With the crowd's panicked ruckus now muted by the somewhat sturdy and thick walls of the Town Hall, the mares and their bipedal escort entered through the door and approached the front desk. The desk itself was much like the building it sat in, worn and battered, but lovingly kept all the same. The secretary pony sitting in the front desk was a kindly unicorn mare whom had seen her fair share of years. As the group approached the desk, she looked up and gazed upon the newcomers with an expression of mild surprise and curiosity.

"Yes dearies? How may I help you?" she inquired with a warm smile.

"Greetings ma'am, I would like to arrange an appointment with the mayor, are they available?"

"Let me check the timetable sir, but if my memory serves she is available in the next, oh...half hour?"

"That will be fine ma'am, thank you."

Turning to his companions, Farren looked to Twilight for askance on what their next course of action should be.

"Do you have any other business to take care of Twilight? I myself am content to remain here until the mayor is available."

"Well, if your so sure, I do have to go back to the library and re-shelve the bo-"

"Oh my goodness! I had completely forgot! Twilight darling, wasn't Spike supposed to help me out today? I need to find some more gems to fit the rush order Sapphire Shores asked for!" Rarity interrupted, her eyes widening in alarm. Without further ado and with a flash of white, the fashionista had teleported away. The room was silent as everyone stared blankly at the empty space where the unicorn had stood before she had made her spontaneous exit.

"Huh, I see unicorns are still as gifted as they are absent minded." Farren murmured, turning to the nearest chair within the modest lobby to take a seat.

Soon after Rarity's rapid exit, the rest of the group said their goodbyes and left to complete their various matters of business leaving only Farren himself, and Twilight, who had opted to stay with him until his meeting with the mayor was over. The half hour passed with little incident and the crowds outside had finally gone quiet and dispersed. Eventually the calm silence was interrupted by the door in the back opening, revealing a mare with a subdued grey mane and a dull light brown coat. She peered into the room squinting through her spectacles until her eyes settled on the pair sitting in the corner of the lobby.

"Mr. Farren? Miss Sparkle? I was told by my secretary that you wish to speak with me?" the mayor gazed upon the figures intensely, straining her eyes to make out any details.

"Yes miss Mayor, I brought Farren here to talk to you about appraising the ponies of Ponyville to his existence, and perhaps introducing him in a calm manner to the townsfolk."

"Ah, I see, well I don't see why we cannot do so, after all if its just a p...p-p..pony?" The mayor stuttered as she witnessed one of the shadowy figures seemingly grow and triple in size before taking a singular stride into the light to reveal a massive bipedal creature with two burning emerald eyes that seemed to burn a path deep into her very soul.

Noticing her apparent discomfort, the creature softened its features and the eyes dimmed somewhat. It then proceeded to kneel down infront of the perturbed mare and offer a hand in greeting, "Salutations miss Mayor, I am Farren, it is a delight to make your acquaintance."

"W-what? Oh, yes. Nice to meet you as well." The mayor hesitantly replied, quickly taking her hoof into his hand and shaking it firmly. "P-please, step into my office."

Stepping into the modest yet dignified office of Mayor Mare, they then settled into the worn and faded chairs infront of the mayor's desk. The mayor herself clambering into her own seat behind the desk with some apprehension and concern.

"So, miss Mayor" Farren began, "There is the matter of introducing myself to the townsfolk in a gentle and calm fashion, which unfortunately has been met with little success as of late." Farren then went on to explain to the mayor about the scene that had happened infront of the town hall not too long ago.

"I see, well, this may complicate things." replied the Mayor as she put her hoof to her chin and stared out the window in contemplation.

"Hurry Spike! We're almost finished, just a few more gems and we will have all we need for the requisition."

With a flash and a sparkling hum, Rarity's horn lights up and illuminates a specific patch of dirt three feet to her left, identifying a sizable vein of gems in the mineral rich field of earth.

"There, it feels like they're sitting a little off to the left darling."

"Got it, how deep is the cache?" the young dragon asked as he plodded to the light marked patch of dirt.

There was a momentary pause as the fashionista took a few seconds to gauge the depth of the jewel vein, "Three...maybe four meters? Better make it four meters Spike."

Spike nodded and got to work, his claws making short work of the packed earth. Soon enough his claws scratched the surface of something hard like rock, yet it twinkled and shone in the late afternoon sun. Prying it from the dust, in his claw lay a beautiful sapphire so large that the young drake had to grasp it in both claws to keep it from rolling out of his clawed hands.

"I found it Rarity, I found it! Looks like its a sapphire vein. Good size on the crystals too." Spike called out, his eyes fixed upon his massive prize, marveling at its luster and shine.

"Exquisite work darling! Lets dig up the vein and after that I should have enough to complete the order."

"At once, my lady!"

A little ways away, from the shadow of the underbrush, three pairs of eyes gazed upon the dragon and his pony partner with undisguised greed.

"Yeeesss, geems, geeeems! My, precious geeemmmms!" a voice rasped, his eyes fixed upon the veritable mountain of gems sitting in the red wagon as it was pulled along by the little dragon.

"He is the gem hunter! With him, we can have all those gems, and moore~" squeaked a second voice, the pairs of eyes that this voice belonged to bobbing about lower than the other two pairs.

"Lets get the, Draaagooon!" the first voice declared, the bushes rustling as they prepared to pounce the unsuspecting dragon.

"Spike? Where are you?"

"Wait! Who is that!?" gurgled the second voice, as all three pairs of yellow eyes glinted like flint searching for the unexpected new development in their master plans.

"You know, its terrible to keep a lady waiting." called the white unicorn pony, as her horn lit up once more.

"Coming!" replied the gem hunting dragon, his wagon full of gems trundling along behind him. As he arrived the ground infront of the pony glowed, revealing a vein of gems of many colors and shapes. The gem hunter then went up to the glowing patch of earth and began to dig.

"I think we're really going to strike gold this time. so to speak." commented the pony as the gem hunter dug deeper and deeper until he struck the vein.

"Jackpot!" exclaimed the tiny dragon as he surfaced once more with an armful of gems.

"Ahh, its not the dragon we want. Its, the pony!" admonished the second voice.

"The Poooonnnyyy" all three voices grumbled together, as they retreated back into the shadowy shrubbery, with dastardly deviancy in their hearts and minds.

"Well Spike, I think thats all we're doing for today." Rarity stated as Spike loaded the last bit of gems onto the red wagon, "and these will certainly get me well on my way with Sapphire's outfits, why don't we start-" suddenly, Rarity's horn sparks to life, cutting her sentence short with a yelp of surprise.

"Whats this?" she questioned, her eyes going wide with confusion at a realization, "Another Jewel?"

Stepping forward drawn in by the spell, Rarity comes closer and closer to the forest border, "So strange, its in the trees." and indeed it is! Up in one of the lower hanging branches lies a gem, bright and yellow shining with a refined cut and shape. But as soon as her horn touches the jewel, it is revealed to be attached to the collar worn by a decidedly canine looking bipedal creature, its form tall and lanky, with a tail tipped with spikes, and a muzzle only a mother could love. Being a normal pony, of course Rarity would shout in surprise and back away with all haste, but remembering her status as a lady, she pauses to deliver the proper greeting as societal protocol would dictate.

"Uh-er, good day, gentle-er-fellow. Uh, I am Rarity, and this my friend Spike" upon being mentioned, the dragon hesitantly brings up a claw to wave a greeting, his words failing to reach his lips in fear of whatever this creature is.

Trying again at her manners, Rarity politely inquired, "And, you are?"

To which the creature replied by dropping from the branches and landing with a heavy thud belying its thin and lanky shape. "A Diamond Dog!" it rasped, its voice like gravel and its tone carrying a hint of greed. Now the mysterious first voice was given form.

"Oh really? Oh well that explains your fine taste in jewelry. I mean I-I know that diamonds are a girl's best friend, and now I know that they're, a dogs best friend too-hahaha, so ah-hem, your out hunting for gems as well?" she rambled nervously as she and spike backed away as the creature advanced upon them its arms up menacingly ready to come down and grab the pony.

"Yes, we hunt." replied the diamond dog, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Er, we?" Rarity muttered in confusion, seeing only one dog.

"We hunt for gems!" the dog rasped, presenting his shining jewel proudly as he advanced, "But you, are a better hunter." As he spoke the dirt behind the pony and the dragon began to rumble and bubble as something clawed its way to the surface, "So now we hunt, FOR YOU!" he growled as the ground behind Rarity burst to reveal two more dogs, one short, and one very large.

After a long tussle in which poor Spike tried his best to protect the lady he loved, the dogs finally managed to drag the poor mare screaming down into the dirt, deep down into their burrows where the sun rarely shines. As Spike knelt there at the edge of the hole from where they had taken his beloved, a feeling of hopelessness and frustration welled up within him, he felt it bubble and boil in his very soul before rising up rapidly. Cocking back his head and taking a deep breath, his feelings swelled up and escaped in a long drawn out scream of anguish.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Author's Note

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am infact alive! AHAHAHAHAHA I LIIIIIIIVVEEEEEE!

But seriously though I am sorry for making you all wait this long. Procrastination has had its claws deep in me and I feared that I would never escape. But I do have a very, very good reason for why it has taken me this long to write another chapter. Finding and job and doing college classes on the side with my senior year of Highschool don't count. But I will elude to this good reason in the next chapter. Speaking of next chapters and story stuff. Let it be known that I am taking requests for characters and possible villians. after this established plot point Im going to sort of break off from the established mlp timeline. I have already taken a character request from chikunbot and will be putting it into this next up and coming chapter. I am also announcing that I promise to put atleast a paragraph or two of work into each chapter every day.

I again thank you all for sticking with me so long, and I will see you all in the next chapter.
TTFN~!