Two Bodies One Soul

The bell above the door of Carousel Boutique chimed like it always did.

"One minute, darling," Rarity called from her creation room upstairs.

Darling. Spike always liked it when Rarity said that, even though she said it to everypony and even though she didn't know it was him at the door. On the other claw, Spike reasoned, she was expecting him.

Forced to wait, Spike kicked around the main room. He took a moment to look at the ponequin on the main stage. The dress was nice enough, but Spike was more interested in the strategic placement of rubies and the liberal use of gold thread. Never let it be said that Spike didn't love everything shiny.

"Oh, good morning, Spike," Rarity said, entering the room and noticing the dragon.

"Hi Rarity," Spike greeted with a small wave, "you all set?"

"Just about," she raised a hoof to her mouth in contemplation, "though I can't help but feel that I am forgetting something."

"Well," Spike pondered, going over his mental checklist, "the cart is outside, my claws are sharp, your magic works, I don't know what we could be missing."

The door chimed for a second time that morning. Stepping through the threshold was a stallion who Rarity was familiar with, but who was a perfect stranger to Spike.

"Gold Dust," Rarity smiled, "good to see you, darling."

"The sign said 'Closed'," Dust pointed out, "But the door is open."

"Oh, yes, well, I was waiting for Spike," she pointed to the dragon.

"Oh, this is the dragon you told me about," Dust said, "Well Spike, my name is Gold Dust."

"Yo," Spike greeted, giving the stallion a hoofbump.

"Oh," Rarity perked up, "that's what I forgot. I was going to ask Dust if he wanted to come with us."

"Where are you going," Dust asked.

"I'm running low on gemstones, darling," Rarity explained, "so Spike and I are headed into the mountains. I thought you would like to join us."

"Makes sense. I do need to start my gold hunt."

"I was surprised that you didn't stop by yesterday," Rarity said with a tilt of her head.

"Oh...yeah," Dust stuttered, he still wasn't comfortable with Rarity knowing his secret, and he had just met Spike, "I was busy helping Pinkie."

"No problem, darling. You're here now, and we have everything we need, so let's get going."

Exiting the boutique, Dust saw a rather large cart or wagon sitting to the side which he hadn't noticed earlier. Rarity obviously didn't mess around when it came to gem-hunting. At first, Spike made a move like he was going to pull the wagon himself.

"Here Spike," Dust said, coming up beside the dragon, "I'll pull it."

"Uh, you sure about that," Spike said with a over-sized smile.

"Sure. The least I could do in exchange for Rarity showing me around the mountains is pull her gem wagon. Besides, I'm a big stallion, it won't be any trouble at all."

Dust quickly hitched himself to the wagon. That task finished, Rarity began leading the way out of Ponyville and up into the surrounding hills. All the while, Dust kept a sharp eye out for any potential gold deposits or good places for a mine. Eventually, they reached a wide-open plateau.

"Perfect place to start," Rarity announced, lighting up her horn. After a few seconds, she pointed her horn to a specific spot in the ground. Spike used his claws to dig in that spot, and lo-and-behold, after only a few clawfuls of dirt, Spike would come up with a couple of gems.

"Wow," Dust said, "that seems almost too easy."

"I do so love magic," Rarity beamed, "You should hear the story of how I found out I had this ability."

She looked as if she was going to continue. However, before she could, she started stumbling, then walking, in a different direction, her horn seemingly pulling her along.

His two companions preoccupied, Dust began to do a survey of the land. Obviously finding gold would take a lot more digging than these gems. But before any of that could happen, he had to find a deposit.

*--*--*--*--*

Something was not right.

Dust couldn't exactly put his hoof on it, but something just felt off to him. It wasn't that he had been walking about the plateau for an hour and hadn't found anything. That was fair enough.

No, what bothered him was that the dirt wasn't what it should be. Part of finding a gold deposit was finding the right layer in the Earth. Dust knew he wouldn't find gold at this elevation, but, for some reason, the dirt he was looking at contained deposits of minerals that would be found far underground, not as part of the topsoil. To him, it seemed like the soil had been churned, like by a digging machine.

He decided to go back the way he came and find Rarity and Spike again. Surely they would have an answer to his question.

However, not a minute after he started, he heard something that shouldn't be.

"AAAAAIEEEEEEE," he heard Rarity scream. Quickly going from a trot to a gallop, Dust raced toward her voice.

When he got sight of her, he was very confused. Rarity, and Spike for that matter, were surrounded by four strange creatures. They were furry and quite sizeable. They seemed quadruped, though their front limbs and paws were noticeably longer and bigger than the hind ones.

"Hey," yelled one who was facing Dust and wearing a red vest, "get that pony!"

The other three quickly turned and made tracks for Dust. Instead of running, Dust decided to fight, aiming for the one in the middle, who's fur was a bluish tinge and was the biggest.

The two ran toward each other. The bluish creature lunged, reaching his paws out. Dust ducked his head, then, when the creature was fully above him, jerked his head up, sending the creature sailing behind him.

The smallest one, who was tan, charged from Dust's left. Dust simply turned and lowered his head, butting the creature right in the chest and dropping him.

The third one, who, by Dust's guess was wearing iron armor, attacked next. Dust simply kept his back to his foe, and, when the opportunity presented itself. Gave a good double-buck right into the offender's unarmored jaw.

However, these creatures were tough. Though Dust had dropped them all, they were soon back on their paws. Dust decided to back away from the three, right toward Rarity and Spike.

"You're a pretty tough little pony," said the red-vested one, "But we will not let this gem-hunter go again."

"Again," Dust questioned, "Rarity, you know these things?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Rarity answered, "They call themselves Diamond Dogs. They are obsessed with gemstones."

"Fitting name," Dust conceded.

"Yes," the red-vested one continued, "And this time, when we ponynap the gem-hunter, we won't leave nobody behind to squeal."

The three other Diamond Dogs were quickly closing the space.

"Rarity, Spike," Dust said calmly, "Get out of here."

"What about you," Rarity questioned.

"I can take them, no problem. But I need you and Spike to leave while you still can."

"And how do you plan on doing that," asked the only Dog who had spoken.

"Like this," Dust answered, stepping forward and cracking the littlest one on the jaw with a hoof, sending him soaring. This opened up a space in the circle. Rarity and Spike quickly made tracks, running away from the confined space and starting down the mountain.

"You fool! Now it's just you against the four of us."

"Good," Dust sneered, "the odds are even."

The last thing Rarity and Spike saw was a big dustcloud which obscured Dust and the four Diamond Dogs.

*--*--*--*--*

Rarity and Spike ran all the way down the mountain and back into Ponyville. They had had to leave the gem wagon behind.

"That was close," Spike huffed, sitting down on a rock.

"We have to go back," Rarity turned around to look back up the path they were on.

"OK," Spike said, shaking out his legs, "Where do we start?"

"You get Twilight, I'll get Pinkie," Rarity commanded, "We'll pick up Applejack and Rainbow on the way."

The two split up to find their friends. Before long, all six ponies and one dragon had been gathered and were heading back up the mountain. However, just as they made it to the plateau where Dust had been last seen, they saw in front of them a big brown stallion with a gold mane coming in the opposite direction. Dust was pulling Rarity's gem wagon, and was wearing the same red vest that the Diamond Dog had been wearing.

"Oh, hi everypony," Dust smiled.

"Dusty," Pinkie bounced over and threw her arms around his neck, "Rarity said you were in trouble."

"She said the Diamond Dogs attacked her again," Twilight said.

"Well that's true," Dust rolled his eyes up, "But I took care of them."

"Is that the vest their leader was wearing," Rarity asked.

"Sure is."

"You should take it off. Red isn't your color."

"I know," Dust reached into one of the vest pockets, "But I couldn't leave without a souvenir or two."

Dust stopped his fishing, and a craggy, gold rock fell out.

"Landsakes," Applejack gasped, "Is that what I think it is?"

"It sure is," Dust picked it up and held it in front of his eyes, "A real, pure, 100 percent legitimate, nugget of gold."

"That is marvelous, darling," Rarity beamed, "But wherever did you find it?"

"Let's get back to Ponyville and I'll explain everything."

Dust pocketed the nugget, and was about to get moving, but then he was stopped by a blue pegasus he was unfamiliar with.

"Hold on, buddy," the pegasus said, "Who the hay are you?"

"Like I said," Dust smiled, "I'll explain everything when we return to town."

*--*--*--*--*

The group traveled all the way to Carousel Boutique so that Dust could place the gem wagon somewhere. Once they were inside, Pinkie introduced Dust to the three ponies in this group he hadn't met yet.

"So what happened after we left, darling," Rarity asked as she was sorting the gems that had been gathered.

"Well, after you two got away, all Tartarus broke lose," Dust explained, "Those Diamond Dogs are tough. I was holding my own fine, but then the unexpected happened. The five of us broke through the ground. I guess all those tunnels that they've built down there undermined the Earth's structure."

"That makes sense," Twilight agreed.

"Anyway, we must have fallen a good hundred feet or so. I was fortunate that I ended up on top of all of them. They were all knocked out from the fall, if not worse, but I didn't worry about it.

"Anyway, looking around, I noticed that there were many gemstones just sitting in plain sight. I took the vest from the one so I might be able to carry something out, since I didn't have my saddlebags. However, before I could choose a precise gem or two to bring back, I noticed the gleam of something that catches my eye much more."

"The gold nugget," Pinkie exclaimed.

"Exactly. It was just sticking out of a rock. At first I thought it was just pyrite, fool's gold, but a quick examination proved that it was the real thing. So I pocketed it and eventually found my way out. When you all came upon me, I had only just hitched myself to the wagon."

"To find just one gold nugget," Twilight pondered, "that has to be rare."

"It is a bit unusual, but it proves that there is gold here. This nugget alone would sell for," Dust held it in his hoof and felt its weight, "about five thousand Bits. But if I found a payload, a vein of gold, it could be worth millions."

"Millions," Rarity echoed, eyes wide.

"That's if I find one," Dust clarified, "But at least now I know what to look for."

"This calls for a--," Pinkie began, but stopped dead in her tracks with a glare from Dust.

"No, Pinkie," he said, much calmer than his glare indicated, "No parties until I hit paydirt."

"Oh, OK," Pinkie said sadly, but then perked up again, "Can I at least give you a 'Dusty Struck Gold' hug?"

Dust chuckled, "Only a fool denies a Pinkie hug."

And so Pinkie hugged him.