Cleaning the Wound

The outskirts of Ponyville was one of the most confusing places Garble had ever seen.

In one direction were wide open fields of tall grass. In another was the ‘wild’ Everfree Forest. Then there was the ‘tamed’ White Tail Woods. Finally, there were the foothills, an area Garble felt most comfortable in due to its similarities with the Dragonlands.

That was where most of his confusion stemmed from, because he wasn’t in the Dragonlands. Why would Equestria have something similar to his home sitting outside of Ponyville?

He could tell at a glance that the place would be rife with underground veins of gemstones. Any dragon worth their scales could figure that out. It was so utterly out of place with the general biome around Ponyville that Garble half expected to hear that the ponies made this place the way it was and buried their own precious materials in it.

By extension, he could also tell that there were Diamond Dogs around. Telltale claw marks in recently disturbed dirt and the scent of Diamond Dogs marking to scare off anyone dumb enough to cross into their territory.

Well, Garble wasn’t dumb, but he was definitely crossing into their territory.

Garble stomped about leaving heavy footprints in the dirt. He’d been doing it for a while now, and was starting to get annoyed that no Diamond Dogs had appeared. Impatient, Garble stomped over to one of the buried holes, dug it out until the tunnel was revealed, then blew a burst of flame into it.

“Yipe!”

A Diamond Dog jolted out of another hole clutching the singed part of his behind. He was yipping as he scraped his bottom onto the dirt to put out the fire.

“Whew.” The Diamond Dog wiped his brow with a paw. “That a clo— yipe!”

Garble grabbed the Diamond dog by the scruff of their neck and brought them up to his eye level.

“Take me to your colony. Now,” Garble demanded.

The Diamond Dog nodded his head rapidly.

The ‘colony’ was a hovel. Garble was used to the elaborate cave systems of the Diamond Dogs out near the Dragonlands. This group was pitiful by comparison. Just a few burrows loosely connected to each other by rough tunnels. The gem stockpile was pitiful, barely enough to scrape by.

Garble was unimpressed, to say the least, which was made worse by the Diamond Dogs themselves. They were a mangy group. Underfed and desperately needing some kind of windfall. This situation was only made worse by the fact Garble was certain there was a gem vein literally right in the wall next to him. What kind of Diamond Dog couldn’t find a gem vein?

All of the Diamond Dogs (and he couldn’t believe the entire colony consisted of only twelve Dogs) were gathered before him with looks of false bravado. Puffed up chests and gritted teeth that were about as threatening as a fly. Annoying and not worth the effort to torch.

But that meant it would be easier to make them his friends.

One of the Diamond Dogs, taller with a red vest and pointed ears, approached him while the others hung back.

“What does dragon want?!” he demanded.

Garble stepped forward, towering over the Dog. He gave him some credit. While the others shirked away, Red Vest stood his ground.

“I need some buddies,” Garble said.

“You—” Red Vest shook his head. He jabbed a finger into Garble’s chest. “Why should we friend dragon?”

“Cuz this dragon is better than all of you combined.” He jerked a thumb toward the wall he’d sensed the gemstones in. “You missed a vein over there.”

Red Vest snarled. “We no miss anything!”

Garble rolled his eyes. He pulled back a fist. The Dog flinched. Garble smirked then punched the nearby wall. It collapsed. Shattered rock fell to the cave floor. Behind it was a massive wall of topaz and quartz.

Feeling smug, Gabriel said, “there. Now you— what are you doing?”

Red Vest had bowed to him. A right angle with his hips as the hinge.

He barked back at the other Dogs, “bow to new boss!”

The others followed suit.

“Dragon new boss now!” Red Vest said.

This was an unexpected turn to the situation, but not an unwelcome one. They usually put up more of a fight, but Garble had acquired new friends. He’d have to rub it in the purple bomb’s face later.

“Yeah!” Garble crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m the new boss. Let’s hear it for me!”

Red Vest stood up straight, put an arm and shouted, “new boss! New boss! New boss!”

The others soon followed suit, chanting his new title in a chorus.