she headed off somewhere, motioning me to follow her.

She spoke rather fast as she explained what Twilight had taught her about the basics; such as telekinesis, light, and changing an objects state -like water to steam and ice- she was currently holding making a pebble float on a cushion of air which she says is easier to maintain than telekinesis. She dropped the pebble into her hoof and held it out, "Remember the first thing about magic is the belief that you can actually do it, just try to imagine the air turning solid." I held out a paw like she did with her horn, I felt a tingling in my claws then I nodded for her to drop the pebble... which went straight to the ground without even hesitating. "Well... can't expect to get it right the first time huh?"

"I guess not..."

"Come on Gem let's try it again okay? Practice makes-"

"Hay we're done," Applebloom's voices called out weakly from behind the barn and probably over the hill.

"Aww... we were just getting started... well this will be just as fun, come on," she exclaimed as she took off, making me run to catch up to her.

"What will be just as fun? Is this why you were trying to distract me," I asked, peeved hat she [had] managed to distract me. She just smiled and continued on up the hill, when we reached the top I saw what they must have been working on; an incredibly tall ladder with a board on top of it. It looked real out of place until you look down and see the massive body of water underneath it, 'how did I miss that?'

"So what do you think Gem? Want climb up it? The view is amazing," Scootaloo added, wings buzzing in excitement.

"I don't know..."

"It's alright Gem," Applebloom cut in, "Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo can go first to show yah it's safe."

"We will," they both asked.

:"Yes yall will."

Scootaloo was the first one up, followed by Sweetie Belle, the two of them locked hooves and jump off screaming whee until they splashed down. Applebloom swung her hoof to the ladder which I begrudgingly climbed up with Applebloom right behind me to make sure I don't fall off or something. We made it to the top, the whole thing seemed to sway with the wind, 'Are those clouds below us?'

They both looked up and called out but I only heard someone yell; do a flip, I dug my claws into the board to give me enough time to say, "I can't do this!"

"Nonsense Gem, yah just need a little push," she said ask she bucked me off the board with her hind hooves.

"I don't know how to swim, " I screamed as I fell tumbling head over paw into the waiting water far below me. The water rushing at me, I close my eyes; the only though I had was that I didn't want to fall in. Next thing I know my claws start tingling again and the falling sensation ceases, I open my eyes to see a bewildered Scootaloo and a smiling Sweetie Belle several inches below me in the water.

"You did it Gem!"

"I did," I asked, finally looking around, standing up on a cushion of air. I thrust my paws into the air and shouted, "I did it! I can use magic!" The girls cheered right before the tingling stopped and I promptly fell into the water.

Spike had finally gotten the letter to Princess Twilight and made his way back, just in time to see my little magic incident. We were walking home, him slightly away from me, "What's wrong?"

"No offence Gem but never go swimming in the lake again."

"Why?"

"Wet dog smell."

Chapter Five: Future Gem's Problem

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter Six: Remarkable, Simply Remarkable

Two months after chapter 5.
Twilight's Castle

"Alright Gem, I think you have Harden Air down so lets proceed onto the next spell on my list," Princess Twilight lifted a scroll from one of the tables mumbling off names until she found the perfect spell for my level. "How about... No, oh wait... no that won't do either. Oh! Here's one; Gumshoe, anything struck with this spell will become hard to separate from the next thing it touches."

"It sounds great Miss Twilight, what do I need to do?"

Twilight rummages through the D.D.S until she finds the scroll with the information needed, "Hmm, 'Infuse your mana with it the essence of sticky, encapsulate, launch, and wait and don't be picky.' Oh, this is a Zebrecian shaman scroll, this should be perfect for you; Zebra's have been honing their form of magic for generations. This spell should be a walk in the park for you; this type of magic is easier to learn is you're not a Unicorn. Go ahead and give it a try, then we'll work our way from there; just let me teleport us outside so we don't wreck anything this time."

An hour and many misfires later.

"It's not funny Spike," I shouted at him I tried removing the things stuck to my body, yelping when I pulled to hard on my fur.

"I think you'll find that I think it's hilarious!"

"Spike! Don't worry, Gem, I'm sure we have the counterspell for Gumshoe around here somewhere," she blushed slightly in embarrassment, "I suppose it would have been the smarter thing to have actually had the counterspell before we started the lesson..."

"It's okay Miss Twilight," I gave her a smile, my tail making a racket as it wagged all around with things stuck to it.

Shortly after Twilight had found the correct spell which was funnily enough called Dumb Gum Removal. Soon as she cast it, all the little leaves, rocks, and practice dummy parts just fell off. "There you go, Gem. Now I'm afraid we're going to have to stop early today, I have a lecture at Celestia's school for gifted unicorns this after-noon. Would you like to join us? I'm going to be talking about cutiemark magic."

I suddenly found myself anxious at being around so many magic users, I tucked my tail between my legs "N-no... Thank you but I don't think I could bring myself to go."

"Well I certainly won't force you to go if you don't want to, Gem. I'm sure you could find something to entertain you for a few hours until we get back, just don't break anything," Twilight said with a kind smile and picked Spike up in her magic then left to gather her things needed.

"See you later," shouted to them as they teleported to Canterlot, "wonder what I can do for a few hours... Something fun and crazy..." A light went off over my head and I shouted, "Discord! Want to do something fun?!" I wilted when neither claw or hoof of him was seen of him. "Maybe the Crusaders are doing something."

I spent almost two hours walking across Ponyville, it felt like I was just missing ponies; Pinkie was doing deliveries, the apple family was away for an Apple thing, Sweetie Belle and Rarity were visiting their parents, and Scoots was zooming around somewhere on the outskirts of the town. "Things just aren't going my way, I might as well just go back to the castle and look for that rune book I lost..." I just accepted my losses and trudged back up to the castle and saw the back end of a purple pony entering the castle. I figured it must have been Twilight and Spike returning from Canterlot so I ran after then calling for them.

I think it might have been the sixth door slam before I got it in my head that this wasn't Miss Twilight, this was an intruder. I heard an excited exclamation from the map room and made a beeline straight there and found said pony going over a scroll, I mustered up my courage and faced off against her, "S-stop what ever it is you're doing! You are trespassing on Miss Twilight's property!" The mare scoffed and just kept reading, "Hey! Didn't you hear me?!"

"How could I not," She groaned as she rubbed her temple, "what with your constant yapping, Twilight could find better guard dogs from a kennel; who'd want you, a scrawny little thing that's so out of touch with his species he ran away from home. You're not better than that dragon that wants to be a pony."

"Hey! Say what you want about me but if you badmouth my friend I'll have to do something both of us will regret and teach you what for!"

Her laugh echoed off the walls, well it was more of a cackle, "You teach me?! Listen her fleabutt, know your place; all the ponies living in perfect harmony and all the other races beneath our hooves where you belong! Besides, what do you possibly say that could come remotely close enough to give up my plans?"

"I have been taught magic by Miss Twilight and-"

"Ha! Twilight Sparkle? Little miss princess? She may have Alicorn magic backing her but one day that will fail her, just like her friendships will... or rather, have."

I raised my right arm and channeled my mana into a barely glowing matrix, I still had poor control and reserves but I was taught by two of the best, "You didn't let me finish; I have been taught magic by Miss Twilight and Discord." Her smirk dropped slightly, glad to know I knocked some wind out of her sails. 'First time casting chant magic but she sounds like she means business. Just remember what Discord said; let it flow and the words come by themselves.' "From the center which all magics blow, allow me to break the mold. I shape my will to DIAMOND SOUL!" The matrix blew itself apart off my arm into sharp pieces of crystallized mana before shooting it at the mare who formed a bubble shield with little difficulty to stop every shard, they didn't even come close to her. Something felt wrong, the room seemed to be darkening fast and my legs failed me and I knew exactly what was going on; magical exhaustion. I wasn't ready for a spell of that level and I was going pay the price.

There was a pop then tinkling as the shards fell and just laid there like their caster, "I will admit you had me slightly worried so I will freely admit you are stronger that I gave your kind credit for." Her horn flared and the shard congregated and transformed into rope that hog-tied and gagged me, she picked me up in her magic and tossed me into a nearby door. "Now I have a dramatic reveal to set up so lay down, stay... good boy, " with that said she slammed the door shut and I had to sit in the dark as I felt my body shutting down to recharge my mana while only hearing Twilight and Spike as the pony started whatever crazy plan she had in her mane.

Author's Note

Here you go, guys. A new chapter of A Diamond in the Rough. I told you it wasn't going to die. Life's just been a pain for so long... Health scares, friend's pain of doctors not being able to find out what's going on for months until she finally passed five days ago to cancer. Cancer! How hard is it to find out if someone had cancer instead of putting her through painful procedures and surgery?! :pinkiesad2: *Deep breathe* So I'm going to be doing something productive; I have the next three chapters planned out but not yet written. Much like this chapter it has to do with The Cutie Re-mark and the altered timelines-
"Time is not made out of lines, it is made out of circles; that is why-"
Shut up caboose, I know. They're titled 'What could have been part 1,2, and 3' and they center around, you guessed it, what would have happened to Gem if things didn't go as planned. Feel free to comment, doesn't matter of what so long as it's coherent. Camp out.

This chapter is dedicated to my coworker and friend; Joann Walls, 83. May your next adventure be grander than this one was.

Mini Story: What Could Have Been Part One.

"Listen up mutts," Sergent Nail hollered, banging his massive fetlocks on each of out bunks to wake us up, "Apparently our glorious and beloved King Sombra finally found some use for you useless fleabags besides wasting space and digging! You have been given the honor of changing your fate and becoming part of an ambush team."

He became quiet, most likely in the hopes that it'd give us a chance to appreciate this opportunity but that would never happen, this was no different than what was going on in the Den but at least we weren't being used as slaves by ponies. "Funnel," Nail shouted and said Yorkshire terrier jumped slightly before stuttering and shivering, "How do you feel about digging?"

"I-i-i-it fine," Nail said nothing as he just kept staring at Funnel, "S-s-sir."

"Good... Now I know none of you like it here," Nail lowered his voice slightly, "I know I'm rather rough and... somewhat bigoted as well as hateful at times but there is one thing we have in common; no one likes war. I have confirmation from as high as the ladder can go: Celestia is going to lead an assault on the Crystal Empire. Luckily they are currently still planning it so we have time to get you moderately trained and ready before their armies mobilize. Your only job will be to dig the tunnels needed to safely get to the ambush zone."

My fellow Diamond Dogs growled and muttered obscenities that while quiet was still heard by the Sergent who cleared his throat, "I suppose I should offer the incentive that the king has offered you; do the order that was given to you and make sure it succeeds and you're free. Disobey or fail the mission and you'll stay under the kings rule for the rest of your short lives."

My head jerked up at that to see the victorious smirk on the Earth Pony's face, 'Yeah, that would get our attention and he knows it.'

"Those are your orders, starting tomorrow on the second set of horn blows you will be at Training Ground 1A 21F for combat training and tactics. You have the rest of the evening off to do whatever it is that you do, dismissed," Nail yelled as he turned 180 and left the room quickly so no one would ask questions.

The Next Morning.

"Alright maggots! Welcome to Tartarus! For the next week Ahm gonna hit ya hard, Aaaahm gonna hit ya fast. When Ah say Ahm gonna hit ya, Ahm not talking literary imagery," the Earth Pony Captain stated as he gave us each the eye, "Every day from sound off in the mornings to sound out at night yall will be runnin' this here obstacle course followed by exercises sets then lunch and rest followed by another course run, combat training and and another course run to end off the day."

Everyone was growling and griping about that but a hard glare shut them up, "It's not without a silver linin', should any of yall that can get through the course under a certain time without getting knocked off by me or falling off will be able to skip the next activity. Now who's first one up on the obstacle course?!"

Needless to say but our dogs were barking and so were our legs. Just one of the many pleasures of being forced into a military unit, food wasnt much better than what my family used to give us back in the den when mining didn't turn out so well; gruel for breakfast and mushroom soup for lunch and dinner. I'm glad I wasnt the one in charge of this unit, that falls on my older brother Igneous who was placed in this group due to his size and strenght as well for his hatred of the Princesses."Iggy, I not trust this. I not like this, smell of double-talk."

"You not have to trust pony, just trust me," his gruff voice barely heard over the shouts of the others dogs roughhousing on the floor on the other side of the room, he ruffled my hair and just grunted as he stood up, "Thing's work out in end, Gem... I make sure of it." He jumped on the pile and started tossing dogs onto their bunks, "Knock it off! Go to bed!" He then turned out the lights and jumped into his own bed with a huff while everyone else settled in after their long day.

Six days later.

"Come on, Recruit! Try and make it through this time," Rough 'n Tumble, the earth pony who's name we only found out on the second day shouted at me while bucking melon sized rocks at me at random as I leaped from pillar to pillar to tower edge and worked my way around out of his sight. 'I bet he's enjoying this. not failing this time, I'm going to pass.' flexed my digging claws and dug into the tower, carving out a shield shape then gripping it I charged off the edge of the tower onto the next pillar. No sooner had I jumped that a rock has slammed into my makeshift shield and threw me slightly off course just so that I barely missed edge and had to grasp at it and hold on,

"Come on maggot, you just going to hang there," Rough shouted, launching more and more rocks at me until my tower shield had become a round shield, I scrabbled up to the top and chucked my shield at Rough. It must have surprised him because it straight in the face with a crack, he dropped and I bolted for the finish line while the other dogs whooped and hollered. After I finished the course I went over to see if the pony was alright, he was back up and huffing while muttering something while blood dripped from his face.

"What's your name, runt?"

"Gem Stone, sir..."

"Well Stone, enjoy your next session as free time for getting through the morning course and for almost knocking my block off. It was a good idea, don't do it again. Rest of you maggots can start running!" He just smirked as they bolted off and he glanced at me, "Feel free to head into the city, sight see, do whatever it is that tourists do but don't cause trouble and be back before lunch ends."

I spent a hour just being lost in the city, vendors selling their meager wares; the war Sombra was waging against the princesses was slowly destroying his empire. In my opinion it would be for the better, sure the princesses aren't the best rulers, dark things still went on in their borders back when I was still with my family. With nothing to really do in the city the didn't involve having to pay for things I started thinking that doing the exercises would be less boring up until I spotted this pony with flat dark pink mane slowly edging her way past the vendors into the buildings looming over them.

'Don't even think about it... you hear what Rough said; don't cause trouble.' The ponies just ignored this obviously suspicious pony sneaking into between the buildings and jumping from wall to wall onto the roof, 'Okay, that seems like something I can reason out of if I get bust for this.' I ran down the alleyways of the buildings to the back so that none of the oblivious ponies felt the sudden urge to stop being oblivious. With my claws out I easily made my ways up the walls of the building and flipped onto the roof, steadying my paws I took over the roofs after the pony as she galloped towards the castle and main Empire forces.

I watched her do several rolls that led into launching jumps to larger buildings until she came to a wide open space that separated the castle walls from the commoners, sitting behind a chimney, pulled something from her mane and spoke in a monotone voice, "Incoming message for P.C., sender is Agent Pinks from behind enemy lines."

She let off several sounds and the object spoke back, "Message beacon received Agent Pinks, proceed with message."

'So she is the enemy...'

"I'm about to penetrate the castle walls, Sombra's gain quite a few races since the last mission; we have griffins, diamond dogs, and a few minotaurs. No changelings, thank the princess."

"Noted Pinks, ETA til you've reached your check point?"

"Ten minutes, fifteen tops. Have Cordy immediately on stand bye for me. Over and out," she closed the communication device and shoved it back in her mane and pulled out a large rubber band then threw the ends over two nearby chimneys. "This way... a little over that way... aaaaand perfect," she mumble to herself and launched herself into and open window.

"These ponies are out of their little minds..." I kept glancing at the rubber band to the window several times before sighing, " I guess I'm out of my mind too..." I looped it behind me and got into position where the pink pony was and followed suit into the air and a long shot from the open window, I must have weighed more than she did. I hit the wall hard and dug my claws into the crystal then made inside without any more instances of bad luck, "Yep, totally out of my mind. Where'd that pony go?"

"Looking for me?" I turned to find Agent Pinks was already curled up into a buck and kicked me straight in the head, "I knew someone was following me; twitchy eyeball." I was seeing pairs of everything while she pulled my arms and legs behind me then secured them in rope. She used the leftover rope to gag my muzzle so she could safely drag me through the halls to wherever it was she was going. which appeared to be the map room and communication archive room. "I really am sorry mister diamond dog, I wouldn't do this if Sombra wasn't being so mean to the Princess. The sooner he is taken care of the sooner things can go back to the way they were."

Agent Pinks pulled out the device once more while making the same sounds, "Agent Pinks reporting, I've reached the checkpoint, room was emptied but I've hit a snag but I've managed to take care of it."

"Itchy eyeball?"

"Itchy Eyeball." Pinks ruffled through papers on a desk, "Sweet Celestia, we have a leak. They're aware of Celestia's incoming attack and have started training tunneling teams for an ambush tomorrow."

While she was talking I used that time to chew through my gag and bindings, "GUARDS! INTRUDER IN THE MAP ROOM!"

"Oh buck it all, Cordy, beam me up," I threw myself at her right as soon as she said that and we were shrouded in a bright flash then tumbled across wherever we were now, "Restrain him, he's a member of the Empire!"

The next thing I knew I was dog-piled by guard ponies who stretched my limbs as far they would go. There was another flash and I was in chains. "Pinks, my dear, are you alright," a baritone voice asked with clear concern in his voice, I looked up into the red and yellow eyes of a mix-match creature.

Agent Pinks immediately perked up, mane poofed and everything about her was brighter, she hugged him and laughed "Of course I'm alright Cordy, he just tackled me in the map room. I'm sorry you had to use that spell so fast."

"Think nothing of it my dear, I had it at the ready for just such an occasion. Celly's on her way here; pass the info to her and we'll get out of here and get some food okay?"

"Sure thing Cordy." At that moment Celestia had walked into the tent, glancing slowly at all the ponies she smiled until she got to me, Pinks was back to her serious self and kneeling before Celestia, "Agent Pinkamina Pie, at your service, your majesty. Mission partially successful, this one tried alerting the guards after I had gotten the info I needed. We have a leak on our side; it's Prince Blueblood your majesty... he's been giving them strategic information for months now."

Celestia's face gained a severe look at this news, "Iron Coat, place our... guest in stockades in on of the tents. I'll deal with my soon to be former nephew after we take care of this ambush."

"At once your majesty," Iron Coat saluted then began dragging me out of the tent by my chains. "Don't worry, you won't be here long; this is the last battle Sombra will ever take part in."

"Yeah... that's what the pink one said." He simply grunted as he strapped me into the stockade where I spent the next few days awaiting news on what happened during the battle and more importantly what happened to Igneous. Celestia for some reason decided to pay me a visit and she looked no worse for wear.

"Hello Gem Stone."

"How do you know my name," my voice harsh from not talking for several days.

"As you know we went ahead with the attack and Sombra's new diamond dog team intercepted us, their leader; a large brown and grey diamond dog was asking about you."

"Igneous... my brother... where is he?!"

"None of your team mates made it... Before he passed he was very worried for you, if you want you may take his body back to your family for burial rites and with Sombra's evil gone you are now a free dog to go where you want," Celestia's eyes were turning watery as she continued talking about how this was a good thing.

"Just release me," I cried openly, I hadn't cried since mama had passed on that one winter. "I don't give a crap about your victory... not if it meant this.."

"I'm sorry... truly sorry. Many innocent souls were lost in this war," Celestia let several tears fall out she used magic to vanish the chains and undo the stockade. I rubbed my sore wrists and just left the tent to find Iggy and go home.

I has been almost and entire year since the defeat of Sombra, Equestria looks like nothing ever happened to it; any processing plants that were needed to fuel the war effort was torn down and ordinary buildings and shops were put in their places. The Crystal Empire was receiving a new pony who would be running the show who reported directly to Celestia to organized the rebuilding of lives for everyone who lived there. Blueblood was immediately apprehended and imprisoned shortly after I was released and I think I actually saw them dragging him away. Not all of Equestria is back to normal; I returned home with Iggy's body only to find out Den and surround tunnels collapsed, well almost all of them. My little hiding hole was untouched so I laid him to rest inside and carved his name on the removable block window that I used to look at Ponyville through. I used to think Diamond Dogs were beyond saving when I was younger... that ponies could do no wrong but I was wrong on both counts; my name is Gem Stone and I have changed and ponies can do wrong.

Author's Note

Here's the first part in the three parter miniseries of the AU Gem Stone stories, I wish there was an episode that expands on the first three of the new timelines. It'd give character expansion of Sombra that's not just 'Grah, crystals!' while the changeling timeline could give us insight on their abilities like in 'the times they are a changeling' where we learned that Changelings can take non pony forms and create new identities (if that was what Thorax did when he took the form of Crystal Hoof).

The Nightmare Moon timeline might by my second favorite; the everfree just kept growing and the mane 6 never stopped it and NM couldn't stop it so she just rules from it. The Discord timeline isn't part of this series but if it were I could see Discord giving all the ponies immortality eventually just on the fact that death is so final and goes against chaos.
Anyways here's some exposition on some terms that have been used in the main timeline and the AUs.

First: Digging Claws show up in diamond dogs that show up about 8 years old that allow them to dig large chunks out stone like they were cutting water in zero-g. They are quite longer than their normal claws by at least an inch or two on top of their normal claws. Gem tried using these in the first chapter when he saw the Friendship Castle to try and scratch it.

Second: Yes Pinkamena is in this timeline and I hear you now; "But Cam, if Starlight stopped her from getting her cutie mark how can she be in the crystal empire?" Easily, we learned the 'sense' isn't just limited to pinkie, Maud has it too; it's not as pronounced but it lets her know when and where to be or where not to be to do her job as a spy. I also bet you're wondering why Discord is there and friends with Pinkie and not Fluttershy? sigh Fiiiine, he was released as normal but with the mane six not there he caused chaos across Equestria until he came across a little rock farm and pinkie found her happiness after being a blank flank for so long when she saw how much fun Discord was having. So she became his friend, more one sided than anything else really but much like a barnacle or mold she grew on him to the point he realized he cared for her as a friend and as they say; Friendship is magic.

Also did anyone find it reaaaally weird that there was a discord timeline? I know he never would have been reformed so that seems like something he'd do but wouldn't he have felt that something was wrong since he seems so closely tied to magic/reality of equestria with his body freak out when Twilight received the other Alicorn's magic. Just a thought, I hope you like the chapter. It's probably not one of my better ones but I'm working my way back up to my standards I had, Camp out.

Mini Story: What Could Have Been Part Two.

Author's Note

Hello everyone, hope you're ready for a new chapter of Diamond in the Ruff? If you do not wish to witness Gem's future in an invasion of Changelings then by no means am I forcing you to read it, skip it and wait for the next chapter. On an IRL note; I'm so flippin' happy! As of august 11 I start my dream job that I temped at but now it's permanent; a librarian~. I am Twilight Sparkle, Master of Tomes hear me roar! ;squee; Alright enjoy the chapter, one more until we return to our previously schedule programming, Camp out.

Mini Story: What Could Have Been Part Two.

One Year Before Changeling Invasion of Canterlot.

"Gem! Get back to work," the guard dog cracked his whip over my head, causing me to duck and spill the stones from my pack. "Idiot! Pick those stones up you'll get fifty lashes from the Alphas!"

"Good! Maybe it will kill me this time," I screamed, chucking a large stone at the guard who let it bounce off his helm, "I'm sick of this! I am here for eating a gem that no one wanted as well as it making me into something the Alphas don't want! My father killed for standing up for me for the first time since my birth and mother soon followed. They torture us and kill us, well I say no more! Those who want to be free, those without family; join me my brothers and sisters! We shall start our own clan, where all are treated the same and no stomachs young and old will rumble from hunger! Now who's with me?!"

Everyone who felt the same way as I did started chanting about freedom as we swarmed the guards, I lunged at the guard who whipped me and grabbed his head in my paws and crushed it with ease. The prisoners and I removed our shackles and marched down the tunnels to the main exit of the warren and away from our oppressors.

It took us nearly a week of walking until we found a suitable land to start digging, we had lost a few of our older members that decided to make the trip south. I couldn't quite place it but the land we had found looked very familiar, maybe from a dream I had one time but it was a nice little rocky hilly area a ways off from a dark forest.

"Why we choose here," one of the gruffer females asked as several other dogs looked around nodding, "It to close to pony town! They will chase us out before you say fleabutt!"

"Only partially true, if we not trespass on the pony town they won't see reason to push us out and it will also be our defense; alphas won't dare oppose pony princess." I drew several lines in the ground, "I was thinking we should have one main cave entrance as well as one hidden a ways off; a mile of so into the forest."

A Pug looking dog glanced over the lines and nodded, "Is doable, what about living arrangements?"

"We'll have to dig out several antechambers and from there we should be able to dig some suitable dens for the remaining elderly and young while we smooth out everything else. All right, let's get digging."

Day of the Invasion.

I proceeded with my daily check of the den's layout and structure, we were adding a new level down for a new underground water space. We've had a surplus of workers as of late, we had to call back our foragers; there has been something big going on in the works around the Princess' city. The constant thrum and buzz that could be felt all the way from here is a clear indicator, "Balto!"

"Yes sir," asked a brown and white dog fell into the room from a hole in the ceiling.

"Has word from the lookout reported anything from the Castle," I asked as I helped any a dog load a crate on a wagon.

"Not yet sir but I don't think it'll matter much. You should come see this," Balto motioned up and launched himself into the hole he came from and I soon followed him. Six lefts, two right, a antechamber, and a corkscrew later and we found ourselves on a hill overlooking the valley towards Ponyville and Canterlot. There was a massive purple bubble over the castle that was having several of the dogs topside talking.

"I don't like it."

"Pony Princess must be expecting attack."

i gave a bark to quiet them down, "It doesn't matter right now, just try and finish what you can of the wall and if anything happens we'll retreat and seal the entrances." Several dogs simply grunted and returned to work tossing boulders and thick grey paste that was made out of who knows what. I leaned down to Balto and whispered as quietly as possible to keep from being overheard, "Find out why Lookout hasn't reported in." He gave a sharp nod and bolted off down the entrance to where I assumed he was going to take the exit north to lookout. "This does not bode well."

One Month Later.

"Why are you attacking me," several voices shouted down one of the tunnels, I jumped in said tunnel and slide easily to the antechamber where large and small dogs were fighting each other, when I exited the crowd that had formed parted ways.

"What's going on here?!"

A large tan boxer picked up a poodle by the scruff of its neck, "They smell off, not one of us!" There were numerous affirmations from the crowd. I leaned in and took a sniff of the female poodle and he was right; she didn't smell like a dog but something else with an earthy musty type smell. "He's right, you're not one of us... who are you."

All the female dogs that were in the fight as well as a couple males started trashing and green flames sprouted across their bodies, one of them let out a chittering voice, "Retreat! They can smell us! Go back to the hive!"

"It looks like we've found out what had the ponies in such a state... I want everyone with their noses to the ground, I recognized a few of those dogs so I want teams checking to see if they're still in the den while the rest of us track down any straggling insects."

"""Yes Sir!"""

We spent several hours looking through our moderate sized group and came up with the knowledge that Balto, the random dogs and the Lookout staff haven't been seen for almost two months. Just what we needed; to set up a process to spot these insect ponies and it would just slow down our progress but it needed to be done. I lined up extra scent patrols around families with children just in case while we locked down the den entrance for a whil. One way or another we would figure out what was going on and things would get back to normal

Six months after changeling invasion of Canterlot.

Things did not go back to normal, far from it; it's been a few months since the first attack and the pony town nearby is completely in ruins when the forest began growing past its boundaries, It seemed that several groups of changelings, because that's what they are apparently after finding afterr trapping one of them, loved to try and get inside by attacking us like clockwork.

"ARRROOOOO~"

Speaking of which, there was the patrol's alert for incoming hostiles on the surface, I quickly strapped on my chest piece and grapped a spare spear on my way up. Many dogs were doing the same as more howls came in to indicate rhe numbers, "Damn! There must be a whole hive out there, everyone get ready so when I give the signal you jump them."

My troop and I made it to the entrance and spotted the reason for the hubbub; there wasn't a hive swarming us like I thought, the changelings were chasing ponies of varying sizes. "Protect the ponies! Down with the bugs!"

With a rallied roar the dogs lurched down the hill and for every bug there was two dogs there to beat them back and help the ponies up. A shrill scream distracted me from my fight with a hulking new breed of changeling, probably a half-breed with a diamond dog, which was all it needed to stab my shoulder with a bloody gush. "Gah! Hold on," I shouted to the pony while lodging my spear into the ground in front of the hulk and used his weight to spear it in the chest which seemed to work. With the thing no longer moving I removed its claws and made a dash from the direction the shout came from.

"Please Rarity, please tell me it's not true," a female voice screamed at a changeling that was shifted into a white unicorn.

'Rarity' just smirked at her, "It's true, our parents never even wanted you; I was already out of the house and they had their whole lives to themselves... I'm sorry, Sweetie. Just come back with me and it'll just be the two of us."

"Not today!" I tackled 'Rarity' and wrapped my arms around its neck while Sweetie beat on me with her hooves. "It's not what you think," I told her while I gave the neck a quick snap and the changeling reverted back to its original body, "I'm sorry for whatever it said but you can't trust what a changeling says any more than trust a dragon to watch your gems while you go to the bathroom."

"W-what?"

"It was just a changeling, it was trying to get you to follow it back to its hive," I explained while looking over the battlefield, luckily none of our side had died but were only injured and the ponies seemed to have made it though relatively unscathed..

"Oh my gosh! You're hurt, was it Rarity- I mean that thing that did it?"

"Something similar, follow me," I lead her over to the hulking mass, "This was the one that got me."

"It's massive..."

"Yep now let's round up your little friends and get you on your merry little way." I gave her a little push with my tail to get her moving. We came across a couple of dogs with a crowd of ponies, "Alright boys, know how many have you got and any interceptors?"

"No interceptors, sir but the group of 14 we managed to round up that didn't run away screaming is right here."

"Alright thanks," I turned to the ponies, "Hello everyone, my name is Gem and my troop and I are the ones that saved you..."

An earth pony stuck his his head up and spoke in a snobbish voice, "Why did you even bother you brutes, either we die or get enslaved by the changelings or by you, what does it matter?!"

"Killed? Enslaved? Geoddie, what's he talking about," I asked on of the dogs who just shrugged, "Whatever you may think that's not the case so let me start over. My name is Gem I'm the... well not the Alpha per se... Geoddie, what would you say my title would be?"

"Unanimously decided leader..."

"Let's shorten that down to just leader... Anyways I'm the leave of this pack and we honestly didn't mean to save you; we had recieved alarms that changelings were swarming our entrance and you just happened to get saved as well." I could have almost laughed when the pony's face dropped in fear, "I'm only partially joking but now on to the hard question; who here has just started running from the Hive?" A few hooves went up, including Sweetie from earlier, "Alright, so here's my first question for any of you; how would you like a place to call home with little chance of getting taken by changelings?"

Once more the snob stuck his face up, "Why should we even trust you, before the Changelings the diamond dogs were the ones trying to foalnap us!"

"Not true, yes there were a few but not from this pack, we were slaves ourselves and we will never let something like that happen again. Right boys?" I had asked the other dogs who nodded their heads in agreement, "So that's that, if any of you do decide to join us feel free to follow us back down inside, those who don't trust us or don't want to join you're free to leave."

We gathered what weapons were salvageable and led the ponies inside and settled when one of the mares brought up the chill in the air, "We'll have to send a party to one of the nearby abandoned towns... We normally just pile up when it gets cold but I can understand why that'd be uncomfortable for you." I went to go assign someone to that duty so that I could get this wound wrapped up while the white mare followed me.

"E-excuse me, that looks painful. Can I help you bandage it?" Sweetie had asked after everything was taken care of, "I'm not great at first aid but I know enough..."

I just nodded then handed her my kit that I had borrowed from Ponyville a few short weeks ago, I flopped down on my rear so she could get to my shoulder and arm, "Sweet Celestia, this is deep... I'll try and do what I can." She picked up several items before deciding which one to use first before she started talking again. "My name's Sweetie Belle, how old are you?"

"I'm pretty sure I told you my name already," I said laughing softly, "but my name is Gem Stone, I'm seven and it's nice to meet you,"

"Seven?! But you're not much older than I am! Why are you in charge?!"

"It's a long, long story, Sweetie Belle."

We fell into a companionable silence while she worked, hardly ever making a large mistake or causing me pain. I wanted to ask her about the pony the changeling had turned into but I could tell that wound, much like mine, was still fresh. After she had finished I went off to do a couple of things before it was time to turn in; check the work on the underground lake again and order new tunnels and dens for our new guests, "Sweetie Belle, why are you following me?"

"Uh... Oh! You're still hurt, you're going to undo my stitches!"

:"Uh huh, come on then let's get this done and get back so I can sleep..."

After it was all said in done, we wouldn't need to finish digging the underground lake; diggers had broken into a sealed of area that was full of life, even all the way down here; Sweetie Belle thought it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. By the time I had finished what I had to do I was bone tired and eased my way down in my sleeping space and started to doze only to be woken up by something laying down next to me, I crack open an eye and see a familiar white coat, "Sweetie Belle, what are you doing?"

"S-sleeping? Like you said earlier, you guys huddle up for warmth and I'm cold I didn't think you would mind..."

I sighed and rubbed my eyes, "Whatever you say, goodnight."

"Goodnight," Sweetie Belle echoed and just seemed to scoot into my fur and the only thing I heard was her soft breathing as I too fell asleep.

Stone Family Den-Tunnels (Family Tree)

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 3: Methylxanthines? What's that?

*Beep. Beep. Beep.*

I opened my eyes and found myself in a pure-white room that smelt odd, I heard Twilight talking to someone outside the room, "Can you tell me anything Anna? All Spike told me was that they had made up, Gem broke some crystal and the two ate it. He said it tasted nasty but Gem collapsed."

Another female voice spoke but I couldn't hear exactly what she said until the door opened and a light brown Unicorn in a white coat saw me, "Oh well then, look who's up, sugar."

Twilight came in and smiled at me, "Hello Gem, I'm glad to see you are okay."

I tried speaking but my throat was dry as a bone and the doctor saw me trying to speak, "Don't worry about it sugar, have a glass of water. I am Dr. Anna Tomy, I'm a cross-species specialist from the Solar Eclipse Laboratory in Canterlot."

I took a sip from the offered glass and looked at her, "What happen?"

"Well to put it simply; you had an adverse allergic reaction to that arcane crystal you ingested. It must have caused you body to generate large amounts of Methylxanthines," she said as the words continuously spewed from her mouth to the point I could barely understand what she was saying; the most I caught was my magic pool was increased immensely, my body and its magic was now as if not more powerful than most Unicorns, and no I can't cast magic."

"Bummer..."

Twilight patted my paw with her hoof and smiled as she whispered something in my ear, "You don't need to be able to cast magic to use it. I'll explain some more when we get back home." She looked at the doctor who was pulling these straps from my foreleg, "About when do you think he'll be able to go home Anna?"

"Right now actually, I'm just going to need you to file some paperwork and pay his non citizen hospital fee," she said with a odd tone in her voice.

She helped me down and led us to this small office where there were stacks upon stacks of papers which began flying through the air as Twilight signed each one masterfully, "I swear to Celestia, Anna Tomy, you're a great doctor but you love paperwork to much." She pulled a pouch out from under her wing, floated over a lot of small gold coins, and led me out of the hospital towards another building.

"Where we go," I asked as she walked me along with her wing.

"Well to get everything I'm going to need to teach you magic, oh this is going to be excellent, I can finally break out those arcane compendiums I have sealed at Canterlot."

I just nodded as she went on talking and the next thing I knew we were back at her castle with a wagon full of bags that she had bought. Everything she bought glowed brightly and disappeared in a flash of light, she poked me in the snout and motioned for me to follow her up the trunk. She walked along with the biggest smile I've seen on her face and threw open some double doors to reveal a library that seemed to go on. Books flew off the shelves and stacked themselves on a table where Twilight dusted them off with her hoof and music seemed to come from the walls as she started to sing.

A period at the end
when you write a statement.
Make your teacher's day,
and then she will say,
"Hey! I'll give you an A."

Question mark at the end
when you write a question.
Go that extra mile,
and make her smile,
just for a while.

What does a statement do?
It tell something to you.
I like to go to school.
He dove into the pool.

What does a question do?
It asks something of you.
Do you want to be my friend?
Are you with me til the end?

You know what to do.
Don't second guess yourself with what sentence to use.
Don't put down the pencil.
Don't you take a break.
It's alright is you make a few mistakes.

A period at the end-
When you write a command.
They tell you just what to do.
Go tie your shoes.
Now sing me the blues.

Declamation look like-
a giant upside down i.
Use them when you decide-
to shout or cry
or you just wanna whine.

What does a command do?
It tells you what to do.
Go find all the clues.
Don't break the rules.

Exclamations can be used
to shout or cry, "Boo-hoo!"
Ouch! That bee just stung me!
Feed me! I'm so hungry!

You know just what to do.
Don't second guess yourself with what sentence to use.
Don't put the pencil down.
Don't you take a break.
It's alright if you make a few mistakes.

The music went as soon as it came, leaving us alone in the library and me with just one question, "What just happen?"

"Oh the singing," she asked getting a nod from me, "Well it's a type of magic I suppose, it doesn't feel like you're the one singing does it? We'll be learning about it at a later point in your studies but first we need to teach you the basics of the Equestrian language."

So that's pretty much how my weekend went; Princess Twilight taught me many of the basic subjects and Spike even helped me with my speech, not even sure how I learned so fast but hey; don't look a gift griffin in the mouth. A hoof touch my shoulder and brought me out of my thoughts and I remembered where I was; I was finally in class.

"Does anypony have anything they wish to ask our new student," Miss Cheerilee asked the class, seeing several hooves shooting up, "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. Take turns you three; choose who asks first." The three fillies who had their hooves up jumped from their desks and huddled together and began whispering to each other until the white unicorn stepped forth and took in a large gasp of air and Miss Cheerilee cut in, "One long run-on sentence doesn't count Sweetie Belle."

"Yes Miss Cheerilee," she shouted to the teacher. "We had more than one but here's the main one; do you have a Cutiemark?!"

"No, Diamond Dogs do not have Cutiemarks; Alphas say what we're good at," I said, getting three gasps from the fillies.

Author's Note

First; I'd like to apologize for the long wait, second; The chapters aren't going to be solely about learning stuff(Spent twelve years learning stuff so why would I write a story about the monotony of sitting in a classroom.)
I never knew how busy I am with life when I wrote this chapter, I'd get a good writing speed going and BOOM I get called away to do something that absolutely HAS to be done right that second and I lose my steam... Not to mention that I've had an enormous writers block for this chapter, hopefully that is the last of those because I know the cause of it; medical mumbo jumbo malarkey. Anywho~ hope you enjoy the chapter and once again I'm sorry for what I believe to bad bad quality, just didn't want to flow like the others but no more! Next chapter we get into MY favorite subject of study; Shenanigans 101 so hopefully it'll flow a lot better than this... thing. Gods I hated writing this chapter!