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The Diamond Dog's Guide to Engineering

by Tolerance

Chapter 15: Onset Operation Overstep

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Aaron carefully tore his way through the underbrush of the forest, a cold sliver of the moon acting as his sole source of light. He'd been making some good progress despite the relative darkness, however. There were plenty of smaller plants that bore berries of various kinds, but the real treat had been a tree filled with pine-nuts. Well, mostly filled. Aaron had already made short work of the handful he'd scavenged.

He still needed more. And he wasn't ready to scavenge through the rest of the forest for a single, full meal of the seeds. Aaron pulled his backpack off and fumbled around until he felt the small round tin stowed in the lowest corner of the bag. A woefully inadequate 'survival kit', the tin still had a few items he could make use of. A magnesium fire-starter, a tiny survival candle, some fishing hooks, etcetera. The stream was far too small to fish in, even if he wanted to expose himself by standing in the same spot long enough for him to catch anything. Instead, he pulled a small thin wire from the tin and stuffed the container back in the bag.

The lack of light made it difficult, but Aaron still managed to find a few promising locations where he could place the snare. There were several small paths that carved meandering trails through the underbrush towards the stream. Once the trap was in place, Aaron only had to scare some tired forest creature into it, and dinner would be his. He just hoped that whatever he found wasn't sapient enough to keep him from snacking on it.

Trap in position, Aaron quietly circled around, grabbing a long, slender stick as he did so. Finding the trail again, Aaron turned towards the direction of the stream, and began walking forward. With every step, he would beat the brush on either side of the trail, hoping to spook out a meal.

His wait wasn't long. From the sound it made, it sounded like he'd scared out a blur of a rabbit from its den. Taking up a jog, Aaron gave an even shorter chase, as it only took mere moments before he heard the soft, yet piercing scream of the rabbit stuck in a trap. He quickened his pace. The rabbit was still struggling to untangle the snare by jumping around in spurts of energy, but it was no use. Every movement only served to make the trap pull tighter.

Seeing nothing but the perfectly normal rabbit actions performed by his prey, Aaron let out a sigh of relief. It was't smart. Psyching himself up, he grabbed the end of his stick, and ended the rabbit's struggle.

The deed was done, and Aaron pulled his backpack off once more, fishing through the side pocket for his knife. Steeling himself for the gruesome work to come.

In the end it all boiled down to one, singular thing.

Survival was at stake.

~~~~~

"Ugh", Swift Sleet groaned for what was probably the thousandth time. "Why did they put me on the midnight search team? Again?" Ever since the main group got hit with that rock slide, the commander had been exceptionally harsh on the troops who hadn't been injured in the tunnel. Swift could only imagine the hurt he'd have to endure if anypony had actually died during the raid.

Swift was tacking back and forth through the southerly wind. Eyeing the moon, he sighed again as he tallied up how much time he had left. He still had five hours until he could trade places with whomever was scheduled to replace him.

"I don't even know why the commander has us flying around out here. Those damn dogs probably just dug straight down or-" Swift stopped, his ears suddenly alert and pointed ground-ward.

There! He heard it again. A scream, from what he didn't know, but it was small, or muffled somehow. Swift dove towards the forest, when the screaming was suddenly silenced. Gliding just above the treetops, Swift lost track of the source of the noise. 'Probably just an owl or something... They hunted at night, right? Right. Probably just some small animal getting the short end of the Gaurdian's stick. These things just happen.' He attempted to assure himself.

Then he saw a glint in the darkness below. For a moment he thought he had imagined it, but then he saw it again, a silvery gleam lancing through the shadows. The moment it flashed again, Swift realized that he wasn't dealing with an owl or any other woodland creature that he knew of. None of them carried weapons.

Gliding as close to the treetops as he could before his hooves started clipping branches, Swift tried to get a closer look at whoever was wielding the knife. The darkness was hard to pierce, visually, but he was able to make out the silhouette of the creature. 'It certainly doesn't look like a Diamond Do-' His thought's cut short by the sudden realization. 'It wasn't a dog, it was the Human!'

If the human was out here, then that meant the Diamond Dogs must be close by. 'But weren't they supposed to be inseparable or...something...?' was all Swift could wonder about before he remembered the knife.

'What was the human doing with the knife?', 'Where are the dogs?', and 'What if they escaped while he left to get backup?' were three of the most prominent thoughts that rushed, simultaneously, through Swift's head.

The next few events occurred in a blur of twigs and pine needles as Swift Sleet charged the armed bipedal with everything he had, in a brazen attempt to subdue the creature.

~~~~~

Staking the knife into the dirt, Aaron had finished preparing the hare's carcass as best he could. The work was rough, but Aaron understood the basic concepts, even though he was unsure as to why. Briefly debating whether or not to try his luck with another hunt, in order to bolster his supply, Aaron came to the conclusion that he'd spent enough time out in the open as is. It was time to return to the tunnels.

Aaron barely had time to register the commotion behind him before their source smashed into him, right between his shoulder blades, and knocked him into a nearby tree. Suddenly out of breath, Aaron could barely see his attacker ready for round two through the stars in his eyes. The next hit knocked him unconscious.

"Ha! Take that! That'll teach you to mess with the Heaven's Lance outfit." Swift announced in triumph over the prone form of the human.
His adrenaline rush quickly faded when he realized that he hadn't really thought his next steps through. What was he supposed to do with the human now?

If Swift tied up his captive, then he might just be able to fly back to camp for reinforcements and get back here before any of the Diamond Dogs realized their master was missing.

Hopes of that plan succeeding were quickly dashed when he heard a deep, threatening growl just out of his range of vision. Swift caught sight of another shadowy figure just before it managed to dent the back of his helmet in with its attack, dropping the dazing the pony to his knees. Swift felt a small amount of irony at succumbing to the same tactic he had just used to subdue the human before a second blow knocked him out as well.

~~~~~

Swift arose to the smell of smoke and something else. He tried lifting a hoof to alleviate his headache only to realize he couldn't move it, or any other part of his body, at all. The stallion's eyes shot open, informing him that he was, in fact, buried up to his neck in dirt. Swift also realized, much to his horror, that the other thing he was smelling was the scent of cooking flesh.

"No, no nonononon... Please don't eat me!"

"Looks like pony awake, Aaron."

"So he is." Aaron replied as he sidled away from his small cooking fire. He placed himself directly between the warm fire and the stallion's exposed head. "So, little pony, what's your name?"

"S-swift S-s-ssleet..."

"Alright, Swift. I hope you can grasp the situation you're in right about now. You're probably afraid, for starters, and maybe feeling a bit helpless, yes?" Swift just nodded his head slowly in affirmation.

Aaron continued. "Good. That's what you should be feeling. It's perfectly natural for one in your position. Now, do you see this?" Aaron asked as he pulled out his knife. "This here is a finely machined piece of stainless steel. It is, without a doubt, one of the most technologically advanced pieces of hardware that currently exists in this world. It's pretty dang useful, let me tell you. With it, I could carve my name into that tree over there, or fashion a rope from it's bark. Heck, I could probably even use it to dig a trench through the dirt you happen to be stuck in. It wouldn't even be worse for the wear. Just a little sharpening, maybe hone the edge a little bit, and it goes back to being as useful as it ever was. Great thing, a tool like this. Why I bet I could even use it to easily skin you alive, much like I did the rabbit that's now cooking over that fire behind me. The tool wouldn't even care. That's what it was built to do."

Swift gulped. "Y-you'll never get away with this."

"We'll see. It's kind of my point, really. This tool was made for cutting things, plain and simple. But I'm not going to use it for that, use it on you. Not yet. Because, while you pegasi seem to still be trying to figure out how to deal with the Diamond Dogs. You believe that they're just some dumb creatures you can just 'take care of,' when someone believes that they're being a nuisance. So what did you do? You all just barged into our home and tried throwing your weight around. Now I think that the diamond dogs have earned some sort of retribution for what you've tried to do to them, but much like this tool, which would cut clean through you if I let it, the dogs would tear you apart If I let them. But you want to know something? While I am the one who holds all the cards here, I'm not going to kill, and/or eat you. I have no reason to. In fact, I plan to let you go."

"And why would you do that? What's to stop me from bringing the whole squad over here and, and after what you did back in the mine they'd-" Swift attempted to argue.

"Are you sure it's wise to argue with someone when they say that they'll let you go?" Aaron waited for Swift to stop and listen once more. "I thought so. Need I remind you that you were the ones trespassing into our home? You hoped to tear the pack apart, and I can assure you that I've done everything in my power to ensure the failure of that mission, and I will continue to do so for the foreseeable future."

Aaron continued, "The only reason that I have for letting you go, is that I want you to do precisely nothing. You will not tell the other Pegasi of our position. You will not tell them of anything that's happened here today. You will, however, remember this," Aaron leaned in close enough that only Swift could hear him. "You will never get the drop on me like that twice. If I ever see you again. I will not be as forgiving. No. If I see you again, I'll see to it that your family receives your feathers in the mail, one-by-one, as I pluck them from your hide."

Aaron sat back up from the stallion's blanched visage.

"Do you think you can remember that?"

Swift nodded slowly, his features still reflecting the workings of his imagination as he digested Aaron's words in their entirety.

"Good. Now that that's settled, I still need to finish up here. When we're ready to go, we will release you, until then, I suggest you sit tight."

"And what happens when my relief comes asking about where I've been?" Swift asked.

Aaron just flashed a smile at the pony, "Oh, Swift, I don't think you want to be reminded about how that isn't my problem. Not unless you want me to find a postmaster..."

Swift promptly lost his lunch.

~~~~~

"Are you sure it okay to let him leave, Aaron, sir?" Allee asked in earnest.

"Yes, this is the best option. If he doesn't return to his group, then more will come looking this way. At least this option leaves us with the chance that he follows through with our agreement." Aaron admitted.

"What you say to him anyway? He look pretty sick."

"Only what he needed to hear, Allee. Only what he needed to hear. But I have to say I went to a pretty dark place for it. Let's hope we don't have to do that again." Aaron said as he picked up his bag. his back erupting in a spasm of pain as he attempted to put it on. "Ah! Yeah, no." Aaron inhaled sharply, "That's not going to work."

Allee took initiative and stepped up to support Aaron as his balance faltered. "I help, Aaron sir. Let me carry bag."

"Thanks, Allee. I never got the chance to thank you for coming to help earlier, even if it was against my direct orders. I seriously owe you one, All Ears." Aaron said as he ruffled the fur on her head with his unsupported arm. "But you did disobey my orders, you promised me..."

Allee's ears swept downward at the comment.

"So, in light of your actions tonight, I think I know what your punishment should be: To help carry me back to the tunnel."

Allee's ears perked back up as she realized that it wasn't really a punishment.

"Let's go find ourselves a new home."

Author's Notes:

Next chapter probably won't make it on a daily release schedule. School just started back up for me, and my time is limited. The next chapter was supposed to be the last, but it was kind of rushed, so I'll be working to separate it into at least two chapters.

Next Chapter: Proper Pup Property Estimated time remaining: 15 Minutes
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