History Recap / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E19ADogAndPonyShow

->'''Rarity:''' I am not whining; I am complaining! Do you want to ''hear'' whining? (''in higher-pitched voice'') ''Thiiis'' is ''whiiiiining!'' Oooo; this harness is too ''tiiiight!'' It's going to ''chafe!'' Can't you ''loosen'' it? Oh, it hurts and it's so rusty! Why didn't you clean it first? It's going to leave a ''stain'', and the wagon's getting ''heavy'', ''WHY DO I HAVE TO PULL IIIIIIIT?!''

->'''Spike:''' Rarity... woods... jewels... dogs... hole... taken... ''SAVE HER!''

Sapphire Shores, the Pony of Pop, has just commissioned Rarity to design five costumes for her upcoming tour. There's just one problem - Shores wants them to be covered in gems, and Rarity had just gone through the last of her stock. In order to satisfy Shores' order, she goes gem-hunting with Spike in a nearby quarry. While Rarity casts Detect Gem with her horn, Spike digs up the caches of gems she finds.

After several imagination scenes, Spike and the other ponies head underground to rescue her, thinking she must be in great danger. Meanwhile, the Diamond Dogs order Rarity to start finding gems for them. Slowly, however, she starts getting on their nerves: When the dogs tell her to dig up the jewels, she refuses to more than scratch the ground little by little, on account of her having had a "pony-pedi"; when they force her to pull a cart to carry around the gems, she proceeds to criticize her captors' nails, breath, overall hygiene, etc.; and when they start complaining about the whining...

->'''Rarity:''' I am not whining, I am complaining! Do you want to ''hear'' whining? (''in higher-pitched voice'') ''Thiiis'' is ''whiiiiining!'' Oooo, this harness is too ''tiiiight!'' It's going to ''chafe!'' Can't you ''loosen'' it? Oh, it hurts and it's so rusty! Why didn't you clean it first? It's going to leave a ''stain'', and the wagon's getting ''heavy'', ''WHY DO I HAVE TO PULL IIIIIIIT?!''

* AccidentalKiss: Barely averted -- Spike nearly kisses Applejack while in the middle of a fantasy about saving Rarity from the Diamond Dogs.

** Justified, The Diamond Dogs are clearly motivated by greed and are only thinking "Gem Detecting Pack Mule" and when they saw the rest of our heroines their instinct was to enslave them too. They clearly only see ponies as gem digging and carting slaves, nothing more, so even if Rarity had thought to try and negotiate, they wouldn't have even bothered with negotiation.

* DistressedDamsel: Played with -- this is how the others picture Rarity in their {{Imagine Spot}}s. [[spoiler: In truth, Rarity had her kidnappers "wrapped around her hoof the whole time."]]

** -->'''Diamond Dog''': No! "Mule"! I said, "Mule"!

As they are getting ready to return, however, the two are ambushed by the Diamond Dogs, a trio of [[TheLordOfTheRings Gollum]]esque dog-men. They've taken notice of how easily Rarity is able to find gems, and so have decided to kidnap her and force her to find gems for them. Despite Spike's best efforts to fend them off, he is outnumbered and outmatched, and Rarity is dragged underground.

* ShoutOut: There's the [[{{Expy}} suspiciously]] [[TheLordOfTheRings Gollum]]-like mannerisms and behaviors of the antagonists, for starters, as well as the fact that they're named the [[DavidBowie Diamond Dogs]].

* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: After the Diamond Dogs have kidnapped Rarity and attempted to make her their slave, one of them "calls her ugly," prompting a look from one of the others that just screams, "What the hay, man?"

* ArsonMurderandJaywalking: After the Diamond Dogs have kidnapped Rarity and attempted to make her their slave, one of them "calls her ugly," prompting a look from one of the others that just screams, "What the hay, man?"

* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy form a pony chain to try and save Spike from falling into a pit. As they all start sliding in, Pinkie Pie joins the chain… because, hey, it looks like a fun ride!

* CompletelyMissingThePoint: Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy form a pony chain to try and save Spike from falling into a pit. As they all start sliding in, Pinkie Pie joins the chain… because, hey, it looks like a fun ride!

* CompletelyMissingThePoint: Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy form a pony chain to try and save Spike from falling into a pit. As they all start sliding in, Pinkie Pie joins the chain... because, hey, it looks like a fun ride!
** ''"Wheeeeeeeee!"''

* CutLexLuthorACheck: The Diamond Dogs have a mine that is positively loaded with gems. Rarity desperately needs gems. If the Dogs had approached Rarity with a deal to give her, say, 20% of the gems that she locates and they dig up, and generally treated her acceptably, everyone could have gone home with a lot of gems. Instead, Rarity gets everything. Maybe if the Diamond Dogs weren't really, really stupid.

* PetTheDog: Twilight letting Spike indulge his rescue fantasy by acting like an ordinary horse.

* FlashbackCut: PlayedForLaughs. Before a commercial break, just after Rarity's abduction, Spike lets off his BigNo. After the commercial break, Spike has gathered the other Mane cast, racing to the rescue, but then leads to a quick flashback scene, with Spike arriving in Ponyville, panicked and out-of-breath, uttering the at the top of this page to convince the Mane cast to help.

* Foreshadow: [[IncrediblyLamePun Shades]] of this when Rarity designates a dig site at the base of a cave formation, causing a stalactite to fall on two dogs. Hints at Rarity getting out of her situation by using her wits.

* Foreshadowing: [[IncrediblyLamePun Shades]] of this when Rarity designates a dig site at the base of a cave formation, causing a stalactite to fall on two dogs. Hints at Rarity getting out of her situation by using her wits.

-->'''Applejack:''' "If you can take this bull by the horns, you better be ready for a ride!"

** The episode is basically one long homage to [[OHenry O. Henry]]'s classic story "[[http://www.online-literature.com/donne/1041/ The Ransom of Red Chief]]."