Broken Hearts and Diamonds

"Bring it, bitch."

Cloudchaser sped towards Rainbow Dash, intent on breaking through the stronger pegasus to get at her sworn enemy. Rainbow of course expected Cloudchaser to rush at her and broke into a run to intercept the other pegasus. At the last second Dash turned her body and felt Cloudchaser hit her head against her body. Rainbow winced as the wind was knocked out of her but Cloudchaser received the worst of the impact, her head receiving the full blow from the collision and causing her to stall on the ground. Rainbow recovered first and saw the opening Cloudchaser had left and spun around, kicking out with her hind legs. Cloudchaser jumped out of the way to avoid the crippling kick and received just a grazing blow on her side, but she did not expect the follow up attack Dash threw. Cloudchaser was caught off guard as Rainbow Dash headbutted her just below her neck, sending Cloudchaser to the ground.

"Give up yet? There's no way you can beat me." Rainbow Dash said.

Cloudchaser spat in Dash's direction and got back up. "Not on your life. I'm going to stomp you into the ground before I beat down your whorse of a friend." she replied.

The insult stung Rainbow Dash's pride and increased her anger. She went on the offensive and body-slammed Cloudchaser, both mares tumbling to the ground together as the bit and kicked at each other.

Spike looked on helplessly, and though he wanted to break up the two fighting mares he knew that interfering with their fight would only result in him getting severely injured. He knew from experience that Rainbow Dash could hold her own in an apple-bucking contest with even Big Mac, and the fact that Cloudchaser was still putting up a strong fight was proof enough that she was no pushover herself. However, Spike did notice Rarity slowly backing away from the two fighting pegasi and started running towards her, determined not to lose his only lead to find his marefriend.

"Rarity, stop!" he cried out. Rarity cursed under her breath that Spike hadn't run to get help in stopping Rainbow Dash and Cloudchaser from trying to kill each other, and she began to run in an all-out sprint to escape. She quickly came to a screeching halt as another pony magically appeared in front of her, blocking her path. Rarity gulped, knowing that she was in big trouble.

"T-Twilight, what are you doing here?" Rarity asked nervously.

The purple alicorn took a step towards her. "The better question, Rarity, is where were you about to run off to?" Twilight asked.

"Oh, uh, I... I was going to get help." Rarity said. "Rainbow Dash and Cloudchaser are acting absolutely barbaric and somepony needs to stop them."

"Stop lying, Rarity, I know you weren't going for help." Twilight said.

At that moment Spike finally reached the two and called out to his friend. "T-Twilight, she..." Spike gasped.

"I know, Spike." she said. "We're solving this whole thing here and now."

A loud *WHUMP* caught all of their attention and a plume of dirt and gravel came showering down on all three of them. Cloudchaser had taken to the skies in an attempt to flank Rainbow Dash and conduct a surprise attack on Rarity while she was talking to Twilight, but Rainbow Dash had easily caught up with her and yanked hard on her tail. Cloudchaser went tumbling down, but right when she was about to steady herself in midair Rainbow hit her while in a dive and drove Cloudchaser straight into the rocky earth. As the dust cleared Rainbow saw that her attack worked perfectly, and Cloudchaser lay at the bottom of the crater. Just as Rainbow was about to dust off her hooves and race over to Rarity, her mouth fell open in shock as Cloudchaser uneasily got back on her hooves. Ignoring the cut on the side of her head that she suffered from the violent attack, she stared up at Rainbow Dash with nothing but pure hatred and the desire to now kill her too. Rainbow, too, felt the new tension in the air and readied herself once again for the imminent attack. Both pegasi now knew for sure that this wasn't just some mare-on-mare fight that would end when one of them became too tired. No, this fight was now to the death; only one of them would be leaving this place alive.

Twilight could see the hatred in both Cloudchaser's and Rainbow Dash's eyes as they both took to the skies once more and put on a beautiful display of deadly acrobatics, but Twilight knew that they had to end this horrible display now. Turning her attention back down to earth, Twilight groaned as only Spike stood in front of her. Looking almost directly behind her Twilight saw Rarity just ducking into the bushes and running off, having successfully used the battle between Cloudchaser and Rainbow Dash as a smoke screen.

Twilight shed a single tear as Rarity's guilt became harder and harder to ignore, and she felt her heart break at the thought that Princess Luna was right. Twilight wanted to chase after Rarity and get the truth from her once and for all, but she knew that her first priority was stopping Rainbow Dash and Cloudchaser from killing each other. There was no way she could step in herself and stop them without herself getting injured, even if she did use her magic. "Spike!" she called out. "Spike, I need you to run back to Ponyville and alert the guards! Then bring them ba-"

She stopped mid-sentence as she saw that while she had been distracted by Rarity that now Spike had disappeared on her. Spinning around, she saw no trace of the dragon; all she saw was his footprints on the ground, leading to one of the small dark holes that dotted the land.

"Celestia damn-it!" Twilight yelled out in frustration. Even if the two pegasi weren't fighting above her, Twilight couldn't follow Spike as the hole he dove down was much too small for a pony to fit in. With no one else to help her Twilight stomped her hooves in frustration and had no choice but to signal the guards herself. Firing off a series of flares high into the sky, she hoped that the guards would see them all the way in Ponyville and would send a small group to investigate despite having the entire town on lockdown. With nothing left to do but wait, Twilight could only helplessly watch the two pegasi violently attack each other. Twilight searched desperately for an opening to restrain them somehow, but she knew that if she got a hold of one, the other would take advantage of the help and most likely land a fatal blow on the restrained pony before Twilight could subdue the second.

"Girls, stop this now! Please, stop it!" Twilight called up, hoping to at least catch their attention. But neither Cloudchaser or Rainbow Dash paid any attention to her, instead they continued darting back and forth in the sky, decorating the ground far below them with small droplets of blood as they continued to fight.

"Uurgh... that was stupid of me." Spike groaned, rubbing his head. While Twilight was distracted by Rainbow Dash and Cloudchaser's battle, Spike had noticed a small creature pop up out of the ground stare at the two battling pegasi, but before Spike could notify Twilight the creature spotted him and disappeared. Spike recognized the creature; it was one of those Diamond Dogs that had tried to force Rarity into slavery! He rushed over to where the dog had gone underground and saw the canine hiding just below the surface, but once he saw the dragon he dropped down into the darkness. Spike felt his heart sink as he realized that the Diamond Dogs may have Flitter now, hence why Rarity was all alone when he found her. Without thinking it through Spike dove down the hole after the small dog, determined not to let his one lead go.

Unfortunately for Spike, the hole proved to go deeper than he thought and he fell farther and farther, eventually tumbling out of the hole and into a cavern deep in the Diamond Dog's tunnels. He looked around after getting up and saw no sign of the small dog he was chasing after.

"Hello? Flitter? Are you here?" Spike called out, but is only answer was the echo of his own voice. He silently began moving forward to explore the dizzying maze of tunnels, knowing there was a slim chance of finding either the dog he saw or Flitter. However, luck seemed to smile down upon Spike finally and as he approached the next cavern he heard three voices talking.

"-ust those crazy ponies fighting."

"Fighting themselves? Hee hee hee, maybe I can buy more ponies and have them fight for us."

"Shut up, you already have your own pony. It's our turn to get one!"

"I'm pack leader, if I say all the ponies are mine, they are mine. You can have ponies I don't want. But the pretty pony we have now is mine!"

Spike stayed hidden as the arguing voices seemed to grow fainter and then disappeared. Finally peering around the rocks he was hiding behind, Spike saw that the cavern was empty and there was still no sign of Flitter. He walked forward and groaned as he saw at least a dozen different tunnels branching off from the cavern he was in, and he had absolutely no idea which tunnel the Diamond Dogs took. Taking a wild guess, he scampered down a random tunnel, hoping that his luck was still running strong and on his side.

Far above Spike, Rainbow Dash and Cloudchaser remained locked in battle. Cloudchaser had dealt Dash a few good blows, but Rainbow was far superior in speed which was proving to be the vital deciding factor. Sweating and out of breath, Cloudchaser landed roughly on the ground and remained sprawled out on the dirt, leaving Rainbow Dash circling above her. Dash knew she now had the advantage and had a golden opportunity to end the fight once and for all. She flew straight up, becoming a tiny speck to Twilight and Cloudchaser before she looped around and came streaking down as fast as she could, picking up speed and beginning to form a 'V' shaped cone of colors around her.

Twilight caught on to what Rainbow Dash had planned. "NO! Rainbow, don't do it!" Twilight shouted at the top of her lungs, but of course it wasn't enough to reach Rainbow's ears. Twilight sprinted towards where Cloudchaser remained on the ground, unable to defend herself from Dash's attack. The alicorn knew that if Rainbow Dash pulled off a sonic rainboom close enough to Cloudchaser, the force of the rainboom would completely decimate Cloudchaser, leaving an absolute zero chance that she would survive. Rainbow Dash streaked closer and closer, and Twilight knew that there was no way she could run quick enough to stop Rainbow. Closing her eyes, she lit up her horn and teleported the remaining distance, reappearing on top of Cloudchaser.

Rainbow Dash let out a yelp of surprise as her friend appeared in front of her as if by, well, magic. There was no way she could slow her fall in time to stop before hitting the ground, but she could never attack somepony and let one of her friends be injured in the crossfire.

"Twilight! MOVE! For Celestia's sake, mo- FUCK!" Rainbow yelled out. Seeing that her friend wasn't budging, Rainbow veered off course and tried to slow her speed as much as possible before she slammed into the earth, sending another plume of dirt and dust into the air. Twilight rushed over to where Rainbow fell, rushing to her friend's side.

"Rainbow Dash! Rainbow, are you okay?" she asked her.

Amazingly, Rainbow spat out a mouthful of dirt and rocks and headbutted Twilight in her chest, knocking her to the ground. "You foal, what the heck did you do that for?" Rainbow Dash asked angrily. "You're trying to protect that bitch, huh? Is she now more important that all of your friends, if we even still are friends?"

"No, Rainbow, listen!" Twilight pleaded. "You have to stop fighting right now! Just please, listen to me."

Rainbow pushed past Twilight. "No way, Twi. If somepony attacks one of my friends, then they're my enemy." she said.

Just then a loud crashing sound caught Rainbow and Twilight's attention. Looking in the direction of the noise, eight guards burst from the bushes and into the open area. Rainbow's eyes went wide with surprise before she glared back at Twilight. "You called the guards on us?" she yelled in disbelief. Seconds later Rainbow found herself being crushed by the weight of four guards as they attempted to subdue her. Rainbow Dash thrashed around violently and tried to escape, but the guards' superior numbers proved to be too much for her to handle, and after a brief struggle Rainbow found herself being escorted away, her legs and wings restrained with ropes. The guards who arrested Cloudchaser had a much easier time as the pegasus had no energy left in her to fight, but as the guards escorted her away she turned to Twilight with tears in her eyes.

"Please... please, find Flitter." she said before being escorted back to Ponyville. Twilight nodded, silently promising Cloudchaser that she would. But something else more important needed to be done first; she had to find Spike.