//------------------------------// // Down Under // Story: Diamonds a Doesn't // by PonyPixel //------------------------------// Amber grunted in discomfort after the fall. Her head was slammed face-first into the rocky soil, making her whole body injured with major and minor scars and bruises. For a moment, she couldn’t move her body and her eyes were still shut. She can feel her elbow being bruised, including her knees, neck, and ankles. Although she can still breathe and hear her heart pounding to the beat, she has a feeling that this might be her demise even though she was only in her adolescence. Slowly but surely, she lifted her head and opened her eyes. As she cleared out her vision, all she could see was pitch black darkness, nothing but a black void. She felt frightened, her heart pounded rapidly, and hyperventilated with fear and anxiety. “Indi? Amber?” called a voice. “Fiona?” Amber cried. “Fiona!?” With all of her remaining stamina, she stood up while still feeling the injuries from her body. “Where are we?” asked another voice, sounding like it belonged to Pinkie Pie. “I have no idea,” Indiana’s voice proclaimed, “but thank goodness we’re not dead. We don’t have anything for a light source, I can’t even see a thing or two!” “Hold on, I think I have something.” There was a faint crack, followed by a blue glow coming from a glow stick that Pinkie held. “Bingo! It’s a good thing I always come prepared.” Now that they have a light source, they can see their surroundings lucidly. As she was holding the glow stick, they looked up to get a glimpse of giant rocks above them, blocking the view of the outside. So, yes, they were buried alive. “Oh man,” Fiona muttered. “Are we going to die?” “You’re telling me,” Amber replied. “I thought of the same thing as you.” “If I know your mother, she’s figuring out something to get us out as soon as possible,” Indiana stated. “As of now, all we have to do is to stay calm until rescue arrives.” She slowly stood up before feeling great pain in her arm. “Ugh, great.” “What’s wrong?” Pinkie asked. “I think I broke my arm.” Indiana looked for anything that is used as a sling. She noticed Fiona still had her bow, which gave her an idea. “Fiona, give me your bow.” “What are you going to do with that?” the princess asked. “I need something to support my arm.” Fiona sighed and removed her bow and helped the injured diamond dog make a sling. Amber sighed as she leaned against the wall. “What have I done?” she muttered. “This was all my fault! I shouldn’t have escaped in the first place and this couldn’t happen.” Pinkie walked over to the glum princess. “Don’t be hard on yourself, Princess,” the earth pony said, “Who could’ve expected this to occur?” “But I was the reason we were here in this mess.” She looked over to Fiona, who growled a little bit looking back at her. “Hey, being mad at each other and being down in the dumps isn’t going to get us out of here automatically,” Indiana stated. She looks up at the rumble above them. “I doubt that digging straight up will be a good option. That earth is too unstable.” “Then what else can we do?” Amber asked. Indiana then glanced over to Pinkie’s glowstick she was holding. “May I borrow your glow stick for a while, please?” Indiana requested. “Sure.” Pinkie handed the glow stick to her, and Indiana held it like a flaming torch, so she can look around for a route to escape. She thought it would be hopeless until she noticed a tunnel built with frames. “What are those for?” Pinkie asked, gaining a bit of hope. “I think this is one of the tunnels leading to the mines! This could be our ticket for our escape!” Happy to hear they could escape, Pinkie, Amber, Fiona, and Indi made their way through the tunnel, only to find the end of it was partly blocked. “Really? A dead end!?” “I guess this is the part where we start digging,” Amber commented, and then spits out saliva into her paws and rubbed them as she is like washing her paws to prepare. “Stand back!” With all of her remaining stamina, she dug her paws into the rubble actively, while not minding the injuries she was feeling. Because of her intense digging, clumps of dirt swooped over them, missing them luckily. Pinkie Pie watched her in amazement at how strong she was in burrowing. “Wow, look at her go!” Pinkie exclaimed. “No surprise,” Fiona commented with her arms crossed. “Considering that she’s a sporty one.” Amber paused her digging and turned to her twin sister. “Fiona, I need your help.” “Seriously!?” the twin sister chided. “Now you need me for this!?” “Sis! I am not in the mood for an argument!” Amber shouted with her tears flowing down from her eyes. “We’re trapped here, and I’m the reason we’re stuck in here. I’m at least going to help you all escape. Please, Fiona! Just help me, will ya!?” Amber continued digging as her only focus was to get out of the mines. Fiona darted at Indiana’s broken arm, releasing that she and her sister were the only ones capable of digging through the rubble. She then gazed at the clothes she was wearing right now, it was a bit filthy after she fell. Knowing that her clothes were going to get ruined and dirty, she has no other choice but to help her dig through to save themselves. So, she joined in with her twin sister to get themselves out of the mines. Just like Amber, with all of her strength, she dug rapidly, not minding her clothes. Above ground, Rarity and Spike were doing their best to keep Queen Katherina calm from the tragedy that occurred a while ago while planning to form a rescue plan. “Okay, we just need a map of the mines around Caninia,” Spike proclaimed. “It should be around here somewhere.” “And perhaps… one of the miners who worked there, they should have that,” Rarity added. “Your Majesty, is there anything else we should know that might help?” Katherina didn’t respond. Spike and Rarity watched her pace back and forth while muttering to herself. “I should’ve told them,” she uttered softly. “Amber wouldn’t have run off to get answers. She’s always sneaking out. I should’ve seen this coming. My daughters, Indi, and an Equestrian pony got dragged into the sinkhole too. What was I thinking?!” “Katherina!” Spike cried. The Queen heard her name and looked toward her guests. “If there’s anything I know, panicking is going to make things worse. We need a rescue team down in the mines pronto.” Katherina took a minute to take a deep breath before responding. “You’re right. I’ll have a team of guards head down with us. Remember, there will be possible toxic fumes in the tunnels, so be careful with that.” “Roger that,” Spike said, “We’ll have our masks on.” Just then, the sergeant walked in. “Your Highness,” he accounted, “We have found one of the miners that’s willing to assist in the rescue.” “May we see them?” Katherina asked. The sergeant nodded and moved aside to reveal Moonbeam, who was being assisted by Jennino. “Oh no.” “Katherina, I know how this looks…,” Moonbeam spoke. “You should be in the hospital right now. There’s no way you can help us while you’re ill.” “And I’m sure you wouldn’t even say anything to the others guys if they volunteered. Besides, I’m certain we’re burning daylight right now.” “Moonbeam’s right,” Jennino commented. “We need to get them off the mines as soon as possible before it’s too late. If none of them aside from Moonbeam can help us, then who else can?” Despite her concerns, the queen knew they had no time to lose. “Rarity, carry Moonbeam on your back for me, please?” she asked. “I will, Your Majesty,” the unicorn confirmed. She walked over to the sick miner, who Jennino get onto her back.  “Thanks a lot,” Moonbeam said to Rarity. With that, they all headed towards the mines to rescue. Along the way, Spike flew alongside Moonbeam, handing her a map of the tunnels. She checked the entrance they were going to be going through, then she thought about the location of where the sinkhole opened up. “Okay, if we take these tunnels we should have a good chance of running into the girls,” Moonbeam commented. A few minutes later, they arrived at the entrance of the mines. Everyone who was going in put on a mask. “Alright, let’s go,” Rarity said. “We’re coming for you, Pinkie!” With that, they descended into the mines to the rescue. Back with the twins, they dig and dig and dig their way through the blocked tunnel, hoping that they’ll find the spacious path of the mines in the end so they can slip away to fresh air. They managed to get to the end when they noticed a small gaping hole from the dug rubble, indicating that there was a way to escape. Amber then crashed through the thin-layered dirt wall with her body, breaking it open big enough to go through and making her tumble to the ground. Pinkie Pie, Indiana, and Fiona hopped through as Amber recovered herself. Pinkie’s glow stick was giving off so much light, so the vision was limited. They notice that the mines looked abandoned. They found unlit candle lanterns placed consecutively near the barrier. Most still appeared normal, while the rest were damaged thanks to the earthquakes happening recently. They even see a destroyed minecart almost being buried by the debris exposing the rear and its wheels, and a few rusty iron pickaxes and shovels lying down. Because there are lanterns, they planned to use one, but sadly, they don’t have a lighter or a match to lit it up. With no other option, they still used what little light from the glow stick, and they carried on. Along the way, they noticed a couple of holes, all of the same size, on the walls and ceiling. For the dogs, those were strange and unfamiliar, they had never seen those holes; and for Pinkie, she thought that it was normal since the diamond dogs were always mining for gems. “Woah! Is that how most gems are harvested?” Pinkie asked. “No,” Indiana responded with a concerned tone, “but it is strange. All these holes appeared to be in the same size, and… it looks like somebody or something has taken multiple bites.” “Who would take bites out of a wall made of rock and dirt?” Fiona asked.  “You’re telling me. They’d have to be small. They seem like they go a couple of feet.” Indiana looked at the depth of the hole with the glow stick, unable to see the end of it. “Huh… I thought the depth is between 3-5 ft., but this is longer and deeper…” As Indiana inspects the deep hole, Amber faced up at one hole in the ceiling that is just below her. When she stared at it for a while to have a clear look, a cloud of dust leaked out from it, and plunged right at her face, making her flinch. She quickly brushed off the dust, making sure it was gone, and then suddenly ends up coughing. Immediately, realization struck her as Indiana finished inspecting. She stepped away from the hole to prevent getting more dust on her snout. “Indi,” Amber called while giving out a cough and pointing at the hole where she was standing below, “do you think that’s the dust that’s been making the miners like Moonbeam sick?” Indiana then noticed the hole where Amber was pointing and can see the cloud of dust leaking out again, which made her feel troubled. “Most likely. We better get out of this place fast. This way!” The group continued on their way through the tunnel. En route, Fiona heard the sounds of munching and crunching within the walls. She could’ve sworn she heard them. She got scared, thinking that this tunnel is haunted. She nervously looked left, right, up, and down to see if there was something creepin’. Just before the light of the glow stick faded away in the distance, she saw something right behind her going through one of the holes beside her. She could get a closer look, but the light moved away. Now, she got more scared. “Fiona, keep up!” Amber cried. “We don’t want to be here longer than we have to.” Hearing this, she quickly ran to catch up with the group and explained what she saw. “My apologies,” Fiona anxiously proclaimed, “but I swear that I hear munching sounds, and I swear… that I saw something behind me going through the hole just when the lights fade away. I have a feeling that there’s something.” “That’d explain what the weird holes are,” Pinkie commented. “But what was it… or what were they?” “Uhh… I have no clue. I believe this thing I saw is… green…? I couldn’t tell because the light moved away before I could get a look.” “That sounds scary,” Indiana commented. “We can tell someone about this once we get out. Let’s keep moving.” She adjusted her broken arm as they carried on through the tunnels, Pinkie noticed a few gems that a couple of miners might’ve missed. Pinkie picked up a light blue diamond and it felt a little cold.  “Excuse me, is it common for some gems to get left behind?” the pink pony asked. “Sometimes,” Indiana responded. “I’d give you a tour later, but that’s not important…” Indiana paused when something strange happened. Pinkie tried rubbing the gem she found and created a tiny wave of ice that stuck to the wall. “Whoa!” “…Since when could gems do that?” Amber questioned. “From what I know before, maybe for a long time,” Pinkie guessed. “Like the one I got shocked with electricity.” “Please don’t remind me of that…” Fiona groaned. She noticed an orange gemstone sitting on the dirt nearby. Curious, she picked it up and rubbed it like a genie’s lamp to see what it would do. As she rubs, the heat was generated from the apex of the gemstone, its surface getting hotter and hotter. When Fiona’s neurons in her paws felt the intense heat being increasingly produced, she pulled away and the apex of the gemstone created a perfect flame, causing their surroundings to be more luminous than before making it easier to see clearly. Fiona was stunned. “Wow, wouldya look at that! What a perfect flame. This can be handy.” “Yeah, it is brighter here,” Amber commented. “Now we can see more clearly.” “We need to keep going,” Indiana informed. “I’m starting to get a tickle in my throat.” Knowing the risks of staying in here for too long, they picked up the pace now having some more light and curiosity about what the gemstones could do. Back with the rescue team, everyone was slowly moving along through the mines. Queen Katherina was in front with Rarity carrying Moonbeam on her back behind. The sick terrier scanned through the map she held up to the glow of Rarity’s horn, making sure they were going in the right way. “We seem to be going the exact way,” Moonbeam noted. “Though, the map will only be so helpful. Because of the earthquakes lately, most of those tunnels on the map here caved in with debris, and not to mention, most of these tunnels are new, so it’s potential they haven’t been sketched yet.” “But that was the most recently updated map I could find,” Spike proclaimed. “It doesn’t mean it’s always 100% accurate. They likely fell into the new ones.” Rarity sighed with annoyance, “It’s never easy, isn’t it?” she questioned. “Nope.” They soon came to a fork in the road, adding more frustrations. There are four tunnels in front of them, and they’re filled with darkness “Great, now what?” Katherina questioned. Moonbeam skimmed and scanned again if the map would be useful here as Rarity thought of something. “Say, how many gems are in these tunnels?” the unicorn questioned. “What do you mean how many, there’s a lot!” Katherina stated. “Frankly, depending on how new they are, there should be more gemstones within their barriers,” Moonbeam noted. “And it’s likely that the girls fell into one of the newer tunnels, right?” Spike asked. “That’s what I said.”  Spike and Rarity faced each other knowing they had a trick up one of their sleeves. Using her magic, Rarity made her horn glowing. As it glows, a shard of crystal illuminated and sparkled from the dirt, then another showed up, then, and another, and another. And soon, the tunnels were filled up with visible rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and all kinds of gemstones. The diamond dogs’ jaws dropped with amazement seeing it in action. “Amazing!” Moonbeam awed. “How did you do that!?” “It’s a spell I learned a long time ago,” Rarity clarified. “Will this help us find them?” “With that… I’d consider a yes. Thanks for helping.” She examined the tunnels and estimated which one possesses more gemstones. The 4th one on the right has little to no gemstone surrounding it, she can only notice a small sapphire and an emerald on the dirt and the barrier respectively; while both the 1st and the 3rd one have a few gemstones, most of them were bring left out or dropped. Knowing that these three tunnels were used, she crossed them out, which then leaves it to the 2nd one. Unlike the other three, the 2nd tunnel has dozens of them, which means that this tunnel is a newly uncovered one. With her sense and logic, she pointed to the second tunnel. “Okay, this way! ” she proclaimed. “Second from the left.” They listened and continued with their journey by going towards the tunnel Moonbeam has directed. Rarity carried her down with Spike and the rest of the dogs following them. As they go on down deep, a cloud of dust from out of nowhere blew onto Katherina’s snout, making her flinch. She paused for a moment and brush the dust off quickly. Jennino stopped beside her, concerned given how the miners had to be taken to the hospital from this.  “You alright?” Jennino asked in a very uneasy tone. “I’m fine,” Katherina groaned. “Keep moving.” She took off on all fours to catch up to the rescue team with Jennino following suit. “Amber, Fiona, please hold out a little longer! I’m coming for you!” The twin princesses were starting to feel a little uneasy. They feared it was the dust they were inhaling, so that motivated them to get out faster. “Does anybody else feels like they need to cough?” Amber begged as she was about to cough, and she did. “Kind of,” Pinkie admitted. She narrowed her eyes down the tunnel, hoping to see something like a light of the exit or maybe one of those magical gemstones to help aid them. As they sprinted through the mines, Pinkie Pie noticed a dodecahedron-shaped emerald sitting on the ground. “Ooh, maybe that should help,” she guessed. Hoping for the best, the pink pony grabbed the strange-shaped emerald until she noticed a couple of holes on its front. Suddenly, a small head of a tortoise poked out, making her jump and nearly making her drop it. She carefully placed it down as four legs came out of the holes at the bottom.  “A turtle?” Fiona questioned. “Tortoise,” Indiana corrected. “I’ve never seen one like this before.” “Maybe it’s some sort of hybrid creature like a bugbear,” Pinkie guessed. She watched the crystal-like tortoise slowly crawl over to the dirt wall and took a bite out of it, making a hole in the wall. They observed as it chewed slowly and gave it a good swallow while letting out a couple of burps and exhaling a cloud of familiar-looking dust. Amber took notice and finally understood where the dust came from. “So… those things are the cause of getting the miners sick?” Amber asked. “They must be,” Indiana committed, fanning the dust away from her. “This is not good. If there’s more of them, we need to get out now.” “Hold on… how many is… more?” Fiona asked with her heart almost dropped. She was holding the fire gem up to another hole in the wall. When she took a peek, her eyes became narrow, she could see more of these tortoises crawling around, eating rocks, and burping out dust. “Oh my goodness, you might wanna see this…” She showed this to the rest of the group and saw the nesting grounds of the tortoises that were causing the sickness. “Oh dear, this ain’t good,” Indiana worried. They all pulled back before they all got a face full of dust. “Let’s get out of here! Hurry!!!”  Everyone ran off to get away from the nest as far as they could as Amber momentarily stopped and gave a few coughs. Fiona gave a worried look at her equally scared sister. The twin just nodded at each other and sprinted down hoping to escape. “Amber? Fiona?” Katherina called. “Girls?!” The worried Saluki kept calling out for her daughters as they traversed deeper into the mines. “WHERE ARE YOU!!!???” “Girls, if you can hear us, bark for us!” Jennino cried. The rescue team was getting anxious as they had yet to find the missing girls. Rarity’s magic kept revealing more and more gems until they saw a roundish emerald that wasn’t glowing. “That’s weird,” Spike commented. “What’s with this gem? This ain’t glowin’.” Wanting to know why it wasn’t reacting to Rarity’s magic, the dragon went to pick it up until the head of the tortoise poked its head out. Spike almost screamed and placed the strange animal down so it could have its rock meal. They saw it give off a dusty burp which started connecting the dots for Katherina. “Wait,” the queen evaluated, “that might be the cause of the sickness, isn’t it?” “It seems like it,” Moonbeam commented. “I’ve never seen anything like that.” “Me too.” “That solves one problem,” Spike commented, “but we still need to find the girls. I have a bad feeling that they might be exposed to those things.” “Agreed,” Katherina confirmed. “I hope we’re close.” The tortoise then bit into a purple gemstone, which it soon spat out just in front of Rarity’s hooves. The mare lifted it and couldn’t tell if it was one of the special gems. She brought the gem to her chest and could feel a strange sensation in her stomach. “What happened?” Jennino asked. “Nothing, I’m fine,” Rarity said. “I believe this is one of the feeding gems. You need to keep it in contact with you and it’ll feel like you’re being fed.” “Ooh, could’ve used that in the hospital,” Moonbeam noted. “We have been using them in our hospital too,” Spike informed, “Through fair warning, while it might feel like you’ve got some food in your belly, your stomach still digests the food you ate before you hold the gem. So, it’s best you eat something before you get rid of the gem.” “Noted.” “That’s nice to know,” Katherina said, “but can we focus on this for now?” Everyone knew the queen was right and carried on down the tunnel. Katherina was running faster than most of the guards, scared about her daughters’ predicament. “I knew I should’ve told them. Please, don’t let this be the biggest mistake of my life.” She quickly wiped away some tears before tried calling out to them again. “Amber!” On the other side, the said princess faintly heard her mother’s cry. “Mother?” she cried. “You heard that?” Pinkie asked. “I think I heard it too,” Fiona said. “Mom!” The twins called out for her mother by barking. Katherina can faintly hear them calling back. “Girls?!” the queen howled, “Where are you? Keep barking if you hear me!” The mother and daughters kept calling out to each other as some more of the dust from the tortoises started to build up. Pinkie and Indiana covered their noses and mouths to keep as much dust out as possible. The family members kept sprinting, hoping they were getting closer to each other. Eventually, they both came to a cave that has a small opening. Katherina peeked through and could see the eye of her daughter. “Girls?” she cried. “Mother!” Amber cried. “Mother, we’re here!” “Amber! Oh, I’m so happy you’re alive! Is Fiona with you?” “Mother, I’m right here,” Fiona spoke. “Indi and Pinkie are here too.” “Oh, thank goodness!” She felt relieved. “I’m happy that y’all okay. Listen here, there’s a rescue team on the way, we’re going to get you out, and we’re…” The queen paused when she heard some coughing from the other side. “Are you sure you’re fine?” “I’m alright, It just… I got some dust in my face,” Amber informed. “It’s nothing…” She couldn’t hold back her next round of coughs. Fearing that she would have a similar situation to the miners like Moonbeam, Katherina didn’t wait for the others to catch up. “Ladies, step away! I’m breaking in!” They did so, taking a couple of steps back as Amber let out a few more coughs. Knowing they were now at a safe distance, Katherina punched the wall a couple of times before digging the rubble away. She dug and punched until she could crawl over the rubble and ran over to hug her daughters. “Mother?” the twins questioned, amazed at what their mother did. Katherina didn’t say anything, she just hugged her girls while crying tears of joy.  Rarity, Spike, and the rest of the diamond dogs caught up and were amazed to see the girls that fell into the sinkhole were alright. “Pinkie!” Rarity called out. “We’re glad you’re alright as well.” “We thought that we might lose you,” Spike added. “I’m happy that you’re here,” Pinkie smiled. “Good thing I’m still alive.” “Indi!” Jennino cheered.  “Jenn!” Jennino was about to hug her until she noticed the broken arm.  “Oh my.” “It’s not that serious,” Indiana chuckled. “There’s a gem for this, …isn’t there?” “There is,” Spike answered. “Just need to find a green one.” He looked around and noticed two gems on each side of the rubble Katherina dug through, one blue and one yellow. “Now then… These two shouldn’t be together.” He kicked the blue gem down the tunnel before picking up the yellow one. “What was wrong with those?” Moonbeam asked. “That earthquake recently, they’re the cause of that. Those two are a special pair, and they should never be together. Got it?” “Noted. How about we find some more after we get out?” Moonbeam suggested. “You really shouldn’t be down here.” “Did you find more of those tortoises?” Pinkie asked. “Yes, we did,” Rarity confirmed. “I’m sure we’ll have someone like Fluttershy help take care of them.” “Who?” Moonbeam asked. “Our friend back in Ponyville,” Spike answered. “We’ll explain on the way out.” With that, they took the rescued pony and dogs towards the exit of the mines, now knowing a couple of things they had to do, especially Katherina. Once everyone was out of the hole, they went straight to the hospital to give them a checkup. In the medical room, the doctors checked on Pinkie, Indiana, and the twins, finding no serious issues they didn’t already know about. Indiana was given a proper cast for her arm and Amber was even given medication as she was lucky compared to the other miners who had a much longer exposure to the dust from the tortoises. Outside of the room, Rarity, Spike, Jennino, and Katherina were pacing back and forth waiting for them. “They’re all going to be fine,” Jennino said happily. “Glad that’s all over.” “Almost,” Katherina corrected. “Oh?” The queen looked over to Spike and Rarity, who both gave a simple nod. Katherina walked into the medical room where the girls that fell into the sinkhole were resting. “Amber, Fiona, can we have a talk… alone?” The queen looked over to Pinkie and Indiana, who knew what she meant by alone. They leave the room, leaving the royal family by themselves.  “Yes, mother,” Amber said. “Is there something for you to say?” The queen sighed and started to speak. “Girls, I knew I should’ve told this earlier, so… it’s very hard to explain. It all started with your father.” “What did our father do?” Fiona asked. “You two were very young back then, so you assumably didn’t remember. Back when we got married, your father was one of the best dogs I knew. I didn’t know anyone else who would be a better husband or king. But a little before you two were born, some special crystals were found in the mines.” “You mean the ones like the firestone?” Amber asked. “Like that. Your father wanted to examine if these gems would be used for certain tasks. However, he became too distant from me and… I was worried about the power going to his head. Then one day, he went too far.” Katherina paused because she had to take a deep breath. “The miners found a pair of gemstones like Spike had warned us about. When they brought them together, the entire kingdom shook, and then… there was an explosion.” “An explosion?! How did we not remember that?” “Both of you could barely walk when that was happening… After the explosion, massive damage was done to Caninia. Nobody wanted your father as a king anymore… and if he was willing to test an unknown power and put you two at risk…! I didn’t want to see his face again after that. The fact he knew you two would be in danger from the research of these gems was just too much for me to bear.” Amber and Fiona both thought about what they had been told. “So… our dad became a mad scientist when he found some crystals?” Amber questioned. “That’s… One way of putting it. It’s also the main reason I’ve kept you in the castle for so long. I don’t know what would I do if… If I ever… Lost you.” Katherina could feel herself tearing up saying this after the near-death experience her children just went through. She laid her head onto Amber’s bed with her arms folded and her teary eyes blanketed, she wept. She couldn’t imagine what’d happen in a different scenario if both Amber and Fiona die from burying alive. Seeing their mother crying, Amber spoke up. “Mother, I… I don’t blame you,” the princess spoke. “I mean… if I was old enough to remember and somebody chose a dumb experiment over me, I wouldn’t want anything to do with them. Fiona, what about you?” “…It does sound dumb,” Fiona admitted. “I mean that’d be like keeping… dresses that are too small for me.” She felt a little upset and Amber didn’t know how to react. “Oh, man… Sis, I didn’t mean to compare you like that, I… I should’ve stayed in the castle and… maybe none of this would’ve happened. This is my fault, and I can’t blame anyone but myself for this mess.” Amber started to feel ashamed of herself as Katherina spoke up. “We aren’t perfect, girls,” the queen spoke, “me included. Instead of just saying why you couldn’t go outside, I kept you locked on castle grounds, shutting you out from the rest of the world. I don’t know why I never told you.” A slight creak of the door was heard as Jennino was eavesdropping on the conversation. She couldn’t help but add her opinion. “No parent would blame your decision,” she spoke. The royals looked over to the English setter. Jennino looked back at Indiana and Moonbeam, who figured they might as well give their opinions. They stepped inside and sat down to give their opinions. “There are a lot of greedy creatures in this world,” Indiana commented. “Jenn and I have met a lot of mutts who attempted to scam us at our boutique. Either they make their prices, shoplift, even some had their pups run around and caused chaos.” “I have similar stories with some of my mates,” Moonbeam added. “I honestly… lost count of how many of them tried sneaking out with their personal gemstones but I’m pretty sure it’s in the triple digits.” Katherina and her daughters looked at each other thinking about their situation. “Is it possible to fix this?” Fiona asked. Katherina thought for a moment before taking another deep breath. “I’m not going to do the same mistakes your father made,” she proclaimed. “I’m going to start making those changes around the kingdom, starting with the mines and figuring out how to take care of those tortoises.” “What about the elemental gems?” Amber asked. “...We’ll figure those out soon. We need to make sure those animals don’t cause any more of our workers.” “We could ask the ponies outside about their friend,” Jennino suggested. “They said she’s like a caretaker of all animals and has a sanctuary for them too. I almost forgot her name… Butterfly?” “Perhaps. I think it’ll take a while for the mines to be completely clean. We’ll have to take procedures to have them wear protection to avoid inhaling that dust.” Fiona soon rose her paw to say something. “Um, mom, do you think there’s a chance that you could help me with the extra dresses in my room?” she asked. “We’ll look into that. Maybe your sister can help you with that until I have the free time.” Fiona looked over at her twin sister. “I mean, we survived a sinkhole,” Amber shrugged. “I guess I can help take care of your clothes.” Rarity, Pinkie, and Spike poked their heads into the room and were happy to see that the family’s relationship was rebuilt. Katherina simply smiled as she stood up and hugged her daughter before whispering something into her ear. “Amber, I’ll see if we can teach you to play Pawball,” she whispered. Amber smiled at this as they all noticed a glow coming from their visitors. Spike’s spines and the ponies’ cutie marks glowed, which Pinkie was quick to inform what was going on. “Don’t worry about that,” Pinkie proclaimed, “This is completely normal from where we come from. It means our work here is done.” “If there’s anything that you need from Equestria, send a letter and we’ll respond as soon as we can,” Spike informed. “Thank you, Spike,” Katherina responded. “And… I apologize for my rude behavior since you arrived. It’s been…” “Stressful? I understand. I’ve worked with a princess who used to freak out from being tardy with a letter. I’ve seen plenty worse.” Rarity nodded in confirmation. She shuttered a bit as she remember Twilight’s tardy freakout. “Anyways, Your Majesty, I wanna say this: I enjoyed my visit to Caninia when we first came here. And the first time I met you, I was expecting you to be similar to the ones I’ve met before, but knowing you for a while, all of you are a thousand times better. Thank you very much.” “It was nice having you visit here, Miss Rarity,” Jennino said. “We hope that you’ll come again soon. And hopefully, if we have plans, we could visit Equestria someday in return.” “Oh, I’m sure we’ll give you a very warm welcome.” “Well, I guess it’s time to go home later on,” Spike declared. “Right, I can’t wait to tell our friends back home about them,” Pinkie said. A few minutes later, the Equestrians and diamond dogs left the hospital, each splitting off to head back to their residence. Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Spike hopped back onto the airship to go back to Equestria after their long mission; Indiana and Jennino went back to their boutique to continue their business; and Queen Katherina, Ambrosia, and Fiona went back to their palace to do their own things. Speaking of Katherina, she was already making plans to keep the mines in order while cleaning out the tortoises. Meanwhile, inside Fiona’s room, both twins were taking care of the attire that no longer fits her. As they do that, they’re having a chat. “You know, I think I understood pawball,” Fiona admitted. “Seriously? It’s simple to me,” Amber commented. “Yeah, but you also understand those narra books. Those stories are just complex.” “Yeah, the action genre is one of the most popular ones like Hound Jewel, but let me tell you, there are slice-of-life genres too.” “Wait, really?” “Yep. It’s not all action with dogs being the snot out of each other. I know this nice story about a winged diamond dog.” “That’s just a fictional story.” “So are hounds shooting planets busting layers. It’d still be enjoyable. I’ll see if we can buy you a copy.” The two sisters kept on chatting about expanding interests as Katherina passed by eavesdropping, and hoping to have some time with her daughters once she had time after taking care of the mines. She carried on down the hall, stopping again to look out the window to see the airship, carrying the creatures that helped them back to Equestria. “Farewell, my friends,” Katherina muttered with a smile. “We’ll meet again soon.” After a moment, she left the scene.