Rainbooms and Royalty

The Price and the River

Rainbow Dash gave out a challenging snort as she faced the fearsome Diamond Dogs. Frankly, she was underwhelmed. There were only three of them and none of them exactly struck her as being all that impressive. One was decently sized and bulky, but looked about as sharp as a bowling ball. Another was so short Scootaloo could’ve taken him. The one in the middle with the red vest looked intelligent—comparatively speaking—but was skinny and lanky as all get out. The arms looked disproportionately large on them, but Dash knew she could take them all, without help.

“I got this!” She called over her shoulder before revving her wings and launching herself towards them.

Zecora tried to call her back, but her voice was lost in the slipstream of air. An instant before she would’ve knocked those dogs flat on their tails, a horde of large, muscular, armored Dogs emerged from below. It was headfirst into the chest plate of one of those Dogs that Rainbow crashed right into.

Everypony—and zebra—winced in sympathy and the cacophony of noise that broke out when Dash’s face hit solid metal. The big dog just looked down at her as the woozy pegasus peeled her face off his chest and slid down onto her rump.

“Oh my goodness, are you all right?” Fluttershy called out—softly. Applejack hurried over to give Rainbow Dash a hoof, and to defend her in case the dogs attacked. The wall of dog guards let the farmpony take her friend back. They had them enveloped on all sides in a ring of Diamond Dogs.

“Now ponies go nowhere!” Crowed the lead Diamond Dog.

“What do you mangy ol’ mutts want?” Applejack snorted, pawing at the dirt with her hoof. “Cuz if it’s trouble yer lookin for, you’ve found it!”

“Geeems!” Hissed the Diamond Dog. “We need ponies to dig for us in the mines!”

Twilight blinked. “Why do you need ponies? It seems like you’re better equipped to handle the task of mining the earth, if the last five minutes have been of any indication.”

The three main Diamond Dogs blinked. They hadn’t thought of that. “Hrm, ponies pull! Yes! Ponies pull the wagons!” Barked the shortest dog.

“Wouldn’t it be hard for non-Diamond Dogs to even see underground, or live for that matter?” Twilight pressed. “Studies have found that ponies are best equipped for survival in habitats that provide clean air that is well circulated as well as temperatures ranging between…”

“Enough!” The dogs covered their ears. “Stop criticizing us!”

Twilight lowered her head. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to, it’s just that you—”

The big one moaned as he covered his head. “Purple pony is still talking…WHY is she still talking?!”

“So will you let us go?” Zecora asked politely. “No disrespect did we mean to show.” She nudged Rainbow Dash meaningfully. “Isn’t that right? Nothing was meant by her, hrm, sudden flight.”

“Yeah, sure whatever.” Grumbled the annoyed pegasus.

The Diamond Dogs looked at each other and went into a quick huddle. There were hushed whispers and murmurings before they broke apart, facing the party of equine. “Hrm…no!” Declared the leader. “Striped pony and non-striped ponies not pass until they give us tribute!”

“Oh, I’ll give him a tribute…” Rainbow Dash said, raising herself on her hind legs and boxing the air with her front ones. AJ pawed at the ground, lowering her head as if to charge them. Fluttershy hugged the ground, covering her face.

Twilight tugged both of them back with her magic. “Come on you guys…we can’t fight all of them!” She whispered.

“Speak for yourself.” Rainbow hissed back. “If we can’t stand up to a bunch of dogs, how do you expect us to stop Nightmare Moon?”