PROLOGUE
The bright sun of Equestria shone down on Ponyville that wonderful day. Inside the Carousel Boutique, the lovely unicorn, Rarity, was busy making some dresses for the “Pony of Pop”, Sapphire Shores. She had done so well with the last set of six dresses for her that Sapphire Shores commissioned her to make even more, and Spike the dragon volunteered to help her with the dresses. Rarity still had some gems left from the last time she went to the gem fields and ran into the brutish Diamond Dogs, but they would need more gems for the rest of the dresses.
“Ah, yes, we’re almost done with this one, Spike. Just a few more and the first of Sapphire Shores’ latest dresses is complete!” said Rarity while using her magic to attach the diamonds to the fabric. “Once she sees this outfit, she’ll be begging for more! Oh I feel so lucky to be making such fine dresses for somepony so generous to pay me so much for them!”
“Not nearly as generous as you, Rarity!” Spike complemented while carrying over some gems, “After all, you do have the Element of Generosity!”
“Hehe, oh stop it, Spike…” Rarity said blushing a little. “I am just doing my job you know.”
“Aw no, we’re out of gems already!” said Spike looking at the empty box with only a few tiny little splinters left.
“Oh that’s alright, Spike. Actually, that brings me to this: you know I heard that the Diamond Dogs left the gem fields not too long ago…”
“Wow, really?” said Spike surprised, “Cool! That means you and I can go there together and find more gems without being harassed by them again!”
“Oh well that won’t be necessary, Spike…”
“Huh?”
“I thought it would be better if you and I went along with all our other friends!”
“Oh……so, it wouldn’t just be me and you……together?”
“Of course not, it’s better if the others are with us. We could get so much more done so quickly that way!”
“Eh, I guess so…” said Spike a bit disappointed that he couldn’t go with Rarity and be able to spend more time with her alone.
Meanwhile, outside the windows of the boutique, Rarity and Spike did not know they were being watched by the Diamond Dogs themselves!
“Ah, perfect!” said the leader of the Diamond Dogs. “PERFECT! She thinks that we have left the fields after all! My plan worked!”
“Now what do we do, Boss?” said the large Diamond Dog.
“Yeah, if we try capturing her, it would only wind up like last time: her whining would drive us all insane!” said the small Diamond Dog.
“Oh we won’t be taking Rarity, boys, we’ll be taking the dragon! His digging skills will make him the perfect slave for us!”
“But without Rarity, we won’t be able to find the gems so well!” said the small dog.
“Yeah, she is the only one who can do that.” said the large dog.
“Oh yeah, you’re right…” said the leader face-palming. “Now what shall we do?”
Back in the boutique, Spike and Rarity continued their conversation.
“You know, Rarity…” continued Spike, “…it’s a good thing you’re not the only one who can seek out gems with your magic horn.”
“Ah yes, Twilight Sparkle! That’s why I thought it would be good for the others to come! We can split into two groups: Twilight and I will find the gems, and the others can help uncover them and then we’ll haul them into the wagons! Perfect teamwork!”
“Good idea Rarity!”
The leader now had the answer to his problem.
“There we go, boys! The pony known as Twilight Sparkle will be our gem hunter! And then the dragon will dig them out and the others can be our pack-mules!” he told them.
“Great job, Boss!” said the large dog.
“Yeah, great idea! We’ll have all the gems we need in no time at all!” said the small one.
“Yes, indeed we will! We must be on the lookout in our new fortress though, and make sure that the hounds have all the traps set up right after we get them, that way Rarity won’t be able to rescue them or go back and call for help!”
“But Boss…” asked the large dog, “…what kinds of traps will we be setting up for her?”
“What kinds of traps do you think, you big lug?!” said the little dog. “She’s a whining, tidy neat freak, so what else do you think will be there?”
“Oooooooh, yeah, that makes sense!”
“That’s right; she’ll never find a way to rescue her friends. She’ll be too scared to continue she’ll just give up and forget them or she can just stay in the forest and suffer forever! And then they’ll be ours, and we can have all the treasure in the mountain to ourselves, yeeeeessss!” said the leader dog rubbing his paws together.
TO BE CONTINUED...