Rover looked down from the hill towards the small pony town. The quaint little village disgusted him. How ponies could live up here with the sky yawning above them all the time, he couldn’t understand. Give him dirt and rocks any day. A small white and purple figure broke from the mass of the town and headed in his direction. Good, he thought, she’s coming back to the mines after all. He started to turn and warn his brothers of her approach when another figure caught his eye: a purple and green shape, much smaller than the pony. Rover hissed; the little beast could complicate things. They’d have to take him too this time, to make sure he didn’t raise an alarm. He loped down the hillside and into a surface tunnel he had dug minutes before. Sealing it behind him, he rapidly made his way to the gem fields.



The pony and dragon were chatting when they reached the open space of land the diamond dogs had seeded with a variety of gems. A glow of magic lit her horn, and she beamed even more, pointing a hoof at a spot on the ground. The dragon bounded forward and quickly dug into the soft ground. In moments he found the precious stones, and showed them to the pony. Upon further prompting, he dug deeper, finding even more. As the hole grew deeper, Rover grinned. It would be any moment, and the dragon would reach the pit they had hollowed out beneath the deposit of diamonds. There was a shout of surprise and fear, and the diamond dogs sprung into action. Rover went straight for the pony, trusting his brothers to ensure the dragon was ensnared as well. He leapt onto the mare’s back and wrapped a length of rope around her mouth. They wouldn’t fall for whining pony tricks anymore. After securing the muzzle, he took another length of rope and tied all four of her flailing limbs together. His task completed, he grinned wickedly and looked around. His brothers were singed; it seemed that the dragon had put up a good fight this time, but he was secured in a sack slung over Fido’s shoulder. “Good work brothers, now let’s take them down below. Once we’re safely hidden we’ll send some soldiers to smooth the ground here to hide our trail. No ponies are going to know what happened here.” His brothers laughed, and the pony’s eyes widened in horror. She wasn’t going to escape this time, and no friends could come and rescue here when they wouldn’t know where to look.