The 7 friends split up to catch those insane Dogs and to see if Pinkie was still alive: Rainbow and Fluttershy, Rarity and Twilight, Applejack and Spike, Griffy.

The two Pegusi came ended up falling into a metal trap box that was set up by the Diamond Dogs. The two Unicorn Ponies also ended up that same trap. Spike and AJ, on the other hand, tried to take cover within an ally.

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"Look out!", cried out Spike as he and AJ spotted the big Diamond Dog charging straight for them.

"Lookin' fer a tussel are ya'll?", said Applejack with a proud smile, "Well then get along little Doggy! Litterally!"

The two blasted their new ice abilites at the big Dog, but he was a good dodger already. Finally, they managed to freeze him by both firing at once (only to suddenly bump into each other and accidently have their forelimb armor jam into each other).

"Great!", complained Spike, "We're stuck together!"

"Well what are we gonna do now?", asked AJ.

Even trying to yank away from each other did not work out.

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Griffy managed to confront the lead Diamond Dog (with the little Diamond Dog fawning over them from behind a nearby building) in the market place.

"So you are the same Diamond Dogs who tried to enslave Rarity?", asked Griffy.

"Correct", answered the lead Dog with a sinister smirk, "We three are the leaders of our species"

"Alright!", yelled Griffy, getting his new weapon ready for action, "Enough speaking in riddles already! What happened to you three since the last time we saw you?"

"Hold on for a minute", interupted the lead DOg as soon as he spotted a Unicorn Pony strangler that he had been after for a while now.

This Unicorn Pony was so extremely drained of blood, that it was difficult to tell whether it was a male or a female. Griffy, instead of taking immediate action, stood in shock as the lead drained the Pony's blood entirely. Griffy could not jump into action because he was horrified by what he saw happening.

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"Allow me to tell the tale of the reason we hardley look like regular Diamond Dogs now", said the lead Dog after finishing that Pony's blood draining.

"Me and my two comrades were, of course, just simple Diamond Dogs, hunting for gems in the mines we built under the rocky hills", he started, "We all stopped gem-hunting when the Antmen attacked Equestria, for we new it was to dangerous to emerge to the surface and confront those enormous Insects"

The lead Dog then pounced on Griffy and continued, "After then Antmen were defeated, me and those two other Dogs emerged to the surface to see if the coast was clear. That's when we spotted two injured beings limping by. They were a really bulky-looking, gray, Hippopotamus or hornless Rhinoceros-like Pony and a tall, Spider-legged, Crab-clawed green Pony"

"Chop and Digger", Griffy thought to himself.

"We noticed that the two were bleeding from some sort of injury they had whith a recent rock slide", continued the lead Diamond Dog, "The 3 of us got curious about their blood, so we all tasted it. It was so delicious that we wanted to capture more Ponies for their blood"

"Is that all?", said Griffy as he used his new abilities to kick the Dog off of him, only to be then pinned the side of a building by his opponent.

"But you see", continued the Dog, "We did not realize at the time that the blood we first tasted was filled with the venom of the Antman queens, the Mega-Ants"

"Well the Mega-Ants did turn Chop and Digger into those forms with their venom", said Griffy while shaking with fear.

"So once the venom was in our bodies", the Dog continued, "It started to mutate the three of us, for our bodies are not naturally built for all this power. This mutation gave us a much larger size, long sword-like fangs for blood-sucking that can puncture into any vein and artery and tap into blood cells, longer claws for extra damage on an opponent and deeper voices for a reason i cannot identify. So the more Horse blood we siphon, the stronger we get"

"So you're like corrupted?", asked Griffy

"Yes indeed, small brown Griffin", replied the Dog, "We also made our fire-shooting weapons from gems and gasoline as well as this fiery armor, for that venom gave us new intelligence"

"Now listen", Griffy said after the lead Dog threw him on the ground, "We can help you guys out, since you're not actually evil. We know some Ponies who can reverse.."

"Once you've gotten a taste of a Steed's blood", interrupted the lead Diamond Dog as he picked up Griffy with his large front paws, "You can't stop! Because you'll do ANYTHING! Hurt ANYONE to get it!"

Griffy just gulped at what this Canine just said.

To Be Continued