Author's Note

i'm a novice of a writer and always looking for improvement. any tips given are greatly appreciated and i hope you all have as much a good time reading as I did writing it

New arrival

It was a cool afternoon in the country town of Appleoosa as the Diamond Dog, Rufus strolled leisurely into the local pub. "Hey barkeep," Rufus smiled as he approached the bar, "Got any honeyed cider? I'm as thirsty as the dirt is brown." A mug was slid down the bar to Rufus, which he caught in his paw and chugged down. "Whoo wee that's sweet!" Rufus pulled an apple out of his bag and ate as the barkeep trotted over to him.

"That'll be twelve bits my good sir." Rufus nodded as he finished eating and left the last of his money on the bar before leaving. Despite the cloak was wearing, he knew it wouldn't be long before he had to leave, so with a full stomach and a sweet taste in his mouth, Rufus strolled on to the train station.

On the train Rufus sat in the last car as he looked through his belongings,a few apples, some old books, and a sewing kit for his patchy cloak. to pass the time Rufus borrowed a brush from another passenger and began brushing his fur to straighten out a few knots and soon arrived to a small, quaint little hamlet called Ponyville. As soon as Rufus stepped off the train he saw friendly faces all around as ponies trotted and cantered about between various stores and stalls. As Rufus glanced around, he saw a vendor selling a fur hooded jacket with elbow patches sewn onto it. "Excuse me sir, how much for that jacket?"

The vendor smiled kindly with a toothy grin, "two bits is all i ask, or you could trade in that cloak." Rufus pulled his cloak closer and growled,

"Never mind, I don't want it anymore." Douglas and the older stallion shook paw and hoof politely and left keeping the cloak pulled close. It was warm and had an odd smell to it, but it was very comfortable and it belonged to Rufus since he was a pup.

As Douglas wandered about Ponyville it began to get dark, and as the residents went home and locked up for the night Rufus curled up in an alley pulling his cloak closer to his body. As he sat there he summoned an orb of green fire in his paw and sighed, " What the hell is this power?" He sighed as he stared at it for almost an hour before the mesmerizing flames lulled him to sleep. The next morning Rufus awoke to the constant bustling of pony life and smiled as he stood up. Pulling his hood over his head he wandered about with no real direction until he noticed an earth pony in full body armor and an all too familiar insignia etched on her breastplate. He hid behind a corner and watched her like a leering crow until he saw her cutie mark, a blooming lotus flower that matched her insignia. She was Quiet Lotus, the leader of the Lotus Guard, an old mercenary company in the badlands, and if she's here her army is close by. Rufus ducked into the crowd and tried to sneak away but she shouted grabbing the attention of all the ponies nearby.

"Everypony of this... Charming little hamlet, there is a diamond dog hiding among you and I must find him for he holds something very special to me. If you comply we will not hurt you, but if you insist on harboring him we will converge upon your pathetic little homes and destroy them looking for him!" All the ponies began whispering to each other and Douglas twitched as a hoof touched his back but as he turned he saw a slender orange unicorn with a snail cutie mark.

"Follow me," he whispered softly, "I have somewhere you can hide."

Ater evading the crowds , the unicorn, who's name is Snails, brought Rufus to a small house. "Snips and I crash here a lot. Nopony ever really finds us here. You looked like you were in trouble so I wanted to help."

Rufus smiled and hugged Snails, "Thanks Snails, you're rally helping me out of a tough situation." Rufus found his way to the bathroom and pulled off his cloak and stared at himself in the mirror. His pale grey fur barely hiding his scars he collected from a cannon years ago. Rufus sighed and kicked himself for losing his favorite twin axes back in the Badlands as Snails came in with a bath brush and a towel. He looked at the floor then at Rufus,

"Uhh, I gotta take a bath real quick." Rufus nodded and found his way to the bedroom and sighed as he threw his cloak on the floor,

"I haven't slept in a real bed in years." He climbed in the bed covered himself up and soon fell asleep.

About an hour later Rufus was awoken by Snails climbing in the bed and he chuckled, "oh sorry did i wake you?" Snails covered up leaving everything silent again and Rufus soon fell back asleep.

The next morning was calm as Rufus stood outside letting the cool breeze blow through his fur as the sun steadily climbed into the sky. Snails soon came out with a cup of coffee and held it out to Rufus as he yawned, "Here Rufus, I made you some coffee."

Rufus smiled as he sipped the hot liquid from the cup. "Thanks Snails, you've been a great friend for the short time we've known each other."

Snails was silent for a moment then spoke up with a fun idea, "Hey, me and snips were going to stop by Sweet Apple Acres today for some cider, you wanna come too?"

Rufus chuckled as he stretched, "Sure Snails, getting drunk sounds fun."

Rufus and Snails stopped by Snips house and after a short introduction with the stubby colt, the three of them all went on to the apple farm where a large line of ponies were already lined up. As they took their spots a cyan blue pegasus landed right behind them, her eye catching rainbow mane was hard to miss.

"Aww, darn it! Why is there always such a huge line when AppleJack is selling her cider?!" Rufus chuckled as she groaned assuming she was an alcoholic.

"Well if you need to feed your addiction that bad maybe you should have arrived earlier." Rufus smirked as her eyes flashed with anger,

"Excuse me!? You should mind your own business buster, you don't know who I am!"

Rufus smirked somewhat snidely, "Is that so? Well with your obvious arrogant attitude combined with your eye catching colors i'd say you're Rainbow Dash the so called 'greatest flier in all of Equestria', what a joke." Before Rufus could say anything else, Rainbow Dash hit him in the chest making him stagger back.

"Watch it buster, I'll beat you into the dirt in ten seconds flat." Rufus scoffed and turned back to face the line.

After an hour Rufus, Snips, and Snails arrived to the front of the line and ordered a cider for themselves and as they were poured the youngest pony, a mare named Applebloom shouted,

"That's all the cider everypony! We're all out!" As she shouted Rainbow Dash groaned,

"Aww darn it!" Rufus smiled and as they were about to leave AppleJack called after them,

"Hey wait just a minute, aren't you that diamond dog that Lotus mare was looking for yesterday?"

Rufus sighed and nodded, "Yeah just don't tell her you saw me, ok? She's after something I... borrowed a while back." Applejack approached Rufus and looked him over,

"I dunno Rufus, you don't seem very trustworthy to me."Rufus sighed again, "Look I'm trying to keep an ancient amulet from her that can destroy all of Equestria as we know it so back off." Applejack stood silent for a moment but burst into laughter,

"Wow partner you ain't a good liar."Rufus was surprised at how easily she saw through his lie and as everypony around him laughed he slipped away.

On the outskirts of Ponyville Rufus sat against the wall of the train platform starting to doze off as Lotus approached him, "Rufus," She sighed as tears began welling up in her eyes, "Give me back my pendant! You know how important it is to me!" Rufus sighed and pulled a beautiful opal pendant out of his cloak and put it around her neck.

"I'm sorry Lotus. I was just so tired of those empty fights and I acted thoughtlessly. I didn't mean to steal your pendant." Lotus hugged Rufus and smiled a little,

"It's ok Rufus, if you're truly done with mercenary work I won't bother you anymore. I have what I came for." As Lotus walked away Rufus decided to climb on the train to find a new town to make some semblance of a home but was stopped by a purple alicorn.

"Excuse me!," She shouted running over, "My name is Twilight Sparkle and I could sense that you have a strange type of magic. Could I have you over at the palace tonight for an in depth study?" Rufus smiled a bit and nodded,

"Y-yeah sure, I'd love to help." Twilight smiled and took Rufus' paw in her hoof and dragged him back through town to the large crystal palace. When they arrived Twilight gathered a book and a quill and sat down,

"Ok, whenever you're ready please tell me about this magic you have."

Rufus sat silent for a few minutes before speaking. "I was born in the Diamondia but my parents moved me to the Badlands claiming it was for my protection. I grew up as a farm pup cultivating plants during rough weather. It was a hard life but it was even harder when the raiding gangs rolled in. A band of minotaurs would come in and take our entire haul every two weeks. This went on until I was ten, and I decided to stop them. Needless to say they beat me into the dirt, but as they kept punching and kicking me I exploded into a torrent of green flames. After that the minotaurs took me away from home and trained me to be a raider. The next year they said I was too weak and they abandoned me in a nearby town so I started working odd jobs for money for three years and when I was fourteen I met Quiet Lotus who recruited me into her brigade. I fought along side her for an entire year fighting against skilled warriors and unskilled farmers. As time drew on I lost my nerve, stole small valuables and took off, but I didn't realize that I had taken Lotus' pendant. I've been running for three years now..."

As Twilight finished writing her notes she yawned, "that's quite interesting. Oh my look at the time it's late, do you have a place to stay?" Rufus stood up and stretched, "I'll manage, the streets are safe.