The Braggart and the Bug

by PointlessGizmo

Chapter 4: Observing the Observers

Meanwhile, in the small town of Ponyville, an infectious buzz of excitement was in the air. The annual Gemstone Festival was to take place that night, and the town's residents chattered with anticipation to each other whilst rushing back and forth making preparations. Bunting was hung from every rooftop, lamp post and any other place that it was possible to hang things off. Stalls were being assembled in the town square, ready for traders and exhibitors of gemstones from around Equestria to come and show their wares.

At Sugarcube Corner, as one might expect, Pinkie Pie was preparing to host the gem-themed party.

She'd never thrown a party with such an odd theme before, and even she was having some trouble coming up with suitable ideas. In the end, she settled for throwing one of her usual parties, except everything would be gem shaped. To that end, she'd just finished delicately removing a large lump of apple jello from an angular mold. As the green dessert jiggled and lurched about on the plate, it resembled a large emerald... albeit an extremely wobbly one. Next to it were similarly-molded jellos in strawberry, blueberry and grape flavors (to resemble oversized, wobbling versions of a ruby, sapphire and amethyst respectively).

She'd had a less easy time with the muffins - unfortunately, there was no real way of molding these into a gemstone shape. She stared at the puffy, round confections with a puzzled look on her face, until an idea landed atop her bouncy pinky mane, crawled down her head, and squeezed itself into her ear. She suddenly grinned broadly.

"I am just about to be BRILLIANT!" she squeaked, barely able to contain her excitement.

Within minutes, the muffins had many angular surfaces and strange corners - they vaguely resembled chocolate-chip encrusted gemstones. However, they more closely resembled regular muffins that had been battered with a coal shovel. This is because that was exactly what they were.

Pinkie set the shovel down behind the counter, and admired her work. Sure, the muffins were a bit crooked but it wouldn't matter once they'd been eaten!

"Perfect!" she exclaimed, and nodded triumphantly.

Noticing the matt black coating some of the muffins had taken on, she wondered if she should have perhaps washed the coal shovel first. She shrugged, and carried on with the party preparations, merrily humming nonsensical tunes to herself as usual.

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Outside, Rarity was already transporting boxes of assorted gems towards the trade area. She wanted to get first pick of the stalls so she could guarantee herself a good place. The traders' market got very busy during the festival's peak hours - stalls in more secluded areas were often overlooked by potential customers. It was therefore vital for her to get a decent spot! A few paces behind Rarity, carrying a large sack filled with opals of assorted colors was Spike, who was only too happy to help his beloved. One thing he was not happy about however, was the mesh muzzle Rarity had made him put on before allowing him to help.

"Why do I even have to wear this thing?" he grumbled. "It's uncomfortable, it's chafing my snout and makes me look stupid!"

"Sorry, Spikey-Wikey." replied Rarity, barely able to contain a semi-sympathetic giggle "But I can't have you eating up all my profits! I'm hoping to trade these rare opals for some more baby-blue sapphires. I ran out of those a while back, thanks to my sister."

"I didn't eat all those gems you collected for Sapphire Shores that time!" protested Spike. "Well, maybe a couple... alright, I had a few... look, I left you enough to finish the costumes, didn't I?" he attempted to argue, without success.

"Barely!" said Rarity, still giggling to herself. "But don't worry Spike, I'll make it up to you later."

She peered into one of the boxes of gems she was carrying with her magic. On top of the assorted gems lay one much larger than most, an unusual frosted azure blue color. It was an extremely rare Ice Sapphire, a gem of similar desirability to the Fire Ruby that Spike had given Rarity some months before. Rarity was planning to give it to Spike after the stall was set up as a token of gratitude for helping her, and to make up for the Fire Ruby that he never got to eat.

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However as Rarity and Spike continued putting the stall together, neither realized that they were being watched, as were all the ponies preparing for the Festival. Three pairs of malevolent-looking eyes glared at the unfolding scene from the secluded safety of a large nearby bush.

"Sshhh! Don't make a sound! It's the whining pony!" whispered a voice urgently. "My ears are still ringing from our last encounter with her and her friends! Whining pony must not see us!"

The voice belonged to Rover, the leader of a small band of Diamond Dogs. He and his cohorts always attempted to steal gems from Ponyville during the Gemstone Festival, believing it to be easy pickings. However, for one reason or another they had always failed. Had they been slightly more intelligent than a pebble, they may well have given up pursuing gems in such a way. However, their simple minds were inevitably enthralled by the prospect of so many hard-to-find types of gem being in the same place at the same time.

"I think we see enough." came a lower-pitched voice, belonging to a hulking Diamond Dog known as Fido.

"Yes, now we need to go plan!" said a high voice, belonging to a small and exceptionally ugly Diamond Dog called Spot, who despite his name didn't have a single spot on his fur. "And we need to get out of here before whiny pony or any of her friends see us!"

Rover conceded that his minions were right, and the three of them slowly shuffled away through the undergrowth towards the cover of the Everfree. Despite their espionage, none of them had a decent plan which would get them past the ponies and allow them to escape with the gems. What the greedy canines didn't know however, was that they themselves were being watched...

After waiting for the Diamond Dogs to leave, Leech leapt from his vantage point in a nearby tree, and flew as fast as his insect wings would carry him back to the wagon, where Trixie was waiting.

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They'd taken longer than expected to reach Ponyville - they'd stopped overnight as Trixie had said she didn't want Leech to be too tired to listen to instructions properly this time. Leech got the feeling however, that this wasn't the whole reason she'd allowed him to rest. He'd noticed over the last day or so that the love he was skimming from her had changed flavor slightly. It tasted slightly stronger and sweeter, although he wasn't entirely sure why. He didn't give it too much thought, however. He presumed it was because Trixie was so pleased with herself over this new plan she'd devised.

He landed in the same Everfree clearing they'd lived in previously, which was to be their base of operations during the evening's proceedings.

"Leech see Diamond Dogzz, they came juzzt like Trixzzie said they would!" he reported to Trixie.

"Excellent. I knew those bone-brained fleabags wouldn't be able to resist! My plan needs some dumb muscle for it to work, and muscle doesn't come much dumber than those cretinous curs!" Trixie said smugly.

"What izz next zzstep?" asked Leech.

"Simple." answered Trixie with a sinister smile. "We find these halfwitted hounds and recruit them! They'll almost certainly want to join us when they see the flawless plan that Trixie has so cleverly created! Did you see which way they went?"

"Yezz, they went due ZZSouth!" Leech said proudly.

"Good work." Trixie said approvingly. "Now let's-"

"...or wazz it ZZSouth-Eazzt? Maybe ZZSouth-Wezzt. Or at a push, pozzibly juzzt Wezzt." Leech fumbled, attempting to recall which way was South.

"Look, just point which way they went!" Trixie snapped, her patience wearing thin.

Leech pointed a hoof in the general direction that the Dogs had headed in, and he and Trixie set off in pursuit of their potential partners-in-crime.

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Making their way to another clearing, where Leech had last seen the Diamond Dogs traveling, Trixie again asked Leech to point in the direction the gem-obsessed canines had headed. Leech pointed to what appeared to be a very overgrown path, coated with vines and cloaked under a solid blanket of bushes. The forest's thick undergrowth impeded their progress considerably - the direction Leech had pointed in didn't seem to be a path through the forest at all. Trixie snarled as she untangled her hooves from yet another tenacious clump of tangleweed, before calling out to Leech.

"Alright, STOP!" she shouted, causing Leech to halt in his tracks. "How could they have gone this way, leg-holes? There isn't a pathway!"

"Leech izz zzsure they went thizz way!" Leech protested.

"But how? There isn't a pathway! This route is absolutely impassable!" Trixie countered crossly.

"Umm... magic?" said Leech feebly, running out of ideas.

"Don't be ridiculous you... um... ventilated-shinned... varmint." muttered Trixie, running out of decent insults.

"Trixzzie uzzezz magic!" Leech said, attempting to make a point.

"Yes, but Trixie isn't a smelly Diamond Dog!" Trixie replied, her will to live draining by the second. "Look, my hooves are getting muddy and I'm fairly certain I've got a centipede nesting in my tail. Let's go back to where we started and see if you can remember which way they really went."

Giving a nonchalant shrug, Trixie and Leech struggled and forged their way back through the Everfree's bushes and plants until they reached the clearing where Leech had last seen the Diamond Dogs.

"Now," said Trixie briskly, "Have another look around and see if you can recall which way they went."

Leech slowly paced around the clearing, as if he was a detective looking for clues at a crime scene. His face the very picture of intense introspect and concentration, it was several minutes before he spoke again.

"Leech thinkzz it might be thizz way!" he said at last, pointing down a narrow, but much clearer pathway.

"How can you be certain?" asked Trixie suspiciously.

"Diamond Dog trackzz!" said Leech proudly, pointing to a set of paw-prints in the Everfree mud.

Trixie was agape.

"How did you not notice those before we wasted all that time battling through the forest?!" she gasped. "I mean of all the stupid... look, you know what? Never mind, let's just get going before we run out of time!"

With this, the duo headed down the thin, darkened pathway in order to locate their new recruits.

"So hard to find good help these days!" thought Trixie. "I hope the Dogs are better minions than this fool!"

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After around a half-mile of galloping through the dark and forboding Everfree foliage (due North, as it turned out), the scheming twosome found the three miserable-looking dogs in a small clearing, sitting on a rotten log by a fetid muddy pool. They were dejectedly throwing stones into the thickened brown water, whilst lamenting their lack of a strategy.

"It's not fair!" whined Spot.

"Too many ponies for us to fight or to sneak past" moaned Fido.

"Selfish ponies, keeping all the good gems for themselves!" grumbled Rover bitterly. "Those rare stones should belong to Diamond Dogs!"

"Perhaps I can help with that..." came a voice from behind them.

All three Diamond Dogs immediately leapt to their feet and spun around, panic in their eyes.

"W-who's t-t-there?!" stammered Rover. "Show yourself!"

The three dogs glanced around the forest, attempting to find the voice's source, unaware of the two pairs of eyes watching them from a nearby bush.

"Well, Leech." whispered Trixie to her accomplice. "Looks like it's time for our recruitment drive to begin!"

Comments

[PointlessGizmo]

Slightly shorter chapter than usual this time, the original draft was a bit too long (in my opinion), plus the next half is quite dialogue-heavy. So I split it up. Chapter 5 arriving shortly.

[TeaPartyCannon]

Short, but sweet. This chapter seems to be more setting up the situation than anything else.

Trixie's use of dumb muscle is going to come back to bite her, I'm sure of it! I can't wait for the next chapter!

[Jirodyne]

"until an idea landed atop her bouncy pinky mane, crawled down her head, and squeezed itself into her ear."

Sounds like Pinkie to me!

[SuperChaosKG]

Hiring... Diamond Dogs... for muscle.

>Meanwhile, in another dimension<

Checker Monarch took a sip of her tea.

It's uncanny! Bonus points for relation.

[Midnight Blues]

When I read the title "Observing the Observers" I had a weird chill and caught a whiff of cotton candy. Is supposed to happen?

[fractalman]

799603 :that's perfectly normal. Don't worry. even though it's been over three years, it's perfectly normal.