A Dog and Pony Show

Jewel Cliffs: Spike's POV

Spike was with Rarity helping her collect gems for an order from Sapphire Shores, which led them to a large area of gems just outside of Ponyville. Rarity was using a spell to find the gems while Spike was dragging a cart behind him. " Oh my gosh! Sapphire Shores! The pony of pop! She is awesome! I mean, she's gorgeous and talented and—" Spike started. He only stopped when Rarity glared at him. "Heh and not even half the pony you are. I mean, you're ten times more gorgeous and talented and—" Spike continued.

"Spike, a lady is never jealous," Rarity points out.

"Eh, of course not. But were you totally flipping out or what?!" Spike asked.

"Ladies do not 'flip out', Spike. However, I was quite in awe," Rarity tells him them she seems to get something on her detection spell. "Oh, I need to find more jewels than ever before to decorate her costumes. Oh, aha!"

"Did you find some?" Spike asked.

"Yes, Spike! Right there!" Rarity tells him, pointing at the area. Spike quickly digs them up.

"Ooooo! You look so delicious…" Spike says upon seeing the gems. He then tries to eat the group.

"Spike! I promised I'd give you gems to snack on, but we need to collect more first or I'll never be able to make these outfits for Sapphire," Rarity tells him. Spike, reluctantly, puts the gems in the cart. "Come along, Spike. We have many jewels to find."

"At your service, milady," Spike says and they collect a lot more gems

"You've been very patient today, Spike. And for that, you get the finest reward. This is from me to you," she says after Spike unearths another group of gems. She then gives Spike a blue gem. Spike then looks at Rarity.

"Is something wrong, Spike?" Rarity asks as Spike looks into her eyes.

"No. It's perfect," Spike answers when Rarity's spell lights up again.

"Ooo! Bring the cart, Spike! There are more over here," Rarity tells him.

"For me. From Rarity," Spike says mesmerized before following Rarity.

"Well, Spike, I think that's all we can do for today. And these will certainly get me well on my way with Sapphire's outfits. Why don't we start headi…" Rarity starts when her horn lights up like a Hearth's Warming Tree. She turns in the direction her horn tells her to. "Oh! What's this? Another jewel. Oh… Oh, strange. It's in the trees," Rarity wonders when a large, ugly gray dog show's it's head from the tree. "Uh... uh... Good day, gentle... uh, fellow. Uh, I am Rarity and this is my friend Spike," Rarity introduces. "And, you are?"

"A Diamond Dog," he answers and starts heading toward the two.

" Oh really? Oh well, that explains your fine taste in jewelry. I mean I-I-I know that diamonds are a girl's best friend and now I know that they're a dog's best friend too, ha ha ha. So, um, [cough] you're out hunting for gems as well?" Rarity asks as she and Spike continue to back away.

"Yes. We hunt," he says creepily.

"Uh… 'we?'" Rarity questions.

"We hunt for gems. But you are a better hunter. So now we hunt… for you!" he says. As if on cue, two more dogs jump out of holes behind them and send Spike flying away. A larger, grey dog tries to grab Rarity while Spike uses his tail like a jackhammer on a smaller brown one's tail. He then sends the bigger grey one back to the first dog.

"Run, Rarity! Run!" Spike orders and he gets pushed into the ground. The dog that did it attempts to pursue Rarity but Spike grabs its leg and it falls over. The dog then throws Spike into a tree with the spines on his head getting him stuck to it. The dogs then retreat and Spike sees the first dog carrying Rarity down a hole. As he runs up to it he only sees darkness down the hole. Spike then runs as fast as his legs would carry him.

Later: Night's POV

Night and his friends were running to where Spike had told them that Rarity had been kidnapped and the dragon was breathing heavily into a bag. "Spike, can you breathe now?" Twilight asks him.

"Yes… I think so," Spike answers.

"Good. Now tell us what you know," Twilight tells him.

"Yeah, because what we got earlier was a mix of words that didn't even form a sentence," Night recalls.

"Sorry. Rarity and I were in the Jewel cliffs looking for jewels when these creepy guys showed up" Spike explained.

"Creepy guys?" Twilight asked.

"They called themselves the Diamond Dogs. They grabbed Rarity and disappeared down a hole in the ground," Spike finished.

"Well, this sounds mighty easy. Just take us to that there hole and we'll save Rarity," Applejack says confidently, but when they arrive Night sees more holes then he could count.

"Holy moly, that's a lotta holeys," Pinkie notices.

"This just got tougher. Anyone could lead to Rarity," Night points out.

"Then we'd better get started," Twilight said and the group started to look down the holes in an attempt to see down them, but all Night saw was darkness. He then saw a pair of gleaming yellow eyes before he heard a rumble. Dirt and mud suddenly flew out of the ground and some of it got on Night's face. Night gets it off and sees the other holes being filled up as well. "Quick! We gotta get down one before they're all filled up" Twilight tells them. Night flies to a cluster of holes but all seem to fill up just before he can enter them.

"Whew. Heavens to Betsy. Now I'm used to pickin' myself up and dustin' myself off, but Rarity won't even touch mud, 'less it's imported," Applejack remarks. "We gotta save her."

"But they blocked up all the holes," Fluttershy points out.

"Don't mean we can't dig 'em out. Come on!" Applejack said as the group started to dig out the holes. As he was digging, Night felt something pull on his tail and he found himself on the ground. Looking around, everypony was having a similar problem.

"Oh screw this. Everypony get down!" Night shouts. He then flies into the air and absorbs a bunch of lightning before flying back down at max speed and slamming into the ground so hard that is cause a massive pulse that threw all the dirt off the holes, but they were still filled. "Is everypony alright?" Night asks. His friends look at him confused. "I asked if everypony was alright," Night said.

"What!? I can't hear you Night!" Rainbow shouts, hearing only a loud ringing noise.

"Rainbow, why are you yelling?" Night asks.

"Are you sure you're not whispering? Because I can barely hear myself!" Twilight shouts, who heard only a muffled response from Night underneath the ringing.

"Shoot, must have overdid it," Night said to himself.

"You what!?" Twilight yelled.

"I think I overdid it!" Night shouted back.

"Why didn't you say so in the first place?!" Applejack shouted.

"Hang on, I think it's clearing up," Twilight said in her normal voice.

"Okay, I'm going to be honest, I didn't think that my lightning pulse could do that," Night admits.

"I got it! I'll save you, my sweet," Spike suddenly says as he runs to an open hole. Spike then ties a jewel to a fishing pole and lowers it down the hole.

"Spike, it is very noble of you…" Twilight starts when Spike shushes her. "… to sacrifice the gem Rarity gave you," Twilight finished.

"Oh, Lady Rarity. My damsel in distress," Spike says dreamily. Night's then surprised when Spike tries to kiss Applejack but she quickly pushes him away.

"Hoho there, lover boy," she says. The fishing pole then pulls.

"Whoa! Whoa whoa whoawhoawhoa... I got a bite! I got a bite!" Spike says excitedly before getting pulled down the hole.

"Hold on there, little fella," Applejack says as she grabs onto Spikes tail.

"Applejack!" Twilight says as she runs up and tries to stop Applejack. Night then follows, then Rainbow, Fluttershy, and finally Pinkie. Before Night fell in though, he called a small amount of lightning to store for later, just in case. The group then goes sliding around the tunnels until they eventually crash into the ground.

"Haha, it worked! We're in! Now we can finally save Rarity!" Spike says excitedly.

"Yeah, about that," Night says and the group sees the vast network of tunnels. The group starts moving down the tunnel they're in.

"All these tunnels... How are we ever gonna find Rarity?" Twilight asked.

"Guess we're just gonna have to start going down them one by one," Applejack said.

"That could take forever! There's gotta be a way to narrow it down," Rainbow points out.

"I know! I bet they've taken Rarity down the tunnel with the most gems," Spike says.

"That sounds good Spike, but how are we supposed to know which tunnel that is? Rarity's the only one who knows a gem-finder spell," Night points out.

"But you and Twilight could copy it," Spike says.

"Oh my gosh! You're right! Rarity showed me how she did it a while back. If I can just remember…" Twilight says as she tries to use the spell. "That way," Twilight says, pointing down one of the tunnels. The group follows her. "We're getting close. I can feel it," Twilight said after a while. Night then heard what he thought was Rarity crying.

"It's coming from down here. Come on!" Spike said.

"She must be in there. Let's go!" Rainbow said when Night felt something heavy land on his back. He looked around to see dogs with armor on him and his friends.

"More workhorses," one of them says and they put ropes around their mouths.

"Hoh, doggies. If you can take this bull by the horns, you better be ready for a ride. Come on, ponies! Kick 'em up, kick 'em out. Buck 'em up, buck 'em down," Applejack says. The group, except Night, start to throw the dogs around.

"Do you know what happens when you sit on a charged lightning rod?" Night asks the dog on him. He looks scared when Night releases the lightning he stored on the dog, giving him a massive shock. "Good thing I figured out how to do that," Night said before running up to the group to see the dogs run down the tunnel.

"Yeehaw! Get along, little doggies!" Applejack shouts after them when they hear a bunch of loud crashes and bangs.

"I'm coming for you, milady. Hi-ho, Twilight! Away!" Spike shouts, holding a stone pillar in his claws.

"And just what do you think you're doing?" Twilight asks Spike with a glare.

"Please, Twilight. Just give me this," Spike says.

"Eh... fine," Twilight says. She neighs before charging through the door.

"Okay, let's never mention that ever," Night says and everypony agreed before following Twilight.

"Lady Rarity, I'm here to save you!" Spike shouts. Night sees three dogs run right at the group, pleading for them to be saved.

"Excuse me?" Twilight asks confused.

"So picky," one of them said.

"And critical," said a second

"She won't stop talking," the first said.

"And crying," added the second

"We, uh, give her back. Yes," the third said and Rarity showed herself with a cart full of gems.

"Rarity! You're safe!" Spike said relieved.

"Why, yes. Hello, everypony. You arrived just in time to assist me," Rarity said.

"Assist you with what?" Applejack asked.

"With those," Rarity said, turning to the multiple carts of jewels.

"You're letting her leave with all these... jewels?" Spike asked.

"Yes. Take them. And her with them" the third one pleaded.

"Please," the first dog begged. The group then took the carts up to the surface and started to head back to Ponyville.

"I can't believe you found all these gems!" Pinkie said surprised.

"Heh. I can't believe you tricked all those dogs," Rainbow continued.

"Just because I'm a lady doesn't mean I cannot handle myself in a sticky situation. I had them wrapped around my hoof the entire time," Rarity told them.

"Well, next time we have a problem like that again, we can just send Rarity in and watch the entertainment," Night joked, which got a laugh out of everyone.

"I can't wait to write to Princess Celestia to tell her what you taught me today," Twilight then says.

"Me? What did I teach you?" Rarity asks.

"Just because somepony is ladylike doesn't make her weak. In fact, by using her wits, a seemingly defenseless pony can be the one who outsmarts and outshines them all," Twilight answers.

"Hm... 'Outshines' is right. Now you have enough gems to cover Sapphire Shores' costumes," Spike says as he was eating a gem. Rarity then uses her magic and pulls it out of his claws.

"Not if you eat them all, Spike," Rarity tells him as his mouth snaps on air. The group laughs as they head back to town.