Diamonds a Doesn't

Chapters

Call From Caninia
Dog Daze
Down Under
Digging up Trouble

Call From Caninia

Another great day in Ponyville where nothing weird happened so far. Rarity was gaily working at her boutique sewing a new dress with her sewing machine while humming to her soft tune. She paused for a minute to have a glimpse at the progress she had made so far. This piece of clothing has a smooth fabric with a soft tone of yellow and orange, which reminds her of her student, Sunshine, and it also has small shiny pearls on the bottom of the skirt. “Ah, Rarity, you’ve done it again,” she uttered to herself and chuckled. She was about to continue with her work until she heard her store bell ding, indicating that another customer arrived. When Rarity turned her head, she saw a pink pony coming in. It was Pinkie Pie.

“Hi, Rarity,” the pink pony greeted.

“Oh, Pinkie Pie, what brings you here?”

“Sorry if I disturbed you, but I got a word from Mrs. Cake. She said that she’s wondering if you can create a suit and a dress for little Pumpkin and Pound Cake. For special occasions, of course.”

Rarity frowned as she quickly got her order list. “I’m sorry, Pinkie, you have to tell them that I’m busy at the moment because I still got other orders to make. I should be able to start work on their order next Friday.”

Pinkie looked a little disappointed. “Aww, that’s a shame. I was wanting to see what those little twins would look like if they all dressed up.”

“Hmm… If it helps, Pinkie, you can help model one of my orders. It could help save time.”

That made the party pony light up again. “Okie Dokie Lokie! Will do!” Pinkie bounced over to the mirror while Rarity adjusted her glasses while checking her order. While Rarity took some measurements and checked the design notes of her order, Pinkie decided to talk about some things on her mind.

“So, Rarity, what other creatures do you think we’re going to get next year for school?”

“It’s hard to say. With those various creatures there, it… kind of overwhelms the ponies that we have already.”

“Maybe we could… get more minotaurs and buffalos. Or maybe even a donkey.”

“A donkey?”

“Yeah. Cranky and Matilda have been around for a while and there’s got to be more donkeys around Equestria. Like Terry’s hometown, Taur-Town.” Rarity started to get to work on putting her new dress together as Pinkie kept rambling on. “I hear that he’s doing a lot better. Iron Will and his spouse sound cute together, and I’ve met them at the parent-teacher conference before. They’re proud of Terry’s performance, and my cutie mark is glowing and so is yours…” Pinkie paused when she looked at her cutie mark, which as she said, was glowing. She squeed with excitement as the same was happening with Rarity. “Well, whaddayaknow!”

“My, this hasn’t happened in a long time.”

“I know.” Their cutie mark figures begin floating in the air and soar their way out to the door. “C’mon! Let’s go!” Pinkie bolted after them. Rarity followed behind after leaving her supplies.

As two mares rushed to the castle, they were confused about their directions. “Hey, isn’t the castle that way?” Pinkie asked. They looked to see the castle still standing proud in a hard-to-miss location. However, it looked like they were running past the location, but instead, they were heading into the Everfree Forest.

“That’s odd,” Rarity commented. “Unless…” The two friends soon found themselves running towards the Everfree Forest until they had made it to the Treehouse of Harmony. “Why at the treehouse out of all places?”

Knocking on the door, they were answered by Sandbar, who was in the middle of a study session with Smolder, Silverstream, and Ocellus. “Professors!” Sandbar exclaimed, then looks back at the marks floating over the new map. “I see this is about to become a normal thing, isn’t it?” He then allowed them to enter the treehouse to see their marks floating over the new map.

“My my,” Rarity exclaimed. This is grander than the other one. I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

“You’re telling me,” Pinkie commented, spotted a silhouette of a familiar purple and green dragon. “Hang on, is that Spike’s head?”

On cue, they heard the door slam open. They turned to see Spike coming in. He saw Pinkie Pie and Rarity, and moved over to them. “Hey, girls,” the dragon called. “Applejack said something about checking out the treehouse after not finding my head on the map…” Spike paused when he saw the map in the treehouse. “This again?”

“Again? This has happened before?” Rarity questioned.

“Yep, with Applejack and her li’l sister,” Silverstream added.

“...And Zecora,” added Ocellus.

“Oh yeah… Zecora too. They had their mission last time.”

“We had ours too last time…” As Sandbar was about to continue, he was given the do-not-talk-about-it stares from his friends realizing that it is best not to speak about what they have gone through. He almost forgot about this.

Pinkie Pie was amazed by this new and unique giant version of the original holographic map back in Twilight’s old castle. She is about to have a good look as she stepped forward to where her mark, Rarity’s, and Spike’s were floating. “What’s the difference between this map and the one in the castle?”

“Give the location a tap, and see it for yourself,” Ocellus recommended with a wink.

She did as Ocellus told her, tapping on the given location, it zooms in making it more life-like. Pinkie again was stunned by this new feature, as well as Spike and Rarity. They can see the life-sized holographic structures. “What the heck!” Spike cried.

“I know, right,” Smolder smirked. “You’re not the only ones that are surprised by this amazing feature.” Sandbar, Silverstream, and Ocellus nodded.

As Pinkie, Rarity, and Spike checked the holographic place out, a figure came out of Pinkie’s body, then came another out of Spike which made him jump, and then the third out of Rairy which almost made her faint, and then came the fourth, and the fifth, until every figure comes out walking. They can see that this place, to everyone’s surprise, is full of anthropomorphic dogs. All were walking on twos, some wore clothes, most notably: the females, and they looked familiar to Rarity and Spike.

“Do they look like… Diamond Dogs?” Spike questioned.

“Looks like it,” Rarity replied while having flashbacks.

“Diamond Dogs?” Ocellus asked. “What’s that?”

“Last time we checked,” Rarity responded, “They’re a pack of… filthy mongrels who dig around for gemstones all day and night, forcing others to work in the mines.”

“So a bunch of mutts who need introductions to my fist?” Smolder questioned.

“Hmm, these guys don’t look like the ones she described,” Sandbar commented.

“Yeah, look over there,” Silverstream commented. She pointed to some of the dogs that looked like a dalmatian, a bulldog, and a cockapoo playing around a playground. “They look pretty cute.”

“Yeah, this place looks to be kind of like Canterlot, it is a kingdom. If they’re like the ones you mentioned, it’d be in a worse shape.”

Rarity and Spike looked at all of the dogs and many of them looked friendly. “Perhaps…, we can give these dogs a chance,” the mare commented.

“I’ll inform Twilight to get one of the airships ready,” Spike proclaimed. “Pack up anything you need. It’s going to be a long trip.”

“You got it!” Pinkie Pie proclaimed. She bounced away to get her stuff and Spike flew off back to Canterlot. Rarity would go back to her boutique still remembering her history with these creatures. She’d be glad to have her friends by her side, she still had a sinking feeling about what would happen.

A couple of hours later, Spike and the two mares were in the air on a zeppelin a couple of hours later. Spike was looking through some binoculars he borrowed from the ship’s crew. “We’re still a couple of miles away from our destination,” the dragon guessed.

“Still gives me time to plan our introduction,” Pinkie noted. She pulled out a sketch pad and started doodling some ideas while Rarity went to talk with Spike.

“Why did the map call for us of all creatures for this?” Rarity questioned. “Is it because we’ve dealt with Diamond Dogs before?”

“Maybe,” Spike shrugged.

“Well, Yona and Silverstream went to that village where Iron Will lived…”

“And these diamond dogs aren’t like the ones we met. I’m certain they knew what they were talking about with that preview.” Rarity didn’t know what else to say as she knew those were the only diamond dogs they met were the ones in the mine, and that was ages ago.

“I guess… we can only wait and see,” the unicorn commented. She and Spike were then taken by surprise when they saw a tennis ball fly right past them. They looked over to Pinkie, who had a bucket of tennis balls beside her and her canon.

“Do you think they would like a more extreme version of catch?” Pinkie asked.

“It’s best if we ask them first,” Spike noted. Pinkie nodded and went to put the bucket of tennis balls away. The dragon then turned his attention back to Rarity. “I should take notes from the ruler of this kingdom. Starlight said the School of Friendship is open to new pupils of all creatures no matter where they live.”

“Hmm, glad you’re seeing some good sides in this,” Rarity commented. “I can’t stop thinking about those ruffians that tried to put me to work in the mines.” The sound of disgust could be heard at the end of her sentence.

“Give them a chance, will ya? You might even befriend one of them… or two.” Rarity knew that Spike was right. All they could do was wait for them to arrive at their destination.

The next morning, the ship finally arrived in the Diamond Dog kingdom. The airship landed in a village less than a mile away from them. Spike, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie walked to the village, still wondering who they would meet. “I’m still worried about this,” Rarity admitted. “Maybe you should do the talking, Spike.”

“If you say so,” Spike responded. “I’m not too sure how these dogs will react to a dragon and two ponies walking…”

“Look out!” cried a voice. Heading straight for the trio was a blonde diamond dog barreling toward them on a skateboard. Nobody had enough time to react and the anthropomorphic dog spectacularly collide with them, while the skateboard took off in the air and was going to go back down to the ground. The four creatures groaned in pain and were about to get up as the skateboard knocked Spike’s head. The blonde diamond dog recovered herself and notice who she had crashed with, feeling bad for them.

“Oh no… Ugh… I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to… What the?” she gasped looking at the ponies and dragon. Rarity looked up at the diamond dog and can see her triangular ears and a green collar. She could also see her wearing a bright pink dress. “Whaddayaknow, looks like we have outsiders from a different land. What are you?”

“It’s okay,” Rarity said as she was given a paw to help her stand up. “I’m Rarity.”

“I’m Ambrosia Muffinbuns, most dogs here called me Amber for short. Are you a unicorn?”

“Yes, I am. And these are my friends, Pinkie Pie and Spike.” Amber helped the respective creatures stand up as she looked very guilty about her collision.

“Once again, I apologize for that.”

“It’s alright. Now, if you don’t mind me asking, why were you in such a rush?”

“Well, uhh…”

“Sarge!” called a male voice, “I found her!”

“Aww, nuts!” The creatures looked to where Amber rolled in from to see armored diamond dogs walking over towards them. Two of them looked to have different shades of red fur, while one of them had orange. They all looked to be different breeds too, one was a Doberman, one was a foxhound, and the other was a pug.

“See, I told you,” the orange pug spoke, “We had to wait until she crashed.”

“Then why did it take half an hour to catch her on wheels?” the red foxhound yelled.

“She got lucky, I supposed.”

“Or we have to drag your fat tail around!” the leading red Doberman spoke in a southern accent. “Now, let’s get that princess home.” He paused when he noticed the newcomers standing next to a frustrated Amber. “Take these freaks as well to the dungeon!”

“DUNGEON!?” Spike questioned. He wouldn’t have time to think as he was bonked on the head by the but-end of the spear. “Gah!”

“Shut your mouth, ya intruder! We have the right to bring unwelcome guests like you to justice! Get them, boys!”

“Yes, sir!” they shouted.

The foxhound and pug looked at each other before simply walking over to the ponies and placing their paws on their backs. “We’re sorry about him,” the foxhound apologized. “He’s always like this.”

“I don’t even listen to him half the time,” the pug added.

“When do you ever?” The pug shrugged and huffed.

Rarity looked at Amber, who looked to already be done with this. “I assume they’re here for you,” the unicorn guessed. “And did they call you, princess?”

“Yeah, they’re my guards,” Amber sighed. She just walked along with the guard, who took their guests with them, Spike being carried over the Doberman’s shoulder.

During their walk, they got to take a look at the kingdom up close. They passed a couple of diamond dogs running businesses, eating out, or just having a nice stroll as they watched the unfamiliar foreigners being taken by the guards. Eventually, they could see a wall that has a big metal gate that opened up to reveal the castle. It looked to have a high level of security not just the surrounding wall.

A pink husky walked over to the guards escorting the guests and Amber. “Oh good, you’re back,” the husky said in a high-pitched voice that sounded strange for a male. “Your Majesty The Queen is waiting for you. Wait, who are these guys?”

“A couple of intriguers planning on stealing every gem we have,” the sergeant answered.

“Uh… actually, it’s a…” Spike corrected.

“Quiet!” He bumped his head again hard.

Rarity leaned closer to Amber. “Is he like this all the time?” the mare asked.

“All the time,” Amber answered. “Can you please just take me to my mother now?”

“Right this way, your highness,” the pink husky said.

“Um, what do we do with these fellas?” the fat pug asked.

“Throw them in the dungeon!” the sergeant proclaimed.

“Can someone tell me someone here has common sense?” Spike begged.

“We can take you to the queen,” the foxhound proclaimed.

“And risk having an attack?” the sergeant questioned.

“If I wanted to, you’d be on fire right now,” Spike admitted.

“I’m starting to like you,” the pug whispered.

Despite the sergeant’s disliking of these visitors, they were taken with Amber to see her mother, Queen Katherina Proudpaws. They arrived at the throne room, seeing her sitting on her royal seat with two other guards from both sides standing in their positions with their spears on their paws. She’s a blue Saluki who has a purple cape worn on her back and a blue collar on her neck. Her disgruntled eyes and frown were on Ambrosia because she was in trouble, her eyes were also on Pinkie Pie, Spike, and Rarity, and was very confused about why they were here in this very room, but she pushed that aside and instead focused on her daughter.

“Ambrosia Muffinbuns,” the queen spoke. “This is the third time this week you’ve snuck out of the castle. Why are you keeping with this kind of impolite and crude behavior!?”

“I’m bored senseless, mother,” Amber responded. “That’s why. I couldn’t be staying there for the whole day watching outside.”

“Amber, you know you have a lot of responsibilities soon and you need to be prepared. Running away from home shows how truly irresponsible and reckless you are.” Amber just growled as Queen Katherina turned her attention to Rarity, Pinkie, and Spike. “I see that we got ourselves 3 outsiders. Allow me to introduce myself, Queen Katherina Proudpaws, and you’re welcome to prefer me as…”

“Ooh, let me guess…” Rarity interrupted, “Kat?”

That word just made the whole room gasp. “She said what now!?” one guard exclaimed.

Rarity felt puzzled on why they gasped when she said “Kat,” until she realized that this kingdom is all dogs no cats.

“You may not!” the queen angrily yelled while standing up, “That word you’ve said is forbidden in this domain! I would’ve to mind my tongue if I were you!”

Rarity got frightened by her yell. “Ah… I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I didn’t know that. I’ll let you finish.”

“As I said, you may prefer to me as ‘Your Majesty’ or ‘Your Highness,’ as it has been a tradition in this kingdom since my great-great-grandmother sat on this very throne. Tradition is important.”

“Of course! My apologies, Your Majesty.”

“That’s better.” She sat back down on her throne to calm herself down until she became more formal again. “Anyways, please announce your name and business.”

“Rarity.”

“Pinkie Pie.”

“Spike. We’re from the land of Equestria under the rule of Princess Twilight Sparkle, Your Highness. We’ve been sent here as our mission from our map that has called us… like literally…” Though the explanation of a magical map was a little farfetched to them.

“Maybe sarge was onto something,” the foxhound whispered to the pug.

“We know this sounds crazy,” Rarity admitted, “But believe us… it’s true.”

“And we’ve faced way crazier things before,” Pinkie added.

“Right then,” Katherina commented. “Now when you say a friendship mission…”

“We mean a sort of… like a conflict that needs addressing,” Spike answered. He looked between Amber and Katherina. “And I think… we might have a reason for our calling.”

“Are you talking about us?” Amber asked.

“Well, when you’ve been doing this for as long as we have,” Pinkie noted, “You pick up a few details.”

“It’s that so… then would you could help with my sister too?”

“You have a sister?”

“Yes. Her twin sister, Fiona Floppyears,” the queen noted, “I’ve called her in here a moment ago.”

“Perhaps she’s going through her closet again,” Amber scoffed. Her mother looked down at Amber, as another dog almost identical to her walked in. The ears were floppier on her and she wore a blue jacket, a matching skirt that had white dots on it, and a pink collar that had a green bow on the back of it.

Amber’s sister looked at their guests, cocking her head to the side in confusion. “Pardon me, did I miss something?” she asked.

“Nothing out of the ordinary for us,” the pug stated.

“Fiona, your sister here has found a couple of guests to the kingdom,” Katherina stated. “They seem not to be any threat though.”

“Are you sure, Your Majesty?” the sergeant asked. “They could be giving us a false sense of security.”

“There’s no need to be paranoid. Head back to your usual posts, I’ll take care of them.” The guards disbursed, leaving the queen and princesses with the ponies and dragon.

Spike decided as a royal advisor to speak up first. “I’ve lived with Princess Twilight my whole life,” he stated, “We can assure you we’re a remarkably peaceful community.”

“Though… a couple of us are rough around the edges,” Pinkie noted.

“It’s true, a couple of ponies were cruel, but they were given the proper punishments. Also, it’s not just the ponies that are allies. We also made allies with dragons, changelings, yaks, hippogriffs, and griffons.”

Katherina placed her paw on her chin and looked to be impressed. “You sound like you have a good track record.”

“Thank you, Your Highness. Princess Twilight was hoping to have our kingdoms like yours team up together to make the world a better place. We also have a very nice school founded by our very own Princess Twilight herself in a town called Ponyville, where many critters of all kinds from all kingdoms came to study the values of friendship.”

“Hmm, impressive. If you like to know more about our kingdom, I’d be happy to give you a tour around.”

“That would be great!”

“And maybe… you and the twins can help give it to us,” Pinkie suggested.

“I beg your pardon?”

“It would help us get to know your royals.” Pinkie looked at Spike and winked, to which the dragon gave a thumbs up. Amber was wanting to go for this as her tag was wagging in excitement.

“I have been wanting to see if there are new dresses downtown, mother,” Fiona admitted.

Rarity pricked up her ears after hearing that word. “Dresses?” the mare exclaimed in excitement. “You have a boutique downtown?”

“Yes, there is, it’s got a lot of choices. Though… I don’t think any of them would fit you guys. Maybe the small purple one.”

“I’ll have the guards come along with us for protection,” Katherina noted. “There could be other things we can exchange between the Kingdom of Caninia and the Kingdom of Equestria.”

“Caninia?” Rarity doubted to herself. “The name of the kingdom we’re in I supposed?”

“You stay here until we’re ready to leave.”

“Can I get my purse first, mother?” Fiona asked.

“Make it snappy.” Fiona raced off to find her purse as Katherina went to find the guards. Amber looked at the three guests, each having a different expression.

Spike looked to be trying to think of what else he could say to get Katherina to meet with Twilight. Pinkie was excited to have some fun with the diamond dogs. Rarity, on the other hand, was still iffy about being around so many creatures she had a bad history with.

Rarity, Spike, and Pinkie Pie were soon following the royals down the boulevard with the guards following them. Spike had gotten himself a quill pen and sheets of paper to take notes about Caninia. Pinkie kept searching around for something fun to do. She even waved to a couple of the diamond dogs on the street, who were curious to see these foreigners unknown to them. Rarity was still not feeling unsure about the diamond dogs. The first memory she had with them was far from a pleasant one. She looked at the royals, with Katherina looking quite stern, Fiona was walking with some pep in her step, and Amber was looking to be upset. She even looked for a way to escape.

“Penny for your thoughts?” the unicorn asked the princess.

Amber sighed. “I’m happy to be out of the castle,” she admitted, “But my mother’s gotta have me restrained somehow.” She looked back to the guards, who followed closely behind.

“Don’t look at us,” the foxhound stated, “We’re just doing our job.”

Rarity focused her attention on the young diamond dog. “I understand your frustration, but I’m only guessing that your mother is trying to protect you. Do you often have any intruders break into the castle?”

“Sometimes. Though the mines have the most common thefts.”

“Gem mines?”

“Precisely. I swear that gems grow around here like weeds.”

“Growing gems?”

“That’s only a theory that bounces around Caninia. There are a lot of gemstones, and most of us think that these gems grow like crops.”

“Interesting. Spike, are you getting this?”

“Just heard,” the young dragon said. If this growing gems theory was true, Spike would be starting a farming business when he got home.

“I wouldn’t hold your breath for that theory,” Katherina noted. “We’ve run a couple of tests heretofore and each one came back negative. Some even contradicted each other.”

“Oh…. That’s a shame.” Spike quickly started crossing out a doodle of a gem farm. “Tell us about these gem mines. Do they have anything special?”

“We often use the smaller ones for tools, or most for accessories, like these collars we’re wearing right now.” Rarity took a look at the collars they were wearing and could see the diamond did look real.

“Oh my. I haven’t noticed that until now.”

“That’s right, these collars are pretty pricey,” Fiona noted, “and they look great. And look, there’s the boutique.” Fiona walked over to the shop doors with her sister and mother following her.

Inside the boutique, they could see a plentiful amount of clothing. From casual wearing, to formal wear, and swimsuits. Just as Rarity walked in to join the royals, she saw two more dogs heading toward them. One was an English Setter, the other was an Alaskan Malamute. Both had black and white fur and they wore a red collar and blue cape, the other wore a purple collar and red cape, respectively.

“Katherina,” the two dogs called gleefully.

“Jenn, Indi,” Katherina said. By the sound of her voice and the way she held her arms out to the two dogs, it sounded like they were old friends.

“Oh, Katherina, it’s so nice to see you again,” the English Setter said, accepting the queen’s hug.

The Queen hugged both of them and then turned her attention back to her visitor. “Miss Rarity, I’d like you to meet Jennino Lanterlight and Indiana Ambereyes. They’re both in charge of this shop.”

Both owners were surprised to see a unicorn inside their dress store. “Well, I’d be damned,” Indiana commented.

Jennino just shrugged as she walked over to shake Rarity’s hoof. “Greeting,” the English Setter diamond dog said. “Welcome to Caninia.”

“We haven’t had the warmest of welcomes so far,” Rarity admitted. “Though it is nice to meet a fellow tailor.”

“Oh, you make dresses too?”

“Yes, indeed. I own three dress shops at this point back in Equestria.” Rarity took a look at the bits of clothing they had on display, amazed at the variety they had. She looked at one of the swimsuits and looked at the pattern on it.

“I know most dogs say we don’t normally wear attires,” Jennino said, “But these swimsuits help keep our furs dry.”

“Ooh, stylish and useful. Marvelous.”

“Thank you,” Indiana responded. “So, what brings you all the way here?”

“We’ve been sent here on a mission,” Spike explained, walking into the room. The dress shop owners were surprised to see they had a dragon.

“Whoa,I didn’t know you brought a friend.”

“Oh, yes,” Rarity explained. “This is Spike. He’s the royal advisor for Princess Twilight.”

“Ooh, you have your own princess too?” Jennino asked.

“We sure do,” Spike confirmed. “Since I was brought along with this mission, I would take notes of how our two kingdoms could interact.”

“They’ve mentioned other creatures outside like dragons and griffons,” Katherina noted. “They’ve made their allies from them too.”

“Wow,” Indiana remarked. “That’s outstanding!”

“Again, they’re a little rough around the edges, but they’re good now,” Spike informed. “Now, about these gem mines. Have you ever encountered ones that contained special powers?”

“What kind of powers you’re talkin’ about?” Jennino asked.

“Ones that have fire, ice, electricity, and even ones that help with healing. We’ve taken on those griffons with these special gemstones that can do many different things.”

“And when you say ‘taken on,’ do you mean you’ve fought these griffons?” Katherina asked.

“Not all of them were nice creatures,” Rarity informed.

“Hey, mom, what do you think of this?” Fiona asked. She walked out of the dressing room now wearing a green ball gown that had a bow tied around her waist. “How do I look?”

Katherina smiled at the dress she saw. “You look marvelous, sweetheart,” the queen commented. “Now… Where’s Amber?”

“I last saw her outside with Pinkie Pie,” Spike informed. “...Who’s been awfully quiet.” Confused about the lack of noise, they checked outside to see the guards that were accompanying them eating some cupcakes.

“See, I told you these cupcakes tasted good,” the pug stated.

“Yeah, you do have a point…” The foxhound paused when he saw the queen looking at him, not looking happy. “Oh sh*t!” He tossed the cupcake to the ground before he picked up his spear. “Um… Your Majesty, we…”

“Where is Ambrosia?” Katherina furiously asked.

“Um… Uh. The pink pony distracted us with cupcakes.”

“And I don’t regret it,” the pug proclaimed.

“You’re going to regret it once you start cleaning the barracks when you get back to the castle,” Katherina stated. The guards weren’t feeling so cheerful when they heard that. “Spike!” the Queen called.

The royal advisor walked out of the shop and could see Amber and Pinkie were gone. “Oh boy,” he muttered.

“You can fly, right?”

“Yeah, why do you…?”

“Fly around and find Amber for me!”

Spike was taken aback by Katherina’s order and her tone. However, he didn’t want to argue with her. “Um, yes, Your Majesty.” He took off as the queen looked towards Fiona.

“Stay with Jenni and Indi!” Katherina ordered. “I’ll be right back.”

“Mom, can’t you let the guards handle this?” Fiona asked. “If Amber doesn’t want to try on dresses…”

“Stay. Here!” The young lab listened to her mother.

“Listen, Katherina,” Indiana said, “We can just…”

“Keep her out of trouble, Indi!” Katherina ordered. “Amber is already testing my patience.” The mad queen walked away as the ground inexplicably began to shake.

It only lasted for a few seconds, but Rarity and the dogs in the store could feel it. “What was that?” the unicorn asked.

“An earthquake,” Indiana explained. “Believe it or not, they’ve been happening a lot more often recently.”

“How come?”

“Nobody knows,” Jennino admitted. “We have a friend who works in the mines, but she won’t explain what the problems are. Although, we think it might be related to her health.”

“Oh, dear. What’s wrong with her?”

Jennino and Indiana weren’t too sure what to say. Fiona saw their faces and quickly tried to think of something. “Uh, ladies,” the princess said. “I was wonder if I could get something… um… a summer outfit.”

“Hmm, I was about to start working on that,” Jennino said. She walked into the back of the shop and showed off a new dress that looked to be half-finished.

“Ooh, that looks lovely,” Rarity commented.

“Thank you. The only problem is that I’m having trouble coming up with a good design for it.”

Rarity looked at the unfinished dress and began racking her brain for what she can do to help. “I’ve made a couple of dresses based on the architecture of my home. There’s something around Caninia that could help inspire the look of this one.”

Jennino and Indiana both liked the sound of it. “That’s a good idea,” Jennino commented.

“You can show Rarity around town,” Indiana said. “I’ll keep an eye on Fiona until you guys get back.”

“Actually, I’d like to know if Fiona would come along with me and Jennino,” Rarity admitted. The shop owners looked at the princess, who was already taking some cash out of her purse.

“My mother said I had to stay with one of you,” the golden lab reminded. “I don’t assume I’m stuck here.” The two shop owners looked at each other with Indiana shrugging.

“She’s right,” Indiana noted.

“I’m not quite sure,” Jennino admitted.

“If Katherina gets angry by this, I’ll take the blame,” Rarity noted. After Fiona paid for her new dress, she joined Jennino and Rarity in their tour of Caninia, which now had three groups of guests and diamond dogs roaming around.

Dog Daze

Pinkie Pie and Ambrosia Muffinbuns had got far from the boutique. Now, they were downtown with Amber looking for something to show Pinkie since it is her first time visiting a place where they were interested in looking. “Wow! I can’t believe that cupcake idea worked well,” Amber enthusiastically commented.

“Very few can resist the sweet taste of my amazing cupcakes,” Pinkie noted with a snicker. “Trust me, I’ve been cooking a lot of confections at the confectionery for a looooooong time. Now, where’s the fun around here?”

“I know a great place to go when I’m outside of the castle.” Amber led Pinkie down towards the park, where a couple of dogs were playing around with a ball. “Sweet, a Pawball game.”

“Pawball?”

“That’s right. And it is simple to play.” Amber and Pinkie both found a good watching point to see the two teams running after the ball. “So, you’ve got two separate teams that are endeavoring to catch their ball and shoot it into the enemies’ goal.” Pinkie saw two net goals on each side of the field. “If you score an opponent’s goal, you score one point.”

“Oh, I see. This is similar to Buckball back in Equestria.” Amber became interested when she mentioned it. “But instead, only your call rolls on the bottom, and our balls fly through the air.”

“Ooh! Sounds like fun.” The pink pony and golden lab then noticed the ball land beside them and roll to a stop. When a young dalmatian walked over to pick the ball up, he froze when he saw the princess.

“Oh, Um… Your Highness,” he said nervously. “Um. Uh…. Did the ball hit you? Because I was aiming for the goal but…”

“I’m fine, young one,” Amber reassured. “There’s nothing to worry about.” She picked up the ball before handing it to the nervous pup.

“Oh…. Thank you.” The Dalmatian threw the ball back onto the field and ran off to rejoin.

“What was with that pup?” Pinkie questioned.

“It’s likely me being from a royal family,” Amber guessed. “I’d rather be treated normally instead.”

“I get that feeling. My friend, Twilight, had a hard time getting used to her new princess life for a while, but she can handle it now that she became a ruler. You… kinda also reminded me of Princess Skystar of Hippogriffia, she came out of the castle to us for the sake of saving Equestria. If I were to bring her with me, then I bet that you two would get along pretty well.”

“Does… she also have an overprotecting mother?”

“Yeeeah.”

“Oh. Looks like she and I have something in common.”

Pinkie Pie nodded. “And here’s something interesting: since she is a hippogriff, hence the name Hippogriffia, of course, these creatures also have those magical pearl necklaces that allow them to swim in the sea.”

“Man, that sounds impressive! I would love to visit that place sometime.”

“Sure, I’d love to take you there. It’s been a while since I’ve last met Skystar.” The two watched the game continue until Pinkie looked around. “So, what other fun activities do diamond dogs do?”

“There’s the mines. Gems practically grow there since we get so many of them. I can show you that.”

“That sounds like fun. Lead the way.” The two walked off to one of the kingdom’s mines to see if they could get gemstones themselves. “Let me ask you something, have you ever played that game physically before?”

“I’ve only spectated a few times. I’ve tried getting involved in a game or two, but my mother always prevented me. I don’t think I would get a major or minor injury from playing a simple ball game. It’s not like she can keep me in the palace forever.”

“I guess that she’s fearful about you growing up. There had to be some things she allowed you to do.”

“Most things my mother does allow me to do were all in my bedroom. Though one of them was reading narra.”

“…Narra?” Amber was about to reply until she saw a stall holding a couple of paperback books. Upon closer inspection, Pinkie could see on the cover is an image of two diamond dogs in a quarrel with golden auras around their bodies. “Is this narra?”

“Yep. These are unique genres of comic books. What makes them unique is that the illustrations are all black and white with amazing details, unlike regular comic books.” She then grabbed one with the two diamond dogs Pinkie saw a while ago. “Here. This is one of my favorite narra series: Hound Jewel. It features species of diamond dogs with different modes that allow them to do numerous insane feats like shooting deadly lasers from its eyes, giving a thousand brutal and violent punches in the blink of an eye, teleporting from one place to another in seconds, etc. It’s… super insane… but I love it!”

“That looks exciting!” Pinke commented looking at the cover. “You know… we’ve got something like that back in Equestria. Spike has been reading those comics too, and it’s called Power Ponies: a group of superheroes working together to combat against evil in the city of Maretropolis.”

“Ooh, interesting! I wish I can have that.”

“I can get you a copy once this mission is over.” Pinkie looked around the shop before she saw some dogs pass by pulling carts loaded with the biggest gemstones she had ever seen. “WHOA!”

“Oh yeah, that must be the best load from the mines,” Amber chuckled.

She and Pinkie then glanced over to one of the dogs, who has to stop, so she could cough. This coughing dog appeared to be a purple Tibetan Terrier who wears a green collar and a red jacket. Concerned about her case, Amber and Pinkie went on foot to the purple Terrier who managed to stop her coughing.

“Moonbeam, are you okay?” Amber worried. She reached out a paw to help the purple dog stand up.

“I’m good. Much obliged, Princess Ambrosia.”

“Hold on, you know her?” Pinkie questioned.

The Tibetan Terrier chuckled as she stood up. “I know her family well,” she explained. The terrier sees the pink pony and introduced herself. “I’m Moonbeam. Moonbeam Twinkletail. I’ve been working in the gem mines for a few years. Welcome to Caninia.”

“I appreciated it,” Pinkie Pie smiled. “I’m Pinkie Pie from Equestria.” The Terrier and pony shook paws and hooves as Amber had to ask a question.

“Are you alright, Moonbeam?” Amber asked. “You sounded like you were going to hack up a lung.”

“Oh, that’s just a new issue that happened in the mines,” Moonbeam responded. “I was planning on telling Queen Katherina once I see her. Shouldn’t you be with her? Or at least have your escorts around?”

“Um… Pinkie said she wanted a tour around the kingdom, so… I wanted to do this.”

Moonbeam just nodded as Pinkie looked at the massive gemstones! “Holy lonely pony eating macaroni!” Pinkie cried. “You dig these up?!”

“Several of them.” She picked up a diamond that was almost as big as her with ease.

“Wow! I’ve never seen a gem that big! Rarity would love to have those.”

Moonbeam raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Who?”

“One of her friends that are also visiting,” Amber explained. “We… uhh… left them at the boutique.”

“I see. Well, I better get going now. Good luck if you meet your mother again Amber.” Moonbeam placed her big diamond back into her cart before she pulled away.

“Bye, Moonbeam.” The princess waved goodbye as she and Pinkie watched the miner take the gemstones away.

“She seems pleasant,” Pinkie commented. She looked around for another fun activity until she noticed a stand nearby selling balls similar to the one they saw the pups playing with during paw ball. The pink pony then had an idea. “Say… do you have any money on you?”

“I do,” Amber answered and shoved her paw into her right pocket where she kept her bits. She only grabbed 5 since she doesn’t want to waste them. “Here, only 5 bits.” She handed them to Pinkie Pie and she headed towards the stand to purchase one ball, which cost 3 bits only. “What are you doing?”

“You’ve told me that you wanted to be involved in a Pawball game since your mother doesn’t allow you to. I’m interested to play it myself, so…” She threw the ball up and it landed on her hoof and spun it. “I wanted you to teach me the basics. We’re going to learn Pawball together!”

The princess’s eyes lit up with excitement and her tail rapidly wags with an amazed gasp. “Wait, you’re gonna do that?!”

“Certainly. It couldn’t be that difficult to play. We’ll learn together, and you… can get that sporty experience.”

Amber was more than happy to try this out. “You bet! And I know a good place where we can practice. Follow me.” Pinkie followed the princess to have some fun that Amber hadn’t been allowed to have in the castle.

Meanwhile, Rarity was being led around town by Jennino Lanterlight and Fiona Floppyears, hoping to help her find something that can inspire Jennino to craft a new dress. They were in the town square, where there were a plentiful of diamond dogs having a nice stroll. Fiona was waving to several of them, enjoying the attention she was getting. Rarity tried not to look at the citizens and instead looked at a very nice fountain. In the middle of it, the water was spraying out of the mouth of a diamond dog statue, holding its head up while it hollowed.

“Oh, my,” the mare remarked with astonishment, “You have such good architecture.”

“Thank you,” Jennino replied with a smile. “I like the fountain too.”

“I think it’d make a great dress design.”

“How so?”

“See the water gushing? It’s forming regularly, but do you know what happens when you point it straight up like that?” Rarity pointed to the other fountains around the statue, which had clear aqua spouting up and causing it to form a shape of an umbrella sheath. “That effect can make an excellent basis for an exquisite ball gown.”

Jennino looked at the water’s unique shape and quickly took out her notepad. “So, flowing clear aqua for the ballgown and the top being the fountain spouting it out.”

“You got it, darling!” As she sketched out a design, she notice Rarity looking at a couple of the citizens, looking like she was getting ready to block something.

“Are you alright, dear?”

Rarity looked to the Malamute and leaned closer to whisper. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but… I had an extremely bad experience with your kind before,” the mare whispered.

“…What do you mean?”

“Well… This isn’t the first time I’ve met the diamond dogs. That one time when Spike helped me gather some gemstones back home, those ruffians kidnapped me and then forced me to help them find gems. I was like their slave to them, a slave that never rests its body, and never eats.”

Jennino was appalled. “How horrible,” she gasped with disturbance. “There’s no way Katherina would allow them to enter Caninia. I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

“It didn’t last too long. Thankfully, my friends came to rescue me, and since that, we never saw those mutts again.”

Jennino sighed in relief. “What a relief. You don’t have to worry, no mutts like them will stay around here when she finds out about them. I don’t know what their appearances look like to you, but if you do see them come around here, then let me know, and Katherina will give them very harsh consequences.”

“That’s good. I’m glad that I met you and your friends. I’d not think of those stereotypes anymore.” Speaking of hearing, they could hear a couple of coughs as Moonbeam stopped nearby them. Jennino recognized her. “Is she okay?”

“I’m not sure. I’ll take a look.” Jennino handed her notepad to Rarity. “Here, hold this for me.” She then held her notepad and pencil, and Jennino dashed her way to Moonbeam who was breathing heavily already. “Moonbeam, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Jenn,” Moonbeam stated while coughing. “My mates and I have inhaled some dust from the mines.”

“Should we tell Katherina about this?”

“Yes. I’m planning on telling her already once I deliver these gems. Maybe I could lighten the load by giving a few away to you. Please, take your pick.”

“Yes, please!” Jennino then examines the diamond in the cart. Fiona and Rarity took their look at the cart, with the unicorn staring at various sizes of the gemstones. There is a medium-sized ruby, a regular-sized emerald, there’s even an orange topaz the size of an average head of a pony. Not just that, there’s white quartz, onyx, opal, sapphire, jade, and amethyst. These are some astonishing one-of-the-kind minerals.

“Sweet Celestia! Look at these!” she gasped. “There’s even a jade that’s the size of an infant! That’s insane!”

“Oh, these look great,” Fiona commented. She saw a good-looking blue gem that she swore was a diamond. “This would make a perfect necklace!” she proclaimed.

Rarity looked at a massive emerald. “Oh my, if I could make so many dresses with these,” the mare noted.

“Can it?” Jennino asked.

“I’ve used gemstones in my designs all the time. They add a lot more flash. Perhaps, we could use it to add more flare to one of your dresses.”

“Eh, you guys can take it,” Moonbeam shrugged. “I’ve got plenty of them. You know I’ve missed you guys digging.”

“Well, I don’t like getting that filthy earth on my clothes,” Fiona stated. She held onto the blue gem she found as Rarity and Jennino picked up the big emerald.

“There’s nothing that is stopping you from taking them off. Is this all you girls want?”

“I think it’ll be all,” Jennino responded. “Thanks again for these.”

“Anytime!” Moonbeam nodded before grabbing the front of her cart again. “See you later, girls. Oh, and you,” the terrier pointed at Rarity, “Welcome to Caninia.” The unicorn smiled as Moonbeam walked away with her load.

“So, I’m guessing that’s your friend too, right?” Rarity asked.

“Yes, that’s Moonbeam Twinkletail,” Jennino explained. “She works at the mines.” She looked back at her friend walking away while starting to look concerned.

“Is she alright?”

“I’m not sure. This is not the first time I’ve heard her cough.” Jennino was feeling concerned as Fiona looked at her new diamond.

“Do you think this could be made into a nice necklace?” the princess asked.

Rarity took a look at the small gem in her paws. “Perhaps, it could,” she commented. “And it does go with your outfit.” Fiona smiled as Rarity looked back at the emerald Jennino was holding over her shoulder. “Now, do you have any tools useful for cutting gems?”

“Indi and I have a couple of them back at the shop,” Jennino responded. “We can go back. I’m getting some ideas in mind for the new outfits.” With their new gems collected, Rarity and the diamond dogs headed back to the shop, unaware of what kind of gem Fiona was carrying.

Elsewhere, Spike was gliding above Caninia scanning place to place for Amber and Pinkie Pie, though he was having a harder time than had thought. He still can’t find them. Not at the bakery, not at the barbershop, and not even at the bank. Everywhere he looks, he still cannot find them. He flew back down landing on the smooth-stone pavement in front of Queen Katherina, who was growling under her breath. She gazed at the dragon with her fury eyebrows and didn’t waste a second with her query.

“Did you find them yet?” she demanded.

“Have not, but…” Spike couldn’t finish as Katherina interrupted him.

“Why did you come back down just to give me that answer!? Get back up there! Don’t come back down until you find them for good!” Spike didn’t like the tone he was given, not only because of her being intimidating but because she was starting to get annoyed as well.

Still, Spike took back off into the sky, hoping that he would find her daughter. Once more, he searched from one location to another. He did try asking the pedestrians, even though most were weirded out by seeing him as a dragon, but they replied the same phrase: I haven’t. After a while, he still can’t find them. However, instead, he can see Moonbeam Twinkletail taking a break from pulling her cart as she leaned against a tree. Things were getting concerning quickly once Spike saw the Tibetan Terrier collapsing on the ground. Worried, he flew down to check on her.

“Miss, are you okay?” he asked.

Not questioning the fact a dragon was talking to her, Moonbeam struggled to find her voice. “Having… trouble… breathing,” she wheezed. Spike knew that this was serious and quickly flew back to Queen Katherina and inform her.

The queen saw the panicked expression on the dragon’s face. “Did you find Amb…?”

“No, I didn’t, but there’s a purple diamond dog that’s having problems breathing!”

“What?! Where did you find the dog?”

“Follow me!” Spike led the way as Katherina ran after him running on all fours to keep up. They arrived at the scene to see her laying down unconscious while wheezing her lungs out. The queen was horrified when she saw her like that.

“Moonbeam!” She has to act quickly. So, she first saw the cart filled with gemstones, rushed towards it, and dumped out all the gemstones making some shatter. Queen Katherina then picked up the sick terrier struggling to breathe and placed her in the cart. Without another word, she, together with Spike following her, sprinted their way to the hospital. Spike didn’t fully understand what was going on, but it had to be serious given how quickly Katherina’s mood had changed.

A little while later, Pinkie and Amber had set up the nets by hanging them from tree branches for the Pawball to roll into. “Okay, so one of the details I remember in playing Pawball is that you can’t use your forepaws to grab the ball,” Amber explained.

“Doesn’t that leave the one with the ball wide open for the other team?” Pinkie asked.

“It usually does. It’s likely the wielder of the ball has to pass it to their teammates to keep it away from their opponents. Though, this is a guess by me because this is already the first game I’ve played… with you… a foreigner.” Looking down at the ball, Amber inhaled and exhaled to give herself a boost. “Here I go!” She gave it a swift kick and the ball went sailing and missed the goal. “Dang it, I missed!”

“You know you can’t expect perfection on the first try.” Pinkie went to retrieve the ball and brought it back to Amber. “That’s a good practice kick you made. Let’s try again.” Amber gave a nod before giving the ball another kick not as hard this time. She was a little closer to hitting the goal. “Let me adjust that net a little.” Pinkie then adjusted the net to check if she could make it wider, so Amber would have better luck aiming.

Just before the princess could aim for the goal, the earth began to shake. She hastily grasped herself tightly to a nearby tree and held it motionlessly to keep herself safe. Pinkie Pie did the same as well. It felt like it lasted for 10 seconds before it came to a stop. “Man, that was a long one.”

“Should earthquakes like this last that long?”

“No, and this one felt stronger than before.” Amber was starting to feel worried. “I feel like we should go back to the boutique. I wanna see if Fiona and the rest are still there.”

“Good idea.” Pinkie picked up the ball and carried it on top of her mane and followed the golden lab back to the store. Along the way, they saw a couple of diamond dogs run past them, carrying medical supplies and some carts they could ride on. “What are those?”

“Looks like a medical team,” Amber commented. She was worried as the team looked pretty big. Some guards came running up shortly after, with a foxhound and pug from earlier stopping beside them.

“There you are!” the foxhound cried. “You know we’re in a lot of trouble because of you!”

“You accepted a cupcake too,” the pug reminded.

“Quiet!” The foxhound looked back at the princess and pink pony. “Your Majesty The Queen wants you back at the castle immediately.”

“I’m grounded, aren’t I?” Amber sighed.

“Definitely.”

“Men, get your tails moving!” their Sargent called.

“Yes, sir!” the foxhound ran off to catch up as the pug looked at Amber.

“You get me those cupcakes, I’ll be your scapegoat,” he informed. He walked away to keep up with the guards and medical team as Amber started to walk to the castle.

“I thought we were going to the store,” Pinkie spoke.

“Yes, but I can imagine my mother being mad enough at me,” Amber noted with guilt.

“But don’t you wanna go back to the boutique to check if your sister is okay? Maybe they’re going to check on other dogs that were hurt in that earthquake.” Amber thought about what Pinkie had said and sighed. “You’re right.” She then decided to keep going toward the boutique.

Once they reached the place, they can see Fiona looking fairly frustrated as she sat down. “How much longer will this take?” she groaned.

“Patience, darling,” Rarity called from the back. “Art mustn’t be rushed. It takes time to perfect.” Fiona rolled her eyes as she looked beside her to see Amber just walking in.

“Amber! Where have you been!?” Fiona questioned. “Our mother was looking for you already.”

“Playing pawball,” Pinkie said before dropping the ball she was carrying on the floor.

“Playing sports inside of the store is forbidden,” Indiana requested. “Please refrain from doing so.” She poked her head into the back to see Jennino helping Rarity cut up the emerald they acquired. The shards they broke off were being fitted to the skirt of the ballgown Fiona was content with buying.

“I’ve gotta say, I was feeling hesitant at first,” Jennino admitted. “Now, I’m amazed by Indy, and I haven’t tried something like this.”

“It’s a matter of matching colors, darling.” Rarity informed. She added a few more gems to the dress before stepping back and looking at their work. “There, I think it’s ready.”

Jennino placed the emerald to the side and looked at the added gems. They made the dress sparkle when the light shined on them. “How astonishing! She’s going to love it,” the English Setter commented. She picked up the dress and called for Fiona. “Fiona!”

The princess stood up when her name was called and held her paws to her face when she saw the additional gems to her ballgown. “So, what do you think of it?” Rarity asked.

Fiona’s tail wagged with excitement as she was given the dress by Jennino. With no hesitation, she ran into the dressing room and quickly threw it on. After stepping outside, the royal golden lab gave her dress a twirl before placing her paw on her hip. “I look fabulous!” she proclaimed.

“Indeed you do, darling,” Rarity chuckled. She looked at the emerald they had used to make the shards and could see they still had a lot of the emerald left. “You could still put that emerald to good use.”

“I’m already thinking of ideas,” Jennino commented. Indiana nodded as she took a look at the sketch that was made based on the fountain downtown.

“I gotta say, you do have a very creative mind,” Indiana said to Rarity. “There are probably other parts of town we could base our dresses on.”

“That sounds like fun,” Amber commented. “By the way, did you see Moonbeam while you were downtown?”

“Yes, we did,” Jennino responded. “I’m worried about her already. Her cough sounds bad.”

“She sounded like she was going to hack up a lung, and I do agree.”

“But she’s a miner, right?” Pinkie commented. “Don’t most of them get dust in their lungs or something?”

“Usually, yes,” Indiana noted, “But some of them here have been getting a few bad health conditions. They’ve been having a hard time breathing and even having trouble walking.”

“Shouldn’t Her Majesty know about this?” Rarity asked.

Amber was about to give her opinion, when Spike suddenly burst through the door, immediately calling out to the princess. “There you are!” he cried. “I’ve been looking for you for a while! Queen Katherina ordered me to find you and get you back to the castle, now!”

The dragon’s voice sounded rather tense and frustrated. “Spike, what has gotten into you?” Rarity questioned.

“It’s Kath…. The queen, who prefers me to call her by that title, is frustrated knowing that her friend is in the hospital.”

“Who?”

“Moonbeam, I guess that's her name.”

The diamond dogs gasped. “YOU SAID WHAT!?” Indiana cried.

“That ain’t good!” Fiona shouted.

“We’re going to the hospital!” Jennino declared. “GO! GO! GO!”

All four dogs bulldozed over Spike and out of the store. Indiana stopped real quickly to flip the sign on the store to let others know it was closed temporarily.

“Moonbeam must be pretty close to them, aren’t they?” Rarity commented.

“We should check with them,” Pinkie added. “Remember, we’re on a mission.” They both helped Spike up before running after the diamond dogs to the hospital.

Moonbeam was lying on the hospital bed with a venturi mask on her snout and a heart rate monitor beside her. As she fell into a slumber, Queen Katherina Proudpaws knelt on her right side feeling agonized about her health. All was silent except for the heart rate monitor beating the patient’s heartbeat to the rhythm and the clock ticking every second. She was then interrupted by the sound of the slamming door, and she turned to see Jennino, Indiana, Amber, Fiona, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Spike coming in. Her eyes were narrowed as she saw Amber, knowing that her daughter is in huge trouble. She would’ve yelled at her, but caught herself as she knew they were in public.

“We’ll talk later, Ambrosia Muffinbuns,” the Queen said sternly. Amber faced down the ground bracing for her punishment later. In the meantime, Jennino walked over to Moonbeam, who was happy to see she had company.

“You closed your shop just to see me?” Moonbeam asked.

“Yes, I did,” Jennino responded. “After hearing about you in the hospital, we were anxious.”

“Yeah, Moon, how did this happen?” Indiana asked.

Moonbeam took a moment to remember. “I was doing my usual business, digging up plenty of gemstones big and small, and… when we noticed a lot more dust is being produced,” she explained. “It’s been happening for a while already. I would’ve thought nothing if it wasn’t for the others getting those bad coughs like mine. I should’ve come here immediately once my chest starts feeling funny.” Moonbeam coughed into her paw a bit as Katherina handed her some medicine.

“Stay here and rest,” the queen requested. “I don’t want you to feel worse for yourself.” She then turned her attention to the rest of the diamond dogs. “I’ve already set out orders to have the mines shut down until we investigate the cause of these serious medical problems.

“But what about the gems, you know that our kingd…” Indiana had her muzzle covered up by Katherina.

“You remember what I said, Indy? Look over there.” The two glanced towards Spike and the ponies, who were luckily distracted by Fiona, showing off the gemstone she had gotten.

“Wonder why this one isn’t as big as the others,” Spike commented.

“Many of these gems come in different shapes and sizes,” Fiona stated. “I plan on making this one into a new necklace.”

“It’s kind of got a glow to it,” Pinkie commented. She reached out to touch it. When did, both she and Fiona felt an electric shock. Both let go and felt very dizzy and groaned a little bit. Katherina rushed over to her daughter after being electrocuted.

“Fiona!” the queen cried. She managed to catch the golden lab before she collapsed. “What is going on?”

“That… Was no normal gem…” Pinkie guessed mere seconds before she face-planted on the floor. Rarity and Spike checked on their friend.

“We need more extra beds,” Indiana suggested.

“I’m okay,” Pinkie groaned.

Katherina looked at the glowing gem on the floor. She would’ve picked it up, but didn’t want to risk electrocuting herself. Rarity noticed this and simply levitated the gem with her magic. “It seems that there are more of those gems… like the ones the griffons have mined up,” the unicorn commented.

Katherina rubbed her eyes as she was getting frustrated. “Now we’re going to get rid of those gems,” she groaned. “Spike, go back and collect the gems. We had to spill to help Moonbeam.”

The dragon just nodded and went towards the exit as Rarity spoke up. “What should we do with this crystal?” she asked.

“Find a way to dispose of it. And Amber,” the Queen added. “Come with me.” Amber’s ears dropped as she followed her mother out of the hospital.

“Dead dog walking,” Moonbeam said to herself. She chuckled to herself as she let out another cough.

“Save your strength,” Jennino requested. “Say your jokes later.”

“Alright.” The sick miner took a minute to take deep breaths and sighed. “Fiona, you should go with your mother now.”

“Will do,” the golden lab said. She looked down at her dress, which still looked to be in a good condition. “Glad this survived,” she muttered. She walked away to catch up with her mother and sister as Rarity looked at the gemstone she levitated.

“Does the Queen have an issue with the special gems like this?” the unicorn asked.

“I don’t see most of them like that often used. We’re just told to get rid of them.”

“Presumably a reason for that,” Jennino muttered. She held her arm as she knew the ponies were going to have questions. Indiana took her aside and made sure that they were a good distance from the ponies.

“Jen, you know that Katherina wanted as few dogs to know about this as possible.”

“Well, every miner working in those tunnels can’t keep their mouths shut.” The two looked back to see Rarity was checking to make sure Pinkie was okay. “You know what could happen if something like those griffons they mention got their hands on more of those gems.”

Jennino was feeling a bit unsure right now. “Hear me out, I honestly think that these gems could work, like how that unicorn said, but you know why Katherina doesn’t want them.”

“You mean the gems?” Pinkie asked.

“Exactly!” she replied. Jennino was about to continue until she realize who she has replied. Pinkie Pie just joined in. Both shop owners jumped back as they saw her. “Oh, come on! THIS IS A PRIVATE CONVERSATION, YOU DON’T JUST JUMP IN!”

“Sorry about that. Why don’t you want the magic gems around?”

Indiana and Jennino looked at each other, both wanting to tell different things. “Listen, if we could tell you, we would,” Indi stated, “But Katherina would have a cow if we did.”

“We’re sorry, but we have to keep it a secret,” Jennino added. “…Please go back to the castle and listen to Katherina’s orders.” Pinkie gave a lowbrow as she didn’t like having something likely important hidden from her.

“It’s best if we listen to them,” Rarity commented. Pinkie looked back at her friend, a little bit confused. “C’mon, Pinkie.” Rarity gestured for her friend to come closer so they could talk privately. “It’s clear they’re not wanting to tell us what is happening because of something that happened in the past.”

The two ponies looked at the malamute and setter, who quickly looked away from them. “You think they’re hiding more than we think?” Pinkie asked.

“...It’s likely. But I don’t want to associate them with those other dogs.” Rarity took another look at Jennino, who looked like she wanted to get stuff off her chest. Indiana just crossed her arms, reminding her not to tell the story.

“They’re going to have to spill the beans eventually. They all do in the end.”

“True, but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt.”

“You know, I can hear you, right?” Moonbeam asked. The two ponies faced the terrier on the hospital bed they stood close to.

“Um…. How much did you hear?” Pinkie asked.

Moonbeam smirked. “Enough. You know I would tell you that, but…” She paused as another cough escaped her muzzle. “My lungs won’t let me.”

“We’re not going to put that kind of strain on you,” Rarity noted. “We’ll leave you to rest. Maybe we’ll ask someone else.” Moonbeam simply nodded and lay back down as the two ponies left the hospital and move to the castle to ask.

Down Under

Amber grunted in discomfort after the fall. Her head was slammed face-first into the rocky soil, making her whole body injured with major and minor scars and bruises. For a moment, she couldn’t move her body and her eyes were still shut. She can feel her elbow being bruised, including her knees, neck, and ankles. Although she can still breathe and hear her heart pounding to the beat, she has a feeling that this might be her demise even though she was only in her adolescence. Slowly but surely, she lifted her head and opened her eyes. As she cleared out her vision, all she could see was pitch black darkness, nothing but a black void. She felt frightened, her heart pounded rapidly, and hyperventilated with fear and anxiety.

“Indi? Amber?” called a voice.

“Fiona?” Amber cried. “Fiona!?” With all of her remaining stamina, she stood up while still feeling the injuries from her body.

“Where are we?” asked another voice, sounding like it belonged to Pinkie Pie.

“I have no idea,” Indiana’s voice proclaimed, “but thank goodness we’re not dead. We don’t have anything for a light source, I can’t even see a thing or two!”

“Hold on, I think I have something.” There was a faint crack, followed by a blue glow coming from a glow stick that Pinkie held. “Bingo! It’s a good thing I always come prepared.”

Now that they have a light source, they can see their surroundings lucidly. As she was holding the glow stick, they looked up to get a glimpse of giant rocks above them, blocking the view of the outside. So, yes, they were buried alive.

“Oh man,” Fiona muttered. “Are we going to die?”

“You’re telling me,” Amber replied. “I thought of the same thing as you.”

“If I know your mother, she’s figuring out something to get us out as soon as possible,” Indiana stated. “As of now, all we have to do is to stay calm until rescue arrives.” She slowly stood up before feeling great pain in her arm. “Ugh, great.”

“What’s wrong?” Pinkie asked.

“I think I broke my arm.” Indiana looked for anything that is used as a sling. She noticed Fiona still had her bow, which gave her an idea. “Fiona, give me your bow.”

“What are you going to do with that?” the princess asked.

“I need something to support my arm.” Fiona sighed and removed her bow and helped the injured diamond dog make a sling. Amber sighed as she leaned against the wall.

“What have I done?” she muttered. “This was all my fault! I shouldn’t have escaped in the first place and this couldn’t happen.”

Pinkie walked over to the glum princess. “Don’t be hard on yourself, Princess,” the earth pony said, “Who could’ve expected this to occur?”

“But I was the reason we were here in this mess.” She looked over to Fiona, who growled a little bit looking back at her.

“Hey, being mad at each other and being down in the dumps isn’t going to get us out of here automatically,” Indiana stated. She looks up at the rumble above them. “I doubt that digging straight up will be a good option. That earth is too unstable.”

“Then what else can we do?” Amber asked.

Indiana then glanced over to Pinkie’s glowstick she was holding. “May I borrow your glow stick for a while, please?” Indiana requested.

“Sure.” Pinkie handed the glow stick to her, and Indiana held it like a flaming torch, so she can look around for a route to escape. She thought it would be hopeless until she noticed a tunnel built with frames. “What are those for?” Pinkie asked, gaining a bit of hope.

“I think this is one of the tunnels leading to the mines! This could be our ticket for our escape!” Happy to hear they could escape, Pinkie, Amber, Fiona, and Indi made their way through the tunnel, only to find the end of it was partly blocked. “Really? A dead end!?”

“I guess this is the part where we start digging,” Amber commented, and then spits out saliva into her paws and rubbed them as she is like washing her paws to prepare. “Stand back!” With all of her remaining stamina, she dug her paws into the rubble actively, while not minding the injuries she was feeling. Because of her intense digging, clumps of dirt swooped over them, missing them luckily. Pinkie Pie watched her in amazement at how strong she was in burrowing.

“Wow, look at her go!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“No surprise,” Fiona commented with her arms crossed. “Considering that she’s a sporty one.”

Amber paused her digging and turned to her twin sister. “Fiona, I need your help.”

“Seriously!?” the twin sister chided. “Now you need me for this!?”

“Sis! I am not in the mood for an argument!” Amber shouted with her tears flowing down from her eyes. “We’re trapped here, and I’m the reason we’re stuck in here. I’m at least going to help you all escape. Please, Fiona! Just help me, will ya!?” Amber continued digging as her only focus was to get out of the mines.

Fiona darted at Indiana’s broken arm, releasing that she and her sister were the only ones capable of digging through the rubble. She then gazed at the clothes she was wearing right now, it was a bit filthy after she fell. Knowing that her clothes were going to get ruined and dirty, she has no other choice but to help her dig through to save themselves. So, she joined in with her twin sister to get themselves out of the mines. Just like Amber, with all of her strength, she dug rapidly, not minding her clothes.

Above ground, Rarity and Spike were doing their best to keep Queen Katherina calm from the tragedy that occurred a while ago while planning to form a rescue plan. “Okay, we just need a map of the mines around Caninia,” Spike proclaimed. “It should be around here somewhere.”

“And perhaps… one of the miners who worked there, they should have that,” Rarity added. “Your Majesty, is there anything else we should know that might help?” Katherina didn’t respond. Spike and Rarity watched her pace back and forth while muttering to herself.

“I should’ve told them,” she uttered softly. “Amber wouldn’t have run off to get answers. She’s always sneaking out. I should’ve seen this coming. My daughters, Indi, and an Equestrian pony got dragged into the sinkhole too. What was I thinking?!”

“Katherina!” Spike cried. The Queen heard her name and looked toward her guests. “If there’s anything I know, panicking is going to make things worse. We need a rescue team down in the mines pronto.”

Katherina took a minute to take a deep breath before responding. “You’re right. I’ll have a team of guards head down with us. Remember, there will be possible toxic fumes in the tunnels, so be careful with that.”

“Roger that,” Spike said, “We’ll have our masks on.”

Just then, the sergeant walked in. “Your Highness,” he accounted, “We have found one of the miners that’s willing to assist in the rescue.”

“May we see them?” Katherina asked. The sergeant nodded and moved aside to reveal Moonbeam, who was being assisted by Jennino. “Oh no.”

“Katherina, I know how this looks…,” Moonbeam spoke.

“You should be in the hospital right now. There’s no way you can help us while you’re ill.”

“And I’m sure you wouldn’t even say anything to the others guys if they volunteered. Besides, I’m certain we’re burning daylight right now.”

“Moonbeam’s right,” Jennino commented. “We need to get them off the mines as soon as possible before it’s too late. If none of them aside from Moonbeam can help us, then who else can?”

Despite her concerns, the queen knew they had no time to lose. “Rarity, carry Moonbeam on your back for me, please?” she asked.

“I will, Your Majesty,” the unicorn confirmed. She walked over to the sick miner, who Jennino get onto her back.

“Thanks a lot,” Moonbeam said to Rarity. With that, they all headed towards the mines to rescue.

Along the way, Spike flew alongside Moonbeam, handing her a map of the tunnels. She checked the entrance they were going to be going through, then she thought about the location of where the sinkhole opened up.

“Okay, if we take these tunnels we should have a good chance of running into the girls,” Moonbeam commented.

A few minutes later, they arrived at the entrance of the mines. Everyone who was going in put on a mask. “Alright, let’s go,” Rarity said. “We’re coming for you, Pinkie!” With that, they descended into the mines to the rescue.

Back with the twins, they dig and dig and dig their way through the blocked tunnel, hoping that they’ll find the spacious path of the mines in the end so they can slip away to fresh air. They managed to get to the end when they noticed a small gaping hole from the dug rubble, indicating that there was a way to escape. Amber then crashed through the thin-layered dirt wall with her body, breaking it open big enough to go through and making her tumble to the ground. Pinkie Pie, Indiana, and Fiona hopped through as Amber recovered herself. Pinkie’s glow stick was giving off so much light, so the vision was limited. They notice that the mines looked abandoned. They found unlit candle lanterns placed consecutively near the barrier. Most still appeared normal, while the rest were damaged thanks to the earthquakes happening recently. They even see a destroyed minecart almost being buried by the debris exposing the rear and its wheels, and a few rusty iron pickaxes and shovels lying down. Because there are lanterns, they planned to use one, but sadly, they don’t have a lighter or a match to lit it up. With no other option, they still used what little light from the glow stick, and they carried on.

Along the way, they noticed a couple of holes, all of the same size, on the walls and ceiling. For the dogs, those were strange and unfamiliar, they had never seen those holes; and for Pinkie, she thought that it was normal since the diamond dogs were always mining for gems.

“Woah! Is that how most gems are harvested?” Pinkie asked.

“No,” Indiana responded with a concerned tone, “but it is strange. All these holes appeared to be in the same size, and… it looks like somebody or something has taken multiple bites.”

“Who would take bites out of a wall made of rock and dirt?” Fiona asked.

“You’re telling me. They’d have to be small. They seem like they go a couple of feet.” Indiana looked at the depth of the hole with the glow stick, unable to see the end of it. “Huh… I thought the depth is between 3-5 ft., but this is longer and deeper…”

As Indiana inspects the deep hole, Amber faced up at one hole in the ceiling that is just below her. When she stared at it for a while to have a clear look, a cloud of dust leaked out from it, and plunged right at her face, making her flinch. She quickly brushed off the dust, making sure it was gone, and then suddenly ends up coughing. Immediately, realization struck her as Indiana finished inspecting. She stepped away from the hole to prevent getting more dust on her snout.

“Indi,” Amber called while giving out a cough and pointing at the hole where she was standing below, “do you think that’s the dust that’s been making the miners like Moonbeam sick?”

Indiana then noticed the hole where Amber was pointing and can see the cloud of dust leaking out again, which made her feel troubled. “Most likely. We better get out of this place fast. This way!” The group continued on their way through the tunnel.

En route, Fiona heard the sounds of munching and crunching within the walls. She could’ve sworn she heard them. She got scared, thinking that this tunnel is haunted. She nervously looked left, right, up, and down to see if there was something creepin’. Just before the light of the glow stick faded away in the distance, she saw something right behind her going through one of the holes beside her. She could get a closer look, but the light moved away. Now, she got more scared.

“Fiona, keep up!” Amber cried. “We don’t want to be here longer than we have to.” Hearing this, she quickly ran to catch up with the group and explained what she saw.

“My apologies,” Fiona anxiously proclaimed, “but I swear that I hear munching sounds, and I swear… that I saw something behind me going through the hole just when the lights fade away. I have a feeling that there’s something.”

“That’d explain what the weird holes are,” Pinkie commented. “But what was it… or what were they?”

“Uhh… I have no clue. I believe this thing I saw is… green…? I couldn’t tell because the light moved away before I could get a look.”

“That sounds scary,” Indiana commented. “We can tell someone about this once we get out. Let’s keep moving.” She adjusted her broken arm as they carried on through the tunnels, Pinkie noticed a few gems that a couple of miners might’ve missed. Pinkie picked up a light blue diamond and it felt a little cold.

“Excuse me, is it common for some gems to get left behind?” the pink pony asked.

“Sometimes,” Indiana responded. “I’d give you a tour later, but that’s not important…” Indiana paused when something strange happened. Pinkie tried rubbing the gem she found and created a tiny wave of ice that stuck to the wall. “Whoa!”

“…Since when could gems do that?” Amber questioned.

“From what I know before, maybe for a long time,” Pinkie guessed. “Like the one I got shocked with electricity.”

“Please don’t remind me of that…” Fiona groaned. She noticed an orange gemstone sitting on the dirt nearby. Curious, she picked it up and rubbed it like a genie’s lamp to see what it would do. As she rubs, the heat was generated from the apex of the gemstone, its surface getting hotter and hotter. When Fiona’s neurons in her paws felt the intense heat being increasingly produced, she pulled away and the apex of the gemstone created a perfect flame, causing their surroundings to be more luminous than before making it easier to see clearly. Fiona was stunned. “Wow, wouldya look at that! What a perfect flame. This can be handy.”

“Yeah, it is brighter here,” Amber commented. “Now we can see more clearly.”

“We need to keep going,” Indiana informed. “I’m starting to get a tickle in my throat.” Knowing the risks of staying in here for too long, they picked up the pace now having some more light and curiosity about what the gemstones could do.

Back with the rescue team, everyone was slowly moving along through the mines. Queen Katherina was in front with Rarity carrying Moonbeam on her back behind. The sick terrier scanned through the map she held up to the glow of Rarity’s horn, making sure they were going in the right way.

“We seem to be going the exact way,” Moonbeam noted. “Though, the map will only be so helpful. Because of the earthquakes lately, most of those tunnels on the map here caved in with debris, and not to mention, most of these tunnels are new, so it’s potential they haven’t been sketched yet.”

“But that was the most recently updated map I could find,” Spike proclaimed.

“It doesn’t mean it’s always 100% accurate. They likely fell into the new ones.”

Rarity sighed with annoyance, “It’s never easy, isn’t it?” she questioned.

“Nope.” They soon came to a fork in the road, adding more frustrations. There are four tunnels in front of them, and they’re filled with darkness

“Great, now what?” Katherina questioned. Moonbeam skimmed and scanned again if the map would be useful here as Rarity thought of something.

“Say, how many gems are in these tunnels?” the unicorn questioned.

“What do you mean how many, there’s a lot!” Katherina stated.

“Frankly, depending on how new they are, there should be more gemstones within their barriers,” Moonbeam noted.

“And it’s likely that the girls fell into one of the newer tunnels, right?” Spike asked.

“That’s what I said.”

Spike and Rarity faced each other knowing they had a trick up one of their sleeves. Using her magic, Rarity made her horn glowing. As it glows, a shard of crystal illuminated and sparkled from the dirt, then another showed up, then, and another, and another. And soon, the tunnels were filled up with visible rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and all kinds of gemstones. The diamond dogs’ jaws dropped with amazement seeing it in action.

“Amazing!” Moonbeam awed. “How did you do that!?”

“It’s a spell I learned a long time ago,” Rarity clarified. “Will this help us find them?”

“With that… I’d consider a yes. Thanks for helping.” She examined the tunnels and estimated which one possesses more gemstones. The 4th one on the right has little to no gemstone surrounding it, she can only notice a small sapphire and an emerald on the dirt and the barrier respectively; while both the 1st and the 3rd one have a few gemstones, most of them were bring left out or dropped. Knowing that these three tunnels were used, she crossed them out, which then leaves it to the 2nd one. Unlike the other three, the 2nd tunnel has dozens of them, which means that this tunnel is a newly uncovered one. With her sense and logic, she pointed to the second tunnel. “Okay, this way! ” she proclaimed. “Second from the left.”

They listened and continued with their journey by going towards the tunnel Moonbeam has directed. Rarity carried her down with Spike and the rest of the dogs following them. As they go on down deep, a cloud of dust from out of nowhere blew onto Katherina’s snout, making her flinch. She paused for a moment and brush the dust off quickly. Jennino stopped beside her, concerned given how the miners had to be taken to the hospital from this.

“You alright?” Jennino asked in a very uneasy tone.

“I’m fine,” Katherina groaned. “Keep moving.” She took off on all fours to catch up to the rescue team with Jennino following suit. “Amber, Fiona, please hold out a little longer! I’m coming for you!”

The twin princesses were starting to feel a little uneasy. They feared it was the dust they were inhaling, so that motivated them to get out faster. “Does anybody else feels like they need to cough?” Amber begged as she was about to cough, and she did.

“Kind of,” Pinkie admitted. She narrowed her eyes down the tunnel, hoping to see something like a light of the exit or maybe one of those magical gemstones to help aid them. As they sprinted through the mines, Pinkie Pie noticed a dodecahedron-shaped emerald sitting on the ground. “Ooh, maybe that should help,” she guessed.

Hoping for the best, the pink pony grabbed the strange-shaped emerald until she noticed a couple of holes on its front. Suddenly, a small head of a tortoise poked out, making her jump and nearly making her drop it. She carefully placed it down as four legs came out of the holes at the bottom.

“A turtle?” Fiona questioned.

“Tortoise,” Indiana corrected. “I’ve never seen one like this before.”

“Maybe it’s some sort of hybrid creature like a bugbear,” Pinkie guessed. She watched the crystal-like tortoise slowly crawl over to the dirt wall and took a bite out of it, making a hole in the wall. They observed as it chewed slowly and gave it a good swallow while letting out a couple of burps and exhaling a cloud of familiar-looking dust. Amber took notice and finally understood where the dust came from.

“So… those things are the cause of getting the miners sick?” Amber asked.

“They must be,” Indiana committed, fanning the dust away from her. “This is not good. If there’s more of them, we need to get out now.”

“Hold on… how many is… more?” Fiona asked with her heart almost dropped. She was holding the fire gem up to another hole in the wall. When she took a peek, her eyes became narrow, she could see more of these tortoises crawling around, eating rocks, and burping out dust. “Oh my goodness, you might wanna see this…”

She showed this to the rest of the group and saw the nesting grounds of the tortoises that were causing the sickness. “Oh dear, this ain’t good,” Indiana worried. They all pulled back before they all got a face full of dust. “Let’s get out of here! Hurry!!!”

Everyone ran off to get away from the nest as far as they could as Amber momentarily stopped and gave a few coughs. Fiona gave a worried look at her equally scared sister. The twin just nodded at each other and sprinted down hoping to escape.

“Amber? Fiona?” Katherina called. “Girls?!” The worried Saluki kept calling out for her daughters as they traversed deeper into the mines. “WHERE ARE YOU!!!???”

“Girls, if you can hear us, bark for us!” Jennino cried. The rescue team was getting anxious as they had yet to find the missing girls. Rarity’s magic kept revealing more and more gems until they saw a roundish emerald that wasn’t glowing.

“That’s weird,” Spike commented. “What’s with this gem? This ain’t glowin’.” Wanting to know why it wasn’t reacting to Rarity’s magic, the dragon went to pick it up until the head of the tortoise poked its head out. Spike almost screamed and placed the strange animal down so it could have its rock meal. They saw it give off a dusty burp which started connecting the dots for Katherina.

“Wait,” the queen evaluated, “that might be the cause of the sickness, isn’t it?”

“It seems like it,” Moonbeam commented. “I’ve never seen anything like that.”

“Me too.”

“That solves one problem,” Spike commented, “but we still need to find the girls. I have a bad feeling that they might be exposed to those things.”

“Agreed,” Katherina confirmed. “I hope we’re close.” The tortoise then bit into a purple gemstone, which it soon spat out just in front of Rarity’s hooves. The mare lifted it and couldn’t tell if it was one of the special gems. She brought the gem to her chest and could feel a strange sensation in her stomach.

“What happened?” Jennino asked.

“Nothing, I’m fine,” Rarity said. “I believe this is one of the feeding gems. You need to keep it in contact with you and it’ll feel like you’re being fed.”

“Ooh, could’ve used that in the hospital,” Moonbeam noted.

“We have been using them in our hospital too,” Spike informed, “Through fair warning, while it might feel like you’ve got some food in your belly, your stomach still digests the food you ate before you hold the gem. So, it’s best you eat something before you get rid of the gem.”

“Noted.”

“That’s nice to know,” Katherina said, “but can we focus on this for now?” Everyone knew the queen was right and carried on down the tunnel. Katherina was running faster than most of the guards, scared about her daughters’ predicament. “I knew I should’ve told them. Please, don’t let this be the biggest mistake of my life.” She quickly wiped away some tears before tried calling out to them again. “Amber!”

On the other side, the said princess faintly heard her mother’s cry. “Mother?” she cried.

“You heard that?” Pinkie asked.

“I think I heard it too,” Fiona said. “Mom!” The twins called out for her mother by barking. Katherina can faintly hear them calling back.

“Girls?!” the queen howled, “Where are you? Keep barking if you hear me!” The mother and daughters kept calling out to each other as some more of the dust from the tortoises started to build up. Pinkie and Indiana covered their noses and mouths to keep as much dust out as possible.

The family members kept sprinting, hoping they were getting closer to each other. Eventually, they both came to a cave that has a small opening. Katherina peeked through and could see the eye of her daughter. “Girls?” she cried.

“Mother!” Amber cried. “Mother, we’re here!”

“Amber! Oh, I’m so happy you’re alive! Is Fiona with you?”

“Mother, I’m right here,” Fiona spoke. “Indi and Pinkie are here too.”

“Oh, thank goodness!” She felt relieved. “I’m happy that y’all okay. Listen here, there’s a rescue team on the way, we’re going to get you out, and we’re…” The queen paused when she heard some coughing from the other side. “Are you sure you’re fine?”

“I’m alright, It just… I got some dust in my face,” Amber informed. “It’s nothing…” She couldn’t hold back her next round of coughs. Fearing that she would have a similar situation to the miners like Moonbeam, Katherina didn’t wait for the others to catch up.

“Ladies, step away! I’m breaking in!” They did so, taking a couple of steps back as Amber let out a few more coughs. Knowing they were now at a safe distance, Katherina punched the wall a couple of times before digging the rubble away. She dug and punched until she could crawl over the rubble and ran over to hug her daughters.

“Mother?” the twins questioned, amazed at what their mother did. Katherina didn’t say anything, she just hugged her girls while crying tears of joy.

Rarity, Spike, and the rest of the diamond dogs caught up and were amazed to see the girls that fell into the sinkhole were alright. “Pinkie!” Rarity called out. “We’re glad you’re alright as well.”

“We thought that we might lose you,” Spike added.

“I’m happy that you’re here,” Pinkie smiled. “Good thing I’m still alive.”

“Indi!” Jennino cheered.

“Jenn!” Jennino was about to hug her until she noticed the broken arm.

“Oh my.”

“It’s not that serious,” Indiana chuckled. “There’s a gem for this, …isn’t there?”

“There is,” Spike answered. “Just need to find a green one.” He looked around and noticed two gems on each side of the rubble Katherina dug through, one blue and one yellow. “Now then… These two shouldn’t be together.” He kicked the blue gem down the tunnel before picking up the yellow one.

“What was wrong with those?” Moonbeam asked.

“That earthquake recently, they’re the cause of that. Those two are a special pair, and they should never be together. Got it?”

“Noted. How about we find some more after we get out?” Moonbeam suggested. “You really shouldn’t be down here.”

“Did you find more of those tortoises?” Pinkie asked.

“Yes, we did,” Rarity confirmed. “I’m sure we’ll have someone like Fluttershy help take care of them.”

“Who?” Moonbeam asked.

“Our friend back in Ponyville,” Spike answered. “We’ll explain on the way out.” With that, they took the rescued pony and dogs towards the exit of the mines, now knowing a couple of things they had to do, especially Katherina.

Once everyone was out of the hole, they went straight to the hospital to give them a checkup. In the medical room, the doctors checked on Pinkie, Indiana, and the twins, finding no serious issues they didn’t already know about. Indiana was given a proper cast for her arm and Amber was even given medication as she was lucky compared to the other miners who had a much longer exposure to the dust from the tortoises. Outside of the room, Rarity, Spike, Jennino, and Katherina were pacing back and forth waiting for them.

“They’re all going to be fine,” Jennino said happily. “Glad that’s all over.”

“Almost,” Katherina corrected.

“Oh?” The queen looked over to Spike and Rarity, who both gave a simple nod. Katherina walked into the medical room where the girls that fell into the sinkhole were resting.

“Amber, Fiona, can we have a talk… alone?” The queen looked over to Pinkie and Indiana, who knew what she meant by alone. They leave the room, leaving the royal family by themselves.

“Yes, mother,” Amber said. “Is there something for you to say?”

The queen sighed and started to speak. “Girls, I knew I should’ve told this earlier, so… it’s very hard to explain. It all started with your father.”

“What did our father do?” Fiona asked.

“You two were very young back then, so you assumably didn’t remember. Back when we got married, your father was one of the best dogs I knew. I didn’t know anyone else who would be a better husband or king. But a little before you two were born, some special crystals were found in the mines.”

“You mean the ones like the firestone?” Amber asked.

“Like that. Your father wanted to examine if these gems would be used for certain tasks. However, he became too distant from me and… I was worried about the power going to his head. Then one day, he went too far.” Katherina paused because she had to take a deep breath. “The miners found a pair of gemstones like Spike had warned us about. When they brought them together, the entire kingdom shook, and then… there was an explosion.”

“An explosion?! How did we not remember that?”

“Both of you could barely walk when that was happening… After the explosion, massive damage was done to Caninia. Nobody wanted your father as a king anymore… and if he was willing to test an unknown power and put you two at risk…! I didn’t want to see his face again after that. The fact he knew you two would be in danger from the research of these gems was just too much for me to bear.”

Amber and Fiona both thought about what they had been told. “So… our dad became a mad scientist when he found some crystals?” Amber questioned.

“That’s… One way of putting it. It’s also the main reason I’ve kept you in the castle for so long. I don’t know what would I do if… If I ever… Lost you.” Katherina could feel herself tearing up saying this after the near-death experience her children just went through. She laid her head onto Amber’s bed with her arms folded and her teary eyes blanketed, she wept. She couldn’t imagine what’d happen in a different scenario if both Amber and Fiona die from burying alive. Seeing their mother crying, Amber spoke up.

“Mother, I… I don’t blame you,” the princess spoke. “I mean… if I was old enough to remember and somebody chose a dumb experiment over me, I wouldn’t want anything to do with them. Fiona, what about you?”

“…It does sound dumb,” Fiona admitted. “I mean that’d be like keeping… dresses that are too small for me.” She felt a little upset and Amber didn’t know how to react.

“Oh, man… Sis, I didn’t mean to compare you like that, I… I should’ve stayed in the castle and… maybe none of this would’ve happened. This is my fault, and I can’t blame anyone but myself for this mess.” Amber started to feel ashamed of herself as Katherina spoke up.

“We aren’t perfect, girls,” the queen spoke, “me included. Instead of just saying why you couldn’t go outside, I kept you locked on castle grounds, shutting you out from the rest of the world. I don’t know why I never told you.”

A slight creak of the door was heard as Jennino was eavesdropping on the conversation. She couldn’t help but add her opinion. “No parent would blame your decision,” she spoke. The royals looked over to the English setter. Jennino looked back at Indiana and Moonbeam, who figured they might as well give their opinions.

They stepped inside and sat down to give their opinions. “There are a lot of greedy creatures in this world,” Indiana commented. “Jenn and I have met a lot of mutts who attempted to scam us at our boutique. Either they make their prices, shoplift, even some had their pups run around and caused chaos.”

“I have similar stories with some of my mates,” Moonbeam added. “I honestly… lost count of how many of them tried sneaking out with their personal gemstones but I’m pretty sure it’s in the triple digits.”

Katherina and her daughters looked at each other thinking about their situation. “Is it possible to fix this?” Fiona asked.

Katherina thought for a moment before taking another deep breath. “I’m not going to do the same mistakes your father made,” she proclaimed. “I’m going to start making those changes around the kingdom, starting with the mines and figuring out how to take care of those tortoises.”

“What about the elemental gems?” Amber asked.

“...We’ll figure those out soon. We need to make sure those animals don’t cause any more of our workers.”

“We could ask the ponies outside about their friend,” Jennino suggested. “They said she’s like a caretaker of all animals and has a sanctuary for them too. I almost forgot her name… Butterfly?”

“Perhaps. I think it’ll take a while for the mines to be completely clean. We’ll have to take procedures to have them wear protection to avoid inhaling that dust.”

Fiona soon rose her paw to say something. “Um, mom, do you think there’s a chance that you could help me with the extra dresses in my room?” she asked.

“We’ll look into that. Maybe your sister can help you with that until I have the free time.” Fiona looked over at her twin sister.

“I mean, we survived a sinkhole,” Amber shrugged. “I guess I can help take care of your clothes.” Rarity, Pinkie, and Spike poked their heads into the room and were happy to see that the family’s relationship was rebuilt.

Katherina simply smiled as she stood up and hugged her daughter before whispering something into her ear. “Amber, I’ll see if we can teach you to play Pawball,” she whispered. Amber smiled at this as they all noticed a glow coming from their visitors.

Spike’s spines and the ponies’ cutie marks glowed, which Pinkie was quick to inform what was going on. “Don’t worry about that,” Pinkie proclaimed, “This is completely normal from where we come from. It means our work here is done.”

“If there’s anything that you need from Equestria, send a letter and we’ll respond as soon as we can,” Spike informed.

“Thank you, Spike,” Katherina responded. “And… I apologize for my rude behavior since you arrived. It’s been…”

“Stressful? I understand. I’ve worked with a princess who used to freak out from being tardy with a letter. I’ve seen plenty worse.”

Rarity nodded in confirmation. She shuttered a bit as she remember Twilight’s tardy freakout. “Anyways, Your Majesty, I wanna say this: I enjoyed my visit to Caninia when we first came here. And the first time I met you, I was expecting you to be similar to the ones I’ve met before, but knowing you for a while, all of you are a thousand times better. Thank you very much.”

“It was nice having you visit here, Miss Rarity,” Jennino said. “We hope that you’ll come again soon. And hopefully, if we have plans, we could visit Equestria someday in return.”

“Oh, I’m sure we’ll give you a very warm welcome.”

“Well, I guess it’s time to go home later on,” Spike declared.

“Right, I can’t wait to tell our friends back home about them,” Pinkie said.

A few minutes later, the Equestrians and diamond dogs left the hospital, each splitting off to head back to their residence. Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Spike hopped back onto the airship to go back to Equestria after their long mission; Indiana and Jennino went back to their boutique to continue their business; and Queen Katherina, Ambrosia, and Fiona went back to their palace to do their own things. Speaking of Katherina, she was already making plans to keep the mines in order while cleaning out the tortoises. Meanwhile, inside Fiona’s room, both twins were taking care of the attire that no longer fits her. As they do that, they’re having a chat.

“You know, I think I understood pawball,” Fiona admitted.

“Seriously? It’s simple to me,” Amber commented.

“Yeah, but you also understand those narra books. Those stories are just complex.”

“Yeah, the action genre is one of the most popular ones like Hound Jewel, but let me tell you, there are slice-of-life genres too.”

“Wait, really?”

“Yep. It’s not all action with dogs being the snot out of each other. I know this nice story about a winged diamond dog.”

“That’s just a fictional story.”

“So are hounds shooting planets busting layers. It’d still be enjoyable. I’ll see if we can buy you a copy.” The two sisters kept on chatting about expanding interests as Katherina passed by eavesdropping, and hoping to have some time with her daughters once she had time after taking care of the mines. She carried on down the hall, stopping again to look out the window to see the airship, carrying the creatures that helped them back to Equestria.

“Farewell, my friends,” Katherina muttered with a smile. “We’ll meet again soon.”

After a moment, she left the scene.

Author's Note

Okay, two down two to go. Let’s start off with the creatures that were called on this mission. Rarity was a perfect fit for visiting the diamond dogs, given her interactions with their species. The same would apply to Spike, who would also prove to be a good middle man on this mission. As for Pinkie, since I had Amber wanting to get out, why not help her by giving her one of the funniest ponies in Equestria to help? I wanted to have these ponies each have their thoughts on how the royals’ conflict was working.

Speaking of which, let’s focus on the Diamond Dogs, a species we haven’t seen since Season 1. First of all, I want to explain why I’ve made only half of the Diamond Dogs we meet being the royals. The best way I can describe it is that the comic says they’re all sisters, but given how they’re all different colors and breeds, I find that a bit of a stretch.

Also, I feel that it would be easier to have the central conflict come with three characters while developing their personalities a bit more. Katherina is a good stern leader and Jennino is a sweet pea, but we didn’t know too much about the other dogs. I had a fun idea of having Amber and Fiona being opposites, similar to the dynamic of other characters, like Lola and Lana from the Loud House.

Amber’s issue is that she wants to get out more, but she often has problems listening. Fiona is someone who appears to be the perfect little princess, but she had a bit of an issue with letting things go. Not going to lie, a few things I wanted for Fiona got missed out, such as her being a little spoiled. Still, I hope what I did accomplish with her was good.

Not to mention, I was hoping to try and do some world-building with the diamond dogs’ culture. I don’t think I dug into much about them, but I do hope I got a good start with Narra books and pawball. Two stories down, two to go. Also, let me know if you caught the web series I’ve referenced in this story.

Digging up Trouble

Pinkie Pie and Rarity wouldn’t have too much to work with; the only other dogs in the castle were the guards. There were a lot of them, and many didn’t have much to say; most didn’t know why Queen Katherina was so protective of her daughters. Pinkie Pie and Rarity were heading towards Amber’s bedroom to talk with her. When they arrived, they noticed two guards were put in place securing the door to her cubicle. Seeing that they weren’t going to let them in, they went on to check on Fiona instead. When they reached her room, they heard her talking in the middle of a conversation with someone else.

“I’ve gotta say, Princess, you’re looking spectacular,” said a high-pitched male voice. Pinkie and Rarity peeked into the bedroom to see the pink husky commenting on Fiona’s new dress.

She was brushing her fur with her hairbrush as she looked back at the guard. “Thank you,” she responded. “I wished my fur wasn’t fried with that crystal. It singed my fur.”

“Hey, it could’ve been worse.”

Fiona nodded and faced back the mirror and just noticed Rarity and Pinkie coming in from the door. Turning back around, the pink pony would wave to her. “What do you want?” she sighed.

“Sorry for interrupting you,” Rarity responded, “But we were hoping that we could have a chat with you. Your mother isn’t likely in the mood, and we’re presumably not going to be speaking with Amber for a while.”

“Yeah, she’s probably going to be there until she can enter a retirement home.” The castle started to shake as they could feel another earthquake. Once again, they held onto different sturdy furniture to prevent themselves from tumbling. After about a minute, the shaking stopped, and the husky felt worried.

“Um, you go ahead and enjoy your chat,” he said, “I’m going to head out and inspect the palace to see if there are any damages.” He immediately walked out of the room to see if everything was okay.

“Did that earthquake feel like it was longer than the last one?” Pinkie asked.

“Yes, it did,” Fiona commented. “I think it’s getting worse.”

“Could be said the same about your family’s relationship,” Rarity noted. “How on earth did your family get to the point of Amber trying to break out?”

Fiona would think for a moment before she responded. “I’m… not too sure. I think she was like that ever since we were puppies. My mother would keep us in line and act like proper ladies. Amber would always try to be free when she could, but mom had to keep her on a leash.”

Pinkie snickered at this until Rarity gave her a bit of a bump with her elbow, making her stop. “I don’t mean any offense, but maybe this might have something to do with your mother’s overprotectiveness.”

“Oh?”

“Well, just look outside of the castle,” Pinkie noted. She led Fiona over to the window to look outside. “You got a giant wall surrounding you. And a lot of guards down there too.”

Fiona and Rarity analyzed outside and could see way more guards than should be necessary. Some of them just looked like they were wandering around the fields. “You gotta admit,” Rarity commented, “Some of them don’t look like they know what they’re doing.”

“Yeah. That’d explain why that pug’s still around,” Fiona admitted. “Listen here, I can’t tell you why Amber and my mom are the way they are, but there is something I can show you.”

“What’s that?” the ponies asked.

The blonde princess then headed over to a walk-in closet. “This.” She opened the closet to reveal a large collection of outfits.

“My goodness!” Rarity gasped in awe. “Are those all from Indi and Jenni?”

“Yes, they are. My mother has them as our tailors for special events. I’ve also got others, including nightgowns, swimsuits, winter wear, every bit of attire I need.”

Rarity was impressed with all of the clothes she had. But upon closer inspection, some dresses seemed to be small for the princess that’s under adolescence. “Um, darling, when was the last time you wore that dress?”

Fiona looked at one of her sundresses and held it up to her body. It looked to be a size smaller than her. “I don’t remember when I got this,” the princess admitted.

“That here looks best suited for a puppy.” Pinkie guessed. She looked at a one-piece hanging up and it looked to be a similar size to the dress. “How long have some of these been in here?”

“Oh, uhh…… I think the maids do complain about spider webs,” Fiona remembered.

“I think you should let your mother know about this,” Rarity suggested. “You should start going through your closet and get rid of your old clothes.”

“Uh… Right.”

“We’ll see if she’s in a better mood. Take a look at what’s needed to go and leave them on your bed. We’ll be back as soon as we can. Come on, Pinkie, let’s go.” Rarity and Pinkie walked out of Fiona’s bedroom, leaving the golden lab to look through her closet.

A few moments later, they could see Spike stumbling down the corridor. He was carrying a stack of scrolls and set them down once he saw his friends. “Oh, ladies, I’m glad I found you,” the dragon said. “I need someone to talk to.”

“What’s up with all those scrolls you’re carrying?” Pinkie asked.

“Queen Katherina says she wants me to help keep track of a few laws. I mean… look at these, this is ridiculous!”

“Didn’t Twilight have you do that kind of work?”

“You’re right on that, but she was at least polite about it. Katherina just yells orders at me.”

“She might be annoyed at Amber disobeying her orders,” Rarity said. “She might also have a similar feeling when Fiona got electrocuted.”

“I can feel why,” Pinkie commented, shuttering a bit as she could still feel that shock.

“It’s safe to say that this friendship problem is a mother being overprotective,” Spike commented.

“So we just need her to give the girls more freedom, right?”

“I’m not sure that’s the whole problem,” Rarity noted. “Amber seems to have an issue with her attitude towards her mother, and Fiona might have a problem with her dresses. What I don’t understand is… why this all started.” The three thought about their situation of what to do at this point.

“Perhaps… we should get started with Queen Katherina,” Pinkie suggested. “She’d be the only one who’d know why they’re like that.”

“We do have to start somewhere,” Rarity affirmed.

“Let me take care of these scrolls, then we’ll talk with her,” Spike noted. He picked up a couple of the scrolls, with the two ponies taking their fair share of the papers, helping him out.

Katherina was checking in the guards from the mines to hear what they had to say. “We still can’t find the cause of the sickness, Your Highness,” the sergeant spoke. “Most mutts are running out the second they start coughing.”

“Go and wear masks,” Katherina ordered. “Make sure nobody gets inside of them.”

“Yes, Your Highness.” The sergeant paraded out of the throne room, passing Spike and the ponies at the doorway. They strode towards Katherina, who was sitting on her throne, looking rather tense.

“What do you want? I got a lot to deal with at the moment, miners are getting sick, there’s a huge risk of whatever’s causing this sickness could spread, and not to mention my daughter’s rowdy behavior is worse than usual. Especially no thanks to you.” The Saluki pointed angrily at Pinkie, who gave a sheepish smile while pushing Rarity forward.

Seeing she was being volunteered to go first, Rarity spoke up. “Beg my pardon, Your Majesty,” the unicorn said, “But we’re making an effort to find the reason you and your daughter are having too much conflict. We thought that it has to do with the way you react to the gemstones.”

Katherina glared at the ponies as she wasn’t liking where this was going. “What do you have in mind?”

“We’re just trying to figure out the conflict.”

“Such as the conflict you made when you ran off with Amber?”

“To be fair, I was the only one who did that,” Pinkie admitted.

“I’m not sure if you’re in the right mind at the moment,” Rarity guessed.

“That’s putting it lightly,” Katherina spoke. “It’s one thing that I’ve got: a disobedient daughter, but the mines now has something potentially lethal. I’ll find you when I’m ready to speak. Until then, stay out of my way.”

“Understood.” Spike and the girls began leaving as they were feeling frustrated. Katherina looked to see what else she could do as she wasn’t feeling too keen about answering some questions.

Down the corridor, Spike was getting frustrated. “We’re going in circles at this point,” the dragon complained. “How are we supposed to get anywhere?”

“Maybe… we need to force the information out of them,” Pinkie suggested. “Or maybe somebody they know personally.”

“Jennino and Indiana?” Rarity questioned. “They’re friends with her.”

“Yeah, they could work.”

“Just one quick thing before we leave. I need to check on Fiona.”

Rarity quickly headed towards Fiona’s room to see how much progress she has made with her dresses. To her surprise, when showed up in her room, Rarity can only see the two dresses that she and Pinkie had found on the bed. Confused, the unicorn took a glimpse inside Fiona’s closet to see Fiona looking at all of her dresses. Fiona didn’t notice Rarity coming in until she gave a knock on the door.

Fiona turned around to see her. “Fiona, you haven’t taken a look at which dresses are too small,” Rarity spoke. Pinkie and Spike walked in, overhearing the conversation.

“I was going to…” Fiona responded, “but these are just too good to get rid of.”

“You can’t fit in those small dresses,” Pinkie stated. “What are you planning on with them?” The princess looked at the ponies and her dresses, unable to think of what to say.

“I know it’s tough, but some of these need to go,” Rarity stated. “I’m certain that Jennino and Indiana can sell them to little puppies.”

“I saw a couple at that Pawball game last time,” Pinkie added, confusing her friends. “It’s a sport being played here in Caninia, similar to Buckball. Amber wants to play it.” An annoyed groan could be heard from Fiona. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m sick of Amber trying to do things like that,” the princess complained. “She’d always create stains on the bed and carpets. So glad that mom got her out of the habit.”

“Well, I expect that from a puppy,” Spike commented.

“Do you share any interested in narra?” Pinkie asked.

“Narra? I don’t see the point of those comics,” Fiona stated. “There’s no color to their pages, and most characters in stories are fighting 90% of the point.”

“But they said to have great details in them.”

“Riiiiiiight, but again…. not one of those books has caught my eyes.” She then looked to see Spike trying to pick out some dresses that were too small, much to the surprise of the princess. “What are you doing?!”

“I’m helping out picking up clothes,” Spike answered. “They’ll only be good for collecting dust.” The purple dragon tried picking them, only for the princess to fun over and snatch the dresses out of his claws. “Hey!”

“These are my dresses! You can’t take them away from me!”

“You can’t even fit in them anymore! They’re too small”

“Enough!” Rarity pleaded, trying to stop an argument before it started. “Fiona, you have to consider that you can’t keep your attire in the wrong size long enough.”

“But I love these!” the princess stated.

“We know that, but what are you going to do with them if you can’t wear them?” The golden labrador didn’t know what to answer this and Spike went back to picking out the dresses that were too small.

“I’m getting frustrated right now,” Spike noted. “Could you not make this any more complicated?”

“What’s gotten you so cranky?” Pinkie asked.

“Katherina, of course!” Spike tossed the too-small clothes onto the bed as he grunted under his breath.

“We should all take five from this mission. You know, relieve stress so we can think straight.”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” Rarity commented.

“I can have our chefs make us something to eat,” Fiona suggested. “How does that sound?”

“Thanks… That would be nice,” Spike responded. With a smile and a nod, Fiona walked out of her room to find one of the castle’s chefs. They decided to put the dresses on hold until then.

A little while later, the three visitors from Equestria were sitting in the dining room wondering what they would receive. “Do you think they’ll have meat?” Pinkie questioned. “It’s still kind of weird getting used to seeing it since Gimme Moore’s place opened up.”

“Possible since dogs were carnivores too,” Spike said. “I mean… I’ve been tempted to try meat since that restaurant opened up.” This was quite surprising to his pony friends and Spike wasn’t too sure about it either. “I remember Ember said something about me changing my diet at one of the meetings. She said that pony food is stunting my growth…”

A bell rang as Fiona stepped in with some chefs walking behind her. They carried in trays of silver cloches and placed them down in front of the guests, removing the lids to show off their meals. They looked to be having breakfast for lunch, a brunch, of course. There are waffles, biscuits, and… bacon… with a saucière with gravy inside. Rarity and Pinkie weren’t too sure about the strips of bacon they were given and handed them over to Spike’s plate.

The dragon himself wasn’t feeling too sure about this as Fiona sat down across from them. “I thought that dragons usually ate meat,” she commented.

“Well, they do… But I’ve been on the vegetarian diet all my life since I’ve been living with ponies.”

“It’s true,” Rarity confirmed. “The only other food he eats is gemstones.” Fiona was about to give her opinion about this when Katherina walked into the room.

“Let’s just make this quick,” she muttered. “The kingdom is in a crisis at the moment and the earthquakes are bad enough.” She sat down beside Fiona as she was handed one of the plates of breakfast for lunch. “Hmm, an interesting choice.”

“We had a light breakfast because of Amber’s stunt,” Fiona reminded.

“Oh yes. Did you tell her about lunch being served?” Fiona just simply shrugged, signaling that the answer was “no.”

“I’ll go tell her,” Rarity said. She stood up and amble her way to Amber’s bedroom. When she reached her location, she once again saw two guards still there securing the door. When she got near, they blocked it with their spears, looking down at Rarity. “Pardon me, but lunch is being served and Princess Ambrosia hasn’t been informed.”

The two guards looked between each other. “She could be tricking us like that pink pony,” one said.

“I can confirm that her mother is wanting her in the dining room. Now, if you don’t want to be in trouble with her…”

“Of course not,” the guards said. They moved out of the way and allowed Rarity to walk inside of the bedroom. Inside, she saw Amber reading her favorite narra on her bed, only glancing up when she heard the door open.

“What is it now?” the princess asked flatly.

“Brunch is being served. You can join if you want. Your mother is waiting for you there.” Amber just shrugged as she placed her novel down. She followed Rarity to the dining room with the guards following them, much to Amber’s annoyance.

After getting back to the dining room and sitting down in front of the table, it’s time to eat their brunch. Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Spike put their bacon strips to the side while Amber was just eating away. Fiona and Katherina just gazed down at her with antipathy, as her method did look pretty unladylike. Aside from the various munching sounds, the dining room was awkwardly quiet. Pinkie Pie was the first who determined to break the silence. “So, I wanna ask, Your Majesty, how do you know Moonbeam in the first place?” she asked.

Katherina seemed to smile as she looked interested in talking about this. “Good question. I have good memories of her. I remember when I was still a princess, we, along with Indi and Jenn, would play around like Pawball and gem digging. Moon loves to get dirty and she did have funny jokes to say now and then.”

“That sounds lovely,” Rarity commented. “How did they get to where they were now?”

“Being royal has a lot of advantages. When I first became Queen of Caninia, I gave Jenn and Indi’s boutique good funding, making them our official tailors for special occasions. I also put in a good word for Moonbeam because of her vast knowledge of gemstones.”

“About that,” Spike said. “You said you used gemstones to help with parts of the kingdom. Why were you going to throw those elemental gems away? What’s up with that?”

Katherina’s happy expression quickly dissipated once the gems were brought up. Amber and Fiona noticed this and they were curious. “Mom, how many of those gems have we dug up?” Amber asked.

It was one thing for the Queen to be asked that question by her guest, it was another thing to be asked by her daughter. “You’re on thin ice right now, Amber,” Katherina said. “As of now, you have no right to speak any inquiries like that!”

“Sounds like you’re avoiding the question,” Spike muttered.

“And you’re pushing your boundaries.”

“By not answering a simple question?” Amber asked.

Katherina then slammed the table with her fist as she furiously stood up from her chair. “Young lady, you’re already in enough trouble as it is.”

Amber also bitterly stood up as well as her mother did. “But what about you? What’s wrong with just answering one question?” The mother and daughter stared at each as the conflict was starting to build again.

Fiona wasn’t liking where this was going and tried looking for a way to break this up. “Mother, I don’t think I paid for my dress with the gems yet,” she said. “Mind if I head back into town and take care of that?”

Katherina just sighed before responding. “Just make it quick,” she muttered. Fiona nodded and got up from the table, wanting to get away from this conflict. Spike and the ponies knew they had to end this before things got worse.

“Your Majesty,” Rarity said, “I understand if you have something you don’t want to talk about…”

“Stay out!” Katherina ordered. She looked back at Amber, who had her arms crossed. “You were the one who’s constantly sneaking out.”

“That’s because you’ve been shielding me for my whole life!” Amber stated. “You just let Fiona buy whatever she wants to make her happy, want me to be happy? Let me play Pawball!”

A sudden earthquake started again, making everything on the table shake. Drinks spilled, food fell to the floor, and some of the guards lost their footing. After a few seconds, it finally stopped, leaving a big mess in the dining room.

“…Perfect!” Katherina groaned. “I was about to calm myself for a moment, and this kingdom reminds me otherwise.” The Queen walked away to find the maid and have the mess cleaned up.

Amber looked to her guests, who were concerned about what was going on. “Things are getting tense now,” Pinkie commented.

“No kidding,” Amber groaned. “You know, she hasn’t explained anything about those special gems until now. I want to know what she’s hiding.”

“Same here,” Spike said. “It’s got to be the reasons why we’ve been called here.”

“How do we get her to talk though?” Pinkie asked.

Amber brought her paw to her chin and thought for a moment. She then heard footsteps and saw her sister walking to the castle gates. “I have an idea,” she proclaimed. “I need you to keep Fiona distracted before she leaves.”

“Okay, will do,” Spike said. He quickly got up and went to catch up with the princess. Fiona walked closer to the gates until she noticed Spike flying towards her.

“Yes?”

“You need someone to accompany you to the boutique?”

“Um, not really,” Fiona admitted. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, I might need a break from Katherina’s orders. Is she always like that?”

“Mostly towards Amber. Can I tell you something?” Spike just nodded. “I’ve been curious about my father.”

“Your father? How so?” The two carried on their conversation as they started walking towards the castle gates.

“I only have vague memories about him, but… I have no idea what happened to him.”

“I’m guessing that your mother hasn’t talked about him, huh?”

“Exactly. She has never given me a straight answer when I asked, and now that I know she’s throwing these gems away…” Both of them were interrupted by Amber dashing past them on a skateboard. Several guards chased after her with Pinkie, Rarity, and Katherina running up to the gate.

“Ambrosia Muffinbuns! Get your tail back here now!” the queen cried. On all fours, she dashed her way to chase her.

Spike and the ponies all looked at each other before Pinkie spoke up. “Maybe we should’ve asked her what the plan was,” the pink pony muttered.

At the mine’s entrance, the foxhound and pug were standing in front of the tunnel, holding their spears, feeling bored. “Hey,” the foxhound said.

“Hmm?”

“Do you ever wonder why we’re here?”

“Well, it’s one of life’s greatest mysteries, isn’t it?” the pug said.

“...What? No, I mean…” The foxhound paused when he noticed a certain blonde lab skating towards the mine. “Princess Ambrosia?!”

“Don’t look at me dude, I was with you the whole time.” The two didn’t have enough time to react as Amber zoomed past them with the rest of the castle guards chasing her down. They saw their sergeant stop beside them.

“Sir, what do we do?”

“Stay where you are. One of you can’t be trusted.” He looked towards the pug, who didn’t seem to care so much.

“Hey, you can’t pin the blame on me this time. You’re in charge of the battalion.” The sergeant didn’t say anything and just ran off to catch up with the chase.

Amber was making her way to the hospital and leaped off her skateboard, running inside the building. She made it to the room where Moonbeam was resting and was pleased to see the purple Terrier was looking better. “Hey, kiddo,” Moonbeam said. “Where’s the fire?”

“I need to ask you about the gems, Moonbeam,” Amber said. She looked back at the door, closing and locking it so she would lower the chance of being spotted. “By that, I mean the ones like the one that shocked Fiona. How many of those gems do you find usually?”

Moonbeam took a minute to think about these details. “I recall picking up gems that were hotter or colder than they naturally should’ve been. Then… there was this one time one of my workers got a serious injury, broke his arm clean in half, could’ve sworn I saw bone. But, anyway, we managed to get his arm in a sling and had him hold onto an emerald we found.”

“Why did he do that?”

“It made him feel better in more ways than one. When we got him to the hospital, the x-ray only showed that he had only a few cracks in his bones. We told this to your mother and found that these gems had several different abilities.”

“Then how come I haven’t heard about them before?”

“You and Fiona were young puppies back then, and there was this disaster that happened with…”

“AMBER!” roared a voice. “OPEN THE DOOR!” Both dogs heard Katherina screaming at the top of her lungs, causing both of them to get worried. There was a loud knock at the door, both dogs knowing who it was.

Katherina was outside trying to open the door, but it was locked thanks to Amber. “I swear, when I get my paws on her,” the queen growled. The guards were stepping back from the Saluki, as they thought she was scary while angry.

“Um, should we bring your three guests to help you?” the pink husky asked, bracing himself.

“They’re with Fiona. Give me a spear. Now!” The husky jumped and handed his spear over to the queen. She firmly stabbed the spear into the small gap of the door, and with all of her might, she forcefully tugged it to break in. Her livid grunts and groans can be heard as she keeps pulling and pulling and pulling… until she heard the violent click from the latch. She could almost hear the scuffling inside the room. Once again, with all of her might, she kicked the door open with her hind legs. She went in and found… only Moonbeam resting on the bed.

“You could’ve knocked,” the sick diamond dog said snarkily. “That door almost broke…”

Katherina wasn’t in the mood for games. “Enough! Where is Amber?” the queen asked. Moonbeam just simply looked around the room until she saw an open window.

“I told her it wasn’t going to be easy.” The queen ran over to the window and could see they were closer enough to the ground so that Amber wouldn’t get hurt. This didn’t make her any less angry, so Katherina and the guards raced outside to find the princess.

Meanwhile, Fiona was with the Equestrian guests back to the dress store, which now had a couple of customers inside. They stopped and stared not only at the visitors but also Princess Fiona. They weren’t quite used to being around royals in public. They approached Jennino, who was surprised to see them so soon.

“Oh… What brings you back here?” Jennino asked.

“I think I forgot to pay for the dress with gems on it,” Fiona said. “I brought my bag of bits and I’m pretty sure they’ll be enough for you.” She handed her bag of bits to the store owner when they heard the door burst open. They saw Amber, standing in the doorway, fairly out of breath.

“Amber?” Jennino gasped. “I thought you were grounded.”

“She was,” Rarity said. “We just happened to help with her escape.” Indiana walked in from the back to see who walked in and saw both princesses in the store.

“Ah, man,” Indiana groaned. “I’m not going to be caught in Katherina’s drama.” She walked over to the winded Amber and tried to get her out of the store.

“Indi, did you notice anything about the gems that you used?” Amber asked.

“No, and you shouldn’t be here,” Indiana stated. “If I get caught in your mother’s turmoil because you can’t follow orders, I and Indi will be in big trouble.” Jennino and Fiona walked over to them, trying to see if they could stop any conflict.

“But she’s not telling me anything about the gems!”

“What gems!?” Fiona asked in a confused tone.

Indiana and Jennino glanced at each other, having a feeling that Amber was catching onto something she wasn’t supposed to know about. “Amber, you should head home,” Jennino suggested. “Right now.”

“...Are you trying to hide something from me?” Amber questioned. The two shop owners didn’t quite know what to say to this.

“You’re pushing your luck,” Indiana fumed.

“And you’re lying to me!” Fiona jumped at her sister’s outburst.

“Um, sis,” Fiona said, “How about we get something around here. We could get matching outfits or…”

“How many dresses do you already have, Fiona!?” Amber exclaimed. “You can’t just keep filling up your closet with things you won’t even wear. I mean, remember those dresses you wore on our 10th birthday?”

Indiana and Jennino were both surprised by this. “You still have that dress?” Indi questioned.

“Um…. I think so,” Fiona shrugged.

“You didn’t remember what dresses you have at home,” Amber proclaimed. “Some were already outdated!”

Rarity, Pinkie, and Spike stood back as they knew things were getting ugly. “I’m putting an end to this,” Rarity proclaimed. She used her magic to push the diamond dogs apart from each other. “Stop! We’re not all informed about what’s going on here. I don’t blame Amber for not being informed as some creatures haven’t told you something important.”

Jennino and Indiana didn’t want to talk about this inside of the store, so they thought that they should move the conversation outside. “Everyone, outside,” Indiana sighed.

Once they were outside they continued their conversation. “Listen here, we’ve wanted to tell you,” Jennino admitted, “but your mother has her concerns.”

“Of course,” Amber groaned. “She isn’t here now, so why can’t you tell me?” Before either shop owner could speak, a net flew out of nowhere and struck Amber to the ground, much to the shock of everyone else.

They looked to see where the net came from to see Queen Katherina was standing beside some of her guards. “So, we’re not getting in trouble for targeting the princess?” the sergeant questioned.

“Not this time,” Katherina declared flatly. She stepped over to her daughter, who was trying to untangle herself from the net. The Saluki helped her out before holding her daughter’s arm tightly. “No talking, we’re going home!” The two started walking towards the castle with Fiona deciding to follow behind to avoid any yelling.

Everyone else was thinking about following along until Amber suddenly stopped and yanked backward, breaking out of her mother’s grasp. They followed in the short chase, which ended as soon as Katherina tackled her daughter to the ground. “What is with you today!?”

“Get off me, mother!” Amber growled. She struggled to get out of her mother’s grip again as Fiona was having a hard time taking this.

“Please, stop!” she begged. Indiana decided to step in and had the mother and daughter separated by pushing them apart.

“Okay, this is going on long enough!” the Alaskan malamute noted. “We’re fixing this right here right now!”

“Indy, you’re already pushing your luck by pulling that stunt,” Katherina proclaimed.

“Katherina, I didn’t want to do this, but I have a feeling that Jenn was right, we should’ve told the twins years ago.”

“Indy…, I… I… I’ll have your store closed for this!”

“Closed for what? Spite?” A low growl escaped the queen’s mouth while she clenched her teeth. Pinkie thought this would be a good time to lighten the mood by walking in between Katherina and Indiana.

“Hey, here’s an idea,” the pink pony said, “Let’s go back to the castle, blow off some steam, maybe play a game or two, then we can talk.”

“How about here… right now!?” Amber yelled.

“Young lady, you’re in enough trouble as it is,” Katherina stated.

“Like keeping a secret from the family?” The mother looked past her troubled child and noticed her other daughter was looking upset.

“Mom, what aren’t you telling us?” Fiona asked. Katherina paused. She didn’t know what to say, let alone in public. She remembered something she didn’t want to, but… It was too much conflict for her.

Suddenly, Pinkie noticed her tail twitching. “Oh, not good,” she muttered. A few seconds later, another earthquake began to form. Barely anybody managed to stay on their feet. Things quickly got worse as the ground began to crack open. It started between Amber and Katherina. The cracks started to form around Fiona, Pinkie, and Indiana. They’re about to escape quickly until it was too late when the earth underneath them began to sink.

“AMBER! FIONA!” The queen quickly reached out for her daughter’s paw until the ground suddenly swallow the pony and three dogs into a sinkhole with their death-threatening screams fainted away. Katherina only had a few seconds to witness their freefall before the hole was quickly covered up by rubble just as the earthquake stopped. There was a long moment of silence before Katherina started hyperventilating. As for Rarity and Spike, they were horrified when they see Pinkie fall into the hole like that’s her final destination. And for Jennino, it was the same. “No. No! No-no-no-no-no! MY BABIES!” she screamed. The queen jumped down into the crater and tried digging them up. Her foot suddenly got swallowed by the rubble as it didn’t look stable. Seeing this, Rarity levitated the queen back onto solid ground, despite her resistance. “Let go of me!”

“Your Majesty, the ground isn’t safe to dig up,” Rarity said.

“I think there’s still a chance of saving them,” Jennino commented. “There are tunnels all over this kingdom, maybe they fell into one of them.” Jennino could see the queen was breathing heavily with her eyes bawling with tears flowing like a waterfall, so she placed her paw on her shoulder. “They’re going to be okay. We’ll make sure of it.” Katherina held her paws together before looking at the covered sinkhole, worried about the two most important things in her life.