The next day, the Silanos have gathered up on the same spot Rarity took them to the day before on the outskirts of Ponyville. The three of them just stood in the middle of the field of barren dirt and rocks as if waiting for something, as Roberto kept checking his watch. After a while, the thing they were waiting for finally arrived. Many trucks and construction vehicles were headed their way, one of which included an excavator, and they stopped in the large patch of flat grey ground they were standing on. Out of the trucks, the union workers all stepped out and walked in front of the Silanos.
"We got your message, Mr. Silano. So what are we dealing with?" the foreman asked.
"Ya see all this ground we's standin' on? Right underneath our feet, is a large mine filled with more gems than you can count or even take. An' we're gonna dig 'em out," Roberto answered.
The foreman and the other workers all nodded, a lot of them with excitement and enthusiasm riddled on their faces. "Alright, you all heard 'im. Bring the excavator over here! Let's start digging!" the foreman told the others.
The excavator drove forward and extended it's long metal arm into the ground and began digging into the earth, scooping out tons of dirt out of the ground by the hour. But even in the early stages of digging around the area, they've already managed to find multitudes of gems to carry. If this was only what the surface had to offer, then they could only imagine what will await in the actual underground.
"Look at that, we just scratched the surface and already we've dug up enough gems to fill up an entire jewelry store!" Ainsley said.
After a few more hours of digging, that already turned up quite a lot of gems, the excavator finallly hit something, or rather nothing, as they finally reached an underground tunnel in the earth beneath them. After around an hour more of digging, they finally dug up a hole big enough for the Silanos to enter, and even formed a giant dirt pile that allowed them to safely walk down into the hole. As they did, the Silanos took a look at the tunnel they were in, and were awe-struck like never before.
Along the walls of the rocky tunnel, there were hundreds of gems of many colors sticking out of the walls of the tunnel as far as the eye could see. They could only imagine the uncountable amout of gems that awaited them in the rest of the mines.
"Holy cannoli! We jus' hit the fuckin' motherload!" Gabriele cried out in amazement. "This could set us up fa life!"
"Looks like now we can begin the real work," Roberto smiled with his cigar in his mouth.
They called the other union workers down who began setting their mining equipment in the tunnel. There were many tunnels the more they ventured, with the entire mine almost feeling like an underground labyrinth, so one of the workers was tasked with placing markers so nobody, especially the Silanos got lost. The workers also began dragging down carts or using carts that were already in the tunnels to put the gems they dug out, which would be dragged outside and dumped into the trucks.
Ainsley, along with his father and brother, continued looking around the mines, and he had sparkles in his eyes from all the gems he saw were being dug out. "Oh, Dad, can I keep some of the gems for myself?"
"Sure, son, there's enough to go fa everyone. I'm keepin' a few myself as well, which I wanna give ta Rarity as promised, an' I wanna give some of 'em as a gift fa ya mother," Roberto answered.
"I'm sure Mom would love that. That is if you can get her to come out of her room and stop praying. Is she praying for you going to another world, or because she's still upset about me and my lifestyle?" Ainsley asked.
"Both, I guess. But probably more about you."
"Of course she is. It's been months, Dad. You'd think she'd get over it by now."
"Well, y'know ya mother. Very sweet woman, but can be very overdramatic at times. Don't worry, I'll try ta talk 'er out of it."
"You probably should, dad."
"But don't think that that gives ya an excuse ta talk ta ya mother howeva' ya like, Ains. I want ya ta treat ya mother with the respect she deserves, even if she is disagreein' with ya lifestyle. Alright?"
Ainsley just sighed. "Alright, I'll try, Dad," he said. "I mean, I don't hate Mom or anything, it's just that she's a really hard woman to get anything through once her mind is set. Remember the time I tried to convince her to try using an iPhone?"
"Oh, I sure do."
"I kept insisting she should try having one to make her life easier and she'd be able to contact us anytime. But she kept refusing for no clear reason, and we got into a heated argument that I didn't even realize was happening until she just started getting emotional and ran out of the room."
"Yeah, she kept causing a damn scene that day," Gabriele chimed in.
Roberto chimed in as well. "I can't fully blame 'er. I still don't understand the fuckin' things. All these fuckin' pointless apps on one device, I neva' know where ta go or how the damn thing works. I also neva' wanted 'em used by anyone in my business, the things are nothin' more than portable wire taps."
"Well, you're not wrong there," Ainsley said.
Suddenly, the Silanos and the workers heard a noise coming from the tunnel in front of them, which caused Ainsley to jump in surprise and hide behind his father, who was large enough to hide Ainsley's small figure, in which his father told his son to get off. Then, out of the tunnel, appeared three figures. One small and brown, one medium and dark grey, and one large with a light grey color. As they got a better look at the figures, they could see that they were anthropomorphic dogs, who were wearing vests and collars, each having gems on them.
"Are you guys the Diamond Dogs? Jeez, you guys are uglier than I thought you'd be," Ainsley said.
The medium-sized dark grey dog named Rover spoke. "Ugly?! Who are you?! Humans? What are you all doing in our mines?!"
The small brown dog named Spot spoke as well. "Yes! These are our mines!"
"Betta' question 'ere would be, why the hell do ya guys sound like Gollum?" Gabriele retorted.
"Well, if ya wonderin' what we're doin' down 'ere, we're tryna build a sewage system through ya caves," Roberto answered, which caused the dogs to have shocked and horrified expressions on their faces, which got a chuckle out of Roberto. "Gotcha, didn't I? Nah, nah, I'm jus' kiddin'. We're lookin' fa gems down 'ere, genius. What the hell did ya think we'd be doin' 'ere?"
"Gems?! This is our mine, humans! These are our gems!" Rover shouted.
"Yes, ours!" the large dog named Fido chimed in.
The foreman leaned in and whispered in Roberto's ear. "Should we do something about them, boss?"
"Nah, let's not resort ta anythin' too harsh jus' yet," Roberto whispered back.
Roberto put his cigar in his mouth and took a deep breath before speaking, causing puffs of smoke to blow out of his mouth with every word he said that filled up the tunnel. "Yous guys got yaselves a real nice minin' facility down 'ere. It'd be a real shame if it were all ta go up in smoke. So maybe, if ya'd try workin' fa me, there won't be any problems between the two of us, an' we won't 'ave ta take all the gems fa ourselves."
"I don't know what you are saying, large human, but please stop blowing smoke in our faces..." Rover begged as he and the other two dogs put their large paws in front of their heads in an attempt to shield themselves from the onslaught of Roberto's cigar smoke breath.
"I ain't blowin' smoke in ya face, mutt! I'm bein' dead serious."
"Why should we want to work with you, human?! Or share our gems?" Rover asked in anger.
"Yeah, you humans are trespassing!" Fido added.
Gabriele sighed in frustration. "Alright, I'm tired o' this. Let me put this in a way you mutts can understand," he said as he suddenly pulled out an uzi out of his shirt and fired at the ground in front of the Diamond Dogs, causing them and everyone else in the tunnel to jump back in surprise.
"Jesus Christ, Gabe! We're in a tunnel!" Ainsley shouted as he covered his ears.
"If you dogs don't do what we fuckin' say right now, I'll put ya down like the mongrels ya are right where ya fuckin' stand! Is that what ya want?! Huh?!" Gabriele shouted.
"N-no...o-of course not, human. We'll help you find the g-gems..." Rover and the other Diamond Dogs huddled together quivering in fear.
"Y-yes, w-we will! All the gems the humans want!" Spot said as well.
"Good dogs. Now get ta work, an' if I hear own word o' whinin' comin' from ya mouths, I'll shoot ya fuckin' tails off ya asses. Am I clear?"
"Oh, yes! So very c-clear!" Fido said as he and his companions smiled nervously.
"And, hey, if you help us enough, we might even give you special treats! You guys eat treats, right? Actually, what do you guys eat anyway?" Ainsley asked, which the Diamond Dogs only gave a nervous silence in response. "You know what, never mind, forget about it. Just get to work."
As the Diamond Dogs went off to help, Roberto approached Gabriele who was putting his uzi back in his overshirt and gave his a pat on the back. "That was pretty impressive, son."
"Why, thanks, Dad. I thought so too," Gabriele smiled proudly before his father suddenly smacked the back of his head. "Ow!"
"But don't eva' fire a weapon in a place like this without warnin' us first!"
"Alright, alright! Sorry, Pops."
A few hours later, the union workers were digging all over the mines, with the help of the Diamond Dogs and their guards. By this time, they were pulling dozens of carts filled to the brim with hundreds of gems. In the middle of the mines, the Silanos were all standing together discussing business.
"Now, if we're gonna ship these gems back ta Earth, it's best we only send a small portion of our findin's at a time, 'cause if we send too many at a time, it's gonna draw too much unwanted attention," Roberto said.
"Makes sense to me," Ainsley commented.
"An' if things go accordin' ta plan, we should be able ta make around, say...at least a few hundred thousand ta a couple million by next month, if we price them correctly."
Gabriele chimed in as well. "An', ay, if things go really well, we'll be able ta even ship these gems ta otha' states! Maybe ta the otha' side o' the country!"
"Though I gotta wonder, are there any other creatures an' places in this world we can sell these to? Jus' ta try an' double the sales. The firs' obvious ones would be Rarity an' 'er fashion business, then Canterlot an' Manehatten as well, maybe some otha' cities here an' there. Where else can we sell 'round 'ere? I mean, there are a lotta otha' creatures in this world besides ponies, right?" Roberto asked.
"What about the dragons? Ya said they eat gems, right? We can try sellin' ta them!" Gabriele proposed.
"Son, try thinkin' a bit, will ya? We can't sell ta the dragons! If they eat gems everyday, they wouldn't wanna pay as much as we an' everyone else would 'cause it wouldn't be that valuable to 'em, an' why would they if they're already eatin' them everyday fa free anyway? An' that's assumin' they even 'ave currency. Do they?" Roberto asked Ainsley.
"I don't think they do. As far as I know, they all mostly live in caves and volcanic wastelands. The only 'currency' they've got is the gold and gems they hoard," Ainsley answered.
"See? They don't even 'ave a proper civilization! There's no point sellin' to 'em. Though that gives me an idea. Maybe we should also try minin' near the dragon territories from a safe distance, 'cause if they eat gems then the place they live would obviously 'ave a fuckton o' gems. We can mine those places dry an' 'ave years worth o' gems! Sure, we may deprive 'em o' food, but who cares? They're savages, anyway, let 'em starve ta death."
"Probably not a good idea, Dad. The dragons are pretty fierce creatures, and Princess Twilight and her little dragon, Spike, are close friends with the Dragon Lord. They probably would not appreciate us mining on their lands."
"I dunno why people care so much fa those fire-breathin' ova'grown lizards. There's a reason Satan took the form of a dragon in the Bible, an' it's certainly not because they're nice," Roberto said. Ainsley just stared at his father, not believing his father just unironcially used the Bible to talk about creatures of Equestria. "But we'll talk about this later, the point is that dragons are off the list ta sell gems to. So who else we got?"
"Let's see.." Ainskey took another look at his list, "We've got the griffons, they're just as big of assholes as dragons but they at least have a functioning society, though it's a pretty poor one from what I've heard. They're also known for being greedy as hell, so that's one thing we can use. Though I think they're more greedy for bits than they are for gems."
"Alright then, scratch 'em off too. Though, if they really are as greedy as ya say, I feel we can take advantage o' that. Greedy people are always easy ta control. Maybe we can get 'em ta partcipate in our gamblin' circles, or we can get 'em ta do jobs fa us, since they'll probably do anythin' for a few bucks. Let's keep 'em in mind. Anyway, who else?"
"There's the hippogriffs, but they're all about seashells, pearls, and ocean stuff, they wouldn't care about gems too much."
"Ugh, beach bums."
"There's changelings, but they're a buncha hippe bugs, so they'd be useless. Yaks, probably not. Saddle Arabians, they're horses too, so we can probably sell to them. Klugetown, probably yes too, though that place is kind of a shithole. Crystal Empire? Well, that entire place is already crystal anyway so no point selling to them. Farasi, don't know too much about it. We can probably also try selling to the Abyssinians and other Diamond Dogs, they seem like potential buyers, though I have no idea if they actually have money to pay us for it."
"Unbelievable, such a big world yet so few ta sell gems to. I suppose in such a magical world like this, gems kinda lose their value compared ta our world. No problem, though, gems aren't the only things we'll be sellin' in this world. Alright, Ainsley, make sure ya do some more research on those potential buyers, see if they can actually pay us back in any way," Roberto told his younger son.
"Okay, Dad," Ainsley said.
Just then, Roberto's cigar had completely burnt out. He took it out of his mouth, threw it to the ground and stepped on it, before pulling out and lighting up another cigar he grabbed from his coat pocket. "By the way, we still got those two council members left ta talk to. Ya two should go try talkin' to 'em, let it be a learnin' experience ta try gettin' otha's on ya side. Plus, those two don't really run businesses like I do, so I wouldn't really know how ta talk to 'em too much. Remember, Gabriele, ya talk ta the Fluttershy girl, an' Ainsley, ya talk ta the Rainbow horse."
"Yes, Dad," the Silano Brothers said.
"I'll stay 'ere fa now, keep an eye on things an' plan our businesses. By the way, where's Vincenzo today?" Roberto asked.
"He's takin' care o' some gamblin' debts, an' he's gonna watch ova' the restaurant today while we're gone," Gabriele answered.
"Ah, okay, good ta know. We've barely spent enough time in our own restaurant since we came ta Equestria, now that I think about it."
"Oh, yeah. We haven't, have we?" Ainsley chimed in.
"We'll think about it later. Right now, jus' talk ta these two flyin' horses, get ta know 'em, see what ya can find out about 'em, offer ya services or somethin' like that, get 'em on our side. Oh, an' Gabriele?"
"Yeah?" Roberto's older son responded.
"Try not ta say or do anythin' too harsh when talkin' ta Fluttershy. Remember we're tryin' ta be friends with 'em, not antagonize 'em. So keep ya anger in check an' don't do anythin' ta upset 'er too much. Alright?"
"Alright, Pops."
"Good, now get outta here," Roberto said.
With that, Gabriele and Ainsley Silano walked out of the Diamond Dog mines and walked back towards Ponyville.